Danzō Shimura

reputed as — due to what was often seen as his militant and archaic views on the role of a shinobi — was an anti-heroic shinobi from the Shimura clan and an elder of Konohagakure. He was also the 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 position of Hokage.

Background
In his youth, Danzō was good friends with Hiruzen Sarutobi. However, Danzō always felt inferior to Hiruzen, harbouring a desire to surpass him. 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 Kumogakure's Kinkaku Squad, realising that one of them would need to sacrifice themselves as a decoy to ensure the others' safety. 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 dying, allowing Hiruzen to volunteer before he could compose himself. Angry that Hiruzen had once again beaten him, Danzō began to protest before the Second Hokage decided to be the decoy instead while appointing Hiruzen as his successor.

With Hiruzen having beaten him to the title of Hokage, Danzō began planning to someday attain the title himself. Taking up the village's more clandestine operations — something that Hiruzen noted because of his own indulgence, he allowed Danzō to do — he created the ANBU subsidiary named Root. Within this group, Danzō himself handpicked various young shinobi with noticeable potential to join, such as Torune of the Aburame clan. 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, sending some of his forces to deal with Akatsuki but they were all wiped out by Nagato. In the anime, it is revealed Danzō manipulated Hanzō into joining forces with him against Akatsuki, having brought him corpses of Ame shinobi claiming they were killed by Akatsuki, which in reality were Root members disguised as Iwagakure shinobi that were killed during Nagato's rampage. He would later betray Hanzō at some point in history.

At some point in time he also had dealings with Orochimaru, who accompanied him with another Root shinobi to Konoha Orphanage where he strong-arms a former agent, Nonō, to infiltrate Iwagakure and confirm the intel on what the village was planning. Soon after, Danzō notices Kabuto Yakushi spying from the window and decides to recruit the boy as well. However, in time, both Kabuto and Nonō become assets too dangerous to be left alive and Danzō tricks a brainwashed Nonō into killing Kabuto. Danzō sent Orochimaru to ensure no survivors, however, he instead took Kabuto under his wing without Danzō's knowledge. Orochimaru also played a role in implanting Hashirama Senju's DNA into his right arm, modifying his physical energy prior to the addition of ten Sharingan on the limb.

After Kurama 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 decided to end the coup diplomatically, Danzō secretly met with Itachi and inveigled him into choosing to massacre his clan by presenting him with the option of killing them and sparing his younger brother, Sasuke Uchiha or having them all killed. Itachi had no choice but to agree to killing the Uchiha clan. Danzō also implanted the right Mangekyō Sharingan of Shisui Uchiha shortly before his death. Soon after performing the deed, Itachi threatens to expose Konoha's secrets to the other countries if Danzō ever harmed Sasuke. He met with Tobi around this time for as yet unknown reasons.

In the anime, after seeing Hiruzen sacrifice himself using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to defeat Orochimaru during the invasion of Konoha, Danzō decided to teach Sai how to use a powerful fūinjutsu, in order to prevent the same from happening to himself. During the training, Danzō noted that Sai could use "emotional energy" to bolster the power of the attack, but warned the young man not to fall prey to his negative emotions.

Personality
When he was younger, Danzō was a hot-headed and eager ninja with a strong desire to prove himself. As an adult, Danzō was a completely calm, cold and collected individual who did not allow his emotions to surface. Due to being raised in times of war, 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 using the attack as an attempt to overthrow Tsunade and leaving its citizens in peril as well as being responsible for Nagato's negative perceptions of Konoha, which lead to its destruction. According to Koharu, Danzō is very ambitious but she also stated that all he ever did was for the sake of the village.

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 militarist, 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 the position, 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. Danzō also views the members of Root as expendables pawns and shows no remorse in having them perform duties that could result in permanent injury as shown in his ordering Fū to gouge out Ao's Byakugan, despite the fact it would result in Fū losing his eye as well.

Danzō is also treacherous by nature, as shown in his betrayal of Hanzō despite their previous alliance. Likewise, should an "ally" prove too capable for his comfort, Danzō will see to their ellimination, as he attempted to do with both Nonō and Kabuto Yakushi. Itachi also believed Danzō had no intention of honouring his promise of sparing Sasuke when he accepted the mission to massacre his own clan and had to threaten to leak Konoha's secrets to enemy villages and risk his own safety by returning to Konoha after Hiruzen's death to ensure Sasuke's safety. He was willing to do anything to further his physical and political powers, as shown in allowing himself to be experimented on with Hashirama's cells by Orochimaru in order to gain the power to control a tailed beast and extend his use of Izanagi. He also broke international law by manipulating Mifune into making him supreme commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces. Danzō also had no hesitation in stealing Shisui's right eye in order to gain access to Kotoamatsukami despite his unquestionable loyalty to Konoha over his own clan. Danzō is also shown to be extremely arrogant, as seen in his gloating during his final clash with Sasuke, believing he had won.

