Hiruzen Sarutobi was the best hokage.

[Sageof7Path]

He cared more about the village than himself. He did everything to make sure the village didn't end up in a war or end up being taken over by a clan of angry deviants. It's pretty much confirmed that the Uchiha had a vendeta against the leaf village and although it wasn't Hiruzen's idea to do this it was danzo's it was still good on Hiruzen to allow itachi to do this. The clan was definetly going to try and take the village over. Tell me if this isn't true then why would itachi go through with it especially with the kage level judgement that he had. The Uchiha where taken out for a reason but for some reason everyone on the base want's to pretend as if they where good... Maybe some of them where but the Police force definitely wanted to over through the village. So the clan being massacared although wasn't Hiruzens idea it was a good thing he chose not to stop it. Again hokage level judgement from Hiruzen. Other than Hashirama who probably would have let the Uchiha live and end up having to kill them all for the sake of looking like a saint. Which brings me to my next point.

A lot of people try and say Hashirama was the best hokage when in truth he was not. Yes... Hashirama is a very powerful hokage and good in battle(other than not finishing off the biggest choreographer to the threat the shinobi world is facing at the moment). Despite him being a good fighter his decision making sucks. He did things for the sake of everyone getting along which is fine but he let a lot of big problems slip through huge cracks. Like giving all the shinobi nations tailed beasts in order to maintain the balance of power between the villages. This would only boosts the arrogance of other villages to lead their army's into war with other countries. Don't believe me? Well take a look at it like this the leaf village was the first village every other village copied the leaf village. The stone was bat shit scared of the leaf village. Hashirama made an aliance with them Madara Uchiha pretty much said screw that and told Onooki that the stone would be sub to the leaf. Hashirama giving them tailed beast only increased their war power sense then their have been 4 shinobi wars. I'm not saying the rise to power of other villages was based totally on tailed beasts but over the course of probably three years they where probably able to build up their military forces due to Hashirams generosity toward other nations. I mean it had to be at least three years because check it out Hashirama wasn't a relatively old guy when he died. And Kakuzu a ninja from another village tried to assassinate Hashirama. Hashirama stopped Kakuzu and lived on. Now the other villages didn't start up to far after the leaf village was founded. That means the other villages where already contemplating war with the leaf. Which means they where no longer scared of the leaf and war times had already started between Ninja villages. So he didn't do the best at the leaf villages prosperity in terms of peace and avoiding wars. Hiruzen Sarutobi however did just that during his run as hokage.

Now as I've previously stated in the first paragraph the death of the Uchiha clan, despite not being the Hiruzen Sarutobi's idea, was not a bad move and it was a good thing he did not stop it. Itachi new his clan was a threat and being a just ninja carried out his decision. If you're going to bash Hiruzen for what happened with the Uchiha you must also bash Sasuke. Danzo is different because he did it to obtain sharingan although he may have thought the Uchiha clan was a threat to the village. My point is Hiruzen sarutobi decisions DID help the village prosper. If you think about it any of the kills that where made involving clans the third hokage did not initiate; however, did not stop due to proper judgement on the matter. I think it's funny how people like to hold the death of neji's dad against Hiruzen Sarutobi when in fact if Hiruzen told them no neji's dad can not sacrifice himself in place of his brother(considering the fact that it was VOLUNTERY by the HYUGA clan) and ended up throwing the leaf village into a war then fans would hold that against Hiruzen Sarutobi. Hiruzen Sarutobi did not order any of the members of the hyuga clan to hand over their ninja; however, when it was suggested by a member of the hyuga clan that it would keep the village out of war Hiruzen already knowing this did not stop them. Again HOKAGE level judgement as in LOOKING OUT FOR THE VILLAGE.

