In this episode guide we will explore when Sasuke Uchiha fights Danzo Shimura. This fight occurs in the ‘Five Kage Summit’ Arc, just after Sasuke has fought the Five Kage to show off his new powers.
Sasuke eventually caught up to Danzo. Their fight spanned several episodes, as most Naruto fights do. You can find it in episodes 208-211 of Naruto: Shippuden, with the aftermath occurring in the following episodes.
In this guide we will explore both characters and why they fought as well as the events of the fights. Let’s explore this epic battle together!
Sasuke Uchiha is a member of the Uchiha clan of the Hidden Leaf. He grew up in the Hidden Leaf alongside the rest of his family at the same time as Naruto was growing up in the village. They were in the same class.
Sasuke’s brother, Itachi, who was a seriously powerful ninja at an unusuallly young age, massacred the Uchiha clan when he was only 13 years old.
Sasuke was the only member of the clan still alive. Itachi told Sasuke to become a stronger shinobi so that one day he will be able to defeat Itachi and become his true self.
This set Sasuke on a dark path of searching for power which eventually led him to look outside the village for more power. He found it necessary to seek out the teachings of Orochimaru.
When Sasuke eventually grew strong enough to fight Itachi, he challended Itachi and succeeded in killing him. Not much later Tobi revealed to Sasuke the truth of the Uchiha Downfall, and Itachi’s true role in it. This set Sasuke on a path to avenge his clan by killing the members of the Leaf who led his brother to such a devastating choice.
Who Is Danzo Shimura?
Danzo Shimura is one of the Elders of the Hidden Leaf Village. He was a very powerful member of the elite, and aside from his ninja abilities, he enjoyed the trust of many of the elders.
He is from the same era as the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutob. When they were younger, they fought together during the First Shinobi World War. During the war Danzo observed Hashirama Senju using his Wood Release Jutsu and became obsessed with it.
Danzo regularly attempted to become Hokage but never succeeded. The Clans always selected other, more trustworthy, shinobi such as Hiruzen Sarutobi.
As a result he chose to attempt to guide the village from the shadows. He formed an organization called Root and the Anbu black ops (secret police), and led both. Danzo’s murky politics earned him the moniker ‘The Darkness of the Shinobi’.
Danzo was particularly interested in the hereditary visual jutsu of the Uchiha clan, the Sharingan. He often acted to maintain the peace between the Uchiha and the rest of the village, but his true intentions were hidden.
Danzo, through Root and the Anbu, conceived and brought about the Uchiha Downfall by manipulating members of the clan. The dishonor and destruction of Sasuke’s entire immediate and extended family were completely on his head.
Why Do Sasuke And Danzo Fight?
After the duel in which Sasuke killed Itachi, Tobi revealed what really happened during the Uchiha Downfall.
He told Sasuke that the Elders of Hidden Lead had ordered Itachi to massacre the clan. Itachi was just following orders. Itachi chose to keep Sasuke alive in order to avenge the clan by killing him. Tobi promised to help Sasuke avenge his clan by killing the Elders who pressured Itachi into the massacre.
However, Sasuke, not fully trusting Tobi just yet, wanted to find out from Danzo if Tobi’s revelations were true. When Danzo revealed to Sasuke the nature of his relationship with the Uchiha clan and his true influence on the Uchiha Downfall, Sasuke resolved to kill him.
What Happened When They Fought?
Finding Danzo
Tobi tracked Danzo down on the Samurai Bridge. After quickly dispatching Danzo’s two guards, Tobi pulled Sasuke and Karin from the Kamui dimension so that Sasuke can fight Danzo.
Danzo uncovered his right arm, thereby revealing that it was full of multiple Sharingan eyes. He had clearly been stealing Sharingan from the Uchiha, many of them from the corpses of the people whom Itachi slew.
When questioned about the orders given to Itachi, Danzo attacked. Sasuke responded by revealing the full form of his Susanoo Jutsu, which he could access because he had gained the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan.
Danzo’s Surprise
When Danzo began to speak about Itachi, Sasuke crushed him with the Susanoo. However Danzo appeared behind Sasuke absolutely unharmed, and Karin confirms with her Chakra readings that Danzo didn’t use a shadow clone.
Sasuke Seeks A Path to Victory
Their fight continued, Sasuke gradually realizing that each time Danzo survived a fatal attack one of the Sharingan on his right arm closed.
Soon, Danzo used his Wood Release powers in order to avoid a bolt from the Susanoo’s bow. It was now clear that he had implanted himself with Hashirama’s cells as a way to give him enough chakra to deal with all his body modifications, in particular the absurd amount of Sharingan eyes that he had implanted in his arm.
Danzo’s use of Wood Release caused Karin to realize he did this to avoid death, implying that he can die. Danzo explained that he was using a visual jutsu forbidden even to the Uchiha clan – the Izanagi.
He explains that Izanagi allows him to essentially manipulate time. Every time the Izanagi user suffers a fatal attack, he can cast Izanagi and time travel back a few seconds and remain unscathed.
However, every time Izanagi comes at a price. Each use of Izanagi shuts a Sharingan eye forever. This is why Danzo implanted so many on his arm.
Path Found!
Explaining all this to Sasuke was a mistake. Realizing that Danzo had only a few Sharingan left, and that he could only cast Izanagi a few more times, Sasuke concentrated on delivering enough fatal blows to get Danzo down to one last eye.
With an almost suicidally ferocious barrage of attacks against Danzo he eliminated all but one of Danzo’s Sharingan eyes. But then, Sasuke and Danzo stabbed each other fatally.
Danzo believed that he had won, since he could cast Izanagi with his last stolen eye and thus save himself from death. But it was a trick!
Sasuke had cast a genjutsu on Danzo to make it seem as if he had one last use of Izanagi, when actually all the stolen eyes had already closed. Danzo could not reverse Sasuke’s final fatal attack.
Mission Accomplished
Realizing that Sasuke was about to kill him, Danzo took Karin hostage, threatening to kill her if Sasuke approached. He did not realize how twisted Sasuke had become, and did not anticipate that Sasuke would use his Chidori to stab through Karin and fatally wound Danzo again.
Knowing that he was about to die, Danzo spitefully tried to take Sasuke and Tobi with him. He casted Four Symbols Sealing Jutsu which would kill Danzo but seal Sasuke and Tobi within his corpse. Tobi and Sasuke barely managed to escape by using Tobi’s Kamui.
Final Thoughts
This guide explains the whole fight between Danzo and Sasuke. Sasuke used an extraordinary amount of chakra and power–and skill, and hatred!–to to defeat Danzo, who had used body modifications to become nearly immortal.
This is clearly one of Sasuke’s most impressive wins. Danzo had the power of ten stolen Sharingan eyes in addition to greatly boosted chakra thanks to Hashirama’s cells, yet Sasuke beat him with clever strategy and intelligent use of his own powers.
Of course, Sasuke could never have done it alone. It was Danzo’s overconfidence in his near immortality that led him to underestimate Sasuke’s threat and and allow Sasuke’s victory.
