Danzo Shimura
Voiced by: Hiroshi Ito (JP), Masayuki Kato (JP, young), William Frederick Knight (EN), Troy Baker (EN, Kizuna Drive), Peter Lurie (EN, young), Alfonso Ramírez (LA Spanish), Mathieu Moreau (French)
Debut: Naruto Chapter 281, Shippuden Episode 32 (Anime)
"To be a shinobi is to sacrifice oneself. Closing your eyes to the sunlight, distinguishing yourself in the shadows. That is the true form of ninja."
A war hawk who ran opposite Sarutobi for the position of the Third Hokage, but lost. Runs ANBU's Root Division, a secret-police-type division of Konoha's military which is zealously loyal to the village (or more accurately, zealously loyal to Danzo personally). (According to Danzo, Root is the unseen support on which the Leaf depends — get it?)
His infrequent appearances (he didn't even appear until Shippuden) belie his importance, as he's evidently been pulling strings behind the scenes for quite some time. He believes Konoha should rule by force, and resents the more diplomatic stances taken by the Third Hokage and his successors, which he believes softens the village's ninja and makes them weak.
It's further revealed that his obsession with ninjas being strong stems from an inferiority complex that's been with him since before Hiruzen was selected as the Third Hokage and from his personal belief that a ninja should be prepared to sacrifice himself for the greater good — a belief he has his subordinates follow to the letter but he himself finds difficult to do. It's also revealed that his rivalry with Sarutobi was less bitter than it seemed to be.
Due to Danzo's draconian beliefs and his need for Konoha's "protection", he ended up causing more problems than he solved.
His hobbies were appreciating famous pictures and keeping diaries.
Favorite word: "fortitude"
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A-H
- Adaptational Villainy: Danzo is no saint, but he's too complex to be written off as completely evil, and his actions, while questionable, are always aimed towards the "good of the village" (or at least his interpretation of what's "good for the village"). Filler arcs of the series tend to make Danzo the main antagonist, particularly during "Kakashi's ANBU Arc", where he was deliberately working with Orochimaru, had a hand in corrupting (at first) a young Yamato, and even tried to kill the Third Hokage! Perhaps most glaring is the fact that during the saga, Danzo deliberately stopped Shisui from using his Kotoamatsukami to halt the Uchiha coup d'etat, reasoning that he would make better use of the technique and is "worried" that Shisui may perform this technique on him. Danzo stopping Shisui admittedly did happen in the manga, but all that is shown of it is Shisui (now with only one eye as Danzo took the other) explaining to Itachi that Danzo didn't trust him. When expounded upon in the original novel version of Itachi Shinden, Danzo's specific reasoning was that while Fugaku may have been leading the coup, there were simply too many hostile Uchiha for Kotoamatsukami to reasonably handle. Ultimately, while Danzo's actions are still cynical and draconian across both mediums, the anime leans more towards his personal ambitions than the manga does.
- Aggressive Negotiations: Planned to sorta do this at the Kage Summit, using Shisui Uchiha’s Sharingan to brainwash Mifune into giving him control over an alliance of all five of the Great Shinobi Countries
- Alas, Poor Villain: His final moments are presented in a surprisingly somber way, with him monologuing about wanting to protect the Leaf, just like Hiruzen did, showing flashbacks to simpler times.
- All for Nothing:
- Downplayed. He kills himself in an attempt to take both Tobi and Sasuke to the grave with him, but fails to kill either. He nonetheless succeeds in stopping the former from acquiring Shisui's Sharingan, robbing their Evil Plan of a very potent weapon.
- This can also ultimately be said for everything he did to protect Konoha and become Hokage. In the long run all his efforts to eliminate potential threats, always made powerful enemies that threatened the Leaf later in the form of Orochimaru, Kabuto, Pain, and Sasuke. And when it looks like he is on his way to cementing his position as Hokage his use of Shisui’s mind controlling genjutsu to guarantee the results gets discovered, and a revenge driven Sasuke attacks the Kage summit, and later kills him. In the end, all he accomplished was creating enemies for the village, and becoming an unofficial foot-note in leadership that doesn’t even appear on the Leaf’s Kage monument.
- Always Someone Better: His entire life was spent with the belief that his former close friend Hiruzen Sarutobi was his superior in every way; stronger, more heroic, wiser, and a better leader. Even in death, Danzo notes that Hiruzen was always walking ahead of him.
- Ambition Is Evil: All his actions are aimed at getting him to the position of Hokage so he can bring stability (or at least, his own idea of stability) to the Land of Fire.
- Arch-Enemy: He is this to Sasuke as Danzo was responsible for the order of the Uchiha massacre and for manipulating Itachi.
- Asshole Victim: Let's face it, Danzo's actions were more negative than good and his personality doesn't really help matters. Even his backstory, while shedding some sympathy on his core character, does not change how all of his cruel actions ultimately seemed to stem from jealousy at Hiruzen's bravery vs. Danzo's own cowardice, and no other subsequent flashbacks showcasing Danzo do anything to create any kind of justification for his worldview. No one really grieved his death when it came, with even Team Kakashi reacting more with a shock that Sasuke had killed a Konoha-nin than any sympathy for the elder.
- Assimilation Backfire: Having all these techniques constantly activated became severely draining on Danzo's reserves of chakra, hence the giant metal brace he wears underneath his clothes. By the time his battle with Sasuke comes to an end, the arm itself starts mutating into a tree, threatening to engulf Danzo's entire body. Danzo manages to save himself by ripping off the arm in time; when one looks closely at the "tree", one can see the imprints of the "closed eyelids" making up the bark. In the space of one battle, Danzo loses nearly all the techniques that made him special.
- The Assimilator: Danzo's right arm, which originally belonged to the villain of the Naruto spinoff, Shin "Uchiha" allows for it to integrate any DNA into itself without fear of rejection. It's the reason why he able to implant that many Sharingan into the arm at once, as well as injecting Senju cells, boosting his natural energy, and achieving Wood Release and Izanagi.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: For someone who rarely fights, Danzo is extremely arrogant. When confronted alone by both Sasuke and the Akatsuki leader Tobi (thought to be THE Madara Uchiha), without a shred of fear he simply claims he's going to kill both and take their Sharingans. He persists even after he's run out of Izanagi uses, been stabbed in the chest, lost control of Hashirama's DNA, and been forced to rip off his own right arm. He only realizes the futility of his continued fighting after being stabbed in the heart, but still tries to take Tobi and Sasuke down with him.
- Awesome, but Impractical: As frightening and powerful as it is, especially through Izanagi spam lengthened by Hashirama cells, Danzo's arm has serious problems.
- Firstly, the fact he has to unveil it in the first place means that outside of a one-on-one confrontation without bystanders (or at least, a group that won't leave until he or them are dead), he can't use it in the first place without raising serious suspicion unless it's a literal do or die situation (and evidently not enough then, since he chose not to fight against Pain, even though with his time limit of effective invulnerability he could've plausibly defeated at least a few Paths and Konan even if he couldn't completely stop the invasion, and if said paths or Konan would be revived anyway).
- Secondly, he isn't from the Uchiha clan, so much like Kakashi, he can't deactivate the sharingan on his arm or in his eye, and he presumably has to keep his sharingan covered not just for pragmatic reasons, but also because so many sharingan, even with the Hashirama cells, might just have drained his chakra so rapidly that keeping it active for long would make Danzo drop dead from exhaustion.
- Third, there was a limited number of sharingan available to him, so he can't fight often, as he can't replace his sharingan indefinitely. The sharingan on his arm may have been the only ones he had.
