As the first title to becreated among the current five Kage, the Hokage is the leader of Konohagakure in Masashi Kishimoto’sNaruto. In charge of all shinobi from the village, the Hokage is usually the strongest shinobi from the Hidden Leaf, as well as the Land of Fire by extension.
Following the time of theFirst Hokage, Hashirama Senju, there havebeen six more people who have taken up the mantle, with the most recent one among them being Naruto Uzumaki, the Seventh Hokage. Each one has experienced a different end to their reign, with some sacrificing themselves to fend off enemy forces as others were able to retire from their post and continue living. With this in mind, here are the fates of every Hokage inNaruto.
Anime Debut
Episode #69
There has been much speculationabout the death of Hashirama Senju, since the cause was never explicitly revealed. It was originally reported that the First Hokage died in battle, but this is hard to imagine with his ridiculous strength and vitality. Some have theorized that his death could be attributed to illness, natural causes, or as a consequence of using his regenerative abilities, which might have shortened his lifespan. Unfortunately, none of these theories have been confirmed. The only other information available is that he died sometime before the First Shinobi World War, when he passed on his title to his brother Tobirama, and told him to not mistreat the Uchiha clan.
Having taken on thetitle of the Second Hokage afterhis brother’s death, Tobirama was responsible for many of the village’s institutions, such as the Academy and the Uchiha Police Force. The cause of Tobirama’s death is a lot more clear-cut than his elder brother’s, as he gave up his life to protect his subordinates — including Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo Shimura, Kagami Uchiha, and Torifu Akimichi — from Kumogakure’s Kinkaku Force during the First Shinobi World War. While volunteering to act as a decoy for his squad to escape, Tobirama bequeathed his position as Hokage to Hiruzen, making him the youngest shinobi to take on the title at the time.
Episode #1
Hiruzen Sarutobihad the longest tenure as Hokage, split over two periods which were separated by the brief reign of the Fourth Hokage. During his reign, Hiruzen gained the epithet of “The Professor” for his boundless knowledge of all of Konogahakure’s ninjutsu techniques. The Third Hokage gave up his life during the Konoha Crush while trying to seal the soul of his former student, Orochimaru, with the Dead Demon Consuming Seal — also known as the Reaper Death Seal. Sadly, he could not complete the seal after being mortally wounded, and was only able to seal Orochimaru’s arms, preventing him from performing ninjutsu for a time.
After his exploits during the Third Shinobi World War,Minato Namikaze was an obvious choiceas the Fourth Hokage, replacing an aging Hiruzen who sought to retire. On the day of his son’s birth, Minato had the task of fixing the seal on his wife Kushina, who was also the jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails. Unfortunately, the couple’s happiness was cut short by the arrival of a masked man — who was actually Obito Uchiha. Obito managed to take control of the Nine-Tails and attack the village, which forced Minato and Kushina to give up their lives and protect Naruto from the Nine-Tails. In his final moments, Minato sealed half of Nine-Tails' chakra within himself, and the other half into his newborn son, Naruto.
Episode #83
Tsunade’s tenure as the Fifth Hokage was as eventful as it was important to the main narrative ofNaruto, as she guided Konohagakure in the aftermath of the Konoha Crush and through the series' time skip. She was also responsible for safeguarding the villagers from Pain’s Assault and his destruction of the Hidden Leaf. Not too long afterward, Tsunade led the village’s troops into the Fourth Shinobi World Warand fought a revived Madara Uchihaalongside the rest of the Five Kage. In the aftermath of the war, she chose to pass her responsibility over to Kakashi Hatake, and spend the rest of her days in retirement.
Episode #3
Despite being appointed Hokage soon after the Fourth Shinobi World War had ended, it took Kakashi Hatake quite some time to formally take on the role due to his disdain for responsibility. Even so, his time as the Sixth Hokage saw Konohagakure advance and expand rapidly, with few major threats to the village. This was fitting considering Kakashi’s experience across various divisions of the village’s military, from his stints in the regular forces, to the time he spent in the Anbu.Kakashi eventually chose to hand overhis responsibilities to Naruto, a few years prior to the start of the New Era inBoruto, and he continues to advise his successor while training the next generation of shinobi from the Hidden Leaf.
Years after his heroic actions in the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto Uzumaki got to live out his lifelong dream of becoming Hokage. Widely seen as one of, if not the strongest shinobi in history,Naruto’s tenure as the Seventh Hokagewas a period marked by peace, until the threat of the Otsutsuki clan appeared around the time his son, Boruto, was participating in the Chunin Exams.
After adopting a young genin named Kawaki, who was raised by the organization Kara as a vessel for the reincarnation of Isshiki Otsutsuki, Naruto and his wife, Hinata, were imprisoned in a dimension where time stands still by Kawaki’s dojutsu. His disappearance prompted Shikamaru Naru to take up the mantle of the Eighth Hokage on a provisional basis until Naruto’s return.
