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Gaara

Name: (English) Gaara of the Desert (Japanese) Gaara of Sand (Sand waterfall)

Birthday: January 19

Age: 12-13 in part 1, 15 in part 2

Hair: Red

Eyes: Blue (aquamarine)

Height: 4' 11"

Weight: 86lbs

Blood Type: AB

Family: Fourth Kazekage (father, deceased), Karura (mother, deceased), Temari (sister - older), Kankuro (brother - older), Yashamaru (uncle, deceased)

Status: Genin (at introduction) by second arc 5th Kazegage

Quote: Love only yourself, fight only for yourself

Anime: Naruto

Voice: (English) Liam O'Brien (Japanese) Akira Ishisa

History and Personality: 

Background - Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Gaara is the son of the Fourth Kazekage (leader of Sunagakure - the Village Hidden in the Sand, or simply the Hidden Sand) and the brother of Temari and Kankuro, his older siblings. As a child, the One-Tailed Shukaku was sealed within Gaara during birth on the order of his father. This was done with a possession jutsu by one of Sunagakure's elders, a woman named Chiyo. Because a sacrifice was needed, Gaara's mother, Karura, was used. Before she died, Karura cursed Sunagakure, hoping Gaara would avenge her death.

The reason Gaara's own father inflicted such a fate on him (becoming a demon vessel) was to give the village power. The country's feudal lord was slowly weakening the village, minimizing their ability to defend themselves. The feudal lord even began offering jobs to other hidden villages rather than his own. Seeing what was happening to his village, the Fourth Kazekage realized that their ninja would have to be of much higher quality than ordinary ninja to compete, and Gaara was to be their ultimate weapon.

Gaara was trained by his father, but raised mainly by his caring Uncle Yashamaru. Being host to Shukaku gave Gaara almost instinctive control over sand. In addition, the sand itself guarded him, making Gaara a near-impossible person to touch. For six years, everyone in the village feared Gaara, with the exception of Yashamaru. For a time, it seemed as if Yashamaru was the only person who cared for Gaara (not unlike the relationship between Naruto and Iruka, though their relationship was more successful). Gaara's attempts to fit in often led to disaster, leading his father to begin ordering assassination attempts. Gaara had become, in the Kazekage's eyes, a failed experiment and too much of a threat to the other villagers to be allowed to live. Eventually, after quite a few failed attempts, the Kazekage ordered Yashamaru to kill him. Gaara mortally wounded the assassin before he knew it was Yashamaru. Saddened by the unfortunate incident, Gaara tried to apologize and ran next to Yashamaru. Yashamaru then revealed to Gaara that he never loved him. In fact, despite trying to love him, Yashamaru always resented Gaara for taking the life of his beloved sister, who was Gaara's mother. Yashamaru also revealed the source of Gaara's name(Ware wo ai suru shura, "a self-loving carnage"). Before Yashamaru died, he opened his vest to reveal explosive notes, and gave his final words: "Please die." Gaara survived yet again, protected by the sand.

According to Yashamaru, Gaara's mother had resented the village for using her and her son as a sacrifice and a weapon, respectively, and cursed Gaara for putting her in so much pain. After realizing that nobody loved him, Gaara used his sand to create the kanji on his forehead (愛, "love") as a symbol of a "demon loving only himself." This is the only time where his sand shield doesn't prevent injury. For the next six years, Gaara would be the victim of almost constant assassination attempts, all ordered by his father.

His entire village hated and feared him for the awful power of the spirit sealed within his body; his own father, before later realizing that Gaara could be an effective tool, wanted him dead. As a result, Gaara became emotionally withdrawn, all but silent, and consumed with a bitter loathing for everyone but himself. He learned to find pleasure and eventually a reason to live in annihilating the numerous assassins sent to kill him – and by extension, anyone who threatened his existence. His insomnia, forced upon him by the fact that the demon inside him would eat away at his personality if he were to fall asleep, made Gaara further unstable.

Gaara's childhood is somewhat similar to Naruto's, albeit more unfortunate due to his lack of anyone to call a friend. Both were lonely and the desired to be liked, loved and acknowledged as an individual, free of others' prejudices — they are themselves, not the demons they were forced to "contain" — and both were driven into a desperate state. While Naruto consequently developed the misconception that pranks and mischief would bring him the attention (more precisely: recognition) he sought, Gaara came to the conclusion that he could preserve and confirm his own existence by killing any and all who challenged it, securing an extreme form of existentialism as his key personality trait. In the absence of others' acknowledgment, he could compensate by valuing only himself to the exclusion of everyone else. Furthermore, while Naruto eventually had Iruka and Team 7 to acknowledge him, Gaara never had anyone to bond with and did not understand the concept of fighting for anything other than himself until his confrontation with Naruto.

