Third Raikage vs. Hashirama: Winner?

Here’s who would win a fight between the Third Raikage and Hashirama:

Hashirama wins the fight rather easily.

Even though the Third Raikage is probably one of the 20 strongest ninjas in the history of the Naruto universe, he stands absolutely no chance against Hashirama.

It’s a completely one-sided fight that would end as soon as Hashirama decided it should.

So if you want to learn all about who’d come out victorious in a fight between the Third Raikage and Hashirama, then this article is for you.

Let’s jump right into it!

Third Raikage vs. Hashirama: Winner? (Everything to Know)

Who Is the Third Raikage? (2 Strong Points)

We’re getting into some deep cuts for a hypothetical battle among Naruto characters.

In order to do that, I’m going to have to explain a lot about characters and plot points, and as you might have guessed, that process necessitates spoilers.

So, if you’re still holding out on enjoying one of the most popular anime and manga series of all time, but you don’t want spoilers, you should stop here.

There’s no way to really answer this question without getting into very heavy spoilers.

If you’re still here despite the spoiler warning, then let’s begin by discussing the Third Raikage.

The Third Raikage’s name is A, and he was renowned as the greatest Raikage in the history of his village, Kumogakure.

I’ll get into his special powers and achievements in the following sections, but historically, he’s a mega-tough ninja.

Raikage was known for his durability and stamina, with the claims being that no ninja of his era could ever lay a single scratch on him.

#1 The Third Raikage’s Abilities

Since we’re going to discuss the Third Raikage’s fighting abilities, we should probably get into some of his special powers.

First off, he was known to have incredible chakra reserves and stamina.

Multiple times, he managed to fight enemies for multiple days in a row without rest.

He was also insanely tough.

His lightning armor made him impervious to just about all attacks.

He could even fight against tailed beasts without suffering any amount of damage.

His lighting armor didn’t just protect him.

He could also adapt it into an attack that could penetrate pretty much any defense.

In fact, the only move ever known to penetrate the lighting armor was the Third Raikage’s lightning attack.

He accidentally hurt himself once, and it left a scar.

That’s also how the shinobi alliance defeated the reanimated Raikage.

They used his own attack against him.

Aside from the lightning armor, the Third was notoriously fast and strong in a general sense.

Very few ninjas in history could match his raw strength and speed.

#2 The Third Raikage’s Achievements

The Third Raikage was a legend of his own era, but there are three achievements that stand out the most. 

First, he fought the eight-tails beast to a standstill (he actually did this many times, but the story was similar each time).

In one of these occurrences, A fought the beast for multiple days in a row.

Eventually, they both collapsed from exhaustion (which is when he injured himself).

The second of his legendary feats came in the moment of his death.

This was during the Third Great Ninja War, and A was trapped by a force of 10,000 enemy ninjas.

In order to enable his comrades’ escape, A fought that force single-handedly.

He kept up the fight for three days and nights.

Finally, he collapsed in exhaustion and was killed.

Unconscious, he couldn’t maintain his lighting armor and became vulnerable to attacks.

His third achievement happened after his death.

A was resurrected during the Fourth Great Ninja War.

There, he fought a large contingent of the shinobi alliance, and thousands of ninjas — including a powered-up Naruto — were unable to hurt him.

Eventually, they found a way to seal him, but he single-handedly took on a whole army.

Who Is Hashirama? (2 Strengths)

The Third Raikage is a legendary warrior, but he has his work cut out for him in this fight.

Across the entire history of the Naruto world, few names are as respected and revered as Hashirama.

Also known as the God of Shinobi, Hashirama was one of the founders of the Leaf Village and the First Hokage.

Hashirama’s legend was so extreme that in Naruto’s time, people assumed that his exploits were exaggerated for greater effect.

In truth, Hashirama was much more impressive than the legends gave him credit for.

Again, I’ll break down skills and achievements in their own sections, but it’s important to understand that Hashirama founded the first secret ninja village.

He was the first person able to unite clans in order to bring peace to the world.

The peace didn’t last forever, but Hashirama effectively ended a time of endless war between ninjas, and he did it by being so outlandishly strong that no one wanted to argue with him.

#1 Hashirama’s Special Abilities

Hashirama has a long list of abilities, but most of them are related in different ways to his sage mode (also called senjutsu).

Other ninjas learn various sage modes at different times in the story, but Hashirama uses it differently and better than anyone else.

Sage mode allows a ninja to tap into the natural energy of the world around them.

Typically, ninjas have to really focus to tap into such energy, and they can only use it for a limited amount of time.

Hashirama was able to use sage mode on instinct.

At any given time, he was drawing on small amounts of natural energy, and this made him abnormally strong and fast.

