| Madara Uchiha | |
|---|---|
| Naruto character | |
 Madara Uchiha as drawn by Masashi Kishimoto | |
| First appearance | Naruto manga, chapter 370 |
| Created by | Masashi Kishimoto |
| Voiced by |
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| Ninja status | Rogue ninja |
Madara Uchiha (Japanese: うちは マダラ, Hepburn: Uchiha Madara) is a manga and anime character in the Naruto series created by Masashi Kishimoto. He appears for the first time in "Part II" of the manga and the Shippuden anime adaptation, and serves as the supreme antagonist of the series. He, along with its first Hokage Hashirama Senju, is one of the co-founders of Konohagakure (Japanese: 木ノ葉隠れの里, Hepburn: Konohagakure no Sato) village from the ninja world. Their power conflict over how to run the village, as well as the long-time feud between clans, leads to Madara deciding that humanity is beyond saving, and seeks to cast a genjutsu on the entire planet that will eventually annihilate humanity and turn them into numerous variants of White Zetsu, with him the sole survivor. This leads to his defection and apparent death in a battle with Hashirama; however, it is revealed later that Madara secretly survived well into elderhood, and manipulates main antagonist Obito Uchiha into laying the key for his future plans before his true death. During most of the series, Madara serves simply as a posthumous background figure while Obito uses Madara's name to create aura around himself. This changes when Kabuto Yakushi reanimates the real Madara, who eventually defies Obito and becomes the primary threat for the remainder of the series.
Kishimoto created the character to provide a strong villain in the series' final arc who would face the series' protagonist, Naruto Uzumaki. This confrontation would be different from that with previous enemies and result in more of a focus on fight scenes. Merchandise has been released in Madara's likeness, including keychains, plush dolls, and figurines. In the Japanese anime, Naoya Uchida voices Madara, while Go Inoue voices him as a child. In the English version, Neil Kaplan provides Madara's voice with Xander Mobus voicing him as a child. Critics have commented on his role as an antagonist in the series; some have placed him on top all-time anime villains lists, while others have criticized his effectiveness. Nevertheless, Madara's background was well-received for how integral his story is to the series' scenario. Madara has appeared in several pieces of Naruto media, and many Naruto video games, as well as the crossover games J-Stars Victory VS and Jump Force, have featured him as a playable character.