As with any body of intelligent human beings, when grouped together and a topic is placed in front of them, a variety of answer and conclusions will be reached. Whether those conclusions are all in agreeance or not, is up to the consensus of the group. This happens anywhere. For example you can take a group of theologists and have them debate about a certain event in history shrouded in mystery and you are guaranteed a number of answers will be given. As long as they have some sort of truth and their answer can be reasoned with facts (sometime tinted with opinion), the answer will be acceptable.

The thought of doing just that, gathering a solid body of opinions, was reached when on three or four Wednesdays ago, the latest chapter of Naruto had dropped and the “nerd” sector of Twitter went into a frenzy. For the longest, chapter after chapter, we all believed we had it figured out. Tobi had revealed himself to Sasuke , his previous identity masked (excuse the pun) and unmapped, that he was indeed Uchiha Madara. That he’d survived all these years and was deductively mapping the destruction of the modern shinobi world to be replaced with what he called peace. We believed it, and never questioned it until Chapter 559 page 15 when we are shown an Impure World Resurrection that reasonably shocked, excuse the French, the SHIT out of Naruto fans everywhere.

That’s right That’s right I’m doing me, I’m doing me.

Thoughts were racing, minds where calculating. If THIS is Uchiha Madara…then who the hell is Tobi?



So I asked.


@DeadlyDiva

Hmmm… This is a tough one. I know people like to think Tobi is Obito, but I don’t buy it. Based on what we know of his personality via Kakashi, he doesn’t seem the type. I believe that Tobi is an Uchiha, but I’m thinking it’s one that we didn’t know about. Perhaps another survivor of the massacre with a well deserved axe to grind. I wouldn’t be surprised if Tobi were actually female…


@ImaComicNerd

When I read the chapter that proved that Madara and Tobi weren’t the same it shocked the hell out of me. Then I started thinking on something. I think Tobi may end up being someone important that was associated with the Leaf Village in the past that hasn’t been mentioned much or if at all during the manga. Someone close that realized the true power of the eye techniques and faked his death so they could move around in the shadows. I think many will start thinking of other Uchihas like Obito but we’ve seen people use Sharingan eyes that were not part of the bloodline.
Whoever it is I just hope they don’t drop the ball on this and make all the buildup be worthless.


@ActionHankBeard

Up until chapter 559 it was pretty much assumed that the man behind the mask was Madara Uchiha himself. Due to the nature of Tobi’s abilities and his extensive knowledge about the life of Madara and the history ninja world as a whole, no one really saw any reason to question if Tobi was really who he said he was. Of course that all changed with the summoning of Madara Uchiha himself onto the battlefield. After I read the chapter I took to Twitter and I had a pretty long discussion with Dennis which resulted in multiple theories. After giving it more thought, this was the theory that I came up with:

Tobi = A clone of Madara created to carry on the goals of the original Madara

There are a couple of things that lead me to this. First off the dialogue between Kabuto and Madara after he was summoned suggested that Madara somehow expected to be revived. Madara and Kabuto hinted at a secret partnership and implied that Tobi was actually a “fake”. In 564 when Naruto confronted Tobi about his identity, Tobi recalled Kabuto’s summoning demonstration and he realized that the trump card was played prematurely. This would mean that Tobi is aware that he’s a clone of the original, but it also suggests that Kabuto is using his influence over Madara to go against Tobi’s schemes since it is clear that he somehow augmented Madara’s abilities without Tobi’s knowledge. (Plus he’s always had ulterior motives from the start).

It is possible that The Rinnegan that Tobi claimed he “gave” to Nagato originally came from Madara, who awakened it before his death. At any point after that Orochimaru could have obtained his DNA which Kabuto most likely collected after his demise. This would explain how Kabuto was able to summon Madara (among other legendary nin) in the first place. What this doesn’t explain is who could’ve cloned the original Madara. I suppose it’s possible that he somehow cloned himself since we don’t know the full nature of his abilities. My guess is that the older son of the Sage of Six Paths is somehow involved and that this is all an elaborate attempt to recreate the Sage of Six Paths through Tobi.

