Hiruzen Sarutobi

Biodata

Feature	Information
Name	Hiruzen Sarutobi (猿飞日斩)
Alias(es)	Lord Third; Professor of Ninjutsu
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Konohagakure
Occupation/Role	Lord Third; Konoha’s senior decision-maker during the pursuit of Uchiha Lieyang
Status	Alive; withdraws from active leadership as Tsunade and Jiraiya begin taking over Konoha
First Appearance	6

Power Progression

Chapter(s)	Development
10	Root identifies the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique as an A-rank ninjutsu Hiruzen developed through his own experience.
15	Konoha’s leadership identifies Hiruzen as a genuine Kage-level expert.
19	Kakashi identifies Hiruzen as one of the extremely few Konoha shinobi to have truly developed all five chakra natures.
61	Hiruzen projects oppressive chakra pressure across a meeting room without visible preparation.
97	His lifetime research is revealed to cover all five nature transformations, their interactions and counters, combined applications, and casting without hand seals.

Background / History

Hiruzen initially treats Uchiha Lieyang’s disappearance during an A-rank mission as an unresolved case rather than confirmed defection. Despite Danzō’s demands for an immediate conviction, Hiruzen stresses that neither the missing teammates’ deaths nor Lieyang’s guilt can be established without direct evidence. He authorizes Root to locate Lieyang, ordering that he be returned for interrogation if a live capture is possible. 6 7

Lieyang’s personnel file strengthens Hiruzen’s hesitation: it records a high mission-completion rate, no history of disobedience or abandoning comrades, extensive social ties within Konoha, local business investments, aid to injured retired ninja, and public support for reconciliation between the Uchiha clan and the village. Hiruzen recognizes that Konoha had already kept Lieyang under detailed surveillance because of his rapid growth and influence. 7

After Root casualties reveal Lieyang’s concealed Water, Earth, and Lightning Releases, one-handed seals, and independently combat-capable Shadow Clones, Hiruzen accepts that the evidence establishes Lieyang’s defection. He nevertheless continues to prioritize investigation and the containment of information. 14

When the losses escalate to six Root squads and three regular Konoha teams, Hiruzen formally reclassifies Lieyang as a Kage-level powerhouse. Further reports that Shadow Clones alone annihilated jōnin squads lead him to endorse Root’s assessment that Lieyang is at least comparable to Konoha’s White Fang in combat threat. 15 16

Hiruzen’s first specialized joint pursuit force fails catastrophically: Hinata Yota dies, Kakashi is left unconscious under Mangekyō genjutsu, and Yamanaka Daito is taken. With further concealment no longer sustainable, Hiruzen and the elders publicly announce Lieyang’s defection and killings, issue the highest-level wanted notice, and require the Uchiha clan to state its position. 28 29

After Kakashi awakens Kamui, Hiruzen resumes the pursuit with Kakashi as captain and adds Shisui Uchiha as a core member. The ensuing suppression operation ends in an even greater disaster: sixty-eight elite ninja are killed, Shisui loses his Mangekyō Sharingan, Kakashi and Might Guy are severely wounded, and Kurenai Yūhi is captured by Lieyang. 31 60 61

Following the defeat, Hiruzen prevents Danzō from meeting him, signaling a break with Root’s leadership. At an emergency meeting with the clans, he accepts full responsibility for the operation, authorizes maximum compensation for the dead, and permits discussion of a successor while maintaining that he will remain Hokage until one is selected. 60 61

The crisis weakens Hiruzen’s authority and accelerates plans for Tsunade to become Fifth Hokage. Political accounts from Shikaku Nara and Asuma Sarutobi portray Hiruzen’s continued tenure as an effort to hold Konoha’s factions in balance until a peaceful transition could be achieved, with Hiruzen prepared to bear the failures of the old order himself. Shikaku also argues that Hiruzen’s prolonged rule preserved an entrenched leadership structure and that his confidence in managing its dangers allowed Danzō, Root, and even Orochimaru’s early experiments to go insufficiently checked. 65 66 67 78 79

