Tsunade (5th Hokage)

Tsunade (綱手) is a supporting character in the anime and manga series Naruto. She took over the direction of Konohagakure after Hiruzen Sarutobi died, thus becoming the Fifth and present Hokage. Along with Orochimaru and Jiraiya, she is one of the Legendary 3 Sannin of Konoha, and currently the only one still alive after Jiraiya's death and Orochimaru permanently sealed. She excels in medical ninjutsu.

Tsunade is a former student of the Third Hokage. Tsunade and her former teammates, Jiraiya and Orochimaru, are known as the "Three Legendary Shinobi of Konoha" (伝説の三忍, Densetsu no Sannin) or simply the "Sannin". The word "Hime" (姫, Princess) is often attached to Tsunade's name because she is the granddaughter of the First Hokage and the grandniece of the Second Hokage. Tsunade is well known for her extremely large breasts (106 centimeters as stated by Jiraiya), despite the fact that Jiraiya referred to her as "flat-chested Tsunade" during their childhood.

One of Tsunade's noteworthy possessions was a crystal that belonged to her grandfather, which is said to be valuable enough to "buy three gold mines and the mountains on top of them" as stated by Jiraiya. On her brother, Nawaki's, twelfth birthday, Tsunade gave the amulet to him in the hopes that it would help him achieve his dream of becoming Hokage. The next day, Nawaki died as one of the many casualties of the war going on at the time, and the amulet was returned to Tsunade's possession. Sometime afterwards, Tsunade fell in love with a man named Dan, who also wanted to become Hokage. As a sign of her affection and in the hopes that it would help him achieve his goal, Tsunade gave him the amulet as well. Dan too would go on to die a bloody death during the course of the war, once again returning the amulet to her possession.

With the deaths of the two she loved the most, Tsunade came to lose faith in the title of Hokage, believing that only fools would want such a position. With these changes of ideals, Tsunade left Konoha with Dan's niece, Shizune, taking the latter in as her apprentice.

Personality

The deaths of Dan and Nawaki greatly changed Tsunade; Dan's death and her failed attempt to save him gave her a fear of blood, causing her to freeze upon seeing it (which very likely also impaired her summoning ability). The amulet's repeated returns to her also led her and many others to believe that it was cursed, and whoever Tsunade might give it to would die soon after.

Tsunade is also a compulsive gambler who has the unfortunate disadvantage of having terrible luck. As a result, she has been elevated to a comical status as "The Legendary Sucker" (伝説のカモ, Densetsu no Kamo) for the gross profits others have made off her misfortune and gambling addiction. In the rare instances that Tsunade hits a winning streak, she believes it to be a bad omen, and bad things do tend to happen to her afterwards. (in part 1 above the three 7s there is a picture in a row of a frog (Jiraiya) slug (Tsunade) and a snake(Orochimaru) The symbol on the back of her coat, 賭 (kake), means "gamble", or "wager", as gambling is one of her favorite pastimes.

Tsunade typically projects a tough demeanor, even when facing great personal difficulty, and rarely compliments or praises people. She readily criticizes others for their faults, such as Naruto for his immaturity or Jiraiya for his perversion (though her habits are rarely any better). On occasion, though, Tsunade often shows sympathy for others, consoling Shikamaru that while he failed his mission to return Sasuke to Konoha, all of his teammates survived. This is also shown when she works hard in order to help heal Rock Lee so that he may continue to be a ninja.

Tsunade has a pet pig Tonton, that is usually kept in the care of Shizune and though she doesn't speak human language she seems to understand everything and react quite actively.


After his failed invasion of Konoha, Orochimaru sought out Tsunade. Upon finding her, he asked her for a favor, though before he could specify what this favor is she declines, having already noticed his wounded arms. Trying again, Orochimaru asked her to heal his arms, explaining that the injury was a result of his carelessness when killing the Third Hokage. Shocked by this revelation, Tsunade prepared to kill Orochimaru, though he once again intervened by offering to resurrect her dead loved ones: Dan and Nawaki. Interested in this offer, Tsunade considered it, and was left a week to decide.