Beforehand, both boys tried to gain positive attention by being cheerful (in Naruto's case, overly so), kind, and caring, and both had little success. On one occasion, Gaara used his powers to retrieve a ball for a group of children playing nearby and injured them unintentionally with sand when they ran away from him in fear. Later, Gaara brought medicated ointment to the house of the girl whose wounds were the worst, but she slammed the door in his face, calling him a monster.

Gaara and the Shukaku - As the host of Shukaku, Gaara has the ability to manipulate sand at will. The sand also protects him from harm automatically, regardless of his will. Gaara is never seen using taijutsu in the series, and rarely moves during any of his battles. This, however, does not mean he is incapable of it, though he only physically attacks someone at one point throughout the entire series. In that instance, he smacks Temari away from him as she tries to convince him to run. Though a minimal exhibition of skill, he does hit her with an inhuman amount of strength. The extreme strength may have been because the Shukaku was rising within him at the time.

Gaara always carries a gourd on his back filled with an abundant amount of sand. The sand is soaked in the blood of those he has killed and is further enhanced with his chakra. The gourd itself is also made from that sand. Although Gaara can control any sand, and can even make sand himself by using his sand to break apart minerals in the ground, his personal sand is much easier to control. With this sand, not only does Gaara always have his own sand supply, but his attacks also increase in both speed and power.

Gaara's jutsu are all sand-based and, although mostly used for simple offense and defense, can be used for a variety of purposes, including floating in the air (Desert Suspension) and spying (Third Eye). While fighting, Gaara often uses a combination of Desert Coffin followed by Desert Funeral to capture and subsequently kill his opponents. Although most of his attacks are small-scale, Gaara can wreak havoc with his Quicksand in the Style of a Waterfall followed by Desert Imperial Funeral. Gaara could potentially kill an entire army single-handedly with this attack, as it is capable of leveling an entire forest.

Gaara's main defense is his Shield of Sand. This shield protects Gaara from all harm, even against his will, but can still be defeated with enough speed and strength (as demonstrated first by Rock Lee and again by Sasuke Uchiha). If his Shield of Sand fails, Gaara still has his Armor of Sand. This is a layer of highly compacted sand that is wrapped around Gaara's body. Although it gives Gaara an almost ultimate defense, it takes a large toll on Gaara's chakra and his stamina. Instead of using this, Gaara can create a (nearly) impenetrable sphere of sand for an alternative absolute defense, providing a stronger defense that uses less chakra, but confines Gaara to the location of the sphere.

In desperate situations, Gaara can actually take on the form of the Shukaku, making him many times more powerful than he already is. He does this by layering sand on his body to take the shape of Shukaku. His sphere of sand is used in conjunction with this so he won't be interrupted. Shukaku's personality grows more dominant during this transformation, making Gaara even more homicidal than normal. The process seems to take quite a while, even without interruption. Once finished, Gaara assumes a human-sized version of Shukaku's form. Gaara can also create a life-sized version of Shukaku if his human-sized form doesn't work. He remains connected to the Shukaku copy, with his entire lower body sunken into its forehead. Strangely, this version of Shukaku can be created almost instantly, despite being of slightly greater size than Gamabunta. Temari describes it as Gaara's perfect form. Finally, Gaara can unleash the spirit of Shukaku through his Feigning Sleep Technique, allowing the copy to operate at its full potential. Shukaku's body with its spirit dominant is shown to be extremely powerful, and it took the combined effort of Gamabunta and Naruto to get close to Shukaku and wake Gaara, thus suppressing Shukaku's spirit once more.

Part I

Chunin Exam arc - Gaara, as well as Kankuro and Temari, are introduced at the beginning of the Chunin exam arc, when Sasuke is about to get into a fight with Kankuro for bullying Konohamaru and Naruto. Gaara suddenly appears hanging upside down on a tree, telling Kankuro to stop. Kankuro is instantly cowed at the sight of his little brother. Naruto, Sakura, and Temari seem visibly intimidated and Sasuke himself is amazed, comparing Gaara's speed and stealth to Kakashi's. Later, during the written segment of the exam, Gaara uses his Third Eye to see the test answers of another genin.

