In my time, being a Kage meant something.
Am I the only fan of the "Professor" around here anymore?
I see a lot of people calling him "fodder" and saying he was the worst Hokage, when he represents both the core of the Will of Fire, and a kind hearted man who saw every single person on the village as his own familiy. You can find a lot of issues with a lot of characters, but when your worst characteristic is that you are "too nice" you can't be that bad.
He was against unnecessary violence and did everything in his power to mantain peace (the fact that it wasn't still in war during the begining of Naruto is because of that) and was strictly against the Uchiha massacre. Itachi only proceeded with the orders because Danzo went behind Hiruzen's back.
Hiruzen trained the Legendary Sannin, who proceeded to train other Legendary shinobi.
Hiruzen was known as the most powerfull shinobi of his time, by both Iruka (who teach Shinobi history as a profession) and Kabuto (who with his history as a spy and shared the vast knowledge Orochimaru had)
And on his overral strenght... What was the thing that a lot of fans of this series complained? That nowadays the only thing that matters is OP techniques, good genes, Uchiha eyes and Senju DNA. Sarutobi Hiruzen represents the hardworking Shinobi to the core. Everything he did to gain the title of Professor was whitout the aid of Kekkei Genkai, dojutsus, Tailed Beasts, Rikudo Chakra or OP techniques like FTG and Edo Tensei. He mastered all five elements (enphasis on mastered) whitout Rinnegan or Sharingan. He had knowledge on all of the hidden jutsus of Konoha and lived trought two Great Ninja Wars remaining the longest Hokage in position.
He had an awesome summon that managed to push back the freaking Kyuubi and doubled as a lenght changing pole a-la Son Goku...
There is that and many other reasons why the Third, despite not being as "flashy" as other Kage level ninjas, should not be underestimated.
Respect the Third.
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