Madara VS Aizen (2024)

Madara VS Aizen is the 154th episode of Death Battle, featuring Madara Uchiha from the Naruto series and Sōsuke Aizen from the Bleach series in a battle between manipulative illusion-casting anime villains. Madara was voiced by Nicholas Andrew Louie and Aizen was voiced by Phillip Sacramento.

Interlude

Wiz & Boomstick by Brandon Yates

Wiz: Madara Uchiha, the legendary messianic shinobi from Naruto.

Boomstick: Sōsuke Aizen, the Soul Reaper who stood upon the heavens from Bleach.

Wiz: We may dream of glory, but these two have the willpower to take it by force and claim a seat among the gods.

Boomstick: They're the biggest, baddest anime bosses around, and not even death can stop 'em. Ghost versus zombie, let's go!

We cut to Wiz and Boomstick.

Boomstick: He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick.

Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win... a Death Battle.

Madara Uchiha

Shogun Warrior by Michael Werner Maas

Wiz: Endless destruction, countless dead, a plot to conquer the planet. The ninja world was at war.

Boomstick: For the fourth time. Only one man could save humanity from itself, from beyond the grave.

Wiz: The same man who orchestrated this war in the first place, in order to end all wars forever: Madara Uchiha.

Boomstick: From birth, war was the only thing the young Madara knew, and there was no ninja he liked fightin' more than Hashirama Senju. They're basically ninja Romeo and Juliet.

Wiz: Belonging to opposing clans, Madara and Hashirama were forced to battle each other for years, all the while dreaming of a better future.

Boomstick: Their bromance eventually overcame their clans' differences and the two groups merged, creating the village of Konoha.

Wiz: But Madara wasn't satisfied with Hashirama's dream of peace through cooperation. He desired an immortal peace through total domination.

Boomstick: Everyone else thought that was crazy, so he bounced, and then he came back to wage war against the village he helped build. Oh, that didn't last long, huh?

Ninja Gremlins by Daniel Law Heath & Magnum Opus

Wiz: Madara's megalomania was perhaps fated, considering he is, in fact, the reincarnation of the demigod, Indra Ōtsutsuki, and the inheritor of his immensely powerful chakra.

Boomstick: Basically physical and spiritual energy that makes ninja magic. Madara specializes in Fire and Wood Style jutsus, which just seems irresponsible to put those together, like a gender reveal party waiting to happen.

Wiz: His wood is especially impressive, considering it's the only style of elemental jutsu that can create life.... Why are you looking at me like that?

Boomstick: Heh heh heh heh heh. Madara can even use his gunbai to absorb ninjutsu and return it right back to sender. You know you're a badass when you can take on armies with just a friggin' fan.

Wiz: Madara's torn apart hordes of ninja without breaking a sweat, taken a beating from every tailed beast at once, and even defeated the five Kage, some of the strongest shinobi in the world.

Boomstick: The Raikage's even stated to be fast enough to move at lightspeed, and even weaker ninja like Orochimaru have dodged literal photon beams.

Wiz: But Madara's greatest tool is the one born from his very bloodline: the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. These magical eyes massively enhance his perception down to the cellular level, allowing him to predict movements, see the flow of chakra, and summon the mighty Perfect Susanoo.

Boomstick: The Sharingan can also cast a genjutsu that'll trap anyone that looks at it in an illusion, and even break them out of those same illusions.

Wiz: In Sasuke's case, even ones as strong as Itachi's Tsukuyomi, which can warp your perception of time. Itachi used it on a fellow Uchiha, and made her live out her entire life in the span of one one-hundreth of one one-thousandth of one one-millionth of a second.

Boomstick: And when she died in the illusion, she died for real! If Sasuke could break out of it, Madara could too, easily.

Warrior Justice by Thomas Graham Evans

Wiz: And, after grafting some of Hashirama's cells onto himself, he not—

Boomstick: Would always have a piece of his Romeo inside him! (sniffles) This is my ship, Wiz, stop looking at me like that!

Wiz: ...He not only gained a healing factor strong enough to regenerate from having half his body vaporized, but also the terrifying Rinnegan.

Boomstick: AKA, the Big Chungus of all eye magic! The ringy eyes let Madara absorb chakra and ninjutsu, create invisible "Limbo Clones", see and remove your soul from your body, and summon giant-ass meteors! As if he needed any more f*cking powers!

Popup: While Madara has not shown all of the Six Paths abilities granted by the Rinnegan, they have been used by Nagato, who has. Therefore, he should be capable of the same.

Wiz: While the Rinnegan lacks some of the Sharingan's unique abilities, he can switch between them at will.

Popup: Given his use of hand seals, uncommon for Dōjutsu techniques, and their identical shapes and sizes, Madara likely creates meteors with chakra instead of pulling them from outer space.