This theory could potentially explain the following:

-Tobi’s memories as Madara and knowledge of the ninja world
-Tobi’s supposed immortality
-Tobi’s aged partial appearance (See battle with Konan)
-Nagato’s possession of the Rinnegan and coercion into the Akatsuki
-Tobi’s Moon’s Eye plan


@DrHiphop85

Okay, in between finals and trying to get my thesis published, I’ve really been thinking about the identity of Tobi. Originally, we thought he was Madara. I mean he claimed that identity and there was really nothing to say otherwise. He had knowledge of the history of the Uchiha and seemed to have intimate information about the First Hokage. Things changed when we saw Kabuto summon the actual Madara. Then we noticed that Tobi even stated, in-directly, that he isn’t Madara. So now we’re back at this place of: who the hell is Tobi? Now I believe there are three options. The first would be that Tobi is Madara’s brother, Izuna. I mean he’s someone who has been around a long time and could possibly been behind the scenes all this time and could feel a certain way towards his brother. The second option is that Tobi is a child of Uchiha and Senju blood, perhaps the son of Madara or the First Hokage. This could explain his feelings towards the Hidden Leaf Village as well. The final choice, the one I hope isn’t true, is that Tobi is a mysterious NEW character we have no see before. If so, that would be slightly a cop-out, but it’s a possibility. Those are just my picks, I’m anxious to find out who he really is soon.


@_titojohnsON

Definitely think it’s Obito, he covered his right eye alluding the fact that it was missing in my opinion, and has a similar hairstyle, chronological issues aside, and I think he somehow obtained the ability to travel time

As for me?


@BlackNerdJade

Hell, I don’t know! That’s why I asked all of them! I was completely convinced it was Uchiha and with deductive reasoning the only Uchiha I thought strong enough to control Madara would be Izuna. Then Tito up there reminded me that if we’re going to take death out of the equations that opens the playing field for a gangload of Uchiha. So the Obito theory was introduced. Soon as I find a connection between either Izuna or Obito to both Nagato and Kisame (other than the foundation of the Akatsuki), then I’ll be able to decide between the two.

A/N: BUT seeing as Masashi Kishimoto has a way of either totally surprising me (Hello, Gaara’s Mom who wasn’t the bitch they made her out to be) or pissing me off (Hinata. Jesus Hopping Christ, why are we ignoring Hinata?) When it is finally revealed we’re either going to be shocked or sitting back going “I told you so”

Anime BrainTrust, Out.

A/N: You can find and follow these good people for awesome Anime talks (and other foolishness and debauchery on their Twitters)

Every woman seriously, without hesitation or boast, believes that she is or at some point in her life desirable to the opposite sex. And I’m not talking just physical looks. If she were to present herself, flaws and all, to her love interest, in today’s society, she’d know he’d at LEAST try to have sex with her. That’s what we consider friend-zone anyway. He will at the very least have sex with me, regardless of any future thoughts of relationships. Mistake.

It is possible for men to want you purely in the friendship aspect. Although RARE, like unicorn and leprechaun rare, it does happen. He has no desire whatsoever to have sex with you, let alone be coupled with you.



It happens and you are left sitting there, frowning at the world, trying to piece together this anomaly of a situation. BUT women don’t actual believe that the conclusion we’ve been handed could be that simple. As stated before, we believe that we are desirable to the opposite sex (even if in some that belief is miniscule, it is still present) for the simple fact that we have a vagina. (Which isn’t all entirely fair to male sex; it reduces them down to sex driven narrow minded pieces of meat sans the ability to make rational decisions without the aid of their penis’s awesomely intelligent judgment.)

So when this happens, what do we do? Mope? Yeah. Muse on the derivatives that could have possibly led us down this hopeless path. Of course. Get angry? YEP, you bet your sweet ass we do. Which leads a lot of us in a deductive state of reasoning that being placed here (in the friend-zone of ALL places) was a mistake, and we have to CORRECT that mistake (because, like I’ve stated, we believe we are ALWAYS desirable to the opposite sex.) We sit back; try to find some clever way of escaping (hookshot hookshot hookshot!!!). What we fail to realize is the friend-zone is a real world parallel to the Water Temple (if you’ve never played Zelda: Ocarina of Time is calling you in breathy whispers).



The possibility of escaping that zone, that realm, that level, is close to “hard as fuck”. Not impossible, but I’m sure you’re going to give up, eject the game, and toss the controller before you actually ACHIEVE your goal. You’d know this as fact if you’ve played this game before.

You start off outside of the friend-zone, which we shall call Lake Hyrule. The water is drained in the lake (probably from his last relationship; that bitch sucked him dry.) So you approach him, like he was a shy Epona, hoping to catch a ride, catch his heart (something to that effect, you’ve got glass jars just in case.) He lets you get close (you’re singing your temptress song of mating with your ocarina -read: your cute outfits, your olfactory pleasing perfume; the subtle way you lean into his hugs, how you laugh at his jokes, the advice you give, the food you offer, the warmth you radiate. All that shit).

