Sarutobi Hiruzen

Sarutobi Hiruzen (猿飛ヒルゼン) was the Third Hokage (三代目火影) of Konohagakure.

He hailed from the village's Sarutobi clan. He was the third man to hold the title of the God of Shinobi (忍の神). He was part of Team Tobirama alongside Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane under the leadership of the Second Hokage. He was also trained by the First Hokage, and he would later on become the teacher of the Legendary Sannin: Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru.

Background

Naruto Shippuuden 211-280 — A young adult Hiruzen (right) with Danzo (left).

Hiruzen Sarutobi was born on the day of Febuary 8th as the only child and son of the late Sarutobi Sasuke and his unnamed wife. The Sarutobi clan was one of the first clans to settle in the newly created Konohagakure, where Hiruzen had struck up a friendship with the Shimura clan's Shimura Danzo. Hiruzen was part of the first generation of ninja produced by Konoha where he, along with Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu were all placed on a team under the tutelage of Senju Tobirama, the future second Hokage. Hiruzen early on has displayed prodigious talent in the ninja arts, thus earning him additional training from Senju Hashirama, the First Hokage; at the same time, Danzo also became very jealous of Hiruzen's skills and started to have a one sided rivalry with Hiruzen in an effort to surpass him.

During the First Shinobi War, Tobirama, by that time as the Second Hokage, had led a large team consisting of Hiruzen, Homura, Koharu, Danzo, Uchiha Kagami, and Akimichi Torifu. During a mission they were started to be pursued by Kumogakure's Kinkaku Force, an enemy that somebody would need to distract and inevitably die at the hands of in order for the rest of the team to escape unharmed and to get back to Konoha safety. Hiruzen volunteered to be the decoy, by boasting that, as the strongest of their group, that he stood the best chance of surviving the encounter; nevertheless, he asked Danzo to look after the others. Tobirama however volunteered himself instead, and before going to his death he had appointed Hiruzen as the Third Hokage.

Naruto Shippuuden 051-0375 — Team Hiruzen

At some point, Hiruzen married Biwako and they had a son, Sarutobi Asuma, and at least one other child who, later on in his life, gave Hiruzen a grandson, name Konohamaru. Hiruzen also started leading his own team of new Ninja Academy graduates consisting of Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade. Although he was close with all of his three students, Hiruzen had the highest hopes for Orochimaru above all, a genius just like himself who, after the deaths of his parents, was only further motivated to have a deep impact on the world. Hiruzen led Konoha's forces through the Second and Third Shinobi Wars; in the anime, his choosing to end the Third Shinobi War by signing a peace treaty with Iwagakure despite the losses Konoha suffered incensed Danzo, therefore prompting Hiruzen to step down as the Hokage against the village's protests.

Hiruzen had long hoped that Orochimaru would succeed him as the next Hokage but, despite his best efforts, he could never convince him of the Will of Fire: that Konoha was a family that the Hokage had to risk everything to keep safe. Unable to choose Orochimaru, Hiruzen considered Jiraiya as his successor, but Jiraiya did not believe he was responsible enough. Hiruzen ultimately settled on Jiraiya's former student, Namikaze Minato, who had proven himself time and again during the Third Shinobi War. Hiruzen later assisted Minato with the transition of power by advising him on how to handle individuals and other village matters. Hiruzen was the one that told Minato to have Kakashi secretly guard Kushina during her ten month pregnancy. On October 10th he and Biwako went to talk to Kushina and Minato about the birth being outside of the village. He even retained some of his own Anbu, several of which he assigned as security while Uzumaki Kushina, the second jinchuriki of Kurama, gave birth.

1932348 586831518078386 844013486 n — Hiruzen promises Kushina that he will protect Naruto for her, and Minato.

Despite their precautions, Kurama escaped and attacked the village. Hiruzen had led the village's defense until Minato arrived to remove Kurama to a safe distance. Hiurzen followed and, while cut off by the Adamantine Sealing Chains that Kushina unleashed, he could only watch as Minato and Kushina gave up their lives to seal Kurama into their newborn son, Uzumaki Naruto. Minato did not have time to tell Hiruzen how Kurama had escaped, and instead using the final moments of his life to ask Konoha, via Hiruzen, to think of Naruto as a hero who saved the village and not the container of the monster that killed so many. In the anime before Kushina died, she also asked the kind elderly to protect Naruto, to which he agreed while she died shortly afterwards. Even though Hiruzen told all the villagers the truth, some of the villagers agreed to honor Minato's wish while most of the citizens were unable to follow Minato's final wishes. Prompting Hiruzen, now the village's Hokage once more, to outlaw any mention of Kurama as an effort to protect Naruto from their misguided hate. He also gave Naruto (his mother's) Kushina's lastname in order to hide his family relationship to Minato and from Minato's own enemies.

