Kankurō

is a major supporting character in the series. He is a jōnin-level shinobi of Sunagakure and one of the three Sand Siblings.

Personality
In Part I, one noticeable personality trait he displayed is an apparent dislike for children, first seen when he attempted to beat up Konohamaru for running into him. This carried over to many of his interactions with other characters, as he was noticeably irritated when in the presence of someone younger than him. This was most evident when he was seen with Gaara, who Kankurō was forced to put up with due to the fear his younger brother imposed on him.

Despite their apparent differences, Gaara and Kankurō become very close over the time skip, as Gaara began to confide in Kankurō, and shared his dreams of wanting to risk his life to protect Sunagakure. As such, Kankurō has become very protective of Gaara, willing to challenge anyone who insults Gaara in his presence. When Gaara was captured by Akatsuki, Kankurō rushed to his brother's aid in an attempt to save him and risked his life for him. But he was quickly defeated by Sasori, though joined Temari in looking for Gaara as soon as he was able to walk. At one point when Kankurō had been poisoned by Sasori he was heard muttering Gaara's name though he was unconscious, which showed how much he cared for Gaara. Once Gaara was found and saved, Kankurō joined Temari in thanking Team 7 for saving their brother. It was also noted that he likes collecting puppets, and installing and upgrading the mechanisms in them.

In the original Japanese, Kankurō speaks with a distinctive Yokohama dialect. He can often be heard ending his sentences with "jaan." This makes him sound tough, as this accent is often used for biker gang members or punk kids (called yankii in Japanese, Yokohama supposedly has many) in manga. It is possible that he was given this accent to make him sound different from the Konoha characters' standard Tokyo Japanese.

Appearance
In Part I, Kankurō wears a black, baggy, full body suit with a red and yellow circle on the front. He also wears a black hood with cat-like ears and his forehead protector on his forehead. This hood covers his hair completely. Both this and later outfits are derived from traditional bunraku puppeteer costumes; bunraku puppeteers usually wear black and often wear hoods so as not to distract from the puppet. When he first made an appearance, Kankurō sported a triangular face-paint design, which changed to a different cross-like design from the Sasuke Retrieval arc up until Part II. He also wears gloves and carries his puppets on his back.

In Part II, Kankurō once again changed his face-paint. He also has a new puppet, as well as wearing a black outfit consisting of a long top and trousers with a red sash around his waist. He is revealed to have brown hair in Part II and is seen with no headgear or face-paint he greatly resembles his father. His hood changes later on when seen again and wears a kimono type garment. He carries his puppets on his back still, only they are now in scrolls. He also sports a new face paint. It is now starting from one cheek to the lips and to the end of the other cheek, and another line starting from the top of the upper lip to the bottom of the chin. It looks like it forms the letter T. For a brief time, his face-paint also changed back to the cross-like design and had a new design with a line going across his eyes and a T-shaped design below his upper lip.

Upon the beginning of the Fourth Shinobi World War, Kankurō wears the standard attire of a Sunagakure ninja, along with his hood, which now has the symbol of the Allied Shinobi Forces stitched on to it, and has the same facial painting from the Sasuke Retrieval Arc.

Abilities
Kankurō is a highly talented puppeteer, indicated when Sasori, a master of the Puppet Technique himself, complimented Kankurō's abilities. He has great skill in both modifying and controlling puppets, and was physically strong enough to carry around two puppets on his back in Part I, though in Part II he instead uses scrolls to store them in. The fact that he was chosen to lead the Surprise Attack Division stands as a testament to his skills.

As puppeteers are long range fighters who rely on their puppets in combat, Kankurō is weak against close range combat. However, he has come up with many ways of escaping it: he's shown to act quite deceptively, switching places with his puppets using the Body Replacement Technique, also altering their appearances to resemble his, to escape close combat when an opponent gets too close, while at the same time putting his puppets in range of the enemy, allowing Kankurō to catch his foes off guard and kill them.

When initially introduced, Kankurō could only use a single puppet per time. However, he would in subsequent years hone his puppeteer skills and become a puppet master himself, capable of manoeuvring more puppets at the same time. He also displayed the ability to attach his own chakra threads to another puppeteer's, a feat that earned him Sasori's praise. Kankurō claims his Black Secret Technique has surpassed Sasori's Red Secret Technique.

Puppet Master
With each of his appearances in the major arcs, Kankurō is seen with a new puppet in his arsenal. The four puppets that have been introduced were all originally created by Sasori (the fourth actually being Sasori himself), and came into Kankurō's possession some time after Sasori left Sunagakure. His first three puppets are destroyed by Sasori at the start of Part II. After having his puppets destroyed, he took Sasori's body and used it as a puppet after his death. During the Fourth Great Shinobi War, he is seen with the previously destroyed puppets, that have been repaired, plus a duplicate of the Black Ant.