- Finally, he keeps Shisui's eye hidden as a trump card and otherwise never seems to use it (and thus keeps it covered for the reason above), and doesn't appear able to see through the sharingan on his arm. Thus, he never really copies any jutsu, and shows little to no skill in genjutsu besides using Shisui's eye.
- Badass Transplant: A dozen or so Sharingan eyes. One in his head...and the others in his right arm.
- Bad Boss: It's unlikely you would call a boss who brainwashes his subordinates, giving them their training together and then forcing them to fight to the death with each other "good". Also, he is quite ready to sacrifice his subordinates for his own purposes and/or if he considers them too dangerous for him. On the other hand, he never punishes subordinates for failing or disappointing him, as he considers it his own failure to properly gauge theirs and the enemy's strengths.
- Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: He was given authority and ran the Anbu Division Root to commit all the dirty deeds and brutal wetwork that his colleague Hiruzen couldn't bear to allow due to his distaste for bloodshed. Ends up deconstructed when Hiruzen's unwillingness to get his hands dirty allows Danzo to commit atrocities unregulated for his own ends, and he ends up planning to usurp Hiruzen out of envy and the belief he's too weak a leader to do the dirty deeds he allowed Danzo to complete for years.
- Bastardly Speech: In his pitch to become the Sixth Hokage, Danzo attempts to rally support for his cause by blaming others for problems he himself secretly contributed towards creating. He lies and otherwise obscures the truth so effectively however that very little of it is discovered, or at least proven, prior to his death.
- He blames Konoha’s sympathetic attitude towards other villages for its decay while hiding the fact that he himself previously arranged underground alliances with Amegakure, Otogakure, and possibly Sunagakure.
- He blames the generosity and teachings of Hiruzen and Jiraiya for the rise of Orochimaru and Pain, respectively, as dangerous Leaf threatening terrorists. However, it was Danzo who provoked Pain's radical anti-Konoha beliefs by assisting with Hanzo's slaughter of his allies, and who empowered Orochimaru by training him in Root, covering up his illegal experiments with forbidden ninjutsu, accidentally driving the skilled medic and spy Kabuto into defecting from Konoha into his ranks, leaking the identities of ANBU ninja to him, and possibly assisting with his invasion of Konoha.
- He blames the softness of Tsunade for the departure of Konoha’s last living Uchiha, Sasuke, despite having masterminded the Uchiha massacre that caused the village's lack of Uchiha and ultimately led to Sasuke going rogue.
- He blames all of the above for the growth of Akatsuki as a terrorist organization, despite having potentially kept whatever additional intel he had on Tobi (the Akatsuki's shadow leader) private for years.
- Betrayal by Inaction: He leaves Konoha to fend for itself when Pain attacks, despite being one of the most powerful ninjas in the village.
- Big Bad Ensemble: With Tobi and Orochimaru in the beginning of Shippuden. Orochimaru is killed halfway through the series, and Danzo dies near the end of the series shortly before Tobi kicks off the Fourth Shinobi World War.
- Big Bad Wannabe: For all of his manipulations and aspirations, Danzo's plans crash and burn the moment he begins to grasp success. He never manages to get legitimized as Hokage, his schemes to seize power and cowardice during Sasuke's attack cause the other Kage to distrust him, and he's fatally wounded before killing himself shortly before the climax of the story begins.
- Blow You Away: He knows several wind techniques, all of which involve Razor Wind or vacuum.
- Brainwashing for the Greater Good: One of the foundations of Root. A shinobi must be completely emotionless to achieve the mission at hand, and thus all of Root's training is dedicated to eliminating one's sense of self.
- Body Horror:
- It starts innocently enough — when Ao scans him with the Byakugan, we're told he's not only taken Shisui's eye, but his arm; turns out it wasn't Shisui's arm, but Shin "Uchiha's". Observe closely, and you can clearly see that Danzo has a second face hidden on his arm. And that's merely the beginning; his entire arm is dotted with Sharingan he's taken from dead Uchiha.
- When Danzo loses the arm as a result of being stabbed by Sasuke and it starts growing out of control, Danzo is forced to rip/tear off the "arm" from his body. He's successful but not entirely and he spends the rest of his short lifespan with bits of tree branches jutting out of his side.
- Born in the Wrong Century: Danzo's draconian views and actions in the name of Konoha's "protection" might have been more welcomed with open arms in a far more chaotic and violent era than the increasingly more tamed and peaceful one he lives and grows old in.
- Breath Weapon: With the exception of Vacuum Blade, his vacuum techniques are this, taking the form of cutting waves or piercing bullets. Even his Vacuum Blade technique requires him to blow on the weapon he's channeling his chakra through in order to work.
- Cavalry Refusal: He keeps Root stationed underground while Pain is attacking the village.
- The Chessmaster: Tricked Nono into going after Kabuto after turning him into a spy, manipulated Itachi into slaughtering the Uchiha clan in order to gain their eyes, and placed Sai in Orochimaru's group in order to keep an eye on Sasuke and his former agents.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Throughout his career in the manga he has betrayed Kabuto, Shisui, Hiruzen, Orochimaru, Itachi, Tsunade, Mifune, the other four Kages, and potentially Tobi as well. The anime adds even more victims.
- Corrupt Politician: Willing to orchestrate assassinations, massacres, and terrorist attacks to gain more influence in the village.
- The Corrupter: Indirect example as his actions are responsible for the Face–Heel Turn and fall of Sasuke, Itachi, Nagato, and Kabuto. While Hanzo was the culprit of the prime event regarding Nagato, Danzo was an accomplice in the betrayal that led to said event, which makes him indirectly responsible. More directly, to all the members of ROOT, whose Training from Hell includes repeatedly being forced to battle one another to the death to kill their emotions. He would probably deny that any of this was corruption, though — in his mind, this is how ninja are supposed to be.
- Corruption of a Minor: Tends to recruit children into an organization that deprives them of emotions and turns them into perfect soldiers under his control.
- Create Your Own Villain: He kept on doing this, with at least three different characters:
- First he helped Hanzo capture Konan, which resulted in the death of Yahiko, and Nagato's mental break down and making him to join Tobi.
- Then he had Itachi murder the entire Uchiha clan, who however left his brother, Sasuke alive. Guess who fought and fatally wounded Danzo, after Tobi revealed this bit of information to him?
- And finally Kabuto joined Orochimaru because Danzo had set up him and his adoptive mother — both faithful and competent spies working for him — to murder each other, but Kabuto survived.
- Determinator: Never gave up his dream of becoming Hokage. Utterly refuses to let go after his defeat at Sasuke's hands. Even badly wounded and with an arm lost, he tried to kill the latter and Tobi. One feels a bit sorry when his desperation technique doesn't even manage to hurt them.
- Devil in Plain Sight: Danzo is a creepy old man with scars and it follows everyone knows his horrible reputation and nobody trusts him. The Raikage states he's known publicly as The Shinobi of Darkness.
- Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: He tries to hypnotize Mifune so the Kages will elect him the leader of their alliance. It doesn't work. Mifune then informs him that he was going to nominate him, but no longer intends to do so, and Danzo attempts to justify his action by claiming that he had to be certain.
- Didn't See That Coming: His plan to hypnotize Mifune was pretty sound, but he didn't guess that the Mist Shinobi Ao had a hidden Byakugan and recognized Shisui Uchiha's signature technique.
