Gaara

Gaara is a male anime and manga character who features in Naruto.

Biography

Origin

Gaara (Japanese: 我愛羅, Hepburn: Gaara) was a male human born as the son of Rasa and Karura of the Kazekage Clan in the Ninja World. When in his mother's womb, his father who was the Fourth Kazekage of the Hidden Sand Village of Sunagakure was responsible for sealing the One Tail Shukaku inside of him. This was done with the hope of making him into a powerful protector of the Sand Village. Gaara's premature birth was responsible for killing his mother whereupon he was trained and nurtured by his father to be a living weapon. This led to him suffering from a miserable childhood where the isolation because of Shukaku causing Gaara to subconsciously harm others with his sand and becoming feared by his older siblings Kankuro and Temari. In these early years, he was raised in complete isolation with his father teaching him ninjutsu whilst his maternal uncle Yashamaru cared for him. Though he had free roaming of the village, he was feared due to his status as a jinchūriki causing almost everyone to shun him despite his attempts at being kind to them. On one occasion, he returned some fellow children their ball but this led to them running from the sight of Gaara. Despite his attempts at assuring them, his powers sometimes inadvertently caused harm to others with the sand sometimes even attempting to kill them which further the feeling of isolation. Thus, he came to be feared as a monster by everyone in his village and was rejected as a result. Gaara struggled in understanding the pain he could cause others as the sands protected him from any injury even those that were self-inflicted but his uncle Yashamaru told him of pain when he was 6 years old. It was then that Gaara believed that he knew pain as this was the terrible agony he felt in his heart.

Overwhelmed by grief, Gaara came to transform into Shukaku and attacked the village until he was stopped by his father Rasa using his gold dust. Afterwards, his father arranged for five other assassination attempts on his son all of which he managed to survive. In this time, Gaara's singular focus led him to learn to reign in his power where he was considered a weapon of destruction for the hidden sand village with Rasa deploying him whenever he had a need for his son. In one incident, Gaara went into a rampage after succumbing to his Tailed-Beast which a resulted in a great deal of damage in his home village and killing many of his comrades. Despite the deaths, he showed no concern and even threatened to kill his brother Kankuro for speaking out against him.

Naruto

The Sand Siblings were then gathered together under Baki where they were to take part in the Chūnin Exams at Konohagakure though secretly their mission was to take part in an attack on the village hidden in the leaves. Upon arriving, his kin ended up in a fight with the genin of Team 7 with Kankurō looking to escalate the fight. However, Gaara came to threaten him thus forcing him to stand down and leave the Hidden Leaf ninja alone. This saw his first contact with Sasuke Uchiha with Gaara asking the Hidden Leaf ninja his name and apologising for the disturbance caused by his comrades. He participated then in the written part of the exam that was actually a test of the students ability to cheat without getting caught by the sentinels watching them where Gaara was able to use his Third Eye to steal the answers he needed for his paper. Afterwards, he took part in the second stage of the exam that involved the Forty-Fourth Training Ground (第44演習場, Daiyonjūyon Enshūjō, English TV: Training Ground 44) where teams were given a scroll and had to find its counterpart among the other competing teams. They later encountered Team Shigure whose lack of respect was seen as a challenge to Gaara who decided to battle them. Despite their deadly technique, they were unable to get past Gaara's Absolute Defence and he mercilessly killed all three of them. Recovering their scroll, they discovered they had the counterpart item and thus had completed their part in the test but Gaara wanted to kill more people within the Forest of Death. It was only the pleading of Temari that led to Gaara standing down and they returned back to the exam hall to hand in the scrolls with this being done in record time. Afterwards, he progressed to the next stage of the exam that involve one-on-one battles among the candidates where he watched both Temari and Kankurō defeat their opponents. It was then that he was paired off against Rock Lee where Gaara was confident in his abilities earning him an easy victory. However, Lee came to demonstrate unprecedented levels of speed with his taijutsu that was able to outpace Gaara's natural defence. As the fight continued, Gaara came to succumb more to his bloodthirsty nature and the Tailed-Beast within him began to awaken. It was then that Rock Lee revealed his hidden technique that was opening the inner chakra gates giving him unprecedented levels of physical strength which he attempted to overcome Gaara. However, the sands came to save Gaara at the last second and he used his sand burial technique against the weakened Lee that resulted in his arm and leg being badly wounded. He would have killed Lee had Might Guy not intervened in the fight with this act leading to Lee's disqualification from the exam. After passing this round, Gaara was then given a month's time before which he was to fight Sasuke Uchiha as part of the next round of the exam. During this time, he waited where in the night he was approached by Dosu Kinuta who had planned to kill the sand ninja in his sleep. However, Gaara was awake and seeing the sound ninja challenge him led to him unleashing his inner bloodlust where he easily killed his opponent. Despite orders to remain in his room, Gaara was overwhelmed with bloodlust and left in secret to go to the hospital in order to find as well as murder Rock Lee. Whilst there, he was stopped by Naruto Uzumaki and Shikamaru Nara who had come to see their comrade with a stand-off occurring as Gaara intended to kill all three of them. Before a fight could erupt, Might Guy arrived at the scene forcing Gaara to back away and instead focus on the next part of the exam.

