Danzō Shimura

reputed as — due to what was often seen as his militant and archaic views on the role of a shinobi — was an elder of Konohagakure and leader  of the disbanded ANBU faction: "Root". He was later appointed as the official after Pain's invasion but died before he officially entered the office of Hokage.

Background
Danzō was once friends with Hiruzen Sarutobi as early as his childhood, and despite his best efforts, Danzō always felt inferior to Hiruzen. During the First Shinobi World War, Danzō, along with his team-mates, Kagami Uchiha and Torifu Akimichi, as well as Hiruzen and his team-mates, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, formed a squad led by the Second Hokage. At some point, the team was pursued by enemy Kumogakure ninja. They realised that one of them would need to distract their pursuers, and that whoever did so would die. Hoping to die for his companions, just as his father and grandfather had, Danzō tried to volunteer but was paralysed with fear at the prospect of his death. Hiruzen volunteered before he could compose himself. Angry that Hiruzen had once again beaten him, Danzō began to protest, but Tobirama decided to be the decoy instead. Before leaving, Tobirama appointed Hiruzen as the Third Hokage.

With Hiruzen having beaten him to the title of Hokage, Danzō began planning to someday attain the title himself. To that end, he created the ANBU subsidiary named Root. Although the group was later officially disbanded, it remained secretly active. During the Third Shinobi World War, Danzō agreed to help Hanzō of Amegakure in order to receive help in claiming the title of Hokage. He sent some of his forces to deal with the Ame Orphans but they were all wiped out by Nagato. He would later betray Hanzō at some point in history.

At some point in time he also had Orochimaru and another shinobi from Root accompany him to the Konoha Orphanage where one of the former members of Root, Nonō, was stationed as a caregiver. He stated that they required her expertise in intelligence gathering in order to infiltrate Iwagakure and find out if the intel they had received that the village was planning something major was true, and exactly what it was. After being strong-armed into undertaking the mission, Danzō notices Kabuto Yakushi spying from the window and notes that they needed another child to replace the agent that had died to retrieve the intel they had. Though the caretakers protest, Danzō notes that there was no harm in asking. With this, Kabuto joins them.

As Kabuto was growing to become very accomplished spy, Kabuto has become an asset too dangerous to handle for Root (and thus to be eliminated). Nonō was told the reason Kabuto joined Root, and she begged him to free Kabuto. Danzō agreed, provided she killed one man in exchange. Nonō was double-crossed by Danzō into believing that they would release Kabuto from Root, in exchange for her assassinating another person — who in actuality was to be the real Kabuto himself. As such they began a long, slow process of brainwashing Nonō showing her pictures of Kabuto growing up and eventually switching him with a entirely different person so that when she was given the mission to kill the real Kabuto, she would not recognise him.

After the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked Konoha, Danzō was one of the elders to suspect that the Uchiha clan was involved in this incident and supported relocating the clan to a secluded area of the village where they could easily be monitored. When word reached Konoha's leadership of a planned coup d’état by the Uchiha clan, Danzō took advantage of Itachi Uchiha's pacifist tendencies and convinced him to provide him and the other elders with information of the clan's actions. When Hiruzen's attempts to end the coup diplomatically failed, Itachi was ordered to wipe out the Uchiha clan. However, Itachi refused to kill his younger brother, Sasuke Uchiha, and threatened to share everything he knew about Konoha with rival countries if Danzō ever harmed Sasuke. He met with Tobi around this time for as yet unknown reasons. Before Shisui Uchiha was killed, Danzō took and implanted his right Sharingan and later his arm into his own body. He also worked with Orochimaru to implant Hashirama Senju's DNA into his right arm, modifying his physical energy. Tobi speculates this was done to allow Danzō to use his eleven Sharingan at once, with the additional effect of allowing Danzō to use Wood Release ninjutsu and ultimately the forbidden dōjutsu: Izanagi.

The Fourth Raikage insinuated that Danzō used Akatsuki at the time of the invasion of Konoha, more exactly a secret alliance with Orochimaru who at the time was no longer a member of the organisation, to dispose of the Third Hokage and the Fourth Kazekage.

