Kazekage Gaara

Gaara (我愛羅) is shinobi from Sunagakure. Prior to Gaara's birth, Sunagakure saw a series of budget cuts that made it difficult for the village to operate. As a result, Gaara's father ordered Chiyo to seal the Shukaku within Gaara during his birth in the hopes that he would become the ultimate weapon for the village.Because a sacrifice was needed, Gaara's mother, Karura, was used. Before she died, Karura cursed Sunagakure, hoping Gaara would avenge her death. As with the other demon hosts, Gaara acquired a physical trait of the tailed beast inside him - in his case, dark rings around his eyes resembling those of the Shukaku. These rings are also indicative of his insomnia--he cannot sleep, or else the Shukaku will consume his personality.

Gaara was trained by his father, but raised mainly by his maternal uncle, a medic-nin called Yashamaru. Because of the power of Shukaku, the villagers of Sunagakure hated and feared Gaara, seeing him only as the monster sealed within him. For a time, Yashamaru seemed to be the only person who cared about him; when he would mistakenly harm others due to the subconscious abilities granted to him by Shukaku, Yashamaru would be the only one who understood that Gaara hadn't intended to harm anyone. Gaara's father, however, did not see him in the same light, and viewed his frequent attacks upon villagers as a result of a failed experiment that was a threat to the village.

Because of the danger Gaara represented, the Kazekage asked Yashamaru to kill Gaara. As a result, Yashamaru tried to assassinate Gaara, though Gaara's abilities defeated him with ease. Although Gaara tried to dismiss this attack as an order of the Kazekage, Yashamaru corrected him by saying that he had willingly accepted the mission. Having never truly loved Gaara, Yashamaru hoped that killing him would avenge the death of his older sister, who had named Gaara after the phrase "a self-loving carnage" (我を愛する修羅, Ware wo ai suru shura), a sign of her hate for Gaara. In a last effort to kill him, Yashamaru detonated a number of explosive tags covering his body, and said "This is the end". Having said that he assumed Gaara would be killed along with him in the explosion. Gaara survived the blast without injury and lost the only person he thought had cared for him. From the ages of six to twelve years old, Gaara would encounter many assassins sent by his father, dispatching them with ease.

As the host of Shukaku, Gaara possesses the ability to manipulate sand, typically moving it through the air to serve various purposes. The amount of sand he can control at one time is fairly immense, as in Part II he is able to gather enough sand to cover Sunagakure as a shield. If sand is lacking in abundance, Gaara can use what little sand there is to break apart the minerals in the ground to create more sand. While he can control any dry sand, ordinary sand requires more chakra to manipulate it, tiring him at a rapid rate. As a result, Gaara keeps his own chakra-enhanced sand with him at all times in a calabash gourd also made out of sand on his back. Because this sand is already infused with his chakra, Gaara has a great deal more control over it, enabling stronger and faster attacks with it. Gaara has created a large number of offernsive and defensive ninjutsu with the sand, while the offensive ninjutsu are seen to be able to make extreme damage and in most cases death to the opponent, the defensive are so strong that they have been called the ultimate defense many times.