- Dirty Coward: The crux of Danzos' psychology is that he is a self-loathing coward and he hates himself for it, so he overcompensates by reframing himself as a hardliner who makes the "tough" decisions that others are too soft or weak to choose. For instance, he is haunted by a childhood incident where Sarutobi freely volunteered for a Suicide Mission to save the rest of their team, when Danzo himself hesitated to out of fear, so instead, he has raised a cadre of ruthless, brainwashed, emotionless child soldiers who will kill and die on command - exactly the sort of person Danzo wished he could be. He sends others to their death because he is too much of a wimp to do the same himself. It is because of this trait that his Freudian Excuse only serves to make Danzo more of a Hypocrite; instead of overcoming this personal flaw, Danzo basically doubled down, and portrayed himself as a wise, yet ruthless Well-Intentioned Extremist who ultimately doesn't even live up to the ideals of the very organization he founded.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Was set-up to be a major antagonist, with several arcs slowly building to him becoming a threat in the background that seems to manifest in the Five Kage Summit Arc, yet ultimately dies shortly before the Fourth Shinobi World War begins.
- Doomed Moral Victor: His attempt to kill Sasuke and Tobi while he's dying fails, but he still destroys Shisui's eye, which pisses Tobi off.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: He never really understood the Second Hokage's teachings:
- His entire philosophy is based on Tobirama Senju's words that ninjas should be in control of their emotions and not let them cloud their judgment. What Tobirama meant was that during mission ninjas have to let go their personal issues and focus instead on finishing it AND protect their comrades. Danzo instead warped their meaning, thinking that a ninja mustn't feel emotion anytime, took this idea to the extreme and began turning his subordinates into emotionless puppets willing to follow any order. Ao and even Tobi call him out on this during the Five Kage Summit arc.
- Tobirama believed that the safety of Konoha is more important than any individual, no matter who they are, but he never meant that as long as the village survives, any sacrifice is worth it. What he meant was that as long as Konoha is safe and protected, even the Hokage must be willing to sacrifice himself, and kill possible threats, to ensure this. Danzo, instead, was so focused on the ultimate survival of Konoha that he was willing to kill entire clans or even allow the village's enemies to attack it without intervening himself, but was never willing to die, thinking that his life was too important for the village's survival.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: Downplayed. In his final moments he attempts to use the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing jutsu to take out Sasuke and Tobi for the sake of Konoha, but fails. That said this allows Danzo to destroy Shisui's Sharingan to prevent Tobi from obtaining it, something that irritates and hinders the latter.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Danzo is a cold, cruel man who will do horrific things for the sake of the village. But at his core, he still loved and honored his childhood friend Hiruzen Sarutobi and dies wondering if Hiruzen felt the same way about him.
- Evil Counterpart:
- He’s this to his contemporary Hiruzen Sarutobi. Hiruzen saw the ninja of Konoha as his family, while Danzo saw them as soldiers. Hiruzen was also a very genuine person, gaining strength from hard work and forging relationships through understanding; while Danzo has artificial upgrades and manipulates people into giving him what he wants.
- To Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage. Like Tobirama, Danzo is an Extremist who resorts to unscrupulous means for his goals. Unlike Tobirama who is willing to lay down his own life and entrust the village to those he trusts, Danzo is a coward afraid of death and instead sacrifices the lives of others, including his most loyal subordinates, because he believes that he's the only one who could protect the village.
- Evil Is Petty: Once it's seen that his entire philosophy of cold-hearted pragmatism seemed to only stem from his own cowardice versus Sarutobi's own willingness to sacrifice himself for Konoha, it's not hard to see Danzo as this. He created an entire shadow organization within Konoha, brutal enough to wipe out emotions in its members to perform all kinds of clandestine actions, not from any sense of urgency or grim understanding, but solely because of his own hatred of being unwilling to accept death.
- Evil Old Folks: He's about as old as the Third Hokage and is one of the most malevolent and harmful characters in the series.
- Eye Scream: The Sharingans he stole from the dead Uchihas do not look particularly healthy, especially in the anime.
- Eyes Do Not Belong There: Presumably taken from other dead Uchihas. All over his arms.
- Eyepatch of Power: A bunch of bandages conceals a Sharingan, which he got from Shisui Uchiha.
- Fantastic Racism: While he holds everyone with a level of suspicion, "Itachi Shinden" reveals that he’s had a particular enmity for the Uchiha Clan well before the Nine Tail’s attack, and had the dream of wiping out the clan for years. The Nine Tail’s attack on the village just gave him the excuse to realize that goal.
- Fatal Flaw: He has terrible traits that end up biting him in the ass in the long run, but these two qualities are the most prevalent. Each ties back to and emphasizes his flaws as The Cynic.
- Disloyalty: Despite several times having no reason to backstab, or the backstabs would only backfire in the long run he does them. And what do you know Kabuto, Sasuke, Orochimaru, Itachi, and Hanzo all ended up becoming terrible antagonists to the Leaf because of this habit.
- Selfishness: Arguably was one of the many reasons he couldn't achieve any of his goals except by sheer luck, or people just not looking twice into his actions. His huge ego keeps tripping him up, as every time his selfishness is pushed he goes straight into Stupid Evil. His ego leads him to reveal his own weaknesses, ignore the fact he hasn’t been an active combatant in years and is old, kept trying to fight despite the lack of benefits of fighting two tremendously powerful foes, and sacrifice dozens of useful shinobi despite preaching constantly “self-sacrifice” all to become Hokage.
- First-Name Basis: Was the only character in-series to be this with Hiruzen Sarutobi, the 3rd Hokage.
- Foil:
- To Sarutobi. As he puts it, Sarutobi was the leaves that bathed in the sun and he was the roots that grew in the dark.
- To Itachi. Both committed atrocities in the name of Konoha (in fact, Itachi’s greatest crime was masterminded by Danzo). But while Itachi condemned himself, lived as a double agent with no right to happiness beyond the hope Sasuke would protect the Leaf, and planned to die in order to atone for his sins, while Danzo never truly accepted guilt. He insisted his actions were for the Leaf, but when the time came, he deemed himself too important to die — or even to let the Leaf judge him.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Danzo started out as simply Sarutobi's rival and friend, and a devout protector of Konoha, but had the crippling flaw of being afraid of dying, as well as taking all the wrong lessons from Tobirama's philosophy. Following Sarutobi's wartime appointment after Tobirama passed the title of Hokage to him, Danzo would create Root to take on the village's dirty work and to ensure its prosperity. Unfortunately, Root's founding stemmed more from Danzo's hatred of his own cowardice than truly accepting the burden of becoming Necessarily Evil, and much of what we see in-story is the result of a paranoid, hypocritical old man creating many of the village's most dangerous threats from his own, flawed judgments, deliberately making problems worse rather than trying to fix them. None of the main characters have any sympathies for Danzo, and the only characters who mourn him in present-day are his fellow elders, who share his hard-liner beliefs and were complicit in at least a few of his actions.
- Gambler's Fallacy: Danzo has committed a number of crimes and atrocities in the name of "protecting the Leaf Village", and he continues to believe in this no matter how many times the Leaf Village faces ever more dangerous enemies as a direct result of his actions, whether helping to create Pain through his alliance with Danzo, or turning Sasuke against the Village with his massacre of the Uchiha Clan, or Danzo standing back and letting Pain destroy the Village so he can paint Tsunade as "weak" and usurp her. He literally allows the Leaf Village to be destroyed so that he can gain the power to protect the Leaf Village.
- Generation Xerox:
- He shares a lot of Tobirama's philosophies and ideals, such as the belief that shinobi should be emotionless, or at the very least suppress their feelings. Where they differ however, is that Tobirama also stressed courage and the need to care about the village as a whole, which should at least form the backbone of that willingness to make cold and pragmatic decisions. Danzo only understood the point about being emotionless.
- Most of his actions and beliefs are shown to be similar to Madara Uchiha's during Madara's time as a Konoha ninja. They were both cynical and acted in secret to do what was needed to protect Konoha and both (as they claimed) suppressed their emotions for the sake of the village. Also, both were eventually Driven by Envy to their best friend/rival which was selected for the post Hokage over them.