Personality
When younger, Danzō was a hot-headed and eager ninja with a strong desire to prove himself. As an adult, Danzō was a calm and collected individual who, like the Root members that served under him, did not allow his emotions to surface. Danzō's beliefs differed from those of the Hokage as he felt that the interests of the village should be placed above all else, even ethics and morals. Danzō seemed to hate the previous Hokage's beliefs stating those beliefs have destroyed the village after the Invasion of Pain, despite that he seemed to still care for his friendship with Hiruzen, asking what he was to Hiruzen in his final moments. An extremist, Danzō preferred to directly eliminate threats through assassination and execution rather than diplomacy and negotiation. Danzō possessed a fanatical adherence to the ideals of a shinobi, believing they must sacrifice absolutely everything for the village. However, Danzō himself feared death, believing he must live in order to help the world accustom itself to his ideas for peace.

Despite his reputation as a "war hawk", Danzō ultimately sought peace for the ninja world, one he would achieve by uniting all shinobi forces under Konoha's control. As such, he sought the title of Hokage, waiting patiently for decades before an opportunity arose. To that end, he worked in the shadows to ensure that this future came to fruition. He used Root to eliminate potential threats to Konohagakure with or without the consent of the Hokage and to further him along the path to achieving that rank, as he believed he was best prepared for the "necessary" transition. Because of the nature of his actions, Danzō could not allow the details of what he had done to become public knowledge, and thus he branded members of Root with cursed seals to prevent them from revealing his secrets.

In spite of his amoral methods, Danzō had sense of nobility and honour. He, after a long internal struggle, volunteered to buy time for his team-mates when they were younger, though Hiruzen Sarutobi beat him to it. He reprimanded Sasuke for his hatred and violence against Konoha, saying that it had wasted both the sacrifice of the Uchiha and Itachi's own personal sacrifices. Like Hiruzen, he used the final moments of his life to help Konoha by trying to take Sasuke and Tobi with him.

His fellow elders, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, held Danzō in high regard, and often took his advice when dealing with the politics of the village. It is unknown how much they know about his actions.

Appearance
Danzō appeared as a frail, old man, who would normally walk with a cane. He had black, shaggy hair, and his right eye was bandaged — concealing a Sharingan underneath. Danzō has had an x-shaped scar on his chin ever since his youth. He wore a white shirt, with a brown robe over top of it covering from his feet, to just over his right shoulder. The robe conceals his right arm which was bandaged, and covered with three big golden braces. The bandages hid ten more Sharingan embedded in his arm and the image of the First Hokage's face jutting out of his right shoulder where Danzō integrated Hashirama's cells into his own body.

In his youth Danzō had the same shaggy hairstyle, except it was much longer, reaching eye level. He also wore a samurai armour similar to the ones worn by the founders of Konoha, as well as a forehead protector. At that time, he still has both of his normal eyes. He hid the right eye with bandages by the time he united with Hanzō in their attack against Akatsuki led by Yahiko, and wore a flak jacket.

Abilities
Danzō was a very powerful ninja, who even up until his death, was considered to be one of Konoha's best by the elders Homura and Koharu. Danzō was able to easily kill several would-be assassins and fight on par with Sasuke Uchiha, despite his old age and Sasuke's extensive use of Susanoo. He noted that he had to hold back some of his strength in the eventuality that he would have to fight Tobi as well, all the while being unable to use Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan. He also had some amount of physical strength in his old age, being able to repel Karin with one kick. He also was talented in both using and dispelling genjutsu, even Sasuke's — albeit inept — Tsukuyomi.

Implants and Related Abilities
Danzō possessed the Sharingan of Shisui Uchiha, which he normally kept concealed under bandages. Danzō has stated that Orochimaru's data could help with his eye; presumably wanting to increase his ability to use it. He was also very skilled at using the Sharingan, able to detect multiple assassins in the forest and massacring them all. He was also able to use Kotoamatsukami: the ability of Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan, through which he could manipulate other people's thoughts without them being aware of it. This technique seemingly did not require direct eye contact, as demonstrated when Danzō manipulated Mifune's thoughts without exposing his Sharingan. Danzō stated that he could only use this technique once a day.

