Sunagakure was founded after the Warring States Period by the First Kazekage, who gathered the desert-dwelling shinobi under his control with his overwhelming power. Shortly after the formation of their villages, Konoha's First Hokage offered to sell tailed beasts to Suna as a sign of friendship and to ensure a balance of power amongst their new villages. Because Sunagakure already had the One-Tail, the First Kazekage attempted to negotiate for a percentage of the tailed beast sales instead, as well as a portion of the Land of Fire's territory. Despite the First Hokage's wishes for peace, the world eventually fell into war. Suna's close proximity with Iwagakure has led to numerous conflicts over the years, enough that enmity between its shinobi has become deep-seated.
Following the Third Shinobi World War, the Land of Wind's daimyō started outsourcing missions previously given to Suna to Konoha instead. The Fourth Kazekage began selling gold dust to try to make up for the loss of funding, but it was ultimately decided that Suna shinobi would need to rely on individual strength rather than strength of numbers. To help in this goal, the Fourth had the One-Tail sealed into his newborn son, Gaara, hoping he would become a valuable weapon. For the early years of his life Gaara struggled to keep the One-Tail in check, and would unintentionally attack the village and/or its citizens when he lost control. The Fourth eventually decided that Gaara was a failed experiment and tried many times to have him assassinated, each of which failed. The attempts on his life, however, taught Gaara how to control the One-Tail, making him into the weapon his father wanted him to be and convincing the Fourth to call off the assassinations.
Twelve years after the Third Shinobi World War, Suna is approached by Orochimaru of Otogakure with an offer to join forces in an invasion of Konoha. Scheduled to occur during the Chūnin Exams taking place in Konoha, a small force is to attack the village from within while Sunagakure and Otogakure forces invade. At some point before the invasion takes place, however, Orochimaru kills and impersonates the Fourth Kazekage and leads them into a devastating defeat against Konoha's forces. When the village discovers Orochimaru's deceit, Sunagakure re-allies itself with Konoha and gains much from the peace, leading to new prosperity for the village. Two-and-a-half years later Gaara, now Fifth Kazekage, is captured while defending Suna from Akatsuki. Remembering their earlier mistakes when the Third Kazekage disappeared, Suna's leadership is reluctant to go after him. Konoha sends a team to help and succeeds in rescuing Gaara, though Akatsuki is able to take the One-Tail. Chiyo and Ebizō noted that the village has weakened as they had to rely on retired veterans and even allied villages.
After the other villages experience their own attacks by Akatsuki, they decide to form the Allied Shinobi Forces to oppose Akatsuki in the Fourth Shinobi World War. Being so much younger than his fellow Kage, Gaara is able to persuade the other Kage of how outdated their methodologies are and also proves inspirational in convincing the diverse Allied Forces set aside their differences and work together. Suna's forces prove valuable during the war, particularly with the Cloth Binding Technique to neutralise the Impure World Reincarnation. Although the villagers were amongst the mass of the world to be trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi and God: Nativity of a World of Trees, the war is eventually won and the villages are all left on good terms.
Following the Fourth Shinobi World War and the peace that ensued, the seventh Kazekage returned to Sunagakure’s old ways of warring with Iwagakure. While disputing border differences, the Kazekage was unwilling to relent part of their claim on a northern territory. The Tsuchikage refused to negotiate without this territory, and caused a battle that resulted in the death of two Iwagakure diplomats. The war that raged between Sunagakure and Iwagakure lasted for over a decade, until the Ninth Kazekage and the Tenth Tsuchikage agreed on an indefinite truce following the death of the Eighth Kazekage in a large battle.
Since then, Sunagakure has had a myriad of Kazekages. Their place in world politics has been largely negligible since the war, and have instead looked inward to interpersonal politics. For the better portion of a century, from the sixth Kazekage’s reign to the tenth, Sunagakure invested heavily into the trade of slavery. They exported large amounts of slaves taken from their own people to foreign lands, which allowed their economies to flourish, however their people suffered and grew angry. A coup was staged and Inuzuka Shiro was killed as a result, allowing the next Kazekage to abolish the slave trade. Doing so caused a quick recession to plague the Hidden Sand Village.
Sunagakure had continued to stay out of world politics after the abolishment of their slave trade, although Kuroka Gin attended the Gokage summit after the accusation aimed at Iwagakure regarding the alleged assassination of the Hokage at the time.
Although Sunagakure had kept themselves out of the political game for a long period of time, they were still targeted by rogue shinobi, who destroyed the village and reduced it to a field of glass.
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