Danzo

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Shimura Danzo (团藏) 34 132
Alias(es)	“Hokage in the shadows” — his self-proclaimed position 7
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Konohagakure; Root 7
Occupation/Role	Root leader; Konoha advisor; Hokage’s assistant; later entrusted with ANBU training and army command 16 57 122 138
Status	Alive; commanding Konoha forces in the Land of Rain at his latest documented appearance 139
First Appearance	Mentioned in the intelligence used to expose Matsuda Shan; appears directly at Root’s underground base afterward 6 7

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Kage-level strength — established baseline	34	Identified among Konoha’s Kage-level experts when Chiba reviews the power balance at the end of the Second Shinobi World War.
Wood Release and multiple Sharingan acquired	109	Orochimaru replaces his lost right arm with a White Zetsu arm bearing several Sharingan. The transplant grants Wood Release, but its practical effectiveness is extremely poor; no new overall rank is stated.

Background / History

Supporting Hiruzen and founding Root

Danzo helped Hiruzen Sarutobi win the Second Shinobi World War and consolidate his position as Hokage. Afterward, he withdrew into the shadows and began building Root from an underground base. At the beginning of the story, the organization still lacks the strength it would possess in the original timeline, with many prospective operatives undergoing childhood training 7.

Information used to expose Matsuda Shan links Danzo and Hiruzen to the elimination of advisors inherited from Tobirama Senju. Chiba points to the advisors’ successive deaths after Hiruzen’s position stabilized as evidence of this political purge 6.

Conflict with Chiba Shun

Root secretly obstructed the establishment of Ninja Academies in Kumogakure, Kirigakure, and Sunagakure. When Kumogakure’s Academy unexpectedly began expanding with the Raikage’s support, Danzo sent Matsuda Shan to infiltrate it through Chiba Shun and conduct internal sabotage. Matsuda’s exposure and death prompted Danzo to order Chiba’s immediate assassination 6 7.

Root attacked Chiba’s exchange delegation during its journey to Konoha. Chiba’s forced march brought the group close enough to the village that a second assassination team withdrew rather than risk an attack there. Danzo nevertheless remained determined to eliminate the delegation and later asked Hiruzen to surrender Chiba to Root for interrogation; Hiruzen refused 13 14 15.

Bargaining over White Fang

Chiba secretly contacted Danzo with an offer of Kumogakure’s support for his bid to become Fourth Hokage. The proposed arrangement targeted Sakumo Hatake, whose reputation made him a dangerous competitor: Kumogakure would engineer a choice between completing a mission and rescuing comrades, undermining Sakumo’s standing whichever choice he made 16.

Danzo initially resisted paying with Konoha’s techniques, but accepted after Chiba framed the exchange as using Hiruzen’s resources for Danzo’s personal benefit. The negotiated initial payment was twenty C-rank, fifteen B-rank, and two A-rank jutsu, with no S-rank techniques 17.

After White Fang’s suicide, Hiruzen suspected cooperation between Kumogakure, Chiba, and Danzo. He assigned Danzo to guard the Land of Grass border against Iwagakure, preventing him from exploiting Hiruzen’s absence in Konoha. Danzo accepted only after receiving White Fang’s trusted subordinates, whom he intended to force into Root and bind with cursed seals 24.

Loss of the Kumogakure intelligence network

Danzo mobilized Root operatives and Konoha intelligence personnel to destroy the Byakugan bloodline that had reached Kumogakure. The operation failed, leaving Konoha’s intelligence network there almost completely paralyzed 45 46.

Rather than expose the failure to Hiruzen, Danzo faced an offer from the Third Raikage: Kumogakure would preserve a communication channel and periodically supply intelligence in exchange for techniques and a Yin Release cultivation method. Danzo supplied a scroll containing a sealed soul, expecting Kumogakure’s lack of specialists to make it useless. Chiba instead developed a workable training procedure from it 46 49 50.

Suppressing Minato’s advancement

Danzo accused Minato Namikaze of leaking the Rasengan to Chiba and demanded that Minato receive the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal. Hiruzen rejected the accusation and the proposed punishment. Danzo continued pursuing Minato because controlling him might also provide influence over Kushina Uzumaki, the Nine-Tails’ jinchūriki 54.

After a Hyuga spy reported Minato studying Flying Thunder God, Danzo confronted him, surrounded the area with Root forces, and confiscated the training scroll and Tobirama’s marked swords. His attempt to seal Minato was interrupted by Hiruzen and ANBU 57.

Danzo then used Minato’s intention to teach an Uchiha as an argument against entrusting him with Flying Thunder God. Hiruzen accepted a two-year delay and arranged Senjutsu training instead. Danzo later also blocked Minato’s appointment to Konoha’s advisory council, prompting Hiruzen to strengthen Minato through renewed access to Flying Thunder God 58 110.

