Tobi (Obito Uchiha)

"The moment people come to know love, they run the risk of carrying hate."

- Tobi

Tobi (whose original name is Obito Uchiha) is the central antagonist of the Naruto franchise and the leader of Akatsuki. He is a fallen hero from Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, who follows Madara Uchiha's goal for his own gain. Despite appearing late in the story, Tobi orchestrated the attack of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, the Massacre of the Uchiha Clan, and most of the conflict driving the story from behind the scene.

Teenage years
Obito Uchiha was born in one of the major clans of Konohagakure, the Ninja Village of the Fire Country where the story takes place, but lost his parents during his first years of life. Obito always struggled to keep up with the highly skilled ninja apprentices of his generation, let alone the very high standards of his clan. Still, he nurtured the dream to become Hokage (lord of Konoha).

Obito was named Genin (apprentice ninja) during the Third Great Ninja War. He formed a team with Kakashi Hatake, a child-prodigy who became his rival, and Rin Nohara, a young girl he fell in love with; under the tutelage of the legendary Minato Namikaze, one of the most powerful ninjas to ever live. He became Chunin (normal ninja) the same day Kakashi became Jonin (master ninja).

One fated day, Minato's team was tasked to destroy a bridge in the enemy territory. During this mission, Obito and his teammates got separated from their teacher and Rin got abducted. Disgusted by Kakashi's willingness to abandon Rin, Obito resolved to rescue her alone. However, they worked out their differences after Obito helped Kakashi to solve his personal issues, and went together to rescue their comrade. They found Rin after a short skirmish with enemy ninjas, during which Kakashi lost an eye and Obito awoke the Sharingan (his clan's eye-power).

However, one enemy caused a cave in and Obito got crushed under boulders while saving Kakashi, with the entire right side of his body being destroyed. Obito gave his remaining Sharingan to replace Kakashi's lost eye and made him promise to watch over Rin for him. Seconds later, the cave collapsed and Obito was presumed deceased and hailed as a hero.

Start of Darkness
By miracle, Obito survived long enough to be rescued by Madara Uchiha, whose underground lair was located near the collapsed cave. Madara rebuilt the destroyed half of Obito's body with a vegetal organism grown from the cells of the late First Hokage Hashirama Senju. Obito at first wanted nothing to do with Madara and trained very hard to regain his peak condition, striving to reunite with his friends, but he could not escape Madara's lair. During this time, he was watched over by Zetsu and his spiral-faced "brother" of sorts Guruguru.

One day, Zetsu warned Obito that Rin and Kakashi were surrounded by ninjas from Kirigakure (the Village Hidden in the Mist). Helped by Guruguru who attached itself to him like an armour, Obito broke free and rushed to his friends' rescue... Only to witness Rin dying by Kakashi's hand. Obito eventually learnt that she willingly chose to die, as she was made the jinchuriki (host) of Isobu, the Three Tailed Demon Turtle, so that the demon would be released upon returning to Konoha and destroy the village from the inside.

(It was later revealed that the entire situation had been staged by Madara, who wanted to break Obito's spirit to make him his successor. Madara also placed chakra receivers in the vegetal half of his body and a seal on his heart, to prevent him from stepping out of the plans he had for him and make him easier to control once he would outlive his usefulness.)

Broken with despair, Obito awoke the Mangekyo Sharingan (the second level of the Sharingan) and slaughtered the ninjas of the Mist. Obito later embraced Madara's nihilistic views and became his apprentice, taking the alias "Tobi". After Madara's death Tobi started using his name for himself, and set out to enact Madara's plan. However, he never intended to resurrect Madara as planned, wanting to do it for his own gain. The years he spent roaming the Ninja Countries would cement his belief that the world was beyond saving.

Madara's "Eye of the Moon Plan" consists in gathering the nine demonic Tailed Beasts to resurrect the Ten-Tailed Beast from which they were born and become its jinchuriki. He would then be able to project the Infinite Tsukuyomi, a reality-warping hypnosis, from the moon to unite every mind under his control. By enacting this plan, Tobi seeks to replace reality with a dream-world in which his wishes would come true.

Creation of Akatsuki
Since Madara had given the Rinnegan eyes to Nagato, Tobi approached Nagato and his friends Yahiko and Konan and, despite lukewarm first contacts, inspired them to create Akatsuki. After Yahiko's death, he manipulated Nagato's desire to change the world to gain him to his cause. Tobi remained in the shadows and made Nagato appear as Akatsuki's leader, while he was in fact its second-in-command. Under Tobi's impulse, Akatsuki became an evil organization gathering the worst renegade ninjas, bent on obtaining the Tailed Beasts at all costs.

