The guy with fair skin, green eyes, spiky auburn hair and looks like Billie Joe from Greenday. Remember him?
That’s right! It’s Gaara from the popular hit series Naruto.
Now, if you have already finished the whole Naruto series, you must have come across Gaara. Even if you haven’t watched the series, you must have heard his name.
Gaara is one of the most popular characters in the series. Gaara was loved and still is loved by many. His character development really captured the hearts of many.
However, during Naruto Shippuden, Gaara died. Yes, he dies.
Many fans were shocked by Gaara’s sudden death, as by this time Gaara had already gained massive popularity with his transformation from a foe to an ally.
And need I say good looks?
But worry not, he did come back to life. We know, this may sound confusing, but Gaara did actually die and he did come back to life. Still confused? Well, we’ve got you covered.
We have covered everything there is to know about the Kazekage. So make sure you stick to the end to find the truth about his death.
Gaara of the Sand
Gaara made his first appearance in the Naruto series, episode 20 “A New Chapter Begins The Chunin Exam!”.Gaara along with his siblings, Kankurō and Temari, went to the Hidden leaf village to appear in the Chunin Exams.
Gaara was a shinobi from the Hidden Sound Village, Sunagakure. He was the youngest son of The Fourth Kazekage and Karura. He was also a Jinchuriki of the one-tailed beast, Shukaku. Being the Jinchuriki, he was able to control sand and use it to attack his enemies.
Gaara was typically a withdrawn and silent type, so if he had to interact with people, he would do so without even considering their feelings. If someone was to tick him off, he would kill them instantly even if they were his own siblings.
Gaara was not always a villain, but rather made into one after he lost trust and hope of love from his own family and people.
Gaara’s Childhood
After childbirth, Gaara’s mother sadly passed away, leaving him in the care of his father and uncle. Although having Temari and Kankuro as his siblings, he grew up mostly in isolation. As a Jinchuiriki, Gaara had to go through a lot. Just like Naruto, Gaara too was looked upon as a monster and feared by the villagers.
Gaara tried his best to be kind to others. He tried to get close to them, help them, and make friends. In return, he was always ignored, feared, and told nasty things. No matter how many times he tried to do good, he would always end up causing harm to others. He didn’t understand this pain as he was always protected by his sand. However, despite all this, Gaara always tried to show love and affection toward his people. But it all changed one day when his own dear uncle attacked him.
Yashamaru was Gaara’s maternal uncle. He always made sure that Gaara felt loved and had someone whom he could talk to. Gaara did the same. After losing his mother, Gaara confided in his uncle. He felt that no matter what happened, his uncle would always be there for him. However, it turned out that his uncle had been lying all this time. One day, Gaara was attacked by Suna’s Anbu. Gaara did manage to fatally wound him and unmasked the man, only to find his dearest uncle.
Gaara was shocked to see his uncle trying to kill him. Yashamaru on the other hand was enraged that he couldn’t finish off his nephew. He explained that it was Gaara’s own father who had ordered to kill him. Already shocked by such a confession, Gaara’s heart broke, even more, when his uncle said that none of them ever truly loved him and that it was all just a show.
Learning the truth, Gaara made himself believe that nobody really did love him. So, he decided to let go of the little hope of love he had and live only by himself. This is when he made his heart as strong as the sand that protected him.
How did Gaara get Shukaku?
When Sunagakure’s budget was cut down because of Wind Daimyo, the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa decided to make one of his children the Jinchuriki of the tailed beast. Shukaku was the one-tailed beast and despite being the weakest among the tailed beasts, it still had immense power. Rasa’s first two children, Temari and Kankurō, both were not compatible with Shukaku. However, his youngest child, Gaara was able to merge with Shukaku’s massive chakra.
When Rasa came to know about Gaara’s compatibility with Shukaku, he immediately called Chiyo, Sunagakure’s Puppet Brigade and a medical-nin, and asked her to seal the beast into his son before he was even born. Sealing the beast in Gaara, Rasa intended to use him as a weapon. However, when he noticed that Gaara’s kind nature was making him weaker. He thought because of that Gaara won’t be able to handle Shukaku. So in order to get rid of Gaara, Rasa decided to kill him and for the mission, he chose Yashamaru.
Did Gaara get any special abilities from the tailed beast?
Shukaku was already sealed into Gaara before he was even born. So from the moment of his birth, he already had some special powers. Some of his powers and abilities are discussed here.
Ninjutsu
Gaara learned Ninjutsu from his father. Having a tailed beast inside him already did make him strong. But he had also learned ninjutsu. He had mastered nature transformations that included Earth, Lightning, and Wind release. He used them to mix with his sands in order to increase their speed and coverage area. He had also inherited Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai from Rasa, which he used as a last resort on the battlefields.
Sand Manipulation
Gaara was seen carrying a Gourd that had sand. He used the sand to attack his enemies as well as create a shield against the enemies’ attacks. Being Shukaku’s Jinchuriki, Gaara was able to control sand, even from his surroundings. With his great Ninjutsu, he was able to come up with jutsus such as the Sand Waterfall Funeral, which crushed the enemies’ bodies without any mercy. Apart from this, he had some powerful jutsus such as the Sand Binding coffin, Shield of Sand, Armour of Sand, and so on.
Jinchuriki Transformation
With Shukaku’s power, Gaara had immense power. Because Gaara was filled with hatred and rage, Shukaku was able to take control of his body. Gara too let the beast take his control, allowing them to transform into the tailed beast. Other jinchurikis transform into their tailed beast in their original form. However, Gaara used sand to acquire a human-sized version of his tailed beast.
