Template:Sasori

Sasori (サソリ, Sasori), also known as Sasori of the Red Sand (赤砂のサソリ, Akasuna no Sasori), is a member of Konohagakure's ANBU regime, and one of its acting ambassadors with his previous village, Sunagakure.

Background
When Sasori was young, his father and mother were killed by a Leaf shinobi, leaving him with no one but his grandmother to take care of him. To cheer up Sasori, his grandmother began to teach him the art of making puppets. He began making puppets at the age of five, and even made puppets that resembled his parents to get rid of the terrible loneliness he felt. But because they were only puppets, incapable of giving him the natural parental love he desired, he lost interest in them. Sasori proved to be a born natural at the art, even devising masterful ways of eliminating a puppet master's weakness.

Sasori created many ingenious puppets, many of which are still uniform constructs of Sunagakure. During one particular battle, these puppets were used so successfully, they dyed the sand red with blood. This gave rise to the name Sasori of the Red Sand.

Sometime after leaving the village to complete an A-ranked mission, Sasori joined Akatsuki, and was eventually paired with Montoro. They had great respect for each other during their partnership, and did many things together; Sasori was presumed to have taught his partner how to manipulate others like puppets, and Montoro in return lectured him on using the Wind element, granting Sasori access to a range of useful techniques.

Remaining as a part of Genesis after a shift in leadership, he served as an ambassador between the organization and the Yondaime Kazekage, still retaining ties many considered cut in the past. When Genesis merged with Konohagakure, Sasori became a member of the local ANBU regime. However, he often neglected his duties, instead preferring to enhance his puppet collection, and own mastery of Wind Release.

Later on, he became an ambassador of Konoha, although spent the majority of his time wandering the desert, hence encouraging the appointment of others to fulfill the tasks he himself was rendered incapable of completing.

Appearance
Without his puppet armour he maintains the appearance of a teenage boy with wide brown eyes, and short red hair. As a child, he wore green robes with a pale jacket around them. As a member of Akatsuki, he was mostly seen in the organization's signatory robe. Even to this day, he still wears his Akatsuki robe, despite being a member of a village that once stood against it.

On his left thumb he wore his Akatsuki ring, which bears the kanji for. Sasori also wore teal nail polish.

Personality
As a child, Sasori always seemed sad, due to the lack of parental love. When introduced to the art of puppetry by his grandmother, he grew a little happier. He eventually created puppets with the likeness of his parents, but when the puppets couldn't give him the parental love he desired, he became cold and aloof. Despite his cruelty, Sasori harbors a very down-to-earth outlook on life, rarely growing worked up over obstacles that came his way. He also rarely exhibits any extreme emotions, with even those instances short-lived. He is willing to accept other people's views on certain topics, depending on the way that they're presented.

Puppet Master
Being trained by his powerful grandmother in the art, Sasori is a master of puppetry and has great skill in both creating and controlling them. He created a number of ingenious puppets, and has 298 other puppets in his personal collection. His status as a master puppeteer offers him a tremendous advantage against other puppeteer shinobi, especially if the puppets they were using happened to be formerly his own. As puppets are usually installed with long-range weapons, Sasori is an expert at fighting at long distances. Sasori can also control living people as puppets, even against their will, if they are weakened enough. His usage of puppets is at such a high level that he makes mere techniques appear as an artistic performance, what he refers to as his "Red Secret Technique".

Human Puppetry
Sasori's puppets are unique in that they were made from the still-living bodies of humans. These human puppets are more versatile than regular puppets, since, in addition to having many dangerous devices installed within them (as is common with regular puppets), they are also able to use chakra and perform jutsu. Any jutsu or kekkei genkai abilities possessed by the converted human are also passed onto the puppet.

Hiruko
Hiruko is the only unique puppet to be shown being used by Sasori. Sasori occasionally wears this puppet as an armour and weapon, and controls it from the inside, thus eliminating the puppeteer's weakness of being a separate and exposed target. While within Hiruko, Sasori has a deeper and more hoarse voice. Hiruko is his favourite puppet.

Hiruko has a long mechanical, scorpion-like tail (an allusion to Sasori's name meaning "scorpion"), extending from the mouth of what appeared to be a demon mask on its back. This mask was a recent addition by Sasori to add extra defense to a weak point in the puppet. The tail worked as Hiruko's main offensive weapon, and is laced with his poison. The tail is also used as an extra defence by spinning it around his body at a rapid speed. Hiruko's left arm is rigged with a projectile launcher capable of firing poisoned shrapnel and needles, and its mouth can also be used to serve a similar function of firing poisoned needles.

Intelligence
Repeatedly, Sasori has demonstrated to be a highly cunning ninja, able to handle situations with various traps and misdirection. He is also shown to be a highly analytical man, able to quickly determine his opponent's strengths and combat methods. Like his grandmother, Sasori has a great knowledge of the human body, as shown from his brainwashing jutsu and his mastery over creating different types of poisons. His unique poisons, that he laced nearly every weapon in his arsenal with, took effect instantly, and one such poison could kill the target after three days of suffering.

Trivia

 * means "scorpion".
 * Sasori had the same birth date as Masashi Kishimoto.
 * Additionally, his birth date (November 8th) makes Sasori's Western astrological sign Scorpio, the scorpion.
 * In the first poll he was in (the 6th overall poll), he placed 6th on the list. In the second poll he was in he placed 8th.
 * According to the databook:
 * His hobby is remodelling his puppet collection.
 * Sasori rarely consumes food.
 * Sasori had completed 72 official missions in total: 5 D-rank, 12 C-rank, 16 B-rank, 29 A-rank, 10 S-rank.
 * Sasori's favourite phrase was "Eternal beauty".
 * All of Sasori's puppets wear the same clothing: black cloak with a ruffled neck area. The exception goes to his Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets, of which the cloaks they wear are red. Also, Sasori and Hiruko themselves wear the Akatsuki robes instead.