Kazekage Ninja: The Rise of the Hidden Sand

While the Yamada Group was frantically attacking Abyss Prison, Jing Hang was in the Ninjutsu Research Lab at Sunagakure’s Ninja Academy, holding the scroll of the Flying Thunder God Technique. Surrounded by a group of elderly experts, he was engaged in a heated discussion.

The Ninjutsu Research Lab is a specialized institution in Sunagakure dedicated to the development and study of new ninjutsu. Directly supervised by the Department of Education, it is located within the Ninja Academy. The members of this organization are a diverse and loosely organized group, consisting mostly of the village elders and renowned experts in various fields of ninjutsu development. Figures like Rasa, Yamashita Tetsu, Chiyo, Ebizo, and Master Bunpuku are all masters in their respective domains of ninjutsu.

For Jing Hang, the development and application of new ninjutsu are of paramount importance. After all, ninjutsu is the bread and butter of a ninja’s life. Possessing a wide array of powerful techniques is undoubtedly one of the key factors in ensuring the village’s combat strength.

Sunagakure has long been committed to the development and research of new ninjutsu. However, compared to the talent-rich and resource-laden Konohagakure, Sunagakure has always lagged behind in this area. Think about it: in the original manga, Sunagakure’s ninjutsu arsenal was limited to a handful of techniques—Gaara’s sand jutsu, Temari’s fan techniques, and Kankuro’s puppet mastery. Other techniques, like Shira’s Seven Heavenly Breaths or Jō’s Cloth Release, were mere glimpses, barely explored. In contrast to the vibrant diversity of Konohagakure’s ninjutsu, Sunagakure’s repertoire could only be described as pitiful.

Thus, ever since the end of the Second Shinobi World War, Jing Hang has placed extraordinary emphasis on the development of ninjutsu. He even established this dedicated institution.

After all, the future generations of Sunagakure can’t just rely on sand and puppets, can they?

Fortunately, Sunagakure has a unique advantage: the absence of entrenched ninja clans and their monopolies on secret techniques. (Most of them were wiped out during the Second Shinobi World War.) This has prevented the emergence of situations like in other villages, where clans hoard their secret techniques, refusing to share them. Take the Nara Clan of Konohagakure, for example. Their Shadow Imitation Technique is a clan-exclusive secret, inaccessible even to outsiders with exceptional talent.

This kind of exclusivity often leads to a significant issue: powerful techniques may stagnate or regress due to the limitations of their inheritors’ abilities.

Such a rigid and outdated mode of inheritance stifles innovation and progress. Over time, the overall strength of the village’s ninjas would inevitably decline. (In fact, this is evident in the series, where the strength of ninjas diminishes with each generation.) Jing Hang has a clear stance on this: break down barriers, embrace inclusivity, and leverage collective effort to advance the development of ninjutsu.

Without the constraints of clan monopolies, promoting this initiative has faced little resistance. Over the years of peace, the Ninjutsu Research Lab has developed and deciphered numerous techniques. Combined with the vast knowledge repository of the Xuanyuan Mound Great Immortal Huang Library, Sunagakure’s current foundation is incomparable to its past.