Kankurō's puppets seem to be designed to work together to some degree, as seen when they use the Black Secret Technique Machine One Shot, where Crow navigates an opponent into Black Ant's torso. Once trapped, Crow separates its limbs to reveal a number of concealed weapons, which enter the slots on Black Ant's body to impale the opponent. Similar in purpose, though only needing one puppet, the anime-only Black Secret Technique Machine Two Shot calls upon four scythe-like blades to run along the sides of Black Ant's body, reaping the victim inside. Black Secret Technique: Machine Triple Shot is used by Kankurō to trap more people and kill them at the same time. In the anime, Kankurō was also shown combining his puppets' attacks to make them more dangerous, as seen when they use the Poison Mist Hell: Hundred Continuous Hell technique, where Crow blankets the area in a smokescreen while Black Ant fires poisoned needles at the blinded opponent.

Kankurō's last puppet, Scorpion, which he obtained after Sasori's death, had several modifications. It retains its stinger, flamethrower and the blades on its back, plus he installed the mechanism to use Mechanical Light Shield Block on its right arm and modified its left arm to extend. Kankurō can use the Red Secret Technique Machinery Triangles with this puppet. After defeating Sasori in the first clash of the Fourth Great Shinobi War, the puppet master passed on his Mother and Father puppets on to Kankurō.

Chūnin Exam Arc
Soon after their arrival in Konoha for the Chūnin Exams, Kankurō and his siblings ran into Team 7. Although Kankurō was tempted to pick on its members, he was threatened by Gaara to stop. During the written portion of the exam, meant to test the examinees' cheating abilities, Kankurō disguised his puppet Crow as a proctor. After using Crow to gather answers from other tests, Kankurō asked to go to the bathroom. Crow escorted him and gave him the answers.

During the survival portion of the exam, he was seen, only briefly, by Kiba, Shino, and Hinata while Gaara brutally murdered a team of Amegakure genin.

During the preliminary matches, Kankurō was paired with Misumi Tsurugi. Misumi quickly wrapped himself around Kankurō's body, threatening to break Kankurō's neck if he did not forfeit. Kankurō refused, so Misumi made good on his threat by appearing to kill Kankurō. Before the match could be called in Misumi's favour, the Kankurō that Misumi attacked was revealed to have been Crow in disguise, while Kankurō was hiding where Crow was supposed to be. Kankurō quickly made Crow grab hold of Misumi and brutally constrict him, breaking his bones before he could surrender. Misumi survived, but was in no condition to fight, and Kankurō was declared the winner.

Invasion of Konoha Arc
In the final round matches set to take place a month later, Kankurō was scheduled to fight Shino Aburame. Because he was to take part in Sunagakure's invasion of Konoha, planned to begin before his match with Shino, Kankurō outfitted Crow especially for the invasion. When the invasion was delayed and Kankurō's fight with Shino was to begin, Kankurō forfeited, not wanting to reveal Crow's new features.

When the invasion began, Kankurō and Temari escorted an injured Gaara out of the village. When they discovered they were being followed, Kankurō stayed behind to buy time. Before he could engage their pursuer, Sasuke Uchiha, Shino arrived to fight him instead, wanting to have the battle he was denied in the finals. Sasuke continued following Gaara, while Shino and Kankurō began to fight. Kankurō had Crow begin an immediate assault, but Shino avoided the attacks and, unbeknownst to Kankurō, planted a bug on him. Kankurō then launched a poison smoke bomb at Shino. Shino inhaled some of the gas, but was able to escape and use his bugs to trap and restrain Crow. Before he lost complete use of Crow, he tried to launch a final attack, only to discover that Shino's bugs, guided by the bug placed on him earlier, had found his location and consumed all his chakra.

Kankurō is left unable to move, but Shino, because of the poison gas he inhaled, passed out and couldn't finish him off. He was later found by Temari, and together they helped Gaara get back to Sunagakure. Gaara, having been defeated by Naruto, wearily apologised to both of his siblings. Kankurō, utterly shocked, stammered out words of forgiveness.

Sasuke Retrieval Arc
Kankurō and his siblings were sent by Sunagakure to help Konoha retrieve Sasuke Uchiha. Kankurō came to the aid of Kiba Inuzuka and his dog Akamaru, saving them from Sakon and Ukon. While Crow protected Kiba and Akamaru from Ukon, Sakon tried to use his Parasite Demon Demolition Technique to fuse with Kankurō's body. It was revealed to be Kankurō's new puppet, Black Ant, in disguise, which immediately attacked Sakon. Kankurō had Crow navigate Sakon and Ukon into Black Ant's body, trapping them. Crow then split apart to reveal an assortment of weapons that bombarded and pierced Black Ant, killing Sakon and Ukon.