Boomstick: After tearing the ninja world a new asshole, Madara was finally defeated in a climactic battle for the ages by his BFF. And thus, the life of a legendary shinobi came to an end in the arms of his one true love... OR DID IT?!

We cut to Wiz and Boomstick, where the former has a board with various pictures and notes all tacked together and linked by colored string, explaining Madara's Eye of the Moon Plan.

Wiz: (quickly and enthusiastically) Alright, this is— this is gonna get pretty crazy, but just BEAR with me! Fearing a defeat in battle, Madara set a time-delay jutsu that would posthumously rewrite reality and bring him back to life! And it worked! So Madara tricked another Uchiha, Obito, into witnessing his best friend murdering his other best friend. Then, he tasked Obito with manipulating the world into another war. Meanwhile, he gave his own Rinnegan to Nagato, with the goal of getting it back after he was brought back to life the second time with the Outer Path, (inhales) because he died again! Make sense?

Boomstick: Nah, that'll never work.

Wiz: Ha! You're right, it didn't! So Obito went out and got the Rinnegan back from Nagato's corpse, 'cause he died, then Kabuto brought Madara back to life and he got his eyes back from Obito after some backstabbing. Then he sealed the awakened Ten-Tails within himself in order to gain ultimate power, and create the world's greatest nap time EVER!! (gasps deeply) HOOOOO...!

Wiz then promptly collapses, exhausted from talking so quickly. Boomstick then glares at the camera.

Boomstick: Look what you people have done to him...

We cut back to the analysis.

I Am A Warrior (Instrumental) by Jay Manuel Cabrera, Andhika Tahta & Benjamin Michael Wood

Boomstick: You'd think Ten-Tails power would be awesome, but those dinky eight balls of doom are so lame!

Wiz: Don't let their size fool you, these Truth-Seeking Orbs are in another league. The Ten-Tails is strong enough to wipe continents off the map, and the orbs can be shaped into weapons that will completely disintegrate anything they come into contact with. Not even ninja resurrected through Edo Tensei like Minato could regenerate limbs lost to the Truth-Seeking Orbs, which means they had to erase his literal spirit itself.

Boomstick: Madara's power was so insane, he was considered comparable to the original Sage of Six Paths, the dude who helped create the friggin' Moon!

Wiz: And when Madara created meteors, they were large enough to show up against the curvature of the Earth. Measuring their size, and estimating the height at which Madara lifted them, they'd have to possess a potential energy of at least 372 petatons of TNT.

Boomstick: He was even fast enough to keep up with Eight Gates Guy, who kicked hard enough to bend space! Madara even has an attack where he hocks lightspeed loogies!

Wiz: Considering even base Madara has displayed speeds on par with light-timing ninja, we know Ten-Tails Madara would have to be significantly faster, thanks to the Ten-Tails' power.

Boomstick: With virtually no one left to oppose him, Madara's plot was finally in the endgame. He awakened the Rinne Sharingan, and with the God Tree summoned, he cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi, spreading the tree's roots across the entire planet and capturing every single person in the world. This would enslave all of humanity in an endless dream world, free of conflict forever. Peace through total domination.

Wiz: Manipulating this tree with his chakra would've involved physically spreading its roots through and around the entire Earth in mere moments. Estimating the tree's mass, and the speed at which the roots were moved, his chakra must've released an energy exceeding one yottaton of TNT.

Popup: The near-lightning speed of the God Tree's roots is consistent with them blitzing ninja like Kakashi and Kurama Chakra Mode Naruto, who could react to lightning.

Boomstick: And this was with just one jutsu! Is there a character that could possibly even touch Madara Uchiha?

Wiz: Kishimoto himself didn't even know. Madara's power was so overwhelming, the only thing that could take him down... was treachery.

Boomstick: Even the man with the magic eyes couldn't see that comin'.

Wiz: All that was left was his old friend, Hashirama, there to comfort him in his final moments.

Boomstick: Just like Romeo and Juliet! For never was there a story of more woe, than this of Hashirama and his Mada-bro... I read it in iambic pentameter.

Wiz: Is there a gas leak in here?

Madara: Now the real fun begins!

Sōsuke Aizen

My Fate by BillyBio, Niveau Zero, Violence, Frédéric Garcia & William Graziadei

Wiz: The Soul Society was in chaos. One of its leading Shinigami was set to be executed under suspicious circ*mstances. A band of humans from the living world had invaded to save her, and Sōsuke Aizen, captain of the Fifth Division of the Gotei 13, was dead. Murdered.

Boomstick: What dastardly mastermind could've been behind all this?! He'd have to be a galaxy-brained 5D chess master!

Wiz: The man responsible was, in fact... Sōsuke Aizen.

