Zansūru

was the of the Astronomy Research Institute.

Background
Zansūru has long been an ally of the Prime Minister, who assists the monarch of the Land of Redaku in leading the country. An archeologist by training, Zansūru spent many years studying at the Astronomy Research Institute, becoming an expert in the dinosaur fossils commonly excavated from the earth surrounding the Institute. From careful study of the Institute's archives, Zansūru was also able to learn how to revive the dead. By using this technique to revive dinosaurs, Zansūru believed a powerful army could be created to benefit the Prime Minister, and incidentally the rest of Redaku.

But to be able to revive the dinosaurs required a great deal of chakra, something only a shinobi would possess. So the Prime Minister recruited Gigi to their cause, offering to let Gigi settle down with his secret lover, Margo, in exchange for a year spent helping Zansūru. Gigi accepted these terms. The first of the dinosaurs to be revived, who would come to be called Menō, was a success. Gigi granted control of Menō to Zansūru, who used Menō to maintain order among the prisoners being used to excavate additional dinosaur fossils. When a new fossil would be found, Zansūru stored it in a secret chamber only accessible from his office; he also raised chickens there, which were to be used as sacrifices for the revived dinosaurs.

As the year of Gigi's service was about to finish, Zansūru had not yet accumulated enough fossils for use in the Prime Minister's army, and in fact had made no efforts to revive additional dinosaurs other than Menō. In order to keep Gigi's cooperation, Zansūru lied to him that Margo - with whom Gigi had been out of contact - had died, a casualty of an unspecified pandemic; he requested the Prime Minister send Gigi a falsified death certificate as proof. Gigi was devastated by the news and lost his will to live. Zansūru proposed using the same technique that revived the dinosaurs to in turn revive Margo: if Gigi would continue lending assistance until the army of dinosaurs was fully assembled, then Zansūru would track down Margo's body so Gigi could revive her. Gigi accepted these terms.

Zansūru rarely ventured away from the Astronomy Research Institute, too intent on seeing his task, and thus the Prime Minister's aspirations, completed. Conditions among the Institute's prisoners steadily declined, as Zansūru had no concern for their well-being beyond their role in furthering his own purposes.

Appearance
Zansūru is described as a slender man with silver-rimmed glasses. His left eye is a prosthetic, made of glass. His glass eye is so convincing that almost nobody has ever noticed it; Sasuke Uchiha is only able to detect it because of his Sharingan.

Abilities
Though he has at times claimed to be a ninja, Zansūru is only an ordinary person, and as such his chakra reserves are quite small. This fact, or at least that he is not responsible for reviving the dinosaurs intended for the Prime Minister's army, is apparently not something he wishes others to know. He does briefly display Wind Release during his confrontation with Sasuke Uchiha, to help a flying dinosaur remain airborne; blue stripes are described as appearing on his forehead when he does this, though their purpose is unclear.

Because of his glass eye, Zansūru is impervious to ocular genjutsu.

Sasuke Retsuden: The Uchiha Descendants and the Heavenly Stardust
Shortly after breakfast one morning, Menō publicly executes two prisoners trying to escape from the Astronomy Research Institute. Despite the gruesomeness of the executions, much of the prison-population cannot help but watch, as is Zansūru's intention: the greater the spectacle Menō can make of the executions, the more attention the executions will receive and consequently the less likely prisoners will be to make similar escape attempts. Zansūru pretends that this is not actually his intention and orders the observing prisoners to return to their work the moment the executions conclude. The prisoners quickly comply.

The following day, Zansūru confronts prisoner #487, Sasuke Uchiha, who tried (and failed) to place a genjutsu on Menō during the night. Sasuke is surprised that Zansūru knows about this and immediately responds by activating his Sharingan. He uses his Sharingan to try and place a genjutsu on Zansūru, only to notice that Zansūru has a glass eye and that this makes him immune to genjutsu. Zansūru compliments Sasuke for his evident skill, but warns that control of Menō cannot be taken from him, which he attributes to his status as a shinobi. For the rest of the day, the prison's guards harass Sasuke at Zansūru's instruction, finding any opportunity to psychically reprimand him. Sasuke does not resist so as not to draw additional attention to himself, but neither does he show signs that the physical abuse affects him, so as not to give Zansūru the satisfaction.