He then left his room where he managed to track down Sasuke Uchiha who was being trained by his sensei Kakashi Hatake. Upon seeing their training, Gaara's desire to fight his foe even grew and he was excited at their coming match. He then went to the arena for the next match where he saw the Kazekage arriving to attend the upcoming fights with the first being Naruto against Neiji Hyuga.

With Sasuke's arrival, Gaara was excited in fighting and killing his foe with this nearly overwhelming him to the point that he wanted to kill others that opposed him. Two ninja were sent by noblemen attending the match to convince Gaara to lose in order so that their lord would win a bet he placed on the winner of the fight. Gaara ended up killing the two with this being witnessed by Naruto and Shikamaru who were spared by the sand ninja who was more keen to fight Sasuke Uchiha. With the match commencing, Gaara's defence protected him from attack but came to be surprised at his foe's speed that matched that of Rock Lee. This came to bypass Gaara's defences and allowed Sasuke to lend the first blow against his opponent with the Uchiha having been warned of the sand ninja's techniques. Gaara then encased himself in a sphere of sand that responded to attacks around him whilst he called a sand eye to observe outside his body as he called a ritual to fully transform into the Tailed-Beast form. This was interrupted when Sasuke used his new technique that was the chidori that pierced the shield and wounded Gaara whose chakra reserves were low and was shocked at the sight of his own blood. It was then that the sand ninja launched their operation where they commenced their attack on the hidden leaf village.

Regaining consciousness, he saw that Temari was carrying him to safety where he told her to put him down. She attempted to convince him to continue running so that they could enact their village's plan but Gaara was overwhelmed with bloodlust. He knocked her to the side as he intended to battle Sasuke and fell in the grips of his transformation as the Tailed-Beast within him manifested over his body. It was then that he attacked in a blind rage as he wanted to kill the Uchiha ninja. Though Sasuke's chidori technique hurt Gaara, he was unable to fell his opponent who became more covered by the sand that completed his transformation. Eventually, Sasuke's chakra was depleted where he was left powerless allowing for Gaara to kill him but Uchiha was saved when Naruto Uzumaki arrived at the scene. The angry Gaara was single-minded in killing Sasuke who was being protected by Sakura Haruno with the sand ninja encasing her in sand and leaving her trapped at a tree. This was to force Naruto to engage him in a fight as the sand around Sakura was constricting and threatening to crush her to death. To save her, Naruto used the Shadow Clone jutsu which was initially defeated but a second attempt by Uzumaki allowed him to sneak a paper bomb by Gaara's transformed states tail that left the sand body badly damaged. In anger, he decided to unleash his full power and succumbed to the transformation into a giant Tailed-Beast with Naruto managing to summon a giant toad in response. Gaara then placed himself into a trance to put himself into a sleep-like state so that the sand demon Shukaku could be unleashed in his full power against all his enemies. Despite his efforts, his trance-like state was broken by Naruto and he was ultimately defeated by the shinobi with the two weakened ninja left sprawled on the forest floor. Gaara had no strength to fight and was shocked to see Naruto still standing up in order to protect his friends. By this point, the attack on Konohagakure was deemed a failure with the sand ninja retreating leading to Kankuro and Temari rescuing Gaara where they took him away. Whilst in their arms, he came to see the value of friendship and apologised to his siblings for his defeat.

Afterwards, Sunagakure came to form an temporary alliance with the village hidden in the leaf in order to thwart Orochimaru. As a result, the sand siblings were dispatched with the mission of aiding the leaf shinobi that had been seen on a mission to recover Sasuke Uchiha. The shinobi had willingly departed his village to side with Orochimaru who had intended to use the Uchiha as a new host body for himself. To prevent this, a team led by Shikamaru had been sent to recover Sasuke which led to a battle with the Sound Four where each of the ninja's had to fight their powerful shinobi enemies. Gaara and his siblings managed to arrive at the forest in the midst of battle where they separated to assist the hidden leaf ninjas. He himself arrived at the scene of Rock Lee's fight against the bone-wielding ninja Kimimaro of the Kaguya clan where despite his strength he was unable to defeat his Otagakure foe. In fact, he helped save Rock Lee's life and helped him in battling Kimimaro. Keeping Lee out of the fight, Gaara battled the sound ninja and buried him in a sand coffin in an attempt to crush his foe to death. However, Kimimaro being a member of the Kaguya clan was able to use his bone controlling jutsu to reinforce his body and amplified his strength through the curse mark on his body. Thus, he was able to fight back the attempts to crush him to death and continued the fight against Gaara of the Sand. This forced Gaara to use more chakra and techniques where he through skill managed to bury Kimimaro deep beneath the earth in the hope that he would be crushed to death. However, the sheer determination and the power of the curse mark allowed Kimimaro to break free where he entered into close range with Gaara where he was prepared to kill the sand ninja. However, at that point, he died just before he could kill his foe as his body was dying and he had burnt through his remaining energy in that moment.

