Naruto: How Strong Was The 4th Hokage Minato Namikaze?

Naruto’s Konoha village has been the home to some of the very strongest shinobi in the entire series. While the other shinobi villages have also seen the rise and fall of various mighty characters, Konohagakure has always been special in this regard, possibly because the strongest of clans joined this village after the Warring States Era. Among all the special shinobi, the Hokage have stood out the most over the years, and in the history of Konohagakure, one particular shinobi is widely renowned as “The Hero” who saved them from the wrath of the Nine-Tails; Minato Namikaze.

Minato was the 4th Hokage of Konohagakure and was widely considered to be a genius at combat. Sadly, fans didn’t get to see much of him during the Naruto story since he was already dead in the main timeline. However, a glimpse of his powers was given to the fans during some flashbacks and, thanks to Orochimaru, he ended up making a return during the Fourth Great Ninja War, where he showed off his array of skills with nothing holding him back.

How Strong Was The 4th Hokage?

Minato was born as a genius of the Namikaze clan and a shinobi who was deemed to be incredibly powerful even when he had barely become a full-fledged ninja. At the Academy, Minato held the highest scores in history, which were later matched by Itachi Uchiha. Even when he had just graduated from the Academy, he was powerful enough to take on multiple adult shinobi at once, as seen when he rescued Kushina Uzumaki from Kumo ninjas. While all that is already impressive, it wasn’t until the Third Great Ninja War that Minato truly earned his legendary status as a ninja.

By the time of the war, Minato had become a Jonin already and his majestic speed in combat had earned him the reputation of being the “Yellow Flash of the Leaf.” In the same war, Minato fought the likes of Ay and the Jinchuriki of the Eight-Tails, Killer Bee, at once, proving to have the upper hand against both of them. Shortly after, Minato took down a thousand shinobi on his own, forcing Iwagakure to issue a “flee on sight” order and eventually, sign a peace treaty to end the war. Essentially, Minato single-handedly ended a massive war and proved that he was, in fact, a genius ninja.

At a very young age, he ended up becoming the Fourth Hokage of the village with loads of potential that was yet to be fulfilled. According to Hiruzen Sarutobi and even Jiraiya, Minato was a generational shinobi who could be matched by nobody. Evidently, he lived up to the standards when he took on both Obito Uchiha and the Nine-Tails at once and managed to deal with both of them, which is nothing short of incredible.

Unlike most shinobi, Minato excelled in multiple arts. While he had only 3 nature transformations, he excelled at high-speed combat, teleportation ninjutsu, barrier ninjutsu, taijutsu, sealing jutsu, other space-time ninjutsu, and even some forbidden ninjutsu. Without a doubt, his arsenal as a ninja was incredibly diverse, and it would’ve only gotten better had he lived longer.

The Fourth Hokage Compared To Other Shinobi

It goes without saying that the Fourth Hokage stood out as one of the greatest shinobi of not just his generation but in the entire history of shinobi as well. Minato’s name was forever held in legendary light and he went on to further solidify himself as one of the strongest in the Fourth Great Ninja War after being brought back by Orochimaru using Edo Tensei. Not only did Minato arrive at the battlefield before everyone else, but he also saved the entire alliance and shortly afterward, tapped into the power of Kurama, having mastered it.

Minato’s usage of the Kurama Chakra Mode made him even stronger than he already was. His level was far beyond the likes of Tobirama Senju and even Hiruzen Sarutobi at this point. Perhaps, the only Kage who could hold a candle to him and possibly even win was Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage. Despite that, Minato once again proved that he was easily the most skilled Hokage on the battlefield. Along with saving multiple shinobi from the Ten-Tails, he also teleported all of them to safety.

Furthermore, Minato even managed to tap into Perfect Sage Mode despite never having relied much on it when he was alive, showing fans that he was a true genius after all. Against Madara Uchiha, he might’ve lost both his arms but he helped teleport his Truth-Seeking Balls away by outpacing even Might Guy in his Eight Gates form. Minato was, unquestionably, the most influential reanimated Kage, and he helped quite a lot to end the war. He certainly ranks among the very greatest shinobi in history and stand next to the legends such as Hashirama Senju in terms of overall combat prowess.