Senju Tobirama

Senju Tobirama (千手扉間) was the Second Hokage (二代目火影) of Konohagakure.

He hails from the Senju clan who along with the Uchiha clan, founded the first shinobi village. Tobirama would also become the leader of his own team. Prior to inheriting the position of the Hokage, he served as his older brother's advisor by assisting him with political and social measures. During his reign, Tobirama was accredited as the Hokage that developed the village's organisational systems and infrastructure.

Background

Tobirama Senju was born on the day of February 19th during the Warring States Period, as the second son of Senju Butsuma's four sons. Hashirama and his three little brothers grew up on the battlefield waging constant war with the Senju's rivals: the Uchiha clan. After the tragic deaths of their two brothers, first Kawarama and sometime later on Itama, Tobirama and his older brother, Hashirama, both decided that a new shinobi system would need to be implemented in order to end the cycle of child deaths, a system that would require an alliance between the two warring clans. Despite his approval for the great idea, Tobirama didn't allow it to interfere with his, or his older brother's, responsibilities; as when Hashirama got into the strange habit of disappearing into the forest during the day, Tobirama accepted his father's assignment to follow Hashirama and find out what he was doing lately.

From tracking Hashirama down, Tobirama had discovered that he was meeting with a boy named Madara, who is a young Uchiha. After Tobirama reported this to their father, Butsuma angrily pressured Hashirama to lead Madara into an ambush arranged by himself and Tobirama. Upon springing the trap, however, they were met by Madara's remaining family, who also had similar plans; while their fathers clashed, Tobirama had fought Izuna, Madara's younger brother. Hashirama and Madara were able to negotiate a temporary ceasefire, therefore allowing all of them to walk away without bloodshed. In the years following ahead their families would continue to clash in a battle, with Hashirama against Madara and Tobirama against Izuna. But where Hashirama could never bring himself to kill Madara, Tobirama however did not have the same relations with Izuna, and as such eventually mortally wounded him.

Hashirama, by then the leader of the Senju, desperately tried to use Izuna's fate to broker peace between their clans, but Madara at Izuna's behest refused. His refusal increasingly became the minority view, with individual Uchiha siding with the Senju in growing numbers. After Izuna succumbed to his injuries, Madara being wracked with grief, made one final stand against the Senju clan and he was summarily defeated. Tobirama attempted to kill Madara to finally end the fighting, but Hashirama stopped him, by knowing that would only renew hostilities between the Senju and Uchiha. Madara offered to surrender if Hashirama would kill himself or Tobirama. Hashirama agreed to take his own life, and as he made preparations he instructed Tobirama, despite his protests, not to seek retribution. Madara ultimately withdrew his request and finally agreed to have peace.

The Senju, the Uchiha, and all their affiliated clans finally came together to found Konohagakure, a village of peace where young children would never need to die in battle. Although Hashirama was optimistic about the village's future, Tobirama remained realistic about how that future would be achieved knowing that it was not enough to simply bring all these clans together. He believed that the Uchiha — Madara in particular threatened that future. When Hashirama wanted to give Madara the position of the First Hokage, Konoha's leader, Tobirama forced him to open the selection to a democratic process rather than appointing a leader, thus leading to Hashirama's election instead.

Tobirama would continue to act as the voice of reason throughout Hashirama's tenure; as during the first Kage Summit, Hashirama wanted to give Konoha's tailed beasts to the other newly formed villages for free, but Tobirama insisted that the villages pay for the tailed beasts that they received.

Team Tobirama

Despite Hashirama's headstrong leadership, the new system of ninja villages achieved peace for a time. While Tobirama was able to start training his own three man team consisting of Sarutobi Hiruzen, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu. Techniques he had created, such as the Kage Bunshin No Technique and the Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation. Which he outlawed their use no longer being needed. But peace would ultimately be temporary; Madara challenged Hashirama's authority and the two fought at what would become the Valley of the End. When Madara was killed in the battle, Tobirama took his body in order to study the Sharingan, and then buried it in an unmarked grave. Conflicts would start emerging elsewhere in the world, and it was during one of these wars that Hashirama would die. Before his death, he passed the title of the Second Hokage on to Tobirama and left him instructions to not mistreat the Uchiha.