- Genocide Backfire: Ordered the Uchiha Massacre, and years later was killed by the survivor.
- Geometric Magic: He seems very proficient in sealing techniques, including one that paralyzes the person it's on if they try to reveal certain information, and another that simply paralyzes a person as soon as it's activated.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: An X-shaped one on his chin.
- Greater-Scope Villain:
- Every single non-Uchiha Big Bad is connected to Danzo, including Orochimaru. If it includes the Uchiha, he's responsible, indirectly or otherwise, for the Starts of Darkness or action of no less than four villains (Pain, Itachi, Sasuke, and Kabuto).
- It also turns out that Danzo was responsible for leaking Naruto's status as the Jinchuuriki of the Nine Tails to everyone in the village, turning most of its citizens against Naruto, and resulting in him being being shunned throughout his childhood.
- Even in Boruto's era, his influence continues to plague Konoha; Starter Villain Sumire Kakei turns out to be the child of a former ROOT member who passed down the research he did into Hashirama's cells in order to take revenge on the village for disbanding ROOT.
- The Greatest Story Never Told: Perhaps fitting for a man who operated in the shadows and demanded countless others sacrifice themselves. Danzo's heroic end is witnessed only by Tobi and Sasuke, meaning nobody else will ever know the true measure of how Danzo died unless Sasuke tells them.
- Green Thumb: Which he got as a result of the same Orochimaru experiment tested on Yamato. His doesn't work quite as well, though.
- Had to Be Sharp: He took on all the burdens of the village's darkness onto himself after Hiruzen became Hokage, forcing Danzo to be a calculating and ruthless man to perform his actions. It led to a very, very cold and dangerous man, who in the present-day of the story, is treated as much of a threat as the series' other villains, and who ultimately failed to overcome his deepest flaws as a person.
- Handicapped Badass: Seems this at first, with a bandaged eye and arm. Subverted, as he only pretended to be handicapped; both his arm and eye actually work, he just doesn't want to use them unnecessarily.
- He Knows Too Much: He marks Anko for assassination because she might reveal information about his negotiations with Orochimaru. He also tries to have Kabuto assassinated simply because he had become too knowledgeable of a spy.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Downplayed. His belief of self-sacrifice being the true purpose of a shinobi. He only thought of himself as the exception because he was convinced the shinobi world needed him to continue living, and he might have been a bit cowardly in sacrificing himself at the same time. He does end up performing this trope when Tobi attempts to steal Shisui's eye, and he destroys it first before his death. As this happens, he thinks of his memories of the Second and Third Hokages and how finally it's his turn to give his life. Still, the trope is downplayed as it as he did so only once his death was inevitable so it was more similar to Taking You with Me.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: After Danzo's political reputation is destroyed at the Kage Summit, and he can presumably no longer win the Hokage election in the village, it's unclear what his goals are. He tells Foo that he still has a plan and that he'll explain it once Torune returns. However, the audience isn't shown the conversation they have upon reuniting, and Danzo dies before this new plan of his is revealed. Via Tobi's theories, however, it could be guessed that Danzo planned to use Naruto's Nine-Tails via Kotoamatsukami combined with Wood Release to take over the Leaf village by force.
- Hour of Power: Each eye on his arm allows him to use Izanagi for one minute. After that, the eye goes blind instantly and closes forever.
- Human Resources: Has a collection of Sharingan, as well as Orochimaru's custom-made right arm with Hashirama's cells to keep them in, and views Sasuke and Tobi as prospective additions to the same.
- Hypocrite: He seems to be unaware that most of his words (and expectations of his subordinates) don't match his actions.
- He expects ninjas to be self-sacrificing while he himself is too cowardly to do so himself and has never performed any self-sacrifice in his entire life. He is more likely to throw others under the bus to advance his own goals than to sacrifice anything of his own for the sake of others. It should be noted he hates himself for this and wishes he had the courage to give his life for his village, having always considered it his greatest failure that he hesitated to offer himself as a sacrifice during the First Great Ninja War while Hiruzen did not. He does... in the Taking You with Me sense that he was going to die anyway, at least.
- He also expects ninja to adhere to the teachings of the Second Hokage and suppress their emotions. Yet he himself is guided by his ambition to become Hokage. He's so consumed by it, he lets Pain rampage through Konoha while he and his subordinates merely observe the battle, planning to use this destruction as "proof" that Tsunade was unsuited for Hokage. At this point, the hypocrisy has reached critical mass: Danzo wants to become Hokage by completely ignoring the example of all the previous Hokage, who always put the lives of their subordinates above their own.note
- Danzo claims that it was because of Jiraiya interfering with the affairs of other villages that Konoha was destroyed by Pain. Hypocritically it was for Danzo interfering in Amegakure's affairs that Pain attacked. He lied to Hanzo, who back then trusted Akatsuki, telling that Akatsuki was plotting to overthrow him and made an alliance with him for power. The result was Yahiko's death, which sparked Nagato's Start of Darkness, making him join Tobi, reform Akatsuki into a criminal organization, and attack Konoha. Pain attacked Konoha solely due to Danzo's actions.
- Danzo criticizes the weakness of Konoha towards its enemies, despite for political reasons often choosing to sit out on fighting against them AT ALL when they attack the village.
- When speaking through Mifune to nominate himself to become Supreme Leader of the Allied Shinobi Forces, Danzo disqualifies the Third Tsuchikage Onoki for being too old and frail... despite himself being the second oldest Kage present, and at the time faking injuries to his right eye and right arm.
- Sasuke outright points out the hypocrisy of him preaching self sacrifice when Danzo takes Karin hostage after the fight starts to go badly for him. Danzo can only shout excuses as to why his own life must be the exception.
- He derides Sasuke's goal of wanting to destroy the village due to his clan being massacred due to his manipulations as puerile and going against Itachi's wishes, while conveniently ignoring his own rivalry with Hiruzen and trying to assassinate him several times, as well as all his actions to grab power, which is ultimately due to a petty reason of being envious of Hiruzen for volunteering to sacrifice himself when Danzo hesitated to do so, as well as his actions also going against Tobirama's wishes.
I-Z
- I Did What I Had to Do: When the other four Kages and Sasuke call him out for his deeds, Danzo justifies himself by saying every evil act he commits is for his village and the Shinobi world. He doesn't believe he does anything without purpose or reason.
- I Just Want to Be You: Despite all of his cynicism and distrust, Danzo admired figures like Hiruzen and often lamented he could not be as charismatic and noble as them. All he ever wanted in life was to be the Hokage and make his village what he thought was a better place to live.
- I Was Quite a Looker: Though not quite as bishonen as some of the others, in a flashback he's revealed to have been quite good-looking in his younger years. In an omake, Tsunade and Shizune can't help but gush with surprise and a Luminescent Blush at how handsome Danzo was in his youth.
- It's All About Me: Everything he does is for the sake of the village, but he considers himself gaining political power to be essential for the village's well-being. This leads to him letting the village be invaded without doing anything to help himself become Hokage, which in his mind is all for the good of the village.
- Jerkass: If you take into account he has never spent a second thought reflecting on what effects his actions have had nor the people who are just as dedicated to peace as him (Shisui, the original Akatsuki) or unaffiliated with the shinobi world anymore (Kabuto's foster mother Yakushi Nonou) then he undoubtedly qualifies for this trope.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- At one point during his battle with Sasuke, he tells the latter that the truth about Itachi doesn't really matter to him so much as needing someone else (everyone in Konoha) to put his hatred on now that Itachi's dead. Unsurprisingly, this falls on deaf ears.
- Also the fact that he tells Sasuke that his current actions against Konoha are completely wasting Itachi's sacrifice and all he did to protect the village. Sasuke really doesn't take this well.
