Hailed as a “God of Shinobi” by the villagers of Konohagakure and the rest of the ninja world inNaruto, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, was always a cut above his peers, having studied under the First and Second Hokages. Renowned for his natural talent, versatility, ability to use all five nature transformations, and master virtually all the jutsu and techniques to have existed in the village, over three generations of shinobi are said to have learned from him and benefited from his wisdom. A staunch believer inthe Will Of Fire, Hiruzen embodied its principles for many, and his moderate and pacifistic approach to his role as the leader of the village earned him great praise, but also contributed to his failures as Hokage.
Devoted to the cause of safeguarding the village and its security, Hiruzen was very measured, thoughtful, and delicate when taking action — a tendency that earned him a reputation for being soft by other Kage inNaruto. This aspect of his personality was most evident in his dealings with Danzō Shimura, his former rival and peer under the Second Hokage. As the founder of Root, a covert organization within Konoha’s Anbu division that carried out less than respectable missions to protect the village’s interests, Danzō was responsible for quite a few of Konoha’s more underhanded acts as one of the strongest shinobi villages among the five great nations. He even attempted to assassinate Hiruzen at one point, and after the failure of this ill-advised endeavor due to Kakashi’s intervention, the Third Hokage chose to spare his old comrade. As Danzō himself described it, Hiruzen was the figure in the light, while he took on all the darkness associated with the village, which the former turned a blind eye to. However, it was this very structure that allowedDanzō to commit heinous crimescompletely under Hiruzen’s nose, which both directly and indirectly caused a great deal of pain and suffering to the village in the long run.
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The Creation Of Pain
One Danzō’s biggest failures came in his dealings with Amegakure and its leader, Hanzō of the Salamander during the Third Shinobi World War. When the original incarnation of the Akatsuki, led by Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan were gaining prominence through their resolution of conflicts with non-violent means, Hanzō initally saw them as a boon to the village. However, Danzō, in his bid to strengthen his position and lay claim to the title of Hokage, decided to convince Hanzō of the threat they posed to his power. In the sequence of events that followed, Hanzō kidnapped Konan and forced Nagato to kill Yahiko in exchange for her safety. However, Yahiko impaled himself on Nagato’s kunai, and the latter’s rage made him wipe out Hanzō’s entire force of shinobi withthe power of his Rinnegan.
To orchestrate this, Danzō manipulated Hanzō by bringing him corpses of Ame shinobi, claiming they were killed by the Akatsuki. In reality, the bodies belonged to Root members who had been disguised as shinobi from Iwagakure, who had been killed when Nagato lost control and went on a rampage. Danzō then approached the Akatsuki with a peace treaty under the alias of Kanzō, as a diversion for his plan to kidnap and deliver Konan to Hanzō. Such meddling in the affairs of other villages for personal gain went virtually unpunished during Hiruzen’s reign as Hokage. Unfortunately for him, and Konohagakure, this sequence of events transformed Nagato into Pain. Hence,Danzō held a fair share of the blameforthe Akatsuki’s transformation, as well as the death of Jiraiya, and the destruction of Konoha during Pain’s assault.
Enlisting Kabuto And Colluding With Orochimaru
Danzō facilitated Orochimaru’s abduction of test subjects for human experimentation, which also permitted him to gain more power. Orochimaru was the one who provided him the armimplanted with multiple Sharingantaken from Shin Uchiha, and also injected Danzō’s body with Hashirama’s cells, allowing him to employ the dojutsu with little strain, and make extended use of Izanagi. Later on, Danzō was also revealed to have recruited Kabuto Yakushi into Root, and was the one responsible for brainwashing Nonō Yakushi, a former member of Root and a caretaker of Konoha’s orphanage, into attempting to kill him.
Until that point, Nonō had been the only maternal figure in Kabuto’s life, and Danzō strong-armed her and Kabuto into joining Root. As Kabuto had become dangerous Anbu operative in his own right, he killed Nonō in panic, but discovered that she no longer recognized him as a consequence of the brainwashing. Danzō then sent Orochimaru to finish the job, but the lattertook a liking to Kabutoand made him his apprentice. This act of treating his subordinates as dispensable and pitting them against each other to cover up his misdeeds was a trend throughout Danzō’s time at Root, something that Hiruzen was either unaware of, or paid no heed to. Eventually, this single instance would come back to haunt Konoha as Kabuto would become the one to supply Obito and the Akatsuki with troops during the Fourth Shinobi World War, through his perfection of the Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation jutsu.
The Uchiha Clan Massacre
Perhaps Danzō’s worst act in his reign over Root was his role in the Uchiha clan massacre and the death of Shisui Uchiha. As a figure who viewed the ends and justifying the means — in contrast to Hiruzen who always looked to diplomacy — Danzō was the one who suggested the Uchiha move out of the villageafter the Nine-Tails’attack, and goaded Itachi into killing his entire clan, in exchange for Sasuke’s life, as a means to quell the growing dissent among the clan. Danzō also stole Shisui Uchiha’s Sharingan by force, even when he was fiercely loyal to the village above his owen clan. When Hiruzen found out about all of this, he ordered Danzō to disband Root, but it continued to operate in secret for years afterward, highlighting how Hiruzen’s lax attitude was something that his old friend now took for granted. An extremist and hypocrite who cared about little more than amassing power while hiding under the umbrella of protecting the village, Danzō’s crimes throughoutNarutoare unforgivable in every respect, and Hiruzen’s inability to rein in Danzō’s treachery and Draconian tactics, was his biggest failure as Hokage.