Hiruzen eventually started investigating a number of disappearances throughout Konoha. In the anime, he followed a lead provided by Hatake Kakashi, which ultimately led him to discover that Orochimaru was behind it all. Hiruzen was dismayed not only by Orochimaru's role, or that he was experimenting on those he kidnapped, but also his reasons: to create an Eternal Youth and an Immortality Technique. He attempted to apprehend Orochimaru, but could not bring himself to strike down his favorite student, and allowed him to escape. From examining what Orochimaru left behind, a young boy imbued with Hashirama's wood release was discovered, and over the years the boy became one of Hiruzen's top Anbu operatives. (In the anime, the boy was previously discovered by Danzo, and Hiruzen negotiated the boy's release into Hiruzen's care).

When Naruto is at the age of 4, Hiruzen meets him for the first time in the woods. Naruto asks him who he is as he doesn't know him and Hiruzen just says he is a old man walking by. At the bond fire that Naruto made, Hiruzen tells Naruto about the world and how small it is. He is then surprised when Naruto gives him some fish, and mushroom soup to eat as they heard their stomach growl. He would always visit Naruto whenever he could to give him money but would never tell him about his heritage or his parents. Despite this he had hoped that there was a better option to make sure that Naruto didn't have a lonely childhood as he saw how the villagers were treating him. This is why he decided for Iruka to become Naruto's parental figure and teacher when the boy had enrolled into the Ninja Academy.

006563bd3388107e1446761272 — Itachi begs Hiruzen to protect Sasuke.

Because Minato never had the opportunity to explain about the real cause of Kurama's attack to anyone, Konoha's leadership came to suspect a member of the Uchiha clan was responsible due to the Sharingan's ability to control Kurama. The Uchiha resented this suspicion and began planning a coup d'tat, something reported to Hiruzen and the Konoha Council by Uchiha Itachi. Hiruzen attempted to peacefully resolve the conflict but negotiations consistently stalled. Danzo eventually stepped in without Hiruzen's knowledge and ordered Itachi to slaughter the Uchiha. Hiruzen only learned of the mission afterwards when Itachi reported its successful completion. Before needing to publicly leave the village as a criminal in order to hide Konoha's involvement in the Uchiha's destruction, Itachi asked Hiruzen to look after his younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke, the only Uchiha he could not bring himself to kill. Hiruzen agreed. In the anime, Hiruzen also promised not to change the village barrier's formula, by letting Itachi sneak into the village from time to time to watch Sasuke from afar. Also in the anime, Itachi told Hiruzen that he will be joining an organization known as the Akatsuki, in order to keep the group away from Konoha.

In the anime, Hiruzen permitted Danzo to create Root, a more ruthless subdivision of the Anbu under Danzo's exclusive control, shortly after he became the Hokage in order to balance the shortcomings of his empathetic rule. For years he had ignored Root's questionable foreign ops, its abduction of children, and the actions it took against Konoha personnel, Hiruzen included. But Danzo's role in the Uchiha clan's assassination was not something Hiruzen could abide, and as such he ordered Root be disbanded for good.

Personality

Hiruzen Sarutobi is a firm believer in the Will of Fire, which holds that all the peoples of Konoha are like a family, and that the Hokage is chiefly responsible for that family's well being. Throughout his tenure, Hiruzen lives up to the Will of Fire by being available for Konoha's villagers and shinobi during their time of need, while making decisions to the betterment of as many people as possible, and providing his wisdom and guidance whenever he can. His delicate, thoughtful approach to not only issues within the village but also his interactions with foreign powers has given Hiruzen the reputation of being soft, something the Konoha Council spends much of its time trying to rectify. Nevertheless, Hiruzen's kind and pacifist ways are widely valued by Konoha's residents and even his rival Kage, and for those reasons his eventual death is regretted by many.

Although he loved all of Konoha, Hiruzen held his students especially dear to him, believing they were the village's future and, as such must be cultivated and protected. He favored Orochimaru, after seeing in him a prodigy similar to himself whose contributions to the village could someday be greater than his own. Even when Orochimaru increasingly went astray and then finally defected from Konoha, Hiruzen could never abandon his attachments to Orochimaru, instead blaming himself for not being a better teacher. When he is reincarnated, he reflects on his life and finds it similarly flawed: he feels responsible for Danzo taking on the village's darkness, by believing Danzo would not have turned out so badly if had he been more willing to make the difficult decisions; he believes that some of the village's - and even the world's problems could have been avoided had he led with a firmer hand. Hiruzen's own son, Asuma, was defiant towards Hiruzen's philosophies during his youth, but eventually sees the merits in valuing future generations after Hiruzen's death.

Despite his reputation and responsibilities, Hiruzen is somewhat lecherous: as he and Jiraiya bonded over their shared desire to spy on women; he falls victim to Uzumaki Naruto's Sexy Technique on more than one occasion and suspects that he would be defeated by Naruto's Harem Technique as well; he also talks to young girls as his favorite "hobby".

