Danzo Shimura

Danzo was born decades prior to the era of wars. He went on to join the academy where he graduated among a few hundred shinobis. Danzo once saw the First Hokage in a battle where he witnessed the First’s formidable Wood Release Ninjutsu. He was childhood friends with Hiruzen Sarutobi (The Third Hokage) but he always saw him as an eternal rival since he was often jealous of the latter and felt inferior to him.

Danzo teamed up with the Leader of Hidden Rain Village, Hanzo of the Salamander during the Third Great Ninja War and insisted that he take out Yahiko, the Leader of the mercenary group Akatsuki, believing it would rush his progress towards becoming the Hokage. He later fled as Yahiko’s friend Nagato (a Rinnegan user) killed all of Hanzo’s army and thus Dazo later betrayed Hanzo.

When Hiruzen sought to end the bloodshed from the Third Shinobi War through a truce with the other villages, Danzo voiced his dissent, claiming it would only weaken Konoha and it would also be disrespectful towards the fallen shinobis. Being aware of Danzo’s intent, Hiruzen took the entire responsibility for the loss upon himself and decided to step down as the Hokage. After this, in a meeting of the council of Land of Fire, Danzo suggested Orochimaru as the next Hokage candidate to which Hiruzen raised his concern, as Orochimaru had grown more hungry for power and reflected signs of sinister intent. Ultimately, Minato Namikaze was elected as the Fourth Hokage, a decision by Hiruzen that Danzo despised, feeling that it would only destroy Konoha.

Years later, Danzo secretly began dealing with Orochimaru. He was accompanied by Orochimaru to an orphanage where he forced Nonno (a former Root member) to accept an intel mission alongside recruiting Kabuto Yakushi. However, both Nonno and Kabuto proved to be very big threats due to their skills. Danzo decided to solve the situation by setting up Nonno to kill Kabuto. However, the situation reversed and Kabuto accidentally killed Nonno. Danzo sent Orochimaru to kill the survivor but he instead recruited Kabuto under his wing.

Danzo Forming The Root

Danzo’s ideology differed from that of the Hokage and he had his own methods of dealing with the threats the village faced. He aspired to become the Hokage but lost the title to Hiruzen Sarutobi, his former comrade. He formed his own unit of the Anbu Black Ops that carried out various assassinations across lands to protect the Hidden Leaf from the shadows. Those among the Danzo’s Anbu had no name, existence, or a life of their own. They were fully devoted to executing missions passed by Danzo for the sake of the village. His personal goal of forming the unit was to further his progress to becoming the Hokage while also protecting the village from the shadows.

Danzo picked Yamato from one of Orochimaru’s destroyed labs and to his surprise, Yamato was one of the successful experiments of the sannin as he was the sole survivor in the lab. Yamato was personally trained by Danzo as were the others in the Root. Sometime later, Danzo assigned Yamato with the mission to kill Kakashi Hatake and procure his Sharingan for Danzo himself. After ditching the mission and reporting falsely to Danzo, Yamato decided to leave the Root and was later accompanied by Kakashi and Hiruzen to exit the unit after reaching a compromise with Danzo.

Danzo had placed cursed seal tags on the tongue of each member of the Root in order to paralyze them if they were to disclose any intel about the Root or Danzo to anyone in or outside the village. Before the Five Kage Summit, the seal was shown on Sai’s tongue when he was questioned by Sakura over his conversation with Danzo. The seal disappeared after his death. Danzo felt no remorse for his certain unethical and immoral actions, stating them as a necessary measure to protect the village.

First Shinobi World War

Danzo was among one of the many Konohagakure shinobi who took part in the First Great Ninja War. He was seen in the battlefield alongside his comrades under the leadership of the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju. They were persuaded by the Ginkaku unit of the Hidden Cloud Village where Tobirama chose to divert the attention of the enemy by acting as a decoy. Before Tobirama headed to face the enemy, he handed over the responsibility of the village to Hiruzen Sarutobi, declaring him as the next Hokage. Danzo desired the title himself and patiently waited for the right opportunity to arise.

Third Shinobi World War

Danzo formed an alliance with the Hidden Rain Leader Hanzo for his personal motives, and he manipulated Hanzo by bringing him corpses of Ame shinobi claiming that they were killed by the Akatsuki which infuriated Hanzo into preparing to battle Yahiko and eliminate him and his group. In reality, the corpses were Root members disguised as Iwa shinobi. At an alternate time, Danzo approached Yahiko as an Ame shinobi named Shiobi Kanzo, informing him about the acceptance of truce between the Akatsuki and Hanzo. Danzo provided aid to Hanzo in order to claim the title of the Hokage by sending some of his forces to deal with the Akatsuki, who were all wiped out by Nagato.