Another Issue I would like to touch on is Hiruzen Sarutobi not killing Orochimaru. Now I understand that might not have been the best choice but (to some of you Sasuke fans if it wasn't for Orochimaru living and the clan dying Sasuke would be no where near where he is now)...(so be greatful Hiruzen) technically because he was not hokage at the time you can't really say he didn't do his job because remember Orochimaru didn't leave the village until after the 4th hokage was chosen. Minato was the hokage at that time. Hiruzen must have been the anbu black opps captain after he retired because what kind of hokage runs in a basement out of uniform with the anbu black opps to find a shinobi who's breaking the law?(oh yeah and side note the way Orochimaru a legendary ninja and one of the strongest in the vilalge didn't want to fight Hiruzen just says that the third hokage's strength was something to be reckoned with.) Despite not being his prime strength of course. So yeah Hiruzen probably wasn't the hokage at the time despite that not being a bad decision because the people of Hiruzens generations are cleaning up the mess that Hashirama made by letting Madara win. All the guys we thought where villians are turning out to be the people to stop the problems madara has orcistrated. They're all contributing. Alot of these key strengths from the leaf where developed due to Hiruzens reign and decisions he made such as Hiruzen's decisions in letting the Uchiha go extinct and letting Orochimaru live. That comepletly formed the path for Sasuke to become as strong as he is. Sasuke and Orochimaru have contributed to the fight against the current threat. If Orochimaru hadn't lived gokage would be dead.

There's something also about Hiruzen Sarutobi's personality when you think about it he's a combination between Hashirama and Tobirama senju. No doubt Hiruzen has the will of fire but he also has the kindness and compassion of Hashirama along with the strictness and decision making ability of tobirama. He has all the good qualities though because he executes situations where they count but doesn't let his emotions get the better of him. Like he did when he used the reaper death seal and sealed his former teachers the first and second in the reaper along with him. He also took O's ninjutsu saving the ninja world and Sasuke alot of trouble. He didn't think twice about having to spend forever in the reapers belly when it came time the only thing he cared about was the village carrying on which it did due to people that came up in his run as village leader.

 

[Joon]

Nope. Tobimaru was.

 

[Bijuu Bomber]

Didn't read. And nope, Minato was the best Hokage.

 

[Vandenreich]

Tobirama was the BEST hokage.

 

[Sageof7Path]

Didn't read. And nope, Minato was the best Hokage.

He never proved to be the best hokage the one instance where he defended the village showed he was a diligent hokage but at the same time the fact that we can't say he was the best hokage is the same reason why we cant say he was the strongest and in fact was the second to weakest hokage; the reason is he never reached his prime strength yes he had a few good space time Jutsu along with the rasengan and could teleport huge chakara bombs and that makes him very strong but compared to the other hokage's in their perspective primes due to hype(according to the writer of the series) he was second to weakest.

 

[Bijuu Bomber]

He never proved to be the best hokage the one instance where he defended the village showed he was a diligent hokage but at the same time the fact that we can't say he was the best hokage is the same reason why we cant say he was the strongest and in fact was the second to weakest hokage; the reason is he never reached his prime strength yes he had a few good space time Jutsu along with the rasengan and could teleport huge chakara bombs and that makes him very strong but compared to the other hokage's in their perspective primes due to hype(according to the writer of the series) he was second to weakest.

Strength and power doesn't make a Hokage. Every Hokage has had sure mistakes and screw ups, with Hashirama being near the worst. Minato has really been the only Hokage while being a short time as it, had the littlest screw ups, he even was going to change the Uchiha if he was alive, something no other Hokage has and was ever going to do.

 

[Oronagato]

I actually took the time to read it. While I disagree on a lot of points I applaud your effort and contempt towards those who didn't read yet are commenting for attention.

 

[minatofan234]

well, of course he is like hashi and tobirama he was taught by both... and no he is not the best he was unable to kill oro even though he said he would on many occasions, he also was not powerfull enough to be hokage ohnoki beats him med diff. and no not killing oro was not a intentional even if it helped the future by saving the entire alliance does not make him a better hokage since it was not hiruzins intetions he wanted to stop and kill oro but he lacked the mentall fortitude to do what was needed to be done hiruzin also had no idea what his actions would bring to the shinobi world if he let oro live even though hec ouldnt even beat oro even though hiruzin brought t he best of the anbu along with him, the hokage was minato ssolod tobi and the 9 tails while saving the village and sealing the tailed beast within his son, a feat not even hiruzin would be able to do in his prime, even though hiruzin was taught by the greatest shinobi who lived (except for madara) he still failed in very thing he did the only good thing he did was train the sannin and prevent the destruction of the leaf when it was under attacked by oro and preventing him to do further harm by sealing his arms

 

[Sageof7Path]

Strength and power doesn't make a Hokage. Every Hokage has had sure mistakes and screw ups, with Hashirama being near the worst. Minato has really been the only Hokage while being a short time as it, had the littlest screw ups, he even was going to change the Uchiha if he was alive, something no other Hokage has and was ever going to do.