Soon afterward, Tsunade was approached by Jiraiya and Naruto Uzumaki who wanted her to become the next Hokage. After turning down the offer and ridiculing it, Naruto challenged Tsunade to a fight, enraged that someone could disrespect the title of Hokage due to his undying desire to become Hokage himself. Tsunade accepted and easily won, though not before witnessing Naruto's attempt at using the Rasengan. Intrigued, Tsunade made a bet with Naruto to master the jutsu in a week, and if he won he would get the First Hokage's amulet. Naruto accepted, and resumed his training. As the week progressed, Tsunade keeps a careful eye on Naruto's progress and all the while contemplated Orochimaru's offer. When the week was up and Naruto appeared to have failed in mastering the jutsu, Tsunade went to meet Orochimaru, though not before drugging Jiraiya to make sure he didn't interfere.

Upon meeting with Orochimaru, Tsunade asked that he not destroy Konoha when his arms were healed. Orochimaru complied, and Tsunade prepared to heal him, though was interrupted by Orochimaru's assistant, Kabuto Yakushi. Kabuto, being a medical ninja himself, was able to notice the killing intent of Tsunade's healing jutsu and as such knew that she really intended to kill Orochimaru. Her motives known, Tsunade revealed that she knew Orochimaru lied when saying he'd leave Konoha alone, and that she couldn't bring herself to allow it due to Nawaki and Dan having loved Konoha until the end of their days. While she had tried to forget this fact over the years, Naruto's determination and desire to be Hokage reminded her of their dreams, and she had decided to do whatever was necessary to protect those dreams.

With that, Tsunade attacked Orochimaru, though Kabuto fought her in his place. As the two trade blows, Kabuto began to realize that he was completely outmatched and decided to use her fear of blood to his advantage by slitting his wrists and thus making her immovable. As Kabuto began to beat on Tsunade, Shizune and Naruto came to her rescue. While both were easily defeated, Naruto was able to overcome his injuries and continued to protect Tsunade. Although Tsunade told him to run, Naruto refused, and manages to hit Kabuto with a perfected Rasengan in his effort to protect her, defeating Kabuto. As Naruto collapsed and is left near-death due to Kabuto's last attack, Tsunade rushed to his aid and attempted to heal him, not willing to allow him to die. Her efforts were successful, and Naruto claims the amulet he had now won before losing consciousness. Putting the amulet around his neck, Tsunade asked once more for its wearer to become Hokage.

Orochimaru, worrying about what kind of threat Naruto may become when he gets older, tried to kill him, though Tsunade blocked that attack as a human shield. Orochimaru inquired as to why she was protecting Naruto, to which she replied that Naruto would someday be Hokage and that she will not allow him to die before that happens. With that, Tsunade accepts\ed the title of Fifth Hokage (五代目火影, Godaime Hokage) that she had been offered and overcame her fear of blood, her first action being to attack Orochimaru. Joining forces with the still drugged Jiraiya, the two attacked Orochimaru, with Tsunade eventually being the one to deal the finishing blow. Defeated, Orochimaru escaped, vowing to destroy Konoha once he's healed himself. Once Naruto recovered, the group returned to Konoha, Tsunade ready to take the role Dan and Nawaki so dearly desired, and secretly believing that Naruto would someday become a great Hokage.

Sasuke Retrieval arc

Soon after arriving in Konoha, Tsunade healed the wounds of Rock Lee, Kakashi Hatake, and Sasuke Uchiha. Once healed, Sasuke defected from the village so that he could go to Orochimaru, and Tsunade was forced to send out a group of Genin to stop him. She also used Konoha's reacquired alliance with Sunagakure to call in a favor for reinforcements, hoping to give the retrieval team some backup. Despite her efforts, the group ultimately failed, and Tsunade helped in healing their fatal injuries, bringing them back to full health. In the aftermath of Sasuke's betrayal, Sakura Haruno asked to become Tsunade's apprentice, which Tsunade gladly accepted.

Anime filler arcs

Tsunade appeared in numerous filler arcs, though she typically did nothing more than sending others out on missions, occasionally trying new ways of deciding who would go on a specific mission. Her goal during the filler arcs was to keep Naruto busy until Jiraiya came back to prevent him from going after Sasuke himself. In one filler arc, saved Team 10 from the Legendary Stupid Brothers with a quick display of her strength. In another filler, she summoned Katsuyu to deal with some impersonators of Rock Lee and Might Guy who had entered the village.