The Uchiha Clan Massacre

Following the attack of the Nine Tailed Fox, Danzo’s suspicion grew upon the Uchiha Clan and he raised his concern among the three elders of the village i.e, Homura, Koharu and Hiruzen. During the attack, Danzo ordered that the Uchiha clan shouldn’t participate among the defenses and guard the civilians as he doubted that they would use their visual prowess to manipulate the Nina Tails. Danzo, warranted by his suspicion, shifted the Uchiha Clan towards the outskirts of the village where they can easily be under surveillance at all times.

Years later, the unrest among the Uchiha clan grew against their discriminated treatment. Danzo used Itachi as a spy to study every move of the clan.Sometime later, Itachi confirmed to Danzo, village elders and Third Hokage about the Uchiha Clan’s coup after a certain Clan meeting. Danzo personally met Itachi and made a deal with him to spare the life of his younger brother Sasuke and eliminate his entire clan, a duty that Itachi fulfilled. Before he met Itachi, he exchanged words with Shisui about the Uchiha clan’s status, where Shisui insisted on using his Kotoamatsukami to stop the coup. Danzo, being suspicious of Shisui’s visual prowess used against the former, attacked Shisui and stole his right eye and planted it on his own right eye socket. After the massacre, Itachi's clone appeared to warn Danzo about the consequences if his side of the deal is to ever break.

Danzo’s Root got dissolved post the massacre under the Third Hokage’s order and Danzo himself was removed from the council.

Danzo’s Attempt To Kill Sasuke

During the Tenchi Bridge Reconnaissance, Danzo assigned a Root member named Sai to be a part of Team Kakashi to secretly assassinate Sasuke Uchiha. He made Sai contact Orochimaru in a manner to make it seem as if he wanted to join forces to crush Konoha. Sai failed his mission but requested to remain with Team Kakashi, something which Danzo accepted but warned Sai about the atrocities emotions bring to a human.

Pain’s Assault

During Pain’s invasion of the Konoha, Danzo went on to inform Koharu and Homura about Tsunade’s decision of retrieving back Naruto Uzumaki to the village, which he stated is risking the legacy of the Fourth Hokage. Danzo eliminated the toad Kosuke, an informant who was tasked with passing the intel of Pain’s invasion at Konoha. He also instructed his Root members to not aid any civilians as he sought to end Tsunade’s reign over the village.

After the invasion, in an emergency gathering with the Leaders of The Land of Fire, Danzo convinced the Council that the previous Hokage’s peaceful ideologies led towards the current state of the Konoha and presented himself as the Leader which Konoha needed to enforce laws and bring order to the Shinobi world. After a brief moment, the Council appointed him as the Sixth Hokage.

Five Kage Summit

After Danzo’s return to the village, and being appointed as the Hokage, he ordered the elimination of Sasuke Uchiha prior to the Five Kage Summit. Danzo left for the Summit with Torune Aburame and Fu Yamanaka. He revealed his right eye when they were ambushed by remnant shinobis in the Land of the Woods. Upon arriving in the Land of Iron, during the commencement of the meeting, Danzo did not actively participate other than reporting to the other Kage about the involvement of Madara Uchiha in the Akatsuki. Danzo was briefly criticized by fellow Kage for his possible or actual involvement in various major incidents involving the Konoha crush during the Chunin Exams. While they argued about accepting Danzo into the Council, White Zetsu appeared and informed them about Sasuke’s location. The Fourth Raikage immediately rushed off to eliminate Sasuke, while Ao was instructed to keep a close eye on Danzo.

After a brief clash between Sasuke, the Raikage, and others, Sasuke rushed off to the meeting room in pursuit of Danzo. While every other Kage got involved in neutralizing Sasuke, Danzo used the opportunity to slip away. On his way back, Danzo’s party was attacked by Black Zetsu’s spore technique but they managed to escape. Danzo ordered Fu to retrieve the Byakugan from Ao, calling it his top priority. Fu failed to retrieve the Byakugan but managed to throw Ao off his trail.

On his way back to Konoha, Danzo and his men were confronted by Sasuke and Tobi at the Samurai bridge, Tobi managed to neutralize Torune and Fu while Danzo began to unseal his right arm, preparing to fight against Tobi and Sasuke. Danzo, revealing his right arm embedded with Sharingans, declared his intent to add Sasuke’s and Tobi’s to his collection. Sasuke confirmed his clan’s assassination, hoping to find out the truth whether Itachi was forced to eliminate his clan. Sasuke gets furious as Danzo speaks casually about his brother and crushed him with his Susanoo’s hand.