Appearance

The only consistent physical feature Hiruzen has displayed has been his below-average stature, all his other attributes having changed over the years: During his youth he was light tan skinned and had dark brown, spiked hair, adding a small goatee to his look after becoming the Hokage; Towards the end of his life his skin is now lighter, his hair is gray, his face is gaunter, and he has the wrinkles and liver spots of old age. He initially had a single line running vertically under the outer corners of each eye, in which stretched down into his face as he aged until they reached his cheeks. He had black eyes and thick eyebrows.

During the First Shinobi War, he wore grey shinobi battle armour common to the time period, with heavy protection all over his body. His starts wearing much lighter combat attire at some point, consisting of a black jumpsuit, mesh segments over the lower portions of his limbs, and a green gauntlet that covered much of his right arm. He also wore an armored hood with a bandanna-like forehead protector over this, tied with two long straps. Across the back is written "Third Hokage" which is replaced with the kanji for "fire" (火) during his brief retirement. When not in combat, he usually wears the official uniform the customary hat and haori with a red full length kimono that is tied using a white sash. He often smokes during his spare time.

Abilities

Hiruzen was a natural prodigy as a ninja, being hailed as a "God of Shinobi". His talents were apparent at a young age, earning the special attention of the First Hokage and the envy of Shimura Danzo. During his life, he was regarded as the strongest Hokage in Konoha's history, and the most powerful of the Five Kage. His prowess deteriorated noticeably in his old age, with Orochimaru noting Hiruzen could have killed him if only he were ten years younger. Despite this, he retained enough skill to defeat the reincarnated First and Second Hokage.

Chakra

In the anime, Hiruzen was said to have had immense chakra reserves in his youth, and even in his old age, his (and Orochimaru's) chakra was strong enough to crack stone. His reserves diminished in later years, to the point that splitting up his chakra with shadow clones was a great risk for him. In the anime, his reduced chakra levels were offset with precise chakra control, needing only the minimum amount of chakra to use jutsu to their full potency.

Taijutsu=

Like his chakra, Hiruzen's speed and physical strength were weakened by his aging body, but his reaction time and sensory perception were still good enough to defend himself, even when robbed of his sight. At times, Hiruzen could lay explosive tags without his opponents' noticing.

Ninjutsu

According to a member of the Anbu, his ninjutsu was on an entirely different level than what is seen in normal battle. Even Danzo, Hiruzen's life-long rival, openly acknowledged the Hokage's sheer prowess in utilizing any technique, as unsurpassed. In his lifetime, Hiruzen was renowned as The Professor (プロフェッサー) due to his mastery of all forms of shinobi combat, reputed for having advanced knowledge in all the thousands of techniques to ever exist within Konoha, including the many Hiden techniques that reside within it. During his battle with his former student, Hiruzen displayed a number of these techniques, such as the Shadow Clone Technique to create copies of himself or the Telescope Technique to observe others from afar. He had been shown sensing and tracking individuals by their chakra and had demonstrated considerable skill with barrier ninjutsu.

Fuinjutsu

Hiruzen's knowledge extended to fūinjutsu. He was able to performing the Uzumaki clan's Dead Demon Consuming Seal. By combining it with shadow clones he could seal the souls of multiple targets, thus delaying the sealing of his own soul.'In the anime, he was also said to be able to remove the Five Elements Seal.

Shuriken Jutsu

Hiruzen frequently used shuriken in combat, both the standard size and the larger fūma shuriken. By using the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique he could create copies of these shuriken, allowing him to bombard a target with thousands of projectiles without needing to physically carry that many on his person. In the anime, Hiruzen was similarly shown utilising his surroundings like shuriken, such as launching roof tiles at opponents.

Nature Transformation

Even while under Tobirama's tutelage, Hiruzen was stated to have shown even greater potential in elemental ninjutsu than his teacher. As such, Hiruzen was one of the few individuals who had learned how to perform all five basic nature transformations. He could also use Yin and Yang Release.

Despite not having been shown preforming the extent of his elemental prowess, Hiruzen did show a considerable array of talents with both Fire and Earth Release. Using the former, he could exhale anything from a simple stream of fire to an extremely intricate one, using both with enough prowess to reduce his targets into ash. He could even exhale smaller blasts. Utilizing Earth Release, Hiruzen could manipulate both rock and mud, proving capable of erecting a massive wall of stone. In order to catch his opponent off guard, Hiruzen can convert the landscape of the battlefield into a turbulent river of mud. He could then follow up by forming the mud into an earthen, dragon-like head to rapidly fire projectiles that he could additionally engulf in flames for added ferocity. He could also expel from his mouth mud and boulder-sized projectiles. His skill in the other three nature transformations, however, were not entirely expanded upon. Though, he had proven capable of using various powerful streams; powerful enough to offset and counterbalance Tobi's elemental attacks.