Part II

After Naruto's return to Konoha after the timeskip, the village's elders questioned Tsunade's decision to allow Naruto to go out on missions when Akatsuki sought to capture him. As such, the elders forced Tsunade to allow one of Danzo's, a fierce opponent of the Third Hokage, men to be teamed with Naruto. Not trusting Danzo, Tsunade assigned Yamato to lead Naruto and keep an eye on Danzo's addition to the team.

Later, when two Akatsuki members entered the Land of Fire; namely Hidan and Kakuzu, Tsunade mobilized the Niju Shotai to look for and, if possible, capture the Akatsuki duo. While capture never came to be possible, the Akatsuki members were both defeated. Tsunade later performed an autopsy on Kakuzu, and found Naruto's newest jutsu, Wind Release: Rasenshuriken to be too dangerous for use based on the damage done to Kakuzu's body and Naruto's arm. She explained that the attack had struck at a cellular level, causing extensive damage to the both of them, and regretfully told Kakashi and Yamato not to allow Naruto to use the jutsu again, lest his access to chakra be destroyed.
Hunt for Uchiha arc

When Jiraiya decideed to do battle with the enigmatic Pain, Tsunade bet that Jiraiya will die, but said this jokingly, due to her horrible luck in betting. Unfortunately, Jiraiya died, possibly making this one of the few bets Tsunade ever won. Before his death Jiraiya sent a toad to Tsunade with a code which would reveal Pain's true identity. When Pa returned to Konoha with the results of the battle, he told her of Jiraiya's death. With both Jiraiya and Orochimaru dead, she is the sole surviving Sannin. After telling Naruto about Jiraiya's death Naruto quickly blamed Tsunade for his death then stormed off afterwards. Tsunade is then shown telling Shikamaru to have Jiraiya's message decoded and was subsequently seen crying by herself, knowing she lost a precious friend.

Invasion of Pain

Tsunade requested the return for Naruto after finding out that Konoha was under attack. However, the village elders interfered who requested that Naruto was not to be alerted out of fear for him to be captured by the Akatsuki. Tsunade angrily grabbed them both by the collar, and responded by telling them that they couldn't treat him like a child forever and that Naruto has the will of fire that enables him to protect Konoha as well as being able to surpass Jiraiya. After mentioning that others had faith in Naruto's abilities which is something they never had, just as people before them had faith in them, they must entrust this faith to the future generation, and so Koharu Utatane reluctantly gave into her demands.

Tsunade was then informed by Shizune about a Chakra receiver found in Pain's body that is used to control the other Pains through a chakra transmission and Tsunade ordered ANBU to guard Shizune and the interrogation squad to complete the investigation into Pain's identity. Tsunade summoned Katsuyu and asked her to disperse into smaller slugs and take Tsunade's chakra to heal the injured. She then vowed to live up to her title of Hokage to protect the village with her life. As Tsunade was healing nearly all of the injured, one of the Katsuyu's slugs found Kakashi and Tsunade punches a wall in frustration knowing at how grim the situation looked for the village. Choji arrived to tell her the abilities of Deva Pain. She then told Choji that Choza and Kakashi needed to be sent to the hospital immediately. When asked if Kakashi was alright, she gave no answer. Deva Pain arrived and stared at Tsunade coldly telling her that she's the last of legendary three. Tsunade looked at him in shock, and immediately recognized him from Amegakure.

Deva Pain immediately demands Tsunade tell him where Naruto is, but Tsunade instead states that Akatsuki is nothing but a bunch of terrorists out to pursue their own goals. As she and Pain begin to voice their own views about how the Five Great Shinobi Nations turned out, Human Pain contacts Deva Pain, revealing the location of Naruto. As Deva Path decides to leave, he warns Tsunade that the wars started by the Five Great Nations will only continue to create more wars. He also says he will make Tsunade know pain and jumps up preparing a powerful technique.

Tsunade and the ANBU chase after Deva Path, unaware that he was about to use his special jutsu at its ultimate level. As Deva Path demolishes nearly all of Konoha, Tsunade has Katsuyu use its clones to protect as many people as possible from the blast. To do this she uses the excess chakra stored in the mark on her forehead. With the arrival of Naruto at the site of devastation, Deva Pain summons all other path bodies, including a newly revived Asura Path to his side. Enraged by the destruction of the village, Tsunade confronts them and prepares to engage them in battle to fulfill her title as Hokage. Deva Pain ignores her challenge, and sends Asura Pain to impale her with its bladed arm. She is saved by Naruto, who crushes the Asura Pain body into pieces instantly with a Rasengan. Surprised by Naruto's new found strength, she sees the ghostly figures of Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze standing with Naruto. Naruto tells her as the Hokage, she doesn't need to dirty her hands with scum like Pain, and that he will defeat him.