When Kakashi later provides the full account of the final battle, Hiruzen forces Konoha’s leaders to acknowledge the true scale of Lieyang’s power. He concludes that Lieyang controlled the battlefield, deliberately shielded Kakashi, Shisui, and Kurenai from the worst of the collision between Daytime Tiger and Lightning Release, and spared Might Guy’s life rather than being unable to kill him. 82 83

Hiruzen interprets Lieyang’s decision to leave Kurenai alive and name terms for her return as an invitation to negotiate. He appoints Fugaku Uchiha, who has a connection to Lieyang, to make preliminary contact. In reviewing the Nine-Tails Incident, Hiruzen also concludes that the earlier suspicions surrounding Fugaku and the Uchiha were likely mistaken; the incident’s true mastermind remains unidentified. 84

Konoha subsequently prepares a negotiated exchange for Kurenai’s return. Hiruzen gives Fugaku authority to adjust the terms and entrusts him with a scroll containing his lifetime research into the five chakra natures. Fugaku adds those insights to a substantially expanded offer when the original list proves inadequate. 94 97

Plans for succession continue to change. During a later leadership meeting, Tsunade looks to Hiruzen to oppose the jōnin corps’ call to end the pursuit of Lieyang. He instead declares himself too old and exhausted to continue intervening, leaves future decisions to Tsunade, Jiraiya, and the assembled leaders, and walks out. Jiraiya is subsequently discussed as the prospective Fifth Hokage. Although Hiruzen withdraws from active leadership, an ANBU operation against Danzō is carried out under the Lord Third’s authority. By the time Danzō has been arrested and Root absorbed into ANBU, Tsunade and Jiraiya have begun taking over Konoha. 117 118 119 123

Personality

Hiruzen is cautious, evidence-driven, and visibly reluctant to condemn a Konoha shinobi on suspicion alone. He repeatedly resists Danzō’s tendency to equate Lieyang’s Uchiha identity and circumstantial evidence with guilt, maintaining that the Uchiha remain members of Konoha. 6 7

The mounting casualties force him into increasingly severe decisions, but he remains troubled by the cost. He acknowledges Konoha’s mistakes in assessing Lieyang, worries whether Kakashi’s pursuit team can return alive, and states that the village cannot afford further losses. 15 20

After the final suppression force is defeated, Hiruzen accepts accountability rather than placing responsibility solely on Danzō, Root, or faulty intelligence. He offers compensation to the bereaved clans and accepts that his continued position as Hokage must be reconsidered, though he refuses to allow Konoha’s instability to become an opportunity for an immediate struggle over authority. 61

Hiruzen also retains a deeply personal side beneath his public office. When Asuma returns to Konoha, Hiruzen removes his Hokage robes and goes to meet him as a father before informing him of Kurenai’s capture. Their later conversation reveals Hiruzen’s exhaustion and the emotional burden created by the collapse of his plans for Konoha’s transition. 77 78 79

His confidence that he could maintain a political balance has a darker consequence in Shikaku’s account: Hiruzen recognized some threats within Konoha but did not always act before they grew. Later, when Tsunade seeks his support in a dispute over Lieyang, he declines to impose another decision on the village and withdraws from the meeting. 66 117

