Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-1018594-20160409062530/@comment-734582-20160412101214

This one is debatable (is it an epiphany if the manga really spells it out?)

I always hated Hiruzen's lack of participation in the war, but the truth is that he didn't really get a chance. Juubito full destroyed his body, making him take quite a while to regenerate. Only when Obito forms the tree is he regenerated and intervenes. Then, when Zetsu!Yamato uses the statue, he's only just in time to counter it's five elements before Karin has had enough and destroys the statue.

The ones that were valuable had either Spacetime Ninjutsu (Tobirama/Minato) or so many clones that he was everywhere (Hashirama), and even then Madara had to be kept satisfied by Hashirama to prevent him from bloody murdering everyone for fun.