Was Madara revived as an old man and Kabuto altered his edo body afterward to make him young? Or was Madara revived young from the onset? After having a discussion on the matter, I'm curious as to what the whole of the base thinks. Now I think most will say he was revived young from the onset, but I'm going to try to provide evidence to the contrary and make this possibility as clear as I can.
The first and most important rule Edo Tensei is that the revived shinobi is brought back just as they were before dying. The reason this is so accepted is because this is true of every example with the exception of Madara, who was brought back in his prime. The revived shinobi also have access to all the jutsu they had while alive. How Madara was brought to that prime state is what I'm curious about.
Now some might argue that its not a concrete rule that one is revived as they were before dying, but rather the age of the DNA is what determines it. If that were true, than perhaps Kabuto obtained DNA from young Madara and used that DNA to revive him young. Unfortunately, the manga tells us that Kabuto found his dead body and used that DNA for the revival.
Knowing this, its certain the DNA used from Madara was that of his old body. So even if DNA from young Madara could bring him back young, that is certainly not the case here. So how else can Kabuto affect the age of the summon? In regard to manga evidence, there is none. Kabuto only has control of the DNA he uses for the summoning and who his sacrifice is going to be. Everything else is done automatically by the Jutsu. He even said himself that he couldn't even identity the remains of the many of the shinobi he attempted the technique on.
Based on all this, the fact that he used DNA from Madara's old body and the fact that there is no evidence Kabuto has control of the age he brings the patron back, I have to conclude that Madara was revived old and Kabuto modified his body afterward to make him young.
Now how exactly did he return Madara's youth? Its unclear but we do know he added a great deal of Senju DNA to his body. So perhaps that alone returned his youth. I can't say I have a good theory as to how it was done, but I can say that imo the evidence points to this being the case.
Extra evidence in favor of being revived old:
Thanks for reading as always and please let me know what your thoughts are on this matter. If you are a strong believer that Madara was brought back young from the start, please let me know why you believe that and if you have a theory about it, please share. Don't forget to vote in the poll!
The first and most important rule Edo Tensei is that the revived shinobi is brought back just as they were before dying. The reason this is so accepted is because this is true of every example with the exception of Madara, who was brought back in his prime. The revived shinobi also have access to all the jutsu they had while alive. How Madara was brought to that prime state is what I'm curious about.
Now some might argue that its not a concrete rule that one is revived as they were before dying, but rather the age of the DNA is what determines it. If that were true, than perhaps Kabuto obtained DNA from young Madara and used that DNA to revive him young. Unfortunately, the manga tells us that Kabuto found his dead body and used that DNA for the revival.
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Knowing this, its certain the DNA used from Madara was that of his old body. So even if DNA from young Madara could bring him back young, that is certainly not the case here. So how else can Kabuto affect the age of the summon? In regard to manga evidence, there is none. Kabuto only has control of the DNA he uses for the summoning and who his sacrifice is going to be. Everything else is done automatically by the Jutsu. He even said himself that he couldn't even identity the remains of the many of the shinobi he attempted the technique on.
Based on all this, the fact that he used DNA from Madara's old body and the fact that there is no evidence Kabuto has control of the age he brings the patron back, I have to conclude that Madara was revived old and Kabuto modified his body afterward to make him young.
Now how exactly did he return Madara's youth? Its unclear but we do know he added a great deal of Senju DNA to his body. So perhaps that alone returned his youth. I can't say I have a good theory as to how it was done, but I can say that imo the evidence points to this being the case.
Extra evidence in favor of being revived old:
In Madara's case, the rule of being revived with access to all one's jutsu helps the theory of him being revived old. The fact that Edo Madara has access to Rinnegan implies he must have been revived old because that was the only time he had access to the Jutsu. If he was initially revived young, he would not have access to it since he did not have the Rinnegan in his prime. Now one can say the extra Senju DNA Kabuto added to his edo let him re-unlock it, but Madara went literally decades without awakening it even with Senju DNA already in his body. Considering he went that long without awakening it, I find it hard to believe he awakened it mid-combat like he would have had to.
One could also argue that one cannot revert the Rinnegan once they unlock it and the fact that Madara went from 3-tomeoe to EMS to Rinnegan in battle proves he unlocked it then and there. However, there is no evidence an original Rinnegan user cannot revert it. Nagato and Obito could not revert it because they were not the original user. Perhaps Madara could, but obviously he might as well keep the Rinnegan active since he can still use all MS techniques through it.
Instead, one could say the progression Madara showed of upgrading from 3 tomoe to EMS to Rinnegan was simply for plot purposes. They could argue it was shown simply to ease us into the idea that Sharingan leads to Rinnegan. It could also be possible that when Madara was originally revived old that his eyes revered back to their initial state and he had to manually reactivate the doujutsu to its highest level.
One could also argue that one cannot revert the Rinnegan once they unlock it and the fact that Madara went from 3-tomeoe to EMS to Rinnegan in battle proves he unlocked it then and there. However, there is no evidence an original Rinnegan user cannot revert it. Nagato and Obito could not revert it because they were not the original user. Perhaps Madara could, but obviously he might as well keep the Rinnegan active since he can still use all MS techniques through it.
Instead, one could say the progression Madara showed of upgrading from 3 tomoe to EMS to Rinnegan was simply for plot purposes. They could argue it was shown simply to ease us into the idea that Sharingan leads to Rinnegan. It could also be possible that when Madara was originally revived old that his eyes revered back to their initial state and he had to manually reactivate the doujutsu to its highest level.
Thanks for reading as always and please let me know what your thoughts are on this matter. If you are a strong believer that Madara was brought back young from the start, please let me know why you believe that and if you have a theory about it, please share. Don't forget to vote in the poll!