After the Third Ninja War, the five great ninja countries started a process of disarmament, but without relinquishing their rivalry. Tobi used this to his advantage to increase Akatsuki's influence, making it appear as an elite mercenary team much less expensive and more efficient than the ninja villages, and turning it into a world power.

Puppeteer of the Mizukage
At some point in the past, Tobi came to Kirigagure and used his Sharingan to control Yagura, the fourth Mizukage (Lord of the village) and the jinchuriki of the Three-Tails, for a yet unknown purpose. Tobi made Yagura's reign nightmarish, causing Kirigakure to be nicknamed the "Village of the Bloody Mist". At some point, he revealed himself to Kisame Hoshigaki and gained his obedience.

The Uchiha Clan Massacre
Tobi planned to take control of Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, and waited for its jinchuriki Kushina Uzumaki to give birth, the moment when the seal weakens. He made quick work of Kushina's bodyguards and took Naruto (Kushina's new-born son and future protagonist) hostage, threatening to kill him if Kushina was not handed to him.

Minato Namikaze (now Naruto's father and fourth Hokage) rescued his son, but Tobi had filled the baby's blanket with explosives to drive him away. He released Kurama, enslaved him and unleashed him on Konoha. Minato caught up with him (identifying him as Madara Uchiha), fought him and forced him to flee. He was later forced to give up his life to seal Kurama within his own son (sealing part of the demon’s power in him in the process), hoping that Naruto could one day use the Fox's power to defeat Tobi.

Konoha escaped destruction but, since the Uchiha Clan wields the power to control Kurama, the entire village came to believe that they were responsible of the attack and shunned them. Then, the resentful Uchihas staged a coup d'état to take over the village. (Tobi was most likely responsible of that situation.) They chose Itachi Uchiha to infiltrate the village's spheres of influence. However, fearing that the coup would escalate into the Fourth Great Ninja War, Itachi accepted orders from the village's elders to slaughter his clan.

Itachi eventually realized that Tobi (whom he also believed to be Madara Uchiha) was behind Kurama's attack. He offered him to participate in the massacre, in exchange for a promise that he would do nothing against Konoha, and they slaughtered the clan. Yet, Itachi spared his brother Sasuke Uchiha, hoping to one day die by his hand.

Appearance
Prior to his "death", Obito looked like a thirteen-year-old teenager with black eyes and unruly black hair, wearing dark blue ninja clothing with orange trimming on his jacket, protectors on his wrists, and large orange goggles.

Tobi first appeared wearing an orange mask with spiral pattern (similar to Guruguru's face), covering his entire face save from his right eye. He wore his hair short and was clad in dark ninja clothing, with the standard Akatsuki black cloak, ornate with red clouds, which he sometimes wore as a cape. (The flashbacks during Kurama's attack and the Uchiha massacre show him with a similar mask with linear pattern and shoulder length hair.) Underneath his mask the right side of Tobi's face is heavily scarred and his right eye is sunken. Since the right side of his body is made from half-organic half-vegetal matter, his blood is similar to tree sap.

His final outfit dons a white mask covering his entire head, save from his Sharingan eye and the Rinnegan eye he took from Nagato's corpse, with a purple cloak with the Uchiha symbol on the back and Madara's war fan.

After fusing with the Ten-Tailed Beast, Tobi's becomes white-haired and grey skinned, with scales covering the right side of his body. Pointed protrusions first emerge from his back, before merging into a coat-like membrane from chest and shoulder blades. He now sports a Rinnegan marking with nine tomoes on his back, six tomoes on his chest, and two horns of unequal length on his forehead. He wears a black robe, goes shirtless and barefoot, has a circle of orbs of black chakra hovering around him, and carries a ringed monk-staff made of black chakra.

Original character
"Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash! If I'm going to be called trash either way, I'd rather break the rules!"

- Obito Uchiha's original idealistic outlook

Obito Uchiha used to be cheerful, upbeat, carefree and altruistic, caring a lot for his loved ones and always being as helpful as he could to people in need, usually old people. He was easily moved and extremely determined both to achieve his goals and to protect his friends, being willing to disregard the rules and endure his peer's scorn to do what he deemed right. Yet, he never showed it but he strived to prove his worth, and somehow resented his comrades' superior skills.

Goofy pretence
While passing as a new recruit, Tobi appears playful, happy-go-lucky and even goofy, miroring Guruguru's personality. He always regards things jokingly, approaches people casually, makes fun of his "superiors" and even sleeps while his partner is talking to him. Tobi used this persona to interact freely with people he needed to without letting anyone suspect his true role, so as to keep Akatsuki's enemies focused on everyone but him.

Real character
"There is no such thing as a victory in this world. Hope… is merely an illusion."

