One of the least explored eras of Naruto is the Founding period, where Konaha was established by Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha. While the era after the main Naruto series has been explored through various books, manga, and the anime, the Founding period has only been depicted through flashbacks, giving fans only a tantalizing glimpse of a very different time in Naruto. Parts of the lore that are more commonplace in the main series, such as the very existence of jinchuriki, simply didn't exist during this period, and are story points that could be expanded upon.
A game about Hashirama Senju during this period, and even earlier during the Warring States period, would be a great way to explore his character, especially as fans only have a small window into his life. While the time and circumstances of the deaths of the other Hokage are known, Hashirama's death is completely unknown. There are also massive gaps of time in his life that are almost completely blank, but peppered with events where fans are required to guess.
A Video Game Could Best Fulfill Hashirama's Full Sage Mode
It's revealed late in the Naruto series that Hashirama is a Sage, a shinobi who has mastered Nature chakra. This usually requires having a contract with a summons, such as Naruto's contract with the frogs. It's never revealed what Hashirama's contract is, but some fans have speculated that his contract may be the same as his granddaughter, Tsunade's, who has a contract with slugs. Others have speculated that, because of his unique mokuton jutsu, he doesn't need a contract at all and instead can access Sage Mode through the energy of the very earth, explaining why he doesn't need an extended period of time to stay still to gather energy to access Sage Mode.
Sage Mode would integrate seamlessly into a video game as a mechanic as a specialized mode after meeting certain conditions, such as needing to build up chakra to access Awakening Mode in the Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm series. If the game follows Hashirama's life from his childhood to death, it could implement a system that levels Sage Mode and makes Hashirama more powerful as he grows older and more experienced.
Hashirama's Death Deserves a Bitter Final Boss Fight
Madara's final fight with Hashirama at The Valley of the End signaled a new era in the world of Naruto, where the tailed beasts became usable as weapons. Madara used the Nine-Tailed Fox as a weapon by controlling it with the sharingan, but Hashirama was able to go on to capture the remaining beasts using mokuton and his skills as a shinobi. This era hasn't been expanded upon in official sources but could also be explored in a future video game.
The original Naruto manga and anime also never show or reference Hashirama's death. Fans only know that he died in battle and sometime before his younger brother, Tobirama Senju, grew old, as he became the Second Hokage before becoming elderly. Hashirama was the most powerful shinobi of his era, only rivaled by Madara, and the battle that finally overwhelmed him has been something fans have been curious about for years now.
Depicting this battle by placing fans right in the middle of the action would be one of the best ways to do this, allowing fans to not only finally experience the event that's been kept secret for so long, but to also experience it first-hand. Combined with Sage Mode, this would be an opportunity to create another iconic moment for Naruto, which is already known for several incredible moments. Setting it in a game will put it onto a stage all of its own.
Naruto x Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections releases in 2023 on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
