Now what seems to be a common rule in Naruto is that almost every powerful shinobi has a powerful parent or a family member.
Like Sasuke, Itachi, Obito all have Madara as their ancestor, Naruto has Minato, Hiruzen is from the respectfull and very powerfull Sarutobi clan, Kakashi's father's fame was compared to those of the sannin, Tsunade is a Senju, Gai's father was one of the rare characters being able to use all 8 gates, etc, etc, etc.. Ofc there are exceptions to this "rule" but it still seems to be a common thing. Atleast in Konoha.
I think that at some point every fan of Minato thought: Who are his parents? Is there a Namikaze clan? Popular opinion among fans is that Minato is a Senju.
Let's state the most obvious connection between Minato and Senju clan. Tobirama.
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1. Destined battle:
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Ashura v Indra - Hashirama Senju v Madara Uchiha - Naruto Uzumaki v Sasuke Uchiha
Now we know that Senju and Uchiha are direct descendants of Ashura and Indra. Sasuke is a pure Uchiha, but Naruto isn't a pure Senju. At least not down the line of Kushina. Even though him and she are Uzumakis they are still not pure Senju cause Uzumakis are distant relatives of Senju. So why would a descendant of Ashura be born into Uzumaki and not Senju? This bugged me ever since the Ashura/Indra thing was explained. So maybe Minato has something to do with Senju part.
2. Appearance:
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They both seem handsome and similar built. Also notice the spiked hair.
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3. Intelligence:
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3.1: Both characters are very intelligent and have a mind for strategy. They both try to investigate and attack the weaknesses of the opponent. They never attack without thinking first.
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1) Minato was able to determine that the only man who Tobi could be is Madara (in a way he was right cause Madara was the one pulling the shots)
and he found a way to counter Kamui and exploit its weakness:
2) Tobirama determined that senjutsu can hurt Jubito after just one attack from a sage frog.
And immediately helped Naruto exploit that weakness:
3.2: Both of them are very creative when it comes to ninjutsu:
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1) Minato invented Rasengan:
2) While Tobirama invented jutsus like Edo Tensei:
Or Hiraishin (FTG)
Or Kagebunshin:
4. Teamwork:
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They work excellent with each other even though they never met.
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Here they are able to use Hiraishin Goshun Mawashi no Jutsu. Best thing they never mentioned the intention to use it. They just did. That just show how well they understand each other.
5. Abilities:
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5.1: Fighting Style:
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Their main fighting style is strong taijutsu with a sharp object in order to stab enemy.
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5.2: Sensing:
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Both Tobirama and Minato only need to place a finger on the ground to sense if there is an enemy and if so, how many of them are out there.
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But they can sense people even without using any hand signs:
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5.3: Speed: Shunshin and Hiraishin
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Both use Shunshin at high level:
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Both were hailed as the fastest shinobis of their eras (Minato of all time) do to their combination of Shunshin and Hiraishin:
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Signature Move: Hiraishin (FTG)
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Most of their jutsus include FTG:
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Rasen Senkō Chō Rinbukō Sanshiki
Hiraishin: Dōrai
Hiraishingiri
6. Chakra:
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6.1: Chakra Control:
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Both men had amazing chakra control being able to perform complex jutsus with only one sign or even one hand.
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6.2: Chakra Pool:
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Both of them have huge chakra reserves:
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Tobirama as Senju has a very large chakra pool. Proof could be a fact that he was able to teleport two users who had Tailed Beast inside them:
On the other hand, Minato is able to use Sage Mode. To do that, one must have enormous chakra:
Minato is also a perfect Sage which means he has a perfect control over his and natural chakra:
Huge chakra + perfect chakra control = Traits of Senju
7. Timeline:
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We all know that there were 3 Shinobi Wars prior to Naruto’s birth.
I – When Tobirama died and made Hiruzen Hokage
II – ≈ 20 years after the first one. Sannins got their name in the war and there were two major deaths that are significant to Minato/Tobi timeline. Dan age 27 died and Nawaki age 9 died.
III- Where Minato singlehandedly ended the war. From Gaiden we know that at the time of Third War Obito was 13 when he died.
1. Now let’s take a look at these characters: Minato, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Hiruzen
1.1: Minato – From the 4th databook we know he was 24 when Naruto was born.
