Gaara, formally addressed as Lord Gaara or Lord Kazekage, and famous as "Gaara of the Desert", is a major supporting protagonist of the Naruto manga and anime series, and Shippuden. Although he started off an antagonist, Gaara later became one of Naruto's most trusted and closest friends.
Background
Birth and Upbringing
Gaara with his mother at birth.. So small and cute
Gaara was born in the Hidden Sand Village as the third child of its Fourth Kazekage and his wife, Karura. He has two siblings, Temari, as sister, and Kankuro, a brother. Before he was born, his father had Chiyo, an elder of the Sand, seal Shukaku, the village's tailed beast, into Gaara in hopes he, as the first child compatible, would become the village's ultimate weapon. However, the act caused his mother to die shortly after he was born, much to his father's dismay as he was not aware that would be a side effect. Before she died, Karura held Gaara close and promised to always protect him, with her will going on to move the sand he weilds automatically to protect him from harm. Growing up, Gaara was trained by his father as a shinobi, but raised mostly by his uncle, Yashamaru. Unfortunately, the powers he was granted by Shukaku were
Gaara with his uncle, Yashamaru.
beyond his control, and Gaara regularly attacked and sometimes killed villagers growing up, with only his father and uncle realizing it wasn't deliberate. Still loving him dearly, the Kazekage ordered Yashamaru to corner Gaara and tell him a horrible lie about his mother in order to pressure him with the greatest emotional moment possible and see how ell he could control Shukaku. After Gaara defeated him, Yashamaru did more than this, adding on that he truly hated Gaara for the loss of his sister and lit many explosive tags under his vest in a last attempt to kill Gaara, who survived because of his automatic defense. Afterwards, Gaara used the sand to engrave the kanji for love on his forehead and, losing control, unleashed Shukaku, who was subdued by his father. With this failure, the Kazekage finally
Gaara unleashing Shukaku after losing control.
deemed Gaara a failure and threat to the village, and began to send assassins to kill him. Unaware of Yashamaru's lie or the truth behind his actions, Gaara became a cruel, self-serving child and, in killing all the assassins his father sent for him, came to think he existed to kill others. This new mindset of Gaara's allowed him better control over Shukaku, and his father cancelled all orders to kill him in hopes he would become the village's ultimate weapon as he had been born to be.
Naruto
Invading the Hidden Leaf Village and defeat
Gaara battling Team Shigure.
Gaara made his debut in the series arriving in the Hidden Leaf Village with his siblings, Temari and Kankuro, under the cover of taking part in the Chunin Exams, while genuinely there on a mission to destroy the village. He met Sasuke Uchiha, of the village's strongest clan, at this time. During the Chunin Exams, Gaara's team easily skated through the first two phases, him using his sand powers to cheat when he found it necessary in the first and brutally slaughtering Team Shigure in the second when they look at him the wrong way. They completed the second test in only 97 minutes, beating the best record by over four hours. As so many had passed the second test, the proctor for the third was forced to hold a preliminary fighting round to determine who would advance to the finals. Watching his siblings' fights, Gaara ordered Temari back with their group and insulted Rock Lee, who he was later matched against. Initially proving to much for Lee, who couldn't get past his automatic Sand Shield, Gaara was knocked down when he removed his leg weights. However, his Sand Armor completely
Gaara vs. Rock Lee.
protected him, and Lee resorted to using his Primary Lotus move, which Gaara evaded by switching with a sand substitution. He then proceeded to overpower Lee and throw him around with his sand. After Lee regained his speed some, his sensei let him use the four of the Eight Inner Gates and the Hidden Lotus to defeat Gaara who, although severely beaten around by the attack, was still totally protected by his armor. When Lee struck the final blow, Gaara softened the gourd on his back into a pillow and cushioned his fall. With Lee barely able to move, Gaara crushed his left arm and leg, before his sensei, Might Guy, stepped in and stopped him from killing him. Afterwards, the proctor named Gaara the winner of the match.
Gaara and Sasuke face each other.
