Danzo

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Shimura Danzō (Danzo; 团藏) 19
Alias(es)	“Darkness of the Shinobi,” used by Obito 110
Gender	Male 14
Affiliation	Shimura Clan; formerly Konoha’s High Command, Council of Elders, and Root 7 117
Occupation/Role	Former Hokage Advisor and Root leader 23 28 117
Status	Alive; severely crippled and imprisoned in maximum security. Officially designated an S-rank rogue ninja; Root has collapsed 117 135 137
First Appearance	Chapter 5, the earliest appearance in the provided material 5

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Hashirama-cell transplanted arm — pre-existing augmentation	132	Danzo states that he and Orochimaru spent over a decade researching Hashirama cells, with dozens of subjects dying before they barely succeeded in transplanting one arm. Obito later identifies Danzo’s arm as an inferior graft 144.
Acquisition of Shisui’s right Mangekyō Sharingan	99 101	Steals Shisui’s right eye during a poisoned ambush. Later keeps it in nutrient solution and recognizes its potential to unleash Kotoamatsukami; implantation or actual use is not documented.

Appearance

• Elderly, withered features: His face is described as aged and sinister, with gaunt hands and deeply wrinkled cheeks 87 104 134.
• One exposed eye: Usually appears with his right eye covered by thick bandages 95 99.
• Black clothing: Frequently wears black robes or a black coat 96 101.
• Cane or crutch: Uses it while walking and repeatedly strikes it against the ground during confrontations 14 19 106.
• Severe later injuries: By his capture, he is missing an arm. Chikage subsequently destroys both knees and his remaining arm, leaving him unable to form hand seals normally 134 135.

Personality

Danzo treats personal control as the foundation of village security. He dismisses Shisui’s loyalty because Kotoamatsukami remains outside his possession, and he regards rules as subordinate to coercive power. His claim that everything he does serves Konoha accompanies unauthorized arrests, assassination attempts, and preparations for exterminating the Uchiha 57 66 99.

His hostility toward the Uchiha combines institutional prejudice with personal resentment. Being forced to acknowledge a 350,000-ryō debt enrages him not merely because of the expense, but because it establishes that Root must obey ordinary police procedures. Chikage’s growing influence turns that humiliation into a sustained campaign of retaliation 23 28 85.

Despite his frequent outbursts, Danzo can calculate political consequences. He initially rejects killing Chikage because the death could give Fugaku grounds to appeal to the Daimyo. He also investigates the masked man before accepting his offer, and temporarily suspends Root’s provocations to avoid disrupting preparations 28 67.

His composure deteriorates as his authority collapses. He strikes subordinates who repeat damaging rumors, sacrifices operatives in an attempt to frame the Uchiha, and finally attempts a suicidal sealing technique after being publicly captured 28 115 134.

Abilities & Skills

Root Command and Covert Operations

• Commands a private armed organization whose members conduct surveillance, interrogation, assassination, and staged disturbances 11 14 57.
• Uses provocateurs to bait Military Police officers into confrontations that can be presented as Uchiha misconduct 7 57.
• Deploys specialized assassination teams, including elite operatives A and B and twenty additional ninja for the Sunset Gorge ambush 85.
• Relies on secrecy and deniability, including disguising killings as rogue-ninja attacks and dressing Root operatives in Uchiha police uniforms 85 110.
• Repeatedly underestimates Chikage’s concealed strength and the Uchiha’s expanding Mangekyō capabilities 28 106 115.

Political and Procedural Manipulation

• Reframes Yashiro’s unauthorized arrest as routine assistance with an investigation, then accuses the Uchiha of pressuring the Hokage 19.
• Uses his Hokage Advisor seal to send Chikage on a border assignment intended to expose him to an ambush 39.
• Exploits reports of the police officers’ deaths to push for Anbu control of South Street 101.
• His official orders and signed payment documents become evidence that Chikage uses against him 26 61.

Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal

• Uses the seal to silence Root operatives and prevent disclosure of organizational secrets 61 116.
• The operatives’ cursed seals also compel obedience during the attack on the Daimyo 115.
• Its distinctive appearance allows foreign witnesses to identify the disguised attackers as Danzo’s men 116.