Prepare Your Gears by Andreas Ludwig & Peter Fuchs

Boomstick: Little is known about the man's past, only that he... isn't a man, uh, human man, but a Soul Reaper.

Wiz: These Shinigami are spiritual beings who ferry lost souls to the afterlife, and purify those who have turned evil in the living world.

Boomstick: They're badass anime wizard Grim Reaper swordsmen, though Aizen himself was hardly that cool. I mean, just look at those glasses. Dork.

Wiz: But this Clark Kent was harboring a secret. Aizen had spent years attempting to develop the means to ultimate power, ruining the lives of many of his colleagues via his twisted experiments.

Boomstick: Oh! So when Aizen does it, he's a supervillain, but when you do it to me it's, "Shut the hell up, Boomstick! You're under NDA and I know about the stuff you've done—"

Wiz: As a Shinigami, Aizen's body is made of Reishi, being spirit matter, and empowered by Reiryoku, being spirit energy. Entities made of Reishi are completely invisible to anyone without specific supernatural awareness, though a Shinigami's body is still tangible and can be damaged normally.

Boomstick: And with his Reiryoku energy, Aizen can create incredibly powerful blasts.

Ticket for the Ghost Train by Morgan Sansous & Sham-Tristan Makdessi

Boomstick: He's so strong, weaker beings will literally disintegrate if they get too close to him.

Wiz: This is due to his Reiatsu, a localized spiritual pressure exerted as a result of his enormous power.

Boomstick: He also knows tons of Kidō, or spells. He can create force fields, bend the light around him to make him impossible to detect, fire concentrated bolts of lightning, and absorb the energy from his surroundings to make giant-ass energy dragons.

Wiz: Perhaps his deadliest Kidō is Kurohitsugi. After an... extensive incantation, Aizen surrounds his target in an enormous black coffin that distorts space and time and tears its victims apart.

Boomstick: Aizen's plotting finally came to fruition during the invasion of the Soul Society, where he faked his death using his greatest weapon: his Zanpakutō, Kyōka Suigetsu.

Wiz: A Shinigami's Zanpakutō is a magical sword that possesses a sentient spirit. Kyōka Suigetsu gives Aizen complete control over his victim's senses the instant they lay eyes on the sword. This Complete Hypnosis traps its victims in a nearly perfect illusion that Aizen can manipulate at will, making himself virtually immune to attacks while his opponents are sitting ducks.

Boomstick: It's so strong that it kept a group of ex-Soul Reapers known as the Visored trapped for over a hundred years without them even knowin' it! It's one of the most broken powers ever and the definition of anime bullsh*t.

Wiz: But it was all worth it when he perfected his ultimate creation: the Hōgyoku, an immensely powerful reality-warping device that, quote, "materializes the user's wishes."

Popup: Although the Hōgyoku itself has no explicit limits, the amount of power it grants to the person is dictated by the wielder's will. The moment their will falters, the Hōgyoku will reject the wielder.

Boomstick: In Aizen's case, it realized his desire to become the strongest being in the universe. With it, he can heal any of his wounds, even when half his body is vaporized. And more importantly, it exponentially increases his power over time through evolution, by turning him into a horrifying butterfly monster man.

Wiz: A being eventually strong enough to dethrone and replace the Soul King, the deity that controls the cosmic balance. Even a minor disruption of the Soul King's influence led to the three worlds of Earth, the Soul Society, and Hueco Mundo to start physically collapsing.

Boomstick: That'd imply that the Soul King has to be outputting enough energy to hold all these places together at all times!

Wiz: Considering each should be roughly the same size, this would require an energy of over 140 zettatons of TNT.

Popup: The only souls we see in the Living World are those from Earth. Since Soul Society and Hueco Mundo are meant to be home to the souls of the dead, it's safe to assume they're the same size as Earth.

Boomstick: Aizen is powerful enough to vaporize mountains as a side-effect of a sword swing. His casual energy blasts can disintegrate huge chunks of the Earth, and he can take on armies with just his Reiatsu alone!

Wiz: He even defeated the rest of the Gotei 13 without so much as breaking a sweat.

Boomstick: So, he should be way stronger than Soul Society heavy-hitters like Kenpachi, who sliced this 120 kilometer wide asteroid to pieces!

Popup: The asteroid's size was calculated by comparing it to the Shakonmaku, a barrier that covers all of Seireitei, which has had 30% of its size stated to be 200 li, or 100 km; thus making it's total size 333 km.

Wiz: That's roughly the width of Great Britain! An asteroid of this size would have to carry a kinetic energy of at least 44 petatons of TNT!

Boomstick: And Aizen was so badass, he literally transcended other Shinigami in power. He was in a whole other dimension from the rest of 'em!

Wiz: Until he fought Ichigo Kurosaki.

