To protect ninja children from having to go to war again, and to ensure stable education and efficient talent development, the Second Hokage, Tobirama, established the Konoha Ninja Academy. There, they could experience learning and play, and grow old enough to taste fine sake. During the Second Hokage's era, Tobirama trained thirty-eight graduates, including Hiruzen Sarutobi, Shimura Danzō, Kagami Uchiha, Torifu Akimichi, Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, and Kosuke. These students were also Konoha's most central group of people at the time.
When carrying out missions, Tobirama usually had his students form two-person teams and act as partners. Decades later, Tobirama's six students had gradually grown into young adults, while Tobirama himself had reached his sixties and entered old age.
During the First Shinobi World War, Kinkaku and Ginkaku suddenly launched a coup at the alliance ceremony between the Raikage and the Hokage. Using the power of the Sage of Six Paths' ninja tools and the Nine-Tails' chakra, the two inflicted near-fatal wounds on the Second Raikage and the Second Hokage. Later, Tobirama and his subordinates—Hiruzen Sarutobi, Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, Shimura Danzō, Torifu Akimichi, and Kagami Uchiha—were pursued by the roughly twenty-man Kinkaku Force. They discussed having one person serve as bait to lure away the enemy so that the others would have time to escape safely. Tobirama secretly tested his subordinates in order to choose the right successor. Although Danzō wanted to volunteer as the bait, at the crucial moment, fear kept him from speaking up. Hiruzen then stepped forward and offered to be the bait himself. In the end, for Konohagakure's future, Tobirama decided to serve as the bait personally. Before leaving, he praised Hiruzen's actions and appointed him the next Hokage, then sacrificed himself to cover Hiruzen and the others.
During the Konoha Crush, Tobirama and his