Hiruzen Sarutobi

- Hiruzen's appearance during the First Shinobi World War. - Hiruzen's Hokage attire. - Hiruzen's shinobi attire. 1/3 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 tan-skinned and had dark brown, spiked hair, adding a small goatee to his look after becoming Hokage; towards the end of his life his skin is lighter, his hair is grey, 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, which stretched down into his face as he aged until they reached his cheeks. During the First Shinobi World War, he wore grey shinobi battle armour common to the time period, with heavy protection all over his body. He 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 armoured 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, hi) 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.

Hiruzen was born the son of Sasuke Sarutobi. The Sarutobi clan was one of the first clans to settle in the newly-created Konohagakure, where Hiruzen struck up a friendship with the Shimura clan's Danzō Shimura. Hiruzen was part of the first generation of ninja produced by Konoha as he, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane were placed under the tutelage of Tobirama Senju. Hiruzen early on displayed prodigious talent in the ninja arts, earning him additional training from Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage. At the same time, Danzō became jealous of Hiruzen's skills and growing recognition, starting a one-sided rivalry in an effort to surpass him. At one point Hashirama and Tobirama talked to Hiruzen of the importance of believing in and protecting those in the village, telling him he would one day be Hokage. During the First Shinobi World War, Tobirama, by that time the Second Hokage, led a team consisting of Hiruzen, Homura, Koharu, Danzō, Kagami Uchiha, and Torifu Akimichi. During a mission they 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. Hiruzen volunteered to be the decoy, boasting that, as the strongest of their group, he stood the best chance of surviving the encounter; nevertheless, he asked Danzō to look after the others. Tobirama volunteered himself instead, and before going to his death he appointed Hiruzen as Third Hokage. In the anime, Hiruzen permitted Danzō to create Root - a more ruthless subdivision of the Anbu under Danzō's exclusive control - shortly after he became 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. At some point, Hiruzen married Biwako and they had a son, Asuma, and at least one other child who became an Anbu. Hiruzen also started leading his own team of new Academy graduates consisting of Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade. Although he was close with all of his students, Hiruzen had the highest hopes for Orochimaru, a genius 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 World Wars; in the anime, his choosing to end the Third Shinobi World War by signing a peace treaty with Iwagakure despite the losses Konoha suffered incensed Danzō, prompting Hiruzen to step down as Hokage against the village's protests. Hiruzen had long hoped that Orochimaru would succeed him as 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, Minato Namikaze, who had proven himself time and again during the Third Shinobi World War. Hiruzen assisted Minato with the transition of power by advising him on how to handle individuals and other village matters. He even retained some of his own Anbu, several of which he assigned as security while Kushina Uzumaki, the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails, gave birth. Despite their precautions, the Nine-Tails escaped and attacked the village. Hiruzen led the village's defence until Minato arrived to remove the Nine-Tails to a safe distance. Hiruzen followed and, cut off by the Adamantine Sealing Chains, could only watch as Minato and Kushina gave their lives to seal the Nine-Tails into their newborn son, Naruto. Minato did not have time to tell Hiruzen how the Nine-Tails had escaped, 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. Hiruzen did so, but the villagers proved unable to follow Minato's wishes, prompting Hiruzen, now the village's Hokage once more, to outlaw any mention of the Nine-Tails, an effort to protect Naruto from their misguided hate. He also gave Naruto his mother's surname in order to hide his relation to Minato from Minato's enemies. Hiruzen eventually started investigating a number of disappearances throughout Konoha. In the anime, he followed a lead provided by Kakashi Hatake, 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 Immortality Technique. He attempted to apprehend Orochimaru, but could not bring himself to strike down his favourite student and allowed him to escape. From examining what Orochimaru left behind, a young boy imbued with Hashirama Senju'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 Danzō, and Hiruzen negotiated the boy's release into Hiruzen's care.) Because Minato never had the opportunity to explain the cause of the Nine-Tails' attack, Konoha's leadership came to suspect a member of the Uchiha clan was responsible due to the Sharingan's ability to control the Nine-Tails. The Uchiha resented this suspicion and began planning a coup d'état, something reported to Hiruzen and the Konoha Council by Itachi Uchiha. Hiruzen attempted to peacefully resolve the conflict but negotiations consistently stalled. Danzō 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, 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, enabling Itachi to sneak in from time to time to watch Sasuke from afar. Danzō's role in the Uchiha's assassination was not something Hiruzen could abide, and as such he removed Danzō from the Konoha Council and ordered Root be disbanded. About five years after the Nine Tails Fox's attack on the village, Hiruzen had a disagreement with his son Asuma, leading to the latter to leave to pursue his personal interests. In the anime, Hiruzen came to welcome people in a refugee camp to Konoha. Hiruzen was visited by an orphaned refugee Mugino, delivering a gift for gratitude. After anticipating his actions and noticing the young orphan was branded with a cursed seal, Hiruzen allowed Mugino to stab him, catching the Kiri-nin watching over Mugino off guard and swiftly subduing them. Hiruzen comforted Mugino and welcomed him to Konoha with open arms whenever he was ready.