Boomstick: The battle we've all been waitin' for! Way before this in the Soul Society Arc, Ichigo was already as fast as lightning. And by this point, after all his power boosts, he'd even be faster than light! Hell, even weaker characters like this lady can dodge light beams!

Wiz: Though their fight was epic, Ichigo had transcended the Shinigami as well, and even Aizen himself. Feeding upon his insecurities, the Hōgyoku abandoned Aizen, who was quickly defeated and imprisoned within the bottommost level of the Soul Society's prison. Aizen was left alone. His great power he sacrificed so much to achieve was gone forever.

Boomstick: ...Or was it?

We cut to Wiz and Boomstick.

Ego Trap by Tony F. Fiala, Frank Matthew LeBrun IV & Adam E. McLeod

Boomstick: Somehow, he ended up getting even stronger than before! But what made him so strong? Could it be... THE CHAIR?!

Wiz: It's not the chair. It could theoretically be due to the chair's restraints keeping his Reiatsu from properly releasing, building it up within him until he was stronger in base than he was at his previous max.

Boomstick: Nah, it's definitely the chair. And, ooh, since the chair could still hold him after he got stronger, wouldn't that make it even stronger than him?! Even stronger than the SOUL KING?! All hail the mighty Chair-sama! Most powerful being in all of Bleach!

He salutes to the chair as Wiz facepalms. We cut back to the analysis.

Boomstick: He even managed to hold his own against the Quincy warlord Yhwach, who absorbed the power of the Soul King himself! He even used Kyōka Suigetsu to trick him, and Yhwach is a dude who can literally see every possible future all at the same time. All according to keikaku, bitches!

Wiz: And after standing among the gods themselves, Aizen returned to captivity and pondered the meaning of his existence.

Boomstick: Even trapped in a prison sealed off in a different dimension with a 20,000-year sentence, he remains the most dangerous being in the world.

Wiz: Who knows what schemes are brewing behind those cold, calculating eyes. No compassion, no empathy, only the drive for power.

Aizen: No one has ever stood at the top. Neither you, nor me. From now on, I alone will stand at the top.

Prelude

Death Battle

Hollow Dreams by Brandon Yates

A massive blaze erupts in a desert. In the middle of the now subsiding inferno, the former Captain of the 5th Division, Sōsuke Aizen, is recovering from the attack. From the outside of the ring of flames enters the legendary ninja Madara Uchiha, keenly aware of Aizen's presence.

Aizen: Huh? You can see me?

Madara: I can see everything.

Amused by his opponent's capabilities, Aizen discards his glasses, slicks his hair back and unsheathes his Zanpakutō, Kyōka Suigetsu. Using Shunpo, he dashes forward rapidly before disappearing from Madara's sight. As Madara casts his Sharingan around, attempting to discern his location, Aizen reappears behind him.

Aizen: Did you see that?

Surprised, Madara leaps away and pulls out his gunbai just as Aizen advances on him with Kyōka Suigetsu. The shinobi and Shinigami briefly clash in the air before taking their fight back to the ground. The two clash multiple times before locking weapons. Madara takes advantage of the stalemate to summon Wood Style pillars from the ground. One manages to hit Aizen, knocking him back, but he effortlessly evades three more.

Slashing through the summoned pillars, Aizen charges at Madara who jumps to avoid him. Aizen dodges yet another pillar summoned from behind before blocking Madara's attempted follow-up. He leaps into the air once more, landing on one of his pillars and boosting himself back towards his foe. He summons the ribcage and arm of his Susanoo, before throwing a massive punch at the seemingly stationary Aizen.

Madara: Drown in despair!

However, the arm shatters immediately, shocking Madara. He is suddenly stabbed from behind by Aizen, and is sent into the air where he is dismembered quickly, unable to defend himself as he had dropped his gunbai. As a head and torso alone, he is stabbed through the chest by Aizen once again. He brushes blood off his coat and taunts his opponent, assured of his victory.

Aizen: I would expect nothing more... from a human.

The angered Madara's eyes switch from the Rinnegan to the Sharingan, shattering Kyōka Suigetsu's hypnotic illusion, revealing that Madara had actually not been dismembered. As Aizen looks around in realization of his Zanpakutō's ability being broken through, Madara takes advantage of the opening to headbutt him. He then summons his Susanoo's ribcage and arm to attack again, this time successfully smashing his opponent into the ground. Landing safely, Madara insults Aizen's illusion.

Madara: Hmph. Mere parlor tricks!

Aizen: Don't get so full of yourself!

In a burst of energy, Aizen reveals his Fourth Fusion transformation. He lets out a powerful slash towards Madara which destroys a majority of his wood pillars and the battlefield, sending him backwards. He then brings his sword down onto the ground, releasing a massive tremor towards him. Madara, however, jumps to avoid it and belches a Fireball Jutsu towards Aizen, who uses Bakudō #81: Dankū to create a force field that effortlessly blocks it. As Madara looks on after his attempt, Aizen announces his next attack.

