SARUTOBI HIRUZEN/THIRD HOKAGE

First Manga Appearance: Chapter 1
First Anime Appearance: Naruto Episode 1
Name meaning: Third Fire Shadow
Hidden Village: Leaf Village
Real Name: Sarutobi=Flying Monkey [Also a legendary ninja], Hiruzen=A name
Rank: Kage
Age: 69
Notable Features: Nick-named "The Professor" for knowing thousands of jutsu
Notable Quotes: When they are protecting something important, that's when a shinobi's true strength appears...
See also: First Hokage, Second Hokage, Fourth Hokage, Jiraiya, Orochimaru, Tsunade

HISTORY:

The Third Hokage, born Sarutobi Hiruzen, became Hokage again after the Fourth Hokage sacrificed his life to imprison the Kyuubi demon.

Leading Konoha long past his prime, Sandaime Hokage was the beloved leader of Konoha. At a young age he trained under the tutelage of Shodai and Nidaime Hokages, the founders of Konoha. They instilled in the young Sarutobi the ideal of protecting Konoha to the fullest extent with ones very life. As Sarutobi grew he was up for the position of Sandaime Hokage against a man named Danzou, who led the ANBU Root group, who wanted a more militaristic future for the village. Sarutobi eventually was selected and he became Sandaime Hokage.

In this position he would take on three young students, Tsunade, Jiraiya and Orochimaru. These three gifted ninja would become renowned for their skill and abilities. They would be called the "Sannin" or legendary three ninja. Two of the three would be instilled with Sandaime's hopefulness and ideals. While the other, Orochimaru, would grow to despise the compassion and connections Sandaime hoped everyone to make. It was around this time he may have fathered Sarutobi Asuma.

Eventually Sandaime saw that with his age, someone of the younger generation would be better set to lead the village. His first choice was his pupil Orochimaru, but when he learned Orochimaru was conducting brutal experiments he was heart broken. He then selected a young Jounin sensei who lead the team of Hatake Kakashi, Rin and Uchiha Obito to follow him. This man would become Yondaime Hokage and carry on Sandaime's legacy. His tenure would not last long however, as the Kyuubi attacked and Yondaime had to give up his life to stop the beast.

Sandaime thus took up the position of Hokage once again, ruling over Konoha and continuing to influence the young minds who would lead the village in the future. When his student Orochimaru returned to Konoha hell-bent on its destruction, Sandaime faced him and gave it his all to stop him. Age and rust did little to stop him, but the battle eventually began to wear him down when Orochimaru summoned the corpses of Shodai and Nidaime Hokages to battle for him. Sandaime saw their usage as an insult to their legacy. Thinking of Yondaime and the way he had given up his life to protect the village, Sandaime knew what he had to do. Using the same technique Yondaime used to stop the Kyuubi, Sandaime removed the souls of Shodai and Nidaime, and then attempted to remove Orochimaru's soul and stop him once and for all.

Unfortunately he did not possess the needed strength to stop Orochimaru for good. Seeing his life near its end he chose to do what he could and remove Orochimaru's spiritual arms, which removed his ability to use jutsu. A shocked and furious Orochimaru could only scream at his mentor. Sandaime could do little to hear his former student though, for he collapsed dead. Orochimaru fled and the ninja of Konoha gathered to pay their last respects for their fallen leader. Though Orochimaru had let him down, Sandaime's legacy and ideals were carried on when his pupil Tsunade was selected as Godaime Hokage.