Danzo

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Shimura Danzo (团藏), also rendered as Danzō 69
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Konohagakure (Leaf Village); Root Organization 19 240
Occupation/Role	Root leader; acting Hokage during Hiruzen’s hospitalization; later Fifth Hokage 19 240
Status	Alive and ruling Konohagakure at the latest documented appearance 240
First Appearance	Named in connection with Uchiha Hikari’s betrayal 15; appears personally in the Hokage’s office 17

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Replacement right arm with twelve Three-Tomoe Sharingan	69	Orochimaru replaces the arm lost against the Third Kazekage using experimental research data. The arm contains twelve Three-Tomoe Sharingan and produces no rejection reaction.
Demonstrated Wood Style mastery	86	Uses his modified right arm to restrain, defend against, and counterattack the Third Raikage. His chest wound also begins healing before his retreat.
Impure World Reincarnation acquired	169	Has learned the forbidden technique and assembled reanimated operatives, including Magnet Release user Troy and Explosion Release user Kari.
Sage power grafting and Mangekyo Sharingan	181	Undergoes Orochimaru’s dangerous grafting procedure. Survives violent bodily erosion and uncontrolled tree growth, gaining Sage power and the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Hiruzen’s chakra and stored Sage power absorbed	239	Drains Hiruzen through branches growing from his arm, leaving his former comrade crippled while renewing his own vitality.

Background / History

Suppression of the Uchiha

Danzo belongs to Hiruzen Sarutobi’s generation of classmates and becomes part of the political bloc formed with Hiruzen, Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura. Under Hiruzen’s administration, he carries out efforts to weaken the Uchiha so that the clan cannot stand above the Hokage’s authority 19 69.

His adopted son, Uchiha Hikari, helps arrange the destruction of Uchiha forces in the Land of Rain. Root operatives kill survivors regardless of affiliation and preserve their Sharingan in bottles. Hikari severs his own arm to support a fabricated account in which he alone survived an enemy ambush 15.

During the Sand Village invasion, Danzo assumes acting leadership while Hiruzen is critically injured. He negotiates Uchiha assistance against Bunpuku, offering the clan future control over the One-Tails and supporting Uchiha Fugaku’s elevation to clan head. The arrangement also serves his continuing effort to reduce Uchiha power 19.

Defeat by the Third Kazekage

Danzo rejects Hiruzen’s proposal to negotiate peace with the Sand Village. Determined to prove Konoha’s strength, he leads 197 volunteers in a nighttime attack on the enemy camp. His Wind Style attacks cannot overcome the Third Kazekage’s defenses, while the Kazekage and Bunpuku slaughter the attacking force 20.

Danzo loses his right arm and escapes only because two Leaf ninja carry him away. The Kazekage deliberately permits his retreat. In hospital, Danzo repeatedly relives the defeat and suffers mental instability requiring medical intervention 20 21.

Afterward, he becomes markedly darker and directs experiments involving the First Hokage’s cells. When researchers report a shortage of subjects, he orders more people captured from the ongoing war. Hiruzen increasingly entrusts him with unsavory work and tacitly permits Root’s expansion 27.

Experiments and Intelligence Operations

Danzo had cooperated with Hanzo during the Second Shinobi World War to eliminate unstable elements within their respective territories. Hanzo later cuts those ties as Su Zheng’s strength grows, removing Danzo’s hidden assets. Danzo responds by sending new spies to monitor Su Zheng’s household and associates 49.

His alliance with Orochimaru accelerates research into Hashirama’s body. Root abducts experimental subjects outside Konoha, including children from Yufeng Village, while disguising the operation’s connection to the Leaf Village 54.

Orochimaru eventually supplies Danzo with a replacement right arm containing twelve Sharingan. Danzo subsequently joins the retaliatory operation against the Cloud Village, insisting on independent action rather than overall command. During the raid, he orders Root to leave no survivors and fights the Third Raikage with Wood Style. Both are wounded before Root captains extract Danzo 69 84 86.

Expansion of Root

Obtaining Wood Style broadens Danzo’s ambitions beyond village politics. He distributes intelligence to manipulate conflicts among other villages, though repeated infiltration attempts against the Land of Rain fail 91.

When Konoha and Sunagakure form an alliance, Danzo privately prepares to seize the Sand Village’s gold mine. He assigns reanimated Troy and Kari to the operation and orders Root to kill promising foreign ninja if doing so will provoke war 169.

After undergoing Sage power grafting and acquiring the Mangekyo Sharingan, he refuses Hiruzen’s request to command the defensive line against Iwagakure. By this period, Root has expanded to roughly three thousand members—far beyond the several hundred Hiruzen had tacitly permitted 181 191 209.

War and the Gold-Mine Operation

During Iwagakure’s invasion of Konoha, Danzo withholds Root from the fighting and orders its members kept out of the crossfire. Meanwhile, Root’s gold-mine force returns with a reported two thousand tons of gold ore, converted into ingots and stored in a scroll. Danzo regards the proceeds as funding for further expansion 218 222.