Despite his amoral, pitiless, brutal and draconian methods, Danzō had a sense of nobility, dignity, integrity 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. Despite his envy against the Third and their growing rivalry, he seemed to still care for his friendship with Hiruzen, reminiscing of his childhood memories with him and asking what he was to Hiruzen in his final moments.

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 knew 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 black or dark grey robe over the 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 was quite handsome. He had the same shaggy hairstyle, except it was much longer, reaching eye level. He also wore the standard armour of that era, which covered his back, chest areas and lower abdomen while leaving his shoulders armourless. With this he wore a black outfit with matching wrist guards, a shuriken holster on his right upper leg, a pouch tied to his waist with bandages, and a forehead protector. At that time, he still has both of his normal brown 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. It was also shown that at least around the time of the Third Shinobi World War, he wore a black, hooded trench coat and high-length sandals. As a child, Danzō was much shorter and his attire consisted of a short dark-green kimono tied with a sash.

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 holding back to fight Tobi, his old age, and Sasuke's extensive use of Susanoo, all the while being unable to use Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan.

Body Modifications
Danzō possessed Shisui Uchiha's Sharingan in his right eye socket, 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 an area. He was also able to use Kotoamatsukami: the ultimate genjutsu 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 it was not an ability he could use frequently.

Danzō's most fearsome trait resided in his right arm, which held a total of ten Sharingan embedded into it. The Sharingan in his right eye socket belonged to Shisui and Ao also noted that the colour of the chakra in his right arm was also that of Shisui's. He normally kept the arm hidden under bandages and a gauntlet-like seal, presumably to conserve chakra and keep the eyes and DNA in check. 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 nullify 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.

According to Tobi, Danzō's possession of both Uchiha and Senju DNA, 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 nature transformation. He could exhale from his mouth powerful vacuum-based attacks that could either slash like blades or pierce like bullets and if needed he could use enhanced or localised versions of these techniques. He could also use Wind Release to manoeuvre himself in mid-air. Danzō could also use chakra flow to enhance 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 pin-wheel like fashion, turning them into massive buzz-saws. 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. When enhanced by his Baku's suction, his Wind Release techniques become strong enough to pierce, then peel off, the defences of a complete Susanoo.

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, however, took a significant toll on his chakra. This combined with the fact that his overall skill with this technique was quite rudimentary, prompted 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 rapidly grow into a large tree that threatened to engulf him completely. To prevent that, he broke off 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, described as the "Nightmare-Eater". A creature of massive size, it 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.

Other Skills
Danzō was adept in both using and dispelling high-level genjutsu, even ones such as Sasuke's — albeit inept — Tsukuyomi. He also had some skill in taijutsu and a decent amount of physical strength despite his old age, being able to repel Karin with one kick. Danzō was also quite fast and agile as he was able to catch Sasuke off-guard and, in the anime, was able to evade a large amount of debris falling on him. Additionally Danzō was also skilled in the use of kenjutsu, as seen when he used a sword on more than one occasion in the battles against the Prajñā Group and Sasuke.

Sasuke and Sai Arc
Danzō assigned Sai to Team Kakashi as part of a plan to secretly assassinate Sasuke Uchiha. To achieve that goal, Danzō had Sai make contact with Orochimaru in a ruse to make it seem he wanted to join forces with him to destroy Konoha. When Sai failed his mission but asked to remain with Team Kakashi, Danzō allowed him to do so while reminding the young man that emotions brought hatred, which in turn led to 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 in Amegakure. He and Tatsuji were apprehended by the ANBU and later 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, Danzō went to Homura and Koharu to tell them that Tsunade was risking the possible loss of the Fourth Hokage's legacy and the Nine-Tails by calling Naruto back. In the manga however, Danzō waited until everyone had left the room and killed Kōsuke in an attempt to stop Naruto from returning, Danzō then gathered his Root ANBU and instructed them not to aid Konoha in the hopes that Pain's actions would end Tsunade's reign as Hokage. When asked if all the villagers would not then die, Danzō denied this, claiming that Tsunade's medical abilities would save most of them.

Following the invasion, leaders of the Land of Fire and Konoha gathered for an emergency meeting. Here, despite Shikaku Nara's best efforts, Danzō convinced the daimyō that previous Hokage's peaceful ideologies had made Konoha weak and presented himself as the type of leader the village currently needed to enforce the laws of shinobi and bring order to the world. After brief consideration, the daimyō agreed to appoint him as 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's execution for treason marking him as a missing-nin. Although he would have preferred confining Naruto to protect the Nine-Tails, Danzō was aware of Naruto's new-found popularity in the village following his defeat of Pain and settled to have Naruto watched by his agents at all times to ensure he could be made an official Hokage. He also delayed Anko Mitarashi's assassination while ordering his men to find Kabuto Yakushi instead, who was in possession of medical information that could help with his right eye and arm.

