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Kugutsu - Puppets
The art of using puppets in battle was developed in the Hidden Sand Village. Over time these skills were passed on to new ninja. The earliest known puppet master was Chikamatsu Monzaemon. The oldest living master was Chiyo, her grandson Sasori would pick up where she left off and take the art to new heights. When Sasori fled the village, Kankurou would use Sasori's puppets as his own and become renowned in his own right.


The Puppet Masters
Chiyo

First Manga Appearance: Chapter 252
First Anime Appearance: Shippuuden Episode 9
Name Meaning: "Thousand Years" or "Forever"
Hidden Village: Sand Village
Rank: Unknown (Potential Jounin)
Notable Features: Grandmother of Sasori, Retired at her old age but still spry, Former poison expert
Notable Quotes: I have been wanting to give my cute little grandson some love for quite some time now anyway...
See also: Sasori, Ebizou

Personal Stats

Total Ability Unknown

Latent Potential Unknown

Luck Unknown


"Chiyo-baasama" as she is affectionately known, is a retired Hidden Sand ninja. She and her brother Ebizou served as the legendary "sibling" ninjas of their village. In one of the previous Great Ninja wars, Chiyo used her poison skills to affect many enemy ninjas. When her grandson Sasori left the village twenty years previously, she longed to see him again.


Click For Quick-Spoilers:
Though Chiyo was quite adept at poison making, she was countered with antidotes made by Hidden Leafs "slug-woman" Tsunade. This loss to Tsunade made Chiyo rather bitter in her old age. When Hidden Sand village ninja Kankurou was poisoned in battle by her grandson Sasori, she was called upon by Baki to attempt to help. She stated she couldn't help as she was too old, she would rather just see her grandson. Baki countered that was convenient since the one who hurt Kankurou was that very same man. This stirred Chiyo to action. When she examined Kankurou she stated she could not help him but Tsunade could. Baki countered that Tsunade could not leave Konoha since she was the Hokage now, but that she had sent someone in her stead.

When Temari, Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura arrived in Hidden Sand to help the village, Chiyo jumped to attack Kakashi. She mistook him for his father, Hatake Sakumo, the legendary White Fang of Konoha. Chiyo blamed Sakumo for the death of her son, apparently Sasori's father, though the number of Chiyo's sons in unknown. When her brother pointed out that Kakashi wasn't Sakumo, Chiyo tried to save face by saying she was just joking. Sakura managed to use her healing skills to save Kankurou. When Naruto and his team decided to head out to track down Akatsuki, Chiyo decided to tag along. She brought along a pair of mysterious scrolls which could be used to stop her grandson's schemes.

On their journey to save Gaara, Chiyo revealed she had sealed the Shukaku demon within Gaara. Conceivably she could have also sealed Shukaku within the two previous ninja hosts before Gaara due to her elder age. Chiyo began to regret her past mistakes and resolved to do all she could to save Gaara and her village. When they made it to the Shukaku extraction cave, Chiyo and Sakura found her grandson and fought him. Chiyo's experience and Sakura's power were enough to destroy Sasori's Hiruko form and reveal his "true" appearance within, that of his younger self 20 years earlier. It was then revealed Sasori had killed the Third Kazekage and would use him in battle as a puppet against Chiyo.

Chiyo then decided it was best to combat Sasori with the scrolls she had brought along. Chiyo used them to summon two puppets, Sasori's parents who had been made into puppets in the past. Sasori was amused by this and the parent puppets were eventually damaged. Sakura's strategy allowed her to destroy the Sandaime puppet, and her constant vigilance and assistance to Chiyo greatly impressed the older kunoichi. Chiyo was forced to pull out her ultimate technique, her ten Chikamatsu puppets which she had inherited from the first kugutsu no jutsu user.

Sasori in turn would use his legendary hundred puppet army. Chiyo focused on quality over quantity and with Sakura's help made destroyed the puppet army. Unfortunately in the process Chiyo became poisoned by one of the blades. Sasori was not finished though, escaping harm to his original puppet body, he moved to another puppet and moved to quickly kill Chiyo. Sakura jumped to protect Chiyo and took a poison katana through the stomach, critically wounding her. Chiyo was again moved by her actions, knowing their one remaining poison antidote was meant for herself, she instead gave it Sakura. She then did her final acts as a puppeteer, she quickly maneuvered the parent puppets back into the field of battle to pierce Sasori's chest container where his life essence was housed. After striking an apparent fatal blow, she turned to help Sakura.

The dying and immobilized Sasori mocked the two kunoichi but Chiyo revealed her final surprise, a reincarnation jutsu which would allow her to breathe life into the dead in exchange for her own life. A jutsu she was to have used on Sasori's dead parents as a gift to her grandson. Instead Chiyo used her powers to save the young woman who gave her life in battle to protect her, much to Sasori's amused sadness. After using her jutsu, the group were surprised by the fact Chiyo remained alive, she surmised it was because Sakura was not yet dead. Since he was defeated, Sasori gave Sakura information on Orochimaru. Chiyo then watched as her grandson fell to the ground, dead. She told Sakura she was not responsible for Sasori's death, he hesitated when the parent puppets came to strike, not moving to avoid them. Severely fatigued and weakened, Chiyo stated she still had more to do so the two kunoichi left to join the others.