Summoning Technique

Hiruzen's personal summon, Enma, could transform into an extendable staff that was as sharp as diamond. The staff was Hiruzen's weapon of choice and he wielded it with great proficiency, though its weight became a greater burden to him in his later years. Enma can manifest parts of his body from the staff transformation, attacking with claws or fangs to take opponents by surprise.

Intelligence

Hiruzen's long life had given him a great deal of experience that he can use on the battlefield, such as identifying a technique simply by seeing the hand seals.[40] While pressured by multiple opponents, he could also quickly assess the situation and use the proper counter-measure for it.[29] Even when he encountered something new, as in the case of Truth-Seeking Balls, he could discern their attributes and limitations from only brief observation.

Naruto (Part I)

Introduction arc

Hiruzen's first appearance in Part I was when two men reported to him that Uzumaki Naruto had vandalised the Hokage Monument. When Naruto fails his graduation exam yet again, Hiruzen takes Naruto's instructor, Umino Iruka, aside and advises him to be compassionate towards Naruto because of his lack of parents, something Iruka had similar experiences with. In the manga when Naruto tried to steal the Scroll of Seals, Hiruzen found him and comically fell against his Sexy Technique. Later when Naruto succeeds in stealing the scroll, Hiruzen was seen instructing a large group of shinobi to stop and capture Naruto. From observing events, Hiruzen learns of Naruto's manipulation by Mizuki and watches as Iruka finally shows kindness towards Naruto by protecting him from Mizuki. He calls off the search party when it becomes clear that Naruto will return, but Hiruzen worries that Naruto's learning of the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique from the Scroll will risk the Nine-Tails' to escape from his body.

While criticizing Naruto's ninja registration picture, in the anime he became the target of the boy's Sexy Technique, and fell prey to the mentioned. He was then unsuccessfully "assaulted" by Konohamaru who followed Naruto on the way out. He then watched the skirmish between Naruto and Ebisu, thinking that he would be heavily affected by the Harem Technique, blushing at the mere thought of it.

From his concern over the Nine-Tails as well, Hiruzen assigns Kakashi Hatake as Naruto's team leader so that Kakashi can guide him appropriately, as well as look over one of Naruto's teammates, Uchiha Sasuke. He and Kakashi then visited Naruto's apartment, pointing out few things like the expired milk that had caused Naruto much trouble after drinking it. He was then seen talking to Iruka about Kakashi's teaching methods, showing Iruka a book with the number of trainees that Kakashi failed. Iruka could only stare in shock upon realisation that no genin team assigned under Kakashi has ever got a passing mark.

Land of Waves arc

After Team 7 completes their first D-rank mission, Hiruzen congratulates them on their success. Because the mission consisted only of finding a lost cat, Naruto complains that the mission was too easy and demands their next mission be more challenging, to Kakashi's embarrassment. Hiruzen tries to explain how missions are assigned by skill level, and that as genin they cannot be expected to accomplish more difficult missions yet. But Naruto does not care at the moment and relent, so Hiruzen agrees to assign them a C-rank mission: escorting Tazuna to the Land of Waves.

Chunin Exam arc

He first appeared in this arc consulting the jōnin about their decision to register their genin into the upcoming Chunin Exams. Asuma, Kurenai and Kakashi all deemed their students worthy. Soon after, a slight argument ensued between Iruka and Kakashi where the former claimed that Naruto and his team-mates were not ready for such a challenge. Kakashi silenced him by saying that they were no longer Iruka's students but Kakashi's now. Hiruzen was then sent to the tower in the Forest of Death after Mitarashi Anko encountered and was defeated by Orchimaru. After hearing Orochimaru's message for him, he tried to ease Anko's pain from the Cursed Seal.

After the second portion of the exam, he is seen congratulating all the genin who passed, and explaining the next round. He then witnessed the preliminary rounds of the final matches, only to tell the advancing genin about the challenge and their training. From there, he was seen reporting to the council that Hayate had been killed, and that Orochimaru may have been involved. He then decided to carry on the Chunin Exams as normal. Later that day, he assured Anko, who visited him to apologize, that she did not need to feel guilty about returning alive in the Forest of Death, after her encounter with her former master. He then departed for some air some seconds later to head to the Hokage Monument, where he gave a speech to the Ninja Academy students about what it really means to be a shinobi. When the time of third portion of the exam comes, Hiruzen was present on a stadium as one of the judges. He welcomed Rasa who really was impersonated by Orochimaru.