Afterwards, Sunagakure looked to establish its own ninja academy with the sand siblings being in charge of the training of its new recruits. The three were allowed to choose their sensei among the three of them with the greater majority going to Temari and Kankuro as most were scared of Gaara. The only exception was Matsuri (マツリ, Matsuri) who asked to be Gaara's student and he agreed to be her sensei. During this time, she came to be kidnapped by the Four Celestial Symbols Men in order to draw out Gaara to rescue his student with the sand siblings in pursuit of the four warriors from Takumi Village. Each wielded a special ninja tool as they drew their pursuers into a trap that was designed for Gaara. The sand ninja were later assisted by their allies from Konohagakure that were being led by Shikamaru where he divided his compatriots to help the sand siblings. During his time, Gaara was involved in a battle with Suiko who wielded a special ninja tool that absorbed chakra though Gaara managed to overpower him. He was helped by Naruto and Rock Lee with Gaara receiving some healing from Sakura before he decided to confront the enemy's leader Hōki. Hōki then activated the trap that locked Gaara within a container that began to absorb the chakra from Shukaku that resided in him with this being combined with the ninja tools of the village of artisans to resurrect Takumi's leader Seimei as a living weapon. Seimei's power allowed him to absorb chakra making him seemingly impossible to defeat but Gaara fashioned a spear from the last of his power and used it to kill the living ninja tool thus bringing an end to the conflict.

Shippuden

In the two years afterwards, he came to be appointed the new leader of the village and was appointed as the Fifth Kazekage. During this time, Sunagakure was invaded by two members of the mysterious Akatsuki with Deidara having killed the sentries on watch. Despite this, Gaara came to uncover the intruders arrival and confronted him with the two engaged in a long battle against one another. Whilst a powerful combatant, Gaara was defeated by Deidara who exploited the Kazekage's desire to protect his people allowing him to knock out the sand ninja and take hostage. The two Akatsuki members managed to deal with any pursuers as they took the jinchuriki to their nearby base where the rest of their group was summoned to perform the jutsu to extract the Tailed-Beast from Gaara. Leaf shinobi in the mean time moved into action to assist their Sunagakure allies by rescuing Gaara but they were delayed by the Akatsuki who managed to bide enough time to extract the creature its host thus leaving the sand ninja deceased as a result. His body was then used by Deidara to goad Naruto Uzumaki into following him as the Akatsuki member had intended to capture another jinchuriki host as part of his tally. However, he was thwarted by Team Kakashi and Team Guy where they managed to recover Gaara only to find that they were too late to save him. It was then that Chiyo of the sand village decided to sacrifice her own life by performing a forbidden resurrection jutsu that passed her chakra to Gaara thus bringing him back to life. He awoke to find all his friends and allies around him cheering for his return where he was grateful for being saved by them.

Gaara later received reports that Konogakure had been devastated in an attack from the Akatsuki by their leader Pain. However, the attacker was defeated by Naruto and that the village was rebuilding the damage sustained in the onslaught. Later on, the Raikage of the hidden cloud village called a Five Kage Summit in the land of iron in order to discuss a recent attack on his younger brother Killer B by Sasuke Uchiha on behalf of the Akatsuki. Gaara went with his siblings to attend the meeting where he was the youngest of the Kage that arrived at the gathering. In this time, the Raikage looked to have Sasuke declared a rogue ninja to be eliminated and that the Akatsuk as an organization was a threat to them all. Gaara though came to see the other Kage having abandoned their sense of self and were instead fixated in the pointless cycle of feuds between the respective villages. The summit was then disrupted by Sasuke Uchiha who had arrived in the land of iron in order to eliminate Danzō Shimura who was the new Hokage candidate after Lady Tsunade had fallen into a coma due to Pain's attack on the hidden leaf. Gaara wanted to stop Sasuke from continuing the path of destruction and revenge where he even offered to help protect him. However, the Uchiha refused and instead showcased his great power that led to a collapse of a ceiling in one of the chambers. This forced Gaara to protect the people by him allowing Sasuke to continue with his revenge attempt but he was almost killed by the Tsuchikage. However, he was saved by a man claiming to be Madara Uchiha who had been the hidden mastermind of the Akatsuki. He revealed his intention to gather all the Tailed-Beasts in order to restore the Ten-Tails and use its power to engulf the world in an Infinite Tsukuyomi where there would be no free will or conflict. For that, he demanded the Kage hand over the Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails but they refused to comply resulting in the Masked Madara to declare the start of the Fourth Great Shinobi War. In response, the Kage decided to work together and created the Allied Shinobi Forces with the Raikage heading its military forces. Gaara was tasked with coordinating with the hidden leaf as Danzō Shimura had abandoned the meeting to save himself from Sasuke's attack.

Afterwards, he was tasked with coordinating with the hidden leaf due to his past friendship with Konohagakure. He came to meet with Naruto where told him that Sasuke had been declared a rogue shinobi to be eliminated. Gaara came to give words of advice to Naruto that he would have to be prepare to eliminate Sasuke despite him being his former friend. Upon returning home, he and his siblings informed the tribal elders of the outcome of the meeting as well as prepared their village for the Fourth Great Shinobi War. Later on, the hidden sand village came to attend another meeting of the Kage where it revealed that Lady Tsunade had resumed her position as Hokage after recovering from her coma. During the meeting, it was decided that the two remaining jinchuriki were to be taken away into hiding to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Akatsuki. Gaara had agreed with this decision as he knew that Naruto's friendship with Sasuke might lead to him putting himself into danger in order to save his friend.