Finding the dead Gaara who had been rescued by Naruto, Chiyo used her jutsu one last time. Her final act of redemption was to give up the last of her life-force to Gaara, aided by the chakra of Naruto. She died happily, passing on advice to Sakura and moved by Naruto's heart.

Kankurou

Personal Data
Registration ID: 51-002
Birthday: May 15th
Blood Type: B
Height: 167 cm
Weight: 61.2 kg

First Manga Appearance: Chapter 35
First Anime Appearance: Naruto Episode 20
Name Meaning: A famous kabuki player, kurou=crow
Hidden Village: Sand Village
Rank: Genin
Age: 15
Jounin Master: Baki
Notable Features: Carries mysterious large package on his back
See also: Gaara, Temari, Baki, Kazekage, Karasu

Personal Stats

Total Ability Unknown

Latent Potential Unknown

Luck Unknown





Advancement Data
Academy Grad Age: ?
Chuunin Exam Age: -

Missions Completed
D-Rank: ?
C-Rank: 9
B-Rank: 1
A-Rank: 1
S-Rank: 1


A Genin from the village of Sand, Kankurou is the brother of Gaara and Temari. All three siblings participate in the Chuunin Exam.


Click For Quick-Spoilers:
Kankurou is the son of the Kazekage. In the third preliminary matches of the Chuunin Exam, Kankurou is placed against Sound spy Tsurugu Misumi. Utilizing his puppet Karasu, Kankurou is able to surprise Misumi by having Karasu wrap his arms around the Sound spy and crush him. In the third test Kankurou is placed against Aburame Shino. When it was time for his match, Kankurou gave up before the match even started. He became paranoid and was unsure what to do because Gaara's match was delayed. The Sand Genin were under orders to start their plan for the invasion of Leaf by Sand and Sound after Gaara's match. After the invasion began Kankurou helped Gaara escape from the arena to an area where he could rest so he could begin his transformation into the Shukaku demon. Along the way he was stopped by Uchiha Sasuke and Aburame Shino. Shino directed Sasuke to continue after Gaara as he wanted to finally have his match with Kankurou. Kankurou and Shino exchanged blows but Shino was able to overcome Kankurou with his destruction bugs. Later Temari was able to find her injured brother and help him to safety. With the defeat of Gaara by Uzumaki Naruto, Kankurou and his siblings retreated from Leaf.

Months after the invasion and the surrender of Sand, both Leaf and Sand became allies again. After Uchiha Sasuke left Leaf to seek out Orochimaru, Shikamaru and a Genin team left to retrieve him. When Shikamaru and the Genin were in a dire position facing the Four Sounds, Kankurou and his siblings arrived out of nowhere to lend support. They had arrived under the direction of the Fifth Hokage Tsunade who had requested assistance from Sand. Kankurou lended assistance to Kiba and defeated the tiring Sakon and Ukon with ease. Kankurou and his siblings then returned to Konoha with the injured Leaf ninja.

After the time skip, Kankurou advanced in rank to Jounin. When Akatsuki invaded Hidden Sand to capture Gaara, Kankurou tried in vain to fight Akatsuki member Sasori and get him back. Unfortunately, Sasori was the legendary puppet master of Hidden Sand who fled years earlier. Knowing all of Kankurou's tricks, he easily avoided injury and poisoned Kankurou. Kankurou had only three days to live, but the medical skills of Sakura managed to save him in time. He then remained in the village to recover as Naruto and his team attempted to track down Gaara's abductors.


Click for full Biography (Caution - Spoilers)

Sasori

First Manga Appearance: Chapter 247
First Anime Appearance: Shippuuden Episode 2
Name Meaning: "Scorpion"
Hidden Village: Sand Village
Rank: Unknown (Potential Jounin)
Notable Features: Puppet Master, Also known as "Akasuna no Sasori" (Sasori of the Red Sand)
Notable Quotes: "You insist on calling those fireworks of yours art? True art endures the ages... beauty everlasting."
See also: Deidara

Personal Stats

Total Ability Unknown

Latent Potential Unknown

Luck Unknown


Sasori is a missing-nin from Hidden Sand Village who serves as a member of the Akatsuki Organization. He is very large in size, appearing to squat low to the ground when he slides across it.


Click For Quick-Spoilers:
Click Sasori's bio image to reveal his true appearance.

Sasori, whose name means scorpion, was a former highly ranking ninja within Hidden Sand who fled 20 years earlier. He was master of puppet making who was responsible for the design of the puppets Kankurou uses today. One of his underlings was a Sand ninja named Yuura. When Sasori fled Sand to join Akatsuki, he placed a jutsu on his underling Yuura to cause him to unknowingly gather information and serve as a sleeper agent. When the time came, Yuura would be activated to do his masters bidding. This same jutsu was used on a young Yakushi Kabuto, who was to gather information on Sasori's former partner Orochimaru and his Fuushi Tensei technique. Orochimaru removed the memory block though and Kabuto chose to willingly side with Orochimaru.

