I've been saying it was "plausible" (i.e., consistent with what in retrospect is confirmed as foreshadowing) that Tobi was Obito for a long time now, but I never did really commit to the theory. I also thought it was plausible that he was Danzo, until he died. (I liked that theory better, actually)
I think it's a piece of Madara's chakra he left behind in case he was killed, and that it possessed Obito like Orochimaru or a bijuu might. It could be pretty epic if the Orochimaru we all knew and loved was actually a clone, and that he got his Sharingan by taking Obito's body.
The timeline for being "just" Obito doesn't fit so well, unless he ages faster (and maybe trains with Kage Bunshin) in the Kamui dimension.
"After all, I am strangely colored."
In context with the fact that Tobi has Obito's body, his leading statements about his history with Gai and Kakashi imply nothing but him being Obito (not to mention obvious metafictional evidence like the fact that the chapter where Tobi's identity is revealed is called "Uchiha Obito").
The bigger factor here is that if this person is not Uchiha Obito, in mind and body and spirit, every piece of evidence leading up to this was all just misdirection and pointless. Whoever it might be, if it wasn't him, had zero buildup and was a noncharacter in the series. All the deeply personal pathos and the connection to Kakashi and Gai are ruined if it was anyone else. I can see if he got help or possibly even if at one point Tobi was another person, but it's all but confirmed now that he is and has always been Tobi.
Some serious now: I was looking back over the past threads a little bit, and stumbled upon a post I had made wondering if there was any significance to the thing on Madara's back the first time we saw an image of him. Turns out, that thing on his back is the weird fan weapon thing that Obito has been fighting with.
Madara: http://www.mangapanda.com/93-375-15/...apter-370.html
Obito: http://www.mangapanda.com/naruto/599/15
This leads me to believe that Obito must have really met Madara at some point.
Somehow Orochimaru ties into all of this, which is why he was brought back. I'm going to say that Obito phased into Oro's hideout, and stumbled upon his experiments with resurrection and the first's DNA. Then maybe he, with Oro's help, resurrected Madara temporarily, using the first's DNA. The edo tensei was incomplete at that time, so Madara was very weak and not able to use his powers, but Obito was able to learn a bunch of stuff from him. Somewhere in that time they created the Zetsu clones, met Nagato, and started Akatsuki. Then, since the edo tensei was incomplete, it "wore off" and Madara faded away.
This could explain how Madara knew about the "other Madara" and Nagato.
Last edited by Sidnne; Fri, 08-31-2012 at 12:56 AM.
You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end each of us must work for his own improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful. -Marie Curie
Tobi implies that Madara is less than dead when fighting the Fourth, but doesn't claim to actually BE Madara at that point. I'm not sure Orochimaru was involved although as you said it seems likely since he was randomly revived from the dead at just this time. Maybe Tobi is "the man who knows everything" thanks to his contact with Madara? Maybe Madara is "the man who knows everything" and they're gonna hit him up like Tobi did? In any case it seems likely that Tobi considers himself the inheritor of Madara's legacy, either literally or figuratively.
Man who knows everything is probably the original sage or something, I forget his name. I doubt Kishi would make a suspicious deal of Tobi or Madara while they were currently fighting battles.
doesn't it have something to do with the uchiha's secret shrine. where the cat lady lives (remember that shit?)
Maybe the fan is an Uchiha relic passed down the generations that Obito just took after the clan was destroyed. We don't see him using it against Minato when the clan was alive and only see him with it when the 4th ninja war is about to begin.
What I am interested in is how Obito has not gone blind from using Kamui so much. Is kishi going to pull the old Senju cells implant story to resolve this one or leave it as a plot hole? I mean the guy uses the eye for every fight, there is no way he could see through it considering Itachi was going blind from his MS and he was younger. Even Kakashi has felt the effects of blindness creeping in from having a MS briefly.
Above all, why was he hiding his identity? He could have just gone rouge like every other ninja in Akatsuki, it wasn't as if anyone would be able to stop him. If people like Kakashi found out it would have just become another Jiraiya/Oro and Naruto/Sasuke situation...
Well yah you're right it is irrelevant if this is Obito or just a vessel, there probably we're 2 Masked men (maybe more). Madara was probably the one who attacked the village with the Kyuubi then came back and killed the Uchiha clan. The only way for the pieces of the puzzle to fit is if Madara hadn't died until very recently. I think Itachi was pretty smart and i doubt he would lie to Sasuke during their fight, and he said Madara was still alive.
But the main point of that reply was to point out that he said something, then disagreed with it several words later.
And I'm still clueless as to who the Man who knows everything is. It might be Itachi or the six paths.
It's no longer possible to argue the current Tobi is not Obito, but it's still theoretically possible that it was someone else in the past. That being said, this explanation and the backstory makes it unlikely that he was ever anyone different, as he is not claiming to be Madara in the past and his motivations line up from what we know about the current Tobi. It's possible, but very unlikely.
-Because Tobi has no reason/motivation to turn evil and attack the village. Imagine Sakura turning evil and wiping out the leaf village.
- The age for the timeline doesnt make sense. Tobi/Obito would have been 12 or 13 years old when he fought the 4th Hokage. The fact that he was one of the weakest genins around, and somehow he has enough power in 1 year to fight toe-to-toe vs. the 4th. We are also shown a full-grown adult fighting the 4th in the flashback.
- He died. Everyone knows that Kishimoto ran out of good candidates for Tobi's identity so he just pulled something outta his ass.
Basically Tobi being Obito was something people first assumed, and then realized it would be a stupid idea since timelines/logic/plot doesn't make sense, but then Kishi just said fuck you to all us readers anyway.
And how do you know this? the last time he appeared was what? 17 years ago? people change.
He was around 16 when he died, around 17 when he fought the 4th, how do you know he was a full grown adult? did you saw his face? he got too strong in a year? Kabuto infused himself with Oro cells, mastered sage techniques without clones, digged up 50+ corpses all over the continent in a matter of months.Originally Posted by February
I die a little every time i hear this one. THIS IS A COMIC BOOK!!!! A COMIC BOOK!!! ...about ninjas that not only survived near deaths experiences but actually survived death itself. Why is Tobi surviving such a huge deal?Originally Posted by February
You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end each of us must work for his own improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful. -Marie Curie
lol. Don't even bother explaining it to February. He spent years getting angry and calling people idiots every time they mentioned Obito, so now he is just mad the idiot turned out to be himself.