Abilities

Even though she is in her fifties, Tsunade's Transformation Technique makes it appear as if she were still twenty (which Naruto calls "living a lie"). Tsunade's transformation is somewhat different from a normal transformation as it seems to be permanent, not getting dispelled when she is slashed or injured, and she apparently does not need to exert any effort to stay transformed, albeit it seems to temporarily shut down when her chakra runs low, as seen when she and Jiraiya were fighting Orochimaru.

Tsunade's trademark ability is her great raw strength, which is amplified even further with chakra control to inhuman levels. By storing chakra and releasing it at the point of contact, she can enhance her strength to the point where she can effortlessly break through boulders with her bare hands. She is also renowned for her tremendous skill in taijutsu, which combined with her strength makes her a truly dangerous kunoichi for anyone to face directly.
Tsunade releases the seal on her forehead.
Tsunade releases the seal on her forehead.

In addition to her unrivaled strength, she is equally impressive and renowned for her expertise as a Medical-nin, and can heal wounds that most others would consider impossible with relative ease. Her knowledge of the medical arts are so great that she can immediatly determine what kind of injuries or illness a person has from a single glance as she did with Orochimaru when he came searching for her. The most extreme example of her medical prowess is Creation Rebirth, a technique that makes use of the massive amounts of chakra available after using Shadow Seal: Release to continuously regenerate the cells in her body, healing any wound and even growing back missing organs. It gives her a form of "immortality" in battle that even Orochimaru expressed envy for. It is because of these skills that she is regarded as Konoha's strongest kunoichi. However, because of the rapid cell regeneration, the technique shortens her life much like the Four-Tailed transformation and Deva Pain's technique, Shinra Tensei, at it's ultimate level as it was stated by Konan. Although she has more control over the process than Naruto's transformation. Because of the risk associated with the technique, Tsunade has made the choice to only use Creation Rebirth in extremely desperate situations.

Additionally, Tsunade can summon Katsuyu, a giant slug that is intelligent and very loyal to her. Katsuyu is able to perform a number of jutsu, such as spitting acid and splitting into smaller slugs, which can recombine to form the main body once again. Tsunade can use the slugs as a medium for her medical jutsu, allowing her to heal far more people than she can individually reach; the slugs can also be used to spread information.

Minato Namikaze (4th Hokage)

Minato Namikaze (波風 ミナト, Namikaze Minato), also known as Konoha's Yellow Flash (木ノ葉の黄色い閃光, Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō), was the Fourth Hokage (四代目火影, Yondaime Hokage), and the father of Naruto Uzumaki

According to those who knew him, Minato was a very talented ninja, having been considered a genius that appeared once a generation, graduated from the Academy at the age of ten. He came under the tutelage of Jiraiya, and under his guidance, learned to develop his skills. Impressed with Minato's determination to succeed, Jiraiya took it upon himself to make him his apprentice and teach the latter his skills, including the Toad Summoning Technique. Minato quickly mastered the technique, being the only person to fully control Gamabunta, a feat not even his sensei or his son could do as of now. His skills would further grow with the development of his own jutsu, including the Rasengan, something he although never completed to his intendings, and the Flying Thunder God Technique.

After attaining the rank of Jonin, Minato was given direction of his own team, which consisted of Kakashi Hatake, Rin and Obito Uchiha. Along with Kakashi, Minato's reputation greatly increased during the Third Great Shinobi War, where his skills earned him the moniker of Konoha's Yellow Flash.
Minato with his subordinates: Rin, Obito Uchiha, and Kakashi Hatake
Minato with his subordinates: Rin, Obito Uchiha, and Kakashi Hatake

As a gift for Kakashi's advancement to Jonin, Minato gave him a unique kunai marked with one of the Flying Thunder God transportation markers. Shortly afterwards, he informed the team of their mission: destroy a bridge that aided the enemy Rock ninja force. For the mission, Kakashi took Minato's place as commander of the team while he went to a different battlefield, where he was able to defeat a large number of Iwagakure ninja singlehandedly. His team, however, was unable to complete their mission, as differences between Obito and Kakashi lead the team to be caught in a trap. Obito, however, was unable to survive the mission, instead helping Kakashi save Rin by giving Kakashi his Sharingan eye before being completely crushed by rocks. When Rin used Kakashi's kunai, Minato arrived and easily defeated the Iwagakure ninja. Unfortunately, by the time he arrived Obito was already dead, though he managed to save Kakashi and Rin. They would later go on to fulfill their mission and help repel the invasion.

