TOBIRAMA SENJU

Tobirama Senju (千手扉間, Senju Tobirama) was the Second Hokage (二代目火影, Nidaime Hokage; Literally meaning "Second Fire Shadow").^[1] He hails from the Senju clan, who along with the Uchiha clan, founded Konohagakure.

Background

Team Tobirama and Hashirama.

Tobirama was a member of the Senju clan along with his brother Hashirama who was the leader of the clan. Decades before the start of the series, Hashirama struck a peace treaty with Madara Uchiha and together the two clans created Konohagakure. When Hashirama, who was appointed the First Hokage, died, Tobirama was appointed as the Second Hokage. During his reign he was primarily responsible for establishing Konoha's organisational system. He did this by setting up various organisations such as the Academy, the ANBU, the Chūnin Exams and the Konoha Military Police Force,^[1] the latter of which he created as a sign of trust towards the Uchiha clan who made up the majority of that organisation. However, according to Madara, the Police Force was actually established to distance the Uchiha from the government of the village and place the clan under a tight surveillance by the ANBU. At some point during his tenure, he and the Second Raikage met to form a formal alliance between Kumogakure and Konohagakure; however, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, Kumo's Gold and Silver Brothers, attempted a coup d’état against the Second Raikage and left Tobirama near death in their surprise attack.

Tobirama and his team during the First Shinobi World War.

He also trained a three-man team of his own, Team Tobirama, which consisted of Hiruzen Sarutobi, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane. During a mission in the First Shinobi World War, on which Team Tobirama performed with Danzō Shimura, Kagami Uchiha and Torifu Akimichi, they found themselves surrounded by twenty elite Cloud ninja, known as the Kinkaku Force. Tobirama then realised that the only way any of them could escape alive was for one of them to be a decoy and sacrifice themselves; therefore having faith that he had trained his students well, he chose to sacrifice himself after he selected his prized student Hiruzen for the position of Third Hokage. Homura and Koharu would later become Hiruzen's advisers. After giving the title of Hokage to Hiruzen, Tobirama went off to fight the enemies where he died a noble death.

Personality

From what has been seen of Tobirama, he had pride in his abilities involving water release techniques. He also had a sense of humour, even under stressful situations. Like his brother, Tobirama felt a great deal of loyalty to the village, and placed its well-being above his own. Tobirama was also described as being strong-spirited, and passionate.^[1]

Appearance

Tobirama was characterised by his white shaggy hair, red eyes and three red streaks under his eyes and on his chin. His outfit consisted of blue armour and a forehead protector which was modelled to resemble a face guard. The outfit underneath his armour, had a white fur collar. Outside of his shinobi outfit Tobirama wore a simple blue shirt kimono held closed by a pale yellow sash and pants with mesh armour underneath, completed with a bracelet of sorts on his left hand.

Abilities

Tobirama, detecting the enemy's presence.

According to a young Danzō, Tobirama was the most powerful shinobi in Konoha during his time. Tobirama was also the creator of the Summoning: Impure World Resurrection technique; however, some time after its creation he labelled it as a kinjutsu and never mastered it himself. Also, by simply touching the ground with his index finger, Tobirama could detect the presence and number of enemy shinobi.^[2] According to Minato, Tobirama was also very skilled in Space–Time Ninjutsu.^[3]

Nature Transformation

Tobirama using Water Release: Water Shockwave.

Tobirama was primarily known for his mastery of Water Release techniques, being able to make use of powerful water-style techniques in areas where there were no bodies of water, making him known to be the greatest water manipulator that ever existed.^[4] He could manipulate it to form projectiles or tentacles, and could even perform the most complex of water-style techniques with only one hand seal. He was also able to use the water molecules in the atmosphere to cast high level water techniques such as the Water Release: Water Shockwave technique.

Swordsmanship and Physical Ability

In the anime, it was said that he wielded the Sword of the Thunder God, a blade with electrical abilities, and was said to have mastered its use despite the lethality. He is also shown to have great physical prowess and a considerable amount of skill in the area of taijutsu, as well as good teamwork with his elder brother, Hashirama Senju.

Part I

Invasion of Konoha Arc

Orochimaru resurrects Hashirama and Tobirama.

Both he and Hashirama were revived from the dead by Orochimaru, using Impure World Resurrection, to fight Hiruzen during the invasion of Konoha. While fully aware of what was going on, and saddened that he would have to fight his former student, Orochimaru employed a special seal into the back of their heads to rob Tobirama and his brother of their free will. Hiruzen quickly resolved to kill his masters and used a very powerful fire technique that was easily countered by one of Tobirama's walls of water that was then turned into an attack that was stopped by Hiruzen's own earth wall.

Hiruzen removing Tobirama's soul.

During the battle, he demonstrated great teamwork and combination attacks with his brother, forcing Hiruzen to summon Enma for assistance. Hiruzen was however in his old age unable to defeat the two Hokage, as any damage that was done was simply regenerated and was further inhibited by his desire to not hurt either. His soul, along with his brother's, was eventually sealed by Hiruzen when he combined the Dead Demon Consuming Seal and the Shadow Clone Technique to strike both of them at the same time. Before his soul was completely removed, he and his brother apologised to their former student for the trouble they had caused.^[5]

Legacy

Tobirama's legacy in the Ninja World at large is mixed. He was known for revolutionising the ninja system by establishing organisations such as the Academy, ANBU, and giving the Uchiha clan the Konoha Military Police Force as a sign of trust. He also passed on his Will of Fire to the next generation.
He was also responsible for the creation of Summoning: Impure World Resurrection technique, which has been used by the enemies of Konoha: Orochimaru who used the technique to battle his teacher Hiruzen, and Kabuto Yakushi who used it to wage war on the Five Great Shinobi Countries, on behalf of Akatsuki.