Hokage

Biodata

Known Holders

Authority and Responsibilities

Shinobi Training and Appointments

• Academy graduation: Hiruzen can approve or refuse early graduation. He initially requires Yi to spend at least two years at the Academy, then approves applications for Yi, Mikoto, and Nawaki 5 26.
• Mentorship: He encourages his disciples—Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya—to train promising students, using these arrangements to strengthen both Konoha and its political alliances 14 15 17.
• Squad formation: He negotiates team assignments with clans. When the Hyuga refuse to send their heir Hiashi on missions, Rinka and Hizashi become alternatives for Tsunade’s and Orochimaru’s squads 26.
• Restricted techniques and rewards: He authorizes Yi’s access to the Flying Thunder God Technique and offers Tobirama’s Thunder God Sword in exchange for recording Chidori in the Scroll of Seals 27.
• Anbu appointments: Hiruzen approves Yi’s proposed squad with Mikoto, Rinka, and Nawaki, arranges Minato’s early graduation, and asks Yi to mentor him and eventually teach him Flying Thunder God 107.
• Fourth Hokage’s personnel plans: Yi plans to make Minato deputy chief of Anbu and give Nawaki the title of Hokage’s guard alongside difficult missions. He takes Kakashi as a disciple and tailors his training to Kakashi’s abilities 336 420 421.

Village Security

• Surveillance: Hiruzen and his advisers observe Academy students through a Crystal Ball, assessing Yi’s loyalty and Kushina’s relationships 4 6.
• Military preparation: He monitors the Land of Rain’s stockpiling and Hanzō’s ambition to make it a sixth great nation, while offering support for Tsunade’s medical research 26.
• Research authorization: He approves restarting Wood Release research, initially forbidding human trials. He later grants Danzō another ten million in funding despite wartime financial pressure 7 37.
• Counterespionage: He adds Hatake Sakumo to an operation intended to expose Cloud spies interested in Kushina 37.
• Protection of village shinobi: He explicitly forbids Danzō from harming Yi, invoking his authority as Hokage 46.
• Wartime command: Hiruzen keeps the young Yi in Konoha rather than sending him into danger, later appoints Homura commander on the Land of Water front, and recognizes Yi’s squad as a major contributor to the war 76 136 164.
• Deterrence under Yi: At his inauguration, Yi declares that Konoha will pursue and punish those who attack it. He later proposes campaigns against the Land of Wind and neighboring countries, while seeking to keep children under fifteen off the battlefield 340 446.

Limits on Authority

• Hyuga autonomy: Even the Hokage struggles to interfere with the Main and Branch Family system. Access to the Byakugan’s strategic benefits can require negotiation with the Main Family 14.
• Mito’s authority: Mito, rather than Hiruzen or Danzō, holds the decisive say over whether Kushina becomes the next Nine-Tails jinchūriki 6.
• Political consequences: Spying on Mito could endanger Hiruzen’s position because of her standing as Hashirama’s wife and the Nine-Tails jinchūriki 20.
• Clan interests: Danzō pressures Hiruzen by arguing that an Uchiha successor could threaten the Sarutobi clan’s access to village positions and resources 45.
• Shared power: Hiruzen cannot make every order final. Danzō’s faction and other village interests compel him to share authority; the council of elders also keeps him from personally going to the war front 64 336.
• Daimyō and nobles: The Fourth Hokage’s claim to governing authority in the Land of Fire meets resistance from daimyō, nobles, and samurai. Konoha suppresses the ensuing rebellion and consolidates control 340 343.

Fourth Hokage’s Reforms

• Cabinet: Yi proposes replacing the council of elders with a five-to-nine-member Konoha Cabinet to handle routine affairs. Members are to be elected by citizens, subject to the Hokage’s approval, while the Hokage retains veto power. Hiruzen and Koharu agree to help oversee it 336 337.
• Clan institutions: Yi agrees that the Uchiha should relinquish control of the Military Police Force. He later works with Kushina and Tobirama to replace the Hyuga Caged Bird Seal with a modified seal 337 419.
• Inspection: Konoha’s Inspection Squad enforces standards of conduct under Yi. Hiashi warns the Hyuga Main Family that the Hokage will not excuse abuse of ninja or civilians 419.
• Land of Fire governance: After Konoha defeats the main samurai rebellion, it takes charge of the land’s military, politics, economy, and culture 343.

History

Hiruzen’s Succession and the Uchiha Rift

Under Tobirama, Kagami Uchiha served as a bridge between the Uchiha and the Hokage’s faction. The clan hoped Kagami might become the next Hokage, but he instead supported Hiruzen’s succession. Many Uchiha rejected this outcome, believing the office should belong to Kagami or their clan leader after two Senju Hokage 1.

The dispute helped divide the clan into Dove and Hawk factions. The doves supported cooperation with Konoha; the hawks treated Kagami as a traitor and were willing to confront the Hokage’s faction or stage a coup to secure an Uchiha Hokage 1.

