Board Thread:Versus Debates/@comment-142748-20150410212019/@comment-26127155-20150411231818

@SuperSaiyaMan

Wood clones would actually be Hashirama's best bet if he wanted to fight Itachi in short range combat, but Itachi hasn't been fooled by shadow clones so it would be difficult to see how this would pan out (Even with clones, the threat of totsuka blade and genjutsu would still be very real).

Hashirama has fought stronger Uchiha in his lifetime (Madara and probably Izuna) but this does not mean that they use genjutsu to the extent that Itachi does. Madara seemed to rely on Ninjutsu and might have not felt comfortable in using genjutsu in the midst of combat (Izanagi fooled Hashirama into thinking Madara was dead). Hashirama hasn't been shown to counter genjutsu and I gave him the benefit of the doubt that Uchiha he fought at least used the sharingan genjutsu.

Kirin is enhanced chakra lightning, a lot faster than 4-6 seconds. I would also doubt that many other characters could complete that feat while being: out of chakra, blind, and just about to die of a terminal illness.