Fourth Hokage

In the months to come, Minato was chosen by Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, to lead as the Fourth Hokage. As a result of this decision, the power crazed Orochimaru left the village. Minato's devotion to the village and his love for his friends inspired all those around him, and as such, he became well-liked by the villagers.

During his time and relationship with Kushina Uzumaki, Jiraiya showed Minato one of his developing books, which features a fictional character named Naruto. Minato appreciated the name and he would name his unborn son after the fictional character. Jiraiya, however, did not think the name was worthwhile. Kushina approved of the name, so Jiraiya had not much of a choice when both of them had approved.

However, just moments after Naruto's birth, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked Konoha. Minato rushed to the village, where he and Gamabunta faced off against the Tailed Beast. Near the end of the battle, Minato made the ultimate sacrifice; using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, he sealed the demon fox into his newborn son, in exchange for his own life.

His dying wish was that Naruto be viewed as a hero, and not as the container of the demon fox, a request not honored by most of the villagers. The only few people who did honor the request was Hiruzen, and a few other ninja who had fought in the Third Great Shinobi War.

Succession

Since Minato never had a chance to pick his successor, Hiruzen, the Third Hokage resumed his role as Hokage. Soon after the sealing of the demon fox, Hiruzen made a decree that Naruto being a demon container should never be mentioned. This was done in the hope that if the children of Naruto's age grew up not knowing his true nature, they would not hold him in contempt like their parents did. Nevertheless, they still shunned him because of their parents' attitude towards him. Because of this, Naruto was isolated and became mischievous.

Legacy

When sealing the demon fox, Minato divided the demon fox's chakra in two halves as he sealed it into Naruto. He sealed the Yin chakra with the Dead Demon Consuming Seal making it inaccessible to Naruto, while using the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style and the Four Symbols Seal on the Yang chakra to give Naruto access to it. This way, Naruto could call upon the demon fox's chakra without being completely controlled by it, though the Four-Tailed Transformation seems to negate this effect. Jiraiya states Minato wanted Naruto to have the Seal Key that matched Naruto's Trigram Seal to help complete a yet to be identified technique.

Personality

Jiraiya and Tsunade point out that, while Naruto physically bears great resemblance to Minato, his personality and style of ninjutsu are almost identical to his mother. This and an earlier statement from Jiraiya on the mission to retrieve Tsunade simply that Naruto and Minato had somewhat different personalities.

This was evident earlier in the Kakashi Gaiden arc where Minato behaved in a calm and collected but kind and cheerful manner, while dispatching sage-like advice and sound military sense years beyond his age when necessary. When faced with an enemy, he could kill in cold blood, and seemed well aware of the terror his reputation inspired in his foes. He appeared to be respectful of those around him, as he was reproachful of freely speaking of others' pasts, not at all concerned about putting his faith in Jiraiya in regards to his son's upbringing, and was said to have been a very nice person.

Jiraiya has said that Minato was a shrewd person and was not the type to do something without reason. All in all, Minato was known for an unbeatable determination and unbelievable drive which he passed on to his son.

Jiraiya noted that, although he was quite a genius, Minato's greatest aspect was his desire to succeed, largely attributing his success to hard work, another trait passed on to Naruto.

Abilities

According to Jiraiya, Minato was easily one of the most gifted Leaf shinobi ever to live. So much so, a flee-on-sight order was given to enemy shinobi during the Third Great Shinobi War. Minato's brilliance became evident from creating 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, but he is considered by many as quite possibly the most skilled ninja the Leaf Village has ever produced. He earned the nickname Konoha's Yellow Flash either because of his unrivaled speed and equally impressive use of it or for his creation of his Flying Thunder God Technique and the yellow light that accompanied the use of it (more than likely his hair flashing by). Once, during the Third Great Shinobi War, he was able to defeat 50 enemies using the technique by having other Konoha Shinobi throw his specially inscribed kunai at the group. It appears that he teleported from foe to foe, cutting them down instantaneously, as he was able to defeat them all in a matter of seconds and without a scratch.