Cultivating Uchiha Yi

After Kagami’s death, Hiruzen regarded Yi as a potential successor to his father’s role in maintaining clan–village relations. He rejected Danzō’s proposal to place Yi in Root because Yi needed to remain publicly visible to gain influence within the Uchiha 4 5.

Hiruzen favored Tsunade as Yi’s teacher partly to bring him into the Hokage’s circle without placing him on an obvious path to succession through Orochimaru. He also encouraged Orochimaru to train Mikoto, giving the Uchiha peace faction two promising young figures connected to village leadership 14 15.

Mito’s favorable assessment briefly made Hiruzen consider an Uchiha successor possible if Yi could resolve the clan’s conflict with Konoha. Hiruzen subsequently supported Yi’s training by authorizing the Thunder God Sword exchange and access to Flying Thunder God 22 27.

Renewed Succession Anxiety

Yi’s emergence as a jōnin-level fighter at seven or eight initially delighted Hiruzen, who saw him as a future pillar of Konoha. Danzō instead treated his growth as a threat to both village control and his own ambition to become Hokage 45.

Danzō’s warning about Sarutobi clan interests shook Hiruzen’s confidence. Hiruzen ultimately forbade attacks on Yi but privately decided to withhold support for his future bid for office, reasoning that a Hokage responsible for a family would face the same conflict of interests he himself faced 45 46.

Yi’s Rise and Hiruzen’s Change of Position

As Yi’s strength and battlefield record grew, Mito shifted from hoping he might eventually become Fifth Hokage to preparing him for the Fourth Hokage position. Orochimaru, formerly Hiruzen’s preferred successor, said he did not want the office and would support Yi 125 150 151.

Yi’s campaign against Kirigakure made him the war’s most prominent contributor. After Yi routed its army with Susanoo, Hiruzen concluded that no one else was a viable successor. He intended to teach Yi the administrative judgment needed alongside strength; he later acknowledged Yi’s aptitude for examining Konoha’s accounts and genuinely supported his candidacy 164 191 212.

The succession also sharpened the conflict with Danzō. Hiruzen moved to recover supplies Danzō had diverted, but Danzō used Impure World Reincarnation to summon Hashirama, Tobirama, and Kagami and opposed an Uchiha Hokage. Hiruzen abandoned hope of merely confining him and confronted him while Yi fought the revived shinobi 213 244 245 246.

Selection and Inauguration of the Fourth Hokage

Hiruzen called Konoha’s senior leaders and major clan heads together to select his successor. Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Koharu nominated Yi, with the Hyuga and Ino–Shika–Chō clans among his supporters. At a subsequent meeting, no one objected when Yi asked for support, and preparations for his inauguration began 323 325.

Yi became Fourth Hokage on August 8 before a large crowd and visiting representatives. His warning that attackers would be pursued signaled a more forceful policy than Hiruzen’s. Hiruzen remained an adviser, discussing other villages’ intentions with him rather than contesting his leadership 340 343.

Under Yi, Konoha brought the Land of Fire under its control after defeating a samurai rebellion. His reforms and governing authority alarmed other nations’ daimyō and nobles, while other Kage watched to see whether they could follow Konoha’s example 343.

Succession Prospects

The historical entries below record hopes, preferences, and ambitions rather than appointments. Yi’s selection and inauguration as Fourth Hokage are confirmed 323 340.

Views on the Office

• Earned recognition: Yi argues that public recognition should precede becoming Hokage, rather than follow automatically from the title 20.
• Village-wide representation: Mito maintains that Konoha belongs to all its residents, not only the great clans. She favors a commoner-background leader—or someone perceived as one—to give ordinary shinobi hope 18.
• Opposition to hereditary control: Mito considers another Senju successor problematic if it would make the office appear to be the clan’s private property 18.
• Security above personal ties: When tested by Mito, Yi says a Hokage should defeat threats to Konoha even when they come from a clan or friend 20.
• Duty versus family: Hiruzen privately concludes that obligations to one’s own clan can compromise the impartial leadership expected of a Hokage 46.
• Office as obligation: Hiruzen tells Yi that a Hokage represents Konoha rather than merely himself and must consider justification for his actions, the village’s reputation, and the image of the office 201 202.
• Strength and governance: Hiruzen believes unmatched strength can secure a Hokage’s position but cannot replace the judgment needed to manage subordinates and protect villagers 191.
• Protection and administration: Tobirama supports delegating routine work so the Hokage remains free to protect Konoha. Yi’s proposed Cabinet preserves the Hokage’s final say while distributing administrative duties 336 337.
• Deterrence and expansion: Yi pledges to punish attacks on Konoha wherever their perpetrators are and later treats territorial expansion as a means of increasing security and prosperity. His approach is more aggressive than Hiruzen’s 324 325 340 446.

Notable Quotes

“Becoming Hokage doesn't earn you everyone's recognition. You become Hokage because you've earned it. Some Uchiha got that wrong from the start.”

— Uchiha Yi, answering Mito’s test 20

“I am the Hokage, Danzo!”

— Hiruzen Sarutobi, forbidding Danzō from laying a hand on Yi 46

“From this moment on, I am Konoha's Fourth Hokage!”

— Uchiha Yi, at his inauguration 340