Danzo

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Danzo Shimura (团藏), also rendered Danzō 15 74
Species/Race	Originally human, without an innate Kekkei Genkai; later extensively modified with Hashirama Senju’s cells and transplanted Sharingan 169 244
Gender	Male 8 15
Affiliation	Konohagakure; Root 8 74
Occupation/Role	Root leader, Konoha elder, and former assistant to the Hokage; initially described as the head of Anbu 8 115 219
Status	Last explicitly shown as a living puppet controlled by Kabuto Yakushi, with his body completely controlled and his soul replaced 351
First Appearance	Chapter 8, “Danzo” 8

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Hashirama-cell arm and multiple transplanted Sharingan	74	His arm is composed entirely of cultured First Hokage tissue to accommodate Sharingan. At this stage, the cells suppress his chakra and prevent him from using his full abilities.
Substantial chakra and combat enhancement	221	Hashirama’s cells provide a major increase in chakra and overall power. His enhanced Vacuum Sphere wounds a Jonin, while the eyes on his arm provide repeated uses of Izanagi.
Rejuvenated replacement body	243 244	Cloning technology replaces his body and restores its peak physical condition. Almost every usable part of his body has been replaced with First Hokage cells.
Artificial Mangekyo Sharingan development	244 261	Kabuto uses interactions between Sharingan to stimulate their evolution from three tomoe to Mangekyo. Tissue cultivation supplies replacement organs; Danzo gains an ability to imitate observed powers.
Susanoo manifestation	264 265	Manifests an immature, skeletal Susanoo whose aura and strength exceed those of the Uchiha brothers’ manifestations during their confrontation. Hashirama’s cells are presented as a source of this enhancement.
Freely controlled Sharingan activation	283	Demonstrates the ability to activate his transplanted Sharingan freely, overcoming a limitation that normally affects non-Uchiha users.
Enhanced Susanoo defenses	284	Returns with a copied Yata Mirror and an additional layer of Wood Release protection, having strengthened his methods against Itachi and Sasuke.
Rebirth and preparation for restoration	292 318	Returns after the previous battle. Rebirth damages his soul; Kabuto prepares Sharingan transplants, and Danzo requests restoration to peak combat condition. Sasuke later confirms his survival.
Plant-like bodily transformation	319	After bypassing a prison’s chakra-detection seals, transforms into a plant-like form resembling Zetsu. His modified strength is described as surpassing the Hokage, though his sensory improvement remains disappointing.

Background / History

Training and rivalry with Hiruzen

Danzo began as a civilian ninja without a Kekkei Genkai and became a disciple of the Second Hokage. When Tobirama prepared to break through an encirclement alone, Danzo hesitated while Hiruzen Sarutobi volunteered first. The narrative identifies that hesitation as a lost opportunity to become Hokage 74 169.

As an elder and covert-organization leader, Danzo repeatedly challenged Hiruzen’s control over talented young ninja. He sought five-year-old Nanfeng after learning of his medical talent, believing that training could turn the child into a killing machine. Hiruzen rejected the request, but Danzo refused to abandon his interest 8.

Following the Uchiha massacre, Danzo demanded custody of Sasuke, arguing that an uncontrolled surviving Uchiha could cause future unrest. Hiruzen refused because of his promise to Itachi. Danzo later renewed his proposal to place both Sasuke and Nanfeng under Root’s control 15 18.

Collaboration with Orochimaru

Danzo agreed to cooperate with Orochimaru’s attack on Konoha by keeping Root inactive during the invasion. He nevertheless demanded that Orochimaru limit the destruction. Their arrangement also gave Danzo access to research intended to treat the pathological effects of his Hashirama-cell implants 74.

His political network extended into Konoha’s clans and Elder Council. Hiashi Hyuga reported that council decisions had previously followed Danzo’s orders and that Hyuga elders had supplied preserved Byakugan to Root as bargaining chips 84.

Failed bid for the Fifth Hokage position

After Hiruzen’s death, Root attempted to compel Nanfeng to meet Danzo at the funeral, but Jiraiya intervened. Danzo then declared himself the only suitable candidate for Fifth Hokage and surrounded the elders with Root operatives when they withheld their support 99 100.

Hiruzen had anticipated this attempt and left preparations that prevented Danzo from taking office. His letter to Nanfeng also stated that retained leverage would deter Danzo from attacking the children for approximately three years 100.

Tsunade’s return further weakened Danzo’s position. She traced unexplained Root expenditures and threatened to involve the Land of Fire’s Daimyo, forcing him to accept financial oversight. The missing money had funded equipment for Orochimaru’s experiments through expensive black-market purchases 114 115.

Campaign against Nanfeng and Sasuke

Danzo continued recruiting and monitoring promising ninja despite Tsunade’s restrictions. Root escorted Sasuke from his hospital room to its underground headquarters, where Danzo offered him membership and claimed Kakashi’s conventional training would waste his potential. Sasuke declined, prompting renewed suspicion and surveillance 127 128.