You're right and that was the point of my threat I may have confused you a bit with my previous post. That's another thing about Minato we got to see Minato in battle we got to see Minato do what's best for the leave village on the fly right after Naruto was born during an unexpected attack on the leaf; which in fact he did end up loosing his life over on the spot for the leaf village. That is one thing but any other hokage would have done the same thing so it isn't a good way to vouch for Minato being number one out of all other hokage; however, a good argument for him would be talking about how he was able to stay calm during the attack of 9 tails on the leaf village and manage to control the 9 tails power. But what I wanted to say at the start of this post was that Minato although had that one moment where he proved to be the right guy for the job did not have a long enough run for us to determine rather he was a well rounded hokage or if he was flawed the most out of all. I mean we never got to see how he managed the village. How he fixed problems between clans or how he maintained peace with other nations. Although like Hashirama he's good in battle and probably smarter than Hashirama from what history has shown. We need to have a deeper look of what would have happened before we can make the claim that he was the greatest.

 

[Bijuu Bomber]

You're right and that was the point of my threat I may have confused you a bit with my previous post. That's another thing about Minato we got to see Minato in battle we got to see Minato do what's best for the leave village on the fly right after Naruto was born during an unexpected attack on the leaf; which in fact he did end up loosing his life over on the spot for the leaf village. That is one thing but any other hokage would have done the same thing so it isn't a good way to vouch for Minato being number one out of all other hokage; however, a good argument for him would be talking about how he was able to stay calm during the attack of 9 tails on the leaf village and manage to control the 9 tails power. But what I wanted to say at the start of this post was that Minato although had that one moment where he proved to be the right guy for the job did not have a long enough run for us to determine rather he was a well rounded hokage or if he was flawed the most out of all. I mean we never got to see how he managed the village. How he fixed problems between clans or how he maintained peace with other nations. Although like Hashirama he's good in battle and probably smarter than Hashirama from what history has shown. We need to have a deeper look of what would have happened before we can make the claim that he was the greatest.

These opinions....I respect them!

 

[siege]

Old man third was Hokage longer than any other that alone makes him the best with superior experience he trumps the others

 

[minatofan234]

You're right and that was the point of my threat I may have confused you a bit with my previous post. That's another thing about Minato we got to see Minato in battle we got to see Minato do what's best for the leave village on the fly right after Naruto was born during an unexpected attack on the leaf; which in fact he did end up loosing his life over on the spot for the leaf village. That is one thing but any other hokage would have done the same thing so it isn't a good way to vouch for Minato being number one out of all other hokage; however, a good argument for him would be talking about how he was able to stay calm during the attack of 9 tails on the leaf village and manage to control the 9 tails power. But what I wanted to say at the start of this post was that Minato although had that one moment where he proved to be the right guy for the job did not have a long enough run for us to determine rather he was a well rounded hokage or if he was flawed the most out of all. I mean we never got to see how he managed the village. How he fixed problems between clans or how he maintained peace with other nations. Although like Hashirama he's good in battle and probably smarter than Hashirama from what history has shown. We need to have a deeper look of what would have happened before we can make the claim that he was the greatest.

he is not the greatest, no other hokage other than hashi and maybe tobirama could have done what he did during the attack lol hiruzin would have died fighting the nine tails alone he wouldn't be a match against abito he could solo him low diff... tell me who else could have left the one of the greatest legacies ever?(by that I mean naruto) naruto is the savior of the leaf none compare to his power except by those who are called the god of shinobi and by those who had to steal power and by those who use senju DNA or control the juubi?

