Danzō Shimura

1. 1
   In Hiruzen's shadowDebut Arc · Chūnin Exams

   Always the second man

   Danzō grows up beside Hiruzen Sarutobi, and never escapes the place just behind him. When Hiruzen takes the hat, the inadequacy hardens into something Danzō spends his whole life answering.

2. 2
   The founding of Root

   An ANBU loyal only to him

   Danzō builds Root — a hidden branch of ANBU answering to him rather than the Hokage. Its operatives are raised to suppress every emotion, tools shaped to serve his vision of Konoha.

3. 3
   The war hawk's shadow rule

   The work the village would not own

   Danzō runs the operations Konoha could never claim — certain that the village survives only through force kept out of the light, and willing to be the one who keeps it there.

4. 4
   The Uchiha massacre

   The order behind the order

   Danzō's hand is behind the decision that pushes Itachi Uchiha to destroy his own clan — a coup prevented, in Danzō's accounting, at a price he was always willing to have someone else pay.

5. 5
   The stolen eyes

   An arm of Sharingan

   Danzō takes Shisui Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan for his eye, an arm set with ten more Sharingan, and Hashirama's cells from Orochimaru — and, after Pain's attack, is named the Sixth Hokage candidate.

6. 6
   Death at Sasuke's hand

   The last stolen eye

   Sasuke Uchiha hunts Danzō down for the Uchiha and for Itachi. Danzō burns through every Sharingan in his arm to survive on Izanagi — and dies the moment the last eye is spent.

Danzō was a schemer before he was a fighter, but he made himself dangerous the way he made everything — through what he could take. His right arm, cut from a dead Uchiha, held ten Sharingan harvested after the clan's massacre, each one fuel for the forbidden Izanagi. His eye held Shisui's stolen Mangekyō. His truest weapon, though, was never on his body: it was Root.

Play today's Narutodle or browse past answers.

• Who is Danzō Shimura?+

  Danzō Shimura is a Konoha elder and the founder of Root, a hidden branch of the village's ANBU. A self-styled protector of Konoha, he steered events from the shadows for decades, and was briefly named the Sixth Hokage candidate.
• What is Root?+

  Root, or the Foundation, was a secret subdivision of Konoha's ANBU, founded and led by Danzō. Its operatives were raised to suppress all emotion and to act on Danzō's orders alone, outside the Hokage's oversight.
• What is Danzō's Sharingan arm?+

  Danzō replaced his right arm with one taken from Shin Uchiha and implanted it with ten Sharingan harvested after the Uchiha clan massacre. The eyes powered his use of Izanagi; his right eye held Shisui Uchiha's stolen Mangekyō Sharingan.
• What is Izanagi?+

  Izanagi is a forbidden technique of the Uchiha. While active, the user's body becomes a physical illusion, nullifying any injury they take. Danzō used the Sharingan in his arm to fuel it, each eye extending how long he could keep it running.
• How did Danzō die?+

  Danzō was hunted down and killed by Sasuke Uchiha, who sought revenge for the Uchiha clan and for Itachi. Danzō burned through every Sharingan in his arm to survive with Izanagi, and died once the last eye was spent.
• Has Danzō Shimura been a Narutodle answer?+

  Danzō is in the daily answer pool of 210 characters. The Previous Narutodle Appearances list on this page shows every date he was the Classic answer, each linking to a replayable archive puzzle.
• How do you guess Danzō in Narutodle?+

  Danzō's Kekkei Genkai column is unusual — Sharingan and Wood Release together, both implanted rather than inherited. His Nature Types column runs to six, and his Konoha village and Jōnin rank trim a little.