Invasion of Konoha arc

When the invasion began, Hiruzen was taken by Rasa who revealed himself as Orochimaru and forced to battle him, as the Third's former student infiltrated the village and planned Konoha's destruction just so he could kill Hiruzen and kidnap Sasuke. Soon after the battle began, Orochimaru reincarnates Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama, so that Hiruzen could feel the enjoyment of fighting his former masters.

Hiruzen quickly resolved to kill his masters and used a very powerful fire technique that was easily countered by one of Tobirama's walls of water that was then turned into an attack that was stopped by Hiruzen's own earth wall. Hiruzen was then however caught by Hashirama's Wood Release. Even after summoning Enma to free himself from Hashirama's Wood Release, Hiruzen in his old age was unable to defeat the two Hokage, as any damage that was done was simply regenerated. He was further inhibited by his desire to not hurt either.

Hiruzen's fight was also impeded by Orochimaru's presence, horrified at seeing just how monstrous his treasured student had become through mastering Living Corpse Reincarnation and his intentions to use it on Sasuke. Left with no other choice, Hiruzen creates two shadow clones while executing Dead Demon Consuming Seal on his former masters to stop them. As he bid a heartfelt goodbye to his teachers, he turned his attention to Orochimaru and reveals the technique's double edge as he must sacrifice both his soul and those of his predecessors to the Shinigami. Intending to have Orochimaru join them in the spectre's stomach while throwing aside his former pupil's Kusanagi, Hiruzen attempts to seal Orochimaru's soul as well. Realizing it as he starts to see the Shinigami, Orochimaru called his Kusanagi to him, stabbing Hiruzen in the back. Despite the fatal injury, Hiruzen continued to try to remove Orochimaru's soul as his death would come one way or the other.

After an hour of struggling, Hiruzen came to accept that his old age had left him too weak to completely seal Orochimaru away. Seeing that completely removing Orochimaru's soul was impossible, yet his desire to redeem himself for allowing his former student's escape, Hiruzen decided to instead have the Shinigami take Orochimaru's arms to rob him of using ninjutsu as his way of fittingly punishing Orochimaru for his obsession with power. As Orochimaru began to curse his former master for the act, Hiruzen bids his student farewell as he collapsed with the hope that they would meet again. Seeing Orochimaru as the boy he once was, Hiruzen died with a smile on his face with the knowledge that he saved Konoha and its next generation that would come.

Naruto Shippuuden (Part II)

Fourth Shinobi War arc

Orochimaru releases the souls of the first four Hokage from the stomach of the Shinigami, an act that also restores his arms. At Uchiha Sasuke's request he then reincarnates the Hokage. Hiruzen worries that Orochimaru now plans to use him to destroy Konoha, but is instead questioned by Sasuke about the Uchiha Clan Downfall. Hiruzen confirms the truth of what Itachi did and explains that he only did so on the condition that Hiruzen would keep Sasuke safe in the aftermath. From hearing about what has transpired since his death - Sasuke killing Danzo and Madara Uchiha emerging to start the Fourth Shinobi War - Hiruzen feels guilty that maybe things could have been avoided had he taken different actions while he was alive.

Hearing from the Hokage and reflecting on his own experiences, Sasuke decides he doesn't want Konoha to be destroyed, as is Madara's current intention. Orochimaru releases the Hokage from his control so that they can help in this goal, and they set out for the site of the Allied Shinobi Forces' battle with the Ten-Tails. When they arrive, the Hokage erect a barrier around the Ten-Tails to confine it. Hiruzen must remain with the barrier to maintain it, so he can only watch as Uchiha Obito seals the Ten-Tails into his body, becoming its jinchuriki.

With his new power, Obito rips down the barrier, finally allowing Hiruzen to participate in the fight. From Obito's display it is obvious to Hiruzen that he is stronger than even the First Hokage. He therefore personally engages Obito so that nobody needs to put their lives at risk, taking advantage of the fact that he's already dead to analyse Obito's abilities. By observing Obito's Truth-Seeking Balls he theorizes that they are similar to the Third Tsuchikage's kekkei tōta in that they are a combination of multiple nature transformations. He also postulates that the Truth-Seeking Balls have limits to the duration of their malleability, but his upper body is destroyed immediately after that.

It takes Hiruzen a great deal of time for his body to regenerate. When he finally does, he summons Enma, has him transform, and then quickly saves Uzumaki Naruto from the Ten-Tails' tree form's chakra-absorbing roots. When Orochimaru later arrives on the battlefield, they join together to help the Allies in the counter-offensive against Obito, first by blocking and cutting back more and more of the tree's roots and branches, then by assisting in pulling the tailed beasts from Obito's body. Their combined efforts succeed and Obito is defeated.

The Allied Shinobi Forces are shortly afterwards attacked by Tobi. With everyone too tired from the prolonged fighting to defend themselves, Hiruzen and four of his shadow clones arrive to help, counterbalancing Tobi's elemental attacks with their own. Tobi withdraws once the Infinite Tsukuyomi is about to best cast, having completed its job of distracting the Allies.

