GAARA PROFILE

GAARA OF THE DESERT

Name: Gaara
Age: 12
Birthday: January 19th
Shinobi registration number: 56-001
Blood type: AB
Height: 146.1 cm
Weight: 39 kg
Family: Temari, Kankuro and Kazekage.
Country: Sand
Village: Sunagakure -Hidden Sand Village-
Personality: Cold hearted cruel, and egoistic.
Favorite food: Ground liver, salted tongue
Least favorite food: Sweet bean jelly, marron glacé
Favorite word: Jiai. -"I only care about myself"-
Would like to fight: Sasuke
Jounin Master: Baki
Signature Abilities: Sabaku Kyuu, Sabaku Sousou
Notable Features: Kanji tattoo on forehead saying "Love," Carries large gourd on his back.
Notable Quotes: "Love only yourself, and fight only for yourself."
Academy Grad Age: 12

Character description:
Gaara is about 12 years old (at the start of the series), and he enjoys killing people that stand in his way (his way of having fun - he hates people and loves only himself). Long ago, when he was around the age of six, his father, the Kazekage, sent assassins to kill off Gaara because he believed Gaara was becoming too dangerous (after killing a man that passed him in the street). But the attempt failed, and later ninja's were sent...who were all killed by Gaara.

Yashamaru says that he is Gaara's mother's brother (that would be an uncle for all you slow people out there). He also tells us, as he is dying, that Gaara's father, the Kazekage (leader of the Village Hidden in the Sand, like Hokage is for the Village Hidden in the Leaves), ordered him to kill Gaara. Yashamaru admits that he could have turned down the mission but chose to do it. Yashamaru had "adopted" Gaara due to his obligation to his sister, but could never get over the fact that Gaara's birth resulted in his sister's death.

Gaara's father was killed by Orochimaru, who took his body and posed as him during the tournament. They find his body after the tournament, and find out about Orochimaru's plot. Gaara has two older siblings, his brother Kankuro and sister Temari, who are with him in the chunin exam.

Gaara's gourd is made of sand and the blood of the victims, which he says gives him power. In battle, he takes out sand and uses it to kill off his enemies by means of the techniques called Desert Coffin and Desert Funeral. The gourd itself is also made out of sand, as is his armor. He has a sleep spell that gives the demon Shukaku the ability to manifest (just check out the dark lines around Gaara's eyes). Gaara doesn't sleep because if he does Shukaku will take control.

Gaara's Name:

In Japanese Kanji, Gaara's name is spelled "我愛羅". The kanji on Gaara's forehead, 愛 ("ai"), means "Love", and is the second kanji character is his name. The first kanji in his name means "self", and the third means "carnage". Thus, his name literally means "self-loving carnage". Additionally, before Yashamaru dies, he says that Gaara's name means "demon who cares only for himself". I'd say that matches up pretty good.

Gaara facts:

Gaara's life was one of torment and hatred. The sand that protects Gaara is the work of the demon Shukaku. This demon was once the living soul of a Sand priest. Kazekage had the soul imbued into sand, causing the creation of a sand incarnation. This was an embodiment that the Kazekage then had imbued into the being of his unborn son Gaara. Though this incarnation protects Gaara from harm, it has caused him deep emotional and psychological harm. Whenever Gaara sleeps, Shukaku begins to eat more and more away at Gaara's psyche. This has led Gaara to limit his sleep to try and protect whatever mental stability he has left. Seeing that Gaara was unable to control the incarnation when young, Kazekage ordered Gaara killed. The sand constantly protected Gaara though and foiled any attempt at assassination. Gaara has cursed his father and those in the village for what they have done to him but he still acts under their wishes to participate in the Chuunin Exam. It is during this period that Gaara begins to lose more of his mental stability, eventually fully giving himself to the demon and allowing its full large form to take shape, that of a Tanuki, or Raccoon-Dog. It is briefly allowed to run rampant on its own while Gaara engages in a forced sleep, but Naruto is able to wake and injure Gaara and Shukaku crumbled back into sand.

Gaara is possessed by the spirit of Suna no Shukaku, an old sand priest. Shukaku is a tanuki. (raccoon-dog) Shukaku was sealed in a kettle before Gaara's father implant it in him.

Those possessed by the tanuki (raccoon-dog) spirit all suffer from insomnia, and that includes Gaara. This is because the demon within gains more and more control over the host as it sleeps, erasing the real personality and replacing it with the demon's. By staying awake, Gaara manages to remain in control over himself, rather than letting the demon completely take over him. We don't know whether the effect of the demon is irreversible, or if Gaara would return to "normal" should the sand spirit be placed under a seal.

The black lines around Gaara's eyes aren't some elaborate make-up, but signs of insomnia.

Gaara has a jutsu - sleeping tanuki (tanuki neiri) - that allows him to fall asleep during battle and let the demon take control. In Japanese, "tanuki neiri" literally translates into "fall into a tanuki's sleep" or in other words: to feign sleep. The real life tanuki often uses this strategy when surprised.

3 months later

Age: 13 years
Height: 148.1cm
Weight: 40.2kg

Gaara became a whole different person by now and he's not the pyscho we know he is anymore.

After being injured Gaara and Naruto are near exhausted, Gaara remained motionless on the ground, only able to watch as Naruto summoned the strength to keep crawling towards Gaara to stop him from further hurting Sakura. Naruto explained to Gaara that he grew up in a similar fashion, that his life could have turned out the same had people not acknowledged and cared for him like Iruka and Naruto's fellow teammates. Naruto explained that one can become truly strong not by fighting for oneself, but for those precious to them. It was then Gaara was able to fully understand that he had been living his life in the wrong manner. Shortly thereafter Kankurou and Temari appeared to help Gaara. Gaara let them know he was finished fighting, and had the team retreat. As they made their way back to the Wind Country, Gaara did something surprising to both Temari and Kankurou, he apologized for hurting them in the past.

After Sand had retreated the country discovered that they had been manipulated into invading Leaf by Orochimaru and not under the direction of their Kage. After conceding defeat, Sand and Leaf became allies again. Months later when Shikamaru and his Genin team went on a mission to retrieve Sasuke from the hands of Orochimaru, Tsunade requested a favor from the Sand Country. When Shikamaru and his team were in a dire situation, the three Sand Genin returned to lend assistance to their allies the Leaf... Gaara came in and help Lee to fight Kimimaro.

2 and a half years later:

From Genin to Kazekage, Gaara has achived great potential to become a Kazekage. It was his dream and hopes to become the Kazekage.

"To be bond and live for the village."

"Suffering, joy, happiness...Through fighthing with him, I know that all of this can be share with someone."

~Gaara

He became a whole different person. He aim to become the Kazekage since he was 12 years old. He live his team and join the SunaGakure Daimyou and strenghten the foundation of SunaGakure. Although the road to it is hard he never give up and continue on his dream.