At the onset of the Fourth Shinobi World War, Gaara came to be placed as the head of one of the divisions that were sent to battle the enemy. He came to head the Allied Shinobi Forces' Fourth Division and served as the commander-in-chief of all the other combat divisions. When some of the shinobi from different villages start fighting over past grudges, Gaara uses his sand to break them up. He then delivers a speech to the assembled forces, asking that they set aside the factors that once set them apart and focus on what now unifies them: stopping Akatsuki. The Allies are inspired by his words and mobilise for battle; Gaara leads his Fourth Division to the border of the Land of Lightning. They were quick to find that their foe after Gaara scattered his Sand Sensing around the area so that he can detect any approach by Akatsuki's forces. This revealed that the enemy had been bolstered by the use of reanimated shinobi who were sent against their will to fight the Allied Shinobi Forces. With his technique, Gaara exposed a reincarnated Mū, causing the reincarnated Second Mizukage, Third Raikage, and Gaara's father, Rasa, to be sent to reinforce Mū. Seeing them with his Third Eye, Gaara calls for backup. The Third Tsuchikage is sent to provide assistance, but they avoid combat until the second day of the war. Once they're ready, Gaara launches the first attack with his sand, which Rasa counters with his gold dust. When Rasa sees Gaara, he is surprised to find that Gaara has not transformed into Shukaku, having assumed he had based on the amount of sand he was controlling. Gaara informs him that Shukaku was removed from his body, but that his life was saved by the many friends he's made in his capacity as Kazekage; he adds that, as Kazekage, he now understands all of Rasa's attempts to assassinate him and forgives him. Rasa finds this all very strange and asks that Gaara fight him so that he can see how Gaara has grown. After several exchanges, Gaara surrounds Rasa and the other Kage with sand, which takes the form of Gaara's mother, Karura. Gaara is surprised to see his mother. Rasa, accepting defeat, explains that the sand that has always protected him was not Shukaku's doing but rather his mother's, because she loved Gaara from the moment he was born. He confesses that he forced Yashamaru to try and kill Gaara all those years ago and to lie to him about his mother in order to test Gaara's emotional suitability as a jinchūriki. Gaara cries at the news and Rasa apologises for not being as good a parent to Gaara as his mother was. Gaara places sealing tags on the Kage's sand confinements, but all except Rasa escape. Gaara then assists the Tsuchikage in his fight with Mū, using his sand to locate Mū whenever he turns invisible.

One of Naruto's shadow clones eventually joined the battle and with Gaara's help they were able to briefly incapacitate Mū. This allowed Gaara to seal him before he could speak. Gaara angrily questions Naruto about his presence on the battlefield and his new Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, but Naruto assures him that he knows what he's doing and he should not treat him like child just because he's Kazekage. While Naruto's shadow clone goes off to fight the Third Raikage, Gaara and the Tsuchikage face the Second Mizukage. The Mizukage berates them for fighting Mū before fighting him, telling them that he's the stronger opponent and therefore should have been dealt with first. When the Mizukage is repeatedly able to neutralise his sand, Gaara admits this is apparently true. Because the Mizukage is protected by a genjutsu, Gaara uses his sand to locate the giant clam casting it so that the Tsuchikage can destroy it. The Mizukage immediately attacks the Tsuchikage, forcing Gaara to save him with a sand clone. Gaara then tries to capture the Mizukage with his Desert Layered Imperial Funeral, which the Mizukage escapes from by using an explosive clone. Gaara is able to capture the Mizukage in his sand again, but the clone keeps interrupting before the seal can be completed. Although the Mizukage has repeatedly given them pointers about how to defeat him, he decides not to help them defeat the clone, believing they now need to prove themselves. Gaara uses his sand to protect the Fourth Division from the clone's attacks and then tries to attack the clone with his sand, but the clone is too fast. In order to slow it down, Gaara secretly adds some of Rasa's gold dust to his sand which, when heated up by the clone's body, acts as the perfect restraint. Naruto's shadow clone, having defeated the Third Raikage, comes to join Gaara and the Mizukage, seeing them both, remarks that they make a good pair. Gaara seals the Mizukage and reports their victory to the Allied headquarters.

