Hashirama Senju | NARUTO MUGEN

Hashirama Senju (千手柱間, Senju Hashirama) was a member of the famed Senju clan. He himself was hailed as the “God of Shinobi” for his unmatched ninja prowess. Hashirama sought peace for the shinobi world, and to that end founded Konohagakure with his clan, his childhood friend and rival: Madara Uchiha and the Uchiha clan. He would later become the First Hokage (初代火影, Shodai Hokage, literally meaning: First or Founding Fire Shadow) of Konohagakure. Although he was not able to achieve peace during his lifetime, his legacy and vision for the world would continue to shape the village and the entire shinobi world even after his death.

The fact that only Hashirama possessed the ability to use Wood Release – and related abilities of controlling tailed beasts and self-healing – made his DNA highly coveted after his death:

• In the anime, Konoha sanctioned several attempts to research and reproduce Hashirama’s power, but all met with disastrous failure and further study was forbidden.
• Orochimaru exhumed Hashirama’s body for his own experiments, where he infused sixty child test subjects with cells harvested from the remains in the hopes that one would prove able to use Wood Release. Only Yamato survived the process.[65]
  • Danzō Shimura had a work relationship with Orochimaru and had his right arm infused with Hashirama’s cells. In addition to granting him increased chakra levels and limited Wood Release abilities, it extended the amount of time he could keep Izanagi active with his different Sharingan and increase how often he could use Kotoamatsukami.
  • Kabuto Yakushi continued Orochimaru’s studies, eventually learning how to create an implant that would grant whoever received it access to Hashirama’s power. The only recipient of this implant was Madara, enhancing him “beyond his prime”.