Danzō's most fearsome trait resided in his right arm, which held a total of ten Sharingan embedded onto it. The arm itself originally belonged to Shisui as well; this most likely reduces the draining effect of the Sharingan. He normally kept the arm hidden under bandages and a gauntlet-like seal, presumably to conserve chakra. Although he could not see through the eyes or use their passive abilities, he was able to access the Izanagi technique, a technique forbidden even amongst the Uchiha clan. When the technique was activated, Danzō temporarily gained the power to turn his own body into a physical illusion, which Danzō was capable of using to negate any wound or injury he should receive from an opponent. This allowed him to survive otherwise fatal attacks while still retaining the ability to inflict physical harm to his opponent. Izanagi also gave him another benefit, after being "killed" Danzō would appear elsewhere away from danger. However, the side effect of the technique was that for every 60 seconds Izanagi remained activated Danzō would lose the use of one of his Sharingan. Also, even with Danzō's physical energy augmented by Hashirama's cells, it still took a substantial amount of chakra to sustain the technique. Danzō could also perform the Izanagi with Shisui's eye, but Tobi noted that Danzō might not want to throw the eye's special dōjutsu away. Due to his lack of mastery over Hashirama's cells, Danzō's Izanagi is considered incomplete. The cells are also what allows his Kotoamatsukami to be recharged within one day after use, as without it, it would take a decade.

According to Tobi, Danzō's possession of both the Uchiha clan's and First Hokage's abilities most likely meant that he was after Naruto, with the goal of controlling the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.

Nature Transformation
Danzō was proficient with Wind Release techniques. He could exhale from his mouth powerful vacuum-based attacks that could either slash like blades or pierce like bullets. He could also use Wind Release to blow himself to safety while in mid-air. Danzō could perform Chakra Flow as well, enhancing a kunai's offensive power by pouring his wind-natured chakra through it and in the anime, it was shown he could also add wind chakra to shuriken by holding it flat on his palm, and exhaling a stream of vacuum-like chakra onto the shuriken in a pinwheel like fashion, turning them into massive buzzsaws. This greatly increases their attack range and cutting power when thrown. It should be noted that these shuriken do not lose their momentum when intercepted, and retain all their cutting power and range when blocked or redirected.

By having the First Hokage's cells integrated into his right arm, Danzō was able to use Wood Release. The implanted cells also had the additional benefit of boosting Danzō's physical energy, allowing him to sustain eleven Sharingan at once. Performing Wood Release techniques took a significant toll on his chakra, prompting him to only use it when necessary. It also appeared that he could only use the Wood Release from his right, augmented arm, although he could do so without using hand seals. Due to his possession of the Wood Release, he might have also been capable of utilising the two elements that compose it: earth and water. However, after suffering a fatal wound during his battle against Sasuke Uchiha, Danzō lost control of Hashirama's cells, which began to grow rapidly into a large tree that threatened to engulf him. To prevent that, he disconnected his right arm, causing him to lose this ability.

Fūinjutsu
Danzō had shown a high level of knowledge and skill when using fūinjutsu and cursed seals. To prevent his secrets from being exposed, Danzō placed binding seals on the tongues of every Root member. Should a Root member speak openly of Root and Danzō's activities, the seal would activate and instantly paralyse the member's body. The seals vanished when Danzō died. Danzō could also implement binding seals in battle, which was shown when he placed the seal on Sasuke, temporarily paralysing him. Lastly, upon his death, Danzō revealed his most powerful sealing technique, the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique. The technique caused four seal symbols on Danzō's skin to exit from his body and forms a large sphere around him. Everything inside the sphere was then drawn in and imprisoned within his corpse. After the sealing was complete, the seals could still be seen on Danzō's body.

Summoning Technique
Danzō had access to a very unique summoning, a giant tapir-like creature known as a Baku, the "Nightmare-Eater". The creature had the ability to suck in objects and targets within the area in front of it. The Baku's suction could also be used to increase the power of Danzō's wind techniques. However, using the suction left the creature vulnerable against fire techniques.

