Kankuro

In Part I, one noticeable personality trait he displayed was an apparent dislike for children, first seen when he attempted to beat up Konohamaru for running into him. This carried over to many of his interactions with other characters, as he was noticeably irritated when in the presence of someone younger than him. This was most evident when he was seen with Gaara, who Kankurō was forced to put up with due to the fear his younger brother imposed on him. After Gaara's defeat in the hands of Naruto, Kankurō's relationship with Gaara improved drastically over a very short period of time. In the short time between this and the Sasuke Retrivial Arc, Kankurō and Temari no longer expressed fear of being killed by Gaara when sent on missions with him. Kankurō was shown to be the type to avoid needless fighting. This was shown during the Forest of Death, where he stated if Shigure's team had the same scroll as them, fighting is pointless. He further stated he didn't want to be stuck in the forest with Gaara because he often got into unnecessary fighting for the sole purpose of satisfying his bloodlust.

During the mission to help retrieve Sasuke Uchiha from the Sound Four, Kankurō was shown to be very prideful of his village, saying they're not as soft as Konoha ninja. Kankurō also can be doubtful at times, not only when Gaara wanted to start working with other ninja, but also when he was the first of the siblings to give up on Sasuke due to Naruto's failure to convince Sasuke and his connection with Akatsuki. Despite their apparent differences, Gaara and Kankurō become very close over the time skip, as Gaara began to confide in Kankurō, and shared his dreams of wanting to risk his life to protect Sunagakure. Combining with having developed brotherly feelings, especially that of an older brother, Kankurō has become very protective of Gaara, getting angry at anyone who insults Gaara in his presence, even Sunagakure's counsellors. When Gaara was captured by Akatsuki, Kankurō rushed to his brother's aid alone in an attempt to save him, and risked his life for him, despite the dangers that he put himself in. When he was incapacitated as a result of the battle with Sasori, he pleaded with Naruto to bring his brother back, and as soon as he had recovered, joined Temari in looking for Gaara. At one point when Kankurō had been poisoned by Sasori he was heard muttering Gaara's name though he was unconscious, which showed how much he cared for Gaara. Once Gaara was found and saved, Kankurō joined Temari in thanking Team 7 for saving their brother. It was also noted that he likes collecting puppets, and installing and upgrading the mechanisms in them. In the anime, as seen from his Infinite Tsukuyomi, his greatest desire is to create the ultimate ninjutsu puppet.

During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Kankurō indicated signs of being a caring leader when he pulled Zaji from the explosion and protecting his group from any danger. He also shows determination during his battle against Deidara, Sasori, and Shin. Kankurō keeps Omoi from overreacting and getting anxious by telling him to win the war at all costs to protect his family and friends. When Sasori was captured inside of Kuroari, Kankurō helps make Sasori realise his true faults during his lifetime as a puppeteer which makes Sasori entrust his "Father and Mother" puppets to him. In the original Japanese, Kankurō speaks with a distinctive Yokohama dialect. He can often be heard ending his sentences with "-jan". This makes him sound tough, as this accent is often used for biker gang members or punk kids (called "yankii" in Japanese, Yokohama supposedly has many) in manga. It is possible that he was given this accent to make him sound different from the Konoha characters' standard Tokyo Japanese.

Kankurō bears a striking resemblance to his father, though usually seen on account of his costume and makeup. In Part I, Kankurō wore a Bunraku puppeteer's costume; a black, baggy, full body suit with a red and yellow circle on the front. He also wears a black hood which covered his head completely, and had cat-like ears and his forehead protector on his forehead. Both this and later outfits are derived from traditional bunraku puppeteer costumes; bunraku puppeteers usually wear black outfits and hoods so as not to distract from their puppets. When he first made an appearance, Kankurō sported a triangular face-paint design, which changed to a different cross-like design from the Sasuke Recovery Mission up until Part II. He also wears gloves and carries his puppets on his back. In Part II, Kankurō once again changed his face-paint. He also has a new puppet, as well as wearing a black outfit consisting of a long top and trousers with a red sash around his waist. He is revealed to have brown hair in Part II and when seen with no headgear or face-paint, he greatly resembles his father. His hood changes later on when seen again and wears a kimono type garment. He carries his puppets on his back still, only they are now in scrolls. He also sports a new face paint. It is now starting from one cheek to the lips and to the end of the other cheek, and another line starting from the top of the upper lip to the bottom of the chin. It looks like it forms the letter "T". Upon the beginning of the Fourth Shinobi World War, Kankurō wears the standard attire of a Sunagakure ninja, along with his hood, which now has the symbol of the Allied Shinobi Forces stitched on to it. He has the same facial painting from the Sasuke Recovery Mission but with broader lines and no line over his nose.