Tobirama's role as the second Hokage was to help Konoha's shinobi transition from valuing their clan above all else to valuing the village as a whole. To this end he created such institutions such as the Ninja Academy, the Anbu, and the Chunin Exams. While largely successful, enough that other villages adopted the same organisations, as the Uchiha resisted the loss of their autonomy. Already wary of the Uchiha because of his history with Madara, Tobirama created the Konoha Military Police Force for the Uchiha to run, publicly as a sign of trust but primarily so that the Uchiha could focus their energies into something beneficial. Others however, would come to see this as a way to marginalise the clan.

Like Hashirama before him, Tobirama also tried to foster good relations with the other villages. He planned an alliance between Konoha and Kumogakure, but during a formal ceremony he and the Second Raikage were attacked by the Gold and Silver Brothers and left near death. Konoha and Kumo eventually ended up on opposing sides during the First Shinobi War. While on a mission during the war, Tobirama, his team, as well as Shimura Danzo, Akimichi Torifu, and Uchiha Kagami (one of the few Uchiha to not give into his clan's Curse of Hatred) found themselves surrounded by Kumo's Kinkaku Force. With no way for all of them to escape, Tobirama volunteered to act as decoy for them. He passed the title of the Third Hokage on to Hiruzen before sending them off, and died a noble death.

Personality

Tobirama Senju was a composed individual man with a pragmatic approach to life. He believed that, through well defined rules and laws, many of the world's problems could be solved. In many ways he was a counter to his older brother, Hashirama; when Hashirama would get carried away with his headstrong optimism, it fell to Tobirama to mediate and force a more realistic alternative. Hashirama was typically disappointed by Tobirama's intervention, but he usually agreed without much protest; on the rare occasions he disagreed, it was a sign that Tobirama was getting out of line, by creating a mutual balance. Tobirama likewise, despite how often he needed to undermine his brother and his personal opinion that Hashirama was something of an idiot, greatly loved and respected him, and if anything wanted Hashirama to respect himself the same way he and others did.

Tobirama was a firm believer in the Will of Fire, a philosophy that held that all villagers of Konoha were part of a family. Any who threatened Konoha were subject to his rarely seen but unbridled rage. As the Second Hokage, it was not only his responsibility to protect that family at all costs but also to encourage the disparate villagers of the same view: that Konoha's concerns were more important than their clan's. It was for this reason that he came into conflict with the Uchiha and Madara so frequently, as he felt they too often valued their own desires over others'. This often gave him the appearance of being prejudiced against the clan and its members, but he was in fact perfectly happy to cooperate with any Uchiha that could overcome their so called "Curse of Hatred"; he believed Uchiha Kagami was a perfect example of this transcended Uchiha.

Though they only knew each other for a short time, Tobirama and Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage, got along well. Their mutual respect for each other seemed founded on their similarities, both of them famously moving and thinking quickly on the battlefield. While their actual personalities were quite different, Tobirama was nevertheless amused by Minato's complicated names for techniques, such as the "Spiralling Flash Super Round Dance Howl Style Three" as he had a hard time making fun of him.

Appearance

Tobirama Senju was a very tall, light fair skinned man with white, shaggy hair, thick eyebrows, dark-colored eyes — depicted as red in the anime and three red markings on his face — one under each of his eyes, and one on his chin. In most cases, he wore the wartime attire of kin during his lifetime: armour emblazoned with the Senju symbol worn over a simple black suit, with a distinctive white fur collar. This armor was constructed from numerous blue metal plates, formed into multiple protective guards along his body, in particular: chest, waist, shoulders and upper arms. This clothing was accompanied by sandals and a happuri engraved with the Konoha emblem, in the place of the more traditional forehead protector. As a child, his forehead protector bore the Senju clan's emblem. Beneath his shoulder armour he wore two bands on each arm.

Outside of this outfit attire, Tobirama wore a simple, short-sleeved, blue shirt kimono with mesh armor underneath and held closed by a pale yellow sash, as well as blue pants and a bracelet of sorts on his left hand. In his early youth, he wore a pair of pin-striped pants and shirt which left his arms exposed. He also did not have the markings on his face.

Abilities

Tobirama Senju was one of the most powerful shinobi in history, earning praise from Madara on several occasions. He even defeated Izuna, Madara's brother and equal in skills and power. Danzo stated that Tobirama's prowess was unmatched during his time as Hokage. He also survived a battle with the Gold and Silver Brothers, who possessed the Nine-Tails' chakra and wielded the Treasured Tools of the Sage of Six Paths. In the anime, Tobirama could cast genjutsu to lock a target in perpetual darkness.

