Temari

“But boy, you were lucky. If you had kept fighting, you would’ve fallen to Temari’s Wind Scythe Jutsu. Among all the kunoichi, she’s known as the cruelest.”

—Nara Shikamaru, Naruto: Shippuden #234 "Naruto's Favorite Pupil"

Character
Name:	Temari (テマリ); Nara Temari (奈良テマリ)
Occupation:	Ninja Ambassador Kazekage's bodyguard
Relationships:	Gaara (brother); Kankuro (brother); Baki (sensei); Rasa (father); Karura (mother); Yashamaru (uncle); Nara Shikamaru (husband); Nara Shikadai (son); Shinki (nephew)
Fandom:	Naruto
Other:
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Temari (テマリ) is a prominent supporting character in the Naruto media franchise.

Canon

Temari is the oldest child and only daughter of the Fourth Kazekage, and the older sister of Gaara and Kankuro. She clearly has an attitude, being quite upfront and abrasive, sometimes to the point of crudeness. But she's also a strong ninja—notably the only female to have made it past the Chunin exams preliminaries—who despises war and who values her family.

Like Shikamaru, she's a master strategist, and most of their appearances have been together. She defeated him during the Chunin Exam arc, and she later saves him from Tayuya during the Sasuke Retrieval arc. In Shippuden, she and Shikamaru work on the upcoming Chuunin Exams together. When Naruto sees them walking together, he believes Shikamaru and Temari are dating. Similar to the scene a few years earlier, when Kakashi thought the same thing while watching Asuma and Kurenai together.

Temari fights with a giant metal fan which she can use both as a blunt weapon and to create cutting whirlwinds. She's a better fighter at a distance, according to Kankuro. She believed herself to be the only genin in the Chunin exam capable of using the Summoning Jutsu before Naruto demonstrated his ability to do so.

In Shippuden, Temari has become an emissary between the Leaf and Sand Villages. She wanted to pursue the Akatsuki along with the Leaf Village's rescue team, but the village elders forbade her from doing so, putting her on border patrol instead. She doesn't have much of an effect on the arc.

During the events of the Fourth Shinobi World War, she serves under Gaara, and alongside Shikamaru and Choji, in the Fourth Battalion.

Years after the war comes to an end, Temari moves from her home village to Konoha, marrying her sweetheart Shikamaru, with whom she has a son, Shikadai Nara.

Fandom

Popularity and reactions

Relative to her screentime as a member of the supporting cast, Temari has enjoyed great popularity. Along with Chiyo, Temari has often been called one of best examples of a strong female character in the Naruto series.

Temari is the best kunoichi of part 1. Most people think that Sakura and Hinata are the kindest and most loving but Temari loved her brother and tried to protect him from Sasuke even when he was a psycho and tried to kill her. To me that's really admirable and not many people could ever do that. So when people say she's cruel for what she did to Tenten it really annoys me. If you grew up with no mother figure in your life, you couldn't really be sensitive, you'd have to be tough especially if your brother is a homicidal maniac. So that makes Temari the kindest and strongest kunoichi! Tema-chan 4ever!!!!!

However, some Naruto fans dislike Temari for her abrasive and at times cruel actions, such as her brutality against Tenten during the Chūnin Exams arc, and her prickly interactions with Shikamaru.

Data

Given the large and popular cast of Naruto, Temari has been very well-represented in metrics of fan engagement.

Over the course of Naruto's publication, Japanese readers could occasionally vote for their favorite character in popularity polls, and the results would be included with a later chapter.

• In the first popularity poll (17 January 2001), Temari ranked 26th (71 votes).
• In the second poll (23 January 2002), she ranked 28th (94 votes).
• In the fourth poll (29 January 2004), she ranked 15th (930 votes).
• In the fifth poll (14 February 2005), she ranked 11th (1 037 votes).
• In the sixth poll (13 February 2006), she ranked 16th (671 votes).
• The third Naruto databook compiled the results of the first six polls to determine the most popular characters overall. According to Databook 3 (9 September 2008), Temari ranked 14th (2 803 votes).
• In the seventh popularity poll (28 March 2011), she ranked 18th (1 628 votes).

According to a sample of 403 thousand Naruto stories on FanFiction.Net (FFN) as of 20 September 2018, Temari is one of the 20 characters listed most often in the character filters.

Fanon and tropes common to fan works

Because Temari is the eldest child and only daughter of the Fourth Kazekage, and the sister of the Fifth Kazekage, fans speculate that she could occupy a considerable political, diplomatic, and military influence in Sunagakure, akin to a princess, with all the honor and responsibility that such a position would entail.

In canon, Temari is only known by her mononym—until she becomes Nara Temari after her marriage to Shikamaru. In fanon, she is commonly referred to as "Sabaku no Temari" or "Temari of the Sand", like her brother Gaara.

Shipping

Temari and her brothers are collectively referred to as the "Sand Siblings".

Shikamaru x Temari—commonly known as ShikaTema—has been Temari's undisputed juggernaut pairing. Since ShikaTema has often been considered a given, the pairing often appears as a background pairing, requiring no explanation, allowing the story to focus on the main pairing. Due to Temari's high-ranking position as the Kazekage's sister, bodyguard, and advisor, many fans have speculated that Shikamaru would move to Sunagakure, or that the couple would split their time between Konohagakure and Sunagakure performing ambassadorial duties.

As for Shikamaru's shipping scene, Shikamaru x Ino has been ShikaTema's only serious competition. The ship war of ShikaTema vs ShikaIno has resulted in character bashing pitting the two characters against each other within fan works; ShikaTema fics often portray Ino as catty, vapid bimbo, while ShikaIno fics portray Temari as egregiously domineering and cruel.

Along with other "royalty" tropes, Temari is often the subject of arranged marriage in order to secure political alliances for Sunagakure. She is commonly betrothed to Shikamaru of Konohagakure's Nara clan, or Hokage Naruto.

Notable Pairings

• Shikamaru x Temari (ShikaTema)
• Naruto x Temari (NaruTema)

Example Fan Works

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Fan Fic

• The Hazards of Amity [1] by firefly
• "Father's Brains and Mother's Attitude" by Kimiz

Fan Art

• https://www.deviantart.com/polarityplus/art/Temari-565780993
• https://www.deviantart.com/jazzie560/art/Temari-action-sketches-498376765
• https://www.deviantart.com/mayanara/art/Suna-queen-560244531
• https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/1718731
• https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/9216354
• https://kisu-no-hi.tumblr.com/post/183430402529/among-all-the-kunoichi-shes-known-as-the
• NARUTO ファンアート by 日暮 七十七
• Shikaku and Temari playing shogi together!!! by kisu-no-hi
• Temari by Harpiya

Meta

• [Character Appreciation 8] Temari by MaimedPhoenix
• They did exactly what I called they were gonna do and made her an over aggressive nagging house wive. by thatshinobilife
• *puts hands behind head, stares up at water spot on the ceiling, sighs* by fineillsignup

External Links

Fan Communities and Archives

• FanFiction.Net (FFN): Naruto stories and crossovers featuring Temari
• DeviantArt (DA): Temari-Fans, Temaris-Revenge
• Archive of Our Own (AO3): Temari (Naruto) tag
• Pixiv: #テマリ

Resources

• Wikipedia