Shikamaru or tobirama.
I think it might be Mei from how much the Mist improved from the Bloody Mist era under her leadership.
Shikamaru or tobirama.
After the Deidara attack on the sand, I'm inclined to say Gaara.
Don't forget about the shinobi alliance speech
Mei, Tsunade and Gaara comes to mind
Mei probably but Kakashi, this guy had no problems during his reign. He is just a super smart guy that he makes it look easy.
I've got to give this to Hashirama, easily. Ushering in the age of the shinobi villages while also ending the Era of Warring Clans involved him being a leader of sorts to all the disparate clans who eventually made up the other villages. Others improved this experiment as they went on, but Hashirama was the one to take the first step that everyone else followed.
The 3rd hokage won 3 wars and kept hidden lead at top until he retired for the first time. Tho his return was pretty bad.
Mei cleaning up Kiri after the Bloody Mist era while surrounded by a poor and unstable nation (Land of Water) is pretty impressive. Konoha, Kumo, and Iwa are operating on easy mode compared to Suna and Kiri.
Even more impressive is that she didn't need a Naruto ex machina unlike Gaara.
Definitely Gaara, we don’t know how old he was when he was appointed but likely 14 years old!!!!
Tsunade, and is not even close. She is the only one that does not have a huge mistake. Hashirama failed with Madara, and allowed Tobirama to be Kage, despite being warned. The system he wanted to create by giving the tailed beasts failed almost instantly. Tobirama created the most cursed jutsu in Edo Tensei, trained Danzou, made Hiruzen Kage, he made Hashirama's dream become a nightmare by making kids kill each other in the Chunin exams, segregated the Uchihas, and even after having everything pointed to him, his response was " I don't regreat nothing, would do it all over again". Overall a mess. Hiruzen is the worst of all times. He failed at everything. From the Hyuga/Cloud incident, to allowing Orochimaru to kill and experiment on Konoha ninjas, letting Orochimaru go, letting Tsunade and Jirayia to leave the village, letting Danzou mess up Kabuto, Nagato, the whole mess with the Uchihas, failing to take care of both Naruto and Sasuke. Weak and Pathetic. Old geezer could not even explain to his own son Asuma, the meaning of "the king". complete failure. Minato failed his team, and it created Tobi... Also this idiot had all the information needed to clear the Uchihas name, but just choose to die to give him wife a future chance to talk with Naruto. He did not needed to die, and had he lived he could fix almost everything that happened later.
You’re skipping over literally every other village. It doesn’t say Hokage just kage
Tobirama for sure, ppl don't know acknowledged him but if you know about what he did in his tenure as hokage then you will know, how much he did as hokage. And i have respect for him
Me
\^
Please, give Mei the credit she deserves. If we're talking about political leadership, diplomacy, and rebuilding a nation, Mei is easily the greatest Kage in ninja history—and no, I'm not exaggerating. I already know people are going to say she wasn't as powerful as Hashirama, but you don't have to found a village or defeat gods to be the greatest Kage. She rebuilt what was basically a failed state with almost no resources. She put an end to the Bloody Mist policies—the same policies that had targeted and persecuted her. Despite all of that, and despite the stigma she faced, she still became the village's leader without ever losing her values. She never abandoned the village, even though it likely rejected and isolated her for most of her life. Let's be honest, we know almost nothing about her past, but we do know she was hated and persecuted because of her kekkei genkai. She completely transformed her village in a remarkably short time. Honestly, I wish we had gotten to see how she managed to pull all of that off.
My headcanon for Mei’s inability to find a man was a ploy by her political enemies to deny her an heir. She ended up training Chojuro for the position and stepping down prematurely to prevent a succession crisis.
I wish they would give us older fans with an attention span now a series of all the inner politics of the nations and top clans.
We really need a Mei book or something!!
A woman cleaning up the screw ups of men once again.
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Tobirama
Why Tobirama?
The segregation kage... why exactly is he the best? For alienating his villages strongest asset by far?
Ain't Kakashi have the second longest term second only to old fart Hiruzen?
Did people forget how much of a fucking NIGHTMARE the Sand was? Gaara had every right possible to wipe that shithole out, but he poured enough love into it that somehow that shit turned right the fuck around. It's not unusual for a Hokage to die for his people, but when the people have despised you, it's all the more impressive. I'm giving the "most heart" award to the sand boy
Does not matter its all about power. When one individual can destroy the strongest village leadership is irrelevant
Top 3 Kage, Politically.. 1st Tobirama, the 2nd Hokage for starting a system that benefit a community that become the template for other shinobi village 2nd Shamon, the 2nd Kazekage for studying the tail beast and he focused all his efforts on strengthening Suna's military power through the use of puppets as a replacement for shinobi 3rd Mei, the 5th Mizukage for ending the "Blood Mist" era and fixing the village to the point it becomes one of famous tourist site
Didn’t Hiruzen resign in disgrace at the end of the 3rd great ninja war because it went on for so long? At least that’s the implication during the big funeral scene in the Itachi Shinden arc. He also: Did a terrible job taking care of Naruto after the 4th’s death Was so ineffective at negotiating with the Uchiha and keeping the peace between them and Danzo that he greenlit and was complicit in Itachi’s massacre Allowed Danzo to target leaf shinobi including himself, and Kakashi without repercussions as well as run the foundation with no oversight or accountability Made no mention to anyone of the Akatsuki despite knowing about it during the events of part 1
Mei and Tobirama
Hashirama.
Mei. Didn't need any talk no jutsu to transform her village from a Yagura-run dystopia to a functioning place.
Mei easy
Mei clears. She took a ruined state and turned into a functional society in the matter of a few years, with no resources, no Naruto talking his way into the solution. She was prosecuted by the Bloody Mist era because of her magma style and even by them she never turned her back on them. Simply inspiring.
When you know it’s Kakashi but you can’t prove it
lol who's downvoting you. 12 years in the seat and they end up with a Tokyo mini-city. they built that up from the Pain crater (which was mere weeks before the war)
Gaara and Mei
Mei. Have you SEEN the Mist? To go from that to what it is now? She's the GOAT
*not* Ōnoki
Tobirama, Mei or Tsunade
Tbh I agree. As much as I give Mei shit (and it's justified) for being a weak fighter, she was a really amazing leader for someone who often only talks about men and marriage.
Tsunade, Gaara, or Mei tbh
Kakashi
Mei is the best answer for the Naruto plots time period, she is pretty much the perfect Kage. I would argue historically Hiruzen and Onoki are held in high regard for their leadership, the whole "never underestimate an old man in a young man's profession" or whatever. Hiruzen and Onoki led their nations through two(?) Great Ninja Wars and each oversaw periods of peace following the third war. Hashirama is, of course, historically important to mention as it was his leadership more than his power that allowed him to form Konoha and effectively end the warring states period.
Gaara is the obvious answer here. The shinobi alliance speech is enough to place him above pretty much every kage aside from maybe Hashirama. The 5 nations fought and killed each other for years, but he convinced them to push that aside for the greater good.