- Tobi

Witnessing the death of the girl he loved, and especially learning the circumstances of her death, shattered Obito's idealism, leading him to hold reality itself in bitter contempt. He regards the world as wretched, and the Ninja System as the source of all woes. He dismisses understanding and hope as irrelevant delusions and the greatest heroes as trash whose efforts ultimately prove futile. Moreover, he lost any interest in his very existence, claiming that he is no one and that his name is merely a remnant of the past he rejected. As such, he always tries to force his foes to face their own powerlessness, hammering his views with cruel taunts and breaking lectures; and is determined to break those who believe in his former ideals.

He is absolutely unable to fathom the value of a selfless sacrifice and is persuaded that the more one struggles the more one suffers in vain. Although he is utterly dedicated to his nihilistic goal, it must be noted that deep down in his subconscious, some slivers of his former personality subsist, leading him to envision what his life could have been during the final battle.

By the time the story takes place, Tobi has become cruel, ruthless, scornful and deeply selfish. He has a calm, patient and dead-serious attitude, being most often polite and easy-going but displaying scathing contempt at times. He hates being betrayed and will track down anyone who failed to honour a bargain or defected. However, he displays a real respect for his enemies, whose qualities he acknowledges, and his subordinates, helping them when in trouble and praising those who died. He honours his promises, as he never made a direct move against Konoha while Itachi Uchiha was alive. Also, he retains a bit of the laid back attitude he displayed under his goofy pretence, displaying a dry, sarcastic, sense of humour and enjoying to mess with his foes.

Tobi embraced Madara's point of view about the endless conflicts that plague the Ninja World and the history of hatred between the Uchiha and the Senju Clans, seeing it as a destiny that cannot be reversed. However, he despises Madara whom he regards as an immature egomaniac.

Although he is ready for the worst to enact his goal, what he really seeks is to return to the happy days of his teenage years, in a world without tragedies where he could be reunited with his loved ones (mostly Rin). And despite the extreme selfishness of his goal, he genuinely believes that everyone's life will be much better in a rewritten reality where all damages would be undone and where everyone's dreams would come true. As such, it can be said that his idealism is not entirely gone, yet horribly warped.

Tobi is highly intelligent and scheming (to the point that even Madara acknowledges it), being an expert strategist who devises complicated plans spanning over many years from behind the scenes. (However, he often takes risky gambits.) He is also very skilled in preparing and improvising back-up plans following the situation, to make things go in the direction he wants even when his main goal is thwarted. Moreover, he is a very skilled manipulator, able to impersonate Madara flawlessly and use the fear caused by his name to its fullest extent, and to gain the trust of those useful for his goals.

He knows how to play with people's affects and emotions, and uses half-truths and pretences of sympathy to mold people into what he wants; being able to bring the worst out of those he gained to his side and to play the Ninja World like a fiddle during years.

Powers and Abilities
Tobi is one of the most powerful fighters of the story, having abilities mirroring that of Madara himself. He has immense speed (enough to match very fast foes), strength (enough to tear off his limbs or punch through rocks with no effort), and reflexes. Also, his half-vegetal body enables him to recreate his lost limbs and grants him extreme resistance to pain. In spite of his might, Tobi almost never involves himself in battle and prefers using his powers to evade attacks, using baits to catch his foes off-guard, or devising powerful decoys to fight through.

He attacks with kunais (daggers) of all sizes, shurikens (throwing stars), giant shurikens which he can use as melee weapons, or chains which he hides for stealthy captures. He also uses Madara's signature war-fan with as much proficiency as his mentor. Madara's war-fan serves both as a spear of some sort and a shield; it is connected to a chain which can be used to swing it like a flail, and its user can channel his chakra (energy) through it to increase its sharpness, raise barriers of chakra from it, and absorb any kind of attack to reflect it back.

As an Uchiha, Tobi is a master of fire techniques but he can only uses them with his mask off: he is able to spit huge fireballs, a flurry of fire balls (in which he can hide shurikens) or powerful fire streams, which he can combine with his Sharingan powers to increase their range. He proved able to hurl a very powerful, whirling fire blast, and to raise impenetrable, fiery force-fields. Furthermore, he masters Earth techniques which he mostly uses to disappear underground for surprise attacks in quick succession.

Sharingan
Tobi wields the Sharingan (Eye of the Copy Wheel), the hereditary eye power of the Uchihas, which grants him several abilities:
 * To physically see the flow of chakra and perceive traps, illusions or hypnosis.
 * To read through movements to mimic them, and predict their outcome in order to avoid attacks. (Though the wielders remain unable to avoid movements too fast or unpredictable for them.)
 * To copy any technique (save from special powers) used by a foe to near-perfection. (Though the wielders cannot copy their foes' degree of training and mastery.)
 * To hypnotize foes, either to trap them in illusions or to control their actions. Tobi's Sharingan being powerful enough to gain complete control over Kurama.

