Naruto is probably, hands down, my favorite anime series out there, but what would the Naruto world be like without the Uchiha clan?  This highlight focuses on the dark Uchiha clan, their bloody history, their effect on the world of Naruto, and the psychology behind some of the most talked of characters.

I have always been a fan of dark and messed up characters, and the Uchiha clan is full of them.  I find that this makes this clan interesting and, in my opinion, makes the Naruto series a little more intriguing.  They don’t follow the rules of a typical two dimensional bad guys, but tend to be much more complicated than that.  The Uchiha clan is a huge clan, but I will only focus on the most infamous of them all: Madara Uchiha.

Warning:  For those who have not seen the anime or read the manga, spoilers are ahead.

To understand the Uchiha clan, you first must understand their bloody history.  For the Naruto storyline, it all starts with Madara Uchiha.  Madara Uchiha is the biggest badass villain in the story, and the indirect puppet master behind a majority of the tragic incidents in the story.  His will of hatred was passed on to his protege, Obito Uchiha.

But let’s step back and look at Madara as a character.  He was the eldest of five sons, and belonged to a legendary clan of ninja, who has a special ability (the Sharingan) passed down genetically.  This made them feared, unrivaled (except for one clan), and envied by many ninjas.

Madara grew up in a time of war.  He watched all of his brothers die around him, including one who was killed by Tobirama Senju.  Despite this fact, Madara put aside his issues with the Senjus, and made a pact with Hashirama Senju, Tobirama’s older brother.  Together they created a new system, the village system, and the first ninja village was made (Konohakagure).  Now this all sounds nice and neat on paper, but no one could really give up their old hatreds, especially after your younger brother was killed by your only friend’s brother.

I think this war mindset that Madara grew up in shaped his character, and his very bleak viewpoint of the world.  He believes that might and strength should rule the day not negotiation and compromise. I think Madara was of the mindset that humans will never really be able to find peace, and will always revert back to war. Add in that he was the eldest of his brothers which gives him the first born mentality and first borns tend to be natural leaders.  It’s hard for an alpha like Madara to accept the rule of another alpha (Hashirama) especially when their ideologies clash.

Hashirama believed in using negotiation and compromise to live peacefully with the other ninja villages and Madara believed that that peace will never last.  He believed in might and power conquering those who are weaker.  If Konoha is the strongest village then why should they try to work with weaker villages?  This clash of ideologies leads to the final fight between Hashirama and Madara at the valley of the end where it was believed that Hashirama killed Madara.  As we find out later, that did not happen, and Madara escaped with a bit of Hashirama’s flesh with disastrous consequences.

So he comes up with this plan, the eye of the moon plan or Tsuki No Me Kekaku, to put everyone in this illusionary world of peace that he creates.  This would ultimately make him the “god” of this new world.  The price for this illusionary peace: everyone is robbed of their free will. This would also mean that those who do not fit into his world are eliminated.  Who would actually live in his new world?

Madara is definitely a complex character and most certainly one of the most powerful ninjas in this story.  He definitely had the most interesting of abilities and his fight against the Shinobi alliance was amazing.

Video posted by MrScorpioreaper  on Youtube.

As seen in this fight, Madara possesses a vast array of abilities and weapons, and can easily take on an entire armed force on his own.  His haughty, cold nature makes you want to hate him, but his abilities and his skills make you in awe of him as well.  These are the best villains because you love and hate them at the same time.

Madara’s manipulations

One of the things that Madara is very good at doing is getting others to carry out his nefarious plans even when he is no longer alive.  This is seen most prominently in Obito Uchiha and Nagato Uzumaki.  After Madara achieved Rinnegan, he did not have the strength to use it to its full capability.  So what does he do?  He sticks it in a young boy in the hopes that that boy will one day revive him.

Obito was probably the one that Madara manipulated the most.  The worst manipulation has to be that Madara was responsible for Obito having to watch the woman he loves killed in front of him.  With a broken heart and a hatred for the world, Obito decides to help Madara enact his plan.

Through Obito so many tragedies occur.  Naruto’s parents are killed.  The Uchiha clan is ostracized and then massacred.  This led to Sasuke Uchiha going rogue and then killing his older brother.  Obito helped push a good organization, Akatsuki, to become a rogue organization.  This organization attacks every ninja village and is responsible for the destruction of the Hidden Leaf.

Destruction of the Hidden Leaf.

All of these actions eventually lead up to the Fourth Great Ninja War and so many people are killed in this war.  The only really good thing that comes from it is that the entire Shinobi world is united.

Madara’s relationships

I have often wondered about Madara’s personal life when he was working and living beside Hashirama in Konoha.  There are a lot of questions that spring up in my mind.  The first question I usually have is did he ever get married and have children?  From what I have read and seen, he didn’t, but why not?  If your clan is as powerful as it is, and many members have already died, why wouldn’t you try to keep the family line going?

And then there is an interesting thing I noticed.  When Madara was revived using the Reanimation Jutsu he fights the Allied Shinobi Alliance.  In this fight, his ally tells him that the one who carries the nine tailed fox is Naruto Uzumaki.  Now what’s interesting is Madara’s reaction to this.  He says “Uzumaki?  Mito’s clan?”  The reason why this is interesting is because he used Mito’s first name.  Uzumaki would not have been an unfamiliar name to him as the Uzumaki clan was a powerful clan in his time.  And he definitely knew Mito Uzumaki as she was Hashirama’s wife and she carried the nine tailed fox inside her. Usually, especially in Japanese culture which he seems to epitomize, using the first name means you have a personal connection to that person either because they are your closest friend, lover or family member.  Since she is neither a close friend or family member, it leaves the third option open.  This may be reading too much into what he said, but his familiarity with her is interesting.

I have often wondered if maybe the reason why he never got married (and one of the reasons why he had a rivalry with Hashirama) was because he loved Mito and she chose Hashirama.  This would have definitely inflamed his rivalry with Hashirama as he would have seen his friend and rival as getting everything that he wanted.  Hashirama had the title of Hokage, had the respect of the people, and he had Mito.

Now even if he did not espouse romantic feelings towards Mito Uzumaki, I would still see him wanting her to be on his side on matters because she was a Jinchuriki.  I almost feel like, back then, the Uzumaki clan was the third party who had an impact on decisions.  Mito was the first Jinchuriki for the nine tailed fox, Kyuubi, and since Kyuubi was such a force of nature and so powerful, whoever controlled him (and Mito) had an incredible weapon in their arsenal.  Even if Madara didn’t want Mito romantically, he may have still wanted Mito as a weapon.

And how can I talk about Mito without mentioning Hashirama himself.  Madara’s relationship with Hashirama has always been a strange and tumultuous one.

Hashirama is both his closest friend and his biggest rival.  Since they are evenly matched on the battle field and they both come from powerful clans, this makes their friendship and rivalry interesting.  In my opinion (and probably many others opinions) Madara definitely respects Hashirama.

And all of these things really make Madara a character that intrigues you.  There is a mystery behind his personality and actions.  It would be interesting if there was a spinoff about Madara and his time with Hashirama.  Overall, he is a villain you just can’t fully hate.