So, yesterday, I was reading a Shikatema fic (not because I'm particularly a fan of this ship, but because Kankuro centric fics literally don't exist. So, if I wanna read anything with him in it, I gotta suffer through ST). Well, I'm not gonna mention the title (cause I don't remember it) or the plot, but it was kinda adjacent to the plot of Gaara hidden. The Gaara novel. This fics' events occurred at the same time as the novel. Super cool! I support you! Gaara hidden might just be one of the.... least bad Naruto novels, after all. The stupid marriage stuff only lasts one chapter, and the rest of the plot is pure action.
What surprised me while reading this fic is that it mentioned the one fight Temari had against one puppet user, which she won, but by having to fracture her shoulder first to get out of the puppet strings and hit back. I was taken aback by it cause..... yeah, Temari did almost eat shit against one random puppet user in the novel. I don't remember the exact events, I read GH a long time ago after all, but it happened. Yes, she won. She still did so at the cost of fracturing her shoulder, thus forcing her to kinda sit the rest of the novel out while Gaara ran across the desert behind his fiancé with his fiancés' sister, to end up fighting the guy who was Rasa's student at the end, and Kankuro single-handedly apprehended councilman Toujuro, thus quelling the coup d'etat that was happening in Suna.
It all just made me think. Cause if Temari had to snap a shoulder just to defeat one random puppeteer, how would she fair against Kankuro? Mind you, if I remember correctly, this dude only had one puppet. Now, I'm aware most people will just pull the 'novels aren't canon' and pretend they don't see it. And you know what? I agree with you! The events, plots, and OCs introduced in the novels aren't canon. The character's fighting styles, however, are. When writing these novels, the authors have to at least make sure that the way Kishimoto's canon characters fight is as close to canon as humanly possible. Even if they decide to give them new techniques they've never used in the manga, they still have to make sure that it'd make logical sense for them to learn that technique based on their manga skill sets. For example, they can't have Shikamaru using fire jutsu, spitting out fire balls all of a sudden, cause that makes no sense for him. His Kagemane, tho? They can play with his shadow abilities cause, logically, he can do plenty of things with them.
The biggest example I have of this is the abhorrent Sasuke Retsuden. I've never read it. I would rather gouge my eyeballs out than read it, but it's an example of this conundrum. From what I've heard about it from the complaints of Sasuke fans, is that Sakura herself was inexplicably given sensory abilities very similar to Karin's. In addition to that, the main bad guy of the novel was also given a haircut very similar to Karin's adult design. Fans immediately pointed it out cause it makes 0 sense for Sakura to possess said sensory abilities, a feat she never expressed in canon. That's exactly what I'm saying. When the Gaara novel had Temari beat this puppet user, but by snapping a shoulder, there's no doubt in my mind that the outcome would've been the same in canon, with her canon abilities. Which, yeah, takes me to my initial question of how she'd fair against Kankuro.
Most of her fans will immediately defend that there's no way Kankuro could ever defeat her or even land a single scratch on her, but after her display vs. The random puppet user in GH, I'd say I doubt it. It's this same issue I wanted to touch upon: Kankuro can feasibly win in a fight against Temari. Going against her would be a 50/50, and I'm tired of people sleeping on Kanks' skills and pretending otherwise. Now, keep in mind that I'm referring to their post- Shippuden versions. I'll be the first to admit that in regards to their younger selves, Kankuro doesn't stand a chance, but as young adults after the war and with Kankuro's improved skills? More likely than you think. After all, Temari didn't lose to the random puppet guy (I don't think he had a name). Because he was particularly powerful. It's due to the quintessential basis of puppetry, which are not the puppets themselves, but the chakra strings. You can't even begin to control puppets if you can't form strings. And boy, oh boy, do people sleep on how busted chakra strings truly are. Guys, experienced puppet users like Kankuro can attach their strings to people and use them like puppets. We've already seen Chiyo do it. Kankuro can do that, too.
