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Hiruzen Sarutobi. The Third Hokage. He's a controversial figure in the fandom because of his many failures while in office. He let Orochimaru escape, he let Danzo get away with everything, he gets pushed around by the elders, helped make Naruto's life miserable, the list goes on, and I found myself wondering if his actions were story-breaking. Were his actions so out of character that there's no way to explain them? Are they actions that hurt the overall narrative of Naruto? Are they the result of bad writing, rather than bad or simply flawed characters?
Hiruzen has often been criticized by fans as being an idiot, or ineffectual, or hesitant to do the obvious. There are many moments that have fans screaming "why didn't you do something?!" He is certainly a flawed character, which is not a bad thing. Characters are supposed to have flaws, though sometimes, they can be taken to extremes that break the story. Hiruzen's particular flaws, to be clear, are those of being indecisive, overly cautious, and too softhearted for his own good. The question we must ask, then, is if these flaws were overdone, and if so, where? Are there any ways to make his actions make even a modicum of sense?
His failures certainly can't be denied, and while I am by no means an apologist, I've found that Hiruzen's actions, or lack thereof, are actually not quite as story-breaking as one might believe, when you put it all in context. To illustrate what I mean, let's examine the character of Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Hiruzen Sarutobi: A Soft-Heated Man Struggling With Fear
There is a YouTube video out there called "The Sins of Hiruzen Sarutobi: The Worst Hokage". Despite the potential click bait title, it's an honest assessment, and makes a very interesting point which I feel sheds a great deal of light on Hiruzen's character, as well as guides us on how to look at him and his story.
As the video points out, Hiruzen became Hokage when Tobirama died. Tobirama knew that his squad was pinned down by the Kinkaku Force, and somebody was going to have to lure them away, an almost guaranteed death. After a moment of tense silence, it's Hiruzen who answers first, offering his own life. This question was a test, and, impressed by Hiruzen's actions, Tobirama named him as his successor. As pointed out in this video, Hiruzen's decision here was a brave, decisive act, and putting it in contrast with everything else about the character is head-tilting, in that we have to reconcile this young man and who he is with the old man decades later, the man willing to act with the man who fails to act on many occasions.
Now, some may point out that the situation is not a perfect comparison. Hiruzen only has to worry about his own life. That is a fair argument, but consider that during the battle with Orochimaru, Hiruzen's summon, Monkey King Enma, remarks how his hesitation in fighting the Sannin to the fullest was not like him. Again, Sarutobi is seen as someone who normally doesn't hesitate.
The Sins of Hiruzen Sarutobi remarks how this decisive trait of Hiruzen's faded away, and clearly it did. But I'd like to ask why and how, and what. Why did this trait fade? How do we reconcile these two individuals, and go from Point A to Point B? What events transpired to cause this change? Hiruzen's character is not really explored in this manner, so the answers to these questions are more or less the stuff of speculation and fanfiction. To be fair, I had to do a little of that, too, speculate and create a few details of my own. But in my mind, the answer is not only crystal clear, but provided by canon: War.
The Second and Third Shinobi World Wars Broke Him
Hiruzen was involved in the first war to a degree, but it was him who was in charge during he next two. Being in supreme command of the village would be hard already, but these particular wars made the job even worse. According to canon, Konoha was supposed to have started the Second Shinobi World War. It is also said that during this period, nations formed factions, and attempted to expand their territories under the pretext of "expanding equal rights".
Does invading another country on this sort of pretext, even if you're hurting economically (which countries were at this time), seem like something Hiruzen would do? No, it does not. Whatever you think about the man, that sort of thing seems greatly out of character. If anything, it would be closer to something Danzo would do. And yet, Danzo starting the war is not exactly a certainty. One could also argue that it should not be a certainty. I've seen some people complain about many events were put on Danzo's shoulders to absolve various characters, and that is a fair assessment. But then, how does this work?
Let me wade into the already mentioned realm of author speculation and fanfiction, and present to you another possibility for the start of the second war, while also getting you thinking about Hiruzen as a character. What if the war started because of an act of genuine kindness, an attempt to help another, smaller nation, that was misinterpreted by the larger nations, created tension, which eventually cascaded into the Second Shinobi World War, with the other large countries trying to expand their territories under the excuse of "equal rights"? What if that misinterpreted action was at Hiruzen's command?
This was the way I chose to approach the start of the Second Shinobi World War. You can come up with your own version of events, but for right now, look at how this approach works for Hiruzen's character. If you make Konoha's actions a misinterpreted act of kindness, an attempt at genuine help that backfired, it means Hiruzen would be responsible for the entire war. Or rather, he'd hold himself responsible.
Any Leaf Shinobi that died, any damage to the surrounding countries, that would he on him. Even if you don't manage to assign total responsibility for the war on Konoha, even if Hiruzen only shares partial blame, that weight would still be there. More than that, the very personal consequences would be there, no matter how much blame Hiruzen shares.