Aizen: Hadō #90: Kurohitsugi!

Madara, upon realizing he is about to be enclosed in a black coffin, summons his Susanoo to defend himself. Before Aizen can set off the attack, the Hadō explodes, and he bears witness to the Ten-Tails as it roars and observes its surroundings. Shortly afterwards, it gets sealed into Madara, turning him into the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki.

Madara smirks in amusem*nt and summons a meteor from behind Aizen, then charges towards him with an arm outstretched. Creating a barrier to protect himself, Aizen smirks arrogantly before being stunned as Madara absorbs it and grabs him by the throat, slamming him into the ground twice before throwing him towards the meteor. Recovering, Aizen cuts the meteor in half, only for it to explode and turn into a group of smaller but equally dangerous meteors.

Angrily, Aizen attacks Madara again. The two clash through the field of meteors, until Aizen cuts another large meteor in half to create a smokescreen to transform to his Final Fusion form. He then shoots an energy blast to Madara, who attempts to block it with his Truth-Seeking Balls. After being sent back, Madara unleashes his Perfect Susanoo and attacks. Aizen retreats to a distance away while dodging attacks and uses a barrage of fireballs to slow Madara down, to no avail. Once he gets a fair distance however, he uses another Hadō.

Aizen: Hadō #99: Goryūtenmetsu!

Five dragons appear and charge at Madara, who sends out several of his Limbo Clones. The two groups clash until only one dragon is left. It charges at the Susanoo, only to be stopped when it is grabbed by the neck. Madara then jumps from his Susanoo avatar onto the dragon, sliding along its back whilst stabbing his staff into it.

Madara: I love it! The thrill of battle, the pounding of my heart, the taste of my own blood. I LOVE IT!!

Jumping off the now destroyed energy dragon, Madara, with his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan activated, laughs in manic joy along with his two surviving Limbo Clones as they fly and charge at Aizen, who is also laughing in excitement over their battle as he uses Fragor and charges up dark energy from his wings. The two collide and make a gigantic explosion that destroys one of the meteor fragments. Madara, who is limbless and falling, looks to see that his opponent is also falling but has been blasted to bloody pieces. Believing he has won the battle, Madara laughs as he compliments his opponent's tactics...

Madara: Hahahaha, you almost had me there, you tricky bastard!

...before being impaled from behind through the chest by the arm of Sōsuke Aizen.

Aizen: Nothing escapes my illusions, human.

True to Aizen's words, the remains that were falling become gray and crumble upon hitting the ground, revealed to be an illusion created from rubble. Aizen charges up one final attack right where he and Madara are.

Aizen: Know your place.

Utilizing Ultrafragor, Aizen summons a large blinding pillar of purple light that vaporizes a screaming Madara. After the attack dies down, Aizen lets out a laugh of victory, only for his eyes to take on the Sharingan's appearance as a result of Madara previously activating his Sharingan, revealing that Aizen, who had thought that Madara fell victim to his mental illusions, had ironically been trapped in an illusion himself by Madara.

Aizen falls backwards helplessly as a Limbo Clone emerges from his body and sends its Truth-Seeking Orbs after him, which destroys his body piece by piece and leaves his head to fall towards one final orb. It materializes into a shakujō to pierce Aizen's skull, with the staff's own head appearing soon after to pop his head into a bloody burst. Madara, who is holding the staff, lets out a sigh of content.

Madara: What a wonderful dance.

He then watches in silence as his meteor storm showers the battlefield in explosions, with his opponent's leg and wing left bleeding on the ground next to him as the screen cuts to black.

Results

Hollow Dreams by Brandon Yates

We cut to Wiz and Boomstick.

Boomstick: Of course Madara won! He fake died twice for his 5D chess plan, while Aizen only fake died once.

Wiz: Aizen and Madara were extremely evenly matched in raw power and speed. By our calculations, Madara spreading the God Tree's roots with his chakra was about seven times more powerful than the best that Aizen could scale to with his Reiryoku. And both ended up being roughly as fast as each other.

Boomstick: While there are a range of possible feats and numbers to go in to determine their limits, the point is they're always going to be close to even.

We cut to the post-analysis.

Wiz: Which means the main thing that mattered here were their powers and how they countered each other. Madara's enormous variety of abilities eventually overwhelmed Aizen.

Boomstick: While Soul Reapers like Aizen may be invisible to regular people, the Rinnegan allowed Madara to see invisible spiritual beings like his own Limbo Clones. Hell, the Rinnegan lets you see and remove human souls, and that's exactly what a Soul Reaper is.

