Matsuri was among the first students at Sunagakure's ninja academy, which was built to match Konoha's model. She deliberately picked Gaara as her teacher—a choice that raised some eyebrows, given that he was still seen as the village's weapon at the time. When training began, Gaara recommended she train with a jouhyou, figuring it was the least dangerous weapon available. This made sense because Matsuri had serious trauma around weapons; her parents had been murdered, and she was genuinely afraid of them. Over time, though, she worked past that fear once she understood weapons could actually protect people and help others.
She's notable as the first filler character from the original series to show up in Shippuden. There, she joined a Sunagakure team tasked with rescuing Gaara after he'd been captured. The timeskip changed her personality noticeably—she became more vocal and openly frustrated that her team was stuck defending the village's borders instead of going after Gaara. She later appeared during Gaara's revival, where she made a point of praising him and bragging about his strength.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
