Yondaime The Fourth Hokage

Namikaze Minato, perhaps better known as the Yondaime (4th) Hokage was known throughout the ninja world as one of the most powerful shinobi ever - a genius who sacrificed his own life for the sake of his village and all the people he loved.
After graduating from the Ninja Academy at the age of 10, he and two other unnamed teammates went under the study of Jiraiya, one of the Sannin or legendary Konoha Three. While possessing great intelligence and also a good personality, he was also very self-driven, with fierce guts and a strong desire to succeed.
It is unknown at what age he became a chuunin and later a jounin, but at some time during his status as a jounin, he was the sensei or teacher of Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Obito, and Rin - and in some time from period which the Kakashi Gaiden took place (Kakashi was 13 at the time) and the birth of Uzumaki Naruto a year later, he became the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure.
Very deep into the story, it is revealed that he had a child with a ninja of the former Whirlpool Country, Uzumaki Kushina, and sealed the Kyuubi no Youko, or Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, inside of his infant son. Before passing, he told the Sandaime Hokage that he wanted his son, Uzumaki Naruto, to be seen as a hero - a ninja whose life was to act as a sacrificial container of the Nine Tales.
Recently, the manga page you see below and to the left has begun circulating around the 'net. This manga page is a fake, created from scenes of other, real manga pages which someone has been kind enough to seek out and provide to me. The first image below is from the Kakashi Gaiden part of the manga, Volume 27, Chapter 239, Page 4. The image of the Yondaime was taken from there and was flipped. The second file is from Volume 28, Chapter 247, Page 19 and you can see the area that was taken from Deidara's body. The third file is from Volume 28, Chapter 246, Page 17, and has the image of Kakashi. And finally, the part with Naruto comes from Volume 28, Chapter 245, Page 12 (when he first sees Sakura again after 2 1/2 years).

Name Analysis
In chapter 367 of the manga, the Yondaime's name was finally revealed - Namikaze Minato (?????). His surname, Namikaze means wind and waves or discord. The first symbol, nami (?) is the word in Japanese for waves, and the second kanji, kaze (?) means wind, hence the translation. It is rather fitting a surname, considering that Minato was known for his quick speed on the battlefield, as quick as wind.
His first name of Minato (???) uses katakana, which doesn't necessarily have a direct translation. However, one meaning of minato in Japanese is harbour or port.
Personality
Minato has been described as a nice kid, well-liked by his peers and others around him. He spoke when it was necessary and listened when someone needed a friend. Given by the opinion of many of the villagers, Minato was an excellent leader, as many people revered him and what he had done to protect the villagers from the Kyuubi no Youko. The Hokage title certainly speaks much for that itself - while indeed it honors the strongest shinobi in the village, it also carries much weight on it as well - the person must be able to lead the village, hand out missions, and deal with matters concerning other hidden villages.
Without a doubt, Minato was an intelligent shinobi, deemed "genius" by Naruto. He graduated from the academy at the age of 10, two years earlier than all the current shinobi of Naruto's generation. He developed many new jutsu, including the shunshin no jutsu, rasengan, and shiki fujin. Many state that no one can ever match in power or intelligence to the Yondaime. Not only is he able to execute jutsu, he was able to create new ones based on his current knowledge. That takes not only book smarts, but creativity as well.
He is also cunning, able to come up with mission plans quickly upon hearing the situation, as seen when he requested that the five leaf shinobi just throw out all the kunai knives they had, and he would finish off all the enemies. Undoubtedly, his power and combined intelligence made him the genius ninja he was, and more than deserving of the Hokage title.
As seen in the Kakashi Gaiden chapters (volume 27), Minato showed excellent skills as the jounin teacher of Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Obito, and Rin. From the beginning, he is seen as the one who tries to break up or at least soften the rivalry between Kakashi and Obito, which most likely happened many times prior to the story. He acted as an excellent mediator, giving each of them credit while also giving them criticism as well.
Later, he showed excellent skills in planning the mission, designating Kakashi as the leader so he may go and help the front line where the largest band of Rock ninja would be gathered. A good leader always knows how to properly distibute his followers, so that the most amount of work can be successfully executed. Given an almost failed mission, he properly criticized them for their errors, as a good leader will give his followers both positive and negative feedback, all so that they may improve and become better. Upon going to the front line to help the stuggling Leaf nin, he quickly tells them what they should do, while taking over to help prevent any further damage. In his battle with the Kyuubi, it is known that when he arrived, he immediately took over the battle, using all the strength he had to protect the village and all its people.
Yet he was also a person who liked to succeed and was dedicated to doing so. Simply being a genius was not enough - Minato wanted to raise that level even higher. One example of his dedication to his work was the time he spent on the Rasengan - it took him three years to perfect the form manipulation, and he was still workin on completing the jutsu to add his nature manipulation to it when he had died. Such a long term commitment to creating a new jutsu emphasized his driven attitude and willingness to face challenges.
Without a doubt, the Yondaime was a kind and caring person. From the very beginning, he is designated as a hero, a shinobi who willing sacrificed his life to protect the villagers, all of them who he considered his dearest family. For Naruto, he wished none other than for him to be seen as a hero, a sacrifice who held the fearsome power of the Kyuubi within him. He cared for his students, as he was a willing listener, as seen with Obito. The Yondaime attentively listened to Obito's complaints about Kakashi, and was quiet with thought before speaking in response. Looking for the best to soothe the tension between the two, he explained to Obito about Kakashi and his past. Despite being confidential information, he desired for the two to understand each other, looking for the well-being of the team as a whole.
With Naruto, the Yondaime placed additional seals on him, to allow for the Kyuubi's chakra to be able to mix with Naruto's, without overwhelming his body's limits. This also allowed for careful protection from the Kyuubi simply taking over Naruto. The Sandaime Hokage also looked kindly on his deceased successor as one who loved the entire Konoha village as a family, taking the ideal with him in his last battle.
Jutsu
kuchiyose no jutsu
The kuchiyose no jutsu (or "summoning technique") was a ninjutsu that he learned from Jiraiya, his sensei. It is not that uncommon of a jutsu, though what the user is able to summon varies. In the Yondaime's case, he was able to summon toads, only after signing his name in blood to a special contract. By making the signs for boar, dog, rooster, monkey and sheep, the user can summon a toad based on the amount of chakra he uses. We know that he used the technique during his last battle with the Kyuubi, as in the very opening, we see him on top of Gama-bunta.
In addition to the Yondaime and Jiraiya, there were three others who also were able to summon toads, and as of book 11, Uzumaki Naruto can also summon them. However, as seen with Naruto, summoning the boss toad, Gama-bunta takes a large amount of chakra, as it practically drains Naruto of all his chakra. Gama-bunta is also the hardest on to control, as stated by Jiraiya, who comments that he even has trouble controlling him.