- Danzo's decision to label Sasuke as a missing-nin and an assassination target is viewed by Naruto and Sakura as cruel and unacceptable. Kakashi points out that Sasuke is indeed a missing-nin, and the consequence for that is death. The only reason Sasuke was not already sentenced to death—apart from avoiding offending a powerful foreign nation before his attack on the notorious and easily provoked Hidden Cloud—was that Tsunade was unusually lenient with him for Naruto and Sakura's sake.
- This trope is how he hides his uses of Shisui's eye. Both times we see him use it, he has enough of a strong arguing position that it's already believable that the person he is controlling would side with him. After he's outed, Mifune chides Danzo for using the eye when there was already a good chance he would have been picked to command the alliance anyway.
- In the anime, when asked why Minato shouldn’t become the Fourth Hokage, Danzō’s argument boils down to him being Skilled, but Naive, which ends up being true to a degree as, despite Minato's wishes, Naruto was disliked by most of Konoha when word of his Jinchuriki status got leaked. Though this is rendered moot when it's revealed in "Itachi Shinden" that HE was the one who leaked it.
- The Itachi Shinden novel gives him a less selfish explanation for stealing Shisui's eye. While it is made clear that he intends for the massacre to go through, his reasoning is that just using Kotoamatsukami, a jutsu that only works on one person, and which needs a recharge time to boot, on Fugaku will not stop the coup. He isn't incorrect on that point; both anime and novels confirm that pretty much the entire clan was on-board with the coup, and brainwashing Fugaku would have likely resulted in someone like Yashiro taking the reins.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Danzo has gotten away with horrible, underhanded deeds for decades. He's responsible for immense suffering, the horrible policies of Root, formed a treacherous alliance with Hanzo that screwed over Akatsuki before he betrayed the Rain Village, backed Orochimaru's inhumane experiments, pushed Itachi into the Uchiha Clan massacre and attempted to brainwash Mifune to declare Danzo the leader of the Shinobi Alliance. His luck finally runs out when Sasuke confronts him. It's telling that while Hiruzen is later sad to hear of his death, he doesn't remotely hold it against Sasuke.
- Killed Off for Real: Dies shortly after the Kage Summit by his own hands after getting fatally wounded by Sasuke, and unlike other notable ninjas, he was never resurrected with Kabuto's Edo Tensei. Presumably, Tobi disposed of his body after failing to attain Shisui's eyes, rendering Kabuto unable to obtain his DNA or the latter has already finished gathering the Edo ninjas by the time Danzo died. Tobi's anger at losing the eye probably left him sore and made him not want to bring him back, similar to why he didn't resurrect Konan after he killed her.
- Knight Templar: While he does acknowledge that some of his actions are morally reprehensible, the lengths he is willing to go to, his conviction that only he can save the world, and the fact that he still believes his methods to be fully justified even when they cause most of the problems in the series, pushes him over the edge from Well-Intentioned Extremist into this trope.
- Lack of Empathy: While fighting Sasuke he wondered why Itachi choose to spare his little brother from the Uchiha Massacre and considered the act his only failure. Danzo has trained himself to view other humans as nothing but assets and emotion doesn't enter into it.
- The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort: An alternative take. Since he can revive himself thanks to Izanagi, Danzo doesn't bother with tricks or dodging moves for most of his fight against Sasuke. It almost looks like his strategy was simply "make him believe you're dead to catch him". It doesn't end well.
- Like Father, Unlike Son: Danzo states his father and grandfather were both brave Shinobi who sacrificed their lives for their missions. When the time came to do the same, he froze in fear and spent the rest of his life being an underhanded, ruthless Black-Ops leader who used tactics they never would have approved of.
- Loyal, but Disobedient: Danzo, while not loyal to the Hokage, is loyal to the Hidden Leaf Village. He’ll do anything to protect the Leaf, even if it means disobeying order from the Third Hokage.
- Hiruzen once ordered him not do anything, until he’s come up with a plan to stop the Uchiha Clan coup. But Danzo went behind his back and convinced Itachi to kill his own Clan.
- Hiruzen ordered everyone who knows that Naruto is the Jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox to keep that information a secret, in hopes Naruto can grow up without being persecuted by the Village. But Danzo believes that the Village needs to direct their hatred towards someone after the Nine-Tailed Fox's Attack. He leaked that information to the public, letting Naruto to grow up friendless for twelve years.
- Manipulative Bastard: Used Nono and Kabuto’s feelings for the orphanage so that they would act as spies for him, and manipulated Itachi into slaying his clan by preying on his love for his village. Comes to bite him in the ass when it's discovered that he was manipulating Mifune into voting for him as the head of the alliance at the Kage Summit.
- Master of All: Danzo is an expert with blades and taijutsu, thanks to compensating for his age with Hashirama's cells. He's a complete master of ninjutsu, particularly Wind Style. And with Shisui's Eye, he's one of the best Genjutsu users who ever lived. Sasuke had to not only bring out the big guns, but use every single trick in the book to get Danzo off-guard.
- Mayor of a Ghost Town: Subverted; while Danzo does indeed allow the destruction of the village he wants to lead by ordering his Root forces to stand down against Pain, he takes action to prevent Naruto from being caught in the crossfire and has faith in Tsunade's ability to protect the village's population from total annihilation. Regardless, that didn't stop the contradictory nature of his plan from becoming a minor meme.
- Metaphorically True: He convinces the Daimyo to appoint him Hokage by saying that since Pain/Nagato was Jiraiya's student, it was Jiraiya's teachings that doomed the village. And since Kakashi was Minato's student (who was, in turn, Jiraiya's), he's a poor choice for the next Hokage. He forgets to add that it was Naruto, another of Jiraiya's students, that saved the village and that Jiraiya's ideals motivated Nagato to revive those that were killed. What he also left out was that Nagato's grudge against Konoha was due to his own underhanded actions that resulted in his friend, another of Jiraiya's students, getting killed in the past.
- Missed Him by That Much: Despite Danzo's goals hinging on controlling Naruto's Nine-Tails (as theorized by Tobi's analysis of Danzo having Kotoamatsukami and Wood Release), Naruto wanting to confront Danzo over the order to execute Sasuke, and the two typically residing in or traveling through the same countries at the same time, the two never meet. First, Naruto tries to seek an audience with Danzo about Sasuke, but Kakashi convinces him not to out of fear of Naruto being imprisoned in retaliation. Then when Naruto and co. learn about Tobi's secret identity and need to inform Danzo about it, he's already left the village for the Kage Summit, and they have to message him by bird instead. When they're told the truth of the Uchiha massacre by Tobi and need to confirm it with Danzo, he's already beyond contact at the Kage Summit. And lastly, when Naruto learns about Sakura's plan to kill Sasuke and resolves to stop her, he's sidelined by a hyperventilation attack and later put under watch by Yamato, only to escape and arriving at Sasuke's location shortly after Danzo's already died there.
- Mortality Phobia: For all his rhetoric of how he's too important to die for the sake of the Shinobi world, Danzo is simply afraid of dying and froze as a young man when the time came to offer himself as a decoy whereas Hiruzen fearlessly volunteered.
- Motive Misidentification: When Danzo sends Sai on a secret mission to infiltrate the Orochimaru's hideout as an ally, Yamato theorizes that Danzo's goal is to negotiate a deal where he helps Orochimaru destroy the village, in exchange for Orochimaru overthrowing Tsunade and allowing Danzo to rule the ashes of the village as the new Hokage. However, the actual goal of Sai's secret mission is revealed to be much more friendly to the Leaf village; he's simply been sent to gather intel on Orochimaru and assassinate Orochimaru's "successor," Sasuke. Played With in that Danzo really was toxic enough to develop plans similar to the one in Yamato's theory on other occasions previously and afterward, but just wasn't being so ambitious in that specific instance, making Yamato Right for the Wrong Reasons.