This war killed Nawaki and Dan Kato, and in turn, that utterly destroyed Tsunade, heart and soul. Tsunade, one of his genin, a girl he'd been teaching since the age of six, became a broken woman with a broken career. If Hiruzen shares any responsibility for starting the second war, he would know that what happened to her was his fault, that he caused her to wander the world as a drunken gambler. That knowledge would be beyond painful for him.
Now consider the Third Shinobi World War. It was known as a war of attrition, a war where Konoha (and possibly other countries) sent students fresh out of the academy to the front lines, with predicable results. As I discussed in my timeline analysis (Part 1 of this world building series), this sort of move is both utterly stupid and utterly desperate. But it's also clear they were that desperate. Based on the timeline created by Narutopedia user Seelentau, and the way canon seems to play out, the absolute maximum time between the second and third war was only five years. It was less like two wars and more like one war with a brief intermission. Five years isn't enough time for anybody to recover, so when continent-wide war broke out again, everybody was running on half a tank. This doesn't change that it was a stupid thing to do, but it does explain why it happened at all.
Think about what that war alone would have done to Hiruzen, having to give into pressure to do such a thing, something that went against all the rules of the village system, and a betrayal of the wishes of the First Hokage. How would you feel, if you were him and forced to do such a thing? How would you feel when reports flooded in of all those dead genin? Horrible doesn't seem a strong enough word, and it's fair to say this war alone would have traumatized the man.
That's a good word for it. Fans often discuss the traumas of characters like Sasuke, Itachi, Kakashi, or even Naruto, but what about Hiruzen? Yes, he's Hokage, but that doesn't mean he can't be scarred like other human beings. It doesn't mean that these wars couldn't have had an effect on him. Something clearly changed him from the brave man he was in his 20s, and the wars seem to be the best candidate.
When he was reanimated, Hiruzen admits to probably being the most "naive" of the Hokage, not wanting to deal with the dark stuff he shoved off on Danzo to do. He certainly ignored the warning signs with Orochimaru. But there's another layer to consider. I think these wars, and their results, put an icy shard of fear into Hiruzen, which in turn made him hesitant, indecisive, and overly cautious.
His decisions clearly backfired in the third war, and he must have had some level of responsibility in the second. What if he made the wrong choice again? Best to wait, to think and be sure of the steps. Sacrificing his own life is one thing, but these wars would have consequences on those around him, and that's a different matter. I wouldn't say this fear is intense enough to be phobic, as the man is still functional, but I think it's very much present and influencing his actions.
He's Also Old and Alone
It's also worth noting that Hiruzen's major mistakes, or at least, the things people criticize him for, all seem to be contained within his second term as Hokage. Yes, he refused Tsunade's request to add medics to teams, but that was less an overt mistake on his part and more being a pragmatic leader with other concerns. That doesn't qualify as bad writing or a major failure (especially since he changed his mind later). That is also telling, because by his second term, Hiruzen was a much older man, about 56 to be precise.
From what can be seen from canon data and my own timeline guesses, there have been older Kage, yes, but that's still pretty old to still being doing that job. To be perfectly honest, he was probably too old for it in general. I mean, how many jokes have been made about the Hokage struggling with paperwork? Imagine trying to deal with that at his age. This is one reason why certain things could slip his attention, like say, how badly Naruto may or may not be doing, or any other problems in the village that have avoided his attention.
More importantly, we should remember that after the Nine Tails attack, he lost his wife. Biwako Sarutobi died the night while trying to deliver Naruto into the world. Hiruzen's second term would have been lonelier and harder just for that fact alone. While we don't really know much of anything about Biwako, but it's possible she was a stabilizing agent for Hiruzen, keeping his sense of hesitation and, as I postulate, fear, in check, and without her, Hiruzen's weaknesses only got worse.
Hiruzen's Mistakes: Overdone?
Now, we come back around to an earlier question: Were his flaws overdone in the series? Are any of his decisions story breaking? If they are, which ones and how so? To answer this question, let's first make a list of Hiruzen's most well known failures, and then go through them one by one.
The List
- Letting Naruto live alone/his laws banning the truth
- Letting Sasuke live alone
- Letting Orochimaru go free
- The Uchiha Massascre
- Not making sure Root was finished
- The Hyuga Affair
- Yamato
Letting Naruto Live Alone and Other Laws
This is a rather big one. Naruto's mistreatment by the village seems very strange when there were people in power that could have prevented it. Part of the issue here is that the mistreatment element is a holdover from the original Naruto pilot, in which Naruto was a kitsune and the son of the Nine Tails. But just because it's a holdover doesn't mean we should automatically assume it can't be made to work.