Leadership Priorities

• Protects village stability by initially sealing information about Lieyang’s defection and power from the Uchiha clan, fearing it could intensify the clan’s conflict with Konoha’s leadership. He ends this policy once the casualties make continued secrecy untenable. 15 17 29
• Reassesses strategy when ordinary numbers prove ineffective against Lieyang’s speed and clones. 17
• Builds a specialized pursuit force around counters to Lieyang’s known abilities rather than relying on more conventional squads. 17 19 22
• Initially refuses to deploy Shisui Uchiha despite considering him better suited to confront Lieyang’s speed, due to the danger of involving another Mangekyō Sharingan user and exposing the classified operation. After Lieyang’s Mangekyō is confirmed and Kakashi awakens Kamui, Hiruzen authorizes Shisui’s deployment as a core member of the renewed pursuit team. 20 31
• Prioritizes the lives of Kakashi’s second suppression squad over mission success once the scale of Lieyang’s threat becomes clear. 32
• Takes responsibility for the failed pursuit and seeks to prevent the resulting political crisis from escalating into factional conflict within Konoha. 61 65 78
• Keeps negotiations open after concluding that Lieyang wants something from Konoha, selecting Fugaku as an intermediary and authorizing him to adjust the offer if needed. 84 97
• Ultimately leaves decisions about Konoha’s future to Tsunade, Jiraiya, and the village’s assembled leaders rather than continuing to direct their response to Lieyang. 117

Abilities & Skills

Five Chakra Natures

Hiruzen is identified as one of the very few Konoha shinobi who has truly developed all five chakra natures. 19

• His breadth of elemental mastery is used as a benchmark when Kakashi reviews Lieyang’s similarly exceptional five-nature capability. 19
• Known as the Professor of Ninjutsu, he has accumulated research on the five natures’ transformations, interactions, counters, combined uses, and casting without hand seals. The insights are valued at no less than an S-rank ninjutsu. 97

Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique

The Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique is a difficult A-rank ninjutsu developed by Hiruzen through his own experience. 10

• Produces replicated ninja tools that retain matching trajectory, speed, and lethality. 10
• Its complexity is emphasized when Root recognizes Lieyang’s use of it as far beyond his official intelligence profile. 10

Chakra Pressure

Despite his advanced age and political isolation after the pursuit disaster, Hiruzen can project oppressive chakra pressure across a meeting room without visible preparation. He uses this display to warn Konoha’s clans that they may question his decisions and demand accountability, but may not exploit the village’s losses to seize power. 61

Story Role / Major Arcs

Lieyang’s Disappearance and Initial Investigation

Hiruzen reviews the evidence from Lieyang’s failed A-rank mission and opposes Danzō’s demand to declare him guilty without proof. He ultimately permits Root to pursue Lieyang, with a stated preference for capture and interrogation. 6 7

Recognition of Lieyang’s Threat

Reports from Root’s dead and surviving personnel expose Lieyang’s hidden abilities. Hiruzen receives the intelligence, accepts the seriousness of the defection, and later classifies Lieyang as Kage-level after the loss of multiple pursuit squads. 14 15

Further intelligence establishes that Lieyang’s Shadow Clones can independently kill jōnin and that his real body had not participated in several battles. Hiruzen therefore accepts Root’s analysis comparing Lieyang’s Lightning Body Flicker, swordsmanship, and combat rhythm to those of Konoha’s White Fang. 16 19

Information Suppression

Hiruzen joins Danzō and the elders in keeping Lieyang’s defection, casualties, and true strength secret from the Uchiha clan. He considers disclosure likely to embolden radical elements within the Konoha Police Force. 15 17

After the first joint pursuit force collapses and Yamanaka Daito is taken, Hiruzen concludes that Konoha can no longer sustain the cover-up. He authorizes a public disclosure of Lieyang’s defection and murders, circulates a highest-level wanted notice, and requires the Uchiha clan to publicly clarify its position. 28 29

Formation of the Joint Pursuit Force

Hiruzen selects Kakashi Hatake to lead a force designed to counter Lieyang: Kakashi for Sharingan-based tracking and Lightning Release analysis; Hinata Yota to identify the original body and clones; Kurenai Yūhi for genjutsu support; and Might Guy for direct close-range pressure. He assigns Root reconnaissance support and raises the mission to the highest S-rank. 17 19

As the pursuit danger rises beyond the highest S-rank standard, Hiruzen reinforces the operation with the Ino–Shika–Chō team, whose mental communication, restraint, and battlefield control are intended to limit Lieyang’s movement. 22