 

During the Forest of Death segment of the Chunin exam, Gaara's team reaches the final destination first, beating the previous record by an extremely large margin (over 4 hours). Anko is also astonished to see through video surveilance that Gaara made it through the Forest of Death without getting so much as dust on his clothes, a feat that would be very difficult even for an experienced ninja. Gaara's thirst for blood (no doubt from Shukaku's influence) is also demonstrated for the first time as he kills the Rain ninja Shigure, who had attacked Gaara to no avail. This was the first instance shown of Gaara's sand shield protecting him without any action on his part. Shigure was followed quickly by his teammates Baiu and Midare, despite their pleas for mercy and handing over their scroll.

In the preliminary matches, Gaara is matched against Rock Lee. This is the first time that Gaara has ever been hurt (although he later revealed that he had his sand armor on the whole time, so he didn't feel anything). Rock Lee uses his Reverse Lotus to break through Gaara's defenses at the cost of his own body. Gaara's defenses then nullify all of Lee's powerful attacks, with the exception of Lee's final attack utilizing five of the eight chakra gates. It is only Gaara's gourd that allows him to avoid a fatal blow. In the end, a prone Gaara uses his sand to crush Lee's arm and leg, critically injuring him. He would have killed Lee, were it not for Might Guy stepping in to protect his student. When Gaara asks why Guy interfered, Guy replied, "He's my student, and he's precious to me." While Gaara glares at Guy, Baki thinks to himself: "...those words are beyond the scope of Gaara's understanding...". Gaara blows his sand armor off saying, "Forget it..." and walks away as he is declared the winner.

In the final round matches, Gaara was to play a major part in the attack on Konohagakure, which was engineered by Orochimaru. Gaara was matched up against Sasuke Uchiha, possibly another manipulation by Orochimaru (then impersonating the Kazekage), to force Sasuke to activate his curse seal. The plan was to release Shukaku inside Konoha simultaneously with Orochimaru's giant snakes spearheading an attack from outside. Gaara, however, was injured before he could release Shukaku. While Gaara was encased in his armor of sand, Sasuke took the opportunity to use Chidori, punching through Gaara's armor and hitting him. This was the first time Gaara had ever bled in his life.

Following a long chase through a forest between Sasuke and the rest of Team 7 (minus Kakashi), Gaara eventually begins calling upon Shukaku. Sasuke is the first to fight Gaara, but proves to be no match for him, even with the help of his curse seal. In the end, it is Naruto who defeats Gaara, even after Gaara assumes his ultimate form with the Shukaku's spirit unleashed. Naruto puzzled Gaara by fighting for those he cared about, which Gaara simply couldn't understand. Naruto's undying devotion to his friends also surprised Gaara, as Naruto was literally crawling inch by inch to make sure that Gaara was defeated, until Sasuke told him he could stop when the situation was under control. While they were both on the ground, Gaara realized that Naruto's strength came from the desire to protect his friends. When Gaara's siblings arrived, he told them not to fight anymore, and they left. As Gaara and his siblings fled, Gaara openly apologized, which surprised and confused them. Thanks to Naruto's influence, the defeat proved to be a major turning point for Gaara.

Sasuke Retrieval arc - Gaara later appeared as an ally after the Fifth Hokage asked them to assist the team sent to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke. Gaara arrived in time to rescue Rock Lee from Kimimaro Kaguya, taking over the battle due to the clear difference in ability between Lee and Kimimaro.

 

Gaara's arrival also marks the first glimpse of his new (or reformed) personality, as his facial expression almost reveals a certain concern for Rock Lee's well being. He repeatedly stops Lee from continuing the fight, insisting that he'll handle it alone. When questioned by Lee about his motivation for assisting Konoha, Gaara remarked that he owed a big debt to Konoha (in reference to Naruto changing his outlook on life). Temari and Kankuro, on the other hand, were simply following orders.

Gaara demonstrates an increased array of abilities that he had developed since the Chunin Exam. The first is Sand Drizzle, a cloud of sand in the sky that rains down on his target, which he uses in combination with sand-foot-binding to trap the agile Kimimaro for his Desert Funeral. The second is Quicksand in the Style of a Waterfall, a giant 40-foot tall wave of sand, which he uses shortly after Kimimaro clambers out of the first Desert Funeral relatively unscathed. Having flooded the entire area with sand, Gaara attempts to finish his opponent with a bigger version of his Desert Funeral, Desert Imperial Funeral, crushing with much more colossal force. His final new jutsu is his Last Absolute Defense: Shield of Shukaku, which creates a giant, round, sand figure of the raccoon-dog sealed inside of him (of course, the figure looks very different from the Shukaku seen at the Chunin Exam, more akin to a painted toy of the demon). As well as this, he uses an unnamed jutsu to bury Kimimaro 200 metres underground.

