Hiruzen Sarutobi

**Hiruzen Sarutobi**was the **Third Hokage** (*Literally meaning: Third Fire Shadow*) of the Hidden Leaf Village. A disciple of the village's previous hokage, Hiruzen is a powerful ninja, hailed as the "**Supreme Shinobi**".

## Physical Appearance

Hiruzen was a light-skinned man of below-average stature with grey hair. Since his time training the Legendary Sannin, he has had a small goatee and short spiked hair - both being dark brown in color during his youth. He also initially had a single line running vertically under outer corners of each eye, which stretched down into his face as he aged until they reached his cheeks. As an old man, age had not taken much of a toll on his overall appearance. His only changes were slight; he obtained more pronounced cheekbones, a longer and thicker goatee, a prominent crease across his forehead, grey hair, a few wrinkles, a wart near his left nostril, and a few liver-spots.

As a Hokage, Hiruzen would commonly wear the official uniform - consisting of the customary hat and haori, along with a red, full-length kimono that was tied using a white sash. With age, had also taken to smoking a pipe. He also occasionally wears an orange shirt, with the kanji for fire on its back. His combat attire consisted of a black jumpsuit, which featured mesh segments over the lower portions of his limbs, and a grey gauntlet that covered his right wrist, forearm and elbow. He also wore an armored hood with a bandanna-like Hidden Leaf forehead protector over this, which featured two long straps. The kanji for "**Third Hokage**" was inscribed onto an additional piece of metal plating on the back of his outfit, although at the time of Kurama's attack when he retired the post, it merely had the kanji for "**fire**". He also had two shuriken holsters strapped to either side of his back.

## Personality

Due to the long life he had lived, Hiruzen served as a source of wisdom for much of the *Naruto* series, passing on the things he had learned to the next generation. As Hokage, he had also acquired a habit of attempting to end things peacefully, and did what he could to avoid bloodshed amongst his allies and his enemies. At the series' start, Hiruzen was one of the few people who saw Naruto as more than the container of Kurama, and, as such, became someone that Naruto truly admired, even thinking of Hiruzen as a grandfather-figure.

According to Kakashi Hatake, Hiruzen loved his students deeply, including Orochimaru, no matter how far he had fallen. This ideal stems from his belief that the Hidden Leaf Village's next generation is a precious resource that must be protected. However, it was the same belief that forced Hiruzen to allow Orochimaru to escape after uncovering his experiments in replicating Hashirama's DNA at the cost of many lives, thus unknowingly allowing his former student to commit even more tragedies. By his own admission, Hiruzen noted that he was too compassionate and indulging of a person, leaving things such as the more underhanded, but necessary, tasks to Danzo, and granted him too much free rein as a result, though eventually he lost his trust for him after he spearheaded the Uchiha Clan Massacre. To this end he admitted that he believed that he had failed to carry on the Second Hokage's mission of bringing stability to the village.

Hiruzen was also bit lecherous as well, as he enjoyed spending much of his free time talking to young girls, which was his favorite pastime, and when Jiraiya was still his student, he offered to help Jiraiya test the technique that would allow the user to spy on naked women unnoticed. Even Jiraiya, in this instance, noted his sensei's perverted qualities. He also fell victim to Naruto's Sexy Jutsu on more than one occasion, fainting after he saw it.

Hiruzen is also shown to have a sense of humor even during deadly situations. When Orochimaru told him to stop fooling around since it wasn't the Academy, Hiruzen replied depending on how good Orochimaru's technique is he might send him back to the Academy.

## Powers and Abilities

### Ninjutsu Prowess

* Ninjutsu Grandmaster - During his lifetime Hiruzen had accumulated a vast knowledge of ninjutsu. Hiruzen was also called **The Professor**, due to his mastery of all forms of shinobi combat, his own personal arsenal of original and ingenious techniques, as well as having mastered thousands of techniques in general. Likewise, he is reputed for having advanced knowledge and skill in all techniques to ever exist within Konoha, including the many Hiden techniques that reside within it.
	+ Nature Transformation
	+ Bojutsu Master
	+ Shurikenjutsu Master - Out of his various specialties, Hiruzen was highly skilled in the use of shuriken based techniques, one of which was the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu. With this technique, he could create a thousand clones of a single thrown shuriken in an instant to overwhelm the opponent. This method also meant that he didn't have to stock up on a lot of shuriken. He could also use the technique with the larger version of shuriken, increasing the technique's range and penetration power.
	+ Fuinjutsu Master

### Taijutsu Prowess

* Taijutsu Master - Hiruzen displayed a masterful skill in taijutsu. He was able to counter the reincarnated Hashirama and Tobirama in close combat. It was also shown during his battle with the First and Second Hokage that he had a great amount of strength despite his age, enough to lift and throw Tobirama across a significant distance. He also showed quick-thinking during their confrontation, and in one instance he was able to place explosive tags on each of them, without them nor Orochimaru even knowing. With Enma, he was able to break through Wood Release branches with ease. He was also able to save Naruto from the Ten-Tails's chakra-absorbing branches with a few strikes of Enma.
	+ Enhanced Strength
	+ Enhanced Speed and Reflexes
	+ Enhanced Agility
	+ Enhanced Endurance
	+ Enahcned Durability

### Intelligence

* Master Strategist and Tactician - Hiruzen showed a keen and perceptive mind in battle. Even while pressured by multiple opponents, he could quickly access the situation and use the proper counter-measure for it. He also had excellent analytical skills, being able to deduce Obito's mysterious substance only moments after witnessing it, stating that it was similar to the Kekkei Tota but the attack's shape is dynamic, so it can be used offensively and defensively, and that it is even beyond kekkei tota. He also was able to deduce that there is a limit to the duration of transformations the substance can hold for.
* Shinobi Knowledge

### Chakra Prowess

* Immense Chakra Power - Even in his old age, his chakra was noted for being very strong. Similar to Hashirama, Hiruzen's chakra causes a dense effect on the atmosphere when released, cracking the building he and Orochimaru were battling on. Furthermore, he was known for having immense reserves of chakra in his youth. Despite his diminished reserves of chakra in his old age, he also showed great chakra control, needing only the minimum amount of chakra to use each technique.

## Relationships

### Friends/Allies

* Tobirama Senju (Sensei)
* Jiraiya (Student)
* Tsunade (Student)
* Naruto Uzumaki (Grandson figure)

### Enemies

* Owari Otsutsuki
* The Kihei
* The Red Lotus (Xin Bau's Group)
* Madara Uchiha
* Obito Uchiha
* Orochimaru (former student)