Wind Release

• Unleashes Wind Release during the ambush on Shisui, alongside Root’s restraints and an Aburame operative’s neurotoxin-bearing insects 99.
• No named Wind Release technique is documented in the provided material.

Hashirama-Cell Research

• Conducts prolonged research with Orochimaru into Hashirama-cell transplantation 132.
• Seized experiment logs document lethal trials involving Konoha orphans and civilians, with a Hokage’s Office clearance stamp appearing in the records 120.
• His transplanted arm does not approach the quality of Chikage’s Sage Body and Wood Release 132 144.

Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique

• A forbidden, self-destructive seal inscribed on his chest, intended to draw nearby living beings and buildings into his corpse 134.
• Its stated reach extends hundreds of meters 134.
• Chikage interrupts its activation with a concentrated Lightning Release chakra needle, cutting off the seal’s chakra supply and severely damaging Danzo’s pathways 134.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Cane/crutch — his recurring walking aid 14 106.
• Kunai — drawn when the masked man unexpectedly enters his office 65 66.
• Hokage Advisor seal — used to issue Chikage’s border-investigation assignment 39.
• Shisui’s right eye and nutrient-solution vessel — retained after the Maple Forest ambush 99 101.
• Uchiha defense files — surveillance records repurposed for preparations to exterminate the clan 66.

Relationships

• Hiruzen Sarutobi — decades-long friend and political protector who appointed him Hokage Advisor. Their disputes deepen over Danzo’s overreach; Hiruzen eventually declares him a rogue ninja, but later tries unsuccessfully to reclaim him from police custody 23 26 117 135 137.
• Uchiha Chikage — principal adversary. Danzo moves from dismissing him as an insignificant genin to attempting abduction and assassination; Chikage ultimately exposes, captures, and cripples him 28 85 133 135.
• Uchiha Fugaku — opposing clan leader. Danzo fears that attacking Chikage could give Fugaku political leverage, yet later prepares to cooperate in destroying Fugaku’s clan 28 66.
• Uchiha Yashiro — target of an unauthorized arrest and coerced-confession attempt. Yashiro’s later Susanoo leaves Danzo visibly terrified 14 106.
• Shimura Ken — nephew whose vandalism and extortion trigger the South Street dispute and Danzo’s compensation obligation 18 26.
• Uchiha Shisui — initially a mediator, then a target for eye theft. Danzo steals his right eye and mistakenly believes his staged suicide is genuine 39 99 101 133.
• Obito / the masked “Madara Uchiha” — dangerous, distrustful collaborator. Their shared goal of destroying the Uchiha leads to massacre preparations and a plot against the Daimyo, although Obito pursues valuable records for himself 66 67 110 129.
• Orochimaru — research partner and later accomplice in the attack on South Street. Orochimaru abandons Danzo when Chikage defeats the reanimated Tobirama 127 132.
• Homura and Koharu — fellow advisers who initially defend Root, but oppose some of Danzo’s retaliatory demands when evidence and public scrutiny make them politically dangerous 18 26 95.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Relocation Dispute and South Street Provocation

Danzo advocates arresting Uchiha leaders rather than accepting their costly relocation demands. Hiruzen rejects force because a battle could devastate Konoha and invite outside attack. Danzo also refuses to postpone Root’s equipment funding to help cover the settlement 5.

Root subsequently arrests Yashiro while Shimura clansmen vandalize Uchiha shops. In Root’s prison, Danzo pressures Yashiro to sign a confession declaring that the Uchiha intended to incite a riot. Chikage brings evidence to the Hokage Building, while Fugaku mobilizes the clan 7 14 15 16.

Chikage exposes the absence of a Hokage-issued Red Writ authorizing Yashiro’s detention. Unable to contain the dispute without damaging the leadership’s legitimacy, Hiruzen forces Danzo to acknowledge 350,000 ryō in fines, compensation, and bond, and orders Yashiro’s release 19 22 23 24.

