Sunagakure no Sato.
Sunagakure (砂隠れの里, Sunagakure no Sato; ; Literally meaning "Village Hidden in the Sand"; ) is the hidden village of the Land of Wind. As one of the five great ninja villages, Sunagakure has a Kage as its leader known as the Kazekage. The ninja from this village seem to specialize in Wind Release techniques and the Puppet Technique. As opposed to the village of the Hidden Leaf, shinobi residing within the Sand village heavily believe that the accomplishment of mission predominates the lives of the ninja trying to accomplish it, it is for this reason why Kankuro states that Sand shinobi aren't as merciful as those of the Leaf. Gaara, the current Kazekage and the former Jinchūriki of the One-Tailed Shukaku hails from this village. As do the legendary puppeteers Chiyo and Sasori.
History[]
The symbol of Sunagakure.
Sunagakure has had a turbulent history. The village was home to many legendary puppeteers like Chiyo and her grandson Akasuna no Sasori. In fact, it likely was the birthplace of the first puppeteer in history, Monzaemon Chikamatsu. About 20 years before the start of the series, Sasori defected from the village. Years later, he would be behind the disappearance of the Third Kazekage, an event that was likely one of the leading causes of the Third Great Shinobi War.
Although they are allies now, Sunagakure and Konohagakure have been enemies in the past. They fought each other during the Second Great Shinobi War, during which Chiyo, the legendary puppeteer from Suna gained her hatred towards Tsunade, the legendary medical-nin from Konoha, and likely during the Third Great Shinobi War as well. After Sunagakure became allied with Konoha, the Daimyo of the Land of Wind cut back on Suna's budget and started handing out more and more missions to Konoha, instead of to Suna. The leadership of Sunagakure realised that their military power was in danger and started focussing on creating a smaller amount of powerful, high-quality shinobi, instead of a larger, lesser-quality ninja force. Eventually, this policy led the Fourth Kazekage to make his own son, the future Fifth Kazekage Gaara, into a jinchūriki. This made Gaara into the third person to have hosted the One-Tailed Shukaku in Sunagakure's history.
Later, the Fourth Kazekage came under the influence of the Konoha missing-nin Orochimaru. Their cooperation led to a combined Suna-Oto invasion of Konoha. Just before the invasion, however, Orochimaru had already secretly betrayed Suna by assassinating and impersonating the Fourth Kazekage. After the invasion had failed, Suna discovered this betrayal and re-allied themselves with Konoha, joining forces in rebuilding their villages and shinobi forces.
Gaara as the Fifth Kazekage.
Sometime during the years after the invasion, the council of Sunagakure elected a redeemed Gaara as the Fifth Kazekage.