Summary

• Tsunade's diverse ninja skills make her the strongest female ninja, excelling in defensive taijutsu and unmatched medical ninjutsu abilities.
• Tsunade's unorthodox leadership style shines in pivotal moments, making critical decisions and placing a strong emphasis on medical infrastructure.
• Tsunade, embodying the best traits of previous Hokage, molds her own ideal leadership style with a sacrificial streak, pragmatic mindset, and empathetic pragmatism.

The Hokage play a crucial role in eight Hokage are featured, including Naruto himself. Among them, however, one stands out not just for raw power and ninja skills, but also for relentless determination and leadership skills: the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade.

Serving through the majority of Naruto Shippuden, Tsunade exemplifies what makes a good Hokage while being a perfect thematic fit for the series. After the deaths of her brother and lover, she decides to leave the shinobi life and disdains others' dreams of becoming Hokage. However, in Naruto's renowned "The Search for Tsunade" arc, Naruto convinces her to serve as the Fifth Hokage, and she shows herself to be a remarkably singular leader.

Tsunade's Shinobi Skills

A Wide Range of Abilities Shows Tsunade’s Diversity

All Hokage rise through the ranks of shinobi. Yet, Tsunade differs. She was once a storied shinobi, serving alongside Jiraiya and Orochimaru in Team Sannin. Tsunade has expertise in many areas. It's underemphasized, but she's known to be the world's strongest female ninja in combat, mainly using defensive taijutsu. However, her taijutsu ability across the board is very strong. She's capable of breaking through Madara's Susano'o in the Fourth Shinobi World War.

Tsunade's true strength is medical ninjutsu, and she avoids combat because she thinks medical-nin should be safe to serve those needing them. Regarded as the greatest medical-nin in history, Tsunade has obscure knowledge, granting her excellent diagnostic, curative, and preventative power over the body. She's regularly sought out for impossible medical questions.

Tsunade's Leadership and Strategy are Unparalleled

Several Examples Demonstrate Tsunade’s Unorthodox Leadership

Tsunade demonstrates her strange but effective leadership during Naruto's first mission after the rebirth of Team 7 in Naruto Shippuden, sending Team 7 to fight Akatsuki who have kidnapped the Kazekage, a Jinchuriki like Naruto. Naruto was also one of their targets, but she reasoned that being a Jinchuriki made him the best fit. This outside-the-box thinking, as well as her expertise as a medical-nin, her faith in her shinobi (especially Naruto), and her unusual past for a Hokage lead her to constantly make unorthodox but critical decisions.

The Pain's Assault arc is beloved by fans, but was devastating for Konoha. Tsunade, alongside Sakura, deployed aid to countless civilians. She used Katsuyu in order to communicate with and heal the shinobi on the field. In the end, when Pain's Deva Path threatened to destroy Konoha, she used up all her Chakra to protect it and its people, leaving her in a coma.

When Konoha is being rebuilt in the aftermath of Pain's assault, Tsunade emphasizes medical infrastructure. This long-term thinking differs from most other Hokage. Where some, like Minato and Sarutobi, would tend to focus on immediate protection of the village and its traditions or short-term shinobi operations, Tsunade specifically places a focus on her legacy and the sustainability of the Konoha she helps to build.

Tsunade would act as a mentor and teacher to Naruto, Sakura, and others. Through mutual faith, Naruto learns the Rasengan, which will make up a core part of his entire combat style. For years, she taught Sakura, an incredibly talented Shinobi in her own right. Tsunade would equip her with the tools to protect Konoha's people (and, vitally, to teach others to do the same), making her an equally talented medical-nin in the process.

These efforts would pay off in both the Pain's Assault arc and the Fourth Great Ninja War. During Pain's assault, many of Konoha's lives are saved thanks to the medical instruction and mentorship she had given to Sakura and others. In the fallout after her coma, Tsunade immediately goes to work directing Konoha's reconstruction as she also prepares for the battlefield to face Madara and heal her comrades.

