Gaara
Gaara (我愛羅) is the Fifth Kazekage (五代目風影, Godaime Kazekage), the youngest child of the Fourth Kazekage, and the youngest brother of Temari and Kankuro and he served for a time as a major antagonist during the Chunin Exams arc. Being raised as a tool of Sunagakure, Gaara gained the nickname Gaara of the Sand Waterfall (砂瀑の我愛羅, Sabaku no Gaara; English TV "Gaara of the Desert").
Background
Gaara is the son of the Fourth Kazekage and the younger brother of Temari and Kankuro. During Gaara's birth, his father ordered Chiyo to seal the One-Tailed Shukaku within him in hopes that Gaara would become the ultimate weapon for Suna. Because a sacrifice was needed, Gaara's mother, Karura, was used. Before she died, Karura cursed Sunagakure, hoping Gaara would avenge her death. Gaara was trained by his father, but raised mainly by his uncle, Yashamaru. Because of the power of Shukaku, the villagers of Suna hated and feared Gaara, seeing him only for the monster sealed within him. For a time, Yashamaru seemed to be the only person who cared about Gaara. When Gaara would mistakenly harm others due to the subconscious abilities granted to him by Shukaku, Yashamaru would be the only one who understood that Gaara hadn't intended to harm anyone. Gaara's father, however, did not see Gaara in the same light, and viewed Gaara's frequent attacks upon villagers as a result of a failed experiment that was a threat to Suna.
Because of the danger Gaara imposed, his father began sending assassins to kill him, though when all attempts met with failure, the Kazekage asked Yashamaru to kill Gaara. As a result, Yashamaru tried to assassinate Gaara, only to fail just as those before him had. Gaara delt a lethal blow to him with the sand in his gourd. But when Gaara realized that it was Yashamaru, he was horrified and screamed before bursting into tears. Although Gaara tried to dismiss Yashamaru's attack as an order of the Kazekage, Yashamaru corrected him by saying that he had willingly accepted the mission. Having never truly loved Gaara, Yashamaru hoped that killing Gaara would avenge the death of his sister, who had named Gaara after the phrase "a self-loving carnage" (我を愛する修羅, Ware wo ai suru shura), a sign of her hate for Gaara. In a last ditch effort to kill Gaara, Yashamaru detonated a number of explosive tags covering his body, asking Gaara to, "Please die." Gaara survived the blast and lost the only person he thought had cared for him.
Personality
While Gaara had initially tried to be friendly towards others despite their fear of him, Yashamaru's actions and words changed him. Realizing that nobody loved him, Gaara used his sand to create the kanji on his forehead "love" (愛) as a symbol of a "demon loving only himself". Gaara became emotionally withdrawn, all but silent, and consumed with a bitter loathing for everyone but himself and "mother", the voice of Shukaku in his head. 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. This was only worsened by the occasional demand by Shukaku for blood to sate its blood lust. Gaara's insomnia, forced upon him by the fear that the demon inside him would eat away at his personality if he were to fall asleep, only furthered his instability and desire to kill. In time, Gaara's father would come to appreciate Gaara and the uses he could serve, and canceled all assassination orders in the hopes that Gaara would become an effective tool.
Gaara's childhood was somewhat similar to Naruto Uzumaki's, even though more unfortunate due to his lack of anyone to call a friend. Both were lonely and 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 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 Umino and Team 7 to acknowledge him, Gaara never had anyone to bond with, with the exception of Yashamaru's deceitful friendliness, and did not understand the concept of fighting for anything other than himself until his confrontation with Naruto.
After being defeated by Naruto, Gaara was shocked to find that Naruto knew very well the pain that Gaara had endured all his life. He was even more surprised that Naruto never gave up hope on being acknowledged as a person and ultimately found friends who truly cared for him. Seeing the determination that Naruto had to protect his friends made Gaara question his own path in life. Realizing that he gave up too easily, Gaara decided to follow Naruto's path, wishing to become Kazekage of Suna so he could be connected to his people and hopefully have them finally acknowledge his existence as a person. Over the next few years, Gaara's determination to find happiness became apparent from his decision to rely on his own power rather than his inner demon's.
Gaara eventually formed a close friendship with Naruto.
Movies
Gaara and Kankuro came to the aid of a band of Suna villagers who came under attack in Naruto the Movie 2: Legend of the Stone of Gelel, also known as Naruto the movie and the stone of Gelel A group of seemingly invulnerable armored warriors attacked the shinobi, and it was only Gaara's sand manipulation abilities that saved the group from certain defeat. The sand ninja then destroyed the warship that brought the warriors, only to come under attack from knights wielding the power of the Stone of Gelel. Gaara engaged one of these warriors called Ranke, who wielded lightning powers, and was able to thwart her using his sand. When Ranke transformed into a monstrous form of greater power, she seemingly outmatched Gaara until he crushed her using Sand Waterfall Imperial Funeral. By doing this he made lightning rods to drain her lightning, the jutsu was called Thunder God of Sand.
Gaara as the Fifth Kazekage.
