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 within his country, Hanzō viewed them 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.

However, Yahiko committed suicide by impaling himself upon Nagato's kunai to spare his friend the anguish and burden. Nagato slaughtered Hanzō's forces in retribution along with the shinobi of Root who had come to aid Hanzō. After a brief skirmish with Nagato, Hanzō fled the scene realizing that he could not deal with Nagato when he was so enraged and thus escaped.

Nagato, under the alias of "Pain", would later begin a civil war within Amegakure. He single-handedly killed Hanzō and his family and his retainers, and then conducted a systematic genocide of anybody even remotely associated with Hanzō, even to the extent of terminating the ambassadors of the villages Hanzō was associated with. To date, Danzō alone remains as the lone escapee of the purge Nagato inflicted upon Hanzō's associates.

Abilities
While Hanzō's abilities as a ninja are mostly unknown, Hanzō was easily one of the strongest ninja of his time. When battling alongside his trademark salamander, Hanzō 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 Hanzō had been defeated by Pain. During his attempt to kill Nagato, Hanzō demonstrated impressive skill for trap-oriented techniques, as he anticipated Nagato attacking him and had several exploding tags prepared. The databook also stated that his speed in water was unsurpassed...

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"
 * In water, he has unsurpassed speed.