As the world is wrapped up by God: Nativity of a World of Trees, Hiruzen being unaffected because he is dead, tries to fight off the bindings and release its captives, but can do nothing for them. He and the other Hokage converge at the location of a powerful chakra signature, but find only Madara Uchiha's lower half, from which emerges the Sage of the Six Paths. Combining efforts with the spirits of the other dead Kage, they summon Team 7, Madara, and the tailed beasts back from Kaguya's dimension. With the world saved, the Sage returns all the Kage to the Pure Land. As his soul ascends, Hiruzen entrusts the future to Team 7.

Film Appearances

Naruto movie 1

He is seen in a flashback by Naruto.

Naruto movie 3

He is mention by Naruto, while he admits to Hikaru that he always though of Hiruzen as his grandfather.

Naruto Shippuuden movie 4

Hiruzen has heard of Anrokuzan's evil plans, and sends Minato, Shibi Aburame, Chōza Akimichi, and upon Minato's request, Kakashi, to put an end to his plans. Hiruzen agrees to let Kkashi go on the mission with Minato, and the others.

Legacy

Hiruzen is only one of many Konoha ninja to die in the village's defense during the Invasion of Konoha. However, a special ceremony to mourn for Hiruzen was held, which many of Konoha's ninja attended; But Jiraiya does not, since he decided it was best on opting to reminisce about Hiruzen privately. Hiruzen is quickly replaced as Hokage by Tsunade, who during her early days in the office, notes how many fine shinobi the village produced under Hiruzen's guidance and makes a point to continue his practices during her own term. Indeed, Hiruzen was directly responsible for training the Sannin, three of the most legendary ninja of all time, while the legacy of his tutelage resulted in other prominent ninja like Namikaze Minato (the late Fourth Hokage), Hatake Kakashi (the Sixth Hokage) and Team Kakashi.

But perhaps his most profound influence was on Uzumaki Naruto; his actions, as a leader, warrior, and surrogate grandfather went a long way in shaping the young ninja. As one of the few people to originally recognize Naruto's worth as a person, Hiruzen helped shape Naruto into a protector of the village rather than a weapon, as had been done with Gaara in Sunagakure, to disastrous results. Later after meeting Tsunade, one of the Sannin, Naruto was willing to challenge the legendary ninja to a duel after she insulted the Hokage, and by extension her former teacher. By the time he had become the Seventh Hokage, Naruto had adopted Hiruzen's philosophy that all the people of Konoha were like a family, and as Hokage it was his duty to look after all of them, even if it meant not always being around for his own family.

In the anime, shortly after his death, Itachi was able to sneak into Konoha due to Hiruzen not having the formula to the barrier to ensure Sasuke's safety from the Konoha elders, especially Danzo. This enabled Hiruzen to fulfill his promise to Itachi even in death.

Video Games

Sarutobi Hiruzen is a playable character in the following video games:

Naruto Gekito Ninja Taisen! 3
Naruto Gekito Ninja Taisen! 4
Naruto Ninja Council 2
Naruto Ninja Council 3
Naruto Path of the Ninja 2
Naruto Rise of a Ninja
Naruto Shinobi Collection
Naruto Shinobi Collection Shippu Ranbu
Naruto Shippuuden Ninja Destiny 2
Naruto Shippuuden Ninja Destiny 3
Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Blazing
Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja 4
Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja 5
Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3
Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4
Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations
Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution
Naruto to Boruto Shinobi Striker
Naruto to Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections
Naruto The Broken Bond
Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2
Naruto Ultimate Ninja 3
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2 The Phantom Fortress
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Online
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm
Naruto X Boruto Ninja Voltage

Quotes

Everyone in this village is my family

Relationships

Senju Hashirama

Hiruzen admired his surrogates teacher and his teachings.

Senju Tobirama

Hiruzen admired his teacher and wanted to become a great Hokage just like him.

Sarutobi Biwako

Hiruzen loved his wife and was devastated when he found out about her death.

Sarutobi Asuma

Yuhi Kurenai

Sarutobi Konohamaru

Uzumaki Kushina

Hiruzen and Kushina naturally had a close relationship as Kushina was Minato's wife. Hiruzen made special arrangements for Kushina when she was about to give birth due to the Nine Tails inside her and was concerned when the Nine Tails was still removed from her. Hiruzen promised to take care of Naruto and tried to have her hold on for the sake of her child and was saddened by her death.

Namikaze Minato

Uzumaki Naruto

Hyuga Hinata

Uchiha Sasuke

After Itachi had killed the entire clan in exchange for Sasuke's live being spared, Hiruzen, regretful that there was no other option but to massacre the entire Uchiha Clan, promised to take care of Sasuke no matter what. Although Hiruzen's ideals differed from Sasuke's, they had a close relationship as Sasuke greatly respected him and appreciated his care, with Hiruzen being shown at one point to gently pat Sasuke in the head in the past which Sasuke allowed despite his reluctance. Sasuke was saddened by Hiruzen's death and attended his funeral, remembering his time with the Third Hokage solemnly.

