Naruto: Did Obito Uchiha need to kill Konan and why did he do so? His motivations explained

Naruto has featured some of the best-written antagonists, as admitted by the legendary mangaka Eiichiro Oda once. Masashi Kishimoto's storyline of the series intricately connects each antagonist's narrative to the overarching plot.

Among these antagonists was Obito Uchiha, initially introduced as Madara Uchiha. He made a hair-close escape from death during the Third Great Ninja War, but unfortunately, he witnessed his love getting killed by his best friends, which made him lose all hope for living. He declared Earth hell, decided to live as the identity of his savior, Madara, and joined the Akatsuki.

While some Akatsuki members quit willingly, Obito remained steadfast in his allegiance. Following Naruto's victory over Pain and the disbandment of the Akatsuki, Obito pursues Nagato's Rinnegan. But was it necessary to kill Konan while doing this?

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Naruto: Explaining why Obito needed to kill Konan

Konan as seen in the anime (Image via Studio Pierrot)

Konan was Obito's last lead about knowing where Nagato's corpse was being kept, as he needed the Rinnegan to summon the Gedo Statue. But Konan was reluctant to allow someone to defile his friend's dead body, so she gave Tobi a run for his money.

As she delivered her last blow on Tobi, the latter escaped her last blow and cast a genjutsu on her, forcing her to reveal the location of Nagato. Even during her last moments, she professed her resolve that Naruto Uzumaki could change the world.

Konan as seen in the anime (Image via Studio Pierrot)

Following Pain's defeat by Naruto, Konan returned to the Hidden Rain Village with the dead bodies of Yahiko and Nagato, thus disbanding the Akatsuki. Obito took this as his cue to start working on his plan and gathered the remaining members of the Akatsuki, who were Kisame, Black Zetsu, and White Zetsu.

After sending Kisame to capture the Eight-Tails, Obito himself ventured to the Hidden Rain Village to steal Nagato's Rinnegan. He needed the Rinnegan to summon the Geto Statue, which would later become the catalyst for combining all the tailed beasts, ultimately activating the Infinite Tsukuyomi.

As soon as he entered the village, Obito was confronted by Konan, who was expecting his arrival. Without delay, he inquired about the reasons for their betrayal and the disbandment of Akatsuki. In response, Konan reaffirmed her trust in Naruto, mirroring Nagato's beliefs. After this exchange, Konan attacked Obito with her Paper Jutsu.

The first half of the fight involved Obito being unaffected by her attacks as everything passed through him. But Konan played a cheeky move on Obito and pushed him into the lake. She later split the river into two, revealing 600 billion paper bombs waiting to be exploded on Obito.

Tobi as seen in the anime (Image via Studio Pierrot)

As Konan activated them, the explosion went on for 10 minutes. After the explosion halted, Konan was struck with a pipe from behind, which was Obito, who had survived her grand scheme. He revealed that he only survived due to Izanagi, which rendered one of his Sharingan useless.

Konan still had the power to fight and push herself to the end, but Obito grabbed her by the throat, forcing her into his genjutsu. This made her reveal the location where Nagato's corpse was being kept, which led to Obtio stealing one of Nagato's eyes, as controlling both eyes could have been really hard for him.

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