Hokage is the name of the position of leader of the Konoha ninja village which is under the Fire Nation.
Until Boruto there are already eight Hokage who has served since the village was first established.
But in terms of leadership and innovation in office, here are eight Hokage who served from best to worst in Naruto And Boruto.
1. Naruto Uzumaki
Naruto Uzumaki in Boruto. (Doc. Pierrot/boruto-naruto-next-generation)Naruto Uzumaki is Hokage the best and strongest at the same time, even though he wasn’t a good father to his child at first.
In my opinion, Naruto is the “almost perfect” version of Hokage Hiruzen, even Naruto made Hiruzen his role model because Naruto also has the same principle that all the villagers are his family.
Not just saying “the villagers are his family”, but Naruto really shows it, for example Shin Uchiha and Kawaki who get their rightful place. He is also very loved by the villagers and his subordinates.
Because he lives in an era of peace, Naruto is able to unite well and maintain good diplomacy between Kage others. However, once there is a conflict, he is ready to sacrifice himself for the village.
2. Hashirama Senju
crunchyroll.com/naruto-shippudenHashirama is a very strong ninja, but if you realize he always wants to try to create peace without conflict.
Of course, being able to create a peaceful situation is one of the characteristics of a good leader. Hashirama’s desire to bring about an era of peace between the Senju and Uchiha is also what gave birth to Konoha.
The First Ninja World War did occur in his era, but he tried to find a peaceful path by sharing Bijuu which he captured to other villages so that the strength of all villages would be equal. Although after that there was still war again.
Naruto is Hokage who succeeded in realizing Hashirama’s wish that all villages could live in peace without conflict, it is only natural that in Hashirama’s era this was still very difficult.
3. Minato Namikaze
crunchyroll.com/naruto-shippudenMinato is probably Hokage who was in office for a relatively short time, but still during his term of office big things happened.
He showed a standard that made a person Hokage worth mentioning Hokage namely ready to sacrifice himself for the village.
He protected the entire village from Kurama’s attack, although there were still casualties but it could be minimized because if Minato and his family had not sacrificed themselves then Konoha might have been flattened by Kurama.
One unfortunate thing is his desire to make Naruto a village hero because being Kurama’s vessel is the opposite.
4. Kakashi Hatake
crunchyroll.com/Naruto ShippudenAs Hokage Actually, Kakashi served for quite a long time, but only a little of it was shown in the series.
However, Kakashi is Hokage who developed more advanced technology in Konoha with his scientific division and made this village more like a city now.
Not only that, as the village leader, Kakashi is also Hokage who is flexible and can blend in and help the old and new generations. As we know in the anime Kakashi even still helps Boruto.
5. Tsunade
crunchyroll.com/boruto-naruto-next-generationsAs a person Hokage Tsunade is also ready to sacrifice herself for the village, she even did it when she protected the villagers with Katsuyu from Pain’s attack.
Not only that, what is interesting about Tsunade is that she is very supportive of the younger generation, such as supporting Rock Lee’s dream and trying to cure him as best as possible, training Sakura to become a strong ninja, and being sure that Naruto will become… Hokage.
However, because her term of office was relatively short, Tsunade did not bring many significant changes to the village of Konoha.
6. Tobirama Senju
crunchyroll.com/naruto-shippudenThere is a slight difference in character between Hashirama and Tobirama, namely in their diplomatic matters.
Hashirama tries his best to listen and include everyone, including their former enemies the Uchiha, while Tobirama’s hatred for the Uchiha seems to be ingrained.
Even though Kagami Uchiha was indeed Tobirama’s student, overall Tobirama was very aggressive towards the Uchiha, which was also what made Madara irritated and convinced that Konoha was a mistake and just a way to increase Senju’s dominance.
During his tenure, Tobirama created the Konoha police institution, which was comprised entirely of the Uchiha clan. It was indeed the right way to give positions to the Uchiha, but law enforcers were usually not very popular with the people, especially since they lived on the outskirts of the village.
However, Tobirama still Hokage who is credited with creating various ninja village systems, although some of his creations are also dangerous for the future.
7. Hiruzen Sarutobi
crunchyroll.com/Naruto ShippudenNot trying to blame, but Hokage The worst in terms of leadership and decision making we must all agree is Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Many village conflicts occurred during his era, including two Great Ninja Wars. In addition, Konoha’s internal conflicts such as the Uchiha clan massacre, a heartbreaking event that occurred due to Hiruzen’s lack of leadership to make decisions.
Not only that, he who is too loose to Hanzo and Orochimaru also gives a bigger conflict in the future. Especially Hanzo too, it feels very strange that Hanzo can do whatever he wants to make Anbu rivals under Hiruzen’s leadership.
It is true that he died as a hero but still when compared to Hokage Others on this list, Hiruzen has caused more conflict.
8. Shikamaru Nara
crunchyroll.com/Boruto Naruto Next GenerationsShikamaru technically hasn’t really accepted his formal position as Hokage Eighth.
Since Naruto Uzumaki went missing, he asked the elders of Konoha to wait three years before accepting his position. It has been three years in the story but Shikamaru still asks the elders to wait.
Even so, a figure like Konohamaru in chapter 1 Boruto: Two Blue Vortex indeed already called Shikamaru as Hokage Eighth.
Why is Shikamaru under Hiruzen?
Aside from the fact that not much is known about Shikamaru’s three years of leadership, during that time Shikamaru was under the influence of Eida’s power, which swapped people’s memories of Kawaki and Boruto, causing him and his village to hunt the wrong person (Boruto, not Kawaki).
At least Shikamaru was smart enough to realize something was wrong and eventually secretly helped Boruto, even though he couldn’t help openly because Eida’s power was too great.
Then there is also the situation where Shikamaru doesn’t want to just accept the position. Hokage. If we look at Koharu’s statement in chapter 6 Boruto: Two Blue VortexShikamaru’s decision weakened Konoha’s position in the Land of Fire and also in other villages.
Another factor why Shikamaru is in this last position is chapter 1. Boruto: Naruto Next Generations showing Konoha destroyed. Kawaki’s statement in that chapter, that he would send Boruto to Naruto’s place, indicates that Naruto at that time was still not free from the dimension where he was imprisoned.
So when Konoha was destroyed, and Kawaki proclaimed the era shinobi has ended, the leader should be Shikamaru.
Of course, it wasn’t the first time Konoha was destroyed. The village had been destroyed several times before. It was just that the situation in chapter 1 was so bad that Kawaki could declare an era shinobi has ended.
Well that’s the ranking Hokage the best to the worst in office.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments!
First published July 19, 2021, reissued August 14, 2024.
