The Reason Behind the Mask

[CLU]

Well one thing is for sure. . He is from the Leaf village. Apparently he knows Kakashi's backstory and hinted at Kakashi and Guy actually knowing him.

 

[TheItachiUchiha]

Sadpanda please ignore the haters and trolls nice thread +rep

 

[Tobinator]

Nice, nice. Especially the Ramen stand remark. Funny stuff.

 

[Frikid]

hehehe nice xd

 

[PrakatusPrime]

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Izuna?

Could be. Theyre brothers madara and him so it would make sense for tobI to impersonate his brother and given the fact that he seems to know a lot about transplanting eyes he couldve done so on himself. Everyday I keep believing its Izuna more and more. Also, he could have faked his death.

 

[ShishaMastah420]

You sort-of just stated the obvious... but i'm sure there are people on NB who didn't think this to be obvious..

 

[Third Sage]

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Izuna?

Nice one.

 

[saaaaaadpanda]

Spoiler

Not a bad thread. But I think I saw this before... not sure.

That was good. +rep for the effort

Personally i believe that Tobi's real name is 'No One'. He said so once and said it today too

You have made a point

not bad bro

Sadpanda please ignore the haters and trolls nice thread +rep

Nice, nice. Especially the Ramen stand remark. Funny stuff.

hehehe nice xd

Thanks for the compliments/rep!

Why did he wear a mask? To hide his identity Genius :sy:

Spoiler

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No shit, clearly you didn't read the thread.

Tobi use mask because Kishi want him to do so.

Case closed, no one can answer you until the manga do

While you are correct, we can use deductive reasoning to examine the motivations.

You are so full of shit xD

You're so full of shit I bet your eyes are brown, son! jk Good thread is good, but personally I don't think Tobi is anyone overly famous.

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I remember playing some wrestling games when I was younger and when I created a wrestler, his initial name was Default. So what I'm thinking is Tobi's real name is Default because his mother couldn't think of a proper name for him, hence "No One".

Clever?

Spoiler

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Izuna?

I don't know. This isn't an identity thread.

Well one thing is for sure. . He is from the Leaf village. Apparently he knows Kakashi's backstory and hinted at Kakashi and Guy actually knowing him.

Just because Kakashi and Guy could potentially know him, doesn't mean he's from the Leaf. They know people from outside the Leaf...

You sort-of just stated the obvious... but i'm sure there are people on NB who didn't think this to be obvious..

It is obvious for those who can use deductive reasoning. However based on many of the threads I've read on the base, most people cannot. So, meh.

 

[Higekage]

Well one thing is for sure. . He is from the Leaf village. Apparently he knows Kakashi's backstory and hinted at Kakashi and Guy actually knowing him.

What I first thought when he proved he knew of Guy's character was that time when Kisame sacrificed himself to get away the intel to Akatsuki. Isn't it possible he had written details about their enemies, Guy included obviously, and Tobi had a chance to read it?
For Kakashi, well, it did seem like Tobi knew him at least quite well

 

[SilverSlick]

Well one thing is for sure. . He is from the Leaf village. Apparently he knows Kakashi's backstory and hinted at Kakashi and Guy actually knowing him.

Lol, he doesn't know his back story, just the basics like how most of his friends are dead. Tobi also knew of the Aburame clan, where and when Kushina was having her baby(Tobi's a creeper) and he also knows of a lot of jutsu(probably thanks to Zetsu). Here is my take on it. Who was the last person Kushina talked to before setting off to the secret location? Mikoto.

This leads me to believe that Tobi is definitely a Konoha Uchiha. Now the problem of where the secret location is doesn't really matter because Tobi has already shown to have some good sensing abilities, such as when he warped directly to Minato, Konan and Sasuke from unknown locations. So the problem arises of how Tobi knew when Kushina was having a baby. He must of had contact with Mikoto. He must have. The only other way was Zetsu had been spying.

Guy does forget faces, but he doesn't forget the faces of his closest friends, such as Kakashi. This leaves me to believe that Guy has seen him before but doesn't know him personally. Tobi could of meant that Guy would have just forgotten his face if he had ever shown him. Actually, that's probably what he meant.

So who could he have seen around? Possibly someone famous like what the OP thinks, but who wasn't the most famous(Izuna), or maybe a childhood friend(**** Obito and Shisui). Or, even more possible, a village elder(Kagami). Kagami kinda ties into my whole theory but we don't if he's an elder.

 

[DhattUchiha]

It's possible. I personally don't think Tobi is any derivative of Zetsu, but Zetsu could have been impersonating him at the time.

Now that does make a lot of sense.

 

[leeko]

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The Reason Behind the Mask​

Note: This is not a Tobi identity thread. I will not provide support for any specific Tobi candidates. Also, if this has been done before, please forgive me. Finally, this thread is long. If you want a concise summary without justification, see the end of the thread.

The hottest topic since Tobi's introduction has been what's behind the mask. Instead, I'm going to ask why wear the mask in the first place? The straightforward answer is to conceal his identity, but I believe we can dig a little deeper than that.

First, let's examine a close analog of Tobi, another masked villain from the Avatar series, Amon:

Spoiler

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Much like Tobi, Amon was a masked villain who incited a lot of intrigue and debate as to who he actually was. Fortunately, his identity was revealed in a single season.

Upon revealing his identity, it became clear why he had hid it in the first place. Had he revealed himself as Noatak, brother to councilman Tarrlok, he would've been exposed as a water bender, which would have dissolved his anti bending support base, pun intended. Additionally his methods for removing benders' powers would have no longer been an intimidating mystery.

Understanding this analogue, we can come to the conclusion that:
1. Tobi does not want his enemies to know his identity.
2. Tobi does not want his allies to know his identity.

But why?

