Shimura Danzō

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Shimura Danzō (志村团藏)
Alias(es)	“Shinobi no Yami” — Konoha’s darkness 11 228
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Konohagakure; Root; controller of the Maitreya Cult within Konoha 11 193
Occupation/Role	Fourth Hokage; previously the Hokage’s assistant and leader of Root 11 227
Status	Deceased — killed by Hatake Kakashi, who removed his eyes and crushed his heart 267
First Appearance	Chapter 11 11

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Acquisition of a depleted Mangekyō Sharingan pair	226	Obtains the eyes from Hozuki Shingetsu. Their ocular power has been nearly exhausted through Shingetsu’s experiments; Danzō initially uses them as fabricated evidence rather than an effective weapon.
Mangekyō implantation confirmed	236	A dormant Mangekyō is present beneath the bandages covering his right eye. He intends to combine it with Wood Release.
Hashirama-cell transplantation and ocular-power recovery	244	Orochimaru successfully transplants Senju Hashirama’s cells into him. The Mangekyō suppresses the cells’ devouring nature, while the Senju power gradually restores the eyes’ depleted ocular power. The narration explicitly rules out his awakening the Rinnegan.
Combined Wood Release and Mangekyō power demonstrated	258	Reveals spatial confinement, Wood Release: Great Spear Tree, and an armored Susanoo. His confinement-and-Wood-Release combination kills the Third Raikage, but Shingetsu escapes it through Sage Mode and defeats him.

Background / History

Danzō trained under the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, alongside Sarutobi Hiruzen. When Tobirama asked who would remain behind during a wartime crisis, Danzō hesitated. He later regarded that hesitation as the moment he lost his opportunity to become Hokage, spending the following twenty years pursuing the position 106 227.

As Root’s leader and Hiruzen’s assistant, he established a reputation that frightened foreign shinobi while maintaining a surprisingly favorable image among Konoha’s civilians. Early in the story, public calls for him to become the next Hokage were already common. His misconduct included suppressing the Uchiha and diverting funds into his own organization 11.

His hostility toward the Uchiha included arranging Kagami Uchiha’s elimination through another party. Although his prejudice initially came from Tobirama’s influence, the prospect of Uchiha Fugaku becoming Fourth Hokage turned it into a personal struggle over succession 36 159.

Appearance

Danzō is initially described as being in his prime, with a handsome face rather than the extensively modified appearance evoked by the narration’s comparison to his original-story counterpart 11.

• Bandaged right eye: Conceals an implanted, dormant Mangekyō Sharingan before his later battlefield reveal 236.
• Fourth Hokage’s Kage Haori: Wears the office’s distinctive outer garment, removing it before visiting the experimental base 237.
• Cane: Frequently grips it when concealing anxiety or anger 226 244.
• Late-war appearance: Arrives against Shingetsu with his eye bandages removed and both eyes tightly shut. His arms show no visible abnormalities 257 258.

Personality

Danzō combines genuine attachment to Konoha with increasingly destructive personal ambition. During the Second Shinobi World War, he accepts the difficult assignment of holding back Kumogakure with only three thousand troops, setting aside his grievances with Hiruzen when the village’s survival is at stake 106. Later, he manufactures crises, sacrifices followers, and destroys rivals’ reputations to secure the Hokage’s office. He considers even his own clan expendable in pursuit of that goal 193 221.

His governing ideal is Tobirama’s “Konoha’s great unification”: a centralized village rather than an alliance dominated by hereditary ninja clans. He favors developing civilian shinobi and does not reserve special benefits for the Shimura clan, which declines under his repeated demands 228.

He is patient and adept at concealing emotion. When Kabuto’s success exposes the cost of his bargain with Shingetsu, he calmly advises ignoring the controversy while secretly gripping his cane hard enough to leave deep finger impressions 244. Nevertheless, his restored Mangekyō and Wood Release foster extreme overconfidence: he believes their combination will make him the shinobi world’s strongest warrior and allow him to surpass earlier Hokage 236 244 258.

Abilities & Skills

Wind Release

• Vacuum Serial Waves: Uses this technique during the confrontation at Kirigakure’s commercial dock 149.
• Vacuum Great Sphere: Attacks Shingetsu upon arriving on the battlefield, interrupting his attempt to kill Fugaku 257.

Mangekyō Sharingan

• Spatial confinement: Activates an ocular technique called “Susanoo” that immobilizes a target within a deathly still space 258.
• Armored manifestation: Also invokes “Susanoo” to produce a massive armored warrior, standing within its chest 258.
• Restored ocular power: Hashirama’s cells replenish the power of the previously depleted eyes 244.
• Limitations: Shingetsu breaks the spatial confinement using Sage Mode and cuts through the armored giant’s chest with a Destructo Disc, forcing Danzō to dismiss it 258.
• No Rinnegan advancement: The narration states that the transplanted eyes are not Eternal Mangekyō and have no blood relationship to Danzō, preventing him from awakening the Rinnegan 244.