Popup: Truth-Seeking Balls were stated to prevent Edo Tensei from regenerating because they nullified the jutsu, and given the similarities between chakra and Reiryoku and the fact that Minato's soul was damaged even after the jutsu was released, Aizen would react the same way.

Wiz: Both chakra and Reiryoku utilized spirit energy and operated in similar ways, being formed into attacks like ninjutsu and Kidō. That meant that Madara's ability to absorb ninjutsu allowed him to nullify the vast majority of Aizen's ranged attacks and even dispel his force fields.

Boomstick: And despite how OP Aizen's Complete Hypnosis was, Sharingan users can break out of illusions no sweat, even ones as powerful as Itachi's Tsukuyomi. And since Madara can switch between the Rinnegan and the Sharingan at will, he'd be able to break out of an illusion any time he wanted.

Wiz: Aizen's illusions are nearly perfect, but fellow captain Unohana was able to subconsciously notice its flaws. With an eye as perceptive as the Sharingan, which can spot imperfections in genjutsus all the time, it was only inevitable that Madara would be able to quickly break out.

Boomstick: However, the same couldn't be said for Aizen, who never showed any resistance to the kind of mental illusions Madara can create.

Wiz: Even setting illusions aside, the sheer quantity of offensive options at Madara's disposal, whether it be his clones, meteors, or monsters summoned by the Rinnegan, kept Aizen constantly on the backfoot.

Boomstick: But none of that mattered if they couldn't kill each other, and both had pretty insane healing factors that could recover from just about anything... except for those pesky eight balls of doom.

Wiz: Madara's Truth-Seeking Orbs were capable of completely, molecularly annihilating spiritual beings and preventing them from regenerating. And again, Aizen was a spiritual being.

Popup: Since characters much weaker than Madara and Aizen perform lightspeed feats, they would likely end up much faster. However, based on further calculations, they'd still upscale to roughly the same degree.

Boomstick: Since Aizen lacked the ability to do the same irreversible damage to Madara, the Ghooost of the Uchiha had exactly what he needed to put this actual ghooost down for good.

We cut to Wiz and Boomstick.

Wiz: Aizen was an unbelievably overpowered foe, but Madara's own powers, illusions, and devastating Truth-Seeking Orbs allowed him to crush the ex-Shinigami.

Boomstick: Sōsuke shoulda kept his "eye"-zen the prize...n.

Wiz: ...Do you feel any shame at all?

Boomstick: Eh, Madara-tely. HA! Double pun! Suck it, Wiz.

We cut to the "Winner" card.

Wiz: The winner is Madara Uchiha.

Original Track

Hollow Dreams by Brandon Yates

Composition

The track for this fight is "Hollow Dreams" by Brandon Yates. It is a lyrical rock track whose lyrics reflect the powerful and manipulative nature of both combatants. It also notably uses the intro motif from one of Yates' previous tracks: "Dangerous Gaze", the track for Sasuke VS Hiei.

Title

The title references both Hollows (creatures from Aizen's home series) and the effects of the Infinite Tsukuyomi (which traps and enslaves everyone on Earth in their own dreams), as well as both combatants' illusory abilities. It may also ironically reference how both Madara and Aizen's plans of remaking their worlds in their own image fell through, rendering their efforts meaningless (or "hollow") in the end.

Cover Arts

The original cover art done by John Mitchell depicts the symbol of the Rinne Sharingan/Infinite Tsukuyomi encased within the Hōgyoku while surrounded by Madara's Truth-Seeking Orbs. One of Soul Society's Jigokuchō can be seen fluttering inside the Hōgyoku as well.

The cover art of the remastered version done by Tyrannii (which was created for the track's remaster following Rooster Teeth's shutdown) depicts the Hōgyoku surrounded by Madara's Truth-Seeking Balls, with one of them forming his shakujō staff (the bottom of which having the spear-like protrusions from Kurohitsugi sticking out of it) piercing the Hōgyoku. The bottom of the Hōgyoku features the concentric circle pattern of the Rinnegan, while its front-facing side features the three-eye pattern of Aizen's Final Fusion form. Six of the Soul Society's Jigokuchō are seen fluttering around the cover, and the background features the firey purple energy of Goryūtenmetsu.

