1st hokage
Hashirama has been noted by both Madara and several Konoha Jonin to be regarded as the most feared ninja of his time. He was said to be one of or perhaps the most powerful of ninjas during the ninja wars, and the only person who was capable of matching him and his clan was Madara Uchiha and his Uchiha clan. Even so, he was undoubtedly an extremely formidable ninja, defeating both Madara and the Nine Tailed Fox (who was under Madara's control at the time). This is remarkable since Madara is a wielder of the eternal mangekyo sharingan, an advanced form of the mangekyo sharingan. Defeating the kyuubi alone would be a legendary feat, as the 4th hokage has to actually give up his life to seal the kyuubi. He also defeated the powerful Akatsuki member Kakuzu at some point. During his resurrected corpses battle with Sarutobi he is shown to be a considerable hand to hand combatant and could use powerful genjutsu. Flashbacks to his battle with Madara show he also had some summoning prowess, conjuring various weapons via scrolls.
He was most famous for his Wood Release jutsu, an ability to mix earth and water natured chakra to create a new element: wood. By converting chakra into source of life, he was able to create trees and cause them to grow to great sizes and diverse shapes at will. This ability was apparently unique to him, since his granddaughter Tsunade did not inherit this talent, and Yamato only acquired it through genetic manipulation by Orochimaru. Yamato has also shown great skill in standard water and earth techniques so it is presumed Hashirama could as well.
The ability Orochimaru most highly praised him for however was his unique ability to control the tailed beasts bending them to his own will, and suppressing their chakra. Madara also mentions that at one time he had several tailed beast under his control and later dealt them out to the other great Hidden villages in order to equalize the balance of power. It would seem this ability is greatly amplified by his very valuable necklace composed of a shard of crystalline chakra, though how this works is unknown.
Minato
Minato created several distinctive techniques, including the Flying Thunder God Technique, which essentially allowed him to teleport to any location with the use of a special seal. He also created the Rasengan, a technique that does not rely on hand signs, but instead uses a concentration of spinning chakra in the palm that causes immense damage to its target on contact. Later in the series it is revealed that this signature technique is actually incomplete. Minato had planned to add his own nature manipulation training to the Rasengan, making it even more powerful, but couldn't manage to combine the two prior to his premature death. Minato's possibly last technique was the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, which was used to seal the demon fox into Naruto, at the cost of his own life.
It is unknown exactly how strong Minato was in combat. He was undoubtedly extremely powerful, as enemy nations considered fighting him certain death for the ninja sent against him, leading to a flee-on-sight order he is regarded as The Greatest Shinobi the Leaf Village ever produced. Once, during the Third Great Shinobi War, he was able to defeat 50 enemies just by directing his kunai with the special seals on them. It seems to be that he kept teleporting around the terrain because, he was able to defeat them all shortly and without a scratch.
Hashirama has been noted by both Madara and several Konoha Jonin to be regarded as the most feared ninja of his time. He was said to be one of or perhaps the most powerful of ninjas during the ninja wars, and the only person who was capable of matching him and his clan was Madara Uchiha and his Uchiha clan. Even so, he was undoubtedly an extremely formidable ninja, defeating both Madara and the Nine Tailed Fox (who was under Madara's control at the time). This is remarkable since Madara is a wielder of the eternal mangekyo sharingan, an advanced form of the mangekyo sharingan. Defeating the kyuubi alone would be a legendary feat, as the 4th hokage has to actually give up his life to seal the kyuubi. He also defeated the powerful Akatsuki member Kakuzu at some point. During his resurrected corpses battle with Sarutobi he is shown to be a considerable hand to hand combatant and could use powerful genjutsu. Flashbacks to his battle with Madara show he also had some summoning prowess, conjuring various weapons via scrolls.
He was most famous for his Wood Release jutsu, an ability to mix earth and water natured chakra to create a new element: wood. By converting chakra into source of life, he was able to create trees and cause them to grow to great sizes and diverse shapes at will. This ability was apparently unique to him, since his granddaughter Tsunade did not inherit this talent, and Yamato only acquired it through genetic manipulation by Orochimaru. Yamato has also shown great skill in standard water and earth techniques so it is presumed Hashirama could as well.
The ability Orochimaru most highly praised him for however was his unique ability to control the tailed beasts bending them to his own will, and suppressing their chakra. Madara also mentions that at one time he had several tailed beast under his control and later dealt them out to the other great Hidden villages in order to equalize the balance of power. It would seem this ability is greatly amplified by his very valuable necklace composed of a shard of crystalline chakra, though how this works is unknown.
Minato
Minato created several distinctive techniques, including the Flying Thunder God Technique, which essentially allowed him to teleport to any location with the use of a special seal. He also created the Rasengan, a technique that does not rely on hand signs, but instead uses a concentration of spinning chakra in the palm that causes immense damage to its target on contact. Later in the series it is revealed that this signature technique is actually incomplete. Minato had planned to add his own nature manipulation training to the Rasengan, making it even more powerful, but couldn't manage to combine the two prior to his premature death. Minato's possibly last technique was the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, which was used to seal the demon fox into Naruto, at the cost of his own life.
It is unknown exactly how strong Minato was in combat. He was undoubtedly extremely powerful, as enemy nations considered fighting him certain death for the ninja sent against him, leading to a flee-on-sight order he is regarded as The Greatest Shinobi the Leaf Village ever produced. Once, during the Third Great Shinobi War, he was able to defeat 50 enemies just by directing his kunai with the special seals on them. It seems to be that he kept teleporting around the terrain because, he was able to defeat them all shortly and without a scratch.