He later commits Root to the war, explicitly seeking credit for improving the village’s position. On the Mist battlefield, he kills enemy ninja with Wind and Wood Style, captures the Kaguya Brothers for research, and clashes with Mizukage Kondo Takashi 226.

When Hiruzen resigns, Danzo declines to contest Minato Namikaze’s stronger candidacy. He instead prioritizes accumulating power. Under Minato’s administration, he continues research into the Kaguya Brothers’ life force, expands his reanimated forces, and investigates recreating the Mist’s Ninja Swords 231 236.

Coup and Appointment as Fifth Hokage

After the masked Su Zheng attacks Minato and Kushina during childbirth, Danzo exploits the leadership crisis. He orders Root to seize the village’s defenses, intercepts the injured Hiruzen, and absorbs his chakra and stored Sage power 239.

Danzo then subjects Hiruzen to genjutsu, while Root captains seal the former Hokage’s remaining abilities. Hiruzen publicly withdraws on health grounds and recommends Danzo as Fifth Hokage 240.

The appointment receives unanimous approval. Before the vote, Danzo meets the major clan heads and displays his Mangekyo Sharingan; the Daimyo also approves out of fear. Once installed, Danzo maintains surveillance over Hiruzen and reviews reports of Minato’s students questioning the abrupt succession 240.

Appearance

• Concealing robes and cane: Appears with his body hidden beneath robes and walks using a cane 84 236.
• Bandaged eye: The account describes his left eye as covered during the Cloud operation and his right eye as bandaged in later scenes 84 169 218.
• Modified right arm: Replaces his amputated arm with Orochimaru’s artificial arm containing twelve Three-Tomoe Sharingan; it can sprout wood and transform into branches 69 86 239.
• Mangekyo pattern: His eyes display a four-pointed windmill pattern. Hiruzen confirms that he possesses a pair of Mangekyo Sharingan 240.

Personality

Danzo initially treats compromise as an intolerable humiliation. He accuses Hiruzen of failing their teacher’s trust by considering peace and insists that Konoha must fight even if victory is impossible. His speech before the Sand camp attack inspires volunteers to undertake a mission they expect may kill them 20.

The defeat becomes a lasting source of trauma and resentment. His missing arm reminds him of his helplessness, and that memory helps drive his willingness to accept experimental modifications and increasingly brutal methods 21 27 69.

As his power grows, personal ambition displaces his professed devotion to the village. He regards strength and capable subordinates as the foundation of future authority, withholds Root while Konoha suffers, and intervenes when he can claim credit. His aims expand to controlling the Ninja World and surpassing the First Hokage’s achievements 169 181 207 218 226.

Despite his early recklessness, the stronger Danzo becomes patient about political opportunities. He recognizes Minato’s advantage in the Fourth Hokage selection and postpones his bid rather than confronting him directly. He later turns a sudden crisis into a tightly controlled transfer of power 231 239 240.

Abilities & Skills

Wood Style

Danzo acquires Wood Style through Orochimaru’s research and bodily modification. Its effectiveness increases alongside his growing chakra reserves 86 126 226.

• Silent Killing Restraint: Used against the Third Raikage 86.
• Violent Spear Technique: Roots wood from his right arm into the ground to intercept an attack; the Third Raikage nevertheless breaks through and strikes his chest 86.
• Hellish Chaos: Raises masses of branches that impale opponents. Against the Raikage, the wood grows inside his body and forces him to abandon his finishing attack 86 226.
• Deep Forest Emergence: Engulfs battlefields, overwhelms the Kaguya Brothers’ bone forest, and attacks enemy ninja with rapidly growing wood 226.
• Adamantine Wood Man: Used in his confrontation with Kondo Takashi 226.
• Recovery and absorption: His chest wound heals during the Raikage battle; later, his transformed arm drains Hiruzen’s chakra and Sage power 86 239.
• Environmental construction: Uses Wood Style to create a large underground space for his private operations 236.

Sharingan and Genjutsu

Danzo’s artificial arm contains twelve Three-Tomoe Sharingan. His ocular progression later produces a pair of Mangekyo Sharingan 69 181 240.

• His ocular power is associated with Uchiha Kagami’s eyes, although Kagami’s death leaves him unable to consult their original owner 182.
• He initially lacks detailed knowledge of Mangekyo abilities and relies on Root to investigate Uchiha secrets 182.
• Uses genjutsu to restrict Hiruzen’s mind and prevent him from exposing or resisting the coup 240.
• Displays his Mangekyo to intimidate political leaders into approving his accession 240.
• Recognizes Susanoo as a major Mangekyo power, but the provided account does not document him using it 182.

Sage Power

Orochimaru’s grafting procedure exposes Danzo to violent power that erodes his body and causes trees to grow uncontrollably. He uses his Sharingan to direct that growth downward and survives the process 181.