Lyrics

Trivia

Production

• The core connections between Madara and Aizen are that they are both the penultimate villains of shōnen anime/manga series composing the Big Three with a god complex who were behind a large amount of the events in their series thanks to their intellectual, strategic, and manipulative skills, with their end goal involving finding and controlling an ancient gaining god-like power (the Ten-Tails and the Hōgyoku, respectively) and remaking the world in their image (Madara wanted to subdue humanity with the Infinite Tsukuyomi to impose his vision of peace upon the world, while Aizen wanted to kill the Soul King to become his replacement). Both also have a wide array of similar abilities, most notably sensory-altering illusory powers (Genjutsu and Kyōka Suigetsu's Shikai ability Kanzen Saimin, respectively). In addition:
  • Both are reimagined versions of Japanese warriors (ninja and samurai, respectively).
  • Both are considered to be some of the most skilled and powerful characters in their respective series, having abnormally powerful and large amounts of their universe's spiritual energies (chakra and Reiryoku/Reiatsu, respectively), as well as polished control over them and being able to weaponize them in the form of ninjutsu and Kidō, respectively.
  • Both are masters of their universe's main hand-to-hand combat and swordsmanship fighting styles (taijutsu and kenjutsu for Madara and Hakuda and Zanjutsu for Aizen).
  • Both were respected members of heroic organizations (Madara was a co-founder of Konohagakure, and Aizen was a Captain of the Gotei 13) before later turning against them.
  • Both became evil due to traumatic experiences and learning of the state of the world (Madara lost his siblings during the Warring States Period and read the Uchiha Stone Tablet, causing him to awaken his Curse of Hatred, while Aizen was alone due to his immense Reiatsu and learned the truth about the Soul King).
  • Both are chosen ones in some way (Madara was a reincarnation of Indra Ōtsutsuki, one of the Sage of Six Paths Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki's two sons who was expected by many to succeed him in leading Ninshū, while Aizen was chosen as one of the candidates to become the next Soul King).
  • Both have a strong grudge against a major figure from their past due to their opposing ideals about the state of the world (Hashirama Senju and Kisuke Urahara, respectively).
  • Both of their plans have led to the birth of their series' main protagonists (Naruto Uzumaki and Ichigo Kurosaki, respectively).
  • Both obtained the god-like power they sought which granted them pale-looking final forms (Ten-Tails Jinchūriki and Final Fusion, respectively), but became so overpowered that they had to be defeated by the sudden introduction of something often considered as plot convenience (Madara was betrayed by Black Zetsu, who was revealed to be working for Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, while Aizen was defeated by Ichigo's newly acquired Saigo no Getsuga Tenshō form and Mugetsu), resulting in the loss of the power they sought.
  • Both have fought against major military organizations (the Allied Shinobi Forces and the Gotei 13, respectively) and in world-threatening wars, albeit on contrasting sides (Madara was one of the perpetrators of the Fourth Shinobi World War, while Aizen was forced to fight alongside Ichigo in the Quincy Blood War).
  • Both are or have been undead creatures (a resurrected being and a Soul, respectively).
  • This is also a battle of opposites, as while Madara's goals were well-intentioned and for the sake of peace among humanity, Aizen's objectives were selfish and detrimental to Soul Society as he wanted to overthrow the Soul King and rule over Soul Society. Additionally, Madara eventually realized the error of his ways and made amends with Hashirama before dying, whereas Aizen remained on bad terms with Kisuke and stayed the same evil person he had always been.
  • Both have also appeared in multiple Shonen Jump crossover video games together, such as J-Stars Victory VS and Jump Force.
• This is the first episode whose track references a previous one (in this case being Dangerous Gaze), with the next five being Scarlet Witch VS Zatanna, Deku VS Asta, Gogeta VS Vegito, Darth Vader VS Obito Uchiha, and Goku VS Superman (2023).
  • This is the first episode to reference Dangerous Gaze in its track, with the next one being Darth Vader VS Obito Uchiha.
• The episode's storyboards by John Mitchell reveal numerous differences and cut scenes compared to the finished product. In order, they are as follows:
  • Aizen says "As you wish," when Madara reveals that he can see him, which was cut from the final episode.
  • When Aizen uses Complete Hypnosis on Madara, he says "Is this all the fight you have in you? I would expect nothing more from a human." In the final episode, Aizen only says the second sentence.
  • Aizen's "Don't get so full of yourself!" line is absent from the boards after Madara dismisses his illusions as "mere parlor tricks."
  • After Aizen transforms into his Fourth Fusion form, Madara tries to hit him a third time with his ribcage Susanoo, only to lose his arm to Aizen's Reiatsu. Aizen then recites the full incantation for Kurohitsugi as Madara tries to dodge his slashes and launches a Fireball Jutsu at Aizen, who blocks the attack with Dankū. In the final episode, the sequence in which Aizen recites Kurohitsugi's lengthy incantation is removed and he immediately sets up the attack, though the part in which he defends himself against Madara's fireball with his Dankū shield was kept.
  • Upon slicing Madara's meteorite into pieces, Aizen is asked by the former "Now what will you do about the rest of them?" before looking behind him and seeing the smaller meteors, referencing this scene in which Madara says "What will you do about the second one, Ōnoki?" after Ōnoki and Gaara barely manage to stop Madara's meteor from crashing into the Allied Shinobi Forces. This line was cut in the final episode, with the fight immediately cutting to Aizen's reaction to the smaller meteors after slicing the first one.
  • After taking their fight into the barrage of falling meteors, Madara uses Planetary Devastation on Aizen, who escapes the amalgamation of meteor fragments by transforming into his Final Fusion form and slicing it in half. In the final episode, Madara only throws Aizen at a nearby meteor which Aizen bisects upon changing forms, though the irregular shape of said meteor compared to the surrounding ones implies this moment was cut late in development.
  • After the above-mentioned scene, Madara says "You remind me of someone I tried to kill a long time ago" (presumably referring to Hashirama), while Aizen snarkily remarks "You remind me of the dirt on the bottom of my boot," before utilizing Fragor. Both lines were cut from the final episode.
• This episode would later be referenced in the YouTube versions of Omni-Man VS Homelander and Deku VS Asta during those episodes' BetterHelp advertisem*nts, where Boomstick recalls when Wiz explained Madara's plan and passed out during his analysis cutaway.
  • Coincidentally, both this episode and Deku VS Asta were the penultimate episode of their respective seasons.

