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A few examples:

4th Hokage: He was nominated and chosen when 3rd Hokage was still alive and
was capable of fighting (courtesy: 9-tails attack on Konoha)

5th Hokage: after the Third Hokage deceased.

4th Raikage: After the Third Raikage deceased.

I thought the next Kage would only be chosen after the previous Kage's death.
But that wasn't the case for 4th Hokage! Was he strong enough to be believed
to take over Third? Was it because the Third believed he was too old ?

Btw, the Third continued to be Hokage after 4th was deceased!

I have never come across an info that notified the 4th Hokage's nomination..


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naruto
Why was 4th Hokage chosen when the 3rd was still alive and capable?


In the [wiki](http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Hiruzen_Sarutobi) stands the
following:

> After serving as Hokage for many years, Hiruzen started looking for a
> successor to the title. While he hoped to be able to give the position to
> Orochimaru, he saw that he only was interested for the power it offered.
> Though he turned to Jiraiya, Hiruzen instead named Jiraiya's student Minato
> Namikaze as his successor.

I found no information about why he wanted to retire, but it seems that he
just wanted to retire. Additionally shortly before he died, he spoke about
retirement too.

Note that the Second Hokage chose the third before he died according to this
[article](http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Hashirama_Senju):

> He chose to sacrifice himself after he selected his prized student Hiruzen
> for the position of Third Hokage. Homura and Koharu would later become
> Hiruzen's advisers. After giving the title of Hokage to Hiruzen, Tobirama
> went off to fight the enemies where he died a noble death


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The third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi was the oldest Hokage and best the village
had ever had seeing as he served in the position for the longest time and was
did so very well. However, he knew that he would not be alive much longer to
fulfill the position. He began a search for someone worthy of the title. He
thought about Orochimaru, but later realized he only wished to have the title
for the power it'd bring him. He thought of Jaraiya, but he did not want the
position. Hiruzen then selected Minato Namikaze seeing how he was Jaraiya's
student and ultimately the next best thing. Later, Orochimaru challenged the
3rd Hokage in a battle to the death. The two went all out which ended
Hiruzen's life and reign as Hokage, but not before he used a reaper death seal
to seal Orochimaru's arms, preventing him from using hand seals and ninjutsu
and a life of pain for as long as he lived. Thus, Minato was the acting 4th
Hokage, before this advent he merely held the title until Hiruzen's death
transpired.


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The answer is contained in the _Kakashi: Shadow of the Anbu Black Ops_ arc in
the anime. Given this question was asked in 2013, that probably explains why
none of the answers have the correct answer, as it probably wasn't readily
available at the time (I didn't actually check the dates when the episodes
came out, I'm just guessing).

Towards the end of the Third Shinobi War, the Third Hokage negotiated for a
peaceful resolution without reparations, and this was viewed as weakness by
many. The Third Hokage was blamed for the losses of the war, and Hiruzen
stepped down as Hokage to appease everyone who was annoyed with him and
everyone who was angry with him. This is his way of accepting responsibility.
Though if you believe Danzo and Orochimaru, Hiruzen Sarutobi intended to use
Minato Namikaze to basically continue his reign, so stepping down was somewhat
of an empty act to get everyone off his back.

From the [Fandom
wiki](https://naruto.fandom.com/wiki/Third_Shinobi_World_War):

> In Konoha, although the war had been proceeding favorably for the village,
> the Third Hokage established a policy of reconciliation to bring an end to
> the fighting with an unprecedented offer to not seek reparations from Iwa.
> Advocates for the war opposed Hiruzen's seemingly weak decision, and to keep
> dissatisfaction in the village in check, he decided to step down as Hokage.


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