After all the matches were finished, the Third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf announced a one month break to allow the finals combatants a chance to learn to some new tricks. During this time, Gaara paid a visit to Sasuke Uchiha, who was to be his opponent, and told him their fight would be one for survival after determining Sasuke, like him, knew the pain of loneliness. He also tried to murder Rock Lee in his hospital room, but was stopped by Naruto Uzumaki and Shimamaru Nara, with Might Guy again ending the situation. On the day of the finals(the same day the village was to be destroyed), being that Sasuke was late, his and Gaara's match was postpone until last, him still confident Sasuke would come. When at last he'd arrived, on his way down, Gaara slaughtered a pair of shinobi working for a Feudal Lord when they tried to blackmail him to lose the fight. In their match, Gaara found Sasuke had mastered Lee's taijutsu, which allowed the Uchiha to initially overwhelmed him. His sand defenses still kept him safe, however, and Gaara, disregarding the original plan to wait until the signal was
Gaara kicked away by Naruto.
given to change, cocooned himself with his sand to buy time to transform into Shukaku. Sasuke countered him doing so by striking through the sand with his new Chidori jutsu and wounding Gaara. Though he began to transform, the shell crumbled before it was complete, leaving his chakra almost gone. After the destruction of the village began, Temari and Kankuro carried him away to tend to his wound while the invasion proceeded without them. Sasuke followed and, despite both his siblings staying behind at different points to hold him off, caught up to Sasuke. As he began to transform again, Gaara resumed fighting Sasuke with his incredible strength and speed, proving too powerful for him and rendering all his attacks, even Chidori in vain. As he was about to finish him, Naruto arrived with back up and repelled Gaara.
Gaara battling Naruto.
Pinning Sakura Haruno against a tree, Gaara, already intrigued by Naruto earlier victory over Neji Hyuga, hurt her to force him to fight. Easily overwhelming Naruto at first, Gaara, leaving Sakura in a deadly trap, told him to forget about friendship and fight only for himself to win as he progressed his transformation. Continuing to outmatch him, Gaara lost the upper hand when Naruto stabbed a kunai with an explosive tag under his tail, which greatly reduced his defense when he went off. After Naruto overpowered him by creating 2,000 shadow clones, Gaara, puzzled by his sudden increase of power, released his full Shukaku transformation, destroying the clones and leaving Naruto heavily outmatched. When he tried to finish him off, Naruto countered by summoning Gamabunta, a giant ninja toad, who cut off Gaara's right arm. Even further impressed by this, Gaara emerged from within the form and forced himself asleep to allow Shukaku to fight in his stead. Though Shukaku proved a dangerous threat, Naruto and Gamabunta performed a Combined Transformation jutsu into a fox(the Nine-Tailed Fox in the anime) and clung to him long enough for Naruto to punch Gaara awake and suppress him. Grabbing him by
Gaara defeated.
his feet, Gaara attempted to kill him, being blocked by Gamabunta, before driving the Shukaku form further ahead. Naruto then drew on some of his own tailed beast's chakra and headbutted Gaara, crumbling the Shukaku form down. They then engaged in taijutsu combat, and Gaara was defeated. Shocked to learn they were alike and that Naruto never gave up on being accepted, Gaara realized love was his strength and resolved to be like him from then on, apologizing to his siblings as they carried him home.
Assisting against Orochimaru
Gaara battling Kimimaro.
The Hidden Sand and their ally, the Hidden Sound Village's attempt to destroy the Leaf ended in failure, and afterwards the Sand discovered the body of the Kazekage in the desert. Realizing Orochimaru, the Sound leader, had murdered him and assumed his identity to get them to go along with his evil plan, the Hidden Sand surrendered to the Leaf and reunified their alliance. Because of this, when Sasuke Uchiha left his village to join Orochimaru's side, Gaara and his siblings came to aid in stopping him at the request of the new Hokage, Tsunade. Gaara arrived in time to save Rock Lee from Kimimaro Kaguya, one of Orochimaru's most powerful servants, and fought him in his stead. After his opponent mocked and severely underestimated him, Gaara easily caught Kimimaro with his sand and nearly crushed him to death, the latter surviving due to his sturdy bone kekkei genkai. After he used the first stage of his Earth Curse Mark to get free, Gaara burried Kaguya in a tidal wave of sand and shifted massive shockwaves through it to crush him, but he miraculously survived and pulled himself free with his Earth Curse Mark's second state. Though he was knocked away, Gaara's Sand Armor protected him from harm and he kept Kimimaro from harming Lee. When Kaguya then decided
The battle's end.
to try and use his two part Clematis Dance, Gaara resorted to his strongest sand defense to counter his bone drill, which shattered from overpressure. Realizing his chakra was running low, Gaara mocked Kimimaro as a "sad little pawn" of Orochimaru to gain an edge and burried him 200 meters below the soil, levitating himself and Lee to avoid Kaguya's final assault, the Bracken Dance. However, Kimimaro emerged from one of the bone spikes and prepared to kill Gaara, him luckily surviving thanks to him dying of his disease. After resting, they headed back to the Leaf, and Gaara returned home with his siblings, first helping out the academy in the anime.
Taking on a student
Gaara supervising Matsuri.
