Board Thread:Versus Debates/@comment-31337598-20170812163641/@comment-3523655-20170815225231

Lorenzo.r.2nd wrote: I don't see hiruzen beating prime tobirama at all, much less prime hashi.

Lol what? No matter the translation, during Danzo's flashback, Hiruzen offers to sacrifice himself as the decoy on the basis that he's the strongest amongst the people present. That's including Tobirama. And he's, what, in his 20s? Point is, until Tobirama intervenes, Hiruzen staying behind is presented as the most logical option, cuz the strongest one covers for the weakest's escape (like with the Third Raikage's death). So, like the prodigy they say he was, he had already surpassed Tobirama by the time he was in his 20's (which isn't too surprising if you think about how Naruto had surpassed a Kage-level Kakashi by the time he was 16-17).