Sai and Sasuke Arc
Danzō assigned Sai to Team 7 as a replacement for Sasuke Uchiha. Because of this, Tsunade assigned Yamato to the team as well, in order to keep an eye on Sai, in case Danzō had other plans for him. During a mission, Sai made contact with Orochimaru on Danzō's behalf, proposing that the two join sides in order to destroy Konoha. Although believing this to be the evidence needed to prove that Danzō works against the village, Yamato later discovered that Sai's actions were a ruse to get close to and kill Sasuke. When Sai proved unsuccessful and displayed attachment to Team 7, Danzō merely stated that "emotion brings hatred, and hatred brings war".

Twelve Guardian Ninja Arc
In the anime, Danzō was shown being followed by ANBU agents, on Tsunade's orders, when he was to be briefed by Tatsuji, a spy of his from Amegakure. He and Tatsuji were apprehended and questioned by Tsunade, although the interrogation was interrupted by Sora, who was discovered eavesdropping.

Invasion of Pain Arc
When Pain began his invasion of Konoha, Tsunade asked the toad Kōsuke to retrieve Naruto Uzumaki from Myōbokuzan to help defend the village. In the anime, he went to Homura and Koharu to tell that Tsunade was planning to summon Naruto back, warning the two of a possible loss of the Fourth Hokage's legacy. Danzō killed Kōsuke to keep the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox away from Akatsuki's grasp. Danzō was later shown with the members of Root, instructing them not to help with the defence of Konoha in the hopes that Pain's actions would end Tsunade's reign as Hokage.

Following the invasion, leaders of the Land of Fire and Konoha gathered for an emergency meeting. Danzō convinced the daimyō that each of the previous Hokage had passed on a peaceful ideology to their students. This in turn made them too soft on military issues, resulting in Konoha's destruction. The village now needed a strong and firm leader who would enforce the laws of shinobi and bring order to the world. He stated that he alone was fit to be Hokage. After brief consideration, the daimyō agreed to appoint him as the Sixth Hokage Candidate.

Five Kage Summit Arc
When Danzō returned from the meeting he received a letter from the Fourth Raikage, informing him of the approaching Kage Summit and the actions of Sasuke Uchiha. As his first order, Danzō ordered Sasuke be executed as a traitor to Konoha. While preparing for the Kage meeting, Danzō gave a number of tasks to Root members. Although he would have preferred confining Naruto to protect the demon fox, Danzō was aware of Naruto's popularity in the village following his defeat of Pain. He still needed the support of the jōnin to officially become Hokage, so he settled for keeping Naruto watched at all times. In regards to Anko Mitarashi's search for Kabuto Yakushi, Danzō put off Anko's assassination. He instead instructed Root to find Kabuto before she did, hoping that Kabuto possessed medical information that could help with his right eye and arm.

Danzō departed for the Kage Summit with Torune and Fū as his bodyguards. The three were attacked by remnants of the Land of Woods along the way, but Danzō neutralised them single-handedly with his Sharingan. Upon arrival in the Land of Iron and the meeting's start, Danzō did not actively participate, only reporting to the other Kage "Madara Uchiha"'s involvement with Akatsuki. Mifune suggested that the five Kage form an alliance of their villages to eliminate Akatsuki, and, because Konoha's Nine-Tails is the only tailed beast that has yet to be captured, nominated Danzō as the leader.

Ao became suspicious about the proceedings and used his Byakugan to expose Danzō's manipulation of Mifune. Before he could be pressed on the matter, Zetsu appeared and reveals that Sasuke is nearby. A left to eliminate Sasuke, but instructed Ao to keep an eye on Danzō. Danzō explains to the remaining Kage that his ultimate goal was to unify the shinobi nations under one empire, which would end the possibility of war between them. When Sasuke arrived at their location, Danzō and his bodyguards used the opportunity to flee, with Ao in close pursuit. At some point during their escape, Danzō's party was tackled by Zetsu's Spore Technique, but managed to dispatch the clones. Danzō ordered Fū to stop Ao, and emphasised that the retrieval of his Byakugan is a top priority. Fū managed to throw Ao off of their trail, but failed to retrieve the Byakugan.

