Board Thread:Versus Debates/@comment-26005711-20150704102606/@comment-26388300-20150708193330

Though this is something I think very few people consider, I've always believed the "Hiruzen is the strongest Hokage ever" was simply a case of unreliable narrator. Though unrelated, allow me to draw an example: in one of the latter Star Wars novels, a character named Kyp Durron is said to be more powerful than Luke Skywalker. It is stated bluntly, like a fact. The thing is, it wasn't true, even by the author's admission.

I think this is a similar situation. I believe that young Hiruzen was probably a masterclass shinobi, and likely knew more ninjutsu than his predecessors (or successors, with the possible exception of Kakashi, thanks to his years with the Sharingan), but I don't believe he was ever more powerful than the Senju brothers, most certainly not Hashirama.

As to this debate: I don't think it would be an easy fight on either side. As stated by this very wiki, Kakashi seems to be able to match nearly everyone he fights, and it's true... in nearly every duel he participates, he is able to be relevant and hold his own. His knowledge and understanding of ninjutsu is high. Many are making a deal out of his lack of Sharingan, but Jiraiya, Orochimaru, Naruto, Tobirama, and Hiruzen himself, none of these characters ever possessed the ocular powers and yet were still considered enormously powerful. We can safely assume that in the years after Kaguya Kakashi continued to train and grow in skill.

I'm going to give the fight to 6th Hokage Kakashi, a win that comes with high difficulty. This was a good fight to speculate on, though; I think it would always be close. I'd give the win to Kakashi 11/20 times, and the win the Hiruzen 9/20 times.