It was then that they were confronted by the real Madara Uchiha who was a reanimated shinobi sent as the trump card against the Allied Shinobi Forces. The strength of their foe meant that all five Kage were assembled to fight their opponent. Madara starts attacking the Fourth Division and Gaara, the Tsuchikage, and Naruto's shadow clone team up against him. Their combination is effective enough to force Madara to activate his Rinnegan, which he then uses to drop a meteorite upon the Fourth Division. Gaara orders that the Fourth Division evacuate and uses his sand to help the Tsuchikage stop the meteorite. Madara responds by dropping a meteorite, which they're not able to stop. Gaara's sand protects him from serious injury, but the Tsuchikage and the rest of the Fourth Division are badly hurt. Naruto's shadow clone tries facing Madara alone, but the prolonged fighting has left it exhausted. Gaara and the Tsuchikage join him, as do the other three Kage, having all teleported to the battlefield to help. The Fifth Hokage heals Gaara and the Tsuchikage and the Five Kage team up against Madara. Confident they can defeat him, they tell Naruto's shadow clone to entrust Madara to them and to go defeat Tobi elsewhere. Although they outnumber Madara, the Kage struggle against him; Gaara uses Desert Suspension to keep the Kage out of range of Madara's attacks and Desert Layered Imperial Funeral whenever an opportunity to try and seal Madara presents itself. Their attacks consistently fail and Madara, in order to make things "fair", creates twenty-five wood clones, five for each of the Kage to fight. The wood clones each use Susanoo and fight the Kage into the night. Despite the superior forces against them, the Kage are able to combine forces against the original Madara, impressing him enough to use Susanoo's "Complete Body" form. Before he can use it to destroy the Kage, the Impure World Reincarnation is released and Madara's soul starts returning to the Pure Land. Madara removes the Impure World Reincarnation's user's control over him, thus allowing him to stay. Now free to do what he wants, Madara decides he's lost interest in the Kage and states his intentions to go after Naruto. The Kage try to stop him and thus fulfil their promise to Naruto, but Madara defeats them all and leaves them near death. Despite their resolve, the Kage were defeated by Madara who left them alive as he went to join Tobi in capturing the last two jinchuriki.

Orochimaru and members of Taka eventually locate the Hokage, and by helping her heal herself she is able to heal the other Kage. Once they've recovered, Gaara uses his sand to transport the Kage to where the Allied Forces are fighting; Katsuyu informs them of what's been happening up until now. On arrival, the Kage rally the surviving forces against the recreation of the God Tree. After Naruto is able to destabilise the tailed beasts' chakra sealed within Tobi, Gaara latches onto Shukaku's chakra and pulls it free. With Obito defeated, the Allied Forces head off to fight Madara, the only remaining threat. Gaara requests that Shukaku help him seal Madara. Shukaku is uninterested until Gaara suggests that he'll ask another tailed beast, at which point Shukaku decides to help. Gaara and Shukaku attack Madara with Wind Release: Sand Buckshot, slowing his movements so that the other tailed beasts, Killer B, and Naruto can attack him. Once he's down, Gaara and Shukaku combine efforts to create a bigger and stronger Desert Layered Imperial Funeral, which Madara escapes using his Susanoo. Madara returns once he obtains one of his Rinnegan and starts sealing the tailed beasts into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Gaara tries to prevent Shukaku from being sealed using Desert: Hand, his way of thanking Shukaku for enabling him to meet Naruto all those years ago. Madara attacks him in order to stop him, which Shukaku blocks so as to preserve its title as Gaara's "absolute defence". Despite Gaara's efforts, the tailed beasts - including those sealed in B and Naruto - are successfully sealed. In its final moments, the Nine-Tails within Naruto communicates to Gaara how to save Naruto's life: have the Nine-Tails' chakra sealed within the reincarnated Minato Namikaze transferred to Naruto. Gaara starts carrying Naruto to Minato, but his life is rapidly fading. Gaara takes him to the Fifth Hokage so she can provide medical assistance, but she sends Sakura Haruno instead. While Sakura performs emergency life support on Naruto, Gaara carries them to Minato and, on finding him, tells him what the Nine-Tails told him. Minato starts sealing his half of the Nine-Tails into Naruto, but it is intercepted by Black Zetsu and they are shortly afterwards joined by Madara, who is now the jinchūriki of the Ten-Tails. Gaara and Minato team up to try and stop Black Zetsu from giving the Nine-Tails to Madara, but they are easily repelled. Through the combined efforts of Kakashi Hatake and Obito Uchiha, the Nine-Tails' chakra is reclaimed and Naruto is gotten to safety. Might Guy then joins the fight against Madara and ultimately decides to use the Eight Gates Released Formation. Because Guy only has a limited amount of time, Gaara helps Kakashi create an opening in Madara's defences by carrying him closer so that he can use Kamui on some of Madara's Truth-Seeking Balls. Guy is able to successfully attack Madara, but Madara survives and Guy is unable to keep fighting. When Naruto and Sasuke Uchiha join the battle, Gaara carries Guy to safety so that he isn't harmed in the crossfire.

Next Generations

In the years that followed, Gaara maintained a close friendship with Naruto and even came to know his children namely Boruto Uzumaki and Himawari Uzumaki who viewed him as an uncle. Around this time, he encountered a young boy named Shinki (シンキ, Shinki) who struggled to control his powers and he came to attack Gaara. Gaara sensing a kinship with the boy decided to show him kindness and hugged the boy despite being impaled by his power. This act calmed Shinki who accepted the kindness of Gaara who offered to teach the boy to control his power. Afterwards, Shinki was adopted by Gaara and was considered his son where he underwent training under his father.