On their way back to Konoha Danzō and his men were confronted by Tobi. Danzō instructed Fū and Torune to distract Tobi while he unsealed his right arm. Once Fū and Torune are defeated, Tobi brings out Sasuke. Danzō, revealing his right arm to show that it was embedded with Sharingan, voiced his intent to add Tobi's and Sasuke's to his collection. Sasuke immediately questioned him about the Uchiha clan's assassination, hoping to find out if the Konoha elders really did force Itachi to murder their family. Danzō confirmed the story and questioned why Itachi would sacrifice peace to tell Sasuke the truth. Angry that Danzō used his brother's name, Sasuke crushed him with Susanoo.

Despite his apparent death, Danzō was unharmed by Susanoo, as well as Sasuke's subsequent attacks. All the while Danzō goaded Sasuke by constantly talking about Itachi, prompting him to fully develop his Susanoo. Sasuke used Susanoo to fire an arrow at Danzō, who was forced to use his Wood Release to divert the attack. Tobi, having been observing the battle, surmised that his use of Sharingan and Wood Release must mean that he planned to control the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. He also identified Danzō's constant escapes from death as the result of Izanagi, with the many Sharingan on his arm being sacrificed one-by-one to escape death. When he was finally reduced to one, Danzō and Sasuke clashed for a final fight, with both warriors being impaled with chakra nature blades.

Danzō believed that he had won and told Sasuke to go and join Itachi. He then realised that he has also been injured; his one remaining Sharingan only existed in Sasuke's genjutsu as Sasuke noticed that Danzō had to look at the Sharingan on his arm to keep track of how many were left. His depleted chakra levels, coupled with his new injury, caused him to lose control of his wood abilities and he was forced to sever his arm before he could be turned into a giant tree. Unwilling to give up, he took Karin as a hostage and prepared to use Shisui's eye. Sasuke extended a Chidori Sharp Spear through Karin in order to stab Danzō through the heart.

Dying, Danzō staggered towards Sasuke and Tobi, thinking about Hiruzen and how, no matter what he did, he could never match him, not even having properly become Hokage. With his last breath he proclaimed that for the sake of the world and the safety of Konoha, he would take Sasuke and Tobi with him to the grave. He then activated the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique, but Sasuke and Tobi are able to get out of range. Danzō is nevertheless able to destroy Shisui's Sharingan in order to to prevent Tobi from obtaining it.

Trivia

 * Like Dan Katō, Danzō's name may be a reference to Katō Danzō, a noted ninja master during the time of the Sengoku period of Japan.
 * Danzō's family name, Shimura, is written with the kanji for and  and can be interpreted as "I did it for the village," possibly hinting at Danzō's true intentions.
 * Danzō's relationship with Hiruzen Sarutobi was very much like Naruto's rivalry with Sasuke, where Danzō felt that Hiruzen was always "one step ahead of him" in every way.
 * Although a well-intentioned extremist, Danzō's actions have ironically enough made him a primary catalyst for the formation of the villainous worldviews of both Nagato and Kabuto Yakushi, as evidenced by their flashbacks. This also made him the reason for many of the protagonists' troubles throughout much of the story.
 * According to the third Naruto databook:
 * Danzō's hobbies were appreciating famous pictures, and keeping diaries.
 * Danzō's favourite food and drink was hijiki (which he shared with his rival Hiruzen Sarutobi) and genmaicha (brown rice tea), while his least favourite was warabimochi (jelly-like confection).
 * Danzō didn't want to fight anyone in particular.
 * Danzō's favourite word was.

Quotes

 * (To Hiruzen) "My father and grandfather died in battle as ninja. Self-sacrifice is a ninja's duty."
 * (To Sai) "Emotions lead one to hate…and hate leads one to conflict and war…"
 * "To be a shinobi is to sacrifice oneself. Closing your eyes to the sunlight, distinguishing yourself in the shadows. That is the true form of ninja."
 * (To Sasuke) "You may have the same eyes as your brother, but you perceive things differently. You do not value Itachi's sacrifice. Instead you just throw your anger at anything and everything. You have wasted the Uchiha clan's sacrifice."
 * (To Sasuke) "It's not my life I'm 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."
 * (To Tobi and Sasuke) "For the sake of the ninja world, for Konoha I cannot let you live."
 * (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 roots that grow in the dark."