Danzo possessing the multiple Sharingans was unharmed by Susanoo’s attack. They battled each other as Tobi sat nearby and explained the strange phenomenon of the use of Izanagi, which Danzo activated every 60 seconds, and his possession of Shisui’s Mangekyou Sharingan. After a brief clash between them, Danzo suffered a fatal wound to his heart through Sasuke’s lightning blade. He managed to pull off his strongest sealing technique i.e Reverse Four Symbol Sealing during his final moments to eliminate Sasuke and Tobi in order to protect Konoha and the Shinobi world. He destroyed Shisui’s eye with his final technique as he feared it could be used against Konoha and ultimately died after it.

During childhood, Danzo was always an impulsive and eager ninja who aspired to prove himself. He would often compete with Hiruzen who he saw as a rival more than a friend as he felt inferior to him in abilities. He was shown to have been often jealous of him. He never even used the term “friend” for Hiruzen or anyone, as he disliked leaning on someone or being leaned on.

When he grew up, his personality grew cold and collected and he never displayed any emotions. Danzo’s beliefs differed from the Hokage as he was raised during the time of wars. He always prioritized the interests of the village above everything even if it meant suppressing morals or ethics. During Pain’s assault on the village, Danzo blamed the decisions and incompetence of previous Hokages for the situation. He used the attack to overthrow Tsunade, leaving citizens in jeopardy. Despite his actions, Koharu stated Danzo as an ambitious and devoted elder towards the village.

Danzo’s strong desire to become the Hokage drove him to even attempt the assassination of Hiruzen as he believed that the Third Hokage was no longer capable of effectively leading the village. He was an extremist who believed in eliminating threats by execution or assassinations rather than negotiations or diplomacy. He secretly worked closely with Orochimaru to increase his physical prowess in various illegal experiments after Orochimaru had deserted the village. Danzo possessed extremist and tyrannical devotion to the ideals of the shinobi, who believed in sacrificing everything for the village. Ironically, Danzo feared death and believed his survival was necessary for the sake of the shinobi world. He only conquered his fear during the final moments of his life when he fiercely attempted to kill Sasuke and Tobi for the sake of his village and the entire shinobi world.

Danzo always sought peace in the shinobi world despite being an extremist, which he aspired to achieve by uniting the Allied Shinobi Forces. He long sought the title of Hokage, patiently waiting for the right time. He worked in the shadows eliminating the potential threats to Konohagakure, though his methods were hostile and immoral, he felt no remorse as he believed it would benefit Konoha. He used Root for eliminating any threats to the village without taking any consent from the village elders or the Hokage and it was also directed towards his path of becoming the Hokage. He could not allow the secrecy of the missions to go public so he placed cursed seal tags on the tongue of the Root members which disbanded them from disclosing any information related to him, and he often used Root members as pawns. Danzo also believed that Konoha’s strength and stability enhances when people have something to despise. To this end, he diverted the attention towards Naruto Uzumaki by disclosing him as a vessel of the Nine Tailed Fox and ensured that the villagers loathed him and stigmatized that the Uchiha clan was responsible for the Nine Tails attack.

Danzo was traitorous by nature. If his allies were proven to be overqualified, he had them eliminated as he attempted with Nonno and Kabuto. Itachi sensed Danzo would not honor his promise of sparing Sasuke and hence he threatened Danzo of leaking sensitive intel to enemy nations had Danzo’s end of the deal ever come to an end. Being constantly in search of superior physical prowess, Danzo made Orochimaru experiment on him with Hashirama cells in order to control tailed beasts and increase his power to execute the use of Izanagi. He broke international law by manipulating Mifune by making him the commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces. He lost his credibility during the Five Kage Summit due to his unethical actions. He became delusional thinking he can change the entire Shinobi World. Danzo’s actions had no morality or ethics as he didn’t hesitate to steal Shisui’s eye even though he was a descendant of Danzo’s former comrade. He was extremely arrogant as shown in his final clash with Sasuke, believing he would easily defeat Sasuke and Tobi to protect Konoha and the entire shinobi world. Tobi concluded that Danzo’s intention was to take control of Tailed Beast inside Naruto with the use of multiple Sharingans that he had stolen.

Though Danzo’s methods were unethical and unprincipled, he was noble and dignified as he confronted Sasuke for his hatred against Konoha, stating the sacrifices made by Itachi and his Clan were wasted. During his final moments, he used all his strength to protect Konoha by attempting to take down Sasuke and Tobi. Upon his final moments, Danzo reminisced about his friendship with the Third Hokage despite his disagreement with the latter in various proceedings. Danzo’s fellow elders regarded him very highly, taking his advice in certain political affairs of the village. It has not been known how much of Danzo’s actions still remain classified.