However, when he decided to go with Orochimaru to gain the power needed to defeat Itachi, Naruto reminded Sasuke about the Third dying at Orochimaru's hands and Sasuke responded with shocking indifference due to him falling deeper into darkness. Nevertheless, he still held Hiruzen in a high regard due to his compassion, being shocked upon learning the Konoha elders ordered the Uchiha massacre. Sasuke mistakenly assumed Hiruzen was involved and agreed to it, not knowing he was the only elder who opposed it and tried to make peaceful resolutions with the clan. Because of this, Sasuke felt betrayed by Hiruzen and made him despise the village even more.

When he began to question his vengeance against the village, Sasuke had the four previous Hokage reanimated to question them about his clan and the village. He spoke first to Hiruzen, who was saddened to learn that Sasuke did fall onto the path of darkness like he feared and killed itachi and Danzo to achieve his vengeance. Hiruzen confirms to Sasuke that Itachi was given the mission to kill the entire Uchiha clan in order to prevent a war with the village, and he promised Itachi he would protect Sasuke from those who still wanted to eliminate him. Upon learning the massacre had been done behind Hiruzen's back and he never held any ill will towards the clan, Sasuke's attitude to Hiruzen shifted back to respect.

Haruno Sakura

Hatake Kakashi

Yamanaka Ino

Akimichi Choji

Nara Shikamaru

Inuzuka Kiba

Aburame Shino

Hyuga Hiashi

Hyuga Hizashi

Uchiha Shisui

Uchiha Itachi

As Itachi was a prodigy and a firm believer in the Will of Fire, Hiruzen was naturally proud of him being such a shinobi and deeply respected his commitment to the village and his wisdom, stating that even at his youngest years, his reasoning rivalled that of a Hokage. When the Uchiha clan was planning a coup, Hiruzen tasked Itachi to act as a double spy in order to keep tabs on the clan and report back to him so he can come up with a peaceful resolution to the conflict. He was the only village elder who was against eliminating the clan and criticized the other elders for saying such words in front of Itachi, asking that Itachi buy him the time needed to come up with a plan to prevent the coup while also not having to massacre the entire clan. He was deeply saddened upon learning Itachi had killed his clan but didn't blame him for it, instead regretfully thanking him for averting the civil war and apologizing that he must brand Itachi a rogue ninja. Accepting Itachi's choice to also leave the village and join the Akatsuki to make sure it doesn't come after the village. Hiruzen told Itachi he was always allowed to enter the village to check on Sasuke whenever he wanted to, and would use any means to protect Itachi's whereabouts from shinobi who wanted him dead. Because of what happened to itachi, Hiruzen decided that children no longer belonged into the ANBU and, up until his death, he stayed true to his promise to Itachi that he would look after Sasuke.

After being resurrected by Orochimaru, Hiruzen was saddened to learn that Itachi had been killed by Sasuke to avenge the Uchiha Clan and had nothing but good things to say about Itachi to Sasuke and credits Itachi for preventing another war from breaking out by killing his clan.

Umino Iruka

Yamato

Tsunade

Jiraiya

Despite Jiraiya's personality often putting him at odds with Hiruzen, as Hiruzen was the one who trained Jiraiya, they nevertheless had a close mentor-student relationship, with Hiruzen acknowledging Jiraiya's abilities as being worthy of becoming the Fifth Hokage and respecting his decision to hunt Orochimaru and Akatsuki instead. They even shared similar perverted interests to the point where Hiruzen offered to accompany Jiraiya to peep on girls if the Transparent Escape Technique was indeed effective. Jiraiya was concerned when Hiruzen was fighting Orochimaru and was devastated when his mentor died. Jiraiya did not attend his funeral and instead opted to visit the Third Training Ground where his team was formed, shedding tears over the memories he had with the Third. Hiruzen's death completely stripped away any cammaderie Jiraiya still felt towards Orochimaru, being more than willing to kill him to avenge Hiruzen's death. Even as he was about to die at Pain's hands, Jiraiya lamented being unable to save his mentor.

Orochimaru

Utatane Koharu

Koharu highly respected Hiruzen and supported his reign as the Hokage. Despite being more willing to go along with Danzo, it was shown that he and Homura preferred Hiruzen over Danzo, as they agreed with him to nominate Minato over Orochimaru and defended him from Danzo's opposal to Hiruzen becoming the Hokage again.