He later attended the five Kage summit at Konokagure with this being a closed session to meet with the Seventh Hokage Naruto Uzumaki. During this meeting, Naruto revealed his and Sasuke's findings into a hidden threat in the world following their battle with Kaguya. They determined that Kaguya had actually created the White Zetsu army long before the emergence of shinobi in the world to fight a great threat in the future. Thus, they believed this foe was heading to their world and could arrive at any moment. This led to some debate among the kage as some felt that the new generation lacked their fighting instinct to defeat such a dangerous foe. However, Gaara and Naruto believed that the new generation would come to stand on their own two feet given time and would be able to aid them in battling this new enemy. Afterwards, he watched as his son Shinki and two other young shinobi were going under the supervision of Kankuro as they made their way to Konohagakure to take part in the Chunin Exam. Shukaku then contacted Gaara telepathically to inform him that he had lost contact with the Eight-Tails and that something had defeated his Tailed-Beast kin with Kazekage taking note of this warning. He later took a train to Konogakure to attend the Chunin Exam where his cart was infiltrated by Urashiki Ōtsutsuki who was looking to claim the Tailed-Beast in his body. He managed to easily bypass Gaara's defences but found he was not the host of the creature and departed before the guards could confront him. Upon arriving at Konogakure, he informed the other Kage of the encounter before watching the Chunin Exam and witnessing his adoptive son Shinki's performance.

He alongside the other Kage then departed to save Naruto and stop Momoshiki Ōtsutsuki from accomplishing his goals.

Overview

Personality and attributes

In appearance, Gaara was a male human with fair skin, green eyes, along with short auburn hair that was spiky during his childhood but by the time he was an adult he had combed it over and parted to the right. As a child, he carved the kanji for 'love' (愛, ai) on the left side of his forehead with his hair being parted there to allow the words to be visible. When he was young, people had a tendency of underestimating him due to his small size. Whilst growing up, many girls within his home village came to consider Gaara to be handsome. He came to be known as Gaara of the Sand (砂の我愛羅, Suna no Gaara). When he became the leader of his village, he held the title of the Fifth Kazekage (五代目風影, Godaime Kazekage) and the leader of Sunagakure. During this time, he came to be known by the epithet of the Prince of the Sand Waterfall Gourd (砂瀑の瓢箪王子, Sabaku no Hyōtan Ōji, English: Prince of the Sand Gourd).

As a child, he once spoke to Shukaku with the One-Tail threatening to take over Gaara's body if he ever fell asleep and use it to kill everyone around him. This deeply affected him to the point that he refused to sleep when he was the jinchūriki. It was said that his eyes were shown as someone who had been sleep deprived and as a result had become mentally unbalanced. In this time, he used to claim that he felt a pain but that it came from deep in his heart. He was later told that this was because he had never felt love which was a concept Gaara was not familiar with at the time. He was told that love was the opposite of hate and stemmed from a desire to support another. It was said that by the time he was 6 years old that he was given everything he had desired with him believing that his father often pampered him as a result. As a young boy, he was often lonely as he was avoided by everyone else in his village. This combined with his inability to harm himself due to his protective sands meant that he never understood the concept of pain until years later. That changed afterwards when his father was responsible for numerous assassination attempts on his life. This taught him to trust no one and that the only person he could rely on was himself. Thus, he did not fight for others in his youth but rather only for himself.

When he was younger, he demonstrated a ruthless streak and had no issues threatening to kill his own allies to keep them in line. His bonding to the sand demon along with the cruel way he was raised coloured his perception of the world. His birth was arranged for him to be a weapon for the sand village but in time they grew to fear him as a monster. He then came to struggle to find a purpose in life after being rejected by everyone around him. Gaara eventually concluded that the only path available to him was through killing others which was the only thing that gave him satisfaction. Thus, this became his reason for living and resolved to not die so long as there were people to kill. In the Forest of Death, he relished the chance at killing a trio of ninjas for disrespecting him and even wanted to kill more as he was not satisfied at that moment. He was noted to had suffered from a bloodlust and desire to kill people in a fight with this being tied to the Tailed-Beast within him. The desire for killing was noted to awaken the Tailed-Beast who wanted to slaughter anyone around him. In this time, Gaara was said to not understand the concept of someone being precious and important to another. He had no issue attempting to murder the recuperating Rock Lee and threatened to kill anyone that stood in his way.

Upon meeting Sasuke Uchiha, Gaara noted his talent and decided to keep an eye on him. It was over time that he came to notice his eyes as those of a person determined to get power no matter the cost. The sand ninja then determined that the two were similar but that Gaara gained a purpose by killing others. As such, he felt a need to kill Sasuke in order to prove his own worth of living and saw the Uchiha as his prey. After changing his ways, Gaara felt that Sasuke was capable of a similar redemption and looked to help the Uchiha when he had joined the Akatsuki.

When he first met Naruto Uzumaki, Gaara dismissed him as being unimportant to the point that he did not care to know his name. Upon learning more about Gaara, Naruto felt that the pair shared many similarities though had chosen opposite paths in life during their youth. Following his defeat at Naruto's hands, Gaara came to respect Uzumaki and felt that he owed a great debt to him. He later told his older brother that the experience made him value the bonds of friendship and love with others. This was to the point that he wanted to be more like Naruto in how he managed to make bonds with others and be loved by them in turn. This inspired Gaara to become the Kazekage and to be a hero to his people.