Danzo was an exceptionally powerful Shinobi, easily in comparison to the Kage level. His skills were highly acknowledged by his fellow elders Homura and Koharu. Even Kakashi expressed his shock when he learned of his death by Sasuke’s hands. However, Danzo was holding back most of his strength to fight against Tobi. His old age was attributed to his defeat and he succumbed to Sasuke’s excessive use of Mangekyou Sharingan. Even though he was unable to use Shisui’s Mangekyou Sharingan against Sasuke, he put up an even fight with the latter.

Danzo was proficient in both using and expelling a high level genjutsu, even from extremely powerful Sharingan users. He also possessed some skills in Taijutsu and an adequate amount of physical prowess despite his old age. He was also quick and agile as he caught Sasuke off guard and prevented a large amount of debris from falling on him. He was also known to be skilled in kenjutsu.

Ninjutsu

Danzo was highly skilled with the usage of cursed seals and fuinjutsu. He placed binding seals on the tongue of each member of the Root, preventing them from disclosing any information about Danzo. Should a Root member attempt to say anything, the seal would activate, paralyzing the member’s body. The seals disappeared after Danzo’s death.

He was also able to use binding seals in the battle, which was seen during his battle with Sasuke. He used his ultimate sealing technique, the Reverse Four Symbol Sealing, towards the end of the battle with Sasuke in an attempt to kill him and Tobi. The technique caused Four symbols on Danzo’s skin to exit from his body and form a large sphere around him. Everything in the sphere would be drawn into it, imprisoning it for eternity. After the sealing was complete, the seals could still be seen on his body.

Danzo had a very powerful summoning, a giant tapir-like creature known as Baku. It possessed the ability to suck in objects and targets within the surrounding area. Baku’s summoning enhanced the power of Danzo’s wind technique. He was summoned during Danzo’s confrontation with Sasuke. However, Baku’s suction ability left him vulnerable to Sasuke’s fire style technique.

Nature Transformation

Danzo was able to release multiple chakra natures including Wind, Earth, Water and Fire. He could also release Yin and Yang. He was precisely skilled with the use of Wind Nature which allowed him to exhale powerful vacuum-based attacks that either slashed like blades or pierced like bullets. He was able to advance the technique to an extent which could even damage a humanoid Susanoo. Danzo also used the wind nature to operate himself in mid-air and he could infuse wind chakra into his weapons to enhance their powers.

Danzo was able to release Wood nature as he had Hashirama cells habituated into his body, though it cost a significant amount of chakra. He wasn’t well versed with the use of this technique, forcing him to release it only when absolutely necessary. It was also noticeable that he could only perform this technique using his modified right arm which he could do so without the use of hand seals. During the battle with Sasuke, Danzo suffered a fatal wound making him lose control of the Hashirama cells which resulted in rapid growth of large trees that threatened to absorb him.

Body Modifications

Danzo’s right arm was embedded with ten Sharingans and the arm belonged to Shin Uchiha which was further enhanced using Hashirama Senju’s DNA. Danzo kept his right arm hidden under a gauntlet seal to preserve his chakra and keep the Sharingans and DNA under check. He possessed the ability to heal from any wound as an integration to Hashirama cells.

Sharingan

Danzo was exceptionally skilled with the use of Sharingan. His right eye was that of Shisui’s, however Shisui’s eye wasn’t the first Sharingan he possessed. He could detect multiple assassins in his surroundings and was able to subdue them using genjutsu. He was also able to activate the Izanagi, a technique forbidden in the Uchiha clan itself., and to manipulate his own body into a physical illusion, which could nullify his injuries revived from his opponents. It allowed him to survive fatal attacks while inflicting physical harm to his enemies. The Izanagi also gave him the ability to cheat death while making him appear far away from danger.

Though he could not use the passive abilities of the Sharingans embedded into his right arm, he was still able to use the extended use of the technique. During the battle with Sasuke, Danzo activated Izanagi every 60 seconds, bearing him loss of Sharingan each minute. The Ten Sharingans embedded into his right arm gave him up to ten minutes worth of Izanagi, whose usage could break if he chooses.