1.2: Hiruzen – At the beginning of the series and through the first part Naruto is 12-13
If you look at the Hiruzen’s profile from the 3rd databook it shows that he was 69 when he died. Let’s assume that by Konoha crash arc, Naruto was about 12.5, that would make Hiruzen around 56 years old when Naruto was born.
1.3: Tsunade & Jiraiya
Let’s take a look at a profiles of two sannins and Naruto in the 3rd databook:
So:
Naruto is 16 and sannins are both 54. That means Tsunade and Jiraiya were 38 years old when Naruto was born.
Conclusion:
When Naruto was born:
1. Minato was 24
2. Tsunade and Jiraiya were 38
3. Hiruzen was around 56
This also means that sannins are 14 years older than Minato, and Hiruzen is 32 years older than Minato, or 18 years older than sannins.
2. Second Shinobi War
We know that prior to the war, Jiraiya was made Minato’s sensei.
Minato graduated academy at the age of 10 which means that before the war Jiraiya&Tsunade were 24 and Hiruzen was 42. That kinda makes sense cause Dan who was Tsunade lover died in the war and was 27. Jiraiya was with Yahiko/Nagato/Konan for the 3 years which would make Tsuande about 24 – 27 during the war. That fits perfectly with Dan as her lover.
Conclusion:
Prior to the second war:
Minato - 10
Jiraiya - 24
Tsunade - 24
Nawaki – around 9 or a bit younger most probably
Hiruzen – 42
3. First Shinobi World War
What we know about it is that Tobirama died and that it was finished 20 years before the Second Shinobi World War started.
That means:
Hiruzen was in his 20s during the war in which he became Hokage (that ads up) and Minato much like Nawaki who is similar to him in years was born between the two wars. We don’t know the exact time when Hashirama die, but we do know that Hashirama isn’t that much older than his younger brother:
If Hashirama managed to have grandchildren Tsunade (24 – 27) and Nawaki (9) during the 2nd War then there is no reason why Tobirama who isn’t much younger than Hashirama couldn’t have Minato (>10) as a grandchild during the 2nd War.
"Time passed... The leadership stayed in the Senju hands. And the once proud Uchiha clan members were adust to being the Senju lackies."
1. In Senju hands
Madara/Obito said that the leadership stayed with Senju. There we see Hashi, Tobi, Saru and Minato. First two are Senju, Saru was a direct student of both Senju. Minato olny has indirecet connection through Jiraiya. But legendary sannin rejected the post of Hokage so he kinda doesn't fit the pattern.
2. Uchihas were neglected in the village
Ever since Tobirama and mostly during Hiruzen/Danzo reign Uchihas were slowly rebelling against Senju and the village.
Let's take a look at Tobirama's databook page:
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"Due to Tobirama's efforts, the Senju clan gained influence in the village."
Tobirama made Ninja Academy where all of children (Uchihas included) who wanted to become shinobi had to go. He made Konoha Police where he could at the same time overlook Uchihas but yet let them do smth in which they ace: fighting.
Also, take a look at how shinobis dress:
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Uchihas at the time before the village:
Senju at the time before the village:
And then everybody during the reign of Senju:
It all comes down to the fact that Senju were by war the clan with most influence in Konoha.
And that was during the reign of Tobirama. About 30 years from that there is no trace of Senju in Konoha. It took only 30 years for them to completely dissappear. While Uchihas are roamin' the village. That's until Obito&Itachi killed them all. But that's beside the point.
In a span of roughly 50 years thay went from this:
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to:
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Why, what happened?
Popular opinion:
As a sign of good faith, Tobirama gave Uchihas a special role in the village. What if to ease them further and protect his clan members he pulled the exact same thing Hiruzen did with Naruto? Naruto went from Namikaze to Uzumaki just to be safe. It sounds stupid ofc, cause everybody knew Minato and pregnant Kushina was walking in Konoha, in sight of everyone. It's a plot hole but if it was possible with Naruto why wouldn't be possible with Senjus? For example Tsunade is a Senju but she never uses the last name.
So is it possible that Minato's parents are linked with Tobirama and in order to keep the child safe they gave him the last name of one of his parents which is Namikaze?
