Hanzō

, also known as, was a legendary ninja who was the former leader of Amegakure. He had long blond hair and scar on his right cheek. He was very security-conscious, being guarded twenty-four hours a day and having anyone who got near him, even children, strip searched. He became famous around the time of the Second Great Shinobi World War; when he fought some of Konoha's forces, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru were the only ones to survive. As a reward to them for this accomplishment, he named them Konoha's Sannin in exchange for letting them live.

Years later, when a group of ninja began a quest to end war through unorthodox means, Hanzo viewed this as a threat to his power and sought to get rid of them. He teamed up with Konoha's Root organization to kill the group's leader, Yahiko. He lured Yahiko to a meeting where he forced Nagato, Yahiko's teammate, to kill Yahiko in exchange for Konan's life. Nagato slaughtered Hanzo's forces in retribution, but Hanzo himself was able to escape.

Nagato, under the alias of "Pain", would later begin a civil war within Amegakure. He single-handedly killed Hanzo, and then conducted a systematic genocide of anybody even remotely associated with Hanzo (with the exception of Danzo, who somehow escaped the carnage).

Abilities
While Hanzo's abilities as a ninja are mostly unknown, Hanzo was easily one of the strongest ninja of his time. When battling alongside his trademark salamander, Hanzo was strong enough to fight and eventually overpower all three Sannin in their youth. His power was such that Jiraiya expressed intense shock upon hearing that Hanzo had been defeated by Pain. During his attempt to kill Nagato, Hanzo demonstrated impressive skill for trap-oriented techniques, as he anticipated Nagato attacking him and had several exploding tags prepared.

Trivia

 * Hanzō may have been named after a famous real-life samurai and possible ninja Hattori Hanzō.
 * Hanzō's eyes in the manga are very similar to Kakuzu's.
 * According to the third Naruto Databook:
 * His favorites words are: "Security is the greatest enemy"