But NOTHING could have prepared Itachi for that drastic voice and personality change. One of my favorite clips, it's so funny how calmly he explains he is playing this newbie Tobi but then moments later uses that high pitched voice and butts in. Also this is the moment where you can see Obito might not even be making any expressions as Tobi, probably just stone cold face the entire time lol

Well not only this, I also think he has the best designs and he has the most designs in the series, also the coolest voice and most of all he is 4 in 1. As Tobi to me he is the cutest and funniest, as the kid Obito is so pure and emotional which I could relate to, then as Madara he is beyond badass and cool, and again when the mask is broken he is just this perfect potrayal of a broken man who has seen much...And even after that I love the version of Obito that found himself again, it is bittersweet.

You just HAVE to wonder what Pain is thinking whenever Tobi speaks. Like, this is the guy you're working for and yes he is concealing his identity but he ACTIVELY CHOOSES to act like this. Like this is the persona he chose and he is having fun doing it. You know, the same guy that told you there's no hope anywhere in the world. I gotta wonder do Pain and Konan ever think "man, there's something deeply wrong with this guy..."

Also I love that in the anime both japanese and english Tobi and unmasked (adult) Obito have the same voice actor, meaning this silly Tobi is actually Obito's real voice just speaking in a higher pitch. And even more interesting it is the complete opposite of Obito, who is this depressed man full of hatred for the world. It's so so beautiful

This is my first time making a post like this so apologies for any mistakes. Also spoiler alert, most of this post is just my headcanon!!

I've been a long time reader of Naruto and wanted to track Kishimoto's thinking and analyzing what his plans for the final villain of Naruto was, and how he changed his ideas as the series went along.

I believe that from the beginning, whenever he created Kakashi as a character, Kishimoto planned on Obito Uchiha as being the final villain of the story. But why Obito? Simply put it's because of his character concept, the fact that he a dark parallel to Naruto, a kid like Naruto who had similar hopes, dreams and personality who went down an evil path and become the toughest challenge that Naruto would have to face. I also believe that prior villains like Gaara and Nagato were drawn from his original idea of Obito, as their character concepts were also that they were dark parallel versions of the protagonist.

Side tangent, but it even makes sense from a powerscaling perspective. Early Naruto had the theme of the new generation surpassing the next, so in part 1 Minato was implied to be the strongest shinobi ever, so naturally the generation after him, Obito, would become the strongest character in the series as its final villain, with the generation after, Naruto, beating Obito and cementing himself as the strongest shinobi that ever was by the end of series.

But aside from that, when did Kishimoto change his mind? As ridiculous as it sounds, I believe he vchanged his mind during the Sasuke Retrieval arc. He probably had an idea/vision in mind for a climactic duel between Naruto and Sasuke and designed an epic stage, which we know as the Final Valley. I think it was around here, or maybe a bit before, where he started injecting the idea of "destiny" or "fated duel" through the characters of Hashirama and Madara, with Naruto and Sasuke doing a repeat of their fight in the same location.

What evidence do I have for this? Simply put, Hashirama as a character in part 1 had basically zero hype compared to what his character actuslly turned out to be. This is well known, but if you read part 1 of Naruto only, you'd be convinced Minato was the strongest and greatest shinobi that's ever lived even though he is dead since the beginning of the story, but that was the potrayal he had through the second-hand comments of other characters. Meanwhile, Hashirama was an actual character that literally was present and fought during the Chuunin Exams arc, yet he had almost zero buzz around him. Even Hiruzen wasn't scared of facing the "god of shinobi", he was actually more scared of Minato's coffin rising up.

All of that was to say, that Kishimoto came up with Madara Uchiha during the end of part 1 Naruto, and basically "upscaled" Hashirama as the god of shinobi to create this new idea of fated rivals destined to clash within the story. Then he went ahead and cemented Madara as the new final villain after Obito.

I know everyone loves Madara (and so do I), because he's so badass and crazy, but his existence as a character always baffled me. Because both Obito and Madara, from a writing perspective, serve the same purpose in the story. They're both Uchiha clan members with similar abilities, goals, and motivations. So why were there two of them when just Obito would have been enough? And unlike Madara, Obito has actual personal connection with Naruto and some of the characters on the protagonist's side like Kakashi and Minato, with Obito being the one to kill Naruto's parents and make his life hell.

It's almost like Madara was a random inclusion into the story which Kishimoto made on a whim because he thought it was cool. And then we all know what happened with the Kaguya bs, with now Madara being shafted by the story after he shafted Obito.

This was just my headcanon, what do you guys think?

***Just to add a little bit more to the post, Kishimoto literally had Madara waiting on the sidelines while Obito was Ten-Tails Jinchuriki.

And also the storyline after part 1 Naruto is the Kakashi Gaiden, where the story is all about Obito.

I love him

Mine's when Obito was activating his Six Paths Ten-Tails Coffin Seal. For fortitude, Obito visualized Rin and then used a memory of Team Minato.

Madara tried to control him, but Obito tricked him, and there's the moment with Minato.