And you’re laying that shit on THICK. You even learned how to hold the controller properly in an effort PWN his ass in Call Of Duty.

And the MOMENT you try to hop on his ass, he bucks and throws you into the water. (Stating, he’s not ready for a relationship, he just wants to be pals, he has a lot of thinking to do, he doesn’t want to hurt you, he genuinely enjoys your friendship.)


This is apocalyptic to a woman because…as I’ve stated before…we TRULY believe we are desirable to the opposite sex. This isn’t a riddle; it’s the paradigm of truth. So as we sit, baffled with our chest wide open, trying to explain to your friends what happened….

You: Yeah, girl…he said it. He enjoyed our friendship.

Them: FRIENDSHIP? Like….friends? Wow. That’s…wow. Well…you can at least have sex with him….

You:……..

Them: NO SEX? What the fuck did you do?

You: I don’t know. I did that thing with my hair, and I wore that dress and the perfume you let me borrow. I even complimented his graphic novel collection. I-…I don’t KNOW.

You:


Them:


You want to give up. You want to take off your tunic, throw Navi into a lake of fire, (because as your best friend she should have SEEN this coming! She’s always coming out the side of her neck with advice, but speechless right now. She’s useless.) and stomp home.

But then you remember. You’re LINK. The Hero(ess) of Time. You can fix this. You’re a woman.

You don’t say NO to me.

You turn around, put on your Iron Boots (those slick leather booties you got on sale last winter), throw on your Zora Tunic (just enough cleavage to be inciting, nothing too skank) and march RIGHT into the Water Temple (thinking if I can SOLVE this, I’ll come out on the other side victorious).

WRONG

Not to say that we as women aren’t analytical enough to get out of the Water Temple (because I’ve seen men literally THROW consoles (their sanity) to the ground in an furtive attempt to escape from the Friendship Zone). It’s just that the friendship zone was built for a reason. He wants the RIGHT person to get the water medallion (his heart) and he’d rather have you helping him (Like a Sage of Light) rather than fighting for it yourself (because you’re no Ganon. trust me honey, you’re not.).

There aren’t enough arrows in your bag (late night conversations); your long shot won’t reach his target (stop touching his thigh enticingly like that); you don’t know enough songs on your Ocarina (telling him over and over again how much you guys have in common is just reinforcing the friendship); and your map is leading you in the wrong direction (hit the switch, THEN ride the wave, until you get to the top, not whatever the hell you THINK you’re supposed to do.)

This is literally the walk through to get out of the Water Temple. Apply it to your life. It’s not going to work, is it?

Your hardest enemy in the Water Temple isn’t the boss at the end (Morpha is a sack of shit water enema, and if the walls around his heart are as tough as him and he’s let you in THIS far, you don’t have to worry about being a friend much longer), it’s the simple task of fighting against yourself and your better judgment. When placed in the Water Temple, you’ll have to fight Dark Link (that’s you babe. The ”I’ve just GOT to have him :: Why doesn’t he see we’d be perfect together :: JUST HAVE SEX WITH ME! I can handle a purely physical relationship!-while thinking you can change it into something more-“ you)

This is you. On drugs.

Every move you make, Dark Link knows it and will counter it.

Dark Link is the you that’s literally YELLING “Hey! You can stop. Respect his decision. There are plenty of fishes in the sea. You’ll be okay.” And you’re just trying your DAMNDEST to get around your OWN mind, to get out. You won’t get out.

RARELY (those who have played know) you’ll get around Dark Link without having to use potions and cheat codes (I don’t know…getting him drunk. Not sure what the desperate do to get out of the Water Temple) and you’ll make your way up to the final boss, slay him and win a spot on his arm. (The Water Medallion was cool.)

BUT, more than likely, you’ll be needing to head the opposite direction OUT of the Water Temple, go back across Hyrule Field, back into Kokiri forest and lick your wounds. (Your friend Saria has a shitload of chick flicks and a cute brother named Mido who grew up to be FIONE, girl.) Just learn your lesson. Although it’s a shock and probably one of the most depressing things you’ll go through as a woman (Shit takes a hold of you like nothing else, man), you’ll know by the time you walk back out into the sunshine and in time greet him like an old friend (because he really IS a cool person) that it isn’t all THAT bad, just extremely embarrassing at first. (Because what are you supposed to do? Hug him? Hi-five him? Shoot finger guns and wink?)