Gaara

Gaara was, in many ways, similar to Naruto Uzumaki, though unfortunately in his case, he had no one to call a friend. Though he did have family, such as his jinchuriki brother (though he would not discover this until much later in the series), both were lonely and longed to be loved, cherished and acknowledged as a human being, from the prejudices of others - as themselves, not as demons they were forced to "contain" - and both were driven to a state of despair. While Naruto consequently developed the misconception that pranks and pranks would bring him the attention he sought, Gaara came to the conclusion that he could preserve and confirm his own existence by killing anyone who challenged him, thus achieving an extreme form of existentialism as a key trait of his personality. In the absence of recognition from others, Gaara could compensate for this fact by valuing himself, to the exclusion of all others, in a strange form of narcissism. On the other hand, while Naruto eventually had Iruka, Kakashi, and his friends who accepted and acknowledged him, Gaara had no one to bond with, not even his father or siblings, as they all despised and feared him for the Shukaku that dwells within him. The person who came closest to being friendly to Gaara was Yashamaru, his uncle, who was ordered to kill him (though in reality, he could object and he truly loved him), but it resulted in creating a sociopathic and lonely Gaara. As such, Gaara did not understand the concept of fighting for anything other than himself, until his confrontation with Naruto.

Appearance Like Naruto, Gaara is slightly shorter than the average male his age. He has pale skin and short, spiky hair that is brick red in color. His eyes are light turquoise in color. The pupils of his eyes are mostly invisible. Gaara has no eyebrows. He has two very noticeable features in his external appearance: First, he has blackened eyelids because, thanks to this, he can control the element of magnet. As an adult, Gaara has a neat haircut, with his bangs combed diagonally towards the right side of his head. The second, he has created the kanji for "love" (愛, Ai) on the left side of his forehead, due to the betrayal of his uncle, Yashamaru. Gaara's forelock is separated from the left side, making the kanji more visible.

Gaara has worn two different outfits. When he was first seen, he was wearing a black full-body suit with short sleeves and an open collar. With this, he wore a white cloth over his right shoulder and the left side of his hip, and a wide leather band system over his left shoulder, and wore his gourd-shaped sand guard around his head. In flashbacks to his childhood, he was seen wearing beige clothing, blue pants, and a black short-sleeved shirt. Upon rescuing Sasuke, he changed from his previous black suit to a reddish one with long sleeves and a large collar.

He wears dark long pants, a red long-sleeved jacket with a cuff, and a purplish-gray vest. He is also seen wearing the Kazekage's attire, and a simple black suit, much like his brother Kankuro's outfit; he wears it during Chiyo's funeral, his village's standard suit and vest, along with his purplish-gray vest and pumpkin in the Fourth Ninja War. In the epilogue, Gaara can be seen sporting a one-piece suit, similar in color to his hair, along with his Kazekage attire.

While Gaara had initially tried to be kind to others, despite his people's fear, Yashamaru's actions and false words changed him. Realizing that no one loved him, Gaara used his sand to create a kanji tattoo on his forehead with the word "love" (愛, ai), as a symbol of what he is, a "demon who loves only himself." himself", and lived up to his name, as his mother, Karura, supposedly believed. Quickly, Gaara became emotionally withdrawn, almost silent, and was gradually consumed by a bitter loathing for everyone, but, at the same time, he became convinced that he only cared about himself and his "mother": the voice of Shukaku in his head. He learned to find pleasure and ultimately a reason to live in annihilating the multiple assassins sent to kill him and, by extension, anyone who threatened his existence. This was made worse by Shukaku, who would not let him sleep and, as a result, Gaara was always looking for a way to quench his bloodlust, which resulted in a ruthless Gaara; This was demonstrated when he murdered Bai and Midare, and ignored their pleas. Gaara's insomnia was driven by the fear that the demon within him would eat his mind while he slept, which fostered his instability and further increased the desire to kill. His hatred also extended to his brothers, as he never saw them as such, and he was completely willing to kill those who crossed them if necessary, to satisfy his desire to reaffirm the existence of he.

After being defeated by Naruto, Gaara was shocked to see that Naruto fully empathized with the pain Gaara had endured his entire life. He was even more shocked that his first friend never gave up hope that Naruto would be recognized as a person and ultimately find friends who truly cared for him. Seeing the determination Naruto had to protect his friends and the village made Gaara question his own path in life.