Past Speculation

Before it was revealed, many fans speculated that Minato was Naruto's father, mostly because of their nearly identical physique and looks. The two characters also have the same blood type and technique styles. Throughout the course of the series, characters who knew Minato had also given references to Minato when talking about Naruto. One might also add that Minato had access to a child, Naruto. It is unlikely, based on his personality and the reverence others have for him, that he simply grabbed a random child, and made them a container for the demon fox. He would only use his own son, rather than someone else's child, or a stray orphan. However, until it was revealed in Chapter 367, information about Naruto's family relations had been carefully avoided.

Before Pain was revealed, some speculated that Minato was the leader of the Akatsuki, considering they both have nearly identical hairstyles and the leader's apparent knowledge of the leaf shinobi and their beliefs, though it was later revealed that Pain's knowledge of this is due to being a student of Jiraiya during the Sage's stay in the Rain Country.

Sarutobi Sasuke (3rd Hokage)

Sarutobi Sasuke (猿飛佐助, Sarutobi Sasuke?) was a famous ninja featured in many Japanese children's stories from 1911 to 1925. The character was immortalized in contemporary Japanese culture by the 1962 Sampei Shirato comic of the same name. Thereafter the name Sasuke became something of a default ninja moniker.

He is generally believed to be a fictional creation of the Meiji era born on June 25, 806 C.E. based on the historical ninja Kozuki Sasuke, though some argue for his actual existence. He is commonly listed as one of the Sanada Ten Braves, a legendary group of ten ninja that supposedly assisted Sanada Yukimura at the battles of Osaka Castle during the Sengoku period, and he is one of the best known among the Ten Braves. It is also said that he supposedly died in the Summer Campaign of the Siege of Osaka.

Sarutobi Sasuke is generally said to be a Kōga ninja, whereas Kirigakure Saizō, his fellow Ten Braves, is an Iga ninja. As such, when Sarutobi Sasuke and Kirigakure Saizō appear together, they are almost always depicted as arch-rivals and later, after being recruited to the Sanada cause, best friends. This rivalry parallels the Iga-Kōga rivalry and the Hattori-Fūma rivalries in ninja fiction.

Sarutobi, meaning 'monkey jump', is written with two Kanji; saru (猿) is the character for 'monkey', and tobi (飛) is the character for 'jump'. He was known for his monkey-like agility and quickness, especially in trees. Many depictions of him in Japanese pop culture portray him as having been orphaned and raised by a band of monkeys, therefore giving rise to the monkey-like abilities. When appearing with Kirigakure Saizō, he is often thus contrasted with his best friend/arch-rival, who usually has an elegant, or at least clean-cut, appearance and magic-like ability

Tobirama Senju (2nd Hokage)

Tobirama Senju (千手扉間, Senju Tobirama), the Second Hokage (二代目火影, Nidaime Hokage; Literally meaning "Second Fire Shadow") is the younger brother to Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage and Tsunade's grand uncle. Like his brother, Tobirama was a member of the Senju clan. He is also the former teacher and team leader of the disbanded Team Tobirama. He is greatly known for his abilities with Water Release Ninjutsu being able to use high level water jutsu with no water source nearby.
Background

Tobirama was the brother of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, and part of the Senju clan. 80 years prior to the current era, the world was in a time of war and the ninja clans were nothing more than assassins for hire for the various feudal lords. Because of his brother, the Senju clan was constantly being hired for wars and in turn the enemy would then hire the Uchiha clan. However, Hashirama soon found it meaningless to continue fighting and offered the Uchiha clan a truce - something that their leader, Madara Uchiha was reluctant to agree, but was pressured into accepting by his own clansmen.

Eventually, the allied Senju clan and Uchiha clan would make a pact with the feudal lord of the Land of Fire and the Tobirama would together with his brother and Madara foster the village Konohagakure, and helped create the "one village per country" rule that would eventually end most of the wars between the feudal lords, but their armies were still maintained at current level by the five great shinobi countries after the first ninja war. However there were still internal struggles and after the fight between Madara and Hashirama, the villagers soon began suspecting the Uchiha clan of treason and plotting against the village, but Hashirama, taking the Uchiha clan's word, chose to do nothing.