• Risks his life to obtain Sage power rather than remaining satisfied with Wood Style 181.
• Later absorbs all of Hiruzen’s available chakra and stored Sage power 239.
• Attempts to develop powerful modified ninja, but few subjects tolerate violent Sage power; high mortality keeps mass production unstable 236.

Wind Style, Water Style, and Swordsmanship

• Vacuum Wave: Launches a cutting wind attack against the Third Kazekage 20.
• Vacuum Great Ball: Fires high-pressure air projectiles against the Kazekage and Mist ninja 20 226.
• Wind-enhanced shuriken: Uses spinning projectiles and their collisions to attack a defensive blind spot 20.
• Water Collision Wave: Overpowers Root captains’ combined Fire and Wind attacks, then breaks their defensive earth walls 181.
• Chakra sword combat: Deflects projectiles and breaks enemy swords, including a Lightning-enhanced blade. Wind chakra further strengthens its cutting power 181 226.

Impure World Reincarnation

Danzo learns the forbidden technique to build an obedient force from deceased ninja 169 236.

• Documented operatives: Troy, Kari, Dark Style ninja associated with Motomaru, four deceased Ninja Swordsmen, and other ninja 236.
• Uses genjutsu-controlled living ninja as sacrifices and inserts control talismans into the reanimated bodies 236.
• Erases the revived swordsmen’s personalities, turning them into killing machines that obey his orders 236.
• Cannot obtain the Third Raikage’s corpse or the missing remains of the First and Second Hokage 169.
• Recognizes that the revived swordsmen’s combat power is reduced without their weapons and investigates reconstructing them 236.

Espionage and Command

• Maintains an extensive intelligence network capable of tracking high-level movements across the major villages 91 181.
• Plants information to influence foreign military decisions 91.
• Commands Root in abductions, assassinations, resource theft, and political surveillance 54 169 222 240.
• His network has limits: infiltration of the Land of Rain repeatedly fails, and unexpected Mist involvement disrupts his plans 91 108.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Artificial right arm — Orochimaru’s replacement limb, fitted with twelve Three-Tomoe Sharingan 69.
• Chakra sword — Drawn from a talisman on his wrist and enhanced with Wind chakra 226.
• Shuriken — Enhanced with wind chakra during the attack on the Third Kazekage 20.
• Walking cane — Used during visits to Hiruzen and political meetings 84 191 236.
• Reanimation control talismans — Inserted into revived ninja to enforce obedience 236.
• Gold-storage scroll — Holds the ingots obtained through Root’s Sand Village operation 222.

Relationships

• Hiruzen Sarutobi — Classmate, longtime comrade, and political partner. Hiruzen supports Root’s growth and initially forgives Danzo’s disastrous attack; Danzo eventually drains, seals, and mentally controls him to seize office 21 27 69 239 240.
• Orochimaru — Research partner responsible for Danzo’s artificial arm and Sage power grafting. Their alliance is mutually exploitative, and Orochimaru secretly prepares to betray him 54 69 181 236.
• Uchiha Hikari — Adopted son and instrument in the betrayal of Uchiha forces. Danzo regards him as expendable and does not protect him when Teruya turns against him 15 22.
• Hanzo — Former covert collaborator. Their alliance ends after Su Zheng’s rise makes Danzo’s assistance unnecessary 49.
• Su Zheng — Frustrates Danzo’s intelligence operations and indirectly limits his reanimation plans by collecting powerful corpses first. Danzo wishes to test himself against him 49 91 169.
• Uchiha Teruya — Negotiating partner and suspected Mangekyo-bearing rival. Danzo recognizes both his ruthlessness toward clan competitors and his concealed strength 19 182.
• Uchiha Fugaku — Benefits from Danzo’s wartime agreement over clan leadership. Later witnesses the coup through his dōjutsu and prepares for the changed political order 19 240.
• Uchiha Kagami — Deceased classmate whose eyes are identified as the source of Danzo’s ocular power 69 182.
• Minato Namikaze — Political competitor whom Danzo initially considers too strong to challenge. Minato’s apparent death creates the opening for Danzo’s accession 231 236 239.
• Tsuru, Tsubasa, and Jin — Root captains who extract Danzo after his battle with the Third Raikage 86.
• Kaguya Brothers — Captured opponents whose extraordinary life force becomes a focus of Danzo’s mass-production research 226 236.

Notable Quotes

“I absolutely refuse. We must fight even if we can't win. How can the Leaf Village submit to the Sand Village!” 20

“Don't worry about that. Our priority now is to continue developing our strength. Only strength is real!” 231

“Hiruzen, your era is about to end!” 239

Trivia

• The author explicitly presents the Sand camp defeat as an explanation for Danzo’s growing darkness and obsession with Sharingan power 20.
• He habitually enters Hiruzen’s office and residence without knocking 84 236.
• The “Danzō Katō” reported killed during the war is a separate character, not Shimura Danzo 21.