As far as Naruto living alone, it is rather ridiculous to let a child under ten live unsupervised, and I think it's safe to say that it's pretty illegal even within the confines of the show. Common fanon is that genin are considered legal adults in Konoha. I can buy that, but it would not apply here. On the other hand, if Hiruzen signed off on it...who are you gong to complain to? When it comes to why this happened and why Hiruzen isn't doing anything himself, I'd like to direct you to something proposed in a wonderful little fanfic, The Way of the Apartment Manager by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling). Small spoilers for those that haven't read it (which you should).
In the first chapter, Hiruzen is trying to get the young Naruto out of the orphanage and into his own place. The titular apartment manager, Yukiko, is infuriated when she realizes Naruto doesn't know how to fend for himself, and asks Hiruzen why he doesn't raise the boy himself, or do anything else. Hiruzen answers that the orphanage would not take Naruto back (and the woman in charge is not all that nice, anyway). No foster homes would take him, either. Those prospective parents either hate Naruto, or they're rightfully afraid of the consequences of taking him in, the way their businesses could suffer, the way they could suffer socially. It's a natural human reaction that you can't really blame people for, especially if you factor in fear of violent responses.
As far as why Hiruzen doesn't raise Naruto himself, he states that it also comes down to public opinion. If he were to do so, people may think he's under the Kyubi's influence or some such thing, and doubt him as Hokage. This argument is quite effective, because while the Hokage is by no means a democratically elected position, the support of the village, both shinobi and civilian, does matter. If distrust grows, it could lead to civil unrest. Just look at the Uchiha. Now, if Tsunade had been in charge in that situation, she'd be more likely to take that risk, but not a man like Hiruzen.
He may have promised Minato and Kushina he'd take care of Naruto, but he's bound by the limitations of his office, and, I think, his own fear of backlash. In sum, Naruto being allowed to live alone is something that can actually work in the story. The situation is awful, but as far as why it happened, it works.
With regards to the laws barring people from talking about Naruto's jinchuriki status or his parentage, I can say right off that the first one was sensible, at least at the outset. Telling the kid there's a murderous monster inside him right off the bat would not be a good idea, much like telling Sleeping Beauty about the whole "there's an evil witch who wants you dead" thing early on would have been a bad idea. There would be a right time to tell them, certainly, but not for a while. This command was probably issued to shinobi at first, but after the information leaked, it would have been expanded to the general populace.
Was it a bad call not to tell Naruto once that information leaked? With hindsight, yes. Should that part of the story be changed? I don't think so. Again, it was a mistake in hindsight, and created a terrible situation, but does it truly break the story? I don't think so. Perhaps Hiruzen mistakenly thought it was kinder to spare him that knowledge until the right time. What time that was, who knows.
There's also the law among the shinobi prohibiting them from telling anyone about Naruto's parentage. This has a certain logic to it. You don't want people to know the Fourth Hokage had a kid. That would make Naruto a target for people like, say, Kumo. Granted, being a jinchuriki would also make him a target, but as far as we can tell, Naruto's jinchuriki status, while an open secret in Konoha, does not seem to have spread beyond its walls, so that risk is rendered null. So, in that regard, Hiruzen's actions worked.
It could also be argued that physical resemblance is not an issue. Remarks have been made in the series and by fans for years about how much Naruto resembles his father. It's so obvious, isn't it? I mean, he has his hair and his eyes. In my personal opinion, I have to disagree. This was a point I had intended to make in a story not-yet-written, but the whole "Minato resemblance" thing took a nose dive when Naruto met the remnants of his mother. She said he got her face. Perhaps it doesn't amount to much to the viewer. Perhaps the art style, or the skill of the artist, are unable to make that clear. Perhaps this was a retcon. But the point is this: Naruto has his mother's face. not his father's.
A shared hair and eye color aren't enough to be certain that some random kid is the son of the Fourth Hokage. This becomes even more true if Minato's marriage was considered a secret (Not sure if it was supposed to be in canon, or if anybody thought about it). Adding on the fact that Naruto doesn't share his father's temperament, his facial structure, or even his surname, makes any solid connection even less likely. It's not that someone couldn't propose it, but rather if you'd believe it and waste the effort.
On the other side of the coin, his Uzumaki status might make him valuable, but as an orphan, Konoha could claim they just assigned him the name. Would it be disrespectful to a clan to give their name to some random kid? Oh, yeah. Are there any Uzumaki around to complain about it? No? Then who cares? Most people also probably assume "Uzumaki" equals red hair, and since Naruto is blonde, it would make people less likely to believe he's a real Uzumaki.
Was it still wrong to deny Naruto that knowledge? Oh, yes! Very much yes. Hiruzen robbed Naruto of his family, his family history, and his clan heritage for basically his entire childhood. That's a nasty thing to do, no matter how noble the reason, and if you feel the need to punch Hiruzen in the face for it, you're justified. If you want to call him out on it, you're also justified.