- My Country, Right or Wrong: For all the critics of his actions and results, is clear that he deeply loved and wanted what was best for Konoha. Subverted in a sense — since he is one of the Elders and is perhaps the only guy in the entire village who actually preaches or believes this, it is he who decides what is Right and Wrong.
- Mysterious Past: He has previously met with Tobi in the past, but it's never revealed under what circumstances or what the details of their interaction were. It's also suggested by the Raikage that he was involved with Orochimaru to attack the village and assassinate the Third Hokage (and may have had even grander designs in mind from there), but it's never confirmed if he and Orochimaru were still allied at that particular point in the story and Danzo's one act with Orochimaru is to try to deny him his prized host.
- Necessarily Evil: As a man burdened with the darkness of Konoha, Danzo will undertake any ruthless, cruel, evil action to protect his village and views himself as the supporting roots of the darkness beneath the trees. However, as is seen throughout the series, a point ultimately came where this "necessary" evil ultimately became self-defeating.
- Nerves of Steel: For all his faults, Danzo is almost entirely unflappable in the face of just about anything. Even when mortally wounded, he is able to focus enough to try to take Sasuke and Tobi with him.
- No Ontological Inertia: The seal he put on each member of Root disappears when he dies.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Though he's not really goofy looking like Lee or the Tsuchikage, his face is still drawn in an incredibly different fashion than most other characters.
- Not Me This Time:
- The Fifth Mizukage Mei suspects that Danzo was involved in the mind control of the Mist village's Fourth Mizukage Yagura. It's later revealed that Tobi was the lone offender in that crime. Danzo simply responds to her accusation with complete silence, contrary to how he usually tries to justify his actions.
- While he and Orochimaru did work together in the past, the Raikage's theorizing that Danzo helped Orochimaru with Operation Konoha Crush and planned for Hiruzen to die during the attack is never confirmed by Danzo, even in his own thoughts. Danzo genuinely seems to have been innocent of this one.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Danzo has this written all over him. When first introduced, he was well past his prime (being about the same age as the Third Hokage was) — with one eye, a missing arm, and a walking cane. Cut to the Kage Summit arc where it is revealed that he's got a friggin' Sharingan and effortlessly wipes out a unit of mooks that attacks him, sheathing his sword in one of their heads to free up his hand so he can use jutsu. Later at the meeting, we find out he has Mind Control powers, and then that he's not missing an arm, he just has an arm full of Sharingan eyes that allows him to shamelessly respawn as if the Naruto universe were some multiplayer first-person shooter. Huh.
- Not So Similar: To Tobirama Senju. Both are cynical men who are among the most powerful shinobi of their generation, who are overshadowed by a previous hokage, and both were willing to do morally questionable things in the name of the village. However, Tobirama was less corruptible and amenable to more gentle directions from Danzo, who (at least in later years) invariably favored morally bankrupt decisions under the delusion of them being necessary evils. Tobirama didn't think twice about sacrificing himself when the time came, while Danzo didn't even try to help against Pain for his own reasons, and only sacrificed himself when there was no other option. Perhaps this is best highlighted by their treatment of the Uchiha. Tobirama had far more reason to distrust the Uchiha note , but was willing to give them a chance, and some even earned his respect despite his wariness of them. Danzo, on the other hand, made no effort to make the Uchiha happier (perhaps by integration or raising their position in the clan), and is ultimately the reason the clan in the present time numbers exactly 1.
- Not So Stoic: When it's suggested Kakashi be appointed Sixth Hokage ahead of him, he immediately flies into a rant about how the Third Hokage's teaching has left the village weak and led to all its trouble. In spite of his own beliefs, this one display of emotion was what finally got him the position he had been seeking for years. That or him finally being in a position to mind-woogie the Fire Daimyo with his implanted eye without being noticed.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Danzo had genuinely deluded himself into believing that what was best for him was best for the village and that only he could lead it to prosperity, but he is willing to have most of the village destroyed if it will allow him to become Hokage. It's only when he's about to die that he abandons his own well-being for the sake of advancing the village's interests alone.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: Danzo tells Itachi flatly that if he doesn't slaughter his Uchiha relatives (aside from his brother Sasuke) himself, Konoha will do it later instead, only with Itachi and Sasuke included in the purge of the clan if it comes to that. This motivates Itachi to go ahead with the slaughter, despite Hiruzen having only asked Itachi to buy time so he could come up with a diplomatic solution.
- Old Master: Danzo is a gifted shinobi with the ability to use many powerful jutsus (for instance, paralysis seals and highly effective wind techniques). While he is old, he is still a deadly foe to reckon with, and his coldness towards others and his willingness to kill his enemies make him far deadlier than even some of the strongest ninja. Kakashi was shocked to hear that Sasuke had managed to defeat Danzo all alone, indicating that he was one of Konoha’s strongest.
- The Only One: He believes he's the only person who can change the world for the better. Someone apparently forgot to tell him he was in a shonen series.
- Opportunistic Bastard: While he sometimes orchestrates controversies in the Leaf village, he is also willing to exploit completely spontaneous ones for the sake of his political goals.
- Opt Out: When Pain attacked Konoha, he chose to avoid senselessly throwing his life away by charging in headfirst. Not only that, but he also attempted to make Naruto Opt Out by killing a messenger being sent to retrieve him, on the (totally accurate) basis that Naruto would be unable to stop Pain.
- Out-Gambitted: Danzo's clever schemes and tactics are undone by Sasuke casting such a weak, subtle Genjutsu that Danzo doesn't notice it. All it does is make him think his final Izanagi Sharingan is still open for just a split second....deceiving Danzo that he's still invulnerable when he tries a Mutual Kill with Sasuke.
- The Paranoiac: Danzo is a self-hating coward with a suspicious and cynical outlook on life. He wants to protect the Leaf Village from threats, but he regards almost everyone as a potential threat, either because they are openly aggressive or hostile, or because they are not hostile or aggressive enough and want diplomacy and peace, which he equates with softness and naivety. He hardly ever admits to his mistakes even when those mistakes result in the Leaf Village itself being attacked, and he operates a Secret Police that answers only to him and orchestrates unauthorised kidnappings, assassinations and human experiments to further his own power to help him suppress or destroy real or imagined threats, which often only become real as a consequence of his own actions. Danzo is even willing to commit genocide against the Leaf Clans themselves because they "might" be a threat, and actually sabotages efforts to find peaceful solutions because he has made up his mind that they won't work in the long term and are counterproductive to his own goals and philosophy anyway.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He openly mocks the legacies of the deceased Hokage, which are normally considered sacred in the village (especially when you take into account that two of them were his mentors and the third was once his best friend). He also openly laments not having Ao assassinated, or at least forcibly deprived of his Byakugan, at the Kage Summit.
- The Power of Hate: Itachi Shinden: Book of Dark Night reveals that Danzo honestly believes that when a group of people have a target that they can hate and antagonize, it makes them "stronger". To that end, it was his fault that rumors of the Uchiha controlling the Nine-Tails during its attack were spread, as well as secretly leaking to the village that Naruto was made its container in the aftermath, despite the Third Hokage warning only the top brass to keep this secret. The result? The Uchiha Clan was disgraced and relegated to a small part of the village due to paranoia, while Naruto ended up enduring a hellish and lonely childhood for the next twelve years. What's more, the former action ended up making the Uchiha clan consider rebelling against the village due to the unfair accusations, thus leading to their demise. Seriously Danzo, dick move.
- Power Incontinence: When he's on the brink of death, he loses control of his Wood Release power, and has to rip off his arm before it engulfs him.