Realizing that he gave up so easily, Gaara decided to follow Naruto's path, and become Kazekage of Sunagakure, so that he could be connected to his village, and hoped that they would finally acknowledge his existence as a person. Over the next few years, Gaara's determination to find happiness became evident, starting with his decision to rely on his own power, rather than that of his inner demon. Eventually, Gaara forms a close friendship and brotherhood with Naruto.

Sand Armor (砂の鎧, Suna no Yoroi) is a technique where Gaara uses his sand to cover his entire body and thus create a second protection against physical attacks or when his opponents manage to get past his Sand Shield, it is usually not noticeable to the naked eye but if Gaara is hurt the sand around him is instantly noticeable. Despite being a good advantage, maintaining the technique requires a large amount of chakra and stamina, and being stuck to the user's body causes their speed and agility to decrease. The main function of the armor is to reduce the impact of the enemy's attack since the sand itself is not that hard. Also with this technique the person can make a substitution by making his sand skin stay in a certain place while he makes a surprise attack from another strategic position.

Sand Binding Coffin (砂縛柩, Sabaku Kyū) is Gaara's signature technique, where he uses his mastery over sand to form sand around his enemy, trapping them within a large amount of sand. When the opponent is trapped within the technique they are unable to move, which is why it is called a "coffin". It can be used to suffocate his enemy or for the preparation of a deadly technique called Sand Funeral Cascade.

Desert Suspension (砂漠浮遊, Sabaku Fuyū) is one of the defensive and auxiliary methods that Gaara has thought of during combat. This trick allows Gaara to levitate his sand and harden it in order to make it levitate in the air. Thanks to this technique, the person can stay on the floating surface thanks to the sand being modified to support the person's weight.

Sand Tsunami Sand Tsunami Name Kanji The Great Wall of China Romaji Ryūsa Bakuryū Debut Information Classification Ninjutsu Stamps Clap your hands together → Boar → Monkey → Rat → Horse → Monkey → Horse → Ram → Clap your hands together Related Jutsu Derivative/s Imperial Sand Cascade Funeral Imperial Sand Layers Waterfall Funeral Users Users Gaara Satsujin Shukaku Sand Tsunami (流砂瀑流, Ryūsa Bakuryū) is a technique in which Gaara can create a huge amount of sand and send it in the form of a wave towards everything around him, completely covering them and drowning them in a true ocean of sand. From the sand that Gaara keeps in his gourd, he grinds the rocks and minerals that are on the ground, turning them into a sea of ​​sand and manipulates it like a tsunami that envelops anything that is in its range. In addition to the wave effect of the technique, the user can control the sand when his opponent tries to escape from the technique despite fleeing being inevitable. This technique is capable of flooding an entire area forming a kind of ocean of sand. The advantage is that it can drown his enemies but usually after using this technique Gaara uses the Funeral of the Imperial Sand Waterfall crushing the opponent.

The Technique: Feigned Sleep (狸寝入りの術, Tanuki Neiri no Jutsu) is a technique that Gaara can use in which he simply falls asleep, despite not being a powerful technique its main function is that when Gaara is in his complete Shukaku form what he does is fall asleep and in this way the One-Tailed Shukaku takes possession of his body.

Sand Shuriken (砂手裏剣, Suna Shuriken) is a technique that only Gaara can perform when he is turned into Miniature Shukaku, in which he can launch projectiles made of sand from his body that act like shuriken, but with even greater power. Unlike normal shuriken, this one does not have the same edge as steel due to its composition, but this is compensated for by its destructive capacity, as it can pierce trees and easily damage the enemy due to its powerful centrifugal force.

Sand Burial Prison (獄砂埋葬, Gokusa Maisō) is a technique where Gaara has the ability to loosen the ground around his opponent's feet and turn it into a kind of quicksand, causing anyone caught by the technique to sink up to two hundred meters underground. When his prey falls into the technique, they are immobilized and imprisoned deep within. The pressure exerted can kill a normal human, not only can they also be suffocated by the sand, but there are other cases like Kimimaro who was only able to survive thanks to his bone density.