Wood Release

• Great Spear Tree: Sends wooden growths from his body toward an immobilized opponent 258.
• Lethal combination: Pairs Wood Release with Mangekyō spatial confinement to kill the Third Raikage before he can escape 258.
• Tailed-beast suppression: Combines Wood Release’s suppressive power with Susanoo in an attempt to crush Shingetsu as a jinchūriki 258.
• Artificial acquisition: Gains the ability through Orochimaru’s Hashirama-cell transplantation research 244.

Intelligence and Covert Operations

• Root intelligence network: Investigates the Maitreya Cult and detects the formation of the Anti-Konoha Alliance 102 236.
• Clandestine recruitment: Compels ninja clans to supply members to Root 163.
• Bloodline collection: Quietly acquires Sharingan during successive wars. The Hyuga branch family’s Caged Bird seal prevents him from securing both their absolute loyalty and usable Byakugan 193.
• Institutional takeover: Exchanges Root and Anbu personnel after becoming Hokage, leaving Hiruzen’s former Anbu leadership with little effective authority 237.

Propaganda and Political Manipulation

• Crisis reframing: Turns Konoha’s early public-opinion crisis into a narrative of foreign smear campaigns, restoring villagers’ support for the leadership 21.
• Counterpropaganda: Plans a play portraying Kirigakure’s scheming to undermine Shingetsu’s reputation 57.
• Manufactured emergencies: Uses murders to create insecurity, intending to gain prestige by appearing to resolve the crisis 193.
• Fabricated evidence: Invents a story about Uchiha Madara’s “son” to explain the Mangekyō pair and redirect responsibility for the Hatake Nao incident 226.
• Divide-and-rule tactics: Grants the Uchiha the title “Konoha’s Number One Ninja Clan,” provoking other clans’ hostility and distracting Fugaku from restraining him 244.

Maitreya Cult Control

• Instrumental leadership: Controls the cult without believing in its deity; treats followers as expendable resources 193.
• Reputation building: Uses the cult and discounted supplies to cultivate civilian support before becoming Hokage 218.
• Mass mobilization: Orders cult followers to learn chakra refinement and ninja training, pursuing an “every follower a soldier” policy 244.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Millennium-ironwood cane: Durable enough to serve as his habitual walking aid, yet marked by his fingers when he suppresses anger over losing Kabuto 244.
• Fourth Hokage’s Kage Haori: Symbolizes the office he spends twenty years pursuing 193 227 237.
• Glass bottle containing Mangekyō Sharingan: Presents the preserved eyes to Konoha’s leaders and jonin as supposed evidence in the Hatake Nao investigation 226 227.

Relationships

• Senju Tobirama — Teacher and political model. Danzō seeks both to fulfill his unification ideal and to prove himself worthy of the Hokage position 227 228.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen — Former teammate, superior, and chief domestic rival. Their cooperation repeatedly breaks down over succession, the Uchiha, and reform; Hiruzen ultimately protects Danzō’s retreat against Shingetsu 11 122 228 258.
• Hozuki Shingetsu — Propaganda rival and temporary partner in removing Hiruzen. Danzō resents both his repeated defeats in intrigue and his dependence on Shingetsu’s assistance to become Hokage 158 218 258.
• Orochimaru — Research partner. Danzō finances his work and supports the Wood Release project, while Orochimaru uses that patronage to obtain resources for his own research 122 237.
• Uchiha Homura — Longstanding political adversary and temporary ally against Hiruzen. Their shared opposition to Hiruzen gives way to competition between Danzō and Fugaku 27 224 225.
• Uchiha Fugaku — Rival Hokage candidate and later Hokage’s assistant. Danzō uses clan politics to neutralize his authority 224 244.
• Hatake Sakumo — Succession rival. Danzō’s campaign to suppress him drives him to suicide rather than merely removing him from contention 218 221.
• Hatake Kakashi — Initially an admirer, later a groomed subordinate and cult organizer. Kakashi ultimately kills him in revenge 206 237 244 267.
• Yakushi Nonō — Former Root operative whom Danzō trades to Kirigakure, together with her orphanage’s children, for the depleted Mangekyō 225 228.
• Uzumaki Sankai — Successful Wood Release test subject. Danzō keeps him close and assigns him to his personal guard 237.
• Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura — Former teammates who support his succession but oppose reforms threatening their families’ interests. He later strips his advisors of effective power 226 228 244.
• Aburame Dongyan — Personal guard who assumes Aburame Tatsuma’s duties and reports intelligence directly to him 236 244.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Early Propaganda Conflict and Uchiha Unrest