After the battle ended, with Sasuke gone and almost all of the Konoha ninja hospitalised, but alive, Kankurō and his siblings were seen off by Shikamaru Nara.

Pre-Shippūden Filler Arcs
In the very last arc, Kankurō was seen battling Ryūgan with Crow and Black Ant but to no avail. However, just when all hope seem to be lost, Kiba and Chōji appeared. With their help, they were able to subdue Ryūgan and help save Gaara and retrieve Matsuri.

Kazekage Rescue Arc
Two and a half years later, when Gaara was defeated and captured by Deidara and Sasori, two members of Akatsuki, Kankurō followed in hot pursuit, determined to stop them from taking his brother. To defeat the Akatsuki pair, Kankurō released his puppets from their carrying scrolls (Crow, Black Ant, and his new puppet Salamander) to challenge the Akatsuki members. Sasori agreed to fight, but immediately repelled an attack from Crow, revealing himself to be the puppets' creator, thus knowing all of their secrets.

Since their fight went unseen in the manga, the anime adaptation explained the circumstances of Kankurō's defeat. While able to combine the use of his puppets with great effectiveness, Kankurō was unable to bypass Sasori's defences. Sasori captured each of the puppets in turn, disassembling them, before attacking Kankurō with his poison-coated tail. Kankurō collapsed, but with the last of his strength, was able to have a piece of Crow tear off part of Sasori's cloak. Sasori left, giving Kankurō three days before the poison would kill him.

Soon after, Team 7 arrived at Sunagakure to help in rescuing Gaara, and while they were there, Sakura Haruno cured Kankurō, and created an antidote from the poison still in his system. Kankurō then provided Team 7 with the part of Sasori's cloak that he had taken, which they used to track down Gaara. He was shown to be very irritated that he could not be the one to rescue Gaara. After a few episodes he was seen attempting to walk, though would have fallen over if Baki had not been passing by his room and caught him. He then attended the meeting with the council and tried to punch a council member for stating the village would be better off without Gaara, though was stopped by Baki. He was seen again when he was in his bedroom and a photo of him and his siblings fell and cracked, an omen signifying Gaara's death. Kankurō later set out with Temari to catch up with Team 7 which was shown to be his idea when Temari stated his plan had fallen apart. When Gaara was found and revived, he was the one who explained to Naruto about the puppet core and the technique used by Chiyo to revive Gaara. Kankurō joined Temari in thanking Team 7 for saving their brother, and personally thanked Naruto.

Five Kage Summit Arc
Kankurō and Temari are chosen to escort Gaara to the Kage Summit. When Kankurō arrives late, he says it had taken him a "while to figure out a new trick" and defends himself by adding that Gaara doesn't need bodyguards. Once they arrive in the Land of Iron and the meeting begins, Kankurō and Temari become annoyed by the disrespect the other Kage show to Gaara because of his young age. They come to Gaara's defence during the Fourth Raikage's outburst and again when Zetsu appears. Zetsu reveals that Sasuke Uchiha is nearby. Soon after the Raikage leaves to fight Sasuke, Gaara, Kankurō, and Temari leave to join him.

When they arrive, Gaara interrupts the fight between the Raikage and Sasuke so that he can speak with Sasuke. While he does so, Kankurō and Temari help some samurai that have been hit by Sasuke's Amaterasu, removing their burning armour. After Gaara fails to convince Sasuke to change his ways, the Sand Siblings and Darui attack him; Kankurō brings out his new Scorpion puppet for this purpose. Sasuke survives their assault and flees, so the siblings and the Raikage's group follow him back to the Summit hall. There he frees Chōjūrō, Mifune and his aides Okisuke and Urakaku from White Zetsu's clones before Madara Uchiha appears. After explaining his Eye of the Moon Plan, Madara declares the Fourth Shinobi World War. The Kage agree to the formation of a Shinobi Alliance in response. Gaara is given the additional task of informing Kakashi Hatake of their decision. After the siblings find Kakashi (and Naruto) and tell them what has happened, they return to to Sunagakure to prepare for war.

Shinobi World War Arc
Kankurō is placed in charge of the Surprise Attack Division. Omoi questions his ability to lead because of his young age, but Kankurō promises to not let anything happen to his comrades. They travel behind enemy lines to set up an ambush; while the rest of the division carries out Kankurō's instructions on how to fortify their position, Kankurō and Kiri formulate a strategy. When preparations are complete they wait for enemy activity.

