Madara vs Hashirama: Ultimate Rivalry

Naruto’s greatest rivalry wasn’t Naruto and Sasuke—it was the one that came before. Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju defined what it meant to be powerful in the shinobi world. Their battles shaped history, their friendship founded a village, and their final confrontation at the Valley of the End became legend.

For years, fans have debated who was truly stronger. Madara claimed supremacy but lost every recorded fight. Hashirama was called “the God of Shinobi” but Madara pushed him harder than anyone. Both were so far beyond other ninja that comparing them to anyone else feels pointless.

So let’s settle it properly. Across different versions and power levels—who wins between the two founders?

Madara Uchiha: Powers and Abilities

Key Abilities

Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan: Never degrades, provides perfect vision, and enables his most devastating techniques
Perfect Susanoo: A massive chakra construct that rivals Tailed Beasts in size and power, wielding dual blades
Rinnegan (Edo Tensei/Revived): The pinnacle of dojutsu, granting access to all Six Paths techniques, Limbo: Border Jail, and more
Ten-Tails Jinchuriki Form: As the host of the Ten-Tails, Madara gained god-level power including Truthseeker Orbs and near-infinite chakra
Fire Style Mastery: His fire techniques are village-destroying scale
Summoning: Nine-Tails: Controlled Kurama with his Sharingan during his fight with Hashirama

Best Feats

Controlling the Nine-Tails: Put Kurama under genjutsu and used it as a weapon against Hashirama
Destroying mountains with Susanoo: His Perfect Susanoo casually cleaved mountains with single swings
Dropping meteors: As an Edo Tensei, casually summoned two meteors that required an entire division to survive
Fighting the Five Kage simultaneously: Toyed with all five Kage while holding back, calling them “boring”
Absorbing the Shinju: Became the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki and briefly achieved power surpassing Kaguya
Surviving Might Guy’s Eight Gates: Tanked the Night Guy attack that warped space itself

Madara’s power scaling reaches absurd heights by the end of the war. He goes from village-level threats to universal-adjacent as the Ten-Tails host.

Hashirama Senju: Powers and Abilities

Key Abilities

Wood Style (Mokuton): Hashirama’s unique kekkei genkai, combining Earth and Water nature to create living wood. This includes forest creation, binding techniques, and massive constructs
Sage Mode: Hashirama’s Sage Mode has no visible transformation but dramatically enhances all his capabilities
Shin: Sūsenju (True Several Thousand Hands): A wooden Buddha construct with thousands of arms, his ultimate technique that overwhelmed Madara’s Perfect Susanoo + Nine-Tails combination
Chakra Suppression: His Wood Style can suppress and control Tailed Beast chakra—he captured all nine Bijuu
Healing Without Seals: Could regenerate from injuries without hand signs, similar to later medical ninjutsu but natural
Chakra Reserves: Stated to have more chakra than any non-Jinchuriki in history

Best Feats

Defeating Madara + Nine-Tails: Beat Madara when he had a fully controlled Kurama armored with Perfect Susanoo—the most dangerous combination in history
Capturing all nine Tailed Beasts: Gathered and distributed the Bijuu to other villages, which required defeating each one
Creating massive forests instantly: Could cover entire battlefields with forests in seconds
Suppressing Kurama casually: His mere presence calmed Tailed Beasts, and his Wood Style could contain them completely
Valley of the End creation: His final battle with Madara was so destructive it carved out a massive waterfall and lake
Being called “God of Shinobi”: The title wasn’t metaphor—other villages considered him unbeatable

Hashirama is consistently portrayed as the benchmark for shinobi power in the pre-war era. “As strong as Hashirama” was the highest compliment until the Otsutsuki showed up.

Battle Analysis

Speed

Edge: Draw (depends on version)

In their original Edo Tensei forms, both show comparable speed. Neither has explicit speed feats that clearly outclass the other. Their combat appeared even in flashbacks.

However, Ten-Tails Jinchuriki Madara blitzes pretty much everyone, including characters who could react to lightspeed attacks. At that level, Hashirama can’t keep up.

In base-to-base comparison: even.

Strength/Attack Power

Edge: Madara (at peak) / Hashirama (at their original levels)

This depends entirely on which versions we’re comparing.

Original Versions (Valley of the End fight): Hashirama’s Shin Sūsenju overwhelmed Madara’s Perfect Susanoo + Nine-Tails combination. The thousands-hands Buddha was explicitly stronger than Madara’s maximum output. Hashirama’s attack power exceeded Madara’s.

War Arc Edo Tensei: Roughly comparable. Madara’s meteor summoning is impressive, but Hashirama’s Wood Style could counter it. Both operate at mountain-to-island level.

Ten-Tails Jinchuriki Madara: Completely eclipses anything Hashirama can produce. Madara at this level fights evenly with Six Paths Naruto and Sasuke—Hashirama isn’t in this conversation.

Durability

Edge: Madara (at peak) / Even (at original levels)

Original Madara and Hashirama both have extraordinary durability. Madara fought for days against Hashirama and kept going. Hashirama has passive regeneration that heals injuries without conscious effort.

As an Edo Tensei, Madara has infinite regeneration and can’t die by normal means.