During the anime's Seimei Revival Arc, the last pre-Shippuden filler arc(which was relevant to the anime's version of the main story), Gaara and his siblings became instructors at a Hidden Leaf-like academy in the Hidden Sand, where he took on Matsuri, the only student willing to train under him, teaching her to weild a rope javelin when he learned she feared weapons. Not long thereafter, a group of shinobi from the Village of Artisans called The Four Celestials arrived and wished to issue a challenge to Gaara, threatening to take one person he cared about each day if he refused. After discovering they had already taken Matsuri, Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro were sent to retrieve her, with aid coming from the Hidden Leaf. When they encountered Kujaku, one of the kidnappers, Temari stayed behind to handle her, with Kankuro doing the same when Ryugan, a second appeared quickly thereafter. When he encountered Suiko, Gaara engaged him in battle and, despite the latter absorbing the chakra from some of his sand, easily got the upper hand and sent him crashing to the ground. However, their fight had only been
Gaara faces Suiko.
a distraction, which allowed Suiko teammates to use their Ninja Tool Barrier: Reverse Scale Formation to summon a Water Dragon and soak Gaara's sand, making it useless(this particular aspect was later rendered non-canon in part 2 of the manga). Before he could be captured, Rock Lee and Naruto arrived as backup, with Sakura also showing up and healing Gaara's contusions(which also dried his Sand Armor). Afterwards, he used some of it to make a spear, which he threw and impaled Suiko through the chest, killing him. Forced to leave behind his armor at this point, Gaara pursued Hoki, the leader of the Artisans' shinobi, and seemingly cornered him in a dead end valley.
Gaara faces Seimei.
However, Hoki summoned the armor and weapons of his fallen allies and constructed a uniform weapon he used to fight back Gaara, and Naruto after he arrived. Once Gaara blocked off Naruto with sand, Hoki trapped him in a chakra-absorbing cage and used his power, together with sacrificing himself, to revive his ancestor, Seimei. The Artisans Village founder continued to drain Gaara's chakra, which eventually caused him to paritally transform into Shukaku, and he broke out. Unwilling to allow Shukaku to take over, Gaara managed to suppress and regress the transformation, and he burried Seimei and flooded the canyon and higher forest some with his Sand Tsunami jutsu. When his opponent broke out and tried to use his Infinite Kujaku Armor absorb his last chakra, Gaara formed his Extreme Tempered Ultimate Attack: Shukaku's Pike and used it to shatter the armor, afterwards burrying Seimei alive and crushing him to death with his Giant Sand Burial. After resting and recovering in the Hidden Leaf hospital, Gaara, Matsuri, and his siblings returned home.
Abduction, death, and resurrection
Gaara battling Deidara.
Over the timeskip between part 1 and 2, Gaara continued to refine his powers, growing so strong he was named the Fifth Kazekage of his village. However, his being the jinchuriki of Shukaku caused him to become a target of The Akatsuki, a criminal organization of the S-class Rouge Ninja, with two of them coming to the Hidden Sand to capture him. Gaara confronted one of them, Deidara, who battled him in the skies above the village. Having the geographical advantage in the desert, Gaara outmatched Deidara in brute strength and crushed his left arm, keeping him on the run for most of the fight. However, Deidara took advantage of Gaara's service as Kazekage by trying to blow up his village with one of his most powerful bombs, which Gaara countered by summoning a massive sand shield from the desert. His opponent then detonated another explosive next to Gaara, forcing his Sand Shield to react and protect him. However, that portion of the sand was seeded with some of Deidara's explosive clay, which he detonated from within Gaara's sand sphere, causing it to crumble. Before he passed out, Gaara used his last strength to carry the huge sand shield into the desert, with his men holding off Deidara in the anime as he did. He was then abducted and taken to the Akatsuki hideout, despite his brother's attempt to save him, which led to his defeat by Deidara's partner, Sasori. The Akatsuki gathered and used the Sealing
Shukaku being extracted from Gaara.
Jutsu: Nine Phantom Dragons technique to extract Shukaku from within Gaara, killing him before the rescue teams sent by the Sand and Leaf could save him. After Sasori had been killed, Deidara escaped, and his body had finally been recovered, Chiyo, the Sand elder who had sealed Shukaku into him, used her Reanimation Ninjutsu, aided by Naruto's chakra, to resurrect Gaara. When he came to, Gaara was stunned to see Naruto and all his allies there. Once he knew what Chiyo had done, Gaara ordered everyone to pray for and wish her farewell, before they all returned home. Despite losing Shukaku, Gaara retained his sand powers and resumed his reign as Kazekage.