Mangekyo Sharingan
Should Sharingan users witness the death of the one they hold dearest, they awake the Mangekyo Sharingan (kaleidoscope of hypnosis). Contrary to Madara, Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha, Tobi's Mangekyo Sharingan grants him a unique power called Kamui (Divine Majesty) which enables him to vacuum things, people and even attacks into a pocket dimension and to expel them out at will; which he uses to project stored weapons.

He can disappear in and out said dimension to teleport anywhere in the world, or next to people he knows. He can also shift himself partially or entirely into his dimension to make attacks phase through him. He combines this with his ability to read movements to nullify any attack, usually counterattacking right after. However, he can only vacuum something at contact, he cannot warp things and people when shifting out, and warping himself takes time. At full power, he can warp things and people at any range and open gateways between dimensions. He is even able to warp towards other dimensions than his own when making visual contact, although he needs outside help and it puts extreme strain on his body.

Izanagi
A spell said to mimic reality-warping powers of Hagoromo Otsutsuki, the legendary Sage of the Six Paths (the founder of Ninjutsu who defeated the Ten-Tails), which can only be used by wielders of both the Sharingan and the Mokuton. Named after the God who fathered the major Shinto Deities, Izanagi can temporarily turns its wielders into illusions to avoid attacks. Its length of action is very short and the eye which casts it turns permanently blind.

Rinnegan
Tobi replaced his left eye by Nagato's Rinnegan (Samsara Eye): the world's most powerful ability, once wielded by the Sage of the Six Paths. The Rinnegan grants mastery of the five elements (fire, water, earth, lightning, and wind) and virtually any existing normal technique. It also enables to summon the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path: the empty vessel of the Ten-Tails which has unbelievable strength and can conjure soul-absorbing dragon-spirits or devastating energy blasts. The more Tailed-Beasts it absorbs, the mightier it gets.

Finally, the Rinnegan grants seven powers:
 * Outer Path: The Rinnegan’s primary power, which grants control over the Yin and Yang (illusions and reality). It can conjure powerful energy-chains that can bind any creature and suppress their powers; or black rods that can diffuse the wielder's chakra. The wielder controls anything and anyone (dead or alive) infused with his chakra, use their powers through them, share their vision, and rig the receivers with chakra chains. At full power, the wielder can teleport, conjure mountain-sized meteors from the sky or undetectable shadows of themselves to attack remotely.
 * Deva Path: The power to attract and to repel anything, be it things people and attacks with variable force. It can also generate an orb that attracts anything around and crush it into a sphere of debris.
 * Asura Path: The power to turn the wielder's body parts into mechanized weapons, including extremely powerful chakra cannons, clusters of missiles, tentacles, and rocket-punches.
 * Animal Path: The power to summon giant beasts under the wielder's control.
 * Nakara Path: The power to summon the King of Hell, a demon able to absorb its victims' life-force, to store their soul or even resurrect them.
 * Preta Path: The power to absorb chakra either directly from the victims or to cancel attacks.
 * Human Path: The power to read the victims' thoughts and rip off their souls.

It must be noted that although Tobi displays perfect mastery of the Outer Path, he is unlikely able to use the Rinnegan to its fullest potential, as combining a stranger's eye with his own powers like he does is too taxing. He was seen using the Human Path and he can resurrect people through the Nakara Path at the cost of his life, but the fullest extent of his Rinnegan powers remains unknown.

Mokuton
Since Madara rebuilt his body with Hashirama Senju's DNA, Tobi can use his power to create and control trees, plants and wood. Tobi has displayed the abilities to grow branches from his body, which he uses like piercing weapons and javelins that can expand or sprout other branches at will, to grow tentacles-like vines to constrict his foes, to unleash a barrage of wooden stakes, and to make skyscraper-sized roots erupt from the ground.

As the Jinchuriki of the Ten-Tailed Beast
During the final battle of the Fourth Great Ninja War, Tobi is able to absorb the Ten-Tailed Beast into himself, making his power skyrocket to near-omnipotence. He becomes overwhelmingly fast and strong, being able to destroy the most potent seals like nothing, to crush the mightiest ninjas who ever lived before they can react, and to shrug off incredibly destructive attacks. He also becomes able to levitate, to conjure chakra arms from his body, to perceive Chakra the second it his gathered so as to anticipate attacks, and to distort and reshape his body to the point of overblowing himself like a sunfish or elongating his torso like a snake.

