Highlights

Madara Uchiha's power and intelligence made him a feared and unstoppable force in the Naruto franchise.
His defeat by Black Zetsu in the Fourth Great Shinobi World War was necessary due to his overwhelming strength.
The character's demise was a result of series creator Masashi Kishimoto writing himself into a corner with Madara's power level.

Madara Uchiha was one of the most important figures in the entire Naruto franchise, so much so that his mere existence changed the way all of shinobi society functions to this day. Throughout his many appearances on the show, he was always shown to be a character who existed on a separate tier of power from everyone else, which was a massive reason why he became as feared and unstoppable as he was.

Madara was also one of the final villains of Naruto, and he more than lived up to his reputation by essentially being a one-man army in the Fourth Great Shinobi World War. As the final battles against him raged on, it became quite clear that no one could defeat him, which eventually led to him having a rather unceremonious end in the eyes of many fans. However, with how he was built up, there was no other way for him to be defeated.

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Who Was Madara?

First Appearance	Naruto: Shippuden, Episode 130, "The Man Who Became God"
Debut Date	October 8, 2009

Born as the eldest of 5 children during the Warring States Period, Madara spent the early years of his life on the frontlines, fighting the sworn enemies of the Uchiha Clan; the Senju. Eventually, he met Hashirama and became good friends with him, also spawning a friendly rivalry between the two and, while they did not know it initially, they were both from opposing clans. However, they would find this out later.

This eventually led to Madara breaking off their friendship, a loss so great for him that it awoke his Sharingan. Over the years, both would constantly meet in battle, but every single fight ended in a stalemate due to Madara's inability to become stronger than his rival and Hashirama's continued refusal to kill someone he still considered a friend. Eventually, both of these characters would become the heads of their respective clans, an opportunity that Hashirama used to broker peace between them. Though he refused initially, Madara later accepted.

Hashirama's country was a shameful contradiction... Man seeks peace, yet at the same time yearning for war.

They would then go on to form Konohagakure and live in peace for a time after rekindling their childhood friendship. However, their ideals on how to achieve and restore peace differed greatly, and this would eventually lead to Madara defecting from the village and becoming its greatest enemy, as he attacked it on numerous occasions. Eventually, Hashirama and Madara would clash on the battlefield one final time, where the Uchiha would meet his end.

However, this all went according to his plan. Before dying, he had planted an Izanagi which ensured his resurrection, and since then, he had been planning his full return to the shinobi world. After manipulating Obito and forming the Akatsuki through a proxy, Madara eventually reincarnated into the present timeline to fulfill his goal of Eternal Tsukuyomi and achieving peace through his own means.

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Why His Defeat Had To Happen How It Did

Taking into account all of his meticulous planning and his legendary power, many believe that the way Madara met his end was contrived and simply disappointing. This claim does have merit to it, as the Ghost of the Uchiha was a character who was known throughout the world for being incredibly intelligent and astronomically powerful, so to have him killed by a sneak hit from Black Zetsu felt rushed and nonsensical.

The main reasoning for why it had to be done this way, however, is that series creator, Masashi Kishimoto, had frankly written himself into a corner with this character. This is because, upon his resurrection at the time of the Fourth Great Shinobi World War, Madara was simply too powerful. After his initial defeat at the hands of Hashirama, Madara never truly died thanks to his Izanagi, and it would eventually be revealed that upon his defeat, he stole some of Hashirama's flesh.

Because of this flesh, he awakened the Rinnegan, as well as gaining superb healing abilities that, upon making his entrance in the Fourth Great Shinobi World War, he had not only been restored to his physical prime, he had also become stronger than he ever was before. His power was now further bolstered by becoming the Jinchuriki housing the Ten Tails, as well as gaining the powerful Truth-Seeker Orbs that came from its Chakra.

At this stage in the story, Madara became, in every sense of the word, too overpowered. Though some characters managed to fare well against him, they were ultimately powerless to stop him, as his strength approached the Sage of the Six Paths himself. So, this meant that defeating him through any conventional means was just impossible.

While I walk towards my real dream, I'll enjoy fighting you.

This is why the reveal of Black Zetsu and Kaguya's plan was the only thing that could have taken Madara down. This also made for a fantastic callback in the series, as it was revealed that the Stone Tablet containing information about the Infinite Tsukuyomi, which was Madara's plan to achieve world peace, had been altered long ago by Zetsu in a plan to revive Kaguya using the forbidden technique.

By playing the role of the supposed manifestation of Madara's will, Black Zetsu had been manipulating things from the very start of the franchise, as it was actually a piece of Kaguya herself that was tasked with doing anything and everything in order to revive her. This had been a long game that was being played from the start of everything, so having this large chain of manipulation traced back to Kaguya made for quite a fitting end for Madara instead of a disappointing one.

Naruto can be streamed on Amazon Prime and Crunchyroll.