Sand

Sand is a versatile material, most often employed by the shinobi originating from Sunagakure for various purposes, including numerous supplementary functions ranging from concealment to disguise. However, the tool itself rose to prominence in the hands of the jinchūriki of the One-Tailed Shukaku, whom acquired the ability to manipulate sand through the beast, with the most renowned amongst these being Gaara.

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. 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 defences and, in the anime, offences.

When in need of more sand, Gaara can crush the soil, meaning nearly any kind of earth, with the sand he already has, to create more. Although this sand is more difficult to control than his specially-made sand, it provides the amount needed for large-scale techniques such as the Quicksand Waterfall Flow.

It was shown that the sand could be countered by mixing other harmful things such as Exploding Clay into it. The sand can also be countered to some degree by substances that make it heavier, such as gold, or in the anime, by making it wet. The Second Mizukage has also been shown to be able to utilise water with a special oil-like quality that can easily crumble sand.

However, the capability of mixing other materials into sand also increases its versatility, as substances such as gold dust and hail could be hidden or mixed with the sand, allowing Gaara to manipulate the substances to some degree.

Other Uses

 * Kankurō used sand to disguise his puppets, allowing him to 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.
 * Because of the versatility of sand as a weapon, the Third and Fourth Kazekage both crafted their own versions of sand manipulation via the use of their Magnet Release kekkei genkai to manipulate iron and gold dust respectively.

Trivia

 * Due to the number of people Gaara has killed, the sand smells of blood, as noted by Kiba.