After the time skip, Sasori and his partner Deidara came to Hidden Sand to capture the one-tail demon Shukaku. Waiting outside Hidden Sand, Sasori activated Yuura. Yuura then wiped out some of the Sand's defenses, allowing Deidara to infiltrate and attack Gaara. After Gaara was captured, Kankurou chased after his brothers captor and met up with Sasori. When Kankurou tried to stop Deidara, Sasori revealed his true origin for the first time and fought Kankurou. Kankurou was outmatched by the master of puppets and he was defeated and poisoned by him. In the battle it was revealed the tail and other portions of Sasori's body were puppet pieces.

Sasori and Deidara returned to the Akatsuki cave base and participated in the extraction of the Shukaku demon from Gaara. Naruto and fellow teammates arrived in an attempt to stop the process but they did not make it in time. Sasori was faced by his grandmother Chiyo and Sakura. Chiyo's battle smarts and Sakura's power were enough to destroy Sasori's current form, that of the puppet Hiruko.

Sasori revealed he kills his opponents and turns them into puppets. This process was done 298 times in the past and his two female opponents would make 300. With Hiruko destroyed, Sasori revealed his greatest triumph, the puppet form of a man who had disappeared under mysterious circumstances, Hidden Sands own Sandaime Kazekage. Another surprise waiting for the two kunoichi, was Sasori's "real" form, a young man unaffected by time, appearing in the same form he was 20 years previously.

Sasori would use Sandaime's Satetsu abilities against the two kunoichi. His ability to make humans into "hitokugutsu" (literally human puppets) would allow him to use their abilities at life even in puppet form. Chiyo revealed her hand as well, summoning Sasori's very parents who were made into puppets as well when he was younger. Sasori used Sandaime to form the iron sand into spikes, and weapons. The puppets exchanged blows, eventually disabling the parent puppets. Chiyo and Sakura tried to avoid damage, but Sakura got scratched, forcing her to use one of their two poison antidotes. This gave Sakura the surprise opportunity though to destroy the Sandaime puppet. Sasori was then forced to remove his cloak and show his true abilities.

Sasori revealed he had made himself into a puppet, adding deadly weapons to his frame. Sakura managed to strike his body but it only managed to reform around a cylinder marked with the "Scorpion" kanji. Chiyo was forced to summon her ten Chikamatsu puppets, and Sasori in turn summoned his special hundred. The huge puppet fight began and Sakura managed to pin Sasori's body to the cave wall with the help of one of Chiyo's chakra sealing puppet parts. Missing though was Sasori's chest container, where his human essence lived. One of his broken puppets rose to reveal the container implanted inside. Weapon in hand it rushed for Chiyo but Sakura jumped in the way to take the lethal strike. Using her remaining strength, Chiyo secretly moved the parent puppets from either side to pierce Sasori's chest container, striking an apparently fatal blow.

The dying Sasori mocked the kunoichi and their reliance on physical forms. He told the two how he had escaped emotion and physical death with his transference to the container form. He then decided to offer the two kunoichi some information as a reward for beating him. He told them he was to meet with an underling of his who is acting as a spy in Orochimaru's camp. In ten days, on a bridge in the Grass Country they were to meet. With that, Sasori fell to the ground alongside his parents, dead. Sakura congratulated Chiyo for defeating Sasori, but Chiyo made a sad revelation. Sasori recognized the parents were going to strike, but he hesitated and did not move to avoid the attack. Sasori was not yet beyond emotion as he so claimed, he seemingly desired one final embrace from his parents.

The Leaf would use the information Sasori provided and travel to the Grass Country. When they arrived at the bridge, Leaf ninja Yamato would transform and impersonate Sasori in his Hiruko puppet. The Leaf watched in surprise as the spy was revealed as Kabuto. They received another surprise when he moved to kill Sasori, revealing his new allegiance to Orochimaru.

Ryuudouin Clan

First Manga Appearance: NA
First Anime Appearance: Episode 195
Name Meaning: Ryuu=Dragon, Dou=Hall, In=Institution, School, Temple
Location: Fire Country

Personal Stats

Total Ability Unknown

Latent Potential Unknown

Luck Unknown


The three Ryuudouin brothers Genshou, Rokkaku and Jakou are the sons of Ryuudouin Agira, who had fought Maito Gai years before and lost. The Ryuudouin use wood training men in their attacks. Most of the men act on their own using simple kicks and strikes through a charm placed on their body. The clan members through can use Kugutsu to move certain men independently. The brothers believed their father took the loss to Gai as a disgrace. On his deathbed he commanded them to fight Gai. Since then the three patiently waited for their chance for revenge. When they confronted Gai he stated he remembered their father and he fought valiantly. The brothers tried to trap Gai and destroy him but he managed to escape with Rock Lee's help. Gai explained how he fought their father fairly, and that the man was eager for a rematch. The brothers then realized they probably misunderstood their father's final words.