• Recognizes that anti-Konoha rumors could give the other four great villages a pretext to unite against Konoha, a danger Hiruzen initially overlooks 11.
• Successfully stabilizes domestic opinion, but receives confinement as punishment for aggravating relations with the Uchiha 21 36.
• Intervenes during Homura’s protest at Hokage Rock, helping Hiruzen move the confrontation away from the watching villagers 27.
• Remains silent during the settlement mediated by Uzumaki Mito, deferring to Hiruzen despite opposing the Uchiha’s demands 28.
• Attempts to blackmail Hiruzen after finding him reading erotic books produced through Shingetsu’s propaganda campaign, only for Koharu to overhear their conversation 63.

Second Shinobi World War and Experimental Research

• Commands Konoha’s front against Kumogakure, requesting Uchiha and Hyuga troops among his three thousand soldiers 106.
• Reacts to Hiruzen’s suspicions by intensifying his relationship with Orochimaru and officially restarting Wood Release experiments 122.
• Leads Konoha’s peace-conference delegation, hoping public credit for ending the three-year war will improve his succession prospects 148.
• Proposes using Senju Nawaki’s cells to reduce the corrosive effects of Hashirama’s cells on an Uzumaki test subject 150.
• Meets privately with Shingetsu, who offers strategies for dealing with Hiruzen and advancing Danzō’s Hokage ambition 158.

Building Support and Removing Hiruzen

• Exploits the Maitreya Cult and Kirigakure’s half-price supplies to win civilian trust. The supplies arrive under the neutral Land of Iron’s name 218.
• Manufactures a murder crisis, including the death of a Hyuga branch-family shinobi, while preparing to appear as Konoha’s rescuer 193.
• Proposes taking talented children from smaller villages as effective hostages through an international-student program 177.
• Helps plan the exploitation of the daimyo’s desire for immortality, offering a weakened Impure World Reincarnation technique to secure recovery funding without surrendering full control 184.
• Advocates an alliance with Iwagakure and Kumogakure against Kirigakure despite their recent war with Konoha 206.
• Carries out the campaign that drives Sakumo to suicide, then plans to use threats against Kakashi to make Hatake Nao publicly implicate Hiruzen at the funeral 221.
• Hiruzen resigns but limits the succession contest to Danzō and Fugaku, requiring an investigation report that satisfies the villagers 224.

Becoming Fourth Hokage

• Accepts Shingetsu’s offer of Mangekyō Sharingan in exchange for the Spirit Transformation Technique, Nonō, and the orphanage’s children 225 226.
• Presents the eyes as evidence belonging to a fabricated son of Madara, tying the funeral scandal to an Uchiha-linked attacker 226.
• Uses the report and physical evidence to defeat Fugaku’s candidacy and become Fourth Hokage 227.
• Announces reforms modeled on Kirigakure, especially the development of civilian shinobi, despite opposition from Hiruzen and the advisors 228.

Centralization and War Preparations

• Replaces Anbu personnel with former Root members and undermines the authority of Hiruzen’s son and daughter-in-law 237.
• Retains the Mangekyō despite demands for its return and obstructs Fugaku’s appointment as Hokage’s assistant, though Fugaku ultimately receives the position 241 244.
• Divides the major clans, replaces personnel across Konoha’s departments, and uses the cult as an additional mechanism of control 244.
• Prepares mass chakra training, improved Impure World Reincarnation, restored Mangekyō power, and diplomatic disruption as his principal wartime advantages 244.
• Forces Nagato’s placement under Anbu control and takes command of the northeastern front, intending to strike Kumogakure and kill the Third Raikage 247 248.

Defeat and Death

• Kills the Third Raikage through spatial confinement followed by Wood Release, then arrives in time to prevent Shingetsu from finishing Fugaku 257 258.
• Fails to repeat that combination against Shingetsu. His armored Susanoo is breached, and Shingetsu injures him with a kick that sends him crashing into the ground 258.
• Escapes with Fugaku while Hiruzen delays pursuit through darkness genjutsu and the Dead Demon Consuming Seal 258 259.
• Fugaku is subsequently reported dead at Shingetsu’s hands. Knowing he left Fugaku alive, Shingetsu concludes that Danzō killed him to purge opposition 259.
• Kakashi pierces Danzō’s chest, prevents his attempted spatial confinement with Wood Release, removes both eyes, and crushes his heart. Danzō dies protesting that success had been so close 267.

Notable Quotes

“There are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests.” 206

“Teacher, Hiruzen, I'll show you who the greatest Hokage truly is!” 244

“Sarutobi, I am the Hokage!” 247

“Damn it... How could I fall when success was so close...” 267