Madara Uchiha (うちはマダラ, Uchiha Madara) was the legendary leader of the Uchiha clan. He founded Konohagakure alongside his childhood friend and rival, Hashirama Senju, with the intention of beginning an era of peace. When the two couldn't agree on how to achieve that peace, they fought for control of the village, a conflict which ended in Madara's death. Madara, however, rewrote his death and went into hiding to work on his own plans. Unable to complete it in his natural life, he entrusted his knowledge and plans to Obito shortly before his actual death. Years later, Madara would be revived, only to see his plans foiled and ultimately, and finally, realising the error of his ways and making amends with Hashirama before his final death.
Personality[]
Madara's childhood was a product of the times he lived in: the constant fighting made him a perfectionist that would keep at something until he mastered it, and his triumphs on the battlefield made him very confident in his abilities and talent. Whenever one of these personality traits was challenged, as they tended to be by Hashirama, Madara's competitive streak would emerge. Madara did not mind Hashirama's influence in this regard; he believed that the only way to survive in the shinobi world was to make allies with one's enemies. His exposure to Hashirama is credited for Madara not experiencing the Uchiha's "Curse of Hatred" or at the very least, not being victimised by it as much as Izuna was and even though he claimed to have abandoned his friendship with Hashirama, Madara still held onto their friendship subconsciously. Madara's actions and beliefs were singularly focused on protecting Izuna, his only surviving brother. So long as he had Izuna, Madara was reasonable and kind, willing to make concessions for a perceived greater good. Madara changed after Izuna's death, becoming bitter towards the Senju, particularly Hashirama since he still had a brother. Embracing his clan's Curse of Hatred, he opted to die for revenge rather than compromise or forgive. Although he was briefly convinced to set aside his grief and try to replace Izuna with the collective family of Konoha, he could never shake the feeling that he was betraying Izuna's memory. The increasing isolation of himself and other Uchiha from village politics ultimately convinced him of this, causing him to fully break with any other attachments.
During his time as a Konoha shinobi, Madara did what he thought was in the village's best interests. Unlike Hashirama's compassionate methods, Madara took a merciless approach: the shinobi of Iwagakure only had purpose so long as they swore unwavering allegiance to Konoha. Since their methods were so different, Madara hated to hear Hashirama's name during diplomatic discussions.. After his defection from Konoha, Madara's priorities became centred around the Eye of the Moon Plan, manipulating countless others in order to satisfy his own goals and putting in place multiple layers of contingencies so that nobody could ever diverge from his own intentions. Despite this, Madara genuinely believed this plan would in fact, benefit the world and simply followed an "ends justifies the means" principle.
As he valued only power and possessed so much of it, Madara therefore disliked to waste it on unworthy causes or unchallenging opponents, claiming disgust when he was forced to.
Madara loved fighting above all else: the sights, the sounds, even the taste of his own blood; he felt being reincarnated deprived him of the full experience. Yet he was very disciplined in a fight, never allowing his failed plans or attacks to upset him, never letting superior numbers or power intimidate him, and always willing to do whatever must be done to gain victory. Although he sometimes imposed limitations on himself, such as not using certain techniques more than once, he was willing to "lower" himself with unbecoming tactics or excessive displays in order to change tactics and exploit advantages. He was perfectly aware of his talents and did not feign modesty, bluntly stating when he was stronger than his opponents and belittling them when they continued to defy him. Conversely, if he was proven wrong or somebody posed a legitimate challenge to him, he would admit it, and apologise for previous remarks if necessary. In addition, if such an opponent is about to die, he would show them the ultimate respect by taking the time and effort to finish them off himself, even if said person is going to die on their own. Stemming from this, he feels insulted if he knows an opponent isn't using their full power against him, even if he knows it will result in their death. He also held the Senju to a higher standard in terms of power due to his encounters with Hashirama, stating a weak Senju disgusts him more than a weak shinobi of any kind. One of the exceptions Madara makes was Hashirama. Their years of rivalry left Madara with competing feelings of respect and resentment for Hashirama. Madara considered Hashirama the only opponent worthy of his time and would postpone his own plans if it meant prolonging his time to fight with Hashirama without issue. Despite this, Madara is quite open-minded about recognising other strong individuals besides Hashirama, as when he declares Might Guy as the strongest taijutsu user he's ever faced.
Despite his prowess and intellect, Madara is not without moments of recklessness. When he was brought back to life, he showed no hesitation in absorbing Hashirama's senjutsu chakra while admitting he expected to have some difficulty controlling it due to having no prior training.
In the later years of his developing the Eye of the Moon Plan, Madara became pessimistic about human nature, believing the cycle of battle to be inescapable. He also came to believe that humanity and the world are incapable of changing from what they were in the past. He believed the current, "worthless" reality was built too much on the idea of winning and losing. For this reason he was deeply committed to his plan, so much that he would prematurely end a fight he was enjoying or kill any threat, even, reluctantly, his own clansmen, for the sake of its success. Despite this, Madara was simply acting on what he believed would benefit humanity as a whole, showing his time in Konoha did indeed influence his actions and he wasn't acting simply out of bloodlust after Izuna's death. His plan's ultimate failure deeply depressed Madara, but it made him see its errors: breaking free of his Curse of Hatred, he regretted the mistakes he had made and admitted the superiority of Hashirama's methods for peace. He and Hashirama were thus able to reconcile their friendship in the moments just before his death.
For all his ruthless and manipulative nature, Hashirama stated that Madara is still a kind man at his core.
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