 

[Bijuu Bomber]

Old man third was Hokage longer than any other that alone makes him the best with superior experience he trumps the others

By that logic Kakuzu is the best Shinobi of all time. Considering he lived longer than any other...

 

[siege]

By that logic Kakuzu is the best Shinobi of all time. Considering he lived longer than any other...

Kakuzu was not a Hokage but rogue ninja that's like comparing an apple to a orange Hiruzen was the student of the first and second Hokage he started out a superior shinobi Kakuzu was second rate shinobi who stole hearts to boost his powers that and his experience is what made him S-ranked shinobi

 

[Sageof7Path]

well, of course he is like hashi and tobirama he was taught by both... and no he is not the best he was unable to kill oro even though he said he would on many occasions, he also was not powerfull enough to be hokage ohnoki beats him med diff. and no not killing oro was not a intentional even if it helped the future by saving the entire alliance does not make him a better hokage since it was not hiruzins intetions he wanted to stop and kill oro but he lacked the mentall fortitude to do what was needed to be done hiruzin also had no idea what his actions would bring to the shinobi world if he let oro live even though hec ouldnt even beat oro even though hiruzin brought t he best of the anbu along with him, the hokage was minato ssolod tobi and the 9 tails while saving the village and sealing the tailed beast within his son, a feat not even hiruzin would be able to do in his prime, even though hiruzin was taught by the greatest shinobi who lived (except for madara) he still failed in very thing he did the only good thing he did was train the sannin and prevent the destruction of the leaf when it was under attacked by oro and preventing him to do further harm by sealing his arms

Ok first off I think it's odd that you're saying he's not powerful enough to be hokage when he was considered the strongest in the village at one point and knew all jutsu.... So basically by your estimations no one should have been hokage.

I'm not saying that not killing Oro made him a better hokage he wasn't even hokage at the time of Oro's departure, all I'm saying is him not killing orochimaru was highly beneficial to the core strength of the current alliance. Orochimaru's life actually helped the shinobi world if you look at the bigger picture because if it wasn't for Orcochimaru bringing back the hokage Obito would have carried out his plan with the 10 tails and no one could have stopped them. Sasuke wouldn't have become as powerful as he is and the Uchiha would have already run over the leaf village. Again I'm not saying that it makes him a better hokage you just can't deny if he would have killed Orochimaru that day everyone would be doomed.

You're saying Hiruzen never could beat Orochimaru? Well Orochimaru clearly respected Hiruzen as someone who could make light work of him even admitting that Hiruzen could kill him but didn't believe he could go through with it... AGAIN Hiruzen wasn't even hokage at the time. Read buddy.

So you're saying Hiruzen would not have been able to seal away the 9 tails even in his prime when he clearly knows sealing techniques as he displayed when he used the reaper death seal on Orochimaru. I'm sure in his prime he would have been able to seal Kurama and you know what if you think about it he's the only shinobi besides harshirama containing Kurama with wood style to be able to physically fight kurama. He swiped kurama away like it was nothing and probably could have sealed it but Minato of course did it himself. It's funny people always want to forget that just about MAJORITY from the leaf that's near kage level including jirya and Oro know sealing techniques.

Please tell me how did Hiruzen fail in everything he did? A line from kiba "DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT HOKAGE MEANS!!!?" My guess is you don't because if you constitute bringing the leaf village through an entire generation of prosperity then I guess that's how you see it. But it's really not failure at all. He went through having to cope with the hashest time in the leaf village durring the Uchiha massacares but still remained to keep the village away from war and it's people safe. Tell me what did Hiruzen ever fail at? He succeeded in damn near everything even in death he protected the village from O and a generation of the strongest ninja came up from his reign as leader in office.

 

[dms_kakashi]

he wasnt! he is

 

[jediknite2]

Everybody has his favorite character and what they believe but hiruzen being the best hokage is because of your own conviction.

 

[Owarij]

Well If I recall, the databook did say that Hiruzen was the most beloved hokage

 

[Rainbow Dash]

He also fed and sheltered the main character for 14 years. Two years later after his death, he stills saves Naruto's butt.

 

[Minator93]

I still respect the old man above all else U_U