Although Gaara held his ground against Kimimaro for a while, Kimimaro almost killed Gaara with Dance of the Seedling Fern. The attack involved jumping out of his forest of bones for a sneak attack on Gaara's blind spot, with no chance of his sand shield protecting him (it took the absolute defense to stop that attack previously). Before he could kill Gaara, however, Kimimaro died from his terminal disease. Gaara comments on Kimimaro's dedication to Orochimaru afterwards, saying that loneliness is more powerful than the good or evilness of the people anyone cares about. No one can defeat loneliness, no matter how strong they are.

Naruto the Movie 2 -  In an appearance sometime before the timeskip, Gaara helps defend the Hidden Sand Village from an onslaught of mysterious knights, killing many of them with his sand until a ship launches projectiles at the location and forces them to retreat. During his entrance, his elder brother, Kankuro, even made a friendly comment about him being late. This shows a change in his character, as he no longer thinks for only himself and defended his own village. The ninjas of the Sand also treated him with respect, answering his orders without fear and taking it naturally. His brother is also closer to him, enough that he would be brave enough to make such a joke.

Later, in one of the wrecks of the invading ships, he fights one of Haido's henchmen that utilized electricity to fight. She was forced to transform into a Golem-like state, allowing her to take the upper hand by becoming virtually immune to Gaara's sand. He eventually neutralizes her electricity with Thunder God of Sand, which creates many lightning rods out of sand, and then kills her with Desert Imperial Funeral. He later helps save some people, and he is last seen looking out into the horizon.

Part II

New personality - When Naruto Uzumaki returned to Konoha after his two-and-a-half year training under Jiraiya, he was shocked to find that Gaara had become the Fifth Kazekage. To his credit as a character, he no longer acts hostile when in the presence of others. He is friendly towards his siblings, and he values other people's lives over his own. Gaara has become much more open, and he is willing to talk to others, especially his brother Kankuro, about his problems and dreams. He also seems to have many admirers now, especially among the younger females of the village, where he was once shunned.

Rescue Gaara arc - Gaara is soon targeted by Akatsuki, who sought the demon within him. Though Gaara is able to fend off one of their agents, Deidara, rather effectively (actually crushing one of Deidara's arms during the battle), Deidara manages to capture Gaara by threatening to destroy Gaara's village with a massive clay bomb (his specialty). This allowed Deidara to mix a clay bomb with Gaara's sand without Gaara noticing, knocking Gaara unconscious once it went off.

Though Naruto and many others did their best to save Gaara, they did not arrive in time to stop Akatsuki's extraction of Shukaku. This resulted in Gaara's death, but Chiyo resurrected Gaara with her life-restoring technique in combination with Naruto's chakra, bringing Gaara back to life at the cost of her own. With everyone gathered in concern with him, this is the first time Gaara truly felt loved.

Before Naruto left to go back home, he tries to say goodbye, but admits that it's not something he's good at. Gaara uses some sand to drag Naruto's hand up, and the two finally shook hands, symbolizing Gaara and Naruto's friendship and Gaara's new characteristics. Even after losing Shukaku, Gaara can still control sand, but it is unknown how his abilities have been affected.

Relationships: In his youth Gaara cared for his uncle, who was responsible for him and with whom he lived, but his uncle did not love him and tried to kill him.

Gaara is teamed with his older siblings, but has no real affection for them.  On numerous occasions throughout the series the two fear that Gaara will kill them.

After the time gap Gaara begins to care for others, allowing him to develop a closer relationship with his siblings, especially Kankuro.  He also seems to develop a friendship of sorts with Naruto.

Techniques:

Armor of Sand

This jutsu uses chakra to cover the user with a thin, but very dense, layer of protective sand. While a good defense, it puts an unignorable burden on the user's stamina, both through chakra absorption and the fact that the sand makes them heavier and hampers their movement.

Desert Coffin

This jutsu uses sand to grab the opponent and cover their entire body. This skill is primarily utilized for rendering an opponent immobile, but can kill the opponent by suffocation or by being followed with the Desert Funeral, which crushes them.

It should be noted that Gaara crushed Rock Lee's left arm and leg with just Desert Coffin during their battle in the Chunin Exams, perhaps implying that Desert Coffin itself has its own crushing effect. Alternatively, he may simply have forgotten to announce the follow-up attack.

