How powerful was the 4th exactly?

[Knives122]

Heres my theory on whos the strongest: Its really how the Hokages worked in my opinion, lets put it this way the first picked the second b/c he was stronger, then the second chose the third as the next hokage b/c he was stronger. The third learned every technique in Konoha but saw how much potential the forth had, so he chose him as the next Hokage knowing that he would indeed become stronger then him with time, so when you think about it each Hokage chose the next b/c they knew that, that Hokage would be stronger than him. So who do I think is the strongest? The Fourth of course.

[Mut]

Originally posted by: Knives122
Heres my theory on whos the strongest: Its really how the Hokages worked in my opinion, lets put it this way the first picked the second b/c he was stronger, then the second chose the third as the next hokage b/c he was stronger. The third learned every technique in Konoha but saw how much potential the forth had, so he chose him as the next Hokage knowing that he would indeed become stronger then him with time, so when you think about it each Hokage chose the next b/c they knew that, that Hokage would be stronger than him. So who do I think is the strongest? The Fourth of course.

you got to be kidding, right? are you sure you want to stick with this theory?

[Raven]

Originally posted by: Knives122
Heres my theory on whos the strongest: Its really how the Hokages worked in my opinion, lets put it this way the first picked the second b/c he was stronger, then the second chose the third as the next hokage b/c he was stronger. The third learned every technique in Konoha but saw how much potential the forth had, so he chose him as the next Hokage knowing that he would indeed become stronger then him with time, so when you think about it each Hokage chose the next b/c they knew that, that Hokage would be stronger than him. So who do I think is the strongest? The Fourth of course.

Not true. The new Hokage is definitely not always stronger than the previous. Look at Tsunade. She got beaten by Kabuto, she's not stronger than all previous Hokage. The 3rd would have picked the 4th because he was the best candidate out of all available, not because he was stronger than the 3rd.

[hiten mitsurugi]

How could you consider that a defeat. Tsunade would have beat the living crap out of Kabuto. She just had to get over the blood thing. Hell if she suffered a defeat to Kabuto then why was she good to go when she was fighting Oro. Kabuto had to knife himself to draw blood in order to get an upper hand. The fight wasn't even concluded. It was concluded by Naruto.

As for the 4th's strength. He was far stronger than the 3rd. Why? The fact that the third selected him proves it. Think about it. The third knew that the 4th was exceptionally strong, that's why he named the 4th hokage. The 3rd selected the 4th over Orochimaru. The most convincing point is that the third hasn't selected anyone to become hokage since the fourth. If there was someone strong enough to replace him as hokage then he would have selected another successor. He didn't select a successor even at his old age, because he knows that there wasn't anyone to fulfill the requirements. This shows that the third only makes selections based upon merit, strength, and skills. The fourth was exceptional, stonger than himself (the third), or else the third would have remained Hokage.

answer to post below:
I know that the 4th was basically in his prime when he sealed Kyubi. If the third was also in his prime, and there was a match betweent the two. Especially after seeing the animated version of the first and second hokage fight, I just know that third would have been hit by a life threatening RASENGAN. The fourth was a genious at developing jutsus. That is something that the third lacked. That is also why the third feared the last coffin that Orochimaru summoned. "No matter what I must stop that one." That would have been an awesome fight.