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First, I am wondering how exactly does this plan work in the Narutoverse?

When everyone is under the genjutsu, does that mean no one is actually living
their own life? Or do people live their lives and the usage of the genjutsu
just eliminates pain, suffering, and war?

Will the people starve to death under this technique? And if not, are they
able to reproduce? And if they can do the above two, will this technique
eventually cease when Madara/Obito die?

I'm just wondering if life can still continue under this technique? If so,
does the technique ever stop?

Now on a more (deeper) philosophical level, how is this plan any different
from Pain's total destruction plan? Both goals of the two plans are the same.
They both want to end pain, suffering, and war.

Pain wanted to cause destruction to achieve his goal. Obito / Madara wants to
put the whole world under a genjutsu to achieve their goal, and they are
willing to cause total destruction in the process. Is there any real
difference in outcomes?

The way I see it, pain is inevitable in human life. So then why bother with
the Eye of the Moon plan if you can just kill the entire planet. I'm going to
assume that if they have what it takes to execute this plan, they also have
what it takes to just blow up the planet / eliminate all living beings.

This then leads me to believe that Madara and Obito just have psychological
problems. Is this the reason why they are proceeding with this crazy plan?


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2013-10-22T16:15:18.330
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naruto
How exactly is the Eye of the Moon Plan supposed to work?


_Note: This answer is based on events seen up to Chapter 651, and contains
unmarked spoilers._

Since the answer is long, I will divide it into several sections, first
explaining the mechanism of the Infinite Tsukuyomi, then the background and
philosophy, and finally answer the specific questions.

**Mechanism of the Infinite Tsukuyomi**

Use Itachi's Tsukuyomi as a reference to understand the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
The illusion lasts for 72 hours _as per the flow of time perceived in the
illusory world_ , but for only a moment in the real world. Powered by the
Juubi/Shinju's chakra, Infinite Tsukuyomi is a superpowered version of it, in
three ways:

  * It draws everyone's minds into the illusion.
  * Its illusory space is designed in great detail, as desired by the caster.  
In particular, people who do not exist in the real world can be created there.

  * It lasts forever _as per flow of time perceived in that world_.  
The illusion appears to last for only a moment in the real world, but since it
is endless, real world time doesn't appear to advance. Moreover, since
everyone's minds have been drawn into the illusion, nobody is around to
perceive the flow of time. This may also be a subtle cultural reference, since
Infinite Tsukuyomi uses the moon to cast the illusion, and Tsukuyomi, the Moon
God is associated with the flow of time.

To understand the Moon's Eye Plan philosophy, a background of the Naruto story
is useful.

**Background of the Naruto story**

Kishimoto originally wanted to make Naruto a seinen manga, but was advised to
make it shonen, so that it could be published in the Weekly Shonen Jump
magazine. In my opinion, it still retains its seinen core in the plot, while
using shonen elements in the narrative.

Amidst the action and comedy, it has explored various elements of human nature
or philosophy, and conflicts between them. The characters in the story are
also used to represent such elements. A narrative primarily focused on the
philosophy would lose audience interest, so it is useful to have characters
represent them. For example, Naruto represents how positive thinking and hard
work can overcome adversities, while Sasuke represents how revenge makes a
person blind letting others use him, and so on.

**Objective of achieving a peaceful world**

An overarching philosophical question asked several times is, "How to achieve
a peaceful world, devoid of hatred and suffering?" Various characters have
attempted to answer it in their own way.

  * **Hashirama** : Distribute powers evenly between villages, so that they won't fight over it. 
  * **Jiraiya** : Some day, people will truly understand each other, and hatred will cease. I don't know how it will happen, but I believe in my student to figure it out.
  * **Nagato** : Create a powerful weapon which people will fear and stop fighting. This peace is temporary, since people eventually forget the weapon's power, so they need to be reminded again. 
  * **Naruto** : I will end the cycle of revenge and justice, which will lead to peace somehow.
  * **Madara** : Create a perfect world free of winners and losers, which will end hatred and suffering. 

**Motivation for the Moon's Eye Plan**

Madara lost all his brothers in the war. He lost the Hokage title to
Hashirama. His own clan rejected him when he wanted to protect them (according
to him). He also lost to Hashirama at the Valley of the End. He then read the
world history at the Uchiha shrine, which described how Kaguya Ootsutsuki
ended all existing conflicts by eating the Shinju's forbidden fruit, but it
only led to more conflicts. He realised that a world which creates winners
also creates losers, such a world would always be at conflict, and any effort
to end the conflict would cause more conflict. He was convinced that there is
no hope to achieve peace in the real world, and hence, decided to achieve it
in an illusory world.

Obito initially rejected Madara's plan, but seeing how the ninja system led to
Rin's death made him lose hope in the real world, and convinced him to accept
Madara's plan of creating an illusory peaceful world, where Rin doesn't have
to die.

**Answers to the specific questions**

> When everyone is under the genjutsu, does that mean no one is actually
> living their own life? Or do people live their lives and the usage of the
> genjutsu just eliminates pain, suffering, and war?
>
> Will the people starve to death under this technique? And if not, are they
> able to reproduce? And if they can do the above two, will this technique
> eventually cease when Madara/Obito die?
>
> I'm just wondering if life can still continue under this technique? If so,
> does the technique ever stop?

As explained above, the illusion lasts forever as per time perceived in the
illusory world. The real world becomes irrelevant once the illusion starts.

> Now on a more (deeper) philosophical level, how is this plan any different
> from Pain's total destruction plan?

Pain's plan was to achieve peace in the real world through the fear of a
powerful weapon, although the peace is temporary. Madara's Moon's Eye Plan
gives people no choice, they are forced into the peaceful world permanently.
In my opinion, the Moon's Eye Plan represents the philosophy that peace is a
state of mind, while the body is unimportant, since it draws people's minds
into peace (albeit an illusory one), while their bodies left in the real world
become irrelevant.

As a side note, Pain's plan seems influenced by the atom bomb in our world,
though the author hasn't stated it explicitly.

> Why bother with the Eye of the Moon plan if you can just kill the entire
> planet.

The difference between the two could be a long philosophical discussion unto
itself, so I will cut it short using an analogy. To end a lung tumour
patient's suffering, you could do:

  * Remove the tumour (Naruto's solution)
  * A lung transplant (Moon's Eye Plan) 
  * Kill the patient (this question's suggestion)

Analogies are often misleading, but the key point is that the Moon's Eye Plan
wants to create a peaceful world, which everyone can experience, which
destroying the world cannot achieve.

> This then leads me to believe that Madara and Obito just have psychological
> problems. Is this the reason why they are proceeding with this crazy plan?

There is nothing inherently crazy about wanting to escape the pains of reality
in one's dreams, since this is quite common human nature. The following Calvin
and Hobbes strip is one popular instance. Bill Watterson's cat, Sprite, died
in real life around that time, and he realised that he could be always be with
his cat in his dreams.

![Calvin and Hobbes strip in honor of Watterson's cat,
Sprite](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mPUbi.gif)

Concluding that Madara or Obito have psychological problems is a stretch, or
subjective at best. In our world, it is quite common for one person to
experience a problem, and then try to solve it for everyone. Madara or Obito
could easily solve _only_ their problem using Izanagi, Rinne Tensei, or
limiting the Tsukuyomi illusion only to themselves.

Lastly, the war also represents the conflict between Madara/Obito's philosophy
and Naruto's philosophy, and we know that Naruto would eventually win in some
way. This could be Kishimoto's way of giving us another moral, that trying to
solve real world's problems through an illusion is futile, and they should be
solved in the real world.


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