Gaara (我愛羅, Gaara), renown as "Gaara of the Sand
Waterfall" (砂瀑の我愛羅, Sabaku no Gaara; English "Gaara of the
Desert"), is a major supporting character of the series, and originally
introduced as an antagonist. Gaara was the third jinchūriki of Shukaku: the
One-Tail,[5] and by Part II, he became the Fifth Kazekage (五代目風影,
Godaime Kazekage; Literally meaning "Fifth Wind Shadow") of
Sunagakure, and had his tailed beast extracted from inside him by Akatsuki.
Gaara is the third and youngest child of the Fourth Kazekage
and Karura, and the younger brother of Temari and Kankurō. Before Gaara's
birth, his father had Chiyo seal Shukaku within him, in hopes that Gaara would
become the ultimate weapon for Sunagakure as he was the only one of the
Kazekage's three children to be compatible with the beast.[6][7] He was born
premature and therefore, was an unusually small and frail infant. Before she
died, Karura passionately held her son, vowing to always protect him.[8] Gaara
was trained in ninjutsu by his father, but mainly raised by his maternal uncle,
Yashamaru.
Young gaaraGaara as a child.
Small brotherAdded by Small brother
Because of the power of Shukaku, the villagers of Sunagakure
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 unintentionally harm others due to the subconscious abilities
granted to him by Shukaku, Yashamaru was the only one who understood that Gaara
hadn't intended to harm anyone. The Sunagakure Council, however, saw Gaara's
frequent attacks as a threat to the village. Because of the danger Gaara
imposed, disappointed by the turn of events, the Kazekage decided to test his
son by having Yashamaru attack Gaara both physically and psychologically to see
if Gaara could retain control of Shukaku. As a result, on the Kazekage's
orders, Yashamaru told Gaara that his mother never loved him. He also tried to
assassinate Gaara, only to be fatally wounded by the boy before Gaara realised
whom he killed.[9]
Gaara lost controlGaara loses control and allows Shukaku to
go wild.
NorleonAdded by Norleon
Although Gaara tried to consider Yashamaru's attack as his
father's order, Yashamaru lied to him by saying that he had willingly accepted
the mission to kill Gaara.[9] He also lied that he never truly loved Gaara, and
told him that killing him would avenge the death of his sister, who had named
him Gaara after the phrase "a self-loving carnage" (我を愛する修羅,
Ware o aisuru shura), a sign of her intense hatred for Suna rather than love
for her son. In the last ditch effort to kill Gaara, Yashamaru detonated a
number of explosive tags covering his body, asking Gaara to "please
die". Using his sand, Gaara survived the blast, and lost the only person
he thought had cared for him, while not knowing the true reasons behind
Yashamaru's actions. Gaara then used his sand to etch the kanji for love (愛, ai)
onto his forehead.[10][11] Gaara then lost control and transformed into
Shukaku, rampaging around the village before his father stopped him with Gold
Dust.[12]
Since this incident, Gaara became an aloof and cruel person
who would kill anyone to prove his existence and to obtain recognition from the
village, all the while giving up any desire for friendship. Seeing that Gaara
was unable to cope with the loss of his mother's love, the Kazekage deemed him
a failure and arranged several assassinations of his son that all failed yet
made Gaara hate his father even more.[13] In time, Gaara's new ideology allowed
better control over Shukaku, and his father would come to appreciate this and
the uses he could serve, and cancelled all assassination orders. This revived
the idea of having Gaara as the ultimate weapon of the village.