Land of Iron summit, battle, and Kage alliance
Gaara and his siblings ready for the Five Kage summit.
After the recognized Akatsuki leader, Pain's destruction of the Hidden Leaf and defeat, and Sasuke Uchiha's attempt to capture the Eight-tails jinchuriki, Gaara was summoned to the Land of Iron by A, the Fourth Raikage, for a summit conference of the Five Kage, bringing along his siblings as bodyguards. After the conference got started, Gaara spoke first, openly criticizing how slow to action the others been and regarded the previous generation's beliefs of status and appearance as foolish, outdated concepts. Before long, Mifune, the samurai general who was presiding over the meeting, isupported Gaara's idea of an alliance between the Fiva Kage, recommending Danzo, the acting Sixth Hokage, to be its leader. But Ao, one of the Mizukage's bodyguards, revealed that Danzo was using Shisui Uchiha's eye powers to manipulate Mifune to say these things. Before the meeting got any further, White Zetsu, a member of the Akatsuki, appeared and revealed Sasuke and his team had invaded the summit. After the Raikage left to kill him, Gaara, listening to the others reprimand Danzo, commented on the overall lack trust in them, asserting
Gaara and Sasuke clash.
that without it and mutual understanding, there was no hope. After asking when they'd all forsaken themselves, Gaara and his siblings left to find Sasuke, him preventing the Raikage from killing him at the vital moment. Gaara tried, out of respect for Naruto, to convince Sasuke to turn from his path of revenge, but the latter rebuked him, saying his goals lay only in the darkness. Reluctantly, Gaara continued the Raikage's fight and tried to kill Sasuke, his automatic Sand Shield proving too fast and strong for Sasuke's Amaterasu to work against. He, his siblings, and Darui, one of the Raikage's bodyguards, unleashed a uniform attack at Sasuke, who blocked it with his Susanoo, which he used to cause a cave in to escape. Following him upstairs, Gaara and the others(exluding Danzo, who left) were met by the Akatsuki leader,
The Kage confronted by Obito Uchiha.
Obito Uchiha, posing as his ancestor, Madara, who informed them of the plan Project Tsuki no Me, by which he would use all nine tailed beasts to revive their original form, the Ten-tails and use its strength to launch the Infinite Tsukuyomi and unite everyone in a dream world. Because he concluded his explanation by requesting that the Kage give him the remaining jinchuriki, Gaara refused to give him Naruto, and A refused to hand over his brother, Killer B, and thus Obito declared the start of the Fourth Great Ninja War.
After Obito teleported away, Gaara urged the other Kage to form the alliance, insisting it was the only way to fight the power of seven tailed beasts. All the other Kage agreed, and Mifune selected A to be its leader, to which everyone agreed. Because of Danzo's actions at the summit, he'd lost their trust, with A asserting he
Gaara pleading Naruto about Sasuke.
must be deposed as Hokage soon. With this, Gaara said he'd take word of what had happened at the summit to Kakashi Hatake, a Hidden Leaf shinobi he and the others found more trustworthy than Danzo. Finding him and Naruto at a hotel nearby, he and his siblings relayed the information of the summit and alliance, and Gaara tried to urge Naruto that Sasuke was beyond saving and that if he had truly resolved to be a Kage he'd need to do what was right as Sasuke's friend. After they returned home, Gaara and the others were informed that the Feudal Lords of the Five Great Nations had all agreed to the Allied Shinobi Forces.
War preparations
The Five Kage gather again.
Gaara, accompanied by Temari, later appeared at another meeting of the Five Kage in the Hidden Cloud Village, where Tsunade was able to come as Fifth Hokage, having recovered from her coma. There, after the subject of where to hide away the jinchuriki was introduced, Tsunade spoke out against it, saying Naruto and Killer B could lend so much strength to their side. However, Gaara told her the decision to hide them away had been made by majority rule and that Naruto was too reckless when it came to helping his friends to be allowed to participate in the war when she began to lecture him. With this, Tsunade reluctantly agreed that they be hidden away.
