Season 2: Episode 76

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Source: