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    Gaara

    Character » Gaara appears in 551 issues.

    A former host of the one-tailed beast, Shukaku. At the beginning of the story he fought only for himself, but after being defeated by Naruto he learned that fighting for others makes you stronger. He is now the 5th Kazekage, the leader of his village.

    Short summary describing this character.

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    The Birth of a Demon

    Before Gaara was born, a continuing series of budget cuts plagued the Land of Wind. This resulted in his father (The Fourth Kazekage) sealing the One-Tailed beast, Shukaku, inside of him, making him a jinchuuriki.

    The One-Tailed Beast, Shukaku.
    The One-Tailed Beast, Shukaku.

    The sacrifice that was made to seal Shukaku was in fact Gaara's mother. For years, Gaara's uncle Yashamaru told him of how his mother, Karura, loved him to the moment she died, when, in reality, she had cursed the Village Hidden in the Sand for her death. She named him "Gaara", meaning "A self loving carnage", thus saying that Gaara was a demon that only loved himself, fought for himself, and thought only of himself. In reality, Gaara only tried to help others as a child, but was shunned and hated, simply because of his powers and jinchūriki status.

    On one occasion he tried to get a group of little kids' ball for them, but rather than take it, they just left in terror. The rush and Gaara's want for them to take it back and keep playing caused him to accidentally use his sand to hold them to the ground, nearly crushing them. His uncle Yashamaru, one of the Sand's medical Ninja, realized what was happening and rushed to stop Gaara. In the midst of all this, Yashamaru received a minor cut on his finger and a wound to his forehead. Later that day, at home, Gaara is seen with a knife trying to slit his wrists. Yashamaru walks in on Gaara just as he does it, but is relieved to see that the sands of Shukaku stop the knife blade. He then tells Gaara that it pains him to see that kind of thing, even if the sands stop him from receiving harm. Gaara then asks what pain is like, and Yashamaru explains that it is an unbearable experience, much like what he feels when he is left out from everything that the other children do.

    Yashamaru and Gaara.
    Yashamaru and Gaara.

    He then explains that there are wounds that even he can't heal, and that these are wounds to the heart. Yashamaru explains that the only known cure to these wounds is love. He tells his opinions on Gaara's mother, how he thinks that every grain of sand is a symbol of her love for him. In reality, this was not so, because she cursed him as she died. Gaara then decides to show his newfound cure to the kids he accidentally harmed at the park earlier by giving them some wound ointment that his uncle gave him. When the door opened, the kid saw him and told him he was a monster and to get away from him. A disheartened Gaara trudged home silently until he wandered into a drunk. The drunk then told him to watch out and began threatening him... until realizing that this boy was in fact the jinchūriki. It was at this point that Gaara finally snapped. In a rage, Shukaku's sands wrapped around the middle-aged man, crushing him (since Gaara was still a child, the man's body was still in a recognizable form, as Gaara wasn't strong enough to crush them into a pulp until he was older). He continues his walk home, without any guilt on his face. His father sees him on his way home and they exchange glances. This would be the last even slightly friendly meeting between the two. As Gaara finally reaches the top of the building to his Apartment, a masked man began hurling his levitating kunai at the little Gaara. Gaara's fist closed on the man as did the sand, with bone-crushing force. Gaara then calmed down and went from his state of rage to nervousness as he noticed a bandage on the mans finger. He lifted up the mask to find that the assaulter was none other than the only person that Gaara thought had ever loved him, his dear uncle, Yashamaru. "Yashamaru? But... why?" asked the confused child, in a broken, sobbing voice.

    "Because, Gaara... I was ordered to." replied his half-dead uncle.

    "By who?" said the broken six- year old, already in tears.

    "Your father..." he said in an emotionless voice.

    "Oh..." he said, lightening up, barely. "So that means that... you had no choice, right?"

    "No, Gaara, you're wrong, I did have a choice." replied Yashamaru.

    Gaara with a dying Yashamaru.
    Gaara with a dying Yashamaru.

    "I said that I loved you.. but, deep down inside, I hated you, Gaara. I could never forgive you for taking my sister away from me. Your name, do you know what it means? 'Gaara' a demon that loves only itself, and fights for only itself. That is the name she gave you. Your mother... she hated you... as do I. Now, please, think about someone else, for once, you monster, and, please die."

    Yashamaru then opened up his shinobi vest to release the multiple paper bombs that he had concealed on himself the whole fight, and killed himself in the explosion. Gaara lay on his knees, angered, broken, and let out a scream that could have been heard throughout the Sand village, as the grains of Shukaku's sand all flew into one spot on Gaara's forehead above his left eye forming the kanji 愛(Ai)-love.

    After a few years, Gaara's father, the Fourth Kazekage, decided that the assassinations attempts should stop, and that Gaara could be a very useful tool for the Sand Village.

    The Chunin Exams

    His first mission (as the Sand village weapon) was to enter the Chūnin Exams with his brother and sister, Kankuro and Temari. During the first test of the Chūnin exams, a written test, the test was designed so that each student had to cheat in order to get the answers but do so so that the Chunin proctors wouldn't notice. Gaara used his third eye (a floating ball of sand) to cheat on another student's paper in order to get his answers.

    During the second exam, which saw Gaara and his team enter the Forest of Death, it is shown that his team was able to obtain their two scrolls with great ease and that because of Gaara's bloodlust, ended up killing more people than they had to, even though Kankurō was against it. Once they had reached the center tower,

    Gaara's opponent, Rock Lee.
    Gaara's opponent, Rock Lee.

    Anko Mitarashi noted that it was extremely unusual that Gaara and his team had made it through the whole Forest of Death without so much as a scrape or cut and in such record time, doing so faster than any team of Genin to ever have taken the test.

    During the Final exam preliminary round, Gaara was pitted up against Rock Lee. Due to Lee's amazing Taijutsu, strength, and speed, he was able to break through Gaara's Sand shield and eventually move so fast that Gaara couldn't even see him. This shocked both Gaara and his siblings, as this had been the first time he had been hurt from an enemy.

    Though things were in Lee's favor, Gaara was still able to win the battle because Lee was forced to use a move that could potentially kill him, coming up short as Gaara made his whole gourd into sand to help cushion him. Gaara ended up crushing Lee's left arm and leg, and attempted to kill him, which would have worked if Might Guy hadn't intervened stopped the sand from hitting him.

    The night that the Chūnin exams preliminaries were concluded, a Sound ninja, Dosu Kinuta, approached Gaara with the intent to kill. "Do you ever sleep?" asked Dosu. "No", replied Gaara "For fear of the demon inside of me being allowed to eat away at my personality even more". Dosu then explains that, since he'd seen Gaara's ability already in the Chūnin preliminaries (and that he'd be fighting him in the first round) that he'd attempt to just kill him in his sleep. After brandishing his weapon, Gaara killed Dosu without second-thought.

    Some time later, Gaara entered the hospital and intended to kill Lee as he rested, angered that he had failed the first time and by the care and appreciation Guy showed towards him. He was stopped by Naruto and Shikamaru, the only thing keeping him from killing both of them was Shikamaru's Shadow Possession jutsu. He then revealed a small bit of his past and his views on friends and family to pass the time while Shikamaru slowly lost chakra. Gaara revealed that he has a monster inside of him, and that made Naruto both nervous and frightened.

    When Shikamaru's jutsu lost its effect, Gaara tried to kill them both, only to be stopped by Guy yet again.Guy tells him to save his energy for the finals, and everyone leaves, but before Gaara said, "If you ever get in my way again. I'll kill you."

    After the month-long wait for the Chūnin Exams finals, the contenders gathered for the fight. Due to the fact that Dosu Kinuta was not there, Gaara was paired up with Sasuke Uchiha instead, who was also a no-show until right before they were about to announce him disqualified.

    Before the Final round, Sasuke would have all too easily been defeated by Gaara and his Sand shield,

    Gaara facing Sasuke.
    Gaara facing Sasuke.

    but, with his new-found speed and strength, along with his powerful new jutsu - Chidori (Lightning Blade), he was able to put up a very good fight against Gaara. As Sasuke's Chidori pierced through Gaara's sand, he became hysterical as this had been the first time he had ever seen or felt his own blood. This had happened as Gaara was starting to undergo Tailed Beast transformation, but this injury caused him to revert back. In a short matter of time, Orochimaru, his fellow Sound ninja, and a contingency of Sand village ninja began an attack on Konohagakure.

    Gaara's sensei, Baki, chastises Gaara for starting his transformation early and orders him into the surrounding forest to recover, with Temari and Kankuro. Sasuke chose to follow them and prevent a full transformation from happening, as well as finish his match round. After a brief duel which saw Sasuke injure Gaara some more and Gaara partially transform some more, Sasuke was defeated by Gaara's half demon form and lay on a tree branch, helpless. Naruto soon appeared alongside Sakura Haruno to save Sasuke. When Saskura jumped in front of Sasuke to save him from Gaara's deadly charge, he was reminded of Yashamaru and Guy, bringing a throbbing pain to his head and angering him further. He pushed Sakura aside, sealing her onto the side of a tree with constricting sand that grew tighter as time passed, giving Naruto even more reason to fight his best.

    Naruto was scared of Gaara at first, which allowed him to launch and hit Naruto with multiple Sand shuriken attacks. Eventually, Naruto summoned the courage to fight with all his might, and started off with a barrage of all of his Shadow Clones until Gaara used his Sand Shuriken technique to counter. Eventually, Gaara used his Play-Possum jutsu, allowing him to summon the full sized Shukaku demon, and planned to get rid of Naruto quickly with a Sand Coffin attack. The only thing that saved Naruto was his last minute breakthrough with the Nine-Tailed spirit's chakra, allowing him to summon the chief toad Gamabunta.

    The battle escalated into a large scale fight with massive "bullet" attacks from both of the large fighters. Naruto used a Transformation jutsu to turn Gamabunta into the Demon fox, which allowed for the Chief toad to grab a hold of Shukaku, leaving the sleeping Gaara wide open for Naruto's attack, waking him up and releasing the seal of Shukaku's complete possession.

    Gaara finishing his fight with Naruto.
    Gaara finishing his fight with Naruto.

    Naruto then rushes straight at Gaara, only to be surrounded by sand just as he gets within striking range. Seeing no other way, Narutoheadbutts Gaara with all of his strength, and, seeing as both were all out of chakra, caused both huge fighting entities (Gamabunta and Shukaku) to disappear, thus sending both fighters colliding into the trees. Both warriors then leaped at each other for the final blow, with Naruto landing his punch straight into Gaara's face. The two shinobi both fell onto the ground, as Sasuke catches the unconscious Sakura in mid-air. Naruto then tries to talk to Gaara and ask him why he acts the way he does.

    Gaara yells at him and tells him not to come any closer, but Naruto did not heed his words and continues to crawl forward inch by inch with only his chin. Naruto then tells Gaara how much alike they really are, and how he made it out of the darkness. Gaara then learns that fighting for others isn't a weakness, but can be a person's greatest strength.

    Gaara's siblings then come to rescue him, and, to their surprise, he tells them that he is sorry for what he'd done and then proceeds to ask them for forgiveness. Kankuro and Temari tell him that they would, and that it was fine.

    Sasuke Retrieval

    Gaara's special sand shield.
    Gaara's special sand shield.

    Gaara's next appearance is during the battle against Kimimaro. He appears right at the last second to save Lee. Gaara decides to take the lead with Lee acting as backup, and appears to have the upper hand early on, easily encompassing Kimimaro with his sand and crushing him. However, due to Kimimaro's special bones, he was able to survive both a regular Sand Coffin as well as complete burial by a sand tsunami. Kimimaro then activated his Curse Mark V2 state, and the fight started to shift, with Gaara having to resort to drastic measures, intending to bury him a few hundred feet underground with enough pressure to prevent him from moving an inch. Even this proved futile in stopping Kimimaro, though, as he sent hundreds of bone spikes through the ground and forced Gaara to take flight atop his sand with Lee to avoid being pierced. Kimimaro then traveled through one of his bones and attempted to attack Gaara and Lee from behind, but at that very moment succumbed to his illness and died. Gaara then helped Lee return to Konoha, and then made his way back to his own village.

    Kazekage

    Two years later, Gaara is now the Fifth Kazekage of Sunagakure, and has finally gained complete control over the demon within him. At the same time, however, the criminal organization known as the Akatsuki started searching for jinchuuriki in order to steal their Tailed Beasts. Deidara and Sasori make their way to the Sand village and gain easy access thanks to Sasori using a unique technique against a fellow Sand ninja, Yura, who had been ordered to kill every member stationed on lookout duty. Deidara then creates a large bird from his molding clay and uses it to scout the lookouts on the village's building tops, taking them out and landing atop one of them. Unfortunately, Gaara was right there waiting for him, telling him that no such birds as the one Deidara was riding existed in the desert and that Gaara knew something was up.

    Taking flight against Deidara.
    Taking flight against Deidara.

    Gaara raised both of his arms over his head, and the entire desert raised itself behind him. Deidara was left to simply stare in awe as it surrounded Gaara in an unbreakable protective shield. Gaara continuously sent his sand, in the visage of Shukaku's limbs, at Deidara, and used his own personal sand to block the Akatsuki's counter attacks. Deidara barely had a way out at all, and soons had his arm snagged, and then crushed with unimaginable force. His options were growing thin, as Gaara stared at him with his cold, expressionless face. He was very open in his attempts to kill Deidara, and sent the sand flying at him every second or so, and refused to give Deidara a second's rest.

    However, Deidara had a plan, and it would require that Gaara choose between himself and the village. It was then that Deidara sent some of his specialized clay birds to exploit Gaara's small personal shield. Deidara dropped one of his largest pieces on the village, and when Gaara used the local sand to defend against it, that's when Deidara sprung his trap: he had sent two small birds around to appear right in front of Gaara, and when he activated his personal shield to defend against it, small spiders that were inside his small shield went off, put there when Deidara had his arm crushed by the sand earlier. As the last dregs of energy were escaping Gaara, he used the last but of it to drop the massive amounts of sand he had brought into the village back outside, all in order to protect his villagers. Finally succumbing to his injuries, Gaara fell right into the clutches of Deidara.

    Deidara and Sasori then take Gaara to their hideout, where the Akatsuki begin the extraction of Shukaku from Gaara. The extraction takes three days and three nights, and during this time Team Guy and Team Kakashi are sent to rescue Gaara, but arrive a day too late. Having Shukaku forcibly drawn from him, Gaara died but after the two Konoha teams defeat their Akatsuki opponents, Granny Chiyo uses a special medical technique that allows her to transfer her life force into a dead body. She originally planned to use this technique on Sasori should he die in battle, but saw it more fit to redeem herself after being the one who sealed Shukaku in Gaara in the first place. By this time, a large group of Sand village ninja had arrived to offer their support and condolences. When Chiyo didn't have enough chakra after her battle with Sasori, Naruto lent her some of his to finish the jutsu. In the end, she traded her life for Gaara's. When Gaara awoke, he found out once and for all that he is not alone in this world, and that many people really care about him. Upon return to the Sand village, Gaara thanked Naruto and his team and wished them good luck on their journey home.

    Kage Summit

    After rogue ninja Sasuke Uchiha attacked and kidnapped the Land of Cloud's jinchuuriki Killer Bee, the Kage leaders of the five great nations decided to call for a Kage Summit to plan what to do about the Akatsuki. Gaara headed for the Land of Iron with his siblings as his bodyguards and advisers. Once he and the other Kage leaders gathered, a heated discussion ensued about the Akatsuki and its leader, the once-thought-dead Madara Uchiha, and what should be done with them. An agreement was reached that the five great nations should join as one allied force, but another debate started as to who would lead this new army. Gaara was shot down early for being too young and inexperienced, but when everything started appearing as if Danzo Shimura, the stand-in Sixth Hokage, would be the leader of this new allied shinobi force, Akatsuki member Zetsu broke through the middle of the floor and announced that Sasuke had infiltrated the building and was somewhere inside.

    Gaara and his siblings.
    Gaara and his siblings.

    The Raikage flies into a rage and kills the Zetsu, much to the annoyance of the other Kage, then goes after the Uchiha. By the time Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari arrive on the floor beneath them, the Raikage was already preparing to finish off Sasuke. Gaara then used his sand to stop this from happening so that he could speak with Sasuke. Gaara tells him it's not too late to reject the darkness and seek a life in the light, but Sasuke simply responds that he only sees the darkness now. He then attacks Gaara and not before long, the Raikage's bodyguards, Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara all choose to simply take out Sasuke instead. At this time, however, Sasuke has awakened his second version of Susanoo and easily defends against the combined attacks. He then causes the area they're in to cave in bu destroying the pillars supporting the ceiling, forcing Gaara to cover himself, Kankurō, Temari, and the Cloud ninja with his sand.

    By the time he gets back to the meeting room, Tobi is there with Sasuke in hand, and proclaims himself Madara Uchiha. He then asks the assembled Kages to surrender the Eight and Nine Tailed Beasts to prevent unnecessary bloodshed, but Gaara and the others quickly refuse. Tobi tells them they all made a big mistake and declares the start of the Fourth Ninja World War against the Kage. In light of this declaration of war, Gaara and the other Kage band together to form the first ever Allied Shinobi Forces, this time lead by the Raikage.

    Fourth Shinobi War

    Gaara addressing the Allied Shinobi army.
    Gaara addressing the Allied Shinobi army.

    The ninja world was thrown in a state of emergency, and Gaara was elected the general of the whole Allied Shinobi army. After preparations were completed and the army was massed in Kumogakure, Gaara stood with the other Division leaders as they prepared to embark towards the battlefield. Gaara noticed that two ninja from different villages were arguing and that they were beginning to fight, so he separated them with his sand and took this opportunity to talk to the gathered ninja about their new teammates and allies. He gave this speech:

    "Three times now, we've fought world wars for our own nations, our own villages. We've hurt one another. We've hated one another. That hatred bred a lust for power, and that lust for power created me. I was a jinchuuriki, the embodiment of hatred. And I hated this world, and all the people in it. I wanted to destroy it with my own hands. The exact same thing Akatsuki is trying to do today. But one man, one ninja from the Hidden Leaf stopped me. I was his enemy, yet he wept for me! I hurt him, yet he called me his friend! He saved me! My enemy, my fellow jinchuuriki. He suffered the same pain as me, yet bore no ill will! There are no enemies here, because we've all suffered at Akatsuki's hand! So there is no Sand, no Stone, no Leaf, no Mist, and no Cloud! There are only 'Shinobi'! And if you still hold a grudge against the Sand, then when this war is over, come and take my head instead! Our enemies are after the friend who saved my life! If they take him, if we hand him over, our world is finished! I want to protect him, and I want to protect our world! But I'm too young to protect it all on my own! All of you, lend me your aid! Everyone who's with me, let's go!!"

    With his troops now encouraged and under control, Gaara and the other Division leaders take their respective companies out towards the battlefield to engage the enemy forces. Gaara heads off with Darui and his division before splitting up and heading towards a desert battlefield. Once there, he and the Third Tsuchikage run into the revived Third Raikage, the Second Tsuchikage, the Second Mizukage, and Gaara's own father. After exclaiming his surprise that Gaara now has friends, Gaara tells his father that he doesn't hate him anymore and actually understands what he was trying to do by killing him when he was young. Gaara then tells his father that as Kazekage now, he has a duty to defeat any enemies of his village, which now includes his father, then starts the fight by launching his sand at him. Both his and his father's sand collides into each other high in the air, then Gaara used the opportunity to shower sand drops on the other revived ninja, trying to immobilize their movements. Gaara then uses his sand to create a person-like avatar of his mother to surround the enemies, garnering notice from his father that no matter where he goes, his mother would always be there to protect him.

    Gaara being protected by his mother.
    Gaara being protected by his mother.

    He then goes on to tell Gaara that everything he did as a father was a failure and that he ordered Yashamaru to lie to Gaara all those years ago. Devastated, Gaara asked him why, to which his father said he needed to know if Shukaku could still go berserk and lose control for the sake of the village. Gaara then learns that his mother truly did love him and thanks his father for giving him medicine to heal the wound of his heart. Crying both tears of sadness and joy, Gaara defeats his father and seals him up in a visage of his mother hugging him.

    Despite the touching reunion and departure, Gaara didn't have any time to collect himself, as soon the Third Raikage and Second Mizukage charged towards the shinobi ranks behind Gaara.

    Powers and Abilities

    Gaara has the power to control sand. He can summon it anytime he wants and it well does so. He can summon a lot of sand, enough sand to shield or cover a person. If anytime Gaara runs out of sand he can break down the ground to have lots more sand. He can control dry sand, if he uses regular sand it makes him tire very easily because it takes more chakra. That’s why he always keeps a calabash looking gourd with him, that’s from the sand on the back of him. The sand is already combined with Gaara's chakra; it makes it faster and stronger because it is easier to control.

    Gaara's sand shield.
    Gaara's sand shield.

    When Gaara fights, he is very slow and he is always in one spot, he hardly even uses taijutsu. One of his first moves he learned was the Desert Coffin. Gaara uses the sand to cover the rival's whole body then drowns the rival in it making the rival suffocate. After this blow he does a move called Sand Burial then forcefully crushes the rival very hard into the ground.

    Another time in battle if the rival was to ever attack Gaara and uses the sand to block every attack. Unless the rival has great speed and is too fast for the sand to block then he will get hit, just like in the third chūnin exam when Rock Lee was fighting Gaara he was fast to get an hit but Gaara's sand was too strong. Gaara can put a forcefield made of sand around himself to protect himself.

    Gaara can also make sand replicas of himself called Sand Clone. Gaara can use this clone for distraction and battle. He can also summon sand for making himself a platform for flying; he can also summon a sand eyeball for spying.

    He also has a demon inside of him called Shukaku, making himself have more power. Shukaku takes over Gaara's body more and more when after the transformation for it. But, he grows more and more destructive as it grows. With the demon he obtains more powers. He can now use "Sand Shurikan" and throw shurikans made out of sand. "Wind Style: Sandstorm Devastation" is another jutsu he obtains. He can throw up sand everywhere which is dangerous to the rival and the land.

    Gaara can summon him any time he wants if he uses the jutsu called "Play Possum Jutsu". It's a jutsu that makes Gaara to fall asleep giving Shukaku a chance to take over. When Gaara wakes up he gets control back over his body.

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