Hiruzen fanboys are just as ridiculous as hashirama fanboys along with this thread.
Hiruzen before he fought orochimaru he said "A shinobi that can stand up to him doesnt exist in the village", MOST LIKELY INCLUDING ME";
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Prior to this he said and i quote "If the time comes we will assemble our strength and fight". This was to do with the oro scenario still;
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He is the leader of the village. Do you think that before an enermy who is stronger than him, he would cower in fear. Off course not. After saying what he said about nobody strong enough in the leaf to stop oro including himself, when the time came he didnt look one bit scared at all;
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That is just how it is. Even though Hiruzen said what he said before the fight. When the time came you dont expect the head of the village to suddenly cower in fear of the enemy, if anything he would do the opposite and that is exactly what he did.
As for the Hashirama & Tobirama issue im a big believer of what jiraiya said here;
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That is the advantage that students often have over their sensei's