When Hiruzen thought he'd tell Naruto, we'll never know. But no matter the consequences or how much it sucked for Naruto, this decision fits in line with the Third's overly-cautious nature born from the fear of suffering horrendous consequences, so it's not story-breaking to have it happen.
Letting Sasuke Live Alone
This one is actually easy to resolve without breaking the narrative. Like Naruto, it's a horrible situation, but easy to see why it happened. For this, I refer you to (and also recommend) a fic called Are You Ready? by Killaurey. In chapter four of this story, Kakashi from the past (It Makes Sense in Context) ponders why Sasuke was left alone. Sasuke is a trauma victim and he lost his family at eight, this is true. But he's also a member of the Uchiha Clan, one of the most powerful of the Konoha clans, and one of the founding clans to boot. So, the question you must ask is, who exactly is supposed to take him in?
Another clan taking him, in, the fic proposed, would be problematic. Clans have too many traditions and secrets to feel comfortable letting another clan child in. A civilian family would be ill-prepared for the trauma he went through. A non-Clan shinobi family would have to still meet the approval of the other clans to raise a clan child, because, again, the Uchiha were powerful. In short, it would be a political migraine, with no sign of painkillers. So, for lack of good options or volunteers, what are you going to do?
This does not mean, however, that Hiruzen still might not have people check in on the boy regularly. It may not amount to much, but it would be a believable compromise that I can see him making.
Letting Orochimaru Go (The Escape Scene Needs Work)
Hiruzen caught Orochimaru in the middle of his experiments, but hesitated and allowed Orochimaru to escape, allowing for the invasion many years later. This was definitely a mistake on Hiruzen's part, but one that works for the story. Orochimaru is one of Hiruzen's students, who he has great affection for. Perhaps he's even less willing to harm him after what happened to Tsunade?
It should definitely not be a case of "not giving up on them", and if this part of the story needs tweaking at all, my personal suggestion would be to make it more of a "cannot deal the final blow" situation to give it more energy and make it make sense. I say "make more sense" because of something from the anime.
There's an arc late in the Shippuden anime called "Kakashi's Anbu Arc: The Shinobi That Lives in Darkness", which covers episodes 349-361. This arc, which is anime original, gives us stories from Kakashi's ANBU days, tying into the day Minato and Kushina died, and also giving us a full backstory for Yamato, gives us backstory on Itachi and the massacre, as well as Kakashi's perspective on the formation of Team Seven. It draws from some canon sources in episodes 350, 351, and 360, but is otherwise original content.
In episode 349, Hiruzen volunteers to step down to end the Third Shinobi World War. At the meeting with the daimiyo to select the new Hokage, the subject of Orochimaru is brought up. Hiruzen rejects Orochimaru because there is a "malice and greed in him". This statement is very much true, but think about the fact that it's Hiruzen saying this. He's supposed to have turned a blind eye to Orochimaru's worse qualities, right? If so, then he doesn't seem very blind to them right now. This tells us that he was starting to catch on about Orochimaru's true nature.
This arc has Orochimaru fleeing the village a year or two after Minato is appointed Hokage, in the first year after Naruto is born. If Hiruzen was already catching on that something was amiss, it's far less likely he'd be in the "I can't give up on you" stage by the time Orochimaru was busted.
The scene of Orochimaru's escape has gone through a few changes. In the original Naruto anime and the associated manga chapters, Orochimaru was surrounded by adult human test subjects. In Shippuden 352, it's just jars. 352 also has Hiruzen summoning Enma. Also in 352, Hiruzen hesitates to attack, with Orochimaru asking if he's going to kill him, allowing Orochimaru to use some jutsu that knocks down Hiruzen and the other two ANBU.
Again, I think this scene should be tweaked so it's more "Cannot land the final blow" or "a blow" rather than just standing around, to give it more energy. Orochimaru's confidence in not being killed is also a little...odd. I mean, it comes off as smugness, like he's sure he'll get away. Even Danzo, in this episode, is convinced Hiruzen will not kill Orochimaru. But..he doesn't have to. He could just, you know, capture him.
The Uchiha Massacre
This is definitely a mess. In fact, this entire event was turned into such a mess that I realize now I'm going to have to break it down from Itachi's side as well at some point. But for now, I'll focus on Hiruzen's actions (or lack thereof), which are far, far less complicated.
Basically, after the Kyubi attack, there were rumors that the Uchiha had been responsible, and this was why the clan was forced into the Uchiha District at the edge of the village. This does not seem like a Hiruzen sort of thing to do, so this was probably done because of pressure from the elders on the council. Monitoring the Uchiha was all Danzo's idea.
