Episode 7 — Madara’s staged failure

The hidden information channel

Madara keeps trying to gather information. For example, in chapter 560, he asks what’s going on with the ninja alliance. Later, in chapter 561, he tries to summon the Kyūbi, and then concludes it apparently hasn’t been captured yet.

The discrepancy is, we later see, in chapter 657, that Zetsu was keeping him informed the whole time. So Madara was asking for information he, in fact, already had.

That’s our first good move: Madara isn’t gathering information. He is hiding he already has it. We see the benefits in chapter 461: as Madara seems to depend on him for information, Kabuto is comforted in the impression that he controls Madara, and the war in general.

Madara asking what’s going on… (Chapter 560.)

Trying to summon the Kyūbi. (Chapter 561.)

Despite being in contact with Zetsu. (As revealed in chapter 657.)

Kabuto believes he is controlling Madara. (Chapter 561.)

Buying time against the Gokage

Madara’s most known personality trait, is that he enjoys fighting. While there may be some truth in that persona, Madara will make great use of it.

When the five Kage gather against him, Madara claims he wants to have fun fighting them. He then toys with them for several hours, for example by letting his Mokuton clones fight without him.

This fight looks like indulgence, but it isn’t. At this point of the story, Madara still is under Kabuto’s control, but he knows, thanks to Zetsu, that Edo Itachi will soon deal with Kabuto.

Madara doesn’t want to go to the Jūbi before he can break free from Kabuto, lest Kabuto uses him to get the Jūbi for himself. So he wastes time against the Kage, pretending to enjoy the battle, while he is actually waiting for the right time to join Obito. The Kage think they are stalling Madara, but he is the one using them to buy time.

When Kabuto does get defeated, Madara performs ignorance, to keep hiding that Zetsu is keeping him informed.

Confirming the warlord persona against the Gokage. (Chapter 563.)

Buying time until Itachi defeats Kabuto. (Chapter 588.)

Acting surprised. (Chapter 590.)

After joining Obito

Let us move on to chapter 600. With Kabuto defeated, Madara does join Obito. Now, as Madara, how would you get the Jūbi from that position?

The first move Madara plays is, once again, hiding the Zetsu information channel, to give Obito a false sense of security. In chapter 601, he asks Obito where Nagato is, as if he had no idea Obito betrayed him and had Nagato killed.

How would you get the Jūbi from that position? (Chapter 600.)

Madara, again, asking for information he already has. (Chapter 601.)

Board preservation

From here, Madara has to assume Obito might get the Jūbi at first, since he currently has the Rinnegan. So the question is, should that unfortunate scenario happen, how do we recover?

The plan is, Madara needs “Jūbito” to remain beatable:

Obito’s Jūbi must remain incomplete — meaning, Naruto and Bee musn’t be captured yet. A seven-Bijū Jūbi is more manageable than a complete one.

The alliance’s most powerful ninjas (Naruto, Bee, Kakashi, Gai…) must remain alive and capable of fighting Jūbito.

At the same time, Obito mustn't die yet either, because Madara still needs him to cast Rinne Tensei eventually.

So Madara needs to preserve the board as it is until Obito absorbs the Jūbi. For that, while he claims he will capture Naruto and Bee, he is actually protecting the Jinchūriki and Obito from each other, making sure neither gets captured or killed. Madara is intentionally being ineffective, using spectacular techniques and making strong statements, without actually causing any significant damage.

Lying. (Chapter 601.)

Pretending to fight all-out. (Chapter 607.)

Shifting the alliance’s focus.

Next, Madara needs to shift the alliance away from him, and let Obito and the Jūbi appear as priority targets while he fades in the background.

For that, Madara makes himself look beatable: he gets blasted away by Gai’s Hirudora; he lets himself get cut in half by Lee…

Little by little, he is getting the alliance to think of him as a secondary problem, a loose end that can be dealt with after Obito and the Jūbi, the two main threats, are defeated.

Chapter 608: getting blasted away by Gai.

Chapter 617: getting cult in half by Lee.

Still shifting the alliance’s, and Obito's focus.

Although he pretends to be — and is, to some extent — a proud warrior, Madara isn’t above ridiculing himself if it can help his goals.