Gaara was the son of Rasa' (羅砂, Rasa) and Karura (加流羅, Karura) with the latter having died giving birth to him. For much of his life, Gaara had believed he was responsible for the death of his mother. He had an older sister in Temari (テマリ Temari) and an older brother in Kankuro (カンクロウ Kankurō) both of whom were terrified of Gaara in his youth. This was because he said that he cared little for family and even wanted to kill them. This changed after his defeat by Naruto whereupon he began to value true relationships and those that were given to him by his siblings.

By adulthood, he came to adopt a child in the troubled Shinki (シンキ, Shinki) after seeing the boy going through similar troubles as himself.

Powers and abilities

Gaara was a human who had the ability to control chakra allowing him perform a number of techniques and jutsu. Since infancy, he was trained to become the ultimate weapon that led to him becoming exceptionally strong even from childhood.

From a young age, he was shown as being highly talented where as a genin he showed skills normally associated with a jonin. This was shown in his participation in the Forest of Death where he managed to not only complete his assignment in record time but he did so without a single scratch on his body with this being a feat that not even the more higher ranking ninja instructors were able to accomplish.

Gaara had the ability to manipulate sand through his chakra and shape it to achieve a variety of feats with it being said to be technique only known to him. He had an subconscious control of the sand that moved to protect him from attack with him not even having to think about it. This created what was known as his ultimate defence as the sand moved to protect him from any attack. Such was his power that he was noted to be able to overcome Shikamaru Nara's shadow possession jutsu after a brief period of time. His strength only grew overtime where he was able to manipulate sand over an entire village and battle opponents that had the power of flight. In some cases, he was able to shape large quantities of sand to form claws limbs like those of Shukaku. In one case, he was able to create a ball of sand that he was able to remotely attack lower ranking enemies and easily knock them out through physical blows.

Among the techniques known to him included:

• Third Eye (第三の眼­, Daisan no Me) : Gaara was able to craft a floating eye from the sand which hovered in the air and was connected to his optic nerve using chakra. This allowed him to see whatever was within the field of the Eye of Sand which he could use as a surveillance method without being noticed by his foes.
• Concealed Sand Picture Cat (潜砂絵猫­, Sensa Kaibyō) : a contact-type (接触タイプ, Sesshoku Taipu) sensory technique whereby Gaara dispersed chakra-infused sand into a specific area and thus discern the presence of moving bodies that come into direct contact with it. This sensing sand could be spread across a wide terrain with even invisible foes being sensed or even float in the air allowing aerial foes to be detected.
• Shield of Sand (砂の盾­, Suna no Tate) : an Absolute Shield technique whereby the sand moved to automatically protect Gaara from harm. It change into a variety of shapes in order to protect Gaara such as a sand shell around him to protect him from harm.
• Armour of Sand (砂の鎧­, Suna no Yoroi) : the second layer of the Absolute Shield technique that protected him in case his Shield of Sand failed. This coated his entire body in a layer of sand akin to armour where it defended him from any attack that bypassed the first layer. Its use required a great deal of chakra and unlike the Shield of Sand it did not activate automatically with Gaara instead having to apply it. The Armour of Sand was not as resilient as the Shield though it protected him and any place it simply saw the section crumble away. Though a defensive armour, it also weighed him down and slowed his movements but in conjunction with the Shield of Sand it made him nearly invulnerable to harm.
• Desert Wave (砂漠波­, Sabakuha) : with this move, Gaara was able to create a wall of sand to either protect against attacks or blow an enemy's path.
• Desert: Hand (砂漠・叛奴­, Sabaku: Hando) : Gaara was able to create a hand or claw construct made of sand that he could use to either attack or capture a target.
• Desert Suspension (砂漠浮遊­, Sabaku Fuyū) : a technique whereby Gaara created a platform of sand underneath him that was able to be suspended in the air or fly across the field through his chakra.
• Sand Binding Coffin (砂縛柩­, Sabaku Kyū) : a technique whereby Gaara used sand to immobilise his targets and captured them where its malleable nature meant that his victims methods of defence or escape were rendered ineffective upon being trapped in it. At that point, Gaara had the choice of either releasing his foes, letting them suffocate in the sand or execute them via his Sand Waterfall Funeral technique.
• Sand Waterfall Funeral (砂瀑送葬­, Sabaku Sōsō) : a technique linked to the Sand Binding Coffin where after Gaara encased a person in sand then he could cause it contract by clenching his fist. This caused it to press on the target from all directions until they were pulverised and kill in the process with their remains being left in the sand which burst out and rained on the battlefield with the blood being absorbed by the sand itself. Gaara could control the strength of the technique either making the person's death slow and painful or quick and instantaneous.
• Sand Shuriken (砂手裏剣­, Suna Shuriken) : in his Tailed-Beast Mode, his body formed a sand based exterior with which Gaara could form shurikens of hard sand that he could throw at enemies.
• Wind Release: Infinite Sand Cloud — Great Breakthrough (風遁・無限砂塵　大突破­, Fūton: Mugen Sajin — Daitoppa) : another technique accomplished in his Tailed-Beast Mode where his sand covered body manifested numerous mouths that drew in air and then exhaled into a great blast of air mixed with sand that dealt damage to enemies within range of the attack.
• Sand Drizzle (砂時雨­, Suna Shigure) : he was able to create small lumps of sand high in the air that was able to fall on a target like rain. With his chakra, he was able control the sand lumps allowing him to guide the sand rain to strike his targets and even hit their blind sports. Gaara's level of control was to the point that he could strike from multiple directions at once thus forcing the enemy to focus on the sand rain in an attempt to avoid it. This served as a potent distraction for Gaara to conduct more hidden attacks.
  • Successive Shots Sand Drizzle (連弾砂時雨­, Rendan Suna Shigure) :
• Wind Release: Breakthrough (風遁・突破­, Fūton: Toppa) :
• Wind Release: Infinite Sand Cloud — Great Breakthrough (風遁・無限砂塵　大突破­, Fūton: Mugen Sajin — Daitoppa) :
• Quicksand Waterfall Flow (流砂瀑流­, Ryūsa Bakuryū) : using his personal sand, Gaara was able to grind up rock and minerals from underground to create a large supply of sand which he could bring to the surface. Upon surfacing, the earth itself shook as Gaara created a tsunami of sand that crashed against a target with this capable of flooding a landscape. Foes were struck multiple times by the sand wave as it spread across the battlefield thus altering the landscape dramatically to the point that it became a barren desert. With it, he could also perform additional attacks using the the sand in the area.
• Sand Waterfall Imperial Funeral (砂瀑大葬­, Sabaku Taisō) : a more powerful version of the Sand Coffin technique which he did by slamming his hands onto the sands to activate the move. With it, he could compress the sands and grind them on a target though on a far greater level when compared to his regular technique. The sheer volume of sand used in the jutsu flattered out the target and repeatedly squeezed a foe thus preventing them from moving and crushed them to death.
• Ultimately Hard Absolute Defence: Shield of Shukaku (最硬絶対防御・守鶴の盾­ (Saikō Zettai Bōgyo: Shukaku no Tate) : Gaara gathered the densest minerals from the soil which he mixed and compressed in size thus creating a protective shield in front of him that was shaped in the form of a miniature Shukaku.