Renewed Mangekyō Pursuit

Following the failure of the first encirclement and Kakashi’s awakening of Kamui, Hiruzen keeps Kakashi as captain and adds Shisui Uchiha to the pursuit force. He sends Kakashi, Kurenai, Guy, and Shisui on a renewed suppression mission, instructing them that bringing back intelligence is acceptable if Lieyang cannot be killed and that their lives take priority. 31 32

The mission ends with Konoha’s most severe defeat since its postwar recovery. The force loses sixty-eight elite ninja, including twelve Hyūga branch-family members; Shisui’s eyes are taken, Kakashi and Guy are gravely wounded, and Kurenai is captured. 60 61

Accountability and Succession Crisis

Hiruzen receives the clans’ criticism after the defeat and openly calls the pursuit an error in his judgment. He accepts responsibility, promises maximum compensation for the families of the dead, and allows a successor to be nominated under Konoha’s rules while warning rival factions not to exploit the village’s weakness. 61

The resulting political settlement restricts Danzō and Root and initially creates broad support for Tsunade’s succession. It also involves an agreement with Fugaku to clear the Uchiha clan’s suspicion over the Nine-Tails Incident in exchange for its support. Hiruzen is positioned to bear responsibility for the pursuit and the old order’s accumulated failures. The proposal to place blame for the Nine-Tails Incident on Lieyang is overtaken by Hiruzen’s later assessment that neither Lieyang nor Fugaku was behind it. 65 67 78 84

Later discussions favor Jiraiya as the prospective Fifth Hokage. When Tsunade seeks Hiruzen’s intervention against the jōnin corps’ position on Lieyang, he declines and leaves the meeting, transferring responsibility for future decisions to her, Jiraiya, and the assembled leadership. 117 118

Assessment of Lieyang’s Mercy

When Kakashi awakens and reports that Shisui’s Kotoamatsukami briefly controlled Lieyang before an unexplained full recovery erased its effects, Hiruzen recognizes that Konoha lacks a reliable means to defeat Lieyang directly. 82

Hiruzen later explains that Lieyang deliberately positioned himself between the Seventh Gate’s Daytime Tiger and Kakashi, Shisui, and Kurenai, absorbing the primary impact of the explosion himself. He concludes that Lieyang spared Guy and controlled the battle’s casualties from beginning to end, forcing Konoha’s leadership to confront the futility of another direct assault. 83

Negotiation and Withdrawal

Hiruzen concludes that Lieyang’s hostage demand offers a chance to negotiate and chooses Fugaku to establish contact. Konoha initially prepares a limited offer of techniques and information, but Hiruzen permits Fugaku to respond to circumstances. His own lifetime research into the five chakra natures becomes part of Fugaku’s enlarged offer. 84 94 97

After Lieyang leaves the Land of Fire, Konoha’s senior jōnin argue against further pursuit. Hiruzen refuses to overrule them on Tsunade’s behalf and withdraws from active decision-making. His authority nevertheless supports the subsequent ANBU action against Danzō. Danzō’s arrest, Root’s absorption into ANBU, and Tsunade and Jiraiya’s assumption of leadership mark the end of the old order Hiruzen had maintained. 117 119 123

