Puppets (傀儡, Kugutsu) are used as weapons by puppeteers. Puppets are often sealed within scrolls using Fūinjutsu in order to store them.
Kankuro in Part II with his three puppets
Known puppets
Karasu
- User: Kankuro
- Debut (Anime): Naruto Episode 41
Karasu (烏, literally meaning: Crow) resembles a three-eyed, four-armed humanoid with jagged teeth and spiky black hairstyle protruding from the top of its head and framing the sides. In Part I, Kankuro typically keeps Karasu wrapped in bandages on his back, and he is able to switch places with it at will using the Body Replacement Technique. Because of Kankuro's enjoyment in installing mechanisms into his puppets, Karasu is very offensive, having numerous concealed weapons, including poison-tipped darts and smokescreens in order to blind its opponents. The smokescreens can be made up of poisonous gas to serve a secondary purpose. Karasu is also able to detach any of its body parts for separate attacks. In the video games, Karasu is shown to be armed with a special flight mechanism that enables it to maneuver high into the air where it could bomb targets from above.
Kuroari
- User: Kankuro
- Debut (Anime): Naruto Episode 125
Kuroari (黒蟻, "Black Ant") has a much longer head than Karasu with a bucket-shaped face sporting two red horns and six arms; its facial features include three eyes similar to Karasu, a dark disheveled hairstyle. Its overall body-frame somewhat resembles a large barrel. While Kuroari does not contain as many hidden weapons as Karasu, each of its arm segments contain a hidden saw-blade which can be used to inflict large slicing wounds to opponents. Kuroari's primary function is to trap opponents within itself while weapons enter the slots along its body to puncture the opponent. Like Karasu, Kuroari is able to detach any of its body parts for separate attacks.
Sanshōuo
- User: Kankuro
- Debut (Anime): Shippūden Episode 9
Sanshōuo (山椒魚, "Salamander"), unlike Kankuro's other puppets, stays true to its name and resembles a salamander. Its abilities are unseen in the manga, but in the anime, Sanshōuo is shown to have incredible defensive power. It has a frill that swings up to defend against attacks from the front as well as the tail being able to tuck up to reach the frill and guard the rear followed by an iron cloak immediately covering all sides, and a hollow body Kankuro and up to two other people can take cover in to defend against attacks coming from other directions. It can also spit fire in video games.
Hiruko
- User: Sasori
- Debut (Anime): Shippūden Episode 2
Hiruko is one of Sasori's favorite Human Puppets, which he adorned with the regular Akatsuki outfit and wore so often that others came to recognize him only while he was wearing it; in addition, he has a deeper and more gruff voice while wearing it. The reason for using this puppet so much was not just for its powerful offensive abilities, but also for its high defensive properties. Hiruko has a mechanical tail extending from the mouth of what appears to be a mask on his back, a recent addition to add extra defense to a weak point. The left arm is rigged with a projectile launcher capable of firing shrapnel, and the mouth serves as a similar projectile-firing device.
Third Kazekage
- User: Sasori
- Debut (Anime): Shippūden Episode 21
The Third Kazekage was Sasori's favorite Human Puppet due to the difficult time he had acquiring it. Several decades before the start of the series, the Third Kazekage was kidnapped and killed by Sasori. Sasori then turned him into a human puppet. The Third Kazekage's right arm was equipped with multiple poison dipped blades, where his left arm was equipped with a special summoning jutsu that summoned a mass amount of puppet arms. Some of these puppet arms expelled poison, while others shot out kunai with ropes tied to them to tie up opponents.
Sasori
- User: Sasori
- Debut (Anime): Shippūden Episode 21
Sasori, although being in his thirties, maintains the appearance of a teenage boy. Sasori's unnaturally young appearance is a product of his design: most of his body is actually a puppet. In place of his stomach is a thick cable coiled around a pole, allowing Sasori to use it as a stinger and retract it as necessary. Attached to his back is a scroll holder, which Sasori uses to store his human puppets. Sasori also added a pair of arms to his back, each equipped with five large claws, as well as flamethrowers to each of his hands. Installed in his right chest is a mechanism that can spin numerous chakra strings, allowing Sasori to control hundreds of puppets at once and giving him a drastic advantage over all other puppeteers. Sasori's left chest holds the only part of him still human and thus capable of controlling chakra, a cylinder-shaped device containing his heart. Written on the cylinder is the kanji for "scorpion".
Ten Puppet Collection of Chikamatsu
- User: Monzaemon Chikamatsu, Chiyo
- Debut (Anime): Shippūden Episode 26
The Ten Puppet Collection were created by the first puppet master, Monzaemon Chikamatsu. They later came into Chiyo's possession.
Others
- Mizuki uses a simple puppet in his appearance in the anime fillers.
- Sasori is seen using a hundred unnamed Human Puppets for his Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets.
- In the game Naruto: Uzumaki Chronicles 2, the Shirogane Clan is a puppet clan. Different puppets can be unlocked for use in the game:
- Puppet Walker: A simple B-Rank puppet with razor-like claws. It has the 斬 Kanji in its chest, and 自 in its neck.
- Kamikaze Puppet: A kamikaze A-Rank puppet that can self destruct. It has a 自 in its neck.
- Mecha Puppet: A-Rank puppet that fires small electric orbs from its arms. It has the 射 (shoot) kanji in its chest, and 自 in its nose.
- Insect Drones: Bee-like puppets that uses electrical attacks. It has the 雷 (thunder) kanji in both wings.
- Elemental Puppets: Two puppets that uses elemental attacks. The Red Elemental Puppet uses fire attacks, and has a 炎 (flame) Kanji on its chest, and the Blue Elemental Puppet uses water attacks, with a 水 (water) Kanji on its left arm.
- Lizzard Puppet: A S-Rank puppet.
- Master Puppet: The most powerful puppet from the Shirogane Clan.
- A unnamed puppet appears in Chapter 7, protecting Meno with a barrier.