It also gave him natural healing powers.

On top of that, his access to natural energy allowed him to create the wood style.

He could grow plants on command.

Then, if things ever got serious, Hashirama could dramatically increase his use of natural energy, entering what is called sage mode.

His sage mode was similar to that of other characters but on steroids.

He could use sage mode as long as he wanted, and it gave him an unfathomable boost in skills and raw physical capabilities.

If none of that was enough, Hashirama was a gifted ninja even without natural energy.

He had some of the largest chakra reserves of anyone in the series, and he was strong and fast enough to fight any character that was ever introduced.

#2 Hashirama’s Achievements

Considering Hashirama’s extreme abilities, it’s not surprising that he has major accomplishments to his name.

I’ve already gone over how he founded the leaf village, but that’s only one of many achievements.

Hashirama was so strong that he kept the tailed beasts around as pets.

Eventually, he had to fight Madara over who would lead the leaf village, and it’s one of the most epic fights in the whole series.

Madara was also one of the strongest ninjas of all time, but that’s only the beginning.

He used a special technique to take control of all nine of the tailed beasts and used all of them to fight Hashirama.

By himself, Hashirama defeated Madara and all nine of the beasts, and he did so when Madara was at his absolute strongest.

Not only that, but Hashirama won with relative ease.

Madara was so completely defeated that he completely gave up on ever challenging Hashirama again.

Who Would Win the Fight? (3 Scenarios)

That’s some good background information. We can probably put it together to determine who would win.

Googling this question, you can find some amount of disagreement, and it’s never truly been covered in canon or even by a media outlet that most people would trust (like Death Battle, for instance).

But, I still think we have enough information to form our own opinions, and I’ll certainly give you my take on the whole thing.

To get to a conclusion, though, we can consider the arguments in favor of both fighters.

#1 Arguments in Favor of Raikage

The Third Raikage is no ordinary ninja.

In the whole of his life, he never lost a fight against any single opponent, including the eight tails.

His death came after he fought a massive army for multiple days and eventually became too exhausted to continue.

The only thing in the Naruto storyline that ever harmed the Raikage was his own lightning armor.

That’s impressive, and it’s something that Hashirama can’t claim.

Hashirama was injured by plenty of different attacks in his time.

So, it’s arguable that the Third Raikage has a better defense, and that his lighting attacks are still more than capable of taking down Hashirama.

One other thing argues in the Raikage’s favor.

Hashirama had techniques that could absorb the natural energy used by the tailed beasts.

So, when Hashirama fought tailed beasts, they were never at their full strength.

Meanwhile, the Third Raikage basically wrestled with the eight tails until it was too exhausted to continue its rampage.

Arguably, that makes A seem like the stronger of the two, in terms of raw physical power.

#2 Arguments in Favor of Hashirama

On the other hand, Hashirama’s feats dwarf those of A.

Even if he was absorbing or suppressing their powers, Hashirama fought all of the tailed beasts at the same time.

There’s absolutely no way A would have been able to do the same.

But, when Hashirama had that fight, he was also up against Madara.

The same ninja alliance that was ultimately able to defeat and seal a resurrected A was unable to stop Madara.

Madara was clearly stronger than A in the Fourth Great Ninja War.

Hashirama defeated Madara and all of the tailed beasts at the peak of Madara’s power.

Using this kind of logic, it really seems like Hashirama can take on the Third Raikage.

#3 But Really, Hashirama Wins

Here’s the final answer.

Hashirama wins this fight, and it’s not close. At all.

In his fight against Madara, Hashirama made the tailed beasts look like play things.

Madara was using amazing techniques (like perfect Susano) to enhance the tailed beasts, and Hashirama still handled it with ease.

In fact, Hashirama spent most of the fight not using sage mode.

When things finally escalated enough, he entered sage mode and instantly won the fight.

Hashirama was a ninja on a scale that A never saw in his whole life.

Hashirama very likely had techniques that could have harmed A through his lightning armor.

Even if that wasn’t the case, Hashirama could have absorbed his chakra.

Without chakra, the lightning armor comes down, and Hashirama wins.

If that’s still not good enough, Hashirama could instantly grow a poison forest and take A down that way.

He had endless tricks in the bag to win the fight, and there’s nothing suggesting that A can even come close to challenging Hashirama.

A is an impressive character, but there’s an entire scale of ninjas in the Naruto universe who eclipse A completely, and Hashirama is in that cadre.

Author

  • Theresa McDonough

    Tech entrepreneur and founder of Tech Medic, who has become a prominent advocate for the Right to Repair movement. She has testified before the US Federal Trade Commission and been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, helping influence change within the tech industry.