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 After one of his few remaining relatives tried to kill him, Gaara developed a sadistic and withdrawn personality, killing others to affirm the value of his existence.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.
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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.
Madara Uchiha (うちは マダラ Uchiha Madara?) is one of the founders of Akatsuki and its current leader, a descendant of the Sage of the Six Paths. Long ago, Madara became the first possessor of the Mangekyo Sharingan, a rare form of the eye condition unique to the Uchiha which gave him the strength to take control of the Uchiha clan, though it rendered him blind from overuse until he took his own brother's eyes in order to regain his sight.[48] Madara eventually banded together with Hashirama Senju to create Konohagakure. The two founders disagreed on who should lead their new village, and after a momentous battle between the two it was believed that Madara had died.[92] In later years, Madara resurfaced, unsealing the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox from within Kushina Uzumaki and using it to attack Konoha, though he denies it. Once the fox was sealed by Minato, Madara was contacted by Itachi Uchiha and subsequently assisted him in assassinating the Uchiha clan.[93] Kisame Hoshigaki, upon seeing his face, recognizes him as a former Mizukage.[94] Much of Madara's role in the series has been under the guise of Tobi (トビ?), who replaces Sasori in Akatsuki after Sasori's death. While acting as Tobi he is carefree and goofy as opposed to Madara's usual serious self. Tobi's tendency to take credit for others' work and undermine his superiors annoys his partner, Deidara, who either blows up or strangles him in comical fashion as punishment.[95] After Deidara dies during a battle with Sasuke, Madara takes a special interest in Sasuke's development and takes him under his wing.[62] After Nagato's betrayal, he reveals himself to the five Kage, revealing his intent to become the Jinchuriki of the Ten-Tailed Beast and threatening them with war unless they give him Naruto and Killer Bee to complete his goal. When they refuse him, Madara declares the Fourth Great Shinobi World War and takes his leave, Madara is confronted by Kabuto and agrees to an alliance after being blackmailed into it. Though Madara's face as it appeared during Konoha's founding has been shown in full at various points in the series, he always wears a mask in the current Naruto storyline with a swirl pattern focused around his right eye, allowing him to suck people into a subspace. Kishimoto found Madara to be his favorite Akatsuki member at the time to draw, noting his mask to be easy to make.[96] His black hair is the only constantly visible part of his face. When asked how Madara could have survived since Konoha's founding generations ago, Itachi states that Madara is immortal.[97] The specifics of his immortality have yet to be touched upon, though Madara implies the potency of his chakra has something to do with it.[98] In battle he has been shown capable of making his body intangible, leaving him visible but otherwise impervious to most forms of damage unless while executing a counterattack. He can also teleport over great distances at will.
Sasuke is a member of the Uchiha clan, a highly skilled clan of ninjas allied to the village of Konohagakure. His primary motivation throughout the series is to avenge the destruction of his entire clan by killing his brother, Itachi Uchiha, a task he pursues at all costs. While he was initially cold and singularly driven by his revenge, he becomes more empathetic through his relationships with other characters, notably Naruto Uzumaki, whom he comes to consider as a rival.
The nine-tailed demon fox (九尾の妖狐, Kyūbi no Yōko?) is the most powerful of the tailed beasts and regarded as an age-old natural disaster, as a single swipe of one of its tails can raise tsunamis and flatten mountains. Twelve years before the start of the series, the fox attacked Konohagakure before being stopped by the Fourth Hokage,
who gave his life to seal the fox into his son, Naruto Uzumaki.[84] Throughout the series, after a couple isolated incidents of falling under its influence during heated battles, Naruto tries to gain dominance over the fox and harness its great strength to perform jutsu that would normally be impossible for a ninja of his age.[101] At the same time the fox tries to gain control over Naruto, provoking his rage and thus allowing its violent personality to influence and consume him. As Naruto draws upon more of the fox's power the seal keeping it trapped within him weakens, and in the event the seal is broken, the fox will be released.[118] Naruto's mother was the demon fox container once when the Hidden Village of the Eddy, transfered her over to become the new host from the first Hokage's wife.[108][109]
Sunagakure (砂隠れの里, Sunagakure no Sato?, lit. "Village Hidden Among Sand" or "Village Hidden in the Sand"), also known as Suna, is one of the five great ninja villages, and as such has a Kage, known as the Kazekage, as its leader. Before the start of the series, the Land of Wind's feudal lord began to reduce Sunagakure's budget, and send mission requests to Konohagakure instead of Sunagakure. This led to Sunagakure forming an alliance with the village of Otogakure in order to attack and destroy Konohagakure, which composes a major portion of Part I of the series. The combined forces of Sunagakure and Otogakure are defeated, and Sunagakure allies with Konohagakure after realizing that Orochimaru, the leader of Otogakure, slew the Fourth Kazekage. In Part II of the series, Gaara, the son of the Fourth Kazekage, succeeds his father as the Fifth Kazekage.
Konohagakure (木ノ葉隠れの里, Konohagakure no Sato?, lit. "Village Hidden In The Leaves"), also known as Konoha, is the hidden village within the Land of Fire and the primary setting of the series. As the hidden village of one of the Five Great Shinobi Nations, the village is led by a Kage, known as the Hokage. The faces of the first five Hokage are engraved on the rock formation overlooking Konohagakure. At the start of the series, the Third Hokage is the leader of the village. He had abdicated his position in favor of Minato Namikaze, who became the Fourth Hokage, but was forced to reclaim his position after Minato died saving the village from the nine-tailed demon fox.
During Part I of the series, Orochimaru leads an invasion of Konohagakure that causes large amounts of property damage to the village and culminates with the murder of the Third Hokage, his former teacher. Tsunade,
another of Third's students, succeeds him as the Fifth Hokage and oversees the village's reconstruction. Later in Part II Pain, the leader of the criminal organization Akatsuki,
leads an attack on Konohagakure and destroys most of the village in the process. After Pain invades Konoha, Tsunade is left in a comatose state and Danzo is elected as Hokage. The origin of Konohagakure is revealed during Part II of the series. The village was formed as part of an alliance between the Uchiha and Senju clans, decendants of the two sons of the Sage of the Six Paths, the strongest clans in the Naruto world at that time. Hashirama Senju, the leader of the Senju clan, became the First Hokage, and defeated Madara Uchiha, the leader of the Uchiha clan, when Madara challenged Hashirama's rule. Within Konohagakure are a number of locations featured prominently during the series. The Forest of Death (死の森, Shi no Mori?) is a large gated forest used for the biyearly ninja exams in which ninja can advance to the rank of Chunin. The Ichiraku Ramen Bar is the favorite restaurant of the series' titular character, Naruto Uzumaki, and he frequently visits it during the course of the series. The Final Valley (終末の谷, Shūmatsu no Tani?) is the location of Hashirama's and Madara's fight for control over the village, featuring large statues of the two overlooking a waterfall. At the end of Part I, Naruto fights Sasuke Uchiha in this location in a failed attempt to return him to Konohagakure.
In the series, Itachi is the older brother of Uchiha Sasuke and is responsible for killing all the members of their clan, sparing only Sasuke. Itachi is treated as an antagonist for much of the series, however around the time of his death his villainous role is greatly downplayed. It is revealed that he was ordered by the former leaders of Konohagakure to kill the clan in order to prevent the Uchiha coup d'état which would have resulted in war. Despite his reservations, Itachi fulfilled his mission and defected from Konohagakure to become part of the criminal.
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