Sand

As the jinchūriki of the One-Tailed Shukaku, Gaara acquired the ability to manipulate sand through the beast. While Gaara is capable of controlling any sand, he keeps in his gourd, also made from this sand. This sand is infused with his chakra, allowing him to make faster and more powerful attacks, as well as being used to make his Shield of Sand. Due to the number of people Gaara has killed, the sand smells of blood, as noted by Kiba. It was also noted by both Gaara's father and uncle that the sand would always protect Gaara, because it has his mother's will in it.

Sand includes a wide variety of minerals, and Gaara can select the hardest minerals to create stronger defenses and, in the anime, offenses.

When in need of more sand, Gaara can crush the soil with the sand he has, to create more sand. Although this sand is more difficult to control than desert sand, it can provide for the amount needed for large-scale techniques, such as the Quicksand Waterfall Flow

The sand can be countered to some degree by substances that make it heavier, such as gold, or in the anime, by making it wet.

Other Uses

 * Kankurō used sand to disguise his puppets, allowing him make his puppets appear as another person, or as himself, to trick enemies into attacking his puppets instead of him.
 * In the anime, Sasori also used sand to make a clone of himself as shown during his fight with Kankurō when he escaped from Black Ant.
 * In the anime, Temari also utilised sand in her Dust Wind Technique to cause her opponent to lose their footing in battle.