The failed Rinnegan operation

Danzo gained increased funding, management of Konoha’s orphanage, permission to recruit suitable orphans, and some of Orochimaru’s subordinates in exchange for not impeaching Hiruzen over Orochimaru’s activities. These reinforcements encouraged him to pursue a larger prize: Nagato’s Rinnegan 64.

After confirming the eyes through a Hyuga subordinate’s Byakugan, Danzo cooperated with Hanzō against Akatsuki. He first arranged for Akatsuki to fight Sunagakure’s forces, using their lives to reveal and exhaust Nagato’s ocular power. Root and Rain shinobi then surrounded the surviving Akatsuki members 64 65 66.

Danzo ordered his operatives to harass the injured Yahiko and Konan to divide Nagato’s attention. He initially intended to keep them alive, fearing the consequences of provoking an ocular-jutsu wielder. A Rain shinobi’s attack on Konan instead led to Yahiko’s death and Nagato’s summoning of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path 66.

Danzo subsequently tried to manipulate Jiraiya into restraining Nagato and taking the Rinnegan. The operation ended catastrophically: Danzo returned to Konoha heavily wounded, missing an eye and his right arm, escorted by only four surviving Root shinobi who had avoided the main battle. Kumogakure recovered valuable techniques from fallen Konoha and Root personnel, although Danzo’s separately held Flying Thunder God scroll escaped capture 66 69 70.

Rebuilding Root and acquiring implants

After losing Root’s elites, Danzo sought Orochimaru’s help with a replacement arm. Orochimaru demanded his Kumogakure intelligence network in return. Danzo also blamed Chiba for Orochimaru’s losses, hoping to direct Orochimaru’s hostility toward him; the accusation happened to identify the actual strategist behind the raid 74.

Danzo ordered Sharingan-transplant research and used his authority as Hokage’s assistant to enter sealed archives, taking Hashirama’s cells and forbidden experimental records. His attempt to gain control of Kushina was blocked by Utatane Koharu, acting under Hiruzen’s written orders 74 75.

He rebuilt Root by recruiting Torune from the Aburame Clan and Fu from the Yamanaka Clan, coercing smaller clans into surrendering talented children, and taking talented civilian students from the Academy’s two oldest classes. His renewed partnership with Orochimaru exchanged funding and research materials for scientific expertise 75 82.

Orochimaru eventually transplanted a White Zetsu arm carrying several Sharingan onto Danzo. Although the new arm granted ineffective Wood Release, Danzo regarded possession of both bloodline abilities as another step toward becoming Hokage 109.

Expanding institutional control

Chiba later sold Danzo intelligence about Hiruzen’s concealed agreement with Kirigakure and the loss of three ANBU squads for twenty million ryo. Danzo used Koharu and Homura to confront Hiruzen, then secured responsibility for ANBU training. The assignment gave him opportunities to recruit radical-minded shinobi into his faction 122.

During the confrontation with Hyuga Main House head Dehong, Danzo threatened to impose his cursed seal and helped pressure him into surrendering the Caged Bird training method. Hiruzen excluded Danzo from the transcription, but Fu used Mind Body Switch to observe it through a Hyuga spy’s Byakugan. The spy died when Dehong activated her Caged Bird; Fu survived and reproduced the method for Danzo 132.

Return to the Land of Rain

Following Sasori’s defection, Danzo’s Root contacted him, and Danzo took command of a newly assembled Konoha army. Hiruzen ordered him into the Land of Rain despite his objections. Danzo planned to win Sasori’s support, gain loyal followers through military achievements, and divert the region’s funding into Root 138.

He arrived with 1,500 shinobi, only to find the former Rain village deserted and Sasori gone. The uncontested occupation denied him the victory and spoils he wanted. Within ten days, Sasori returned alongside Kakuzu and the Six Paths of Pain, following Chiba’s efforts to encourage Akatsuki intervention 139.

Appearance

• Battle injuries: Lost an eye and his right arm during the failed Land of Rain operation 70 74.
• Replacement arm: Received a White Zetsu arm transplanted by Orochimaru 109.
• Implanted eyes: Several Sharingan were embedded in the replacement arm 109.

Personality

Danzo considers himself Konoha’s true ruler in the shadows and regards the Hokage’s office as rightfully his. Early on, he dismisses Chiba as a minor target and views only figures such as Ōnoki as worthy opponents. His fixation on succession makes him especially hostile toward techniques associated with the First and Second Hokage, whose mastery could strengthen another candidate’s legitimacy 7 54 57.

His ambition can override personal resentment. Despite wanting Chiba dead, he tolerates insults and bargains with him when cooperation offers a route to the Hokage’s seat. He also exchanges Konoha’s secrets for private political advantages and uses intelligence to turn Hiruzen’s own advisors against him 16 17 122.