Chakra

His chakra reserves were large enough to teleport two Tailed Beast Mode users simultaneously. With Chakra aside, he had a will strong enough to overcome even the nearly perfected control of the Impure World Reincarnation. His chakra control was advanced enough to perform complex techniques with only one hand seal.

Ninjutsu

Tobirama was skilled in different ninjutsu forms, including the Summoning Technique and barrier ninjutsu. He created various innovative techniques during his lifetime, such as the Shadow Clone Technique.

Since childhood, Tobirama was an adept sensor. By touching the ground with his finger, he could accurately detect the presence and location of targets in the surrounding area. He could even sense others countries away, identify a target's ancestry from their chakra signature, and even pinpoint a target's exact location while blinded.

Space Time Ninjutsu

Tobirama's skill with various space–time ninjutsu is well-remembered. Using his original technique, the Flying Thunder God Technique, he could instantly teleport himself and/or other targets to any location marked with his seal. He also showed the ability to use another Flying Thunder God user's seal to teleport either himself or others to marked locations by connecting his chakra to their own. provided he has enough chakra. By using a marked area or throwing a marked kunai, with precise timing, he could move around an area quickly and strike at the most opportune moment before they could react.

Tobirama was not limited to teleporting himself, as he could bring others with him, though he needed to provide the chakra for their transport. Whether remaining in direct contact with his target or not, and as long as they were somehow connected to his chakra, he did not need to accompany who or whatever he was teleporting.

Summoning Impure World Reincarnation

Tobirama's most infamous creation is the Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation, which revives the dead into immortal, regenerating bodies. He invented the Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags to take advantage of the revived bodies' natural advantages, using them in kamikaze-like attacks to create near-infinite chains of explosions on a target. He was said to use it whenever he needed to clear a map. Tobirama labelled it a kinjutsu in hopes it wouldn't be used by anyone again. It was implied that he never fully-refined this technique as he could only control a small number of reincarnated bodies at once, whose power was limited compared to themselves alive.

Taijutsu

Tobirama was hailed as the fastest shinobi during his lifetime, and in fact he even earned praise from Mi ago himself. While this recognition was due in large part to his space–time ninjutsu, Tobirama was capable of moving fast enough on his own to cover a target with explosive tags without them noticing. In the anime, Tobirama is shown moving quickly while underwater.

Nature Transformation

Tobirama was able to use all five basic nature transformations, along with Yin and Yang Release. He was most famous for his mastery of Water Release, revered as the most powerful user in history. He could create vast quantities of water without a water source, which contributed to his appointment as Hokage. He could shoot from his mouth high-pressured streams to slice through targets or as needle-shaped projectiles. He also create defensive walls or large water dragons. In the anime, he could cover an entire battlefield in and shape it into tendrils to pull targets down with him to drown them.

Kenjutsu

He was skilled with a sword, enough to clash with Izuna on multiple occasions; in the anime, it was said that he wielded and mastered the Sword of the Thunder God, a blade with electrical abilities.

Intelligence

In battle, Tobirama was calculating, striking only when he's confident of success and without any thought of mercy. According to Madara, Tobirama was known for launching surprise attacks on opponents who think they've won and have let their guard down. In order to capitalise on every possible advantage, he pays careful attention to every aspect of a battle, analysing opponents' strategies and techniques to discern their purpose, mechanics, and ultimately their weaknesses. He was similarly knowledgeable of skills he has no training in, being able to recognise a toad from Mount Myoboku and different types of advanced nature transformations.

Naruto (Part I)

Invasion of Konoha arc

Orochimaru invades Konoha so that he can kill his master, Sarutobi Hiruzen. Because Orochimaru wants Hiruzen to experience the same thrill of fighting a teacher as he is, he reincarnates Hashirama and Tobirama. Recognizing Hiruzen and seeing how old he has gotten, Hashirama realizes how long he's been dead. Tobirama, meanwhile, realizes that they've been brought back with the Impure World Reincarnation, and therefore will have no choice but to fight Hiruzen. Orochimaru suppresses their personalities and forces them to attack.