Being one of the Fourth Kazekage's children who underwent the gruelling training of Sunagakure, Kankurō became a highly skilled and capable shinobi. As a genin, he was able to kill Sakon and Ukon, the strongest members of the Sound Four. Kankurō's skills improved considerably over the time-skip, becoming a jōnin and later being chosen to lead the Surprise Attack Division during the Fourth Shinobi World War. He has shown himself to be a capable leader, having his division set up a miniature headquarters before assigning individuals to various roles. In addition, he has shown the tactical sense to call a retreat when outmatched as well as attack accordingly, and synchronise skills with his teammates for the most appropriate outcome.

Kankurō is a highly talented puppeteer, indicated when Sasori, a renowned master of the Puppet Technique, complimented Kankurō's abilities despite anticipating all his attacks (albeit it mainly stemmed from him having made Kankurō's puppets). He has great skill in both modifying and controlling puppets, and was physically strong enough to carry around two puppets on his back in Part I, though in Part II he instead uses scrolls to store them in. When initially introduced, Kankurō could only use a single puppet at a time. However, he would in subsequent years hone his puppeteer skills and become a puppet master himself, capable of manoeuvring more puppets at the same time. He also displayed the ability to attach his chakra threads to catch enemies or another puppeteer's threads, a feat that earned him Sasori's praise. Having studied the chakra pathway system later in life, he has developed the ability to secretly attach chakra threads on his target and use them to disrupt their flow of chakra, hindering their ability to use techniques and causing them extreme pain.

Kankurō utilises what he calls the Black Secret Technique (黒秘技, Kurohigi) — a name not unlike Chiyo's White Secret Technique (白秘技, Shirohigi) and Sasori's Red Secret Technique (赤秘技, Akahigi) — the latter of which he claims has been surpassed by his own style. With each of his appearances in the major arcs, Kankurō is seen with a new puppet in his arsenal. The four puppets that have been introduced were all originally created by Sasori (the fourth actually being Sasori himself), and came into Kankurō's possession some time after Sasori left Suna. His first three puppets are destroyed by Sasori at the start of Part II. After having his puppets destroyed, he took Sasori's body and used it as a puppet after his death. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, he is seen with the previously destroyed puppets, that have been repaired, plus a duplicate of the Kuroari. Later in life, he made and began wielding additional copies of his signature puppets. He could also make his puppets self-destruct in a powerful explosion as a last resort.

As puppeteers are long-range fighters who rely on their puppets in combat, Kankurō is weak against close-range combat. However, he has come up with many ways of escaping it: he's shown to act quite deceptively, switching places with his puppets using the Body Replacement Technique or by hiding underground. He is also capable of talking through them, or in some cases independent of his own speech, and altering their appearances to resemble real people, including himself, for espionage or to trap an opponent. For gathering information, he also seems to be aware of his puppets surroundings. In battle, Kankurō commonly uses these diversions to escape close combat when an opponent gets too close, while at the same time putting his puppets in range of the enemy, allowing Kankurō to catch his foes off guard and kill them. After studying the Ōtsutsuki Clan's unique puppets, Kankurō learned to manipulate his puppets in a way that achieves a similar effect by using imperceptibly thin chakra threads. Although this only gives the appearance of his puppets operating autonomously, he doesn't require noticeable hand gestures to manipulate them and can do so from a significantly increased range.

Kankurō's puppets seem to be designed to work together to some degree, as seen when they use the Black Secret Technique Machine One Shot, where Karasu navigates an opponent into Kuroari's torso. Once trapped, Karasu separates its limbs to reveal a number of concealed weapons, which enter the slots on Kuroari's body to impale the opponent. Black Secret Technique — Machine Triple Shot is used by Kankurō to trap more people and kill them at the same time. In the anime, Kankurō was also shown combining his puppets' attacks to make them more dangerous, as seen when they use the Poison Mist Hell: Hundred Continuous Firing technique, where Karasu blankets the area in a smokescreen while Kuroari fires poisoned needles at the blinded opponent. Kankurō's puppetry skills are also highly adaptable as shown through his latest puppet, Sasori — which he obtained after Sasori's death and made several modifications to in order to apply his own Black Secret Technique style. It retains the coil in its stomach cavity, flamethrower and the blades on its back, plus he installed the mechanism to use Mechanical Light Shield Block on its right arm and modified its left arm to extend. Kankurō can use the Red Secret Technique Machinery Triangles with this puppet. After he defeated Sasori in the Fourth Shinobi World War, the puppet master passed his Mother and Father puppets on to Kankurō. Somehow Kankurō managed to distinguish Chiyo's feelings through her chakra threads.

He is well versed in terms of nature transformation, as he is able to use Wind, Lightning, Earth, and Water Release. In the anime, Kankurō claimed to have a resistance to poison, though not enough to withstand the effects of Ibuse's Poison Mist. In the anime, during the Fourth Shinobi World War, his taijutsu was at least good enough to keep up with another skilled puppet user.