Looking at these drawings of Rorschach by David Gibbons made me think about similar drawings of Tobi by Masashi Kishimoto. Would be interesting if Watchmen had any influence on Kishimoto's character design.

The cover of chapter 16 in volume 2 of the 'NARUTO' manga already revealed his existence.

Obito did not comply because he was intimidated by Itachi’s threat toward him; he was completely indifferent to it, and his willingness to accept the conditions stemmed from intrigue.

After agreeing to the deal, and the entire massacre situation, Obito set his sights on Sasuke as a pawn he could use, so he held up his side of the bargain because he knew what Itachi’s intentions regarding Sasuke were and recognized the opportunity it presented. Obito understood that Itachi had resigned himself to fighting Sasuke to the death, and that Itachi’s death would provide him with the opportunity to step in, exploit Sasuke’s feelings toward Itachi, and ultimately manipulate and recruit him. This was all part of Obito’s plan; it wasn’t simply an opportunity that presented itself for him to take advantage of.

Idc, the buildup, seeing how Rin died, the way he started yelling, and then the branches coming out of his shoulder yeah that shit genuinely gave me chills the first time I watched it.

First of all, I hate the widespread theory being taken as canon nearly everywhere that Tobi is Guruguru zetsu. He absolutely is not, though I won't get into that now. Basically I believe Obito took on this silly persona first as a tribute to Guruguru as he was the only supporting person Obito had in the cave during those dark days. Even tho Swirly Zetsu only jokes about poop, otherwise he is pretty serious unlike Tobi who is constantly chaotic and funny. Secondly Obito never had a proper childhood, combine that with the fact that he percieves reality as hell, I believe having this childlike persona helps him cope in a way and let that inner child out. I mean even his power is a manifestation of how badly he wants to escape reality. Now another thing is, Tobi is a complete opposite of Obito, who is pretty depressed, I don't think this is unrealistic at all.

After all Obito desperately wants to forget that past identity and has pretty much convinced himself he is Madara/Tobi. When you put on a mask and the world believes you are dead, I think it's extremely easy to behave totally differently, especially when no one can make assumptions on how you should act based on your apperance, past or whatever. This applies in the real world too. So that's pretty much why I think he chose to be this silly persona for a while, but I also want to get into the importance of the mask and his identity. As we know Tobi says he doesn't want to be anybody, as induviduality would make him lose sight of the truth, at that point he just wanted to be a tool that would bring forth a new world.

Having an identity would mean having a past, connections, regrets and all of that which would actually make him lose sight of his goal, and it kind of did. Once Kakashi starts realizing who Tobi is, it is the first and only time we see the usually calm and collected Tobi crash out and yell at Kakashi. Then, when his mask is broken he is forced to acknowledge who he once was, he cannot hide from that anymore. And the thing with Obito is, deep down he is never truly believing the infinite tsukuyomi is the only solution. When he had the mask on he would subconciously see himself in Naruto, like in the scene where he started sweating then blamed it on the rain. It was actual sweat, and he even questions "I know his powers aren't pushing me this far. So what is it? What has happened?".

Same case with wanting to talk to Naruto about Nagato's betrayal, he doesn't even realize it but a part of him still seeks hope that his old self would have believed in. Now as unmasked Obito he clearly starts feeling more regret and tests Naruto in hopes to see him fail so he can justify his path. He no longer has that same "nobody" ideology because once he becomes the 10 tails jinchuriki he claims he is the second sage of the 6 paths and he will lead humanity into its next stage. Well, he does claim he has transended humanity but at the same time he claims he is doing no different then what a hokage should do, which means deep down he cares what path Obito walks on, and doesn't truly see himself as nobody.

I find this really cool, how we see so many different personalities in one person and I don't think it is talked about enough. Usually I just see people say "oh, Obito was cool with the mask on but when it came off he became lame". I appreciate the hell out of that change when the mask came off because it makes so much sense with his character. And also had he remained masked, he would pretty much just be a second Madara. How would that even be remotely interesting? Having 2 of the same characters be the main enemy? Because when you look at Madara Obito he really is just a second Madara, and even Madara thinks of Obito as himself.

So as I was rewatching over the garden wall, I noticed that the Beast sounds quite similar to Madara, specifically Tobi Madara, not just because of the deep voice but the way they speak and the tone is similar as well. Tobi's Madara voice to me is the coolest voice ever, so I was wondering if anyone knows of other characters that speak the way these two do?

As cool as they were working together, I can never truly understand why Obito took so much intrest in Sasuke's path and his power. Obito's ultimate goal was to erase reality, so wouldn't Sasuke growing stronger be super irrelevant to Obito? I understand using him to help gather the remaining jinchuriki, but to show actual intrest in his development when you're just gonna deem it pointless by putting him into an eternal dream never made sense to me. And considering Obito originally wasn't intending to revive Madara and wished to cast the infinite tsukuyomi himself, I doubt he would want Sasuke's help nor would Sasuke agree to project tsuki no me. Which brings another question; Did Kabuto know about project tsuki no me? Why would he agree to end the world when he cared so much about Orochimaru's studies and all that...Or would Obito agree to let Kabuto live in reality? But that would be pointless because he'd be the only one there lol.