Relationships

• Danzō — Fellow Konoha leader and Root commander. Danzō pushes for Lieyang’s immediate conviction and elimination, while Hiruzen insists on evidence and investigation; later, they cooperate to contain the crisis and suppress information. After the final suppression operation’s catastrophic failure, Hiruzen refuses to receive Danzō, signaling a political rupture and Danzō’s reduced influence. Though Hiruzen has reclaimed Danzō’s authority, Danzō continues to exploit old connections until an ANBU operation ordered under the Lord Third’s authority arrests him. 6 7 14 15 60 118 119
• Uchiha Lieyang — Former Konoha special jōnin turned rogue-nin target. Hiruzen initially questions whether Lieyang truly defected, then directs escalating efforts to investigate, contain, and eliminate him. After the final battle report, Hiruzen concludes that Lieyang deliberately spared several Konoha elites and cannot be defeated through conventional direct pursuit. He subsequently permits negotiations for Kurenai’s return rather than closing off contact. 7 14 19 83 84
• Kakashi Hatake — Appointed by Hiruzen as captain of the joint pursuit force because his Sharingan, Lightning Release, and swordsmanship are suited to analyzing Lieyang’s combat style. After Kakashi awakens Kamui, Hiruzen retains him as captain for the renewed operation and later relies on his report to reassess Lieyang’s true capabilities. 17 19 31 82 83
• Might Guy — Chosen as the pursuit force’s close-combat specialist and final contingency through the Eight Gates. Hiruzen hopes the operation will not require Guy to push himself that far; after Guy’s Seventh Gate fails to defeat Lieyang, Hiruzen reveals that Lieyang consciously spared him. 17 20 83
• Shisui Uchiha — Initially considered as a potentially stronger counter to Lieyang’s speed but withheld from the first pursuit due to the risks surrounding his Mangekyō Sharingan and Uchiha allegiance. After Kakashi awakens Kamui, Hiruzen assigns Shisui to the renewed pursuit as a core member; the mission results in Shisui losing his eyes. 20 31 61
• Kurenai Yūhi — Hiruzen appoints her as the joint force’s genjutsu specialist. Following her capture by Lieyang, Hiruzen receives the ransom demand and continues seeking information on her whereabouts while confronting the political consequences of the failed mission. He later authorizes negotiations for her return; after her return, she leads an ANBU squad enforcing orders issued under his authority against Danzō. 17 77 78 84 119
• Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura — Fellow senior leaders briefed by Hiruzen on Lieyang’s defection, Root’s losses, and the decision to classify him as a Kage-level threat. They later support publicizing Lieyang’s crimes and participate in the post-defeat leadership discussions. 15 16 17 29 82
• Hyūga Hiashi — Represents the Hyūga clan’s anger after twelve branch-family ninja die in the final pursuit. Hiashi presses Hiruzen for an explanation, and Hiruzen accepts responsibility while promising compensation and support for the victims’ families. 61
• Uchiha Fugaku — Hiruzen initially withholds Lieyang’s defection from Fugaku and the Uchiha clan. Following the crisis, he works with Fugaku on a political arrangement intended to clear the clan’s Nine-Tails suspicions in exchange for support of Tsunade’s succession; he also recognizes the value of Fugaku’s analysis of Lieyang’s recovery ability. Hiruzen later makes Fugaku the intermediary for negotiations with Lieyang and grants him authority to adjust Konoha’s offer. 15 29 65 83 84 97
• Asuma Sarutobi — Hiruzen’s son. Hiruzen meets Asuma as a father upon his return and struggles to tell him that Kurenai has been captured. Asuma later recognizes Hiruzen’s attempt to preserve Konoha’s fragile political balance and prepare Tsunade’s succession, creating a subdued understanding between father and son. 78 79
• Tsunade — Initially regarded as the broadly acceptable successor who could lead Konoha beyond the conflicts of Hiruzen’s tenure. When she later seeks his support in opposing the jōnin corps, Hiruzen refuses to intervene and leaves decisions about the village’s future to her generation. She subsequently takes a leading role in action against Danzō. 65 78 117 120
• Jiraiya — One of the few Konoha shinobi, alongside Hiruzen, identified as having developed all five chakra natures. Hiruzen sends for him during the succession crisis; Jiraiya later becomes the prospective Fifth Hokage as Hiruzen withdraws from leadership. 19 65 117 118

Notable Quotes

“Without bodies, we cannot confirm that Takeno Sota and Ayakawa Yukina are dead. Without direct evidence, we cannot confirm that Lie Yang defected.” 6

“Danzō, the Uchiha are also members of Konoha.” 6

“Konoha can no longer afford any more losses.” 20

“It was an error in my judgment.” 61

“But your lives take priority.” 32

“Lieyang did not fight seriously.” 83

“How Konoha should proceed from here will be decided by you, Jiraiya, and everyone present. I will no longer interfere.” 117