|

The Five Kage.
Kage (影, Literally meaning: Shadow) is a title reserved for the leader of one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries’ hidden villages, and is commonly used to refer to leaders of minor hidden villages as well. A Kage oversees the activities of their village, from sending ninjas on assignments to making the hard decisions regarding the safety of their people. A village’s Kage is generally acknowledged as its most powerful ninja.
Background[]
The title was originally created by Hashirama Senju soon after the formation of Konohagakure, making him the first Kage to exist after being elected by the population of his village and country. After the creation of the position, other nations praised the innovative system that had been created and soon began to imitate it.
Overview[]
In the past, before the creation of the Shinobi Union, interaction between the Kage was rare, as a Kage’s primary concern is their village; only during treaty-signing ceremonies or shared public events have a Kage been seen to interact with one of his or her peers. The only time that all five Kage are together is during a Kage Summit, which can be convened by any of the five to discuss topics that apply to all of their villages.

The Five Kage.
How a Kage is appointed appears to differ from village to village. In Konoha, the Hokage typically appoints their successor. If the Hokage dies or is otherwise incapacitated before they can choose a successor, the selection falls to the Konoha Council, the Jōnin Commander, and a representative of the Anbu. Konoha’s jōnin must then approve this appointment. In Kumo, Second Raikage named his son as the Third Raikage before he died against Kenshirō Shunsoku. After the Third Raikage died, his son automatically became the Fourth Raikage, a decision made many years earlier.[1] If a Kage should ever choose to retire, they will keep their title for the rest of their life and can assist the new Kage with decision-making and other responsibilities. A retired Kage can even return to full-time leadership if their successor dies, as the Third Hokage did when the Fourth Hokage gave his life to save Konoha, being unable to find anyone both suitable and willing to take on the title of Fifth Hokage at the time.
Because jinchūriki was so important to their village, it was a tradition for a jinchūriki to be a relative of the current Kage, both to strengthen the jinchūriki’s loyalties to the village and to display the Kage’s might.[2] For example, Killer B is the adoptive brother of the Fourth Raikage and Gaara is the son of the Fourth Kazekage.
Five Great Kage[]
Each of the Five Great Hidden Villages has its own name for its Kage:
- The Hokage (火影, Literally meaning: Fire Shadow) of Konohagakure.
- The Kazekage (風影, Literally meaning: Wind Shadow) of Sunagakure.
- The Mizukage (水影, Literally meaning: Water Shadow) of Kirigakure.
- The Raikage (雷影, Literally meaning: Lightning Shadow) of Kumogakure.
- The Tsuchikage (土影, Literally meaning: Earth Shadow) of Iwagakure.
Trivia[]
- The Third Hokage was considered to be the strongest of the Five Kage of his time.[3]
- In Jiraiya’s novel The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi, the village leader of Shuku is called the Kokage (こ影) as an obvious homage to the Hokage position.
- In the anime, according to Hashirama’s account, soon after the creation of the title Hokage came to the Raikage, Tsuchikage, Mizukage, and Kazekage, in that order.[4]
- In the anime, despite being Kage, a shinobi maintains their previous ranking. As such, Naruto admitted that despite being Hokage, he was technically still a genin due to never finishing the Chūnin Exams due to the circumstances of his training away from the village and having to fight the Akatsuki after returning.
References[]