- Power Parasite: He merged ten Sharingan into his arm, including an eleventh one taking place in his right socket, which happens to be Shisui's Sharingan. This eye is particularly important since it has the Mangekyo Sharingan and the famous technique that Shisui gained from it, Kotoamatsukami. The arm itself belonged to Shin "Uchiha", and Danzo also managed to obtain Senju DNA as well, thereby granting multiple access to Izanagi for himself. He uses them in conjunction when he fights Sasuke. Throughout the fight, Danzo expressed interest in taking Sasuke's eyes for himself after he kills him.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Danzo delays major reform of the village as the temporary Sixth Hokage, in order to remain viable for the upcoming Hokage election. Additionally, he refrains from imposing new restrictions on Naruto's travel because publicly confronting the recently acknowledged village hero would be bad for him politically.
- Properly Paranoid: In one respect, Danzo is one of the very few people alive to know of Tobi (even if he believes him to be Madara) and to take steps to counter him. He always takes seemingly extreme steps against Orochimaru, but Danzo is also one of the very few to know the true extent of Orochimaru's ambition and how dangerous he really is.
- Psychological Projection: Almost everything he accuses his political and ideological opponents of (namely Hiruzen and Tsunade), including cowardice, weakness, unwillingness to make hard choices, and being unwilling to perform sacrifices for Konoha, is far more of a reflection on Danzo himself than the people he criticizes. It's especially astonishing to hear Danzo talk about how Hiruzen and Tsunade's leadership is getting Konoha's people killed when he ordered the Uchiha Massacre with very flimsy justification and never lifted a finger to help during Orochimaru's or Pain's invasions.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: He heads a major force in Leaf and is one of the most politically powerful figures, along with being a leading candidate to become Hokage when a vacancy opens. He's also an incredibly powerful shinobi with strength, speed, and secret empowerments upon himself that give Danzo command of utter invulnerability and a daily usage of one of the strongest Genjutsus in the series.
- Reality Warper: A partial form of this. He can use the technique "Izanagi" which evidently allows the user to remove the boundaries between reality and illusion, allowing the user to reinforce his vision of reality on himself. In doing so, the user can take any injury, even death, and deem it an illusion, but it can render the user's attack as reality.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Portrays himself as this to Sai, allowing Sai to remain on Team 7 despite failing Root's secret mission, and claiming that he won't go to extremes to implement his agenda in the Leaf village after becoming the temporary Sixth Hokage (but that he will be more strict than the lenient Tsunade).
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- Gives one to Sasuke throughout their fight, accusing him of being an overly emotional brat who is forsaking the Uchiha Clan's sacrifice to destabilize the world for selfish anger. It falls on deaf ears.
- Sasuke himself gives one to Danzo, correctly pointing out without mercy that Danzo is a hypocritical, ineffectual loser whose actions, when you get down to it, boil down to "I am the only person worthy of power and I will hear no other argument despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary". While it doesn't fall on deaf ears, Danzo doesn't really learn anything from the speech either.
- Redemption Equals Death: Downplayed, if not ultimately averted in the long-run. While normally a hypocrite and a coward who doesn't live up to his own ideals of self-sacrifice, his attempt to kill Sasuke and Tobi is the first time in the series that he ever performs a sacrificial act purely for the sake of Konoha. Not that it comes close to making up for his long line of atrocities, but he was able to at least hinder Tobi by destroying Shisui's Sharingan eye. That being said, flashbacks taking place after his death continue to demonstrate the extent of Danzo's crimes, and Boruto shows that the indoctrination of shinobi to be more loyal to Root rather than Konoha (such as Tanuki Shigaraki) only made them resent the village they were supposed to protect, rendering Danzo's legacy toxic and continuing to cause problems in the Shinobi World.
- Red Herring: He has the same hair color and hairstyle as Tobi, and when going to the Kage Summit he reveals his right eye has a sharingan, much like Tobi's, and whenever Tobi showed parts of his face, it was only the right side of it, the same side Danzo kept covered in bandages. All of this was implying they were one and the same, but in the end, they turned out to be unrelated and were on opposing sides.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Believed that he and Sarutobi were this, saying that Sarutobi represented the leaves that grow in the sun while he himself represented the roots within the dark.
- Remember the New Guy?: Shows up after the Time Skip, yet has apparently been influencing the village since Sarutobi's days. Subverted in that the younger characters really don't know who he is — the main continuity issue is where the hell he was when Orochimaru attacked the village, but that could be Hand Waved without too much difficulty, given how much he prefers to operate in the shadows. He could even simply have been elsewhere at the time. He actually allied himself with Orochimaru, so it makes sense that he would get the hell out of there, a theory that A notably seems to support during the summit.
- The Resenter: Danzo was this to Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, believing his pragmatic approach was better than the latter's idealism and that he should have been the Third. In their youth, he actually kind of admired how Sarutobi would, without hesitation, risk his life for his comrades, while Danzo himself was struggling with his fear and anxiety when a suicide mission was called for. Even back then, though, he fits the trope, resenting the praise and admiration Sarutobi received for volunteering immediately.
- The Rival: To Sarutobi, who Danzo felt was better than he was, and always tried to surpass him, though it didn't stop him from respecting Sarutobi deep down (he was even on a First-Name Basis with Sarutobi, which says a lot).
- Rival Turned Evil: Danzo used to be Sarutobi's rival, but also respected him. However, as he grew older, their rivalry became much more bitter over time, at least on Danzo's end.
- Secret Police: He leads the Root organization, which protects the village from the shadows.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: His paranoia toward pretty much anyone he did not have direct authority over (and some that he did) tended to cause these. Many of the people he victimized or slandered due to his belief that they knew too much, could become a threat to Konoha, etc. did indeed become threats, but in large part only because of what he did to them or incited, whereas if he had trusted and supported them (or even just left them alone) they would have probably remained allies.
- Shame If Something Happened: Danzo rarely offers direct threats, but his insinuations often carry these threats. When he presses Nono Yakushi for assistance, he strongly indicates her refusal will be met by retaliation against her orphanage.
- Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: A big motivator of his actions and beliefs, and his antagonism with Hiruzen and those who followed his kind teachings. Danzo believed the principles of the Will of Fire and Noble Ideals were incompatible with keeping the shinobi world functioning and bringing about peace in the world. As such, he used lies, manipulation, murder, and other dirty work, which he believed was needed to make the world a better place. Ironically, he never once considered that all of his awful actions caused a long series of problems and only proved to make the world an even worse place to live, essentially becoming a poster boy example of Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!.
- Shadow Archetype: To the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who both wanted to protect Konoha at all costs, despite Danzo's less ethical ways of going about it.
- Sinister Surveillance: Has Root ninjas track Naruto's every move after becoming the temporary Sixth Hokage.
- Smug Smiler: In the anime, he tends to give off a rather audacious smile whenever Tsunade or someone following the Will of Fire is confronting him on his less-than-cavalier methods of protecting Konoha. Such is evident when he was thought to be supplying Amegakure with intel during the events of the Fire Temple arc.
- Sparing Them the Dirty Work: He believed himself to be doing this to Hiruzen, using Root "in the shadows" to protect Konoha (and maybe Hiruzen). At all costs. Whether he was right is a matter for debate, but his actions paint the accusation as true.
- The Stoic: "Emotions generate hatred and hatred breeds conflict."
- Story-Breaker Power: Danzo's access to Shisui's Mangekyo and, by extension, Kotoamatsukami is a game-changer, allowing him to control anyone flawlessly once a day, strongly implied to even work on Tobi himself. Notably, Tobi makes sure to target him only when the eye isn't functioning.
