Sunagakure

Sunagakure is the hidden village of the Land of Wind. As the village of one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries, Sunagakure has a Kage as its leader known as the Kazekage, of which there have been five in its history. Being surrounded by desert offers the village a natural deterrent against invasion, as few foreign powers would be willing to endure the sandstorms and water scarcity common to Suna. Sunagakure itself lies in a fortified valley behind cliffs of rock, with passage in and out of the village restricted to a single cleft between two cliff faces, making the area very hard to attack from the ground. The buildings inside seem to be made of clay or stucco, which would help to keep the buildings cool.

The standard attire for Suna shinobi consists of blue or black uniforms underneath flak jackets of various shades of beige to better blend with their natural environment and include shoulders guards. Headpieces consisting of a head-wrap and cloth neck-covers to protect against the harsh weather are popular with Suna shinobi. Many Sunagakure ninja use Wind Release techniques, which they may or may not perform with fans. Shinobi from this village believe that the accomplishment of a mission predominates the lives of the ninja trying to accomplish it. As such, they ruthlessly pursue victory in battle, and even if failure is inevitable they will still try to achieve any success against their enemy that they can. In Gaara Hiden, it has been noted that Sunagakure has been made up of various families, instead of clans. Sunagakure was founded after the Warring States Period by the First Kazekage, who gathered the desert-dwelling shinobi under his control with his overwhelming power. Shortly after the formation of their villages, Konoha's First Hokage offered to sell tailed beasts to Suna as a sign of friendship and to ensure a balance of power amongst their new villages. Because Suna already had the One-Tail, the First Kazekage instead tried to negotiate for a percentage of the sale price to the other villages and a portion of the Land of Fire's territory instead. Despite the First Hokage's wishes for peace, the world eventually fell into war. Suna's close proximity with Iwa has led to numerous conflicts over the years, enough that enmity between its shinobi has become deep-seated. During the Second Shinobi World War, Chiyo's attempts to poison enemies were consistently counteracted by Konoha's Tsunade. For times of war, Suna researched different jutsu to give it an advantage over other villages. Because the Puppet Technique is so popular amongst its shinobi, the Puppet Brigade was formed to see if there was a way to give life to puppets. This led to the creation of One's Own Life Reincarnation, but the cost of a human life to perform it made it impractical and Suna abandoned to project. Since the time of the Second Kazekage, the village has studied the jinchūriki of its One-Tail in an attempt to reproduce the beast's abilities. The Third Kazekage was able to mimic the One-Tail's powers using Iron Sand, and with it he gained fame as the strongest Kazekage in history.

When he mysteriously disappeared one day, Suna went to great lengths to find him, spreading its forces thin in the search and leaving the village under-defended. When others took this opportunity to declare war on Suna, the village was forced to call of the search, never learning the Third's fate. Sasori, grandson of Chiyo, was considered to be a prodigy in the art of puppets, and built many innovative puppets that dyed the sands red with enemies' blood during the Third Shinobi World War, thus giving rise to his moniker "Sasori of the Red Sand". However, he defected from the village about twenty years ago, and shortly after, his grandmother and granduncle, both celebrated veterans, retired. Following the Third Shinobi World War, the Land of Wind's daimyō started outsourcing missions previously given to Suna to Konoha instead. The Fourth Kazekage began selling gold dust to try to make up for the loss of funding, but it was ultimately decided that Suna shinobi would need to rely on individual strength rather than strength of numbers. To help in this goal, the Fourth had the One-Tail sealed into his newborn son, Gaara, hoping he would become a valuable weapon. For the early years of his life Gaara struggled to keep the One-Tail in check, and would unintentionally attack the village and/or its citizens when he lost control. The Fourth eventually decided that Gaara was a failed experiment and tried many times to have him assassinated, each of which failed. The attempts on his life, however, taught Gaara how to control the One-Tail, making him into the weapon his father wanted him to be and convincing the Fourth to call off the assassinations. Twelve years after Gaara's birth, Suna is approached by Orochimaru of Oto with an offer to join forces in an invasion of Konoha. Scheduled to occur during the Chūnin Exams taking place in Konoha, Gaara is to attack the village from within while Suna and Oto forces invade. At some point before the invasion takes place, however, Orochimaru kills and impersonates the Fourth Kazekage and leads them into a devastating defeat against Konoha's forces. When the village discovers Orochimaru's deceit, Sunagakure re-allies itself with Konoha and gains much from the peace, leading to new prosperity for the village. Two-and-a-half years later Gaara, now Fifth Kazekage, is captured while defending Suna from Akatsuki. Remembering their earlier mistakes when the Third Kazekage disappeared, Suna's leadership is reluctant to go after him. Konoha sends a team to help and succeeds in rescuing Gaara, though Akatsuki is able to take the One-Tail. Chiyo and Ebizō noted that the village has weakened as they had to rely on retired veterans and even allied villages. It was also during this incident that made Chiyo finally discovered the fate of the Third Kazekage: Sasori was the one who abducted and killed him prior to his defection. After the other villages experience their own attacks by Akatsuki, they decide to form the Allied Shinobi Forces to oppose Akatsuki in the Fourth Shinobi World War. Being so much younger than his fellow Kage, Gaara is able to persuade the other Kage of how outdated their methodologies are and also proves inspirational in convincing the diverse Allied Forces set aside their differences and work together. Suna's forces prove valuable during the war, particularly with the Cloth Binding Technique to neutralise the Impure World Reincarnation. Although the villagers were amongst the mass of the world to be trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi and God: Nativity of a World of Trees, the war is eventually won and the villages are all left on good terms.