Hashirama Senju is one of the most powerful characters to ever live in the Naruto universe. Known to be the legendary First Hokage of Konoha, Hashirama earned himself the title of God of Shinobi. He was tremendously powerful and an exceptionally rare ninja, being one of the very few capable of using the fabled Wood Release.
Hashirama is also known to have been an exceptionally good user of the Sage Mode. This technique amplified his abilities to a whole different level and he might be one of the very best users of it seen in the entire Naruto series.
What Is Sage Mode?
Sage Mode is a heightened state that only a handful of people in the world of Naruto can access. This ability requires the user to become one with nature itself and understand it completely. Not just anyone can tap into the powers of Sage Mode. To access this heightened state, the chakra reserves of the user must be great enough and, because of that, only a handful of people are qualified to take advantage of this ability. Even for those who do have chakra reserves that great, mastering the Sage Mode isn't all that easy.
Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha, struggled to perfect the Sage Mode. Even though he was a legendary ninja, he couldn't access the perfect form of this art simply because his precision to mix natural energy with chakra of his own was not perfect. To attain perfect control over Sage Mode, one must be able to feel the natural energy present around them. This natural energy then needs to be absorbed and mixed together with the physical and spiritual energy inside their bodies, and this combination gives rise to senjutsu chakra.
Using this senjutsu chakra, the Sage Mode can then be accessed. The incredible thing about Sage Mode is that the user has near-infinite amounts of chakra, however, molding it takes quite some time. Whenever someone enters this honored Sage Mode state, they gain special pigmentation around their eyes which highlights perfect mastery of the skill. Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage of Konoha, was a skilled user of Sage Mode and Kishimoto managed to highlight that across several instances in the story.
Hashirama's Sage Mode Type
Over the course of years, Naruto has seen the introduction of different types of Sage Modes. While the Toad Sage Mode was the very first one that fans saw, thanks to Jiraiya, it was confirmed shortly after that there are other Sage Areas in the Naruto world visiting which would lead to the person learning a completely different type of Sage Mode. Naruto Uzumaki, the 7th Hokage, is a user of the Toad Sage Mode, just like Jiraiya, however, his version of the Toad Sage Mode is perfect, unlike that of his master. Just like Naruto, Minato was also a user of Perfect Toad Sage Mode, although he did not like to rely on this power much due to the time required to knead natural energy.
In the world of Naruto, Kishimoto has unveiled three Sage Institutions so far. Mount Myoboku, which is ruled over by the toads is one of them. Another Sage Institution that was introduced to the fans is the Ryuchi Cave. This Sage Institution is ruled over by the snakes and fans have seen characters such as Kabuto visit this place. The Great Snake Sage is the one who grants the power of Sage Mode to those who visit this cave, however, not everyone can survive the ordeal that he puts them through. By biting those seeking Sage Mode powers, the great snake injects their bodies with natural energy. Most people end up dying after this bite, however, those who do survive it manage to gain access to the power of the natural energy of Ryuchi Cave.
When it comes to Hashirama Senju, his Sage Mode belonged to neither of these places, which means that his version of Sage Mode was that of the Shikkotsu Woods. At some point in his life, Hashirama visited these forests and there, the slugs, which can be summoned by Tsunade, likely taught him the ability to knead natural energy and access Sage Mode. Given his huge chakra reserves, learning Sage Mode should not have been an issue at all.
Hashirama's Usage Of Sage Mode
When it comes to Sage Mode usage, Hashirama Senju is one of the very best there is. Fans saw him use Sage Mode against Madara Uchiha when the two fought on multiple occasions. Hashirama was already overpowered as it is. In fact, even before becoming the Hokage, he had a perfect grasp over all five Nature Transformations and, on top of that, he could also access Wood Release to defeat a version of Madara that could access the full body Susanoo. When he learned Sage Mode, all his abilities ascended to the very next level. His physical strength as well as his perceptive powers grew several times higher.
At the same time, he could also perform Wood Release Jutsu at a much greater scale. Whereas Hashirama could only summon something as large as the Wood Golem or the Wood Dragon previously, with the powers of Sage Mode, he could now use Sage Art: Wood Style: Shinsu Senju that could absolutely obliterate the Perfect Susanoo and even beat Kurama. Undoubtedly, Hashirama's Sage Mode made him one of the most overpowered characters in the entire series. His Sage Mode was also the primary reason why he could stand up to Madara's might and eventually, defeat him and battle. Undoubtedly, Hashirama's Sage Mode was an overpowered weapon that only a handful of Shinobi would be able to stand up to.
How Strong Was Hashirama With Sage Mode?
Naruto fans have seen several powerful Sage Mode users over the course of time in the story and Hashirama certainly ranks among them. He had tremendous control over Sage Mode. In fact, he could access Sage Mode within a matter of seconds and this was demonstrated to the fans both during his clash against Madara at the Valley of the End and, later on, in the 4th Great Ninja War, when he returned, thanks to the Impure World Reincarnation. Hashirama could knead natural energy extremely fast and within a few moments, he gained black pigmentation around his eyes and on his forehead.
The natural energy that he possessed would last him for a couple of minutes, however, thanks to the power of Wood Release, Hashirama was able to stay still and continue kneading natural energy while his Wood Dragons and Wood Golems would do the fighting for him. In this way, Hashirama had access to near-unlimited amounts of chakra in battle. Of course, even when he did want to move, he could do so freely as it only took him a matter of seconds to re-enter Sage Mode if he lost it.
When it comes to Sage Mode users, perhaps only Naruto Uzumaki is a better user of this skill, as he goes on to master this art in the future and, then, as an adult, take it to a level beyond. After Naruto, Hashirama is likely the very best user of this power that fans have seen in the story. Hashirama's Sage Mode earned him the title of God of Shinobi and that certainly is deserved in every way.