Fighting the war
For the war, Gaara was appointed the Regimental Commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces and personal leader of its Fourth Company. Uniting all the companies as friends with a speech, Gaara led his into the desert, where he made the surrounding sand a sensing device. After he detected Mu, the reanimated Second Tsuchikage, step on it, Gaara located him and three othe reanimated Kage, including his father, later being Onoki, the Third Tsuchikage. When they got close, Gaara used his Sand Tsunami to attack, which his father countered, before he and Onoki confronted them. Talking with his father, Gaara prompted him to test his worth, and they engaged in battle. Easily defeating his father, and catching him, the Second Tsuchikage, and Third Raikage with his
Gaara vs. his father.
sand, Gaara then learned from him the truth about his uncle, Yashamaru past actions and his mother, with the other Kage breaking free. Sealing him away, Gaara joined Onoki to fight Mu, with Naruto quickly arriving aiding them against him. Working together, the two easily overpowered Mu, and hes seemingly sealed(he actually used his Fragmentation Jutsu to split himself in half). Talking over why Naruto was there, Gaara went and confronted the Second Mizukage, who had been battling his men. Easily finding his giant clam;s location using sand, Gaara allowed Onoki to destroy it and switched him with a sand clone which he used to
The Steam Imp appears.
restrain the Mizukage. Sealing his opponent inside a sand pyramid, Gaara was shocked when it suddenly exploded, with the Mizukage's smiling appears ominously in the sky above. Wondering if its another genjutsu, Onoki said its his Infinite Explosions Ninjutsu, The Steam Imp, which even Mu couldn't counter.
Continuously defending his men with the explosive clone after Onoki explains how the technique works,
Gaara defeats the Mizukage.
Gaara was eventually able to disable it by using traces of his father's gold dust in a sand clone to slow it down, and wrapping it in sand drenched in the hail the technique produced to immobilize and cool it down, turning it into gold. Seeing this, the Second praised Gaara as the "golden egg" of the Five Kage, before Naruto arrived and Gaara finished sealing the Second away. Not long thereafter, Mu appeared again, this time with someone new by his side, who Onoki recognized as Madara Uchiha. Puzzled, Gaara drew everyone's attention to his eyes, which showed he was revived by the Reanimation jutsu. Proceeding to battle Madara when he engaged the Fourth Company, Gaara's efforts were rendered futile against Madara's
Gaara attacking Madara.
visual prowess. After Onoki lightened all the sand around, Gaara used some at Madara's feet to pull him from his Susanoo and allow Naruto a chance to attack him with his Rasen Shuriken jutsu, which the Uchiha absorbed with his Rinnegan. Soon thereafter, he used these eyes and Susanoo together, and summoned a meteorite overhead, causing Gaara wonder if Madara had the power of a god. Managing to stop its descent with Onoki, they were overwhelmed when Madara collided another into it, which destroyed most of Gaara's men. His Sand Shield still saved him and his sister, however, and Onoki was critically injured, but
The Five Kage unite as a team.
alive. By this time, the truth about Madara had become known at the Allied HQ and this attack of Madara's was felt all the way back there. Realizing how powerful he was, A and Tsunade decided to join their fight, as did Mei Terumi, the Mizukage. After they had all ben teleported there, Gaara and Onoki joined them, united the Five Kage against Madara.
While Tsunade healed him and Onoki, A and Mei held Madara off. Afterwards, Gaara and onoki worked together to block Madara's Yasaka Magatama jutsu, with him briefly holding Madara off in the anime while Onoki relates a tactic to Mei and A. Afterwards, they work together and manage to repel Madara and his Susanoo, and the Kage all gave Naruto's shadow clone a message about victory before it disperses. As the battle between them and Madara intensified, Gaara used his sand to lift himself, Tsunade, and Mei above
Gaara trying to seal Madara.
the flowering forest Madara summoned, only for all the Kage to be repelled into it from behind by the Uchiha and pass out from the pollen there, allowing Madara to set it ablaze. Onoki, however, forced himself awake and blew away the flowers and fire with his Particle Style. Later, when Tsunade seemed to have landed a devastating hit on Madara, Gaara attempted to seal him away, only to find out it was just a wood clone Madara switched with to fool them. Afterwards. Madara created 25 more, sending five to Gaara and each of the other Kage, and having them activate Susanoo. Holding his own well into the night, Gaara was overpowered by his clones when he turned his attention to saving Mei's life. Though they both agreed it seemed this fight couldn't be won, they joined the other Kage for a combined assault on Madara and the clones, which were destroyed by Onoki and Tsunade's combined efforts, along with Madara's right arm and leg. Gaara then added his sand to Mei's Water Dragon jutsu, which A infused with lightning-natured chakra, which began to restrain Madara when he started to absorb the technique.
Madara unleashes his full power against the Kage.