Gaara (我愛羅) is the Fifth Kazekage (五代目風影, Godaime Kazekage), the youngest child of the Fourth Kazekage, and the youngest brother of Temari and Kankuro and he served for a time as a major antagonist during the Chunin Exams arc. Being raised as a tool of Sunagakure, Gaara gained the nickname Gaara of the Sand Waterfall (砂瀑の我愛羅, Sabaku no Gaara; English TV "Gaara of the Desert").
Background
Gaara is the son of the Fourth Kazekage and the younger brother of Temari and Kankuro. During Gaara's birth, his father ordered Chiyo to seal the One-Tailed Shukaku within him in hopes that Gaara would become the ultimate weapon for Suna. Because a sacrifice was needed, Gaara's mother, Karura, was used. Before she died, Karura cursed Sunagakure, hoping Gaara would avenge her death. Gaara was trained by his father, but raised mainly by his uncle, Yashamaru. Because of the power of Shukaku, the villagers of Suna hated and feared Gaara, seeing him only for the monster sealed within him. For a time, Yashamaru seemed to be the only person who cared about Gaara. When Gaara would mistakenly harm others due to the subconscious abilities granted to him by Shukaku, Yashamaru would be the only one who understood that Gaara hadn't intended to harm anyone. Gaara's father, however, did not see Gaara in the same light, and viewed Gaara's frequent attacks upon villagers as a result of a failed experiment that was a threat to Suna.
Because of the danger Gaara imposed, his father began sending assassins to kill him, though when all attempts met with failure, the Kazekage asked Yashamaru to kill Gaara. As a result, Yashamaru tried to assassinate Gaara, only to fail just as those before him had. Gaara delt a lethal blow to him with the sand in his gourd. But when Gaara realized that it was Yashamaru, he was horrified and screamed before bursting into tears. Although Gaara tried to dismiss Yashamaru's attack as an order of the Kazekage, Yashamaru corrected him by saying that he had willingly accepted the mission. Having never truly loved Gaara, Yashamaru hoped that killing Gaara would avenge the death of his sister, who had named Gaara after the phrase "a self-loving carnage" (我を愛する修羅, Ware wo ai suru shura), a sign of her hate for Gaara. In a last ditch effort to kill Gaara, Yashamaru detonated a number of explosive tags covering his body, asking Gaara to, "Please die." Gaara survived the blast and lost the only person he thought had cared for him.
Personality
While Gaara had initially tried to be friendly towards others despite their fear of him, Yashamaru's actions and words changed him. Realizing that nobody loved him, Gaara used his sand to create the kanji on his forehead "love" (愛) as a symbol of a "demon loving only himself". Gaara became emotionally withdrawn, all but silent, and consumed with a bitter loathing for everyone but himself and "mother", the voice of Shukaku in his head. 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. This was only worsened by the occasional demand by Shukaku for blood to sate its blood lust. Gaara's insomnia, forced upon him by the fear that the demon inside him would eat away at his personality if he were to fall asleep, only furthered his instability and desire to kill. In time, Gaara's father would come to appreciate Gaara and the uses he could serve, and canceled all assassination orders in the hopes that Gaara would become an effective tool.
Gaara's childhood was somewhat similar to Naruto Uzumaki's, even though more unfortunate due to his lack of anyone to call a friend. Both were lonely and 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 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 Umino and Team 7 to acknowledge him, Gaara never had anyone to bond with, with the exception of Yashamaru's deceitful friendliness, and did not understand the concept of fighting for anything other than himself until his confrontation with Naruto.
After being defeated by Naruto, Gaara was shocked to find that Naruto knew very well the pain that Gaara had endured all his life. He was even more surprised that Naruto never gave up hope on being acknowledged as a person and ultimately found friends who truly cared for him. Seeing the determination that Naruto had to protect his friends made Gaara question his own path in life. Realizing that he gave up too easily, Gaara decided to follow Naruto's path, wishing to become Kazekage of Suna so he could be connected to his people and hopefully have them finally acknowledge his existence as a person. Over the next few years, Gaara's determination to find happiness became apparent from his decision to rely on his own power rather than his inner demon's.
Gaara eventually formed a close friendship with Naruto.
Movies
Gaara and Kankuro came to the aid of a band of Suna villagers who came under attack in Naruto the Movie 2: Legend of the Stone of Gelel, also known as Naruto the movie and the stone of Gelel A group of seemingly invulnerable armored warriors attacked the shinobi, and it was only Gaara's sand manipulation abilities that saved the group from certain defeat. The sand ninja then destroyed the warship that brought the warriors, only to come under attack from knights wielding the power of the Stone of Gelel. Gaara engaged one of these warriors called Ranke, who wielded lightning powers, and was able to thwart her using his sand. When Ranke transformed into a monstrous form of greater power, she seemingly outmatched Gaara until he crushed her using Sand Waterfall Imperial Funeral. By doing this he made lightning rods to drain her lightning, the jutsu was called Thunder God of Sand.
Gaara as the Fifth Kazekage.