Much worse, Tobi gets complete control of the Ten-Tails' power, which is noted to be even more dangerous now that it has a host to focus it. He can cancel his enemies' techniques at contact, fire many ginormous Spheres of Destruction, and create create Truth-Seeking Spheres: orbs of black chakra described as a mix of elements and natural energy far beyond mortal capacity. Tobi's black chakra obliterates anything it touches, overcomes regenerative powers, and can be shaped to form spears, projectiles, cloth-like shields, giant hands and more. Tobi can use the Truth-Seeking Spheres to channel his powers, stick them to people, or make them explode in a devastating atomic blast. He can also turn his monk-staff into a gigantic sword. Even worse, he can restore the Ten-Tails' original form: the God Tree which he can control at will, transforming its roots to attack his foes.

He is not without weaknesses however. Since the Ten-Tailed Beast's power is based on natural energy, the ninjas who learnt to master it through the art called "Sage Mode" can use it to wound him (should they manage to bypass his defence). Also he lost control of his signature Kamui technique.

The rookie facade
Tobi is first introduced as a subordinate of Zetsu, who enters Akatsuki as a replacement for Sasori and gets partnered with Deidara. His goofy antics often get on Deidara's nerves, prompting him to retaliate with explosions. The two capture the Three Tailed Demon Turtle, before Tobi assists Deidara during his fight with Sasuke. After being thought dead in Deidara’s suicide explosion, Tobi is revealed to be the real leader of Akatsuki, who makes everyone (readers included) believe that he is Madara Uchiha. He then orders Nagato and Konan to capture Naruto in order to get his hands on Kurama.

Truth revealed
"The Uchiha Clan is a clan destined for revenge."

- Tobi

Tobi is later seen sitting on Madara's statue at the Valley of the End, reflecting on the current situation. At the same time, the legendary ninja Jiraiya begins to suspect that someone (whom he identifies as Madara) is behind Kurama's attack on Konoha. Later on, Itachi reveals to Sasuke that Tobi took part in the Uchiha massacre, before they fight to the death.

Meanwhile, Tobi intercepts Naruto's squad, who is looking for either Sasuke or Itachi, to keep them away from the battle. He plays is goofy persona and toys with them, phasing through all their attacks. Upon learning about Sasuke's victory, Tobi scornfully dismisses the Konoha ninjas while displaying his Sharingan. He then takes Sasuke away and treats his wounds. When Sasuke wakes up, Tobi introduces himself as Madara Uchiha and takes off his mask, only to be engulfed in the black fire of the spell Amaterasu. Indeed, Itachi implanted a trap into Sasuke's eyes to save him from Tobi's influence, but Tobi escapes it.

Tobi then gains Sasuke's trust by telling him about the founding of Konohagakure and Itachi's decision to slaughter his kin for the sake of peace. While Tobi tells the truth, he subtly presents it from his point of view, depicting the Senjus as untrustworthy and abusive and denying involvement in Kurama's attack.

From then on, Tobi has Sasuke trapped in his snare and though the latter claims to be using Akatsuki, Tobi uses him as a pawn and gradually turns him into a merciless criminal. Apparently he plans to sacrifice Sasuke to better use the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.

Tobi offers to lend Tailed Beasts to Sasuke and his comrades to help them in their goal, if they capture Killer Bee the jinchuriki of Gyuki the Eight Tailed Demon Ox for him. Sasuke's team seemingly succeeds and brings Killer Bee to Tobi, but it appears that they only captured a mere clone created from one of the demon's tentacles. Irked, Tobi intercepts Sasuke's team on their way to Konoha, revealing that Nagato has obliterated the village and that Danzo Shimura, one of the village's elders and the replacement Hokage, is heading to the Land of Iron for a summit of the five Kage (the lords of the five most powerful ninja villages). This makes Sasuke plan to kill Danzo.

The Five Kage Summit
Upon Tobi's orders, Zetsu guides Sasuke's team to the five Kage's gathering. He then sneaks into the meeting and reveals Sasuke's presence. While Tobi pays Naruto a visit and tells him about Sasuke's spiralling descent, Sasuke battles the Kage and their powerful bodyguards using his Mangekyo Sharingan. However, they prove far too strong for him alone and Tobi enters the fray, absorbing Sasuke into his alternate dimension.

Tobi expected Sasuke to weaken the five Kage so that he could take them hostages, but he admits this was too big a task. He then demands the Kage to hand him Killer Bee and Naruto, the last two remaining jinchurikis, threatening to use the Tailed Beasts he already owns against them if they do not comply. Upon their refusal, Tobi declares war to the five great ninja countries, plus the samurais of the Land of Iron. The Kage assume that Tobi cannot use the Tailed Beasts so easily, and that he uses this threat to make them involve the jinchurikis in the upcoming war as major military assets, and easy targets for him to capture.

Tobi later confronts Danzo, defeating and capturing his two bodyguards, and stages a battle between him and Sasuke which Sasuke wins while further falling into Tobi's corruption. As Sasuke, who has gone nearly blind due to his reckless overuse of the Mangekyo Sharingan, is confronted by his former master Kakashi Hatake and his former comrades Naruto and Sakura Haruno whom he plans to kill, Tobi reappears to take him away, stating that he stands no chance against them in his weakened state. Upon Sasuke's request, Tobi transplants Itachi's eyes on him to grant him the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.