hiraishin
The hiraishin, or body flicker tecnnique, that can be used to transport to user in a mere instant to someone that he places a special seal on. He literally moves in a "flash" thus, giving him his nickname, Yellow Flash.

rasengan
One of his more widely-known techniques is the rasengan, or spiraling spehere. This is an A-class ninjutsu that requires no hand seals, and is extremely powerful as a close-range, offensive technique. While we have not actually seen the Yondaime use it in battle, it is known that it took him 3 years to perfect it. It requires a large amount of chakra control, as the chakra used to make the sphere needs to be maintained in a contant swirling sphere. It is a self containg technique that does not require any more chakra once it is molded.
The first time we seen it used is by Jiraiya, who uses it in volume 17 of the manga. He goes on to teach it to Naruto, who manages to learn it within a week. There is also a variation of this jutsu, the oodama rasengan (great ball spiraling sphere), that we see Naruto use in volume 29 of the manga. However, it is not known if the Yondaime also developed this, or if Naruto created this higher form.


jikan kuukan ninjutsu
With the jikan kuukan ninjutsu, translated as the space-time ninjutsu, he can summon time and a wall of space, allowing him to fly freely about the battlefield. This is seen during the Kakashi Gaiden arc. How this jutsu worked has remained a secret, and now it is considered a legend in the village of Konoha.