Mangekyou Sharingan

Danzo hid Shisui’s Mangekyou Sharingan on his right eye socket, though he has never been depicted activating it, he made the use of Kotoamatsukami, through which he could manipulate people's thoughts without them being aware of it. Danzo manipulated Mifune’s thoughts without exposing his right eye. Kotoamatsukami is a technique which cannot be activated regularly, though Danzo was able to use it once in several hours instead of once every decade, an advantage he acquired through the possession of Hashirama cells in his body. Danzo destroyed Shisui’s eye upon his death fearing that it could be against Konoha one day.

Danzo appeared to be a weak old man, who walked carrying a cane. He has had an x-shaped scar marked on his chin since childhood. He had black, shaggy hair with his right eye covered with a bandage. He wore a white shirt covered by a black or gray robe from his feet to over his right shoulder. The robe covers his right arm which was bandaged and covered with golden braces. The bandages hid the arm implanting ten Sharingans and the image of First Hokage’s face projecting from his right shoulder where Hashirama’s cells were injected to his body.

During his youth, Danzo appeared to be quite handsome. He wore the standard armor of that era which covered his back, chest areas and lower abdomen. He had the same shaggy hairstyle with a longer length reaching his eye level, at that time he still had both of his brown eyes. He wore a black outfit with matching wrist guards, a shuriken holster on his right upper leg with a pouch tied to his waist with bandages and a forehead protector. He hid his right eye by the time he united with Hanzo and wore a flak jacket.

During the Third Shinobi war, Danzo wore a black hooded trench coat with high length sandals. He wore a dark green kimono tied with a sash when he was a child.

Danzo is a playable character in the following Video Games :

1. Naruto Mobile
2. Naruto Shippuden : Ultimate Ninja Blazing
3. Naruto Shippuden : Ultimate Ninja Impact
4. Naruto Shippuden : Ultimate Ninja Storm 3
5. Naruto Shippuden : Ultimate Ninja Storm 4
6. Naruto Shippuden : Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations
7. Naruto Shippuden : Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution
8. Naruto x Boruto : Ninja Tribes
9. Naruto x Boruto : Ninja Voltage
10. Naruto : Shinobi Collection
11. Naruto : Shinobi Collection Shippu Ranbu
12. Naruto : Ultimate Ninja Online

Danzo vs Sasuke

1. (To Hiruzen) “My father and grandfather died in battle as ninja. Self-sacrifice is a ninja’s duty.”
2. (To Kinoe) “The world of the shinobi is filled with a myriad of techniques. You cannot compete with just one power. We must master various techniques and use those powers to unite the shinobi world.”
3. (To Sai) “Emotions lead one to hate.. And hate leads one to conflict and war..”
4. (Danzo on not being well known in the ninja world) “The Ninja World is an ascetic world. To remain anonymous is a source of pride. But by controlling both the surface and underground, one can truly strengthen the village and nation. I will make this summit a success and that I will be recognized as Hokage. Then the jonin will have no choice but to accept me as Hokage. My era has finally come.”
5. (To Sasuke) “Self sacrifice, that’s what epitomizes a shinobi. Never seeing the light of the day, toiling in the shadows. That’s the way of true shinobi and not just Itachi. Countless shinobis have died the same way. This world could not function on ideals and pleasantries. It’s thanks to people like him that peace has been maintained.”
6. (To Sasuke) “Two brothers, whose abilities are identical. How could what your eyes perceive be so different? The truth about Itachi isn’t important to you at all. Instead you simply want to destroy everything with your hatred. All you’re doing is making the sacrifice of the Uchiha Clan meaningless.”
7. (To Sasuke) “It’s not my life I am worried about. This is for Konoha.. For the ninja world.. I can’t die now.. I’ll do anything to survive. I.. am the only one.. Who can change this world.. this girl will be sacrificed for that.”
8. (Last Words) “Hiruzen.. It looks like it’s my turn next.. But I.. never did become Hokage.. No matter how far I went I could never catch up with you.. You are the leaves bathing in the sun. I.. am the root that grows in the dark. Hey, Hiruzen.. What did you think of me? What am I to you..?”

Q. Why did Danzo become the Hokage?

A. After Tsunade fell into a coma post Pain’s assault on Konoha, Danzo was appointed as the Sixth Hokage by the Leaders of the Land of Fire.

Q. Why did Danzo take Shisui’s eye?

A. Danzo believed that Shisui manipulating the Uchiha’s Leader wouldn’t simply resolve the conflict and that he would eventually try to manipulate him as well. Under this suspicion, Danzo stole Shisui’s right eye.

Q. Is Danzo stronger than Itachi?

A. Itachi is significantly much more powerful than Danzo. Even though Danzo possesses multiple Sharingans, Itachi is proficient with the use of Sharingan giving him greater weight of strength if it comes to them combating against each other.