Tobi then goes to the Land of Rain to confront Konan, planning to get Nagato's Rinnegan. He makes the mistake of underestimating his former subordinate, who uses her knowledge of his powers to drive him into a corner. She traps him in a chasm of exploding papers from which he cannot normally escape, forcing him to cast Izanagi to survive.

He then hypnotizes Konan to learn the location of Nagato's vault before killing her, and transplants a Rinnegan in his left eye-socket. (It was later revealed that even he could not wield both Rinnegans and that he hid the other away. Also, he hid no less than six White Zetsus to keep tab on Sasuke.)

The Fourth Great Ninja War
Preparing for the war, Tobi is forced into an uneasy alliance with Kabuto Yakushi, Orochimaru's successor, who blackmails him with the resurrected Madara Uchiha. Tobi is using a hundred-thousand clones of Zetsu as his military forces, to which Kabuto adds many immensely powerful ninjas that he resurrected.

Sometime later, Tobi receives a report from Kisame Hoshigaki, who faked his death following his order, to infiltrate the giant Turtle-Island where Naruto and Killer Bee have been located. He plans to invade the Turtle-Island personally but Kabuto offers to go instead. Fortunately, the Tsuchikage (lord of the Hidden Village of the Rocks) who went to protect the two jinchurikis forces Kabuto to retreat; but he manages to abduct Yamato, one of Naruto's bodyguards who masters the Mokuton, whom Tobi uses to increase the power of his Zetsu army.

Tobi later threatens to kill Kabuto if he does not tell him everything about his resurrection spell; killing one of Danzo's bodyguards to use him as a demonstration. As Kabuto departs, Tobi orders Zetsu to keep an eye on him.

When the war begins, Tobi sends his army underground to avoid detection, but the Ninja Coalition intercepts them and holds its own, sealing away many of the resurrected ninjas. He also sends Black Zetsu to capture the Lords of the ninja nations, in order to keep their powerful bodyguards away from the battlefield.

When Naruto learns about the war, he breaks away with Killer Bee and Zetsu informs Tobi of their move. Tobi then enters the fray and summons the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to deal with the coalition, while he steals two magic gourds in which two undead ninjas wielding Kurama's chakra have been sealed.

It appears that the clash between the two armies was only the first step of Tobi's strategy. Indeed, during the night, the remaining Zetsu clones use the chakra they absorbed from their opponents to transform into perfect doubles of them, going undetected and decimating the forces of the coalition from the inside, starting with the medic ninjas.

Knowing from Kisame’s report that Naruto can now sense evil intent (the only way to unmask a transformed Zetsu) he counts on this to bring him out of hiding. Even worse, he created his own version of Nagato’s Six Paths of Pain; using the reanimated corpses of six former jinchurikis and granting them their Path's respective Rinnegan power and the Sharingan, and sealing their Tailed Beasts back within them.

The following day, the real Madara Uchiha is revealed to be part of Akatsuki's undead warriors. As Madara engages a battle against the five Kage, Sasuke joins forces with an undead but independant Itachi to defeat Kabuto and lift his resurrection spell. Meanwhile, Naruto and Killer Bee challenge Tobi t.

The War's Climax
Tobi uses his Six Paths of Pain’s Tailed Beasts’ powers, combined vision and ability to anticipate their foes’ movements to gain the upper-hand. Killer Bee turns into Gyuki and levels the forest to knock out the jinchurikis and seal them, but Tobi counters him by transforming the jinchurikis into their Tailed Beasts. He then hides underground and nearly captures Naruto, only to be driven away by Kakashi Hatake and his fellow master ninja Might Guy.

Tobi has Son Goku, the Four-Tailed Demon Gorilla, swallow Naruto but the boy manages to get in contact with the demon and escapes. Naruto attempts to remove the stake used to control the Four-Tails but Tobi had rigged it with energy chains to bind him. Still, Naruto left one clone inside the demon's mouth to remove the stake from the inside, but Tobi merely seals back the freed demon into the Statue of the Outer Path. Tobi then unleashes the five other Tailed Beasts, but Naruto defeats them thanks to Kurama's power, forcing Tobi to seal them back.

After Kabuto's resurrection spell is lifted, Tobi makes the Statue swallow Gyuki's tentacle and the jar containing Kurama's chakra, to revive the Ten-Tailed Beast. He seals the Statue behind a force-field and holds his own against his four enemies without trouble. However, Kakashi discovers that he and Tobi both master the Sharingan-based spell Kamui, hinting his true identity. As Tobi attempts to talk them down, playing on Kakashi's regrets, Naruto attacks him replete with Kurama's power and forces him to warp himself into his dimensional void, where a clone of Naruto (warped there by Kakashi) manages to shatter his mask.