As the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, Madara tanked Might Guy’s Eight Gates assault—an attack that warped space-time—and regenerated. His durability at that level is god-tier.

Special Abilities/Hax

Edge: Madara (at peak)

Both have powerful hax, but Madara’s scale higher at his peak.

Hashirama’s Hax:

Wood Style that suppresses Tailed Beasts
Sage Mode enhancing all abilities
Natural healing factor
Can create restraints that even Jinchuriki can’t break

Madara’s Hax:

Genjutsu powerful enough to control Nine-Tails
Perfect Susanoo rivaling Bijuu
Rinnegan granting Six Paths abilities
Limbo: Border Jail—invisible clones in a parallel dimension
Truthseeker Orbs that negate all ninjutsu
Infinite Tsukuyomi reflecting off the moon

At their original fighting levels, Hashirama’s Wood Style countered most of Madara’s abilities. But once Madara gained the Rinnegan and Ten-Tails, his hax surpassed anything Hashirama could counter.

Historical Battles

Childhood Rivalries

As children, Madara and Hashirama sparred repeatedly. Results were apparently mixed, with neither establishing clear dominance. They were friends who pushed each other to improve.

The Founding of Konoha

When Hashirama extended his hand in peace, Madara initially accepted. For a time, there was no conflict—they built the village together. But Madara’s distrust eventually won out.

Valley of the End (Original Battle)

This is the definitive fight between their original incarnations.

Madara brought everything: his Perfect Susanoo, the Nine-Tails under his control, and his determination to destroy what they’d built. It should have been an unbeatable combination.

Hashirama won anyway.

His Shin Sūsenju—the thousand-armed Buddha—overpowered Madara’s Susanoo-armored Kurama. The construct’s attacks were too numerous and too powerful to defend against. Madara was forced out of his techniques and ultimately killed (though he faked his death).

Result: Hashirama wins

Fourth Shinobi War (Edo Tensei)

Both were revived during the war. They fought briefly but circumstances kept pulling them into different battles. There was no conclusive engagement.

Result: Inconclusive

The Verdict: Who Wins?

Winner: Depends on version

This might seem like a cop-out, but it’s accurate. Their power levels changed dramatically through the series.

Scenario 1: Original Forms (Valley of the End Level)

Winner: Hashirama

This already happened canonically. Madara brought his best—Perfect Susanoo combined with a controlled Nine-Tails—and Hashirama still won. The Shin Sūsenju overwhelmed Madara’s ultimate combination.

Hashirama’s Wood Style specifically counters Madara’s abilities. It suppresses Tailed Beast chakra (neutralizing Kurama), and the Buddha construct exceeds Susanoo in raw power. Madara’s genjutsu can’t work on Hashirama due to his chakra volume and Sage Mode sensory abilities.

Every advantage Madara has, Hashirama has an answer for. And in direct power output, Hashirama exceeds him.

Hashirama wins 7/10 times.

Scenario 2: Edo Tensei Versions (War Arc)

Winner: Slight edge to Madara

As Edo Tensei zombies with unlimited chakra and regeneration, the calculus shifts slightly.

Madara can fight indefinitely without tiring. He can summon meteors repeatedly. His Perfect Susanoo doesn’t drain him. And critically, he’s developed new techniques since their last fight.

Hashirama’s advantages still apply—Wood Style still counters Madara’s techniques—but the infinite stamina nullifies Hashirama’s endurance edge.

In this version, it’s nearly even. Madara’s expanded arsenal might give him a slight advantage against an opponent he’s spent decades planning to rematch.

Madara wins 5.5/10 times.

Scenario 3: Ten-Tails Jinchuriki Madara vs Hashirama

Winner: Madara (stomps)

This isn’t a fight. Ten-Tails Jinchuriki Madara operates at a completely different power level.

He has:

Truthseeker Orbs that negate all ninjutsu (including Wood Style)
Limbo clones that Hashirama can’t perceive or fight
Regeneration that lets him recover from being cut in half
Infinite chakra
Six Paths techniques

Hashirama’s entire arsenal is ninjutsu-based. The Truthseeker Orbs negate ninjutsu. This interaction alone makes the fight unwinnable for Hashirama.

Madara wins 10/10 times.

Final Thoughts

Madara and Hashirama’s rivalry is beautiful precisely because it’s complicated. Madara never beat Hashirama in their original lives, yet Madara eventually surpassed him through forbidden means. Hashirama was stronger in life, but Madara’s obsession with surpassing him drove him to heights Hashirama never reached.

At their original fighting levels—the versions that actually fought in canon—Hashirama wins. His Wood Style hard-counters Madara’s techniques, and his Shin Sūsenju exceeds anything in Madara’s arsenal.

But Madara’s story is about transcendence. He lost, planned for decades, manipulated events, and eventually achieved power beyond mortal limits. As the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, he surpassed Hashirama completely—though he also surpassed basically everyone except Kaguya.

The “true” answer is that Hashirama was stronger than Madara when both were alive. Madara only surpassed him by becoming something inhuman.

Who’s the better shinobi? Hashirama. Who reached higher absolute power? Madara.

Both interpretations are valid, which is why this rivalry remains legendary.