Sasori

, also known as, was a member of Akatsuki prior to his death, and was partnered with Deidara, and Orochimaru before that.

Background
When Sasori was young, his parents were killed by Sakumo Hatake, leaving him with no one but his grandmother, Chiyo, to take care of him. To cheer up Sasori, Chiyo began to teach him the art of making puppets, and Sasori soon proved to be a born natural at the art. He began making puppets at the age of five, and even made puppets that resembled his parents to get rid of the terrible loneliness he felt. But because they were only puppets, incapable of giving him the natural parent love he desired, he lost interest in them. They later fell into Chiyo's possession.

Sasori, later infamously known as "Sasori of the Red Sand", created many ingenious puppets, including the ones now owned by Kankuro. Twenty years before his introduction in the series, he left Sunagakure, though not before secretly kidnapping and killing the Third Kazekage (although his involvement in the Third's disappearance would not be discovered until around the time of Sasori's death). More than that, Sasori eventually converted himself into a human puppet to maintain his youthful looks and increase his own offensive capabilities, but retained his heart - the only still-living part of his body - in a cylindrical container in the left part of his chest.

Sometime after leaving the village, Sasori joined Akatsuki and was eventually paired with Orochimaru. After Orochimaru left Akatsuki (for trying to steal fellow member, Itachi Uchiha's body and failing in it), Sasori was teamed up with Deidara, though he always carried a grudge against his former partner. He sent Kabuto Yakushi to spy on Orochimaru, but Orochimaru dispelled Sasori's jutsu and convinced Kabuto to join him. Sasori is also shown having numerous other underlings and spies in many nations, such as Yura and Mukade.

Personality
As a child, Sasori always seems sad due to the lack of parental love. When introduced to the art of puppetry, he grew a little happier. But when the puppets he created to emulate that love failed, he became cold and uncaring. This led to him having little regard for human life and he states would not feel anything if Chiyo died, as he claims that his heart has become like his puppet body. Despite his cruelty, Sasori also has shown to possess a very down-to-earth outlook on life, rarely growing worked up over obstacles that come his way. He almost never shows extreme emotion, and even these instances are short-lived.

Sasori is also known for his impatience (he notes that he does not wish to wait or keep others waiting), which is quite ironic since he has all the time in the world thanks to his puppet-converted body.

Sasori and Deidara both portray conflicting views of art, and they frequently argue about their different views. Deidara holds that art is something transient that departs quickly, whereas Sasori believes that fine art is something wonderful that is left long into the future. This reflects their individual natures (Deidara makes clay sculptures that explode; Sasori makes long-lasting puppets out of humans). Deidara outwardly seems to respect Sasori's beliefs, but Sasori doesn't respect Deidara's.

Rescue Gaara arc
Sasori returns to Sunagakure with Deidara to capture Gaara. After Gaara's capture, Kankuro attempts to stop the Akatsuki duo, and Sasori confronts him so that Deidara can go on ahead unopposed. Sasori makes quick work of Kankuro, nearly killing him and easily destroying Kankuro's puppets, due to his pre-existing knowledge of their secrets. After the One-Tailed Shukaku is extracted from Gaara at the Akatsuki hideout, Sasori and Deidara are left in charge of defeating the pursuing Team 7. As Deidara leads half of Team 7 away, Sasori is left to face Sakura Haruno and Chiyo, his grandmother.

Soon after the battle begins, Sakura is able to destroy Sasori's Hiruko puppet (with Chiyo controlling Sakura like a puppet). After Sasori emerges from Hiruko's remains and reveals his true self, he brings out his Third Kazekage puppet. Since the Third Kazekage is a human puppet, Sasori is able use its various Iron Sand abilities to attack and overwhelm Chiyo and Sakura. To try and combat the Kazekage, Chiyo brings out Sasori's parents' puppets. Although Chiyo has since equipped them with extra weapons, the Kazekage's abilities quickly disabled the two puppets. Acting on her own, Sakura demolishes this puppet after picking up on its movements, and using herself as bait to lower Sasori's guard.

With the loss of the Kazekage puppet, Sasori begins attacking with his own body, its puppet additions allowing him many advantages over Chiyo and Sakura. When Chiyo brings out her own ten puppets in an attempt to level the playing field, Sasori uses his Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets, allowing him to control ten times as many puppets as Chiyo. Since Chiyo's puppets are designed to work together, a trait lacking with all of Sasori's puppets, her puppets fare far better than his, though they are eventually overwhelmed by attrition. During the battle, Chiyo attempts to seal Sasori's chakra with a special orb from one of her puppets, but misses his heart and only catches his body.

Using the seal as a distraction, Sasori makes it appear as if she succeeded and attempts a sneak attack on Chiyo. Sakura takes the attack for Chiyo, giving Chiyo the chance to use Sasori's parent puppets to stab him through the heart in the form of a hug. As a reward to Sakura for defeating him, Sasori informs her of a spy that he has within Orochimaru's ranks, and tells her of when and where she can meet this spy. As Sasori dies, Chiyo implies that Sasori could have avoided her last attack, but he allowed himself to be defeated. Thus, it appeared as if Sasori chose to die in the loving embrace of his parents.

At the time of his death, Sasori had not yet captured his tailed beast. A short dialogue between himself and Deidara suggests that Sasori did not even know what beast he had been assigned to target. After his death, Tobi takes his place, and his ring, in Akatsuki. Tobi later captures the three-tailed beast, suggesting that that was Sasori's target.