Hiruzen struggles to land an attack against Hashirama and Tobirama, with their coordination and responsiveness offering him few openings. The few attacks he does land are merely regenerated by their reincarnated bodies. Because killing Orochimaru will not end the Impure World Reincarnation, Hiruzen uses the only option he has left: after creating two shadow clones, he has a clone capture each of the deceased Hokage and use the Dead Demon Consuming Seal on them. With their personalities restored, Hashirama and Tobirama apologise for being such troubles to him, just as Hiruzen apologises for the fate he has sentenced them to. He pulls the souls from their reincarnated bodies, feeding them to the Shinigami for all eternity.

Naruto Shippuuden (Part II)

Fourth Shinobi War arc

At the request of Uchiha Sasuke, Orochimaru releases the souls of the first four Hokage from the stomach of the Shinigami and then reincarnates them. After taking in their surroundings, Hashirama and Tobirama are excited to meet Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage , and take him as a sign of Konoha's continued prosperity. When Tobirama scolds Orochimaru for his repeated use of the Impure World Reincarnation, Orochimaru instead blames Tobirama for creating it in the first place. He also blames Tobirama for a number of his other actions as the Hokage, such as the Konoha Military Police Force that helped foster Uchiha dissent.

Hashirama reprimands Tobirama for not honoring his instructions to treat the Uchiha fairly. When Sasuke threatens to destroy Konoha, Tobirama feels validated in his treatment of the Uchiha and prepares to attack Sasuke, but Hashirama forces him to stop. When they are told of Madara Uchiha's reincarnation and participation in the ongoing Fourth Shinobi War, Tobirama cannot be reasoned with and only Orochimaru's refined control of the Impure World Reincarnation stops him. Tobirama is forced to standby. He listened as Hashirama explains his personal experiences with Madara and the Uchiha. Tobirama also adds some of his own experiences after Hashirama's story ends. From listening to the four Hokage, 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.

Tobirama arrives on the battlefield shortly after Minato and compliments his speed. Once all the Hokage gather, they combine efforts to erect a barrier around the Ten-Tails to confine it. Tobirama must stay with the barrier in order to keep it active, so he watches as Sasuke and the Allies attack the Ten-Tails. When Uchiha Obito appears on the battlefield and prepares to revive Madara, Tobirama creates two shadow clones to go after Madara. Minato once again beats him to the punch, cutting down Obito before Madara can be revived.

Not only was Madara's revival not his intention, but Minato's attack was too late: Obito seals the Ten-Tails into himself, becoming its jinchuriki. With his new power, Obito rips down the barrier, allowing the Hokage to finally join the fray. While trying to decide how to proceed, Obito cuts through Tobirama and one of Hashirama's wood clones. While the clone restrains Obito, Tobirama tells everyone else to evacuate the area while he uses Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags. The attack has no effect, and Hiruzen and Minato engage Obito while Tobirama regenerates. Once restored, he sends a shadow clone to redirect a Truth-Seeking Ball that's been attached to Minato back to Obito, having earlier branded him with a Flying Thunder God seal.

Tobirama, Minato, Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto coordinate efforts to attack Obito with Flying Thunder God Mutually Instantaneous Revolving Technique, but Obito emerges without damage. What's more, from observing that Minato has not regenerated an arm lost to Obito, Tobirama theorises that Obito's Truth-Seeking Balls can nullify the advantages of the Impure World Reincarnation and all other ninjutsu. In a blind gamble, Gamakichi attacks Obito with the Starch Syrup Gun, which actually seems to have some success. Tobirama and Naruto separately realize that Obito is vulnerable to senjutsu. After Naruto enters Sage Mode, Tobirama teleports him above Obito so that he can attack.

With a weakness discovered, Obito traps the Alliance within a barrier so that he can wipe them out with multiple Tailed Beast Balls. Tobirama and Minato decide that they can't teleport all the balls away in time, but Naruto comes up with a way for him and Minato to teleport the entire Alliance to safety. Impressed by their combined efforts, Tobirama assists them after they enter Tailed Beast Modes by teleporting them to Obito for another attack. Obito blocks it this time and counters by creating the Ten-Tails' tree form. The tree's roots start tearing through the Allies and, after fending off some of the roots, Tobirama teleports Naruto, Sasuke, Minato, and Hiruzen together to figure out a new plan. Naruto and Sasuke, with Hashirama's encouragement, lead the Alliance in their attack while Tobirama busies himself with teleporting shinobi to safety when they need it.