Desert Funeral

After wrapping an opponent with sand, Gaara will cause the sand to implode and crush whatever is within. When used to kill a person, the death is so quick that there isn't even time to feel pain. The pressure also produces a sizable fountain of blood. Gaara can control the pressure used in the attack, which allows him to merely break bones in place of killing his opponent.

Desert Imperial Funeral

Following the Quicksand in the Style of a Waterfall, Gaara slams both hands palm down into the sand and emits powerful shockwaves that compact and greatly damage anything within the sand-covered area. Considering that the previous jutsu levels an entire forest, this is a considerably large area.

Desert Prison

This jutsu uses sand to imprison the victim.

Desert Suspension

Gaara is able to float in the air on the sand using the sand that he carries on his back.
 

Forced Sleep Technique

Gaara forces a fake sleep upon himself so that he may release Shukaku's spirit from within him.
 

Last Absolute Defense: Shield of Shukaku

Using sand, Gaara creates a sculpture of Shukaku that's roughly twice his size. The sculpture is created with extreme pressure and the hardest minerals in the area, making it virtually indestructible. Although this technique requires a lot of chakra, it does provide for a very powerful defense. The main drawback, however, is that the sculpture doesn't move, so Gaara's opponent could just walk around it. Gaara has to make sure his opponent either can't or won't move. The sculpture doesn't closely resemble the Shukaku, but rather a toy-like replica of the beast.

Prison Sand Burial

Using this jutsu, Gaara can quickly loosen the ground below his opponent and cause them sink beneath hundreds of meters of sand. It's akin to falling into quicksand, but much faster. Gaara then compresses the sand to such an extent that his opponent is unable to even move a finger.

Quicksand in the Style of a Waterfall

This technique moves sand in the likeness of an ocean wave towards the enemy, covering and "drowning" them in an ocean of sand. This appears to be the only one of Gaara's moves that requires hand seals, and in practice is virtually unavoidable. Once completed, it can cover an entire forest in sand.

Sand Clone

This jutsu creates a clone of Gaara out of sand. Perhaps the most versatile of all clones, this variant does not disperse when hit. Instead, it simply transforms the attacked area back into sand in order to snag and attack the opponent. Major damage must be caused to actually disperse the clone. Otherwise, it can simply reform.

Sand Drizzle

This jutsu is an alternative to the Desert Coffin; it gathers sand in the air and then targets the opponent from above, covering them in a rain of sand.

Sand Shuriken

Once Gaara begins transforming into Shukaku, he can throw shuriken made from sand. Unlike regular shuriken, these merely cause blunt trauma, not actual wounds. They are thrown much faster than regular shuriken, however, so the blunt trauma caused can be considerable.

Shield of Sand

Regardless of his own will, this jutsu automatically surrounds and protects Gaara from incoming attacks, even self-inflicted ones. Capable of withstanding considerably strong attacks and projectiles, this sand shield can become stronger than steel. It can be defeated by avoiding it completely with extremely high-speed attacks, or merely overcoming the shield with incredible brute force.

Third Eye

This jutsu creates a floating eyeball out of sand that is invisibly connected to the user's optic nerves. Its main purpose is spying, since it can form and disperse in any location on command.

Thunder God of Sand

Gaara creates a dozen or more three-pronged lightning rods of sand and spreads them throughout the area. Once they open, the rods absorb nearby electricity and then discharge it to shock Gaara's enemies

Wind Release: Infinite Sand Cloud Great Breakthrough

The user spews a large amount of sand from their mouth, devastating both the enemy and a large area around him.

Trivia: The kanji on Gaara's forehead, 愛 ("ai"), means "Love". Apparently his name means "death", so then his Kanji marking along with his name could mean, as some claim, "Love of Death". Additionally, before Yashamaru dies, he says that Gaara's name means "demon who cares only for himself".

He is known as "Gaara of the Sand" in the Viz translation, "Gaara of the Desert" in the English anime, and "Sabaku no Gaara" (Gaara of the Sand Waterfall) in the original Japanese (Sabaku means "sand waterfall", but sabaku  means "desert", thus the more common "Gaara of the Desert"). Gaara is also now known as the Fifth Kazekage (Godaime Kazekage).

In the annual Shonen Jump polls for most popular character, Gaara consistently ranks in the top ten, usually between seventh and tenth spot.

Why we love him: Poor guy, everyone hates him for something that he had no control over, and that only made him hate them, which made them hate him even more... and he's so confused.  He doesn't understand other people, especially the genin from Leaf...  He starts out with a bent toward violence, though he isn't really evil. But he's adorable, and powerful, and he becomes a good person in the end.  Besides, he's just so cool from the very beginning.

 

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