The real issue is that at some point in canon, Itachi came to the elders with reports of the brewing Uchiha coup. The other elders wanted to do something, to strike back against the Uchiha first, but Hiruzen said to wait. He said that the Uchiha were old war friends of his, and that he wanted to think of a plan. Obviously, he wanted to go for the peaceful route. However, Danzo acted before Hiruzen did, and used Itachi to kill his own clan.
Was it wrong for Hiruzen to wait, or try peaceful negotiations? No. Itachi, as a pacifist, might actually appreciate his attempts...in hindsight, anyway. From Seelentau's timeline, it looked like the attempts at peace talks went on for a period of over a year, which, as I've been told, is not unusual for peace talks. So there's nothing really out of order in that department.
The only serious blame you can really put on Hiruzen for this is the fact that he allowed the Uchiha to be pushed into the Uchiha District at all. This would be a result of him being pushed around by the council.
Not Making Sure Root Was Finished
In the Shippuden anime, we see Hiruzen order Danzo to disband Root in the wake of the Uchiha Massacre. This episode is anime original, but canon also confirms that Root was "officially" disbanded in Shippuden episode 34. Clearly, Danzo lied about doing that, and Hiruzen definitely should have followed up on it, especially since the same arc already established Danzo as more of a snake in the grass than canon.
However, this, too, can be chalked up to Hiruzen having too much faith in his orders being followed, or, and this is perhaps the better method, it can be mitigated with acts of subterfuge from Danzo. Ask yourself this: Did Hiruzen not follow up on the disbandment, or was he perhaps fooled? Was he too easily fooled? I don't know. But ask yourself a second question: If Root was "officially" disbanded, then Hiruzen would have expected an influx of shinobi into regular ANBU, right? So, how did that get covered up?
As of the writing of this, I can't be sure myself. But that's the point I'm getting at. A little bit of trickery on Danzo's part combined with a tired old man could help mitigate the failure to, pardon the pun, pull up the roots of Konoha's biggest weed.
The Hyuga Affair
Another criticism of Hiruzen concerns "The Hyuga Affair". To recap, when Hinata was three years old, Kumo and Kohoha were at war, but they were about to sign a peace treaty. The Hidden Cloud sent over their "Head Ninja" to sign said treaty, but this was just a ruse for the Head Ninja to try and kidnap Hinata and steal the secrets of the Byakugan. Hiashi, Hinata's father, interrupted the kidnapping and killed the Head Ninja. The Hidden Cloud denied everything, and then had the audacity to demand the life of Hiashi as compensation for killing their Head Ninja, which was yet another transparent attempt to take the Byakugan.
Hiashi was going to go through with it when his twin brother Hizashi took his place. This is one reason why Neji hates the Hyuga Main House so much in the beginning, and as far as we can tell, Hiruzen just seems to have let Kumo get away with their demands for death. At first, this does seem like an extreme failure, but honestly, when it comes to exasperated questions to hurl at this thing, "why did the Third go along with this" is not the first one on the list, in my opinion. Forgive the incoming rant.
The real exasperated question you should be asking yourself with regards to this whole mess is why Kumo and Konoha were at war in the first place. Again, this happened when Hinata was three. Therefore, we're talking three years after Naruto was born. But here's the thing: As far as we can tell, the Third Shinobi World War ended the year before Naruto was born. The truly unbelievable thing about the Hyuga Affair was not the acceptance of the terms, but rather that Konoha was involved in another war only four years after the third world war had wrapped up.
Granted, this one seems to have been just between them and Kumo, but for goodness' sake, can these hidden villages not keep it together for more than five minutes!? Really? You guys missed war that badly? That's even less time between the second and third wars. Or was Kumo just upset because they didn't get to participate in the big fight very much and threw a tantrum? Either way, I think these guys need to go to Warmongers Anonymous or something.
If we had to decide who started that war, I would put the blame on Kumo, as Hiruzen would have likely had enough of world wars and would do his best not to start one, and, honestly, the guy could use a break. But, regardless of how ridiculous it is that these guys were at each other's throats before you even run out of fingers to count on, the context does help explain why Konoha went along with it. They were worn down. The second war no doubt left them drained, the third war took out a good number of fresh genin. I kind of doubt they were fully recovered from either before Kumo started taking shots at them or whatever they were doing. As usual, this doesn't make what happened okay, but it does explain it in a way that doesn't break or harm the narrative.
Yamato (The BIG Problem, But Not All Hiruzen's Fault)
If there is anything on Hiruzen's list of failures that is truly broken, it's the entire situation around Yamato. But to be fair, it's not just Hiruzen's decisions that are the problem (or even the majority of the problem), but everything else around him. The truth of the matter is that Yamato's anime backstory breaks the narrative, much like how Kakashi's pre-series backstory breaks time (See Part 1 of this world building series, chapter 3, section #43).