In chapter 614, he almost begs Obito to revive him. Begging is something you’d only do if you had no plan left. Madara is once again letting Obito believe he is in full control.

Later, in chapter 631, when Edo Hashirama joins the battlefield, Madara turns himself into comic relief. Hashirama tells him that he needs to stop the Jūbi first. This is exactly the reaction Madara wanted.

But Madara’s best move happens in chapter 636. Can you find it? Can you find the killer move?

Comic relief, or is it? Chapter 631.

Begging Obito, chapter 614.

Our hidden plot: Madara’s killer move

In chapter 636, Madara appears to try to force Obito to use Rinne Tensei. He fails, and Obito absorbs the Jūbi.

There’s a discrepancy with this Rinne Tensei. Had it succeeded, Madara would have been revived in a terrible position: blind, without sage mode, surrounded by enemies, with both the Edo Hokage and the alliance ready to immediately attack him.

If Madara gets revived here, he will just get killed immediately, before getting any chance to reclaim the Rinnegan. So why would Madara choose this terrible timing?

This is our hidden plot: Madara failed the Rinne Tensei on purpose. The early Rinne Tensei was not Madara’s real best chance: it was his disappearing act. What a brilliant move! After this spectacular failure, Obito gets the Jūbi, and Madara seems definitely defeated and out of options. The alliance forgets about him and targets Obito; Obito himself forgets about Madara and fights the alliance.

Madara can then fade in the background, let his enemies weaken each other, and wait for his real opportunity to strike.

Madara’s killer move: the fake Rinne Tensei attempt, chapter 636.

Madara’s plan — the finishing touch.

As planned, the alliance and Obito focus their attention on each other.

Madara then goes and fights Edo Hashirama. Eventually, he gets immobilised by the wood dragon, and seems to be losing. This, too, is part of the plan: with Hashirama apparently having him under control, the alliance doesn’t need to allocate more resources to fight Madara, and keeps focusing their efforts on Obito.

As we can see in chapter 656, Madara isn’t truly losing, as he managed to get several chakra receivers into Hashirama. Madara is ready to paralyse him if needed — which he will do later on, after getting truly revived.

From this position, Madara only needs to let Hashirama stall him, observe Obito’s battle, and wait for the best moment to strike…

Chapter 656: faking defeat.

Madara’s plan — the payoff.

Madara’s plan works perfectly: in chapter 655, after Obito’s defeat, Naruto even says that he completed forgot about him. That is not just comedy. It confirms that Madara successfully removed himself from the priority list.

Obito does get defeated, and only then does Madara — through Zetsu — has him cast Rinne Tensei. As opposed to the earlier, fake attempt, this time, the position is perfect:

With Edo Hashirama impaled with the black receivers, his Sage Mode is ready to be harvested.

The alliance’s key fighters are both exhausted, following the Obito battle, and far away from Madara. Minato and Kakashi are tending to Obito. This time, Madara can safely be revived, without any risk of getting killed before he can recover his Rinnegan.

Chapter 655: Naruto forgot about Madara.

Conclusion

As we saw in this side quest, Madara is one of the most intelligent strategists in the novel. On the surface, he looks arrogant, but after our detective investigation, it turns out he is, in fact, patient and careful enough to look arrogant.

Madara isn’t perfect though — otherwise, he would be the main antagonist. His main weakness is that he genuinely believes he is the saviour of the world, the Messiah. As a result:

He is quick to trust old scriptures.

He even trusts voices in his head. (Chapter 673.)

He doesn’t fear forces he doesn’t fully understand, such as the Jūbi, as he believes they are on his side.

When everything seems to be going too well for him, he assumes Providence is on his side, and doesn’t suspect someone might be setting him up.

For example, when Obito had trouble controlling the Jūbi, Madara didn’t realise it could mean the Jūbi was dangerous. He just assumed Obito was weak and fated to fail, and Madara himself, the true saviour, was fated to succeed. Obito could have been Madara’s test subject, but Madara didn’t take the warning.

From this point on, we will see less faillible, non-human antagonists, working our way up to Samehada. But for the moment, let us appreciate the brilliant moves Madara did play, such as the fake Rinne Tensei.