shiki fujin
The shiki fujinno jutsu is one of the most powerful jutsu that the Yondaime used. Translated as corpse demon seal exhaustion, it was originally first used by the Yondaime to seal the Kyuubi. It is a very dangerous S-class jutsu that in exchange for the summoning of the god of death, the user will also lose his own life. It works by granting the user the power to draw a soul from their body, forcing them to ever be in opposition with one another in the death god's stomach. The seals used to create this fuuin jutsu (sealing technique) are snake, boar, sheep, rabbit, dog, rat, rooster, horse, and snake, in that order. We later see the Sandaime (Third) Hokage use in in his battle with Orochimaru. However, he does not have the power to draw all of Orochimaru's soul from his body.
In the case of the Yondaime, he also used two other seals with this one to seal the Kyuubi in Naruto. One was the hakke no fuuin shiki (eight trigrams sealing style), which allows the Kyuubi's chakra to combine with Naruto, granting him access to additional power, and the other was the shishou fuuin (four symbols seal), which allowed the Kyuubi to be sealed in Naruto.
eXTra
Graduated from Shinobi Academy at the age of 10.trained under Jiraiya. developed the jutsu Rasengan. teacher of Hatake Kakashi,Rin and Uchiha Obito. picked over Orochimaru when the time came to choose the 4th Hokage. completed 122 rank D missions, 147 rank C missions, 216 rank B missions, 323 rank A missions, and 39 rank S missions. died at the time of the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha, using the Fuuin Justu Shiki Fuujin, a forbidden jutsu which summons the god of death, and sacrifices the user's life in exchange for its help.
The First Hokage (????, Shodai Hokage?, literally "Founding" or "First Hokage") was the founder of Konoha. He was the older brother of the Second, and the grandfather of Tsunade. During his life he fought Kakuzu, but the details of their battle are never elaborated upon. He saw the people of Konoha as a part of him, and put them before anything else. His spirit even now takes a firm root in Konoha. His soul was sealed in one of the Third Hokage's shadow clones after he was resurrected by Orochimaru.Orochimaru used his DNA for his own genetic experiments, implanting the First's DNA into sixty test subjects. Only one of the sixty, Yamato, survived. Orochimaru was attempting to duplicate the First's unique Mokuton techniques and his ability to control tailed beasts. The latter ability is assisted by the necklace that he gave to Tsunade, who subsequently lost it to Naruto Uzumaki in a bet.

The Second Hokage (?????, Nidaime Hokage?) was the younger brother of the First and Tsunade's great uncle. He greatly contributed to Konoha's establishment as a major power. He was very proud of his superior combat ability, and was especially skillful at water jutsu (to the point that he did not require a source of water to perform them). He was the teacher of the Third Hokage, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane, and was the one to appoint the Third as his successor. His soul was sealed in one of the Third Hokage's shadow clones after Orochimaru resurrected him.In the Tea Country arc, the former Konoha Jonin Aoi said that the Second Hokage was also famous for wielding the Raijin sword, the blade of which was composed of pure energy and could retract into the handle. Aoi's apprentice, Idate Morino, stole the sword and gave it to Aoi in the belief that he would become a Chunin after doing so. Aoi claimed that the sword made the wielder invincible, though this was clearly an overstatement on his part. Despite being composed of pure energy, the blade can be cracked and broken like a regular sword, which occurs through a combined effort between Naruto and Sasuke.

The Third Hokage (?????, Sandaime Hokage?) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Naruto created by Masashi Kishimoto. The Third's surname is Sarutobi (??), and his given name is unknown.His surname, inspired by Sarutobi Sasuke, means "jumping like a monkey", further supported by his ability to summon an ape. The First and Second Hokages also called him "Monkey" (?, Saru?). Masashi Kishimoto originally planned for the Third Hokage to be a dog, but eventually dumped the idea for being "too weird".Many aspects of his character are borrowed from the Chinese literature classic Journey to the West; the monkey he summons bears a very strong resemblance to Sun Wukong, the protagonist of Journey to the West, and his chosen weapon is identical to Monkey's magical staff.

Tsunade is the third and last part of the three Legendary Leaf Sennins, with Jiraiya and Orochimaru. Tsunade was also the first medical ninja to be put on the field. At a young age, Tsunade had a dramatic death that made her to push for a medical unit to be implemented in the Konoha military; the death of her younger brother Nawaki, the day after she gave him the necklace which belonged to the 2nd Hokage. After the meeting which she laid out her idea, which was initially rejected, another Jounin pushed his support for the idea. Tsunade and the Jounin named Dan became very close, until Dan was killed by enemy ninjas. Since then, Tsunade has had a paralyzing fear of blood. Tsunade's fighting techniques are few, as she is a medical specialist. But she has an obscene amount of strength, even at a young age, and "one good hit" will kill anyone, as Kabuto puts it. As a side note, her summon, Katsuyu, doesn't seem to talk much. She seems to be rather shy.