This is going to veer off topic, unfortunately, but it's also the only way to truly grasp the mess. I'll start by going over the facts, which I am citing from the official subs of the Kakashi ANBU arc mentioned in the Orochimaru section, in particular, episodes 350-356 of that arc. Also forgive me if, in the process, I also dissect every little bit of weird along the way.
350
After Minato died, Danzo approaches Kakashi and offers him a place in Root, making it seem like Hiruzen is not only a bad leader, but might have wanted Minato dead in order to regain power. Hiruzen is speaking to his ANBU, including Kakashi, about how some of them will be sent to guard the daimiyo's procession back to his prefecture. This is already a little odd since it's the Hokage on this trip and not the daimiyo...or was that a completely separate assignment? In any event, Kakashi goes down to Root headquaters and encounters Yamato, who is going by Kinoe at the time. Kakashi hands Danzo a scroll he got from the earlier meeting.
351
The Hokage goes on a trip with his ANBU to the daimiyo's prefecture, presumably to be re-instated as Hokage. Or maybe just a meeting. Danzo has planned to have Hiruzen assassinated using the intelligence Kakashi provided, and Yamato is one of the assassins.
Later, Kakashi, curious about the Wood Style user he saw at Root HQ, sneaks into Hiruzen's library to find out more. Hiruzen catches him reading a folder labeled top secret. Hiruzen says “After that [the battle with Madara], there was no one to take over the Wood Style Jutsu.” That is a lie because Hashirama didn't die after that battle.
He then says that since Wood Style was the only other way to control tailed-beasts other than the Sharingan, research was conducted to use Hashirama's cells to give people the ability to use Wood Style. This resulted in many dead adults, and the project was scrapped, labeled as forbidden. "But recently, genin, and chunin, and even some members of the ANBU have gone missing. Furthermore, what's more disturbing are incidents where newborn infants have been kidnapped from hamlets surrounding the Hidden Leaf Village."
"Infants?!" says Kakashi.
"Of those confirmed, there have been sixty kidnappings." ... "What I am about to tell you is hearsay...Someone is continuing the experiments and trying to implant the cells of Lord Hashirama." ... "There are those who want to obtain every jutsu that exists. Even I have wondered sometimes, if there were only someone who knows Wood Style...Had that been the case, the Fourth Hokage need not have sacrificed his life. Mind you, this is only hearsay."
Hiruzen then goes on to say that implanting cells into infants is forbidden, and even if someone was doing it, the chances of success would be very low. "However...If...just if...the first infant who was kidnapped survived...he or she would be ten years old already." Then, he leaves the room.
This piece of exposition is remarkably clumsy in its execution. Where did this hearsay come from? Do you suspect Orochimaru? Why are you presuming either the missing children or ninja are for Wood Style experiments and not, you know, something else? Mad science is a possibility, but the mad scientist in question could be trying to merge man and shark for all you know, not reviving Wood Style. Why would you be equating a recent string of shinobi kidnappings with a series of child kidnappings that happened a decade ago as if it happened more recently? Why would you presume the survivor is the first infant to be kidnapped?
You see what I mean? Clumsy. The point of this conversation is to establish that Yamato is ten years old, that he was part of that group of sixty (which was established in canon in chapter 291), while also perhaps giving Kakashi a reason to not betray Hiruzen.
After that, Kakashi is shown to have not betrayed Hiruzen, informing him of the plot. The Hiruzen on the road is shown to be Kakashi, who fights off Yamato, but lets him go because...he's valuable to the Hidden Leaf. No, I don't get it, either. He also tells the other ANBU that he didn't recognize his attacker. Why did he do that? I don't know.
Danzo is sitting in the Hokage's office when Hiruzen surprises him. Hiruzen is more than a little angry, and offers to forgive this incident on the condition that Danzo "do all that is in his power for the sake of the Hidden Leaf," whatever that means, and says that he could also investigate the incident if he wanted, and if he discovered who was responsible for the attempt on his life, Hiruzen would have that person executed.
352
In this episode, Orochimaru has been busted and has to flee the Leaf Village. Yamato/Kinoe is ordered by Danzo to make sure Orochimaru escapes, as if Orochimaru is caught, Danzo could be implicated. Orochimaru would be heading for a particular secret location, says Danzo, so Yamato is to go there. What he finds is a cave containing a "village" populated by the Iburi Clan, a group that can turn their bodies into smoke. It's an unstable ability, however, which caused many of them to die. Orochimaru came to them and gave them curse marks to stabilize it, but it's still not perfect.
There is also a girl there, Yukimi, who thinks Yamato is her younger brother Tenzo, who, three years ago, was taken away by Orochimaru for experimentation to help stabilize their ability. Yamato is not Tenzo, something Yukimi realizes later, but he does remind her of him.