With Root’s finances and manpower curtailed, Danzo deployed newly promoted Jonin against Nanfeng. After their deaths, seals transmitted fragments of Nanfeng killing them. Danzo attempted to use those recordings to brand Nanfeng a rogue ninja and undermine Tsunade, but Nanfeng arrived with documents identifying his mission 169 172.

Danzo later purchased recorded battle material from Obito for two pairs of Sharingan and distributed scrolls through Root to provoke unrest. His objective was to expose Nanfeng’s secrets and seize the Hokage position 217 218.

Exposure and flight

Nanfeng publicly confronted Danzo with evidence concerning schemes against talented ninja, the Uchiha clan’s destruction, the Senju clan’s dispersal, and transactions with Orochimaru. The financial records also exposed the scale of Danzo’s diverted funds to the Daimyo 219 220.

Danzo fought his way out using enhanced Wind Release and Izanagi. Nanfeng pursued him toward Konoha’s border, where Danzo contacted Obito for assistance. Their cooperation broke down after Danzo attempted to control Nanfeng with Kotoamatsukami: Obito instead tried to seize Shisui’s eyes, while Nanfeng revealed that the genjutsu had not affected him 221 222 224.

Danzo escaped through Izanagi during Nanfeng’s attack on Obito. Nanfeng subsequently assigned Zabuza and Haku to locate his hiding place, intending to leave Danzo’s eventual defeat to Sasuke 225 228.

Alliance, rebirth, and loss of autonomy

Danzo resurfaced with Kabuto in a younger replacement body and revealed that he knew Obito’s true identity. He also possessed Madara’s corpse and coveted the Rinnegan, although Obito told him that he lacked the Uchiha bloodline necessary for the proposed evolution 243.

Working with Obito and Kabuto, Danzo monitored the Uchiha brothers and plotted to transplant Itachi’s eyes into Sasuke before controlling Sasuke with Kotoamatsukami. He later fought the brothers directly and confronted them again at the Five Kage Summit 245 247 264 283 284.

Nanfeng overwhelmed him after Kabuto’s attack failed, exhausting his remaining Izanagi uses and enclosing him in a chakra barrier before he could employ a mutually destructive seal. Danzo nevertheless returned through rebirth and resumed operations with Kabuto 288 292 313.

During the war, Danzo accompanied forces raised through Impure World Reincarnation. Obito subsequently revealed that Kabuto had completely controlled Danzo’s body and replaced his soul, reducing the would-be Hokage to a living puppet. According to Obito, the Land of Rice operation had been part of the plan to control him 340 351.

Appearance

Danzo initially appears as an elderly man with a cold expression, one eye completely covered in bandages. His later replacement body looks younger and restores his peak physical condition 15 243.

• Extensive bandaging — Covers much of his body, particularly his eyes; some bandages carry talismans that seal transplanted Sharingan 127 222.
• Sharingan-bearing arm — Contains numerous transplanted eyes within tissue cultured from Hashirama’s cells 74 221.
• Plant-like transformation — Later assumes biological features resembling Zetsu’s pitcher-plant form 319.

Personality

Danzo equates security with control. He considers uncontrolled talent a potential threat and uses praise, recruitment offers, surveillance, and coercion to bring gifted ninja under his authority. His claim that managing geniuses is a duty to Konoha accompanies repeated attempts to turn Nanfeng and Sasuke into assets 8 86 128.

His ambition centers on becoming Hokage, but his fear of death repeatedly shapes his decisions. He avoids confronting Hiruzen when he believes he cannot win and accumulates Sharingan as expendable means of survival. In combat, he prefers to unleash his abilities quickly and eliminate opponents before they can threaten him 74 319.

Although capable of maintaining a controlled public expression, Danzo becomes furious when his authority or plans are frustrated. Hiruzen’s refusals, Tsunade’s financial restrictions, and Nanfeng’s interference provoke threats and destructive outbursts. His confidence in his seals and subordinate control ultimately leaves him vulnerable to Kabuto 8 114 115 313 351.

Abilities & Skills

Wind Release

• Vacuum Sphere — An enhanced projectile that pierces a Jonin’s shoulder and creates an opening to escape encirclement 221.
• Sky Render — An S-rank technique forming a blade capable of cracking Susanoo; the attack produces slight spatial distortion 264.
• Uses multiple high-level Wind Release techniques while coordinating with Obito against Nanfeng 223.

Hashirama-Cell Enhancement

• Supports the integration of transplanted Sharingan and supplies substantial chakra and combat enhancement 74 221.
• Later modifications replace almost every usable part of his body with First Hokage cells 244.
• Initially suppresses his chakra and contributes to pathological bodily changes, making him dependent on experimental treatment 74 114.
• Does not grant him the expected level of chakra perception. Kabuto regards him as a failed experiment in this respect, despite his formidable combat power 319.

Izanagi

• Converts unfavorable reality into an illusion, allowing Danzo to survive otherwise fatal outcomes and alter his escape route 221 275.
• Permanently blinds a Sharingan with each use; the multiple eyes on his arm provide repeated opportunities to survive 221 275.
• After he removes his sealing bandages, the implanted eyes continuously activate Izanagi until depleted, consuming chakra as well as eyes 222.
• Nanfeng’s modified Sharingan can perceive Danzo’s alternative fate branches and predict his movements 221 222.