Retaliation and the Border Mission

Danzo initially orders Chikage captured alive, hoping to exploit his intelligence without creating a martyr. After the police reject an incomplete payment and demand a 17,500-ryō late fee, he instead uses an official border assignment to move Chikage outside Konoha 28 39.

Four Root attackers fail to capture Chikage and are brought back in chains. Danzo denies knowing them, then attempts to transfer them to Anbu custody. Chikage uses Danzo’s own assignment and the logged weapons to retain police control of the investigation 54 61.

Cooperation with the Masked Man

A masked intruder calling himself Madara Uchiha offers to exterminate the clan if Konoha’s security forces are withdrawn. Danzo sends an elite Shadow squad to investigate him; all three operatives disappear without a trace. Despite the danger, Danzo agrees to cooperate and promises to divert Anbu surveillance 66 67.

He temporarily halts Root’s clashes with the police while preparing the opening. His plans include capturing Chikage and taking his eyes 66 67.

Sunset Gorge and the False Massacre

When Chikage travels toward the capital with Yashiro, Inabi, and Tekka, Danzo ignores Hiruzen’s prohibition on interference. He sends A, B, and twenty operatives to kill the delegation, seize its money, and recover the three commanders’ Sharingan 85.

Danzo’s apparent execution of Chikage and slaughter of Yashiro’s family occur inside a genjutsu, not as actual killings. The vision triggers Yashiro’s Mangekyō awakening; the real Root ambush is defeated, and the attackers’ bodies and equipment become evidence for an appeal to the nobles 87 88 90 93.

Danzo later accepts a false report that all four officers died and uses it to secure an Anbu takeover order for South Street. Their return with Minister Asano overturns his assumptions, and Yashiro subsequently confronts him with Susanoo 101 103 104 106.

Theft of Shisui’s Eye

After Shisui reveals Kotoamatsukami, Danzo sees the technique as both an uncontrollable threat and a route to the Hokage position. He presses for seizure of the eyes and interprets Hiruzen’s guarded remarks as tacit approval 96.

At the midnight meeting in Maple Forest, Root poisons and restrains Shisui, enabling Danzo to tear out his right eye. Shisui escapes and is rescued by Uchiha forces acting on Chikage’s warning. A staged suicide convinces Danzo that Shisui is dead 98 99 100 101.

Daimyo Assassination Plot and Disgrace

As Root’s finances deteriorate, Danzo and Obito devise a plot to kill the Daimyo and Minister Asano, then frame the Uchiha. The plan combines explosive tags beneath the viewing stand with Root operatives disguised as police officers 110 117.

After Root headquarters is destroyed, Danzo orders twelve disguised operatives to attack anyway. Yashiro, Inabi, and Tekka capture them, and Chikage exposes their Root markings and tongue seals before foreign witnesses 114 115 116.

Evidence of 50,000 planted explosive tags and the operatives’ memories makes protection untenable. Under the Daimyo’s threat to freeze 3.5 billion ryō in military funding, Hiruzen dismisses Danzo from his offices, strips his ninja status, and declares him an S-rank rogue wanted dead or alive 117.

Capture and Maximum-Security Imprisonment

Danzo joins Orochimaru’s attack involving the reanimated Tobirama, while encouraging Obito to steal seized funds and Hashirama-cell research records from police headquarters. Chikage defeats Tobirama, Orochimaru escapes, and Obito’s intrusion is repelled 127 129 132 133.

Chikage finds Danzo hiding in rubble and arrests him publicly. Danzo’s attempt to activate the Reverse Four Symbols Seal fails, and Hiruzen’s intervention does not prevent Chikage from destroying his knees and remaining arm 133 134 135.

The Military Police retain custody under Daimyo-backed jurisdiction. Danzo is taken to maximum security, while the Hokage’s Office accepts a separate 500-million-ryō compensation obligation for the damage to the Special Economic Zone 136 137.

Notable Quotes

“Root walks in darkness to protect Konoha!” 5

“I want him alive.” 28

“I trust only the power I hold in my own hands.” 99

“Everything I did was for Konoha!” 133