353
Kakashi, who has been trying to catch Orochimaru, finds the cave where the Iburi Clan live, and is attacked. Yamato allows Kakashi to live and questions him, before telling Kakashi that he was sent to help catch Orochimaru, too. More time is spent between Yamato and Yukimi, who venture outside for fun. At the end of the episode, Kakashi catches up to the pair. He wants Yukimi to return to the village right away. Kakashi has learned that Orochimaru will need Yukimi's blood. A blood transfusion will temporarily allow Orochimaru to gain her ability, allowing him to slip the border despite his heavy injuries. How that works or why it really has to be her young blood, I don't know. Kakashi wants to use her as a lure.
Then Yamato says "My mission is...as you suspected, Kakashi...to allow Orochimaru to escape." He says that. You can look it up for yourself. It's at the 20:08 mark. Keep that in mind, because that's going to be pretty important in just a minute.
354
Orochimaru has killed the rest of the Iburi Clan and killed Yukimi as well, but the spirits of the Iburi Clan help stabilize and revive her. At the end, Yukimi decides to travel the world, and Kakashi says he will say that he never encountered Yamato, Orochimaru, or the Iburi Clan, in order to keep the clan secrets, or rather, Yukimi, safe.
This is a blatantly stupid idea. I'm all for protecting Yukimi, but you could just omit the truth of the clan and report everything else. In fact, it's pretty bad that Kakashi didn't report everything else, because think about it. Yamato, a shinobi that Kakashi knows works for Root, just admitted to him that he was there to help Orochimaru, a wanted criminal, escape over the border. Yamato was ordered to do that by Danzo (because who else would it be?). That means Kakashi is a witness to a confession of criminal activity on Danzo's part, and he chose not to tell his superior about it. This would be on top of the assassination attempt.
Are we really sure Hiruzen is the one who's incompetent?
355
In this episode, it's been established that it's been three years since Orochimaru left. A team of Leaf shinobi found one of his hideouts, and Hiruzen wants Kakashi to investigate it. At the same time, Danzo wants another Sharingan. Specifically, he wants Kakashi's Sharingan, since it will be easier to get than those of the Uchiha. He sends Yamato to do the job, along with another Root agent, Kinoto (he just ends up standing outside and out of the story). Yamato meets Kakashi at the hideout, claiming he's there to investigate, too. While there, Yamato eventually attacks Kakashi.
We also get flashbacks of Yamato, showing him as a child in a tank. Orochimaru is walking by with Danzo and remarks how all the test subjects except Yamato are already dead, and he's written off Yamato. He says he thought an adolescent would do better at accepting the cells. This is incredibly dumb because Yamato is not an adolescent. In fact, based on his size, his proportions, and the fact that he's half Danzo's height, people I talked to would estimate his age as 5-7. In fact, all the subjects looked a similar age, so it's not like Yamato was all that different. You'd think Orochimaru would know how to tell the difference.
An age of 5 would fit well, if Yamato well, since he was supposed to be a genin at six. But at the same time, it conflicts with episode 351 which implied Yamato was taken as an infant. So, which is it?
After Orochimaru leaves, Yamato breaks the tank, and is found by Danzo. Danzo says Orochimaru is greedy, and gives up too easily. This implies that Orochimaru is not only a mad scientist, but a bad scientist, which is even worse and hard for me to believe. Plus, if Orochimaru took Yamato as an infant, then does that mean he kept his subjects for five years? That seems awfully patient for someone who "gives up easily". Or was that a lie?
356
The two continue to fight, Yamato is eaten by a giant mutant snake, Kakashi saves him, and there's poison in the lab. The two manage to escape, but Kakashi is knocked out. Yamato chooses not to take his eye, making a wood copy instead and presents it to Danzo. Once Kakashi wakes up, he rushes back to Hiruzen to report that Root's Wood Style user targeted Kakashi on orders of Danzo, but he chose to save Kakashi's life, and Kakashi isn't sure what happened to him now that he returned to the village.
Hiruzen thinks, and then says the agreement is that he doesn't interfere with Root...but that's not the case here. He then hands Yugao, a fellow ANBU, a message to deliver to Danzo at Root HQ, summoning Danzo immediately.
Yamato rebels against Danzo, saying he wants to be called "Tenzo" now. This is in contrast to the fact that Root agents don't have names. Or rather, Yamato's current name "Kinoe" is "temporary". No, it doesn't make sense to me either and sounds like a blatant contradiction. In fact, Root agents are stated in this episode to not have emotions, and yet Yamato is very emotional, so that's not working out, either.
Danzo orders Yamato to be taken to the "treatment room" and bound with a curse mark. The room looks like an operating room. Thankfully, before any of that horror can happen, Kakashi saves him, and that's when Hiruzen arrives with ANBU in toe. He is not happy that Danzo hid the existence of the Wood Style user from him. Danzo says he was caring for the boy and didn't think Hiruzen needed to know. Hiruzen also remarks how Naruto is four years old now and Wood Style is a great asset to the village.
