|
Gaara...SPOILER WARNING!!!!!! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quote: Discliamer: I did not write this; Wikipedia does. I just copy and paste. Do not read if you do not like spoilers...I warned you.
Gaara (我愛羅, Gaara?) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Naruto.
He is known as "Gaara of the Sand" in the Viz translation, "Gaara of the Desert" in the English anime, and "Sabaku no Gaara" (砂瀑の我愛羅, "Sabaku no Gaara"? Gaara of the Sand Waterfall) in the original Japanese (Sabaku 砂瀑 means "sand waterfall", but sabaku 砂漠 means "desert", thus the more common "Gaara of the Desert" wink .
In the annual Shonen Jump polls for the most popular character, Gaara consistently ranks in the top ten, usually between seventh and tenth spot.
BACKGROUND
Gaara is the son of the Fourth Kazekage and the brother of Temari and Kankuro, his older siblings. As a child, the One-Tailed Shukaku was sealed within Gaara during his 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 was due to the country's feudal lord 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.
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 As a result, Gaara became emotionally withdrawn, all but silent, and consumed with a bitter loathing for everyone but himself.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 fear that the demon inside him would eat away at his personality if he were to fall asleep, made Gaara further unstable.
Gaara's childhood was somewhat similar to Naruto's, albeit 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 (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, but the children ran from him. Not wanting to be alone, Gaara pleaded for the children to stay behind, which his sand acted on by grabbing them. In his anger at their cries for help, Gaara almost kills a few of them, only to be stopped by Yashamaru. 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 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: 我を愛する修羅, (Ware wo ai suru shura, "a self-loving carnage" wink . 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" wink 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 target of almost constant assassination attempts, all ordered by his father.
Gaara and the Shukaku
As the host of Shukaku, Gaara has the ability to manipulate sand at will. 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 because it is pre-treated with his chakra. Other sand puts a greater strain on him since he has to use more chakra to animate it. With his personal sand, not only does Gaara always have his own sand supply, but his attacks also increase in both speed and power.
During battle, Gaara rarely moves, usually guarding and attacking with his sand from a single location. Gaara is rarely seen using taijutsu in the series; in fact, he only physically attacks someone twice throughout the entire series. In the first instance, he smacks Temari away 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. The second time is at the end of his battle with Naruto when both fighters attempt to punch the other one last time.
Almost all of Gaara's jutsu are sand-based and, although mostly used for simple offense and defense, can be used for a variety of purposes, including floating in the air and spying. 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, which is essentially a massive version of the former combo. Gaara could potentially kill an entire army single-handedly with this attack (and nearly does so in the second movie), as it is capable of leveling an entire forest. When using his Shukaku forms, Gaara also gains a few wind-based attacks.
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. The sphere grows spikes to impale anyone who approaches.
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. While in his Shukaku form, Gaara switches from his normally long-range battle style to physical attacks augmented by the sand covering him. He primarily relies on his brute strength to destroy everything around him. The few long range attacks he uses are basically sand imitations of ordinary weapons, such as shuriken.
Gaara can also create a life-sized version of Shukaku if his human-sized form doesn't work. He remains buried inside the Shukaku copy, safe from harm but also unable to move. 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. To do so, however, Gaara must emerge from within the copy, leaving him open to attack for the duration of the jutsu. Shukaku's sand 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 in roughly an hour, beating the previous record by over four hours, though Kankuro is worried Gaara would kill him. Anko is astonished to see through video surveillance 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 is also demonstrated for the first time as he kills the Rain ninja Shigure, who Gaara claimed had looked at him wrong. Shigure attacked Gaara first, but to no avail. His attacks were rendered pointless by Gaara's sand, after which Gaara easily crushed him. Shigure was followed quickly by his teammates Baiu and Midare, despite their pleas for mercy and handing over their scroll. Gaara would have killed Team 8 (hidden behind a bush) next if Kankuro and Temari hadn't convinced him to stop.
In the preliminary matches, Gaara is matched against Rock Lee. Lee's formidable speed and strength are enough to bypass Gaara's sand shield completely, forcing him to rely on his secondary sand armor. Despite Rock Lee's best efforts, Gaara's sand protects him from even Lee's Reverse Lotus, which leaves Lee in no condition to fight after its use. Though Lee's Reverse Lotus does immobilize Gaara, it is not enough to keep Gaara from using 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.
Before the final matches begin, Gaara attempts to kill Lee while he is resting at the hospital. Shikamaru Nara and Naruto are there to stop him, but quickly learn that they are out of their league. Before attempting to attack them, Gaara reveals that he is host to the Shukaku, and also explains his motivation for killing. Might Guy steps in once again to keep Gaara from killing them, after which Gaara promises that he will do so eventually.
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. 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 sphere of sand and attempting to release Shukaku, Sasuke took the opportunity to use One Thousand Birds, punching through Gaara's sphere and hitting him near the shoulder. This was the first time Gaara had ever bled in his life, and the first time he ever felt physical pain since his match with Lee.