It seems to me that Tobi must be a known figure in the Naruto world. That's not to say he is necessarily someone known to the readers, but he could be a legendary figure known in the Narutoverse. For example, the Gold and Silver Bros and their abilities were known around the world prior to their introduction in the story. Either way, Tobi is indeed a figure known of by living characters, and certainly by all the past members of Akatsuki.

More importantly, it seems reasonable to assume that knowledge of Tobi's identity will put him at a disadvantage, perhaps revealing some weakness. Otherwise he has little reason to conceal himself, unless he's planning on returning to a normal life working at a ramen stand if things don't work out...

Or I could be wrong and Kishi could just be a huge troll.

Concise Summary:

• There must be a reason Tobi wears a mask
• He is known personally or via legend by living characters in the Naruto world (but not necessarily known by us, the readers).
• Knowledge of Tobi's Identity will put him at some sort of disadvantage.

If I am full of shit, please let me know.

Edit:


That's a good question. There's been a lot of speculation about that. Some people have suggested that Kisame may have been put under genjutsu or some other means of concealing his true identity; considering Kisame thought Tobi was Madara, when Tobi's clearly not Madara. Otherwise, why would he be an edo right now?

ay man i liked your thread i can tell you put some thought into it ... good job

 

[Aze]

Thanks + rep

 

[nj tandi]

This is common sense but someplace people have missed it because they're too busy speculating what could be rather than looking at what already is.

 

[Thane]

I agree with you, and I have been thinking along those lines myself several times. The big question is, of course, why?

I mean, what does he have to lose? Itachi operated under his name and he was still feared. Let's just, for teh lulz, say Tobi is indeed Obito, what would change? Sure Kakashi would get upset, and Tobi wouldn't remain a MYSTERY...but does Tobi really care about his image?

 

[Jinton Spam]

He was so ugly , only Kisame would match him in uglity so he showed his face to him.

 

[Shirou Emiya]

@ the guy who said the thing about kisame he could of just used the transformation jutsu

 

[~Dream~]

eh ok...didnt really proove anthing

 

[chopstickchakra]

I've been thinking lately maybe the point behind the mask is so that the mission can continue to go despite who's leading. What easier way to keep a movement going past someones death than to hide that death behind a mask where no one notices? IF the mask and the name Tobi are being passed there would be some evidence of this right?

Tobi states that Rikudo's jutsu for becoming Jinchuriki is being passed down discreetly, by who and where? Possibly by the people who don the Tobi mask and name. Also the continual referencing of himself as "No One" by Tobi. Maybe this is not supposed to be anything misleading, when asked who are you he's saying no one person I am an embodiment of collective wills here to carry out a mission.

 

[Codex]

I've been thinking lately maybe the point behind the mask is so that the mission can continue to go despite who's leading. What easier way to keep a movement going past someones death than to hide that death behind a mask where no one notices? IF the mask and the name Tobi are being passed there would be some evidence of this right?

Tobi states that Rikudo's jutsu for becoming Jinchuriki is being passed down discreetly, by who and where? Possibly by the people who don the Tobi mask and name. Also the continual referencing of himself as "No One" by Tobi. Maybe this is not supposed to be anything misleading, when asked who are you he's saying no one person I am an embodiment of collective wills here to carry out a mission.

Interesting points, and would make a lot of sense, except...why can all these Tobi's perform the same S/T jutsu? Unless maybe the jutsu comes from that particular sharingan, which has just been passed along to the various incarnations of Tobi.

Another question of comparable importance, imo, is why, until recently, did he don such a peculiar mask, one with a single eye-hole? Surely one would not limit their vision by 50%, and eliminate depth perception, just because it looks cool. Or maybe, since this is manga. I prefer to believe there's a legitimate reason, and the best reason I can think of is the same reason Kakashi covers his eye (to elaborate, my half-@$$ed theory follows, if interested)

Spoiler

First, I'm fully aware that this directly contradicts a lot of other plausible theories, so be warned. Also, it's full of rampant speculation.

Basically, I'm thinking that Tobi is literally half Uchiha, half something else (Senju?). He's some "creation" that represents a literal attempt at reconstructing the So6P by piecing together both bloodlines. His right-side is Uchiha (at least his head), which explains why he doesn't need to cover his right sharingan. Now a lot of people use the fact that we've never seen his sharingan inactive to conclude that he's not at all Uchiha. Maybe. But most of the time his eye is hidden in the shadow of his mask, so that's a weak argument, imo. It's more likely that we've only been shown his eye when his sharingan is active. His left side is probably Senju, and is thus not naturally compatible with the sharingan. Like Kakashi, he has to cover this eye when not in use to prevent substantial chakra drain.

However, (and here's where the real speculation begins) after replacing the sharingan with the rinnegan, he has no need to cover this eye anymore. Why? Because the senju/uzumaki body is the natural/intended container for the rinnegan. This gets into another theory on how Madara died -- I think his rinnegan killed him because a pure Uchiha lacks the body necessary for sustained rinnegan use. The point is this: the rinnegan can be obtained by an Uchiha, but can only be effectively used by a Senju (or an Uchiha whose body is supplemented with Senju DNA). My guess is that Madara lacked a sufficient quantity of Hashi's DNA to use the rinnegan, and this led to his demise.

But then, why can a Senju wield the rinnegan without issue, but not the sharingan? Again, one can only speculate, but the sharingan is an evolution (some would say a de-evolution) of the rinnegan. We know the elder son inherited the sage's eyes, but his dojutsu was not the rinnegan. Rather, it was, imo, the closest thing to the rinnegan that his body could withstand. Over time, this dojutsu evolved to become better suited for this "lesser" body, ultimately producing the sharingan. Consequently, it is no longer compatible with the original (senju) body, even though the ancestral dojutsu is only compatible with a senju body.