Hanzō

, also known as, is a legendary ninja who was also the former leader of Amegakure.

Background
Hanzō became famous around the time of the Second 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 and told them to refer to themselves as such in exchange for letting them live. Sometime in his past he fought Mifune, who he defeated in battle and believed to have killed.

Years after his battle with the Sannin, 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 organisation to kill the group's leader, Yahiko. He lured Yahiko to a meeting where he forced Nagato, Yahiko's team-mate, 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 of killing him himself. 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 realising 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. According to the stories, he single-handedly killed Hanzō, 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.

Personality
Hanzō was a very security-conscious individual, trusting no one. He was guarded twenty-four seven, and did not allow anyone in his presence, even children, without being thoroughly searched. He cared greatly about his position as village leader, and dealt with threats harshly.

Although he views the Five Great Countries as his enemies, he was still willing to ally with foreign nations, even those who had caused him great harm, in order to remain in power. He was also willing to betray people without remorse, leading the Ame Orphans and their team into a trap, then attempting to have them all mercilessly killed; this betrayal, ironically, led to his own demise.

A long time ago during his youth, Hanzō had once sought the ideals of "peace" and even attempted to achieve this belief through the unification of the Five Great Countries. However, after realising that such a method would only bring about perpetual war and thus, leave only death in its wake, he cast aside this conviction. Afterwards Hanzō became devoted solely to the preservation of the power he had previously amassed, growing arrogant of his own martial skills in the process and leaving him unaware that they had instead dulled considerably, due in part to the lack of refinement brought about through practice. Even by the time of his death, Hanzō still couldn't comprehend how someone he had once defeated, could have grew more powerful than himself.

Appearance
Hanzō had long fair hair reaching down to his back and a scar on his right cheek. In the manga, he had unusual eyes, with the whites being dark, while in the anime, they were portrayed as normal-coloured. He had a dark hat on his head, and his lower face was mostly obscured by a helmet-like snorkel, that differed from the ones worn by other Amegakure ninjas for being bigger and having two filter cartridges instead of one, which bore the symbol of his village on both the part covering his mouth and the one in correspondence to his forehead. He sported a loose wetsuit-like indument typical of his village, with bandages wrapped around his wrists and lower legs, a flak jacket, standard shinobi sandals and a dark cloak reaching down below his waist.

In his youth, his hair was shorter, and he wore a snorkel with a single cartridge instead of two. During his fight with Mifune, Hanzō was shown bare-chested, wearing only the lower part of his wetsuit-like clothes, and with dark gloves covering his hand.

Abilities
While the full extent of his abilities remain unknown, Hanzō was easily one of the strongest ninja of his time, and an icon to the whole shinobi world, because of his skills. His power was such that Jiraiya expressed intense shock upon hearing that he had been defeated single-handedly by Pain. Hanzō's speed was said to be unsurpassed in water; in fact his mask was made specifically to move freely underwater.

True to his moniker, Hanzō could use Fire Release, and, during his attempt to kill Nagato, he demonstrated impressive skill for trap-oriented techniques, as he not only anticipated Nagato attacking him but had also appropriately placed a series of exploding tags in preparation for such an eventuality.

Kusarigamajutsu
Since his youth, Hanzō has wielded a kusarigama with great skill, being able to match and even surpass various dangerous opponents seemingly through the use of just this weapon alone, including the likes of the now reputed Mifune. Unusually, he tended to deliver brutal strikes by swinging the sickle with the chain, rather than simply employing the weighted end, which is generally considered to be the most effective manner.

Due to Hanzō's growing preoccupation with the preservation of his own security, when he was nearing the latter stages of his life, his skills with the weapon had dulled considerably.

Summoning Technique
Hanzō was shown to be particularly skilled in the Summoning Technique, with his signature summoned creature being the massive salamander Ibuse, large enough for him to ride on its back, and possibly the source of his nickname. Ibuse is a poisonous salamander, and is thus capable, if given the right time, of storing inside its body a large amount of poisonous gas, which can be subsequently, at Hanzō's command, emitted from its mouth. This poison is strong enough to almost completely paralyze opponents in mere seconds, leaving them at its master's mercy. Ibuse was also shown capable of digging galleries in the ground in order to travel under the earth, avoid attacks and resurface right under an enemy to swallow him, subsequently letting him die because of the poison stored in its body.

When battling alongside this trademark creature of his, Hanzō was strong enough to fight and eventually overpower all three Sannin in their youth.

Shinobi World War Arc
Hanzō is resurrected by Kabuto, along with various other famous shinobi through the Summoning: Impure World Resurrection, to prepare for war against the Allied Shinobi Forces. He is part of the group that Chūkichi requests assistance from, alongside Chiyo and Kimimaro.

Hanzō later encounters Kankurō and the remnants of the Surprise Attack Division with his improvised team, where he chastises Deidara for being caught and remarks that he would have no intention of freeing him if it weren't for the accursed technique that governs his actions. As the opposition retreats, Hanzō concentrates on their pursuit, once the enemies were within range he summons his salamander and commanded it to release a Poison Mist. Moving in for the fatal blow, Hanzō is intercepted by Mifune, who expresses a desire to fight him.

Conversing between themselves as the two engage in a brief but fierce duel, Hanzō attempts to maintain his distance with his kusarigama, while questioning his opponent's devotion. After ordering Ibuse to take refuge underground, Hanzō commends Mifune for avoiding his attacks, before recounting how he cast aside his ideals of "peace". Mifune refutes these claims as he prevents Hanzō from using hand seals through Iaidō, which causes Hanzō to not only recollect his past but also counter, resulting in Mifune almost suffocating in the poisonous mouth of Ibuse after obeying his master's command and swallowing Mifune. Slashing through the salamander's head while Hanzō moved in for a final blow, in a complete reversal of their first battle, Mifune cuts the blade of Hanzō's kusarigama in half and slashes through his body breaking his snorkel in the process, stating that the loss of his conviction dulled his skills.

Trivia

 * Hanzō's eyes in the manga are very similar to Kakuzu's and the Third Raikage's, while in the anime they are normal.
 * According to the third Naruto Databook:
 * His favorite phrase was: "Security is the greatest enemy".
 * Hanzō may have been named after a famous real-life samurai and possible ninja Hanzō Hattori.
 * It is popular Japanese legend that Hanzō Hattori was killed by Kotarō Fūma. Pain's first Animal Path was said to be from the Fūma clan.
 * Hanzō's nickname and his element affinity have significant meaning because in ancient mythology, although being amphibious, the salamander was considered the living symbol of fire and as such was completely fireproof and able to live in fire itself.

Quotes

 * (To Mifune) "Once, I also sought 'peace.' I thought I could unite the Five Great Shinobi Countries' Ninja World into one. I quickly realized that couldn't happen."
 * (Decrying the occupation of the samurai) "A lot of samurai changed jobs to ninja. Samurai schools also changed to teach the ninja arts. The role of the samurai has already ended. Without any convictions towards peace, financed and grown out of money, they use strong ninjutsu. Ninja have taken and changed your role. But if those ninja can be weeded out and were to die, then nothing would be left. Just like me."