Danzō Shimura (志村ダンゾウ, Shimura Danzō) reputed as The Darkness of the Shinobi (忍の闇, Shinobi no Yami)[1] — due to what was often seen as his militant and archaic views on the role of a shinobi — was an elder of Konohagakure and leader of the disbanded ANBU faction: "Root". He was later appointed as the official Sixth Hokage Candidate (六代目火影候補, Rokudaime Hokage Kōho) after Pain's invasion, but died before he officially entered the office of Hokage.
Background[]
In his youth, Danzō was good friends with Hiruzen Sarutobi, and despite his best efforts, Danzō always felt inferior to Hiruzen and always wanted to surpass him. During the First Shinobi World War, Danzō, along with his team-mates: Kagami Uchiha and Torifu Akimichi, as well as Hiruzen and his team-mates: Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, formed a squad led by the Second Hokage. At some point, the team was pursued by Kumogakure's Kinkaku Squad, realising that one of them would need to sacrifice themselves as a decoy to ensure the others' safety. Hoping to die for his companions, just as his father and grandfather had, Danzō tried to volunteer but was paralysed with fear at the prospect of dying and with Hiruzen volunteered before he could compose himself. Angry that Hiruzen had once again beaten him, Danzō began to protest before the Second Hokage decides to be the decoy instead while appointing Hiruzen as his successor.
With Hiruzen having beaten him to the title of Hokage, Danzō began planning to someday attain the title himself.[2] To that end, he created the ANBU subsidiary named Root. Although the group was later officially disbanded, it remained secretly active.[3] During the Third Shinobi World War, Danzō agreed to help Hanzō of Amegakure in order to receive help in claiming the title of Hokage, sending some of his forces to deal with Akatsuki but they were all wiped out by Nagato.[4][5] He would later betray Hanzō at some point in history.[6]