Preparing to seal him again, the efforts of the Kage were rendered useless when Madara unleashed his Perfect Susanoo, which he used to destroy his meteors and hack two mountains in half, repelling the Kage and leaving them heavily outmatched. Before Madara could finish off the terrorfied Kage, the Reanimation jutsu's release him and dematerialized his Susanoo. However, rejoice was premature, as Madara cancelled his contract with the jutsu and remained there anyway. After they tried to keep him from leaving, Madara reluctantly resumed fight the Five Kage and defeated them, leaving all of them critically wounded and barely alive. Tsunade came to and began trying to heal them with the help of Katsuyu, her slug summon, successfully doing so after Orochimaru had her healed. After coming to, Gaara used his sand to transport the Kage to the next battlefield, where Madara had joined his apprentice, Obito, and where the
Gaara defeated.
Ten-tails had not only been revived, but reached its final form. Once there, he joined Naruto and Sasuke, now an ally, and helped them pull Shukaku out of Obito, with the other beasts. Afterwards, Shukaku to agrees to help him to seal Madara, with the other tailed beasts joining too. When they encountered him, now fully resurrected, Gaara managed to strike and immobilize the blinded ancestor with Shukaku's help and they tried to seal him, only for Madara to break free with his Susanoo. After he regained his left eye, Madara easily turned the tide of the fight, defeating all the tailed beasts, as well as Naruto and Killer B, and sealing them with ease. Before they were, Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Fox, told Gaara to take Naruto to his father and have its other half put into him to save him. Doing as he said, Gaara picked up Sakura
Gaara and the others after recovering.
Haruno to help Naruto, but Black Zetsu thwarted the transfer and absorbed the other half of Kurama instead. Madara quickly arrived, now the Ten-tails' perfect jinchuriki, who effortlessly overwhelmed him, Minato(Naruto's father), and Kakashi when they tried a balanced assault. When Might Guy arrived and got overwhelmed when trying to use seven of the Eight Inner Gates against Madara, Gaara and the others aided him with a strategy by Minato when Guy started to use all eight of them to strike Madara. After Guy's defeat and Naruto arrival back, Gaara requested they exchange sake cups when he becomes Hokage, Naruto agreeing. After the battle between Madara, Sasuke, and Naruto got intense, Gaara left the scene with Lee and Guy, with them all later being caught in Madara's Infinite Tsukuyomi when he cast it.
Movie Timeline
In the part 1 movie Naruto the Movie 2: Legend of the Stone of Gelel, Gaara and his brother, Kankuro, led aid to the coastline guard of the Land of Wind, who were battling mysterious, armor-clad warriors, most of whom Gaara easily killed using his immense sand powers and Giant Sand Burial jutsu. Ordering flares to be fired to light up the sky, Gaara raised a huge wall of sand to protect all of them from the canon fire of the warships at the coast, which was smashed through regardless. Angered by this, Gaara later went on to destroy the fleet. Some time later, when Temujin and his fellow knights had arrived as backup for the fleet, Gaara confronted the one named Ranke, who severely understimated him, allowing him to easily outmatch and seal her in his sand. She, however, used her gelel powers to transform into humainoid gorrilla-like monster and broke free. Though his attacks were ineffective at this point, Gaara avoided Ranke by switching with an empty sand shell and burrying her alive. She emerged unhurt and declared he'd never defeat her, but Gaara used his Sand Lightning Rods jutsu to drain her electric shield and used his Giant Sand Burial to raise a huge amount of sand all around her and dropped it on top of Ranke, killing her. After her master, Haido, had been stopped and the gelel destroyed, Gaara was shocked at how much it had destroyed, before returning home with his brother.
In the part 2 movie Naruto Shippuden 3: Inheritors of the Will of Fire, Gaara now Kazekage of the Hidden Sand, saw a giant hologram of a former Hidden Leaf ninja called Hiruko, who had kidnapped a kekkei genkai bearer from his village, through which he declared he had already gathered four kekkei genkai and would do the same to the Hidden Leaf too to become immortal, perfect shinobi no one could defeat. When requested by Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage of the Hodden leaf and his greatest ally to meet with her to discuss how to counter Hiruko, one of the latter's men attempted to kill him by burrying him and his escort canvoy in a rock slide. Gaara, however, managed save himself and his men from any harm. As a result of the attack, the Hidden Sand began to advance toward the border of the Land of Fire, believing the Hidden Leaf was responsible. Later, Gaara met with Tsunade's fellow Sannin Jiraiya, talking over Kakashi Hatake's willingness to give his life for the Hidden Leaf to stop Hiruko and the latter's belief that Naruto could do the same. Before he left, Gaara gave Jiraiya some of his sand specifically rigged to form an immediate halt of action message for his men, not believing the Hidden Leaf to have been responsible for the rock slide. Reflecting on the Sannin's earlier words, Gaara transformed into a sandstorm and flew to where Naruto was. Announcing he could not allow him to advance any farther, Gaara battled with Naruto and easily proved more than he could handled at first. Though his friend attempted to convince him Kakashi's plan was wrong, Gaara refused to allow Naruto ideals to sway him, noting all the lives in the Hidden Sand depended on him. However, Naruto was then able to penetrate his automatic Sand Shield with his Rasengan, and punched Gaara, before moving ahead after Sakura Haruno and Sai. When Shikamaru got there later, Gaara told him Naruto was gone and that fighting him again had had the same effect on him as when they had it out last time, him now understanding why Jiraiya thought Naruto could stop Hiruko, despite acknowledging Kakashi's plan being the only sure way to do so. After Naruto and the others had defeated Hiruko, Gaara transported himself to his men at the border and ordered them to withdraw, saying the situation had been resolved. Note: Gaara's automatic Sand Shield was not adapted in the film being anywhere near as powerful as it is in the series, as just Naruto regular Rasengan could penetrate it in the film, whereas in the series things much more powerful, like the Susano'o sword, the Amaterasu, and the Steam Imp technique have failed to even come close to doing so.