Intelligence
Being an excellent shinobi, he was very intelligent. A sharp and innovative fighter, Gaara had a keen eye for details. He used to quickly notice opponents’ vulnerabilities and used them in order to win a fight. He was also very good at deception as he was able to trap many powerful opponents using his skills.
Gaara’s “Death”
Gaara along with his siblings, Temari and Kankuro went to the hidden leaf village for the Chunin exams. There he met Naruto and his friends. Because of Gaara’s nature, he was not very open to anyone. During the exams, he came across Sasuke. Fascinated by his power, Gaara was pretty excited to fight him.
The Sand Village was planning to launch an attack on the leaf village by using Gaara. However, Gaara was first approached by a participant in the exam. He attacked Gaara with the intention of killing him. But ended up getting killed. Gaara after participating in the exams proceeded with the infiltration plan despite his injuries.
During their attack, Gaara encountered Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura. He was about to fight with Sasuke, but Sakura stepped in the middle, only to get tied to a tree. Naruto however tried to retreat, but seeing his friends struggling, he decided to stay and fight.
The fight between Naruto and Gaara started. With the powers of the tailed beasts, they both delivered strong attacks on each other. Soon, Naruto threw a strong punch at Gaara, making him fall to the ground. With Naruto’s victory, the fight came to an end. After the fight, Naruto tried to confront Gaara. Because Gaara had built a wall around him that didn’t let people close to him, he pushed Naruto away. But Naruto being Naruto, tried his best to talk to him.
Both being the Jinchurikis, Naruto made Gaara realize that even Naruto went through the same life as him. A life that was full of loneliness, pain, hatred, and rage. After talking with Naruto, Gaara realized how he let hatred get the best of him and how cruel he had been to the ones around him as well. They both understood each other and forged a lifelong friendship.
Kazekage’s Rescue Mission Arc
Gaara’s Death
The Akatsuki were on a mission to collect the tailed beasts to use their powers to bring peace to the world. After collecting some tailed beasts, their next target was Gaara, Jinchuriki of Shukaku. To retrieve Gaara, the Akatsuki duo of Deidara and Sasori, made their way to the village. There they were stopped by Kankurō, but he was defeated by Sasori, the master of puppets. They were successful in taking Gaara and fled from the village.
Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi along with Guy’s team were heading towards the Akatsuki’s base to save Gaara. However, they were attacked by Deidara and Sasori. While the fight continued, the Akatsuki had already extracted the tailed beast and sealed it into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. They successfully extracted the tailed beasts, which took them three days.
How did Gaara come back to life?
It was said that after the extraction of tailed beasts, the Jinchuriki dies and that’s exactly what happened to Gaara. After the extraction, Gaara’s lifeless body dropped to the ground. After successfully defeating the two Akatsukis’, they retrieved Gaara’s body and laid it on a grassland.
Naruto asked Sakura to check on Gaara. Sakura got close to Gaara to check on him, but not sensing any chakra or heartbeat, she pronounced him dead. Not believing his friend’s death, Naruto bawled out and blamed Chiyo for Gaara’s death. Naruto blamed Chiyo for making Gaara’s life miserable by making him a Jinchuriki.
Upon hearing Naruto’s words, Chiyo came to a realization that what she had done was really horrible. A loss for words, to atone for her deeds, she decided to help Gaara. She used a special jutsu to revive Gaara at the cost of her own life. Since she already had low chakra, Naruto lent her some of his chakras to help with the process.
Finally, after combining their chakras, they were able to bring Gaara back to life. However, because Chiyo had already used up all her chakra and the jutsu came at the price of the user’s own life, she took her final breath. Even in her last moment, she apologized for her wrongdoings and hoped for a better future for the shinobis. She believed that shinobis like Naruto and Gaara would be able to change the world for the better.
Upon gaining consciousness, Gaara was greeted by his fellow comrades with loud cheers. He thanked everybody, especially Naruto for believing in him and making him see the world in a new light. His siblings, Temari and Kankuro also thanked Naruto for saving their brother and giving him a new life.
What happened after he came back to life?
After being revived by Chiyo, Gaara was welcomed with loud cheers and love from his comrades. He was very thankful to those around him. He continued being the Kazekage and did his duty with full responsibility and loyalty. He planned on bringing peace to the world and made an alliance with the Kages of the Five Nations.
Will he get Shukaku back?
No. Once extracted from him, Shukaku was sealed into a Demonic Statue, which was later used by Madara in the Fourth Shinobi War.
After Madara’s death and the departure of the previous Kage, the tailed beasts were captured again. This time Sasuke betrayed them and sealed them in his Chibaku Tensei. After the intense battle between Naruto and Sasuke, the tailed beasts were freed. Shukaku along with the other tailed beasts were released and continued to live their own lives.
The Tailed beasts were able to live without the Jinchurikis but it was not the same for the Jinchurikis, as they lose their lives once the tailed beasts are extracted from them. Luckily, Gaara was brought back to life.
After losing Shukaku, Gaara did lose the tailed beast’s power. But even without its powers, Gaara still had immense strengths and abilities making him one of the most powerful shinobi in the world.
He isn’t The Kazekage of the Sunagakure for nothing, right?
Will Gaara die in Boruto?
Gaara is well and alive in the Boruto series. He has made many appearances throughout the series and is still the Kazekage of the Sound Village. He even joined forces with Boruto and Sasuke along with other Kage to rescue Narut, proving his lifelong friendship.
So, rest assured!
But with Kurama’s death in the recent episodes, we really can’t say anything for sure. Fans have barely survived the last time Gaara died, but the next will be a fatal blow. Let’s just hope they aren’t planning something like that for the next few years.