During this time would Tobirama also trained a three person team of his own, called Team Tobirama consisting of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the future Third Hokage, and Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, the two future elder advisers of the village.

However the war still waged on, and unsure of the title of Hokage, Hashirama would appoint his brother as the Second Hokage and later Tobirama would also appoint his prized student, Hiruzen to be the Third Hokage.

After becoming the Hokage, Tobirama would give the Uchiha clan a special position as a sign of trust. He gave them the leadership of the Konoha Military Police. However (according to Madara) this was just a cover up, and its true purpose was just to distance the Uchiha from the government of the village, and place the clan under a tight surveillance under the ANBU.

Like his brother, Tobirama had a true loyalty to his village and believed strongly in peace. He too would eventually die in the wars, and pass on the title of Hokage to his student Hiruzen.

Abilities

He was hailed for being the greatest master of Water Release jutsu, being able to create water from nothing, allowing him to use any water jutsu without requiring a water source. However, it has been speculated that he was just gathering the water vapor in the air to fuel his all powerful jutsus. It must be noted that even if this was the case the sheer quantity of water needed would necessitate gathering moisture from a very large area. Such a feat would be just as impressive as creating water from nothing.

Beyond his formidable ability to create (or gather) water his prodigious skill with water jutsu also extended to cutting out a significant portion of the hand seals used to mold a jutsu. For example the Water Release: Water Dragon Blast Technique usually requires the largest amount of hand seals ever seen in the Naruto Universe, 42 hand seals, however he is shown to only require one hand seal.

Also, during his fight against Hiruzen, in the anime only, he displays great abilities in manipulating water, such as using it for projectiles, or tentacles to drag the opponent down in the water. He also displayed tremendous taijutsu and genjutsu prowess.

In an anime filler arc, it was said that he wielded the Sword of the Thunder God (雷神の剣, Raijin no Ken)), a blade with electrical abilities.

Destruction of Konoha arc

He is later revived from the dead by Orochimaru using Impure World Resurrection to fight Hiruzen during the Destruction of Konoha arc. His soul is eventually sealed into the stomach of the Death God, along with his brother and Orochimaru's arms.

Hashirama Senju (1st Hokage)

Hashirama Senju (千手柱間, Senju Hashirama), the First Hokage (初代火影, Shodai Hokage; Literally meaning "First or Founding Fire Shadow"), was the founder of Konoha, the older brother of Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage of Konoha , and the grandfather of Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage of Konoha, and Nawaki. He is well known for his abilities to use the Wood Release, a Kekkei Genkai that combines Earth Release and Water Release, to create wood

Hashirama Senju (千手柱間, Senju Hashirama), the First Hokage (初代火影, Shodai Hokage; Literally meaning "First or Founding Fire Shadow"), was the founder of Konoha, the older brother of Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage of Konoha , and the grandfather of Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage of Konoha, and Nawaki. He is well known for his abilities to use the Wood Release, a Kekkei Genkai that combines Earth Release and Water Release, to create wood.

Hashirama was originally the leader of the Senju clan of the Forest. During the first wars he and the Senju clan rose to being regarded as one of the two most powerful clans in the world, rivaling the Uchiha Clan. Because of which, the Senju constantly fought the Uchiha clan and he himself against Madara Uchiha personally, even to the point that when someone hired the Senju clan, the opposing part would hire the Uchiha clan, and vice-versa. Eventually growing tired of the constant fighting, Hashirama and his clan approached the Uchiha and offered a truce with the them. Allied with Madara and his clan, the two groups started what grew into the Five Great Shinobi Nations by founding Konohagakure.

Later on, Madara left the village because during arguments on the laws and policies of the village, Madara's own clan would side against him as originally he refused the truce, causing his clan to believe he was a monster, saying that he took his brother's eyes for his own selfish desires. This conflict resulted in the battle between Madara and Hashirama at the Valley of the End, with Senju emerging as the victor. To commemorate the battle, two statues, of Madara and Hashirama, were carved into the earth around the waterfall. It is for this reason that Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha's fight at that location was noted to be ironic.

At some point he would gain control of several Tailed Beasts, that he would later spread out between the nations, as the peace talks were happening, and in order to equalize the powers between the nations. While he was Hokage, Hashirama defeated Kakuzu, who received orders from Takigakure to kill him.