Right after Kakashi and Guy recognize Tobi as Obito Uchiha, Madara (who just trounced the Kage) barges in. Tobi attacks Kakashi, who is too guilt-ridden to even react, while refusing to explain his reasons and harshly insulting him. Disgusted, Naruto sends one of his clone protect his teacher, renewing Kakashi's resolve. Naruto and Killer Bee then attempt to obliterate the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path but too late, the Ten-Tailed Beast is reborn.

Resurrection of the Ten-Tails
"Feel your friends becoming cold and realize their death! Your feeble words and principles are going to be proven wrong. This is reality. This is what happens when you talk about hopes and ideals. [...] As long as you keep opposing, your friends will die one after the other. No one that acknowledges you will survive. And you always know what lies ahead of this... loneliness!"

- Tobi (after killing one of Naruto's close friends)

As Tobi and Madara take control of the Ten-Tails, which brushes off the heroes’ attacks, the Ninja Coalition barges in and traps the demon into a pit to attack the rogue Uchihas… in vain. The Ten-Tails reaches its second stage of evolution and escapes the pit, before launching Spheres of Destruction to obliterate random locations across the world, including the Coalition's Headquarters and the Intelligence Squad within. Madara suggests ending it once and for all but Tobi silences him, reminding him that he needs his cooperation to accomplish his plan (while voicing his disgust at the fact that he must sacrifice himself to revive his mentor).

Having recognized his younger self in Naruto, Tobi becomes determined to prove his point and uses the Ten Tails' power to unleash an onslaught of wooden stakes on the Coalition, causing many casualties including Neji Hyuga, one of Naruto's close friends who sacrificed his life to protect him.

Tobi harshly lectures Naruto and succeeds in breaking his spirit for a while... until Neji's cousin Hinata and Kurama put the boy back in track, stating that his life is connected to those who bet their ones on his ideals. Naruto then uses Kurama's might to empower each ninja of the Coalition, and they land a collective blow on the Ten-Tails.

Tobi and Kakashi end up in the Kamui dimension to settle their score. But Kakashi proves unable to kill his former best friend and keeps trying to redeem him, only for Tobi to reassert his staunch hatred for a world that makes everything hollow, using illusions to prove his point.

After Kakashi stabs Tobi through the heart with surprising ease, the villain escapes back to the battlefield. (It was later revealed that Tobi let Kakashi stab him to get rid of Madara's seal, which prevents him from becoming the Ten-Tails' jinchuriki.) Madara uses the chakra receivers he hid in Tobi's vegetal half to force him to resurrect him, but Tobi saw him coming and instead casts a spell to seal the Ten-Tails within him.

The four undead Hokage attempt to seal Tobi, but he effortlessly breaks through their barrier and blasts them apart. The protagonists do their best to defeat him before he can reach full control of the demon, but his power proves too overwhelming and soon the metamorphosis is complete.

Working carefully with the undead Hokages, Sasuke and Naruto strike Tobi by combining their mightiest attacks, in vain. Naruto then discovers that natural energy can harm Tobi. The Second Hokage teleports Naruto near Tobi and the boy wounds his foe with a nature-powered Ransengan attack.

Incensed, Tobi traps the entire Coalition in a force-field and prepares to obliterate them with giant Spheres of Destruction, but Naruto and Kurama reach the half of Kurama's power sealed within his father and uses it to reactivate the power boost he granted to the Coalition's ninjas tenfold; before using his father's power to teleport them out of the force-field. Unimpressed, Tobi returns the Ten-Tails to its original form: the divine God Tree from which the world was born. As soon as the God Tree's flower blooms, Tobi will be able to rewrite reality as he pleases, meaning that he must be defeated before it happens.

The God Tree kills many ninjas by draining their chakra but the Coalition still attempts to destroy it, prompting Tobi to turn the tree's roots into dragons to fight them. Meanwhile, Naruto combines Kurama's power with natural energy while Sasuke combines his Susanoo technique with Jugo's natural energy to strike Tobi, who shrugs them off. He prepares to destroy them with a gigantic sword of black chakra, but Naruto and Sasuke strike him with their mightiest attacks combined, backed up by their friends.

With help from the entire Coalition, they succeed in extracting the seven Tailed Beasts from Tobi's body, breaking his power. In the process, Naruto reaches Tobi's mind and memories and tells him that rejecting the world means betraying Rin's expectations, and that he should stop fleeing from his former self. Despite wondering what he could have become had he not came back to Madara, Tobi refuses to hold back and ends up defeated.