Sand Drizzle (砂時雨, Suna Shigure) is a technique where the user condenses sand to create a cloud that can throw a quantity of sand in the form of rain in all directions. Usually this technique works as a distraction to give the person the opportunity to send sand on the ground to trap him and leave him immobilized, allowing that way his opponent falls into the technique causing him to be surrounded by sand. Almost always after doing this the person can combine it with the Sand Binding Coffin.

The Technique: Sand Clone (砂分身の術, Suna Bunshin no Jutsu) consists of the user being able to generate a clone from sand, but unlike other Bunshinjutsu it only maintains the appearance of that person, since the sand itself is maintained all the time. Despite that, the clone can use the same techniques as the user in the case of Gaara when he creates a clone, the replica can use its own body to shoot sand and use its jutsus, also if its opponent hits the sand directly it can begin to cover it by it giving Gaara the opportunity to catch it in one of his techniques. In the anime, Sasori was able to use this technique by placing his clone as a substitute so he could avoid being hit by one of Kankuro's puppets.

Gaara possesses the ability to manipulate sand, usually traveling through the air to serve various purposes. The amount of sand he can control at one time is quite large, as in Part II he is able to gather enough sand to cover Sunagakure with a shield. If sand is lacking in abundance, Gaara can break down minerals in the earth to create more sand. While he can control any dry sand, ordinary sand requires more chakra to manipulate, tiring him out at a rapid rate. As a result, Gaara keeps his own enhanced sand with him at all times, in a gourd he also throws from the sand on his back. Because this sand is already imbued with his chakra, Gaara has better control over it, allowing him to perform stronger and faster attacks with it.

During battle, Gaara rarely moves, attacking with his sand from a single location, and rarely with taijutsu. When first introduced, his basic means of attack is to first use Sand Binding Coffin to capture, immobilize, and potentially suffocate an opponent with sand. Once the opponent is subdued, he uses Sand Waterfall Funeral, causing sand to crush the opponent with varying intensities. Though he comes with other means of attack throughout the series, the "trap and crush" tactic remains the core of his fighting style, as when he attempted to use this method four times on Kimimaro but the hardened layer of bones beneath Gaara's skin prevented him from being able to kill him.

As the second element of his standing combat style, Gaara has a number of sand-based defenses that he uses in case an opponent gets too close. His main defense is his Sand Shield, an automatic shield of sand that surrounds him and protects him from damage whether he wants it or not. Gaara can control the shield to a certain extent, strengthening it to steel-like quality or urging it to completely encase himself. While an effective defense, the shield can be overcome with high-speed attacks, or simply shattered through blows with incredible force. Should this happen, Gaara has a layer of sand covering his body that is called the Sand Armor. While it is a highly useful secondary defense, the armor requires large amounts of chakra to remain active, and also has the side effect of weighing Gaara down.

According to Sasuke at the Kage Summit, Gaara's Absolute Defense is still alive. Not only that, but the sand has also greatly improved in speed, defense, and attack since last time. Not only was it able to block the Raikage's second attack before it touched the Hell Release: Kagutsuchi, it was even able to single-handedly block several Amaterasu. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Gaara's powers with the sand were so strong that his father believed he had completely transformed into Shukaku and was shocked after seeing that it was not the case. Gaara was able to quickly maneuver his sand above his father's, despite its superior weight. He was also able to trap three Kage with his sand despite his father's efforts.

In addition to these basic methods of attack and defense, Gaara also has a number of miscellaneous attacks that, while they can be used as an attack or shield, are not limited to such purposes. By making a clone of himself out of sand, Gaara can have an ally to be used in battle, or as a mere distraction to be used to buy him time. Unlike most clone techniques in the series, the Sand Clone can maintain its form after more than one attack, and can even reform or capture an opponent by being dispersed. With Desert Suspension, Gaara can use it as a platform of sand, to allow himself and others to float in the air. His Third Eye also allows him to create a floating globe of sand anywhere, which he can see through as a means of spying, or to target his attacks while completely encased in his defenses. Additionally, Gaara has been mentioned to be trained in various ninja arts and can efficiently use weapons such as a rope javelin or jōhyōou. Despite Shukaku's removal, Gaara can still use his sand as before.

It was not known at first if the sand still defended Gaara automatically, as it was believed that Shukaku was the source of the defense. However, the Fourth Kazekage stated that Gaara's mother Karura was the source of the defense, as she truly loved him and vowed to always protect him.