Right, this post is going to outline, in detail, why I believe that Tobi is likely the Elder son of Rikudo Sennin. It's quite long, so prepare yourselves.
To begin. We know that the Sage of 6 Paths was the legendary figure who founded the arts of ninjutsu and created the ninja world. The legends describe his feat of defeating the Juubi by sealing it's power within himself and, ultimately, encasing it's body in rock with the power granted to him by the Rinnegan; this body of Earth later became to
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.
Rikudo Sennin was said to have two sons; his Eldest son was born with the sages 'eyes' and inherited his powerful chakra and spiritual energy. His Youngest son, on the other hand, was blessed with the Sage's 'body' - some of the perks he received included were powerful life force and physical energy. What's important about these two people, however, is their
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; the former believed 'might' or 'power' was the key to peace, whereas the latter maintained that peace could be achieved through love. What parallels can we draw between Tsuki no me and the Elder son's ideology? Both suggest that true peace can only be found after the use of excessive force - Tobi has started a war and intends to use the power of the Juubi in order to
forcefully suppress the Shinobi world; the eternal genjutsu is his definition of '
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'.
Something which you may also want to consider is the possibility that the Rikudo Sennin may not have actually had a wife; his sons may actually be the result of him using Banbutsu Sozo (Creation of all things). It is said that it entailed the administration of imagination, and the spiritual energy which forms the basis of Yin chakra to create shape and form from nothingness. Then, through the application of vitality, and the physical energy which forms the basis of Yang chakra, he would
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into the prior form. Supposedly, this is how the 9 Bijuu were born from the Juubi's chakra - this is merely speculation at this point though it gives us something to think about. The Sage may've created his sons imperfectly; meaning, the Elder son may've been 'born' with a fatal flaw; hatred.
Moving on. The Sage of 6 Paths, on his deathbed, was forced to choose his successor - it was his Youngest son, as he had faith that his ideology (rather than his brother's) was what the world truely needed. It was from this that, according to Tobi, the Uchiha's
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arose, since the descendants of the Elder son became the Uchiha whereas those who came from the Younger son formed the Senju clan. Bitter that his brother was chosen ahead of him, the Elder son
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, thus starting the eternal conflict between the two clans. Look at how Tobi speaks of these events; he speaks as if he experienced them first hand (ignoring the fact that he has undertook the identity of Madara Uchiha at this point in ther story). We must question how he could possibly know so much, considering shinobi such as Kakashi believed the Sage of 6 Paths to be a myth. This is a view held by even the large majority of people, seeing as they disregarded Shodai's power as mere myth since they did not believe in his legendary exploits - in the same way that they did not believe in
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power. So it's interesting to see
how much Tobi knows, and, importantly, how strongly he believes this information; first hand experience seems likely.
Tobi claimed that he is nothing other than a shadow of his former self - why is this important? Well, even while being nothing more than 'weaker version' of his earlier days, Tobi was still powerful enough to fight against Yondaime - his power even enabled him to successfully subjugate Kurama. Characters such as Fugaku, Kagami and Obito were never on that level of power, so they could not be in the position to claim they are mere shadows of their former selves. We can conclude from this statement alone that Tobi must've been, in his true form, an uber HAX character; who better than the Eldest son of the Sage of 6 Paths himself?
Let's continue to cast our minds back to the night on Naruto's birth. Tobi said something very interesting which is often overlooked, something which he directed
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. "Do you have
any idea how long i've waited for this?". I feel that this information is key in understanding who Tobi really is. Proclaiming that Tobi is Obito does not seem to fit with this statement, since Obito's death occured only around a year before this attack. Tobi speaks as if he'd waited eons in order to carry out this assault; something much more suited to a man who has been around since, not only the beginning of Konoha, but the beginning of the Uchiha clan itself. But how could the Elder son live so long? one might ask. It's very plausible that he has been using other people's bodies as vessels for some time now; passing on one's spirit is definately something we can attribute to a man who inherited the Sage's
spiritual energy. Perhaps it can be likened to the technique used by Orochimaru. What is important to note here, however, is that the Elder son may be using Obito's psuedo-Zetsu body as his current vessel, since it has now been confirmed that he is, at the very least,
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.
Another thought which would be wise not to rule is the proposition that there were, infact, two people who undertook the alias Tobi. I question why Itachi would decide to try and finish Tobi with a
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after his death (if he knew full well of Tobi's intangibilty techniques). This has lead me to believe that there is a possibility that, at different times in history, Madara Uchiha himself played the role of Tobi - it wasn't simply the Elder son at all times. Why? Itachi seemed convinced that Tobi really was Uchiha Madara, and we can see
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between him and Edo Madara interms of his hair style and posture at different points in the story. It'd also make sense that the man
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really was Uchiha Madara. It does not follow that Itachi, a genius among men, would be fooled so easily - that is to say, it does not go along with the way that Kishimoto has drawn his character. This further makes sense when we consider that Madara
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. Madara and Tobi were working together from the start; Nagato would be the young Uzumaki boy who would ultimately revive Madara (who was well past his prime and possibly dying of illness or injury).
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Tobi and Madara are aware of Tsuki no me.
Further key points we should think about are:
- Tobi claims to be 'no-one' - thus far, the Elder son is nameless.
- His infamous
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when describing whether or not Izuna willingly handed over his eyes relates to the fact that the Senju and Uchiha formed an alliance (the descendants of the very brother he formed his eternal fued with); this was not a direct response which suggests that Tobi is Izuna.
- Madara confirmed that after his brother had died all he left him was his eyes - this being during his discussion with Tsunade where she proclaimed that Shodai Hokage left her something much more valuable (his will).
- Madara seems war of
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, whilst both he and Kabuto question whether the 'fake Madara' will
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to plan. Who would have the balls to go against Madara Uchiha? Er, the guy who basically started the clan - the Elder son. Izuna is too loyal to Madara to question his authority, since he willingly gave up his eyes (his power) - all this despite knowing both he and his brother were equals in every way.
- Tobi's actions and thinking go against Obito's 'Will of Fire' personality. It also does not wholly tie in with the timeline.
I guess that's all, for now.