Kakashi emerges from the Kamui dimension and prepares to finish Tobi off, but Minato stays his hand. It is only when his former master and former best friend reach to him, stating that he helped them envision a better future that Tobi finally reconciles with his former self. Musing about Naruto's resolve being stronger than his own, he prepares to sacrifice his life to resurrect all the victims of the war.

Alas, things turn from the worst when Black Zetsu is revealed to have faked his death upon Madara's order. Zetsu possesses Tobi and forces him to resurrect Madara, before using his dying body as shell to fight Minato and Kakashi. Gaara and Sakura bring a Naruto on the verge of death, since Madara ripped Kurama out of him, to Minato, so that the other half of Kurama's power could be transferred into him. However, Black Zetsu steals Kurama's Power before Tobi manages to subdue him.

Madara, now the new jinchuriki of the Ten-Tails, attempts to talk Tobi back into his side. Fortunately, Tobi only feigns to accept and steals a part of the nine Tailed Beasts' power from Madara, before prying his Monk-staff off him. With Kakashi's help, Tobi (who restarts calling himself Obito Uchiha) sends Naruto and Sakura into the Kamui dimension before jumping there himself, while Might Guy sacrifices all his life-force to drive Madara into a corner.

Infinite Tsukuyomi
Obito saves Naruto's life by transferring the half of Kurama's power along with a part of the other Tailed Beasts' into him. Later, Naruto and Sasuke, who gained divine powers from the Sage of the Six Paths' spirit, almost defeat Madara, forcing him to steal Kakashi's Sharingan to enter the Kamui dimension. Obito asks Sakura to destroy his Rinnegan, but Madara arrives before she can do so. Obito saves Sakura from Madara’s attack, but he can no longer hold Black Zetsu, and Madara uses both Rinnegan to cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi, leaving Obito for dead.

With the entire world, save from Naruto's team (who are protected by Sasuke's Susanoo) and the undead Hokage, under his control and absorbed into the God Tree, Madara prepares to finish his foes off, but he is betrayed by Black Zetsu, who reveals that the Uchihas and the entire Ninja World had been his pawns since millennia to resurrect Kaguya Otsutsuki, the goddess of the ancient world. Kaguya then uses Madara's body as a vessel and drags the protagonists into another dimension to kill them.

As Naruto and Sasuke are holding their own against her, Kaguya ends up banishing Sasuke into a desert dimension, as they need to unite their power to defeat her. Meanwhile, Obito (who got revived by Naruto earlier and regained his two Sharingans) and Sakura manage to enter Kaguya's dimensional plane and use Obito's dimensional power to rescue Sasuke.

After everyone returns to the dimension where Naruto is battling Kaguya, she paralyzes Naruto and Sasuke by increasing gravity before firing deadly projectiles at them. However, Kakashi and Obito shield them with their bodies and Obito vanishes the projectile threatening Kakashi, sacrificing his life in the process. Obito slowly crumbles into dust, indifferent to Black Zetsu's taunts, stating that such fate is a fitting punishment for his crimes. Before dying, he thanks Naruto for redeeming him and encourages him to succeed in the battle and in his dream of becoming Hokage. Before passing on, Obito uses Kamui to somehow contact Kakashi’s spirit and grant him both of his eyes, and the immense power that goes with it.

Road to Ninja
Tobi is the primary antagonist of the semi-canonical movie Road to Ninja. He appears to Naruto and Sakura and traps them into a limited version of the Infinite Tsukuyomi, both to test it and to isolate Naruto to capture him, and get his hands on Kurama. They find themselves in an illusionary world, in which the Uchiha massacre never took place, with everyone having lived a different life and as such being radically different to the people they know.

It soon appears that in this world, Naruto’s parents are still alive while Sakura's are dead, somehow switching their life. Meanwhile, Tobi sends his spirit into the dream-world, where he gains the obedience of a young masked criminal. The masked boy later sneaks into Konoha to steal an artifact, abducts Sakura to use her as a hostage and destroys most of the village. Naruto rushes after him and destroys his mask, only to discover that it is his dream-world counterpart Menma Uzumaki.

As Menma is able to summon his counterpart of Kurama, Naruto is forced to do the same, but Tobi it is what Tobi wanted all along. Indeed, this battle would weaken the seal, enabling him to extract Kurama like he did to Naruto's mother in the real world. He then possesses Menma, who gains a Sharingan, and takes the matter in hand.

Tobi-Menma manages to hypnotize Naruto, but he is saved by Sakura before Kurama can be extracted. Naruto eventually manages to defeat Tobi-Menma thanks to one of his father's teleporters, in a similar fashion to how Minato defeated Tobi during the attack of the Nine-Tails.

Admitting defeat, Tobi breaks the spell and returns Naruto and Sakura to the real world.