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 in roughly an hour, beating the previous record by over four hours, though Kankuro is worried Gaara would kill him. Anko is astonished to see through video surveillance 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 is also demonstrated for the first time as he kills the Rain ninja Shigure, who Gaara claimed had looked at him wrong. Shigure attacked Gaara first, but to no avail. His attacks were rendered pointless by Gaara's sand, after which Gaara easily crushed him. Shigure was followed quickly by his teammates Baiu and Midare, despite their pleas for mercy and handing over their scroll. Gaara would have killed Team 8 (hidden behind a bush) next if Kankuro and Temari hadn't convinced him to stop.
In the preliminary matches, Gaara is matched against Rock Lee. Lee's formidable speed and strength are enough to bypass Gaara's sand shield completely, forcing him to rely on his secondary sand armor. Despite Rock Lee's best efforts, Gaara's sand protects him from even Lee's Reverse Lotus, which leaves Lee in no condition to fight after its use. Though Lee's Reverse Lotus does immobilize Gaara, it is not enough to keep Gaara from using 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.
Before the final matches begin, Gaara attempts to kill Lee while he is resting at the hospital. Shikamaru Nara and Naruto are there to stop him, but quickly learn that they are out of their league. Before attempting to attack them, Gaara reveals that he is host to the Shukaku, and also explains his motivation for killing. Might Guy steps in once again to keep Gaara from killing them, after which Gaara promises that he will do so eventually.
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. 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 sphere of sand and attempting to release Shukaku, Sasuke took the opportunity to use One Thousand Birds, punching through Gaara's sphere and hitting him near the shoulder. This was the first time Gaara had ever bled in his life, and the first time he ever felt physical pain since his match with Lee.
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 and his siblings later appear as allies after the Fifth Hokage asked them to assist the team sent to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha. Gaara arrived in time to rescue Rock Lee from Kimimaro Kaguya, taking over the battle due to Lee's obvious injuries.
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; the main reason being that Lee's now bleeding wounds (that Gaara remembers inflicting himself) have yet to heal. 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 foot-binding sand to trap the agile Kimimaro for his Desert Funeral. Kimimaro is forced to tap into his cursed seal to survive the crushing force and when he climbs out, he comments on how impressive the pressure is. The second is Quicksand in the Style of a Waterfall, a giant forty-foot-tall wave of sand, which he uses shortly after Kimimaro clambers out of the first Desert Funeral. Having flooded the entire area with sand, Gaara attempts to finish his opponent with a bigger version of his Desert Funeral, Desert Imperial Funeral, compressing the massive amount with much more colossal force. This jutsu is strong enough to force Kimimaro to go into cursed seal level 2. He also uses Last Absolute Defense: Shield of Shukaku to create a giant, toy-like replica of Shukaku capable of breaking even Kimimaro's enhanced bones. His final jutsu loosens the sand beneath Kimimaro to bury him 200 meters underground.
Although Gaara held his ground against Kimimaro for a while, Kimimaro's kekkei genkai and cursed seal allowed him to survive every one of Gaara's attacks, leaving Gaara exhausted. He almost kills 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 notes that they would have been killed if Kimimaro had been healthy, and comments on Kimimaro's dedication to Orochimaru afterwards, saying that people ultimately need someone they hold dear as part their life, regardless of whether that person is "good" or "evil"; and no one can overcome loneliness on their own, no matter how strong they are.
Rescue Gaara arc
Over the timeskip, Gaara has since become the Fifth Kazekage (五代目風影, Godaime Kazekage?), succeeding his father. 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 launching a high-powered clay bomb to destroy the village. Gaara is able to protect his village, but at the expense of much of his chakra, leaving him severely weakened. This allowed Deidara to mix a clay bomb with Gaara's sand without Gaara noticing, knocking Gaara unconscious once it went off. He was then taken back to their hideout.
Though Naruto and Team Guy 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 forbidden life-restoring technique in combination with Naruto's chakra, bringing Gaara back to life at the cost of her own. Before dying, Gaara laments his own loneliness from his childhood to the present day. Naruto, on the other hand, contemplates his differences with Gaara in the matter of their progression of loneliness. Naruto visualizes the growing field of friends he had made and the desert of loneliness that Gaara is in. Gaara is awoken by Naruto, and as he wakes up he realizes that he is surrounded by people concerned for him. This is the first time Gaara truly felt loved and not so alone. He also shows his first true smile since he was a child, rather than his bloodthirsty grin he often gave when he had the advantage in a battle, particularly while he was toying with his opponent.
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 encourage and guide Naruto's hand, 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, however, he most likely lost the automatic sand protection of possessing the Shukaku. It is unknown if his other abilities have been affected by its loss; however, it is unlikely that he would have made Kazekage purely on the back of his Sand-based abilities.
[b:c1c7a693a0]The more things change, the more they remain the same.[/b:c1c7a693a0][/color:c1c7a693a0][/align:c1c7a693a0]
 Tenshi-Eclipse · Fri Jan 26, 2007 @ 02:24am · 1 Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