Hiruzen also requests that Yamato be turned over to regular ANBU under Hiruzen's command. Danzo can't say no, but he does remark that all Root members have a curse mark that prevents them from revealing "top secret info", and Danzo will not remove it. At the end of the episode, Yamato, now going by Tenzo (But not that Tenzo) is welcomed to the ranks in the ANBU locker room, saying he's from Root and he just transferred. Which means regular ANBU just knows that Root is a thing. Root, the super shady, extra nasty black ops division. That's a bit odd, isn't it?
Hiruzen's decision not to bust Danzo when he was rescuing Yamato is the thing that's not only stupid, but absolutely out of character for this arc. He already told Danzo to more or less clean up his act in exchange for not being executed. That was three years ago, but now Hiruzen has Kakashi testifying that a Root agent targeted him under Danzo's orders. Does that strike you as "using all your power for the sake of the Hidden Leaf"? No? If so, why didn't Hiruzen arrest Danzo? The man ordered a hit on a Leaf shinobi! There are witnesses!
It makes even less sense when you add on the fact that Yamato confessed that Danzo wanted Orochimaru to escape. But in that case, Kakashi is the idiot for not saying anything. How Yamato could even say that, I don't know. The curse seal is supposed to prevent the agents from revealing incriminating information about Root or Danzo. Danzo said "top secret intel", and, to be fair, I'm not sure if the manga (full canon) used the word "incriminating", but logically, the curse seal should work that way. Danzo does shady things and he doesn't want to be caught, obviously, so the curse seal should prevent that. If that's the case, how could Yamato say that?
This is how Yamato breaks the narrative, a string of actions that don't make sense and facts that conflict sometimes delivered in an extremely clumsy manner. Narratively, Danzo can't be busted at this point in time because he needs to exist in the future. But given the mess of nonsesene going on here, Hiruzen's mistakes when it comes to Yamato fall to the wayside amidst the need for a rewrite of Yamato's backstory.
Conclusion: Flawed, But Not Broken, And Also Not Totally Ineffectual
Hiruzen's tenure as Hokage contains a string of failures, some which came back to haunt him, and kill him, for that matter.
But he's also not totally ineffectual. Remember that in the original Naruto series (Part 1), he stepped up to fight Orochimaru when the latter invaded the village. He also geared up to fight the Nine Tails the night it escaped. I didn't mention it before, but in episosde 351 of Shippuden, there's a scene near the end where Danzo meets with Orochimaru in one of his labs. Danzo says they have to stop direct contact for the time being, that Kakashi betrayed him, and there's a possibility Hiruzen knows about them. Orochimaru's response is "That's not good. In time, he might even learn about this place and its secrets. Well, we're dealing with Lord Third. He'll be onto us eventually."
That is not the response of someone who thinks they're dealing with an ineffectual leader who won't act. It's the response of someone who is wary of a deadly opponent. The arc itself is heavily flawed and needs to be reconstructed, but this particular idea has merit. Hiruzen, I think, is a man whose confidence to govern and make decisions took an explosive tag to the face after the Second and Third Shinobi World Wars.
In many areas, he's afraid and unsure, overly cautious after whatever level of responsibility he had fo the second war. But on the other hand, when it comes to defending the village, he does not doubt himself, and is a force to be reconned with. When Danzo was convincing Itachi to go with the massacre plan, he even admitted that if the village was threatened, Hiruzen would act.
If one could pick a real world example to compare to Hiruzen, one might pick Czar Nicholas II, who was also a weak-willed ruler who had a hard time making decisions, but was ultimately not what you'd call a bad man. He was just in a job he wasn't really suited for. For a more relevant (and perhaps stronger) example, I'd compare Hiruzen to Kakashi. Many writers, based on what they saw from the series, hold Kakashi as a terrible instructor who taught his students very little before throwing them into the exams (to be fair, this was due to Shonen Jump editors shoving up the time table).
This is a fair criticism. But what is also true is that for all that Kakashi may be a lousy teacher, if the chips are down, if his team is in danger, he will do everything in his power to keep them alive, even if he dies. Tsunade could bet on that and win every time. And that, I think is how we should think of Hiruzen. He is a flawed man and made many terrible mistakes that he should totally own up for. The fact that he failed to stop Orochimaru completely at the cost of his life is part of the tragedy. That's another good word for him, I think. Tragedy. He may indeed hold the title for "Worst Hokage", but perhaps "Most tragic" works, too.
For all the wrong, however, his failures are not story breaking, can be mitigated with context and a few re-writes, some of which are already necessary thanks to bad writing. Would he still be the tragic figure? Yes. But the tragedy is more palatable.