Human Puppet

Sasori using his Third Kazekage human puppet.

A human puppet (人傀儡, Hitokugutsu) is a puppet created from human corpses, developed by Sasori during his time in Sunagakure. To make one, he first removes a body's organs, then cleans and drains the body of blood, then adds an unknown preservative to make sure it won't decay, and finally adds weapons and defenses to it. They were a unique type of puppet as they retained the use of chakra and any kekkei genkai that their human host once had. According to Chiyo, Sasori was the only one who knew how to create human puppets.

In the anime, while a human puppet retains inherent abilities of an individual, their skills ultimately pale in comparison to when they were alive, as Sasori learned while using his Third Kazekage against its reincarnated version.

Known Human Puppets

• Hiruko: Once a renowned shinobi, now a deadly puppet worn like a battle armour.^{(Anime only)}
• Third Kazekage: The greatest Kazekage in history, kidnapped and killed by Sasori to gain use of the Iron Sand techniques.
• Komushi: A childhood friend of Sasori's. It is implied that Komushi had been amongst Sasori's first human puppets in the anime.^{(Anime only)}

Trivia

• Although Sasori converted his own body into a puppet, and Sakura Haruno considering him to be a human puppet, he is not an actual human puppet, as his still-living core is his true body. Sasori himself admits he is not a true puppet, nor a full human, but somewhere in-between.
• In Naruto Shippūden the Movie: The Lost Tower, Mukade converted his own body into a puppet, similar to Sasori, but without the seeming restriction of needing a "Core of Living Flesh". In exchange, however, Mukade seemed more vulnerable, as when Naruto destroyed a portion of his head after stopping his regenerative technique, Mukade died.
• In the anime within Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, Sasori turned A, Mei Terumī, and Ōnoki into puppets.