Madara Uchiha

Madara Uchiha (Japanese: うちは マダラ, Hepburn: Uchiha Madara) is a fictional character and one of the main antagonists in Masashi Kishimoto's manga (and anime adaptation) Naruto. He appears for the first time in "Part II" of the manga and the Shippuden anime adaptation (During the Fourth Shinobi War arc).

He, along with its first Hokage Hashirama Senju, is one of the co-founders of Konohagakure (Japanese: 木ノ葉隠れの里, Hepburn: Konohagakure no Sato) village also known as the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Their power conflict over how to run the village, as well as the long-time feud between clans, leads to Madara deciding that humanity is beyond saving and seeks to cast a genjutsu (infinite tsukuyomi) on the entire planet, however, he isn't aware that this plan will eventually annihilate humanity and turn them into numerous variants of White Zetsu. This leads to his defection and death in a battle with Hashirama; however, it is revealed later that Madara secretly revived himself, surviving well into elderhood, and manipulating Obito Uchiha into laying the key for his future plans before his true death.

During most of the series, Madara serves simply as a posthumous background and influential figure while Obito uses Madara's name to create an aura around himself. However, this changes when Kabuto Yakushi reanimates the real Madara, who eventually teams up with Obito, before betraying him and becomes a major threat until he is disposed of by Black Zetsu.

Kishimoto created the character to provide a strong villain in the series' final arc who would face the series' protagonist, Naruto Uzumaki. This confrontation would be different from that with previous enemies and result in more of a focus on fight scenes. Merchandise has been released in Madara's likeness, including keychains, plush dolls, and figurines. In the Japanese anime, Naoya Uchida voices Madara, while Go Inoue voices him as a child. In the English version, Neil Kaplan provides Madara's voice with Xander Mobus voicing him as a child. Critics have commented on his role as an antagonist in the series; some have placed him on top all-time anime villains lists, while others have criticized certain contrivances associated with his actions. Nevertheless, Madara's background was well-received for how integral his story is to the series' scenario. Madara has appeared in several pieces of Naruto media, and many Naruto video games, as well as the crossover games J-Stars Victory VS and Jump Force, have featured him as a playable character.