Abilities
Sasori was a master of puppetry and created a number of puppets while he was in Sunagakure, including the three that Kankuro later began using. His status as a master puppeteer affords him a tremendous advantage against other puppeteer shinobi, especially if the puppets they are using happens to be formerly his own, as seen on his battle against Kankuro. Skill-wise, Sasori can manipulate puppets at an incredible speed, to the point where his finger movements become a blur to Sakura Haruno. As puppets are usually installed with long-range weapons, Sasori is an expert at fighting at long distances. These skills are such that Deidara says Sasori was much stronger than he was.

Like his grandmother, Sasori was also a master of poisons. His poisons took effect instantly, and one such poison could kill the target after three days of suffering. Because Sasori believed this poison to be incurable, he laced every weapon in his puppets' arsenal with it. To his surprise, Sakura Haruno came up with a cure for the poison.

Sasori's powers are so great, that he managed to defeat and kill the Third Kazekage, who was said to be the strongest in the history of Sunagakure village.

Human Puppetry
Sasori's puppets are unique in that they are made from the still-living bodies of humans. These human puppets are more versatile than regular puppets, since in addition to having many dangerous devices installed within them (as is common with regular puppets), they are also able to use chakra and perform jutsu. Any jutsu or Kekkei Genkai abilities possessed by the converted human are also passed on to the puppet. Sasori claims to have a collection of 298 Human Puppets, 103 of which he actually displayed.

Hiruko


Hiruko is a puppet Sasori wears like armor and controls them from the inside, thus eliminating the puppeteer's weakness of being a separate and exposed target. It is his favorite puppet, such that he adorned it with the regular Akatsuki outfit and wore so often that others came to recognize him only while he was wearing it. Also, when within Hiruko, Sasori has a deeper and more gruff voice. Hiruko has a long mechanical scorpion tail (allusion to his name meaning scorpion), extending from the mouth of what appears to be a mask, on his back, a recent addition to add extra defense to a weak point. The tail works as Hiruko's main offensive weapon. The tail is also used as an extra defense by spinning it around his body at a rapid speed. The left arm is rigged with a projectile launcher capable of firing shrapnel and needles, and the mouth can be opened to serve a similar function.

Third Kazekage
His favorite human puppet is the Third Kazekage, which retained its unique Iron Sand techniques. When mixed with Sasori's poison, the Iron Sand was given a more lethal edge. The Iron Sand can also be used to fill up the joints of other puppets, thus immobilizing them. The puppet's right arm holds several poisoned blades, while the left arm can open up to reveal several summoning seals that summon thousands of similar arms. These arms are capable of pinning down an opponent, emitting poisonous gas clouds, or releasing wires that drag the opponent into the gas cloud. If the extra arms are cut off, a small buzz saw will take their place.

Puppet Body
Although Sasori is thirty-five years old, he maintains the appearance of a teenage boy. Sasori's unnaturally young appearance is a product of his design. Most of Sasori's body (excluding his heart) is actually a puppet. In place of his stomach is a thick cable coiled around a pole, allowing Sasori to use it as a stinger and retract it as necessary. Attached to his back is a scroll holder, containing four scrolls that seem to serve as "ammunition", which Sasori uses to store his human puppets. Sasori also added a pair of poles to the back of his hips, each equipped with five large blades that that can spin like a propeller, and pipes to each of his hands that can spew out intense fire or powerful water jets. Curiously, when using "himself", Sasori's eyes are always wide open, giving him a somewhat manic look. In contrast, prior to revealing his puppet body, they were always half-closed, making him appear calmer.

Installed in the right part of his chest is a mechanism that can spin numerous chakra strings, allowing Sasori to use his Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets. With it he is given a drastic advantage over other puppeteers, such that he claims to have taken down an entire country with it. Sasori's left part of his chest holds the only part of him still human and thus the only, and necessary, part of his body capable of controlling chakra: a cylinder-shaped device containing his heart.

Because Sasori's heart was the only living part of himself, his puppet body is virtually indestructible; allowing him to survive the poison mist Kankuro bombarded him with as well as the impact from Sakura's punches. He is also immune to strains that would normally affect a human's body, such as fatigue, muscle failure, and pain, allowing him to move at full strength for extended periods of time. When smashed apart, he can simply draw the pieces back together. Additionally, he can transfer his heart to other puppets in a split second, allowing him to abandon a body should it be damaged beyond repair or otherwise incapacitated. How he transfers his facial features, as depicted in the manga, is not explained; at one point, he transfers to another puppet that somehow has his face.

Trivia

 * Sasori has the same birth date as Masashi Kishimoto.
 * Sasori has one of the longest battle times in the anime (8 full episodes) giving him roughly about 4 hours of battle screentime.
 * Sasori and Orochimaru have something in common: both grew cold after their parents' deaths, both experimented on the villagers of their hometown, and both modified their bodies to attain immortality. Both defected their village, both joined Akatsuki, they ended up being partners before Orochimaru left the organization.
 * means "scorpion".
 * In the first poll he was in (the 6th overall poll) he placed 6th on the list.
 * He was the first Akatsuki member to die (at least on-screen) in the series.

Quotes

 * (To Chiyo and Sakura) "Since I don't like waiting or making other people wait... I'll end this quickly."
 * (To Kankuro) "For my name to be known all the way down to a kid like you... is an honor."
 * (To Deidara) "Fine art is something wonderful that's left long into the future...eternal beauty."
 * "A puppet user's ability is measured by the number of puppets they can use."
 * (About Chiyo) "Great puppet masters think alike, I suppose."
 * (To Chiyo) "That is a considerable amount of puppets. But... [proceeds to summon one hundred puppets of his own] With this, I took down a country."
 * (To Sakura) " I will soon die. Before that, I'll do something pointless for you... a... reward for defeating me... you wanted to know about Orochimaru didn't you...?"