Kotoamatsukami

• Uses Shisui’s four-ringed Mangekyo Sharingan to implant thoughts in a target 224.
• Attempts to make Nanfeng loyal only to him, treating control of Nanfeng as compensation for his expended Sharingan 224.
• Hashirama’s cells reduce the stated cooldown from ten years to five years 221 224.
• Fails against Nanfeng, whose spiritual strength and modified eyes resist and absorb its effect 224.

Mangekyo Ability Analysis and Imitation

• Analyzes chakra and dōjutsu that he has encountered, allowing temporary imitation rather than unrestricted copying 261 285.
• Reproduces basic spatial traversal after observing Obito’s Kamui, but cannot reproduce the unique Kamui dimension 261.
• Copies Itachi’s dōjutsu amplification and uses it to enhance Obito’s eyes 284.
• Recreates Itachi’s genjutsu and traps him in an illusion involving restraints and torture 284 285.
• Cannot reproduce abilities that have not been used. Itachi exploits this limitation to destroy the genjutsu space, severely weakening both fighters 285.

Susanoo

• Manifests a skeletal form with exceptional strength despite lacking an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan 264 265.
• Reproduces imperfect versions of Itachi’s Yata Mirror, Kusanagi Sword, and Yasakani no Magatama 266.
• Uses the copied Yata Mirror to redirect Sasuke’s chakra arrow toward the Uchiha brothers 266.
• Later adds Wood Release protection; his Susanoo can also assist him in forming complex hand seals 284 321.
• Sustained clashes feed damage back into his eyes, causing bleeding and temporary loss of ocular abilities. Its defenses also impose heavy chakra costs 266 323.

Sealing and Covert Operations

• Commands Root agents whose loyalty is directed to him rather than Konoha’s elders or former Hokage 100.
• Maintains unofficial operatives embedded in other ninja organizations, excluding Anbu because of its identity checks 172.
• Uses seals on operatives to receive fragments of their final moments through chakra connections 172.
• Temporarily bypasses a prison’s special chakra-detection mechanism with a seal 319.
• Possesses a last-resort bodily sealing technique intended to destroy the surrounding space at the cost of his own life; Nanfeng prevents its use 288.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Sealing bandages and talismans — Conceal and restrain his implanted Sharingan 222.
• Stored Sharingan collections — Keeps additional eyes in hidden locations outside his immediate reach during battle 224.
• Preserved Byakugan — Root retains eyes obtained through dealings with Hyuga elders 84.
• Secret research documents — Protects records concerning human experiments, First Hokage-cell transplants, and the Uchiha massacre 115.
• Communication scroll — Uses a chakra transmission to summon assistance during Nanfeng’s pursuit 222.
• Combat potion — Supports his resistance during Nanfeng’s attack, but cannot prevent his chakra from approaching depletion 288.
• Madara Uchiha’s corpse — Holds the body as leverage in discussions about Madara’s resurrection 243.

Relationships

• Hiruzen Sarutobi — Former teammate and longstanding political rival. Hiruzen repeatedly blocks his recruitment demands and leaves safeguards against his attempt to seize the Hokage position 8 15 18 100.
• Tobirama Senju — Former teacher. Danzo’s hesitation during Tobirama’s final encirclement contrasts with Hiruzen’s willingness to volunteer 74 169.
• Nanfeng — Initially a coveted recruit, later a target for elimination and political framing. Nanfeng exposes his activities, counters his ocular techniques, and pursues him after his escape 8 114 172 220 224 288.
• Sasuke Uchiha — Seeks custody of him after the massacre, later offers Root membership, and eventually plots to control him through Kotoamatsukami. Sasuke becomes one of his direct opponents 15 127 245 264.
• Itachi Uchiha — Calls him his once most prized subordinate while coveting his eyes and Susanoo weapons. Itachi identifies and exploits the limits of Danzo’s imitation ability 264 266 285.
• Tsunade — Political and military opponent. She subjects Root to financial scrutiny and fights him after the exposure of his experiments and dealings 115 221.
• Orochimaru — Experimental collaborator supported by diverted Root funds. Orochimaru later favors cooperation with Nanfeng and supplies evidence of Danzo’s transactions 74 115 169 220.
• Kabuto Yakushi — Researcher, apparent subordinate, and provider of replacement bodies and artificial eye development. Danzo trusts him despite signs of concealed motives; Kabuto ultimately turns him into a puppet 261 292 313 351.
• Obito Uchiha — Transactional ally against Nanfeng. Their cooperation includes exchanging Sharingan for recordings, but Obito also attempts to take Shisui’s eyes from him 217 218 222 224.
• Jiraiya — Blocks Root’s attempt to take Nanfeng after Hiruzen’s funeral and supports Tsunade’s measures against Danzo 99 115.

Notable Quotes

“Anything that cannot be controlled by us will always harbor hidden dangers.” 86

“I’ll get straight to the point: besides myself, no one is more suitable to be the Fifth Hokage.” 100

“You should thank me. It was I who showed you how bloodline power should be used!” 221