Easter Eggs

• Boomstick's description for Aizen in the interlude being "the Soul Reaper who stood upon the heavens" is a reference to a quote from Chapter 178 of Bleach in which Aizen says: "From the very start, no one has stood upon the heavens. Not you, not I, nor even gods. However, that intolerable vacuum has come to an end. Henceforth... I shall stand upon the heavens."
  • The English dub variation of this line would later be used for Aizen's post-analysis quote.
• Boomstick refers to the Light Fang as a "lightspeed loogies," which is the same description he used for it in Naruto VS Ichigo.
• Boomstick's line "Is there a character that could possibly even touch Madara Uchiha?" in Madara's analysis is a reference to an infamous copypasta.
• Boomstick references the "Just according to keikaku" meme from Death Note after he mentions how Aizen tricked Yhwach with Kyōka Suigetsu.
• Aizen slicing the meteor that Madara threw him at in half may be a reference to their battle in One Minute Melee, where he did the exact same action.
• The way Aizen impales Madara from behind with his arm is similar to how Black Zetsu does the same thing to Madara after betraying him in Naruto.

Errors

• Madara's mouth does not move when he yells "Drown in despair!".
  • This is likely due to the line being absent in the storyboards.
• Aizen's wings briefly disappear during the shot of him bringing his sword down and unleashing an attack at Madara, though they reappear after Aizen blocks Madara's Fire Release.
• In Madara's up-close hand-drawn shot after he becomes the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki, the color of his Rinnegan can be seen sticking out of his pupil onto the background behind it.
• Madara's Limbo Clones are shown to be both visible and tangible to the dragons created by Aizen's Goryūtenmetsu. However, this should not have been the case, as they are invisible to anyone lacking the Rinnegan or Six Paths Senjutsu and cannot be touched without using Six Paths Chakra. They are also shown to have access to Truth-Seeking Orbs, even though clones in Naruto do not produce orbs of their own.
• There is an inconsistency in Madara's arms in the scene where he falls from the sky. First, his left arm is there while his right arm is missing, then both arms are missing, then both arms are present.
• Aizen's body produces blood as it gets destroyed by Madara's Truth-Seeking Orbs. However, this depiction is incorrect, as blood has never been produced after an orb destroys a person's limbs in any piece of Naruto media, such as the clips of them destroying Minato's limbs featured in Madara's analysis and the post-analysis.

Other

• This is the 14th Anime-themed episode, after Zoro VS Erza, Natsu VS Ace, Lucario VS Renamon, Naruto VS Ichigo, Jotaro VS Kenshiro, Roshi VS Jiraiya, Sasuke VS Hiei, Mob VS Tatsumaki, All Might VS Might Guy, Gray VS Esdeath, Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia, Sanji VS Rock Lee, and DIO VS Alucard, and with the next seven being Tanjiro VS Jonathan Joestar, Deku VS Asta, Gogeta VS Vegito, Killua VS Misaka, Gojo VS Makima, Mahito VS Shigaraki, and Ash VS Yugi.
  • This is the eighth Hitotsubashi-themed episode, after Naruto VS Ichigo, Jotaro VS Kenshiro, Roshi VS Jiraiya, Sasuke VS Hiei, Mob VS Tatsumaki, All Might VS Might Guy, and Sanji VS Rock Lee, and with the next five being Tanjiro VS Jonathan Joestar, Deku VS Asta, Gogeta VS Vegito, Gojo VS Makima, and Mahito VS Shigaraki.
  • This is the second Naruto VS Bleach-themed episode, after Naruto VS Ichigo.