Board Thread:Versus Debates/@comment-2245550-20160522071949/@comment-26773508-20160523021746

Thekillman wrote: I think it's funny Hiruzen gets called featless when he was actually hokage at the start of the series and defeated orochimaru in a battle ridiculously lopsided to Orochimaru's side. Without a doubt, Hiruzen is a top-tiered shinobi. And if DB4 is to be believed, he's above Tobirama as a shinobi. So that already puts him above 99.99% of the shinobis we know about. I think the "featless" comments refer to the fact that we don't have much info on Hiruzen's techniques. VS threads usually revolve around what jutsus and strategies the combatants would use against each other, and how they would counterattack the other's attacks/defenses.

With Prime Hiruzen debates, all we can say most of the times is "Hiruzen wins because manga and databook hype say so." What limited jutsus Hiruzen has displayed is not enough to stop other shinobis he's pitted against. Sure Hiruzen was able to stop Orochimaru and Edo Hashi and Tobi. But the jutsus he displayed in that battle isn't enough to take down, say, the Third Raikage or Ohnoki. Even his badass five-elemental attack is not enough. And we know from manga and databook hype that Hiruzen > 3rd Ay and Onoki. So that presents us with the uncomfortable situation where we declare the winner without knowing 99% of the jutsus in his arsenal. And that is pretty much the definition of being featless.