Naruto: Why did Obito act differently as Tobi? Explained

Understanding why Obito's behavior changed when he took the guise of Tobi in the series (Image via Pierrot)
Understanding why Obito's behavior changed when he took the guise of Tobi in the series (Image via Pierrot)

Obito Uchiha was one of the main antagonists in the Naruto series who influenced the plot by a huge deal. Obito was in the Akatsuki and was known as Tobi. Not many people knew his true identity and his mask did a great job in concealing it. Only the Zetsu and Madara Uchiha knew about this shinobi.

Fans have been wondering why he was acting differently as Tobi. If one takes a look at Obito, they shall notice that he was quite serious. On the other hand, when looked at Tobi’s behavior, it can be said that he was quite goofy and funny. The fanbase was trying to figure out why his behavior was different. Let’s take a look at the possible reasons why this is the case in the Naruto series.

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Naruto: Why was Obito’s behavior different as Tobi

Before we get into this, let’s take a look at why Obito was known as Tobi in the Naruto series. Obito was once a shinobi of Konohagakure who aspired to become the Hokage.

He was being trained by Minato, and his teammates were Kakashi and Rin. Madara's evil schemes led to Rin becoming the Three Tail Jinchuriki. Rin saw no other option but to kill herself. She decided to throw herself in front of Kakashi and die at his hands when he was using the Chidori.

On witnessing this event, Obito thought that his own comrade killed the woman he loved and his worldview changed forever. He was lured by Madara to help him with his Infinite Tsukuyomi, which made him join Akatsuki later. Since everyone thought that Obito was dead, he introduced himself as Tobi.

However, he didn’t have to behave differently to conceal his identity, and the show didn’t really explore or answer why he behaved differently. However, there are a few theories that can explain his change of behavior in the Naruto series.

One common theory that fans came up with was that his change in behavior was due to split personality disorder. In the Naruto series, Tobi could have been the manifestation of the fun and goofy side of Obito, which he didn’t really get to showcase in the series.

He has always been a serious person with big dreams. However, he spent all of his time training to become a better shinobi. A few Naruto fans believe that this could be his way of expressing his goofy side. While this is a theory that some fans believe in, it certainly seems unlikely.

The most likely reason was to conceal his identity from the viewers. It wasn’t until later when fans realized that it was Obito, which could be the reason why he was impersonating another character even when he was alone with Zetsu. All of this could have been a clever trick that was meant to keep the audience in the dark.

That being said, there are a ton of fans who had a hunch that Obito was disguised as Tobi.

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