On his back, he carried a large gourd that contained the sands that he manipulated for use in battle. During his younger years, those with refined senses could smell the scent of blood in the sand. The gourd led to some of his opponents believing that Gaara was limited by the sand present within the container. However, Gaara of the Sands was able to fuse his sands into the ground and ground material to create even more sand. Thus, he could produce an endless supply of sand from his environment for use in a fight.

It was noted that Gaara had large reserves of strong chakra. He was one of the Jinchūriki (人柱力, Literally meaning: Power of Human Sacrifice) who were humans that were tailed beasts sealed within them. Gaara came to be the host of Shukaku (守鶴, Shukaku) allowing him to manipulate sand. As a host to Shukaku, Gaara was able to manipulate sand and carried a supply of sand within a gourd that he carried on his back. This sand was infused with his own chakra allowing him to manipulate it quickly and in precise manners. When needed, he could draw on more sand from his surroundings or use his sand to break down minerals in the ground to create more of the material. However, drawing on external sources of sand required more chakra to control it. This power was tied to being jinchūriki but it remained in effect even after Shukaku was removed from his body.

Initially, the adversarial relationship he had with Shukaku meant that the two were always competing for control of his body. In times of bloodlust, Gaara sometimes fell to the Tailed-Beast's influence who then manifested through his body as a monstrous hybrid form. He could also perform the Feigning Sleep Technique (狸寝入りの術­, Tanuki Neiri no Jutsu) forcing himself to fall asleep and thus surrendering control to Shukaku who became the dominant personality in control of his body. This allowed the Tail Beast full access to his own chakra reserves and unleash them in a battle. For this technique, a sand replica of Shukaku was made with Gaara emerging from the replica's forehead where he as in a sleeping state. He could be attacked and woken up which would force Shukaku back in Gaara's mind thus undoing the jutsu,.

He later came to join the ranks of the Kage (影, literally meaning: Shadow) where he became the Fifth Kazekage (五代目風影, Godaime Kazekage) and thus the leader of the village of Sunagakure.

Notes

• Gaara was created by Masashi Kishimoto where he featured in the setting of the Naruto universe.
• The characters backstory became one of Kishimoto's favorite stories from Part I and he had to revise his illustrations in such chapters as he wanted readers to understand more of Gaara's mental state.

In other media

Television

• In Naruto, Gaara appeared in the setting of the anime television series where he was voiced by Japanese actor Akira Ishida whilst English actor Liam O'Brien voiced him in the dub.

Video games

• In Jump Force, Gaara appeared as a playable character in the setting of the fighting video game where he was voiced by actor Akira Ishida.

Appearances

• Naruto:
• Boruto: Naruto Next Generations:

External Links

• Naruto Wiki Entry
• Boruto Wiki Enry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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