Mitokado Homura

Homura highly respected Hiruzen and supported his reign as the Hokage. Despite being more willing to go along with Danzo, it was shown that Homura, just like Koharu, preferred Hiruzen over Danzo, as they agreed with him to nominate Minato over Orochimaru and defended him from Danzo's opposal to Hiruzen becoming the Hokage again.

Shimura Danzo

Hiruzen and Danzo were once close friends in their childhood but in time Hiruzen's superior talents earned him Danzo's ire, who saw him as a rival. Their rivalry seems one-sided, as Hiruzen was seen to interact with Danzo in a friendly manner and saved his life and trusted him to take care of the rest of their team, though Danzo responded negatively to such statements as he had been the one who wanted to die and resented having to be saved by Hiruzen. After Hiruzen become the Hokage, their rivalry escalated as Danzo wanted to become the Hokage and saw Hiruzen's ways of leading the village as being too soft. Hiruzen by this time had became aware of the darkness in Danzo's heart and could act firm when reinforcing his decisions against Danzo's approval but despite this, however, he still considered Danzo a friend and allowed him to start Root and tolerated Danzo's dark actions. He even forgave Danzo's attempt to overthrow him, believing that he would be worth better serving Konoha. Only when Danzo ordered the destruction of the Uchiha Clan at Itachi's hands did Hiruzen finally lose his tolerance and respect for Danzo. No longer able to turn a blind eye to Danzo's increasingly questionable ways, he stripped Danzo of his position as a member of the Council and ordered the disbandment of Root. Despite all this, however, Hiruzen still considered Danzo a friend and regretted his inability to be a better friend to Danzo, believing that had he been able to rule Konoha with the willingness to commit difficult decisions, Danzo wouldn't have turned out so badly.

Knownable Relatives

Sarutobi Sasuke (Father/dead)
Sarutobi Biwako (Wife/dead)
Sarutobi Asuma (Son/dead)
Yuhi Kurenai (Daughter in law)
Sarutobi Konohamaru (Grandson)
Sarutobi Mirai (Granddaughter)
Uzumaki Naruto (Surrogate Grandson)

Trivia

Hiruzen is one of only three known Kage to predominantly wear the position's official uniform — the others being the Fifth Kazekage, and the Fourth Raikage.
His father's and clan's name, inspired by Sarutobi Sasuke, means "jumping like a monkey", further supported by his Summoning Technique, which summons Enma. Tobirama also nicknamed him "Monkey" (サル, Saru).
Many aspects of his character were borrowed from the Chinese literature classic Journey to the West. Hiruzen's summon, Enma, bears a very strong resemblance to Sun Wukong (孫悟空, Monkey King), the protagonist of the novel, and Hiruzen's chosen weapon was identical to the Monkey King's magical staff.
Hiruzen's ghost could be briefly seen in Naruto Shippuuden episode 129.
During his battle with Orochimaru, maybe as a premonition to his death, Hiruzen's likeness on the Hokage Monument cracked across the face. While the crack was fairly prominent due to its size, it didn't always show up in the anime, due either to a bad angle or a mistake by the animators.
Hiruzen shared the same nickname as the first hokage and the sage of the six paths. They were each known as the "God of Shinobi" (忍の神, Shinobi no Kami).
Masashi Kishimoto originally planned for Hiruzen to be a dog, but eventually dumped the idea for being "too weird".
He and his son die in episode 79, of their respective episode. Ironically their funeral is also shown in episode 80 of their respective episode.
He is like Naruto in his youth. As both have a son that looks like them. However both of their sons didn't get along with them being the Hokage. Including that both as ninja over powered their sons.
When Hiruzen was alive, his surrogate grandson Uzumaki Naruto, always referred to him as Hokage Ojichan, just like how Naruto's own son Boruto will do the same with Minato.

According to the databook(s):

His birthday is Febuary 8, & his bloodtype is A.
His favorite foods were hijiki (which he shared with his rival), & sardine fish balls. While his least favorite food was narazuke.
His hobby was chatting with young girls.
His desired opponent was a grown-up Konohamaru.
His favorite phrase was Absolute Truth (真諦).
His star sign is a Aquarius.
He and his son die in episode 79, of their respective episode.

There are several differences between his character in the current timeline and in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream:

In the current timeline, Hiruzen was Minato's advisor when he had became Hokage. However Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, Hiruzen lived up to old age to still be Minato's advisor.
In the current timeline, Hiruzen died during the middle of Part I. However in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream. Hiruzen never died during Part I at all. Therefore he got to live all the way up to the start of Part II.
In the current timeline, Hiruzen had so much paper work that he couldn't help Naruto through out his pre-teen era. However in Tsunade Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, It is Minato who has this problem when Naruto admits it to him when he is about to go on his two year training trip with Jiraiya.
In the current timeline, Hiruzen performed the Four Red Yang Formation technique with the previous three Hokage. However in Tsunade Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, Hiruzen performs this technique with Tsunade, Minato and Kushina.