What's more, Kankuro has the ability to not only attach his strings to his opponent's limbs but also to mess up with the chakra flow in said limbs, rendering them useless and unable to move them. After all, the chakra strings connect to the tenketsu points in the shinobi's body, which is where the chakra flows through. By connecting the strings to these vital points, the puppet master not only has control of their opponents body but of their flow of chakra as well. Not to mention that going against him, Temari would be massively outnumbered. It'd be a 7 or 8 vs. 1. Seven puppets + Kankuro himself. Take into account the puppet's ability to change their form, rapidly switch places with each other, hide underground, explode, the Sasori puppet that comes with two flamethrowers, and Salamanders' defensive prowess, and Temari wouldn't even know where to land a hit first to defend herself. The puppets would overwhelm her, changing into Kankuro, each other, and their og forms. All Kankuro needs is for her to lower her guard for a fraction of a second, to attach his string to her arms, control her to put her fan down, and then poison her. Yeah, I have no doubt in my mind that Temari would manage to destroy some of his puppets, but by then, she'd be tired from the puppet's mind games, the perfect moment for Kankuro to appear behind her to siege control of her arms. Once he does that, it's a loss on her part.
Genuinely, I'm pretty sure that her Kamaitachi would be the only way for her to win that match effectively. Yeah, you can say that she can very easily summon the weasel and stomp his puppets, and you'd be right. However, stomping the puppets doesn't get rid of the puppeteer himself. Kankuro isn't helpless without his puppets, and I'm sure Temari can't spam her summon more than once per battle as it consumes lots of chakra. So, once she's already used Kamatari to sweep his splatoon of shape shifting puppets, he can still easily appear behind her and attach his strings to her arms. Kankuro is very good at hiding, ya'll. Temari doesn't have magic eyes, a supernatural nose, or magic chakra beetles to track him if he hides. When he disappears, she can destroy his puppets all she wants. In the end, she'll still be left exhausted and open to get control of her limbs snatched by magic strings. The only way to actually defeat a puppet master is to find the puppet master and knock him unconscious. Even if she managed to destroy his puppets and he managed to take her tessen away from her, and it came down to a hand-to-hand combat, Kanks taijutsu is as good as hers, if not better. He has the height advantage and the weight advantage, which already gives him the upper hand in a close combat fight. It's just.... a fact that bigger people hit harder. It's the reason there's weight divisions in wrestling. Extra weight will always equal to more damage dealt physically. You won't try and convince me now that Temari is heavier than Kankuro. I think that's something we can all agree on. It's the reason that short people can still hit harder than a taller person if the shorter individual is heavier.
As a last addition, I don't think Temari would immediately pull out her summon the moment the fight starts. She only uses it in life or death situations where she knows that if she doesn't pull it out, either her or her allies will die or be severely hurt. She just wouldn't use it in a spar against Kankuro. In the way that Kankuro would playfully toy with her, he'd make sure to never push her to a corner such or put her in a dire situation that forces her to use her summon. Her life wouldn't be endangered, so she'd simply have no reason to use it.
The reason I wrote all this is because I'm tired of people, especially Temari fans, constantly looking down on Kankuro's abilities as a puppet user. It's like.... they genuinely don't understand the extent of his capabilities. The ability to relinquish control of your opponents' body to your will is a ridiculously busted ability to have. Now, I also don't want to discredit Temari's prowess. As I've said, a Kankuro vs. Temari would be a 50/50. After all, if Kankuro doesn't play his cards right and messes up, even if just a little, he would be the one ending up with a fistful of sand in his mouth. But Temari's skills are already broadly praised, discussed, and held in high regard, while Kanks the sleeper pick here. So, I hope you excuse me if I was particularly harsh to her in my analysis. It was a needed thing to express how the fight would go.
That's all I've got for now, and remember, especially to all the people who write about the sand sibs: never underestimate Kankuro's power! Show him more respect, I beg of you 🙏