Although Obito is defeated and the Ten-Tails is removed from his body, Madara is successfully restored to life. While Madara prepares to become the Ten-Tails' next jinchuriki, Tobirama launches a desperate attack to stop him. Madara pins him with multiple chakra receivers and they share their mutual contempt for each other. Using what little mobility he has, Tobirama attacks him with Heavenly Weeping to distract Madara while Sasuke attacks him from behind. Madara blocks the attack and, over Tobirama's pleas to stop, mortally wounds Sasuke. Madara leaves and Tobirama can only watch as Sasuke's life fades. Shortly afterwards, Kabuto Yakushi arrives in time to save Sasuke. Once he's well, Sasuke removes the chakra receivers from Tobirama's body and has him teleport him to Naruto's location to face Madara.

Despite their efforts, Sasuke and Naruto cannot stop Madara from initiating the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Tobirama and the other Hokage, being the only ones unaffected, converge at the location of a powerful chakra signature, but find only Madara's lower half. Tobirama contemplates using the Impure World Resurrection on Madara to ask him what happened, but they are stopped by the Sage of the Six Paths. Combining efforts with the spirits of the other dead Kage, they summon Team Kakashi, Madara, and the tailed beasts back from Kaguya's dimension. Madara, dying, has some parting words with Hashirama, after which the Sage returns all the Kage to the Pure Land. As his soul ascends, Tobirama encourages Hashirama to entrust the future with Sasuke and Naruto.

Legacy

Although Tobirama created the Konoha Military Police Force with the intention of pacifying the Uchiha clan. It only exacerbated their feelings of marginalization, and in effect cut them off from positions of influence in Konoha. Dissatisfaction with Konoha grew amongst the Uchiha for decades following, eventually culminating in the Uchiha Clan Massacre.

Video Games

Senju Tobirama is a playable character in the following video games:

• Naruto Shinobi Collection
• Naruto Shinobi Collection Shippu Ranbu
• Naruto Shippuuden Ninja Destiny 2
• Naruto Shippuuden Ninja Destiny 3
• Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja 4
• Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja 5
• Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Blazing
• 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 Ultimate Ninja 3
• Naruto Ultimate Ninja Online
• Naruto X Boruto Ninja Voltage

Relationships

Uchiha Kagami

Tobirama liked Kagami because he was one of the few Uchiha to never give into his clan's Curse of Hatred.

Knownable Relatives

• Senju Butsuma (Father/dead)
• Senju Hashirama (Older Brother/dead)
• Senu Kawarama (1st Little Brother/dead)
• Senju Itama (2nd Little Brother/dead)
• Uzumaki Mito (Sister in Law/dead)
• Tsunade (Grandniece)
• Nawaki (Grandnephew/dead)

Trivia

• Tobirama (扉間) means the space between two doors. Doors (扉) are seen as the access to progress and improvement which alludes to his role as the Hokage that built up Konoha's infrastructure. 扉 is also used to refer to title pages, tying in with the Hokage title, as a Hokage is as representative for the village as the title page is for a book.
• Tobirama, along with Hashirama, Minato, and the Konoha symbol, had his face appear in the ending omake of Naruto Shippuuden episode 129 within the fireworks.

According to the databook(s):

• His birthday was Febuary 19, & his bloodtype was A.
• His favorite words were "Mind – technique – body" (心・技・体).
• His star sign is a Aquarius.
• In many of the games they are present in, Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju bear each others respective English voice actors, with Hashirama being voiced by Peter Lurie, and Tobirama being voiced by Jamieson Price.
• In the English version of Naruto, Hashirama is voice by Jamieson Price and Tobirama is voice by Peter Lurie, but in the English version of Naruto Shippuuden Hashirama is voice by Peter Lurie and Tobirama by Jamieson Price.
• Tobirama has a habit of folding his arms — a trait he's had since his youth.
• He has his own Extreme: Shinobi Picture Scroll training card.

Voice Actors

• Japanese : Kenyu Horiuchi, Kengo Kawanishi (Child)
• English : Peter Lurie (Part I), Jamieson Price (Part II/NSUNS4), Ben Diskin (Child)

al information on Senju Tobirama is from http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Tobirama_Senju

Gallery

Team Tobirama

Tobirama as an adult.

Tobirama is revived by Orochimaru.

Tobirama with the other Hokages'.