Sand Siblings

The Sand Siblings are ninja from the village of Sunagakure and the children of the Fourth Kazekage, the leader of the village. They come to Konohagakure to participate in the biannual ninja exams, and serve as antagonists in the subsequent invasion of Konohagakure. Due to their interactions with Naruto Uzumaki, they later return as allies of Konohagakure, aiding him in his attempts to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha from Orochimaru. Kishimoto changed their costumes for their return due to the difficulty in drawing their original attire, as well as to symbolize their new friendship with Konohagakure. When all five of the kage's are meeting up they are seen yet again in different outfits.

Gaara is the youngest of the three siblings. Before Gaara was even born, his father intended to make him a military weapon for Sunagakure by sealing the One-Tailed Shukaku (一尾の守鶴 Ichibi no Shukaku), a powerful and dangerous tailed beast, inside him. Similar to Naruto, Gaara was tormented by his fellow villagers for being the host of a tailed beast. After one of his few remaining relatives tried to kill him, Gaara developed a sadistic and withdrawn personality, killing others to affirm the value of his existence. His battle with Naruto during the invasion of Konoha changes this mentality; as a result, he becomes more willing to help others as the purpose for his existence, and he succeeds his deceased father as Sunagakure's Kazekage during Part II.

Kankuro is the second oldest of three siblings. For the first half of the series, he is frequently at odds with Gaara, though he tends to hold his tongue for fear of being killed. In Part II, once Gaara begins to reveal his dreams and motivations to Kankuro, Kankuro becomes very protective of Gaara; he lashes out at anyone who speaks poorly of Gaara and when Gaara is kidnapped, he readily risks his life to save him. Kankuro is a talented puppeteer, and has thus far been shown to have three puppets in his arsenal: Karasu(烏^?, lit. Crow), Kuroari (黒蟻, lit. Black Ant), and Sanshōuo (山椒魚^?, lit. Salamander). Crow is used for offensive purposes, Black Ant traps opponents in its body to make them easier targets, and Salamander protects Kankuro and his allies from enemy attacks. The puppets are all destroyed by their original creator, Sasori, in Part II. Kankuro is later seen using Sasori's body as his new puppet.

Temari is the oldest of the three siblings. Unlike her more combat-loving brothers, Temari values peace, as she questions Sunagakure's justifications for going to war with Konohagakure. This trait carries over to Part II, in which she begins acting as a liaison between Sunagakure and Konohagakure to help the two villages work together. Like her brothers, Temari does not appear in the series very often, and when she does appear she is commonly in the company of Shikamaru Nara. When they make their Part II debut together,Naruto Uzumaki asks if they are on a date, though both Shikamaru and Temari state that this is not the case. In battle, Temari wields a giant iron fan that can create powerful gusts of wind capable of leveling the surrounding landscape. As she is skilled at deducing an opponent's strategies and weaknesses soon after a battle begins, she typically uses her winds to remove parts of the battlefield that might be advantageous to the enemy.