The Hokage is the most important position in the village of Konoha in the Naruto world. The importance of this position is such that the very beginning of Naruto showed the Hokage of the village, the Fourth at the time, sacrificing his life to save everyone from the attack of the Nine-tailed Beast. As the story went on, fans got a clearer idea of what the Hokage was and what they were supposed to do.
Simply put, the Hokage is generally the strongest shinobi in the village and, at the same time, responsible for protecting the lives of everyone under them. The Hokage acts like a parent to everyone existing in the village and they are also responsible for handling all the affairs of the village, likely with the help of a dedicated team around them. While they are all legendary in the world of Naruto, there are certainly some who have either not made a big impact, are simply not good enough, or did more bad than good.
What Makes A Bad Hokage?
The primary job of any Hokage is to protect the people under them and make sure that the village is safe at all times. Almost every Hokage has done well in this aspect of the job, however, not everyone did it as effectively as the likes of Naruto Uzumaki or the legendary figures such as Hashirama. When speaking of the First Hokage, he was responsible for building the village along with Madara and was certainly able to protect it to the best of his abilities. Although he did lead the village into the First Great Ninja War, it had little to do with Hashirama himself.
Another legendary figure who serve the village was Naruto Uzumaki himself and he's widely considered to be one of the best Hokage, if not the best. Being the protagonist of the series, it is no surprise that Naruto is among the very best of the Kage to ever live. He was the strongest shinobi to ever live and he saved the world in the Fourth Great Ninja War, making him a war hero.
Naruto certainly lived up to the expectations, as did his predecessor, Kakashi, under whom the world was largely at peace. Thanks to the timeskip, he was largely considered to be a very successful Hokage. The Fourth, Minato Namikaze also reigned for a very short period of time and saved the village by sacrificing his life. As far as the fans know, Minato did not do anything that upset the balance of the village or put it in any form of danger. All these Hokage are generally considered to be the most impressive ones. The others, on the other hand, are ones who have made ambiguous decisions either to favor their own plans, or taken decisions that outright put their own villages in danger. Some even led to massive tragedies and were single-handedly responsible for the loss of a tremendous amount of life.
Who Was The Worst Hokage?
When discussing the worst Hokage in the series, the ones that should be taken into consideration are Hiruzen Sarutobi, Tobirama Senju, and potentially, Tsunade Senju. While the general consensus is that Tsunade has been the worst Hokage to ever appear in Naruto, that is far from the truth. Tsunade was actually one of the most successful Hokage that Konoha ever had. From her very introduction, she appeared to be someone who fights with all her might and she showed her skill when she fought against the other members of the Sannin.
As the story progressed, Tsunade only grew into her role. She imparted knowledge to the likes of Sakura and Shizune and ensured that the Medical Ninjutsu of her village was absolutely top-class. She was single-handedly responsible for saving countless lives and if the medical unit of Konoha is as good as it is today, most of it is down to her alone. Even when Pain attacked the village, Tsunade was able to save every single life, thanks to using all her chakra, a feat that eventually put her into a comatose state. Even in the 4th Great Ninja War, she did what she could and certainly lived up to the expectations. While not the strongest of the cargo, Tsunade was far from failure as a Kage.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage of the village, is most likely the one that Naruto respects the most. After all, he possessed the all-important Will of Fire that nobody could question, however, his mistakes led to countless deaths over time. Hiruzen failed to stop his very own student, Orochimaru, who had murdered people under his very own protection and used others for live experiments. At the same time, Hiruzen also played a significant part in ostracizing Naruto Uzumaki himself, despite giving his word to Minato that he would take proper care of the child. At times, Naruto was eating stale food, which goes to show that Hiruzen had many faults as a Kage.
When the Uchiha were massacred, Hiruzen didn't take an active role in trying to stop it. Instead, he was passive and let it all happen. He failed to stop Danzo from seizing power despite being the Hokage and couldn't do anything significant to stop him from causing harm to the very citizens that he had sworn to protect. While he did rule for quite a long time, and even bore the Will of Fire, he made several mistakes as a Kage.
Tobirama, on the other hand, was up there with Hiruzen as one of the worst Hokage of all time. While he certainly did well when it came to developing the village, as he was the one primarily responsible for establishing the Academy or even introducing the idea of the Chunin Exams, Tobirama had hatred in his heart for the Uchiha. The fateful night when countless Uchiha died mostly had to do with him. The Fourth Great Ninja War was primarily triggered thanks to him showing no love to the Uchiha. At times, Tobirama was a blatant racist who led to the suffering of a generation of shinobi.
He also created several Jutsu that shouldn't have existed in the world of ninja at all, such as edo tensei. All things considered, Tobirama was one of the biggest contributors to the Fourth Great Ninja War, as he was the one who ostracized the Uchiha, leading Madara and Obito to pursue the route of Infinite Tsukuyomi for a peaceful world where everyone was equal. He was also the one who created the Edo Tensei, which became one of the main reasons why the Akatsuki had fighting power in the war.