Hokage Rock

The Hokage Rock.

The Hokage Rock (火影岩, Hokage-iwa) is a mountain overlooking Konohagakure that has all the faces of the Hokage carved into the stone, ensuring that they can be remembered for generations to come. It was envisioned by Hashirama Senju as a symbol that the Hokage would always watch over the village. The Hokage Rock is easily the most identifiable feature in the village, such that when the village is destroyed during Pain's Assault, only the presence of the Hokage Rock (undamaged by the destruction) confirms to others that the rubble was once Konoha. Being such an icon makes it a prime target for pranks, with both Naruto Uzumaki and, years later, Boruto Uzumaki defacing it in order to gain attention. The entire village is built around the Hokage Rock in a fan-like formation with shops and other buildings. lining the streets, with the monument in the centre.

Adding a Hokage's face to the monument apparently takes time, as the Fifth Hokage's face is not added until some time during the timeskip. The anime suggests it doesn't actually take too long, as the Stone Carver adds first Danzō Shimura's face and then Kakashi Hatake's face to the monument prematurely, in turn forcing him to remove their faces once they are not officially given the position. In Kakashi Hiden, the Sixth Hokage's face is added to the Hokage Rock before he even agrees to accept the responsibilities of the office, something that Naruto complains is confusing. In Boruto: Two Blue Vortex, in turn, it is suggested that the face of the candidate for the position will not be carved into the Hokage Rock until they are officially inaugurated.

The Hokage Rock destroyed.

For the first few decades of the village's history, the Hokage Rock is left mostly untouched, being used only to house the village's archives and protect its villagers during times of attack in the "Hokage Rock Hidden Chamber" (火影岩の隠れ部屋, Hokage-iwa no Kakure Heya) In the years after the Fourth Shinobi World War, Konoha expands to the plateau above the monument, with the village's new skyscrapers seen towering above it. At some unspecified future point, the Hokage Rock is badly damaged.

Trivia

Springtime of Youth

The Springtime of Youth wiki has an article about this topic: Hokage Rock

• The monument is similar to Mount Rushmore, which features sculptures of the heads of four United States presidents.
• The stone the monument is carved into is known as the Face Rock (顔岩, Kao-iwa).
• Despite the increasing number of faces, the Hokage Residence is always right in the middle underneath them.
• Scenes set during earlier periods of Konoha's history sometimes erroneously depict more faces on the Hokage Rock than existed at that point in time.
• During the Konoha Crush, the Third Hokage's face cracks, giving those who see it a bad omen. The damage is apparently later repaired.
• The Fourth Hokage seems to have marked his head on the monument for the Flying Thunder God Technique, as he teleports to its location on two separate occasions.
• In Boruto episode 114, Iwabee Yuino adds Shino Aburame's face just above the Hokage Rock using Earth Release, and Metal Lee adds Rock Lee's in order to raise the value of their Extreme: Shinobi Picture Scrolls cards; they are removed shortly afterwards.
• In episode 161, when Naruto spilled a whole barrel of manure, the stone faces are shown making disgusted grimaces and the monument of the Fourth holds his nose.
  • In Shippūden 376, when Tsunade demands that Naruto not to return to the village until he can defeat Mecha-Naruto, the stone faces are shown to make flabbergasted face faults.
• In early episodes of the anime, the Fourth Hokage's hair is depicted as flat. This is corrected in later episodes of Shippūden. Similarly, the Sixth Hokage was depicted without a forehead protector in The Last: Naruto the Movie.
• Shikamaru Nara's face has not been added since becoming the Eighth Hokage due to him not yet being officially appointed to the position.