A few days later, Fundaru, a messenger of the Prime Minister, visits the Institute to meet with Zansūru. Unbeknownst to Zansūru, Fundaru is intercepted and impersonated by Sakura Haruno, the Institute's new doctor. When Sakura arrives at his office, Zansūru invites her to sit down as they exchange pleasantries. Sakura draws Zansūru's attention to the weather visible through the nearby window, and while he's distracted rolls Fundaru's cane (actually a disguised Sasuke) into Zansūru's bedroom. To give Sasuke time to investigate Zansūru's chambers, Sakura engages Zansūru in conversation, using as much information as she was able to get from Fundaru when she met him earlier. Although Zansūru allows this conversation for a time, he eventually grows impatient and demands to know what message the Prime Minister has for him.

Sakura inquires about "progress", to which Zansūru responds that the project he's been working on should be completed shortly, just in time for the Prime Minister's plans in Nagare Village. Sakura, unaware of what these plans pertain to, asks for more information. Zansūru refuses, explaining that the Prime Minister will know what he's referring to. He then notices that Fundaru's cane is missing and asks where it's gone. At the same moment, Sasuke successfully unlocks a secret door in Zansūru's bedroom, causing a sound. Sakura covers this up by tapping Fundaru's cane (previously hidden on her person) on the floor. The meeting shortly afterwards concludes, Zansūru never having noticed Sakura's ruse or Sasuke's presence.

On the night that the Prime Minister is to launch an attack against Nagare, Zansūru has Gigi revive all of the dinosaurs whose fossils they've excavated thus far. Sasuke, having realized what Zansūru's plans were only moments before the dinosaurs were resurrected, immediately begins to pursue the dinosaurs, determined to stop them from leaving the Institute. He is quickly intercepted by Zansūru. Sasuke, believing that Zansūru is in control of the dinosaurs, questions his motivations in order to evaluate whether he can be convinced to change his mind. In the course of his answers, Zansūru expresses his belief that he is a power of the country, and that the Prime Minister, as the head of the country, can use that power in whatever way he pleases, even killing the country's own citizens living in Nagare Village.

Zansūru's words make clear to Sasuke that he will not be convinced. But Sasuke also becomes suspicious; he activates his Sharingan and studies Zansūru's chakra, determining that, despite his earlier claim, Zansūru is not a shinobi and therefore can't be responsible for reviving the dinosaurs. Meanwhile, Menō sneaks up behind Sasuke and begins to attack him. Zansūru instructs Menō to kill Sasuke and leaves to join Gigi, who is now riding atop a giant dinosaur nicknamed "Titan". Zansūru marvels at the dinosaurs now tearing through the Institute's prisoners. Zansūru shares his satisfaction with Gigi and instructs him to mobilize the dinosaurs to the Prime Minister's location as soon as the prisoners are all dead. Gigi agrees, but reminds Zansūru to uphold his end of their agreement, which Zansūru promises to do as soon as the attack is completed.

To Zansūru and Gigi's surprise, Menō joins the battle in defense of the prisoners. Zansūru demands an explanation from Gigi, who reports that he's lost control of Menō, presumably because of Sasuke. Though irritated by this, Zansūru expects Menō will not last long against the larger dinosaurs still under Gigi's control. But Menō ends up prevailing against these larger dinosaurs thanks to the additional strength gained from Sasuke's control, a possibility Gigi had never previously shared with Zansūru. Sasuke soon joins Menō and Sakura, meanwhile, begins fighting the dinosaurs on the opposite side of the Institute. Gigi volunteers to deal with Sakura and passes control of all the revived dinosaurs to Zansūru, to use as he sees fit against Menō and Sasuke.

Menō, with Sasuke's help, is able to get onto the Titan's back and starts running towards Zansūru. Zansūru calls a flying dinosaur to his side before Menō reaches him and takes flight upon it, beyond Menō's reach. Zansūru, angry that he's lost control of Menō after all their time together, instructs all the dinosaurs to kill Sasuke. In the course of fending the dinosaurs off, Sasauke manages to strike the dinosaur that Zansūru is riding with a bolt of lightning, but Zansūru stops it from crashing to the ground with a gust of wind. Menō, meanwhile, attacks the Titan's legs, causing it to topple over; because of its large size, it has difficulty getting up. Zansūru instructs the flying dinosaur he's riding to help it get up. Because he is not its original summoner, the flying dinosaur can only accept one command from Zansūru at a time, and this instruction to help the Titan replaces his previous instruction to let him ride it. Thus, as the dinosaur heads towards the Titan, Zansūru falls off, dying upon impact with the ground.