Personality
As a child, Gaara, being a jinchuriki, was a very lonely child, but always tried to be friendly to others and reach out to them. However, after Yashamaru's horrible lie about his mother, which he was unaware of, and cruel actions, Gaara became a cruel, self-serving boy who, killing many attempted assassins, came to view his reason for living being in the killing of others, which resulted in him killing anyone he desired. When he was defeated by Naruto and found out they were alike, Gaara came to see that love and devotion to his friends were his source of strength, and, realizing he gave up on being accepted too easily, resolved to become like Naruto. From then on, his personality changed completely; although he is still as ruthless as ever towards his enemies, he became very protective of allies and innocent people. His bond with his brother and sister also changed, and he became quite close to them, as well as Naruto, considering him to be his first true friend. Desite having been hated for hosting him, Gaara's attitude towards his tailed beast, Shukaku, is quote friendly. He openly views him as a equal and comrade and did everything he could to stop Madara from sealing him inside the Gedo Statue. As a Kage, Gaara is quite mature and calm, viewing the beliefs of maintaining appearance and status as being "foolish, outdated concepts", and believed the Five Kage should work together against the Akatsuki, seeking this from them since before the Allied Shinobi Forces were even formed.
Powers, Abilities, and Skills
Gaara is shown to be one of the most powerful characters in the series. Having become the Fifth Kazekage of the Hidden Sand and the Regimental Commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces during the Fourth Great Ninja War, despite his young age, Gaara is an extremely powerful shinobi, being the comparatively strongest individual member of his original era of the Five Kage, and perhaps only inferior to Naruto Uzumaki in his second. Even when just a child, he effortlessly defeated his Anbu uncle, Yashamaru, who was his father's right-hand man. At the time of his debut, despite only having the rank of Genin, Gaara was easily as powerful as a Jonin, with this fact being alluded to multiple times throughout the Chunin Exams, as well as his power increasing to Kage-level by the time of the last arc of part 1. Several very notable individuals throughout part 1 underestimated Gaara, such as Kimimaro Kaguya, a Kage-level opponent, who was easily overwhelmed and nearly killed for most of his fight with Gaara, losing by default in the end, and Might Guy, the Hidden Leaf's most powerful Jonin, whose student, Rock Lee, lost to Gaara even when Guy let him use five of the Eight Inner Gates against him, with Gaara rendering everything thrown at him futile. By part 2, his power had grown so that he was able to easily outmatch an extremely powerful S-class Akatsuki member like Deidara, who lost an arm to Gaara's attacks and was kept on the run for most of their battle, only winning by way of intellect in the end. Afterwards and during, Deidara multiple times admitted he underestimated Gaara and openly praised his power. During the Fourth Great Ninja War, he was able to easily defeat his father, Fourth Kazekage Rasa, and defeat Second Mizukage Gengetsu Hozuki single-handedly, with the latter praising him as the "Golden Child" of the Five Kage. Perhaps the greatest testaments to Gaara's power at his age are his ability to fight evenly against five wood clones of Madara Uchiha, who were all using full Susano'o, for hours without a break while already being in a severely weakened state from battle beforehand, all the while never even being physically touched, and his ability to easily protect his village from massive meteorites breaking off the falling moon two years after the war, completely blocking them with no effort. As a jinchuriki, Gaara has immense reserves of chakra that grew all the more immense by part 2 and that, even when his tailed beast, Shukaku, was removed, remained as big and strong as ever, with him being the only member of the Five Kage to show no signs of shortening chakra reserves throughout the Fourth Great Ninja War, despite continuous usage of high-scale jutsu, appearing to have near-infinite stamina. Gaara is a master of Wind, Earth, and Lightning Style chakra natures.