Tsunade Follows and Builds On Previous Hokage

Merging Their Best Traits, Tsunade Incorporates Previous Hokage While Leading Konoha Her Own Way

Hashirama, her grandfather, created Konoha. After many years and devastating losses due to struggles between clans, Hashirama had a vision of a world where clans band together. His vision was one day achieved, however imperfectly, with the establishment of Konoha. The Kage system was also solidified and alliances achieved at the first Five Kage Summit, which he hosted.

This parallels Tsunade many years later at the second Five Kage Summit. After Tobi's declaration of war, Tsunade and the other Kage work together to form the Allied Shinobi Forces to take the battlefield for the Fourth Great Ninja War and protect their existing systems. Tsunade would mobilize Konoha's new medical resources to offer supplies and medics to the alliance.

Efforts for lasting peace and prosperity would be the hallmark of Tsunade's legacy. Allying and drafting treaties with other villages to maintain peace between shinobi, she constantly sent her ninja out on missions to protect and assist other lands. While a continuation and manifestation of her grandfather's wishes, the accomplishment belongs entirely to Tsunade and the empathetic pragmatism she uses to afford Konoha a place of authority in the world.

Tsunade is the Ideal Hokage for Naruto — and Most Underappreciated

Tsunade Is a Misunderstood Hokage With an Undying Devotion

Tsunade is undervalued as a Hokage in part because of the sheer amount of screen time she receives compared to other Hokage (with the exception of Naruto). Because fans see her all the time, she appears less interesting by comparison. But in of the "best Hokage", Tsunade has two important aces up her sleeve.

On the subject of screen time, Kakashi served as the Sixth Hokage, but only in an emergency capacity responding to immediate circumstances.

Tsunade merges her predecessors' traits. She has Hashirama's healing powers, empathy, and "Will of Fire", but abandons his idealism in favor of Tobirama's cold pragmatism. A former student of Sarutobi, she has internalized his emphasis on stability while eschewing his traditionalism. She even has a decisively sacrificial streak like Naruto's father, Minato, and like Minato, sacrifices herself while telling Naruto of her belief in him. Although she synthesizes the actions and sentiments of previous Hokage, Tsunade carves out her own ideal.

Secondly, Tsunade reflects many of Naruto's themes. The fact that Tsunade is known for her medical ability rather than her combat prowess reflects Naruto's preference for love, care, and empathy over violence. For both, this is the "Will of Fire" that defines the Senju clan and one of Tsunade's connections to her grandfather.

A trickier theme is reflected in her perceived personal flaws, like her drinking and gambling habits. At first, these might seem like detriments to her ability as Hokage. Actually, Tsunade's complex backstory and unceasing empathy reflects Naruto's regular explorations of what lies beyond the warts in even the most villainous characters — including Pain, who she nearly gave her life resisting. Tsunade is her good and her bad, and her accomplishments are too great to deny.

Among Naruto's many beloved quotes, it's relevant to Itachi saying that one doesn't become Hokage to be acknowledged, but one who is acknowledged becomes Hokage. Perhaps the best argument for Tsunade is her Infinite Tsukuyomi. In her dream, she saw her dead brother with his Hokage dreams, successful in the prestigious seat. Everybody was happy, everybody was safe, and the shinobi who she'd gotten to know intimately were content.

Tsunade managed Konoha through its deepest crises with an elegant awareness of the lives over which she had authority.

Tsunade never wanted to be Hokage herself, but lived the dreams of her brother and of her love. In so doing, she brought an absolutely inimitable leadership and a total devotion to those around her. Tsunade managed Konoha through its deepest crises with an elegant awareness of the lives over which she had authority.

Naruto is a franchise operating through the lens of Konoha and its inhabitants. No Hokage is perfect, but no Hokage has earned acknowledgment like Tsunade has. Though she isn't flawless, it's hardly possible to imagine a better fit to show Naruto's conflicts, themes, and complexity, nor to lead Konoha through the constant crises that marked her tenure.