Muta Aburame soon stumbles into their base. Zaji approaches him to provide assistance. Hoheto Hyūga reveals that Muta is booby-trapped by a revived Dediara, and Kankurō pulls Zaji to safety before Muta explodes. They are then attacked by more allies-turned-enemies, Ranka and Tokuma, which Kankurō recognises to be the work of a revived Sasori. Omoi severs Sasori's puppet strings that control Ranka and Tokuma, and quickly Kankurō latches on to those same puppet strings to pull Sasori down telling Ittan to raise the ground at the same time, sending Deidara and Sasori crashing into each other.

As Sasori praises Kankurō improved abilities, to which Kankurō responds by saying his Black Secret Technique has surpassed Sasori's Red Secret Technique, Kankurō brings out his Scorpion puppet - Sasori's former body - and trades blows with Sasori, who is controlling a revived Shin. Hoheto reveals that Shin is booby-trapped too.

Kankurō catches Shin in his Salamander puppet which effectively stifles the explosion and shields Omoi from the blast with Scorpion. Sai then forces Sasori and Deidara into two Black Ant puppets while Kankurō impales them both with Crow and Scorpion. Kankurō informs Sasori that his defeat is a result of his efforts to gain immortality when in fact he is immortalised through the puppets he created. Sasori is touched by his words and his soul begins to depart. Before his soul departs, he entrusts his Mother and Father puppets to Kankurō who promises that he in turn would pass it onto the next generation of puppeteers.

The Surprise Attack Division, with a restrained Deidara in tow, is later confronted by Hanzō, Kimimaro, and Chiyo, the latter of whom congratulates Kankurō on his victory over Sasori. Knowing they are outmatched, Kankurō orders a retreat. They are pursued and immobilised by Ibuse's Poison Mist, but Mifune arrives to save them, engaging the enemy and removing the poison from their systems.

Trivia

 * Kankurō's name comes from, which is a stage name used in a long line of kabuki actors dating back to the early seventeenth century. The latest person to carry this name was , who changed his stage name to the even more prestigious in 2005.
 * In more technical terms, Kankurō's name can be translated to something like 'intuitive ninth son'.
 * In addition to Kankurō's Kabuki-like make-up, the fact that he uses puppets as well, as the black outfit and cap he wears, are possibly an allusion to Bunraku, Japanese puppet theatre. His entire character seems to be an allusion to stage arts. One of Bunraku's most prominent artists is Kanjuro Kiritake III.
 * Whenever Kankurō appears in a new arc of the manga, he sports a new design of purple face paint. This could be a nod to Kabuki theatre, where face paint is often used. In the art of putting on make-up, each of the colours mean something, purple representing nobility and loftiness.
 * In the omake, Temari said if Kankurō keeps talking to his puppets like they are alive, friends won't hang out with him anymore.
 * Kankurō was ranked as the 27th most popular character in the seventh and most recent Naruto character popularity poll. He placed 19th in the sixth poll.
 * According to the Naruto databook:
 * Kankurō's hobby is collecting puppets, and installing and upgrading the mechanisms in them.
 * Kankurō wishes to fight with anyone but Gaara.
 * Kankurō's favourite food is hamburger steak, while his least favourite food is spinach.
 * Kankurō has completed 43 official missions in total: 0 D-rank, 9 C-rank, 10 B-rank, 23 A-rank, 1 S-rank.
 * Kankurō's favourite phrase is.

Quotes

 * (To Kiba about Sakon and Ukon) "Since I've been underestimated this much, I can't be leaving just yet--".''"
 * (To Naruto) "Don't feel bad. Women always go weak in the knees for the cool, elite type."
 * (To Gaara about Sasuke) "Gaara… don't bother… if he could be convinced, Naruto would not have failed. He a criminal now, a member of Akatsuki… he's not like you."
 * (To Omoi) "How well or poorly we execute our ambush will have a huge impact on this war and how many casualties we suffer. If you wanna protect your friends and family, the only thing you should be thinking about is how to make this operation a success!"
 * (To Sasori) "Sasori… your strength came because of your soul, not in spite of it. You tried to erase it, to become a puppet yourself, but couldn't change completely. Now you've got your immortal body but you've fallen, sunk to the level of the puppets you used to control. You were supposed to be a top class ninja puppeteer, not a worthless nobody who lets someone else pull the strings."
 * "When a puppeteer lets someone else control him, it's all over! I won't lose to you… or to the one controlling you. If I'm going to control Sasori, I might as well control the real thing! …Your techniques… and the puppets you created will never rot. As long as there's a successor who will take up the spirit inhabiting them!"