Sand powers
Gaara controlling sand.
As the jinchuriki host of Shukaku, Gaara's trademark ability is to manipulate sand with his chakra, levitating it or otherwise for any reason, a power he retained even after losing him. His powers are quite versatile, and he is capable of many feats, like teleporting certain distances, transporting himself anywhere, spying or gathering information from afar, sensing and locating others when they touch it, and of course for combat reasons. Gaara always carries around a sand-made gourd on his back that is filled with sand infused with his chakra. This sand is what makes up Gaara's famous "Ultimate Defense"; his automatic Sand Shield, which is bound by his mother's will to protect him and does so regardless of his will, and his Sand Armor, a shell of sand he forms over his body that protects him if the Sand Shield is ever penetrated.
Gaara helping stop a meteorite.
Though the Sand Armor requires huge amounts of chakra to remain active and has the side effect of weighing him down, it is quite a powerful secondary defense. Gaara's Ultimate Defense was even acknowledge by Naruto Uzumaki as being the best of anyone's in the Fourth Great Ninja War. The nature of Gaara's powers makes him a locational fighter somewhat and he specializes in mid-to-long ranged combat, but he would only not have the advantage overall when fighting over water, where their is no soil. Although his Ultimate Defense can very well be all he needs, if Gaara should need more sand, he can use it to burrow underground and crush any stones and minerals present there into more. He can also use rock structures or other surface examples of rock to do the same.
Gaara shielding his Village from Deidara's C3.
Given it takes time for him to do this, Gaara's opponents may be able to get the upper hand before he can. However, when fighting in the desert, Gaara is at his strongest and has an overwhelming advantage given the sand-covered terrain, thus allowing him to be borderline invincible when fighting on such a location. The amount of sand Gaara can manipulate at once is gigantic, him managing to keep the entire Hidden Sand Village from being blown up with ease and even help catch a giant meteorite. He can also easily create massive tsunamis of sand that are, with the exception of the Teleportation or Transportation Jutsu or some other space-time technique, impossible to outrun or dodge, as he showed when he fought Kimimaro. Gaara can also use Wind Style together with his sand jutsu to enhance their power.
Gaara's primary battle tactic with his sand is his "catch and crush" tactic. With this, he employs his sand to capture and immobilize an opponent, usually with his Sand Coffin jutsu, and then crush them by imploding it with his Sand Burial jutsu. Gaara has larger variants of these techniques, which he uses against stronger enemies or large groups of foes. Gaara is also able to use sand to create clones or substitute himself to trick an opponent. By infusing sand with minerals he crushes down, as mentioned before, he can create a stronger defense than his Ultimate Defense and, in the anime, a near-unblockable spear. Ultimately, Gaara's sand powers are even greater than Shukaku's and are the reason he is the strongest Kazekage in the Hidden Sand Village's history.
Tailed Beast powers, intelligence, and authority
Gaara's complete Shukaku transformation.
Also as the jinchuriki of Shukaku, though he may have lost most or all of these powers after his removal, along with all the things mentioned above, Gaara is able to use sand to transform into the beast, either in a smaller version or complete form. When he would, Gaara gained direct access to Shukaku's incredible strength and speed. In the smaller form, he showed the ability to breath a sandstorm strong enough to destroy a pack of shadow clones instantly. In the complete form, Gaara could presumably use Shukaku's signature jutsu, Wind Style: Air Bullets, which could destroy much of a huge area. If he should want to, he could emerge from within the Shukaku transformation and force himself asleep to let Shukaku control his replicated body. Gaara has always been quite perceptive, as he was able to easily deduce the true meaning behind the test in phase one of the Chunin Exams, and he recognized Deidara as an intruder from afar just by looking at his
Gaara as Kazekage.
bird, which was not native to the desert. The greatest example of Gaara's intelligence was when he managed to easily deduce a way to disable the Second Mizukage's Infinite Explosion Ninjutsu, the Steam Imp, a feat which even his rival, Mu, couldn't achieve. As Kazekage of the Hidden Sand, Gaara has power of rule over his village and is responsible for protecting it. He is Commander-in-Chief of the shinobi military therein, which is, together with the Feudal Lord's army, responsible for protecting the Land of Wind along with the Hidden Sand. As the Regimental Commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces(effectively the Raikage's second-in-command), Gaara had absolute authority over everyone in the shinobi alliance besides A himself, including the rest of the Kage, during the Fourth Great Ninja War.