Danzo treats subordinates as instruments of control, binding them with cursed seals and indoctrinating children to seek his approval. He is nevertheless cautious about his own survival: during the Akatsuki operation, he sends operatives into danger first and initially avoids killing Nagato’s companions because he fears an uncontrolled ocular-power response 16 66 122.

Abilities & Skills

Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal

Danzo uses this cursed seal to enforce control over Root and other targeted shinobi 6 24 57.

• Plans to seal White Fang’s former subordinates upon incorporating them into Root 24.
• Uses sealed Hyuga Branch House members as surveillance assets 57.
• Attempts to impose the seal on Minato and threatens Dehong with it; Hiruzen blocks both actions 57 132.

Espionage and Political Manipulation

Danzo’s operations combine infiltration, assassination, surveillance, institutional authority, and pressure on rival factions 7 57 122.

• Sabotages rival villages’ Academy development through covert operatives 7.
• Uses Byakugan surveillance and Fu’s Mind Body Switch to obtain guarded information 57 64 132.
• Exploits Hiruzen’s scandals to gain funding, recruits, and responsibility for ANBU training 64 122.
• His Kumogakure network suffers devastating losses, and later replacements fail to form an effective network 46 122.

Ocular Bloodline Knowledge and Sharingan

Danzo is described as one of the shinobi world’s foremost experts on ocular Bloodline Limits, although he initially does not know the Rinnegan’s specific abilities 65.

• Uses other combatants to expose and drain Nagato’s ocular power before attempting capture 65 66.
• Acquires several implanted Sharingan through Orochimaru’s surgery 109.
• No specific Sharingan technique used by Danzo is documented in the provided events.

Wood Release

The White Zetsu arm grants Danzo Wood Release 109.

• Obtains the ability before Kumogakure’s Yamato reveals his own Wood Release 109.
• Its performance is described as effectively useless in practice 109.

Ninjutsu Knowledge

Danzo has access to Konoha’s restricted techniques and previously studied the Scroll of Seals alongside Hiruzen 57.

• Can verify the authenticity of Flying Thunder God’s training scroll, but lacks talent for Space-Time Ninjutsu 57 58.
• Supplies a sealed-soul training method that Chiba successfully adapts to improve Yin Release 49 50.
• Obtains the Caged Bird training method through Fu; his subsequent plan to control an unsealed Branch House child remains a plan at that point 132.

Equipment / Items

• White Zetsu replacement arm — Bears several Sharingan and grants Wood Release 109.
• Flying Thunder God training scroll — Confiscated from Minato and retained separately from the Root operatives whose bodies Kumogakure recovered 57 69.
• Tobirama’s two marked long swords — Confiscated alongside Minato’s training scroll 57.
• Hashirama cells and experimental records — Removed from Konoha’s sealed archives and used as resources for Orochimaru’s research 74 109.
• Caged Bird training method — Reproduced for him by Fu after the espionage operation against Hiruzen’s office 132.

Relationships

• Hiruzen Sarutobi — Former ally and principal political rival. Hiruzen relies on his capabilities but repeatedly restricts his access to potential power bases 7 24 75 132.
• Tobirama Senju — Teacher. Danzo invokes Tobirama’s distrust of the Uchiha while privately believing Tobirama chose the wrong Hokage successor 57 58 66.
• Chiba Shun — Assassination target, enemy strategist, and occasional trading partner. Danzo resents both Chiba’s destruction of his intelligence network and his recognition as the “Shadow of the Cloud Shinobi” 7 17 122.
• Orochimaru — Research partner who provides transplantation expertise in exchange for Danzo’s funding, cells, and other resources 74 82 109.
• Minato Namikaze — Prospective asset and feared succession rival. Danzo seeks to control him while obstructing his access to Flying Thunder God and political promotion 54 57 110.
• Kushina Uzumaki — Target of attempts to control the Nine-Tails and influence Minato 54 75.
• Sakumo Hatake — Hokage competitor whom Danzo agrees to undermine; Sakumo’s former subordinates later strengthen Root 16 24.
• Hanzō — Temporary collaborator in the failed operation against Akatsuki 64 65 66.
• Nagato — Targeted for his Rinnegan; his retaliation destroys Root’s elite force and leaves Danzo severely wounded 66 70.
• Jiraiya — Konoha shinobi whose duty and attachment to Nagato Danzo attempts to exploit during the Rinnegan operation 66.
• Fu and Torune — Talented child recruits used to rebuild Root. Fu later obtains the Caged Bird method for him 75 132.
• Dehong Hyuga — Clan leader whom Danzo threatens and secretly spies on to acquire the Caged Bird method 132.

Notable Quotes

“List Chiba Shun as an assassination target. Carry it out immediately!” 7

“Hiruzen, you will regret this!” 54