Ok, so here's my theory, Madara killed himself, or had somebody else do it to him with concent of course, in order to be revived in the future (in the current shinobi war).
from what we've seen so far, and from madara's statements himself, he knew the Edo Tensei jutsu very well, the reason why he was able to release himself from it and knew the extent of the power. He said himself that he lived long after his battle with hashi. he even met nagato personally, thus, if you imagine the timeline, he had plenty of time to learn about edo tensei. when he finally understood it, he then plotted a great plan.
correct me if i am wrong, but the way i understand edo tensei, the jutsu revives the dead, restoring the apearance and the age of the body when the person died or was killed. so with that, madara after being revived and later on released himself from the jutsu, appears to be a middle aged man. which means that he died at that age.
my theory is, madara realized that he would never be able to control the shinobi world in his lifetime, he would grow old trying but would never succeed. but could do so in the future. first he had to preserve his form, probably his prime form. so he decided that he should learn edo tensei extensively, and knew that he could be revived in the future, release himself from it, and gain unlimited chakra and imortality. with his new power, everything that he failed to do during his lifetime, is now very attainable. all he had to do is have some accomplices, to continue his plans for him, and hope that eventually in the future someone would be arrogant and naive enough to learn edo tensei, and revive him.
what do you think guys. go easy on me, im new here. and this is my first post. thanks.