However the war still waged on, and thinking about the future of Konoha, he and his younger brother, Tobirama Senju, the future Second Hokage, trained the young Hiruzen Sarutobi, the future Third Hokage. Not long after founding Konoha, Hashirama died in battle, passing on the title of Hokage to Tobirama.

Personality

Hashirama was shown to be a very calm and collected person as well as kind and caring with a deep sense of loyalty. He saw the people of Konoha as a part of his own family, and his legacy takes a firm root in the village. He was also shown to be a very wise and insightful man as he passed on great teachings to Hiruzen. It was he who first believed that all Leaf ninja should show a true loyalty to each other and that a Kage must be willing to put his life on the line for his village to set an example for all others.

Konoha Invasion arc

He and his brother were revived from the dead by Orochimaru using Impure World Resurrection to fight the Third Hokage during the invasion of Konoha arc. While fully aware what was going on and saddened that he would have to fight his former student, Orochimaru employed a special seal to rob Hashirama of his free will. During the battle, he demonstrated great teamwork and combination attacks with his brother, forcing Hiruzen to summon Enma for assistance. He also demonstrated his great Wood Release abilities and the same time shows great Taijutsu skills. His soul was eventually sealed into the stomach of the Death God by the Third Hokage, along with his brother and Orochimaru's arms. Before his soul was completely removed, he and his brother apologized to their former student for the trouble they had caused.


It is revealed that Orochimaru had implanted Hashirama's DNA into sixty test subjects in an attempt to gain access to his Wood Release techniques and ability to control demons, producing Tenzou (later given the code name Yamato). However, he lost track of the test subjects and didn't realize that one had survived.

Abilities

Hashirama had been noted by both Madara Uchiha and several Konoha Jonin to be regarded as the most feared ninja of his time if not in history. There was also only one person who was capable of matching him and the Senju clan in their time, It was Madara Uchiha and the Uchiha clan. He was greatly respected by all even by Madara Uchiha!

Proof of how undoubtedly an extremely a formidable ninja he was is shown by him defeating both Madara and the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox (who was under Madara's control at the time). This is remarkable since Madara was a wielder of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, an advanced form of the Mangekyo Sharingan. Defeating the demon fox alone would be a legendary feat, as the Fourth Hokage had to give up his life to seal the demon fox, however it stood to note that his wood jutsu allowed him to tame the demon fox in a manner similar to Madara, rather than actually beating up the demon fox. He also defeated the powerful Akatsuki member Kakuzu at some point. During his resurrected corpse's battle with Hiruzen, he demonstrated tremondous skill in all forms of ninja combat as he was shown to be a considerable hand to hand fighter as he fought on equal footing against Hiruzen, who was a taijutsu master, and could use powerful Genjutsu that even Hiruzen, a genjutsu master, seemed unable to dispel. Flashbacks to his battle with Madara showed he also had summoning and weapon 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 the source of life, he was able to create trees, cause them to grow to great sizes, and manipulate them to diverse shapes and battle uses at will. It was said this ability was used to create the very landscape and foundation that the Leaf Village stands on. This ability was apparently unique to him, since neither his brother, Tobirama nor his granddaughter, Tsunade inherited this talent, despite their own impressive talents for chakra control. Yamato only acquired it (albeit much weaker in raw power) through genetic manipulation by Orochimaru. Yamato has also shown great skill in standard water and earth techniques so it is presumed Hashirama could do water and earth techniques as well. Hashirama's strongest demonstration of his Wood Release was from the Deep Forest Emergence. He summoned a tree and puts his enemy inside and it explodes with enough power to destroy the entire Leaf Village.

The ability Orochimaru most highly praised him for was his unique ability to control life and natural energy in the surrounding area. Through this ability, Hashirama could influence creatures composed of nature energy, such as the Tailed Beasts, by bending them to his own will and suppressing their chakra. It was presumed that this ability came from the Wood Release power to manipulate nature and life energy. Madara also mentioned that at one time, he had several tailed beasts 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 was greatly amplified by his very valuable necklace composed of a shard of crystalline chakra, though how this works is unknown.

Also, the famous Scroll of Sealing that was made by Hashirama himself heavily implied that he too knew a vast number of jutsu, not unlike the Third Hokage.