- Strong and Skilled: Danzo pretends to be a frail old man, but he has used Hashirama's cells to enhance his abilities. His physical strength and the power of his jutsu is immense. His control over his wind jutsu and his combat ability is exceptional. Sasuke ultimately had to rely on trickery to strike the fatal blow.
- Stupid Evil: Danzo is a compulsive schemer and liar, and often makes bad situations worse or imaginary enemies real with his habit of assuming everyone is dangerous and taking what he sees as preventative measures, usually causing the very tragedies and disasters that he hopes to avoid.
- Summon Magic: Has access to a giant creature called Baku, a large creature with a huge trunk that can create a powerful vacuum which can enhance Danzo's own wind techniques.
- Taking You with Me: Does a last-ditch attempt of this on Sasuke and Tobi before he dies, to no effect. He does at least, however, manage to prevent Tobi from getting Shisui's eye.
- Tautological Templar: As part of his means of trying to escape the reality that he's a Dirty Coward at heart who can't bring himself to trust anyone, he frames every one of his corrupting actions and betrayals as completely justified "tough decisions" he was forced to make for the greater good of Konoha.
- Too Clever by Half: Danzo is a very intelligent man, but overestimates his abilities with his lack of trust in anyone else. He fails to take into account people might sense him using Kotoamatsukami at the Kage summit where Mifune points out he might have chosen Danzo on his own initiative regardless. He ends up scheming himself into isolation when Sasuke comes for him and while Izanagi is a formidable weapon, he doesn't realize Sasuke can analyze it and utilize a Genjutsu at just the right time to throw him off by a few vital seconds.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: Subverted, as he would certainly like to make major changes (especially involving Naruto) during his brief time as acting Hokage, but he knows this would make him unpopular (and make him lose his position), so he avoids making decisions that might prove unpopular.
- The Unfettered: Danzo spent his entire life stepping over and manipulating even children, just to become Hokage and protect Konoha with no moral limits whatsoever.
- Un-person: It's not enough for Danzo to mark Kabuto for assassination; he also used photos of lookalikes to replace him and trick Kabuto's loved ones into believing he was okay. It was so thorough that Orochimaru was able to fabricate an entirely false backstory for Kabuto, as seen in Part I.
- Unknown Rival: Sarutobi apparently never even knew that Danzo felt this way about him.
- The Un-Reveal: He implies there's some stories behind the Sharingans in his right arm, but doesn't plan on telling Sasuke. Sasuke admits he doesn't care because he couldn't possibly want to kill Danzo more than he already does. There was also never any follow-up on the circumstances with his meeting with Tobi the night of the Uchiha Massacre.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Multiple antagonists and the horrific things they did resulted because of Danzo's paranoid machinations. It's entirely plausible to say that much of the Fourth Great Ninja War went into motion out of the long-term consequences of his actions.
- Unwitting Pawn: In spite of all his motives he became one for Tobi. So nearly all his actions played into the hands of Tobi: His union with Hanzo in the betrayal of Nagato allowed Tobi to take him under his control as well as Akatsuki (with the anime even showing Tobi taking a direct hand in the process). Also, he manipulated Itachi into slaying his clan that allowed Tobi to not only to acquire a large number of Sharingan but also to use Itachi to find a new pawn in the person of Sasuke. And Danzo is the one who reveals to the Kages that Tobi is Madara, which is exactly what Tobi wants them to believe, since it will cause them to take his threats seriously and start the Fourth Great Shinobi War.
- Uriah Gambit: Sends Kabuto out on a spy mission where he's fully expected to be exposed and killed.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: If the flashback during his death is not a Dying Dream, then Danzo during his childhood was far less monstrous and cynical that would define him in his old age, even playing games with a younger Hiruzen as a friend before he would grow to dislike and envy him.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: He legitimately wants to bring peace to the ninja world and believes he can do so if he's in charge. Unfortunately, he gives little consideration to ethics and won't hesitate to kill anyone in the way of his goals or otherwise Shoot the Dog repeatedly.
- Villain Ball: Danzo repeatedly does horrible underhanded things seemingly specifically for the purpose of doing horrible, underhanded things that tend to bite him hard in the long run. The novels even indicate he told Konoha about Naruto being a Jinchuuriki just to see them have someone to freely hate.
- Villain Respect: Danzo gives nothing but respect to Itachi post-mortem, praising his abilities but also his self-sacrificing mindset as a Shinobi who did horrible things for the same of the greater good and sacrificed himself for it.
- Villainous Breakdown: It is happening to him when his battle with Sasuke comes to an end. He begins to lose his composure when he realizes that all his Sharingan's closed and Sasuke caught him in the illusion. After Danzo loses the arm as a result of a loss of control of the Senju cells, he begins to cling to his life taking Karin hostage despite his belief of self-sacrifice being the true purpose of a shinobi and in the end when he was not able to escape he decided does the Taking You with Me sense that he was going to die anyway.Danzo: I can't believe it... how could I lose to such a brat?
- Villainous Legacy: In the Boruto anime, one of Danzo's most loyal and extremist supporters, Tanuki Shigaraki, was pissed that Konoha ostracized him and his family due to the shady dealings he committed in Danzo's name when Root's actions were exposed after Danzo's death. As a result, Tanuki tried to use one of Danzo's ambitious and cruel projects of destroying a village by implementing his own daughter, Sumire, as a tool of revenge. Let's just say that the methods involved would be enough to make Danzo proud. Naruto, on the other hand, is just outright disgusted and pissed when he found out. Even the emotionless and stoic Sai thought it was too much.
- War Hawk: Despite his claims that all his actions were for "the good of Konoha," Danzo has engaged in some very questionable practices aimed at undermining those he deems unfit for leadership. He has colluded with enemies of the village and rival nations, spread false information to sabotage peace negotiations between Konoha and other villages, and, particularly in the anime, openly criticizes the Third Hokage's philosophy of understanding and forgiveness. This philosophy, which was embraced by his successor, Minato Namikaze, is dismissed by Danzo as a path that would ultimately lead to the village's downfall.
- We Used to Be Friends: He and Hiruzen were friends as kids, and maintained a bond as young Shinobi. Ultimately, Danzo making himself The Shinobi of Darkness tore them apart as Danzo did worse and worse actions while even undermining Hiruzen. Danzo is shown to regret this as he dies, and Hiruzen seems quietly remorseful when he learns Sasuke killed Danzo.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: A bit more on the extreme side than some, but there's no doubt that he thinks that he has Konoha's best interest at heart. When it's clear to him that he's going to die against Sasuke and Tobi, Danzo sheds whatever cowardly self-preservation he had and commences a Taking You with Me.
- Why Won't You Die?: Although he effectively died more or less ten times during his fight against Sasuke. Justified thanks to his Reality Warper powers.
- Worf Had the Flu: Powerful as he already is, Tobi specifically arranges his fight with Sasuke only when Danzo cannot use his most powerful weapon: Shisui's eye and the nigh-unstoppable Genjutsu Kotoamatsukami, something that would've otherwise instantly granted Danzo victory. Somewhat averted, however, in that Kotoamatsukami's effects can be negated if one is simply informed they are under its influence, though Tobi seems to have deigned not to inform Sasuke of the ability.
- Would Hurt a Child: He threatens an orphanage to ensure Nono Yakushi's compliance, is indicated to have at least tacitly approved of Orochimaru's experiments, and will not hesitate to sacrifice or see children killed in Root.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: What he did to Nono and tried to do to Kabuto.
- You Just Told Me: Sasuke gets him with this regarding his technique's limitations. Danzo gets pissed at falling for such a basic trick.
"You were a tree leaf upon which light shone. I was nothing but a foundation, hidden in darkness. So what do you think of me? Eh, Hiruzen? What was I to you?"