Danzō later departed for the Kage Summit with Torune and Fū as his bodyguards, revealing the Sharingan in his right eye socket when they were ambushed by remnant shinobi of the Land of Woods along the way. Upon arrival in the Land of Iron and the meeting's start, Danzō did not actively participate other than reporting to the other Kage of "Madara Uchiha"'s involvement with Akatsuki. Mifune suggested that the five Kage form an alliance of their villages to eliminate Akatsuki with Danzō as its leader. As A accuses him and Akatsuki, rather than Orochimaru, of staging the invasion of Konoha to dispose of Hiruzen and the Fourth Kazekage, Ao exposes Danzō's manipulating Mifune before White Zetsu appeared and revealed that Sasuke was nearby. As A left to eliminate Sasuke, with Ao instructed to keep an eye on Danzō, who explained to the remaining Kage that his ultimate goal was to unify the shinobi nations under one empire, ending the possibility of future 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 beset by Black Zetsu's Spore Technique, but managed to dispatch the clones. Danzō ordered Fū to stop Ao, and emphasised that the retrieval of his Byakugan was a top priority. Fū managed to throw Ao off their trail, but failed to retrieve the Byakugan.

On their way back to Konoha, Danzō and his men were confronted by Tobi at the Samurai Bridge. Danzō instructed Fū and Torune to distract Tobi while he unsealed his right arm. Once Fū and Torune were defeated, Tobi brought out Sasuke. Danzō, revealed his right arm to show that it was embedded with Sharingan all over, and 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 his family. Danzō confirmed the story and questioned why Itachi would sacrifice peace to tell Sasuke the truth. Angry that Danzō spoke about his brother so casually, Sasuke crushed him with his Susanoo's hand.

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-Tails as well, and that he was using 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 prepared one final attack breathing wind-natured chakra onto a kunai creating a blade, Danzō prepared to clash with Sasuke's Chidori Sharp Spear.

Danzō believed that he had won and told Sasuke to go and join Itachi, before realising that Sasuke's genjutsu tricked him into thinking he has one more eye left to evade the impalement. 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 was turned into a giant tree. Refusing to accept defeat, Danzō takes Karin as a hostage and prepared to use Shisui's eye before Sasuke extended a Chidori Sharp Spear through Karin to stab Danzō's 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 were able to get out of range. Danzō was, nevertheless, able to destroy Shisui's Sharingan in order to prevent Tobi from obtaining it.

Legacy
Though the true extent to which Danzō has both influenced and protected the ninja world will remain predominantly unknown. Certain people — especially those in Root — remain adamant that if it were not for Danzō and his actions, peace would not have been maintained for so long. He made it a point to eradicate any opposition to Konoha that would destroy the peace that the village enjoyed. As his final act in protecting the village, he attempted to kill Sasuke Uchiha — a missing-nin from the village as well as Tobi — the mastermind of the terrorist organisation Akatsuki. Unsuccessful in this however, in order to thwart Tobi's plans, Danzō crushed Shisui Uchiha's Sharingan before dying. Though he has done a great deal in the way of protecting Konoha, Danzō would be remembered as a manipulative and duplicitous war-hawk with a militant perspective born from the era of the Three Great Wars due to his many known or unknown amoral actions which has also put Konohagakure in grave jeopardy. One situation in particular was spearheading the demise of the Uchiha clan and thus is responsible for Sasuke's insatiable ambition of revenge on the village itself. However, even though he was ultimately the one who provoked the Uchiha, Danzō's actions in this case did help avoid the potential bloodshed that the Uchiha clan was already committed to beginning, which Sarutobi had failed to stop diplomatically. In an ironic turn of events, Sasuke had later unwittingly taken up many of Danzō's traits after deciding to protect the village, proclaiming that he would change the system of shinobi that he considers the source of all the chaos the ninja world has endured.

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 world views 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, most particular is the eventual rise of Sasuke's bitter and merciless vendetta against Konohagakure.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * 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 did not 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…"
 * (Danzō on not being well known in the ninja world) "The ninja world is an ascetic world. To remain anonymous is a source of pride. But by controlling both the surface and underground, one can truly strengthen the village and nation. I will make certain that this summit is a success and that I am recognised as Hokage. Then the jōnin will have no choice but to accept me as Hokage. My era has finally come."
 * "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. Many ninja have died like that… Itachi is not the only one. Niceties… will not make the world go 'round. It's thanks… to people like that… that we have been able to maintain peace."
 * (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."
 * (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."