There is no clear explanation for why Hashirama Senju appears to have passed away at the height of his strength and power, and fans online continue to speculate wildly about what could have killed this legendary shinobi.

“He could have just died due to spamming regeneration throughout his life,” suggested u/hadmeintiers, referencing how Tsunade’s overuse of regeneration has shortened her lifespan and Hashirama’s own desire for Madara Uchiha to succeed him as Hokage despite their similar age. u/MayorOfSmurftown expressed their belief that Hashirama took his own life. “When Hashirama asked Madara for peace, Madara asked him to kill himself as payment for the Uchihas he killed in the past. My guess is, sometime after ‘killing’ Madara, he finally decided to honor that request.”

Both of these theories are plausible, though still unconfirmed, as are several other ideas proposed by users on Reddit, including one that claims he was only re-animated in his prime and actually died old, or another that claims he was killed in battle due to the armor he wears in the resurrection.

In any case, it’s clear that the death of the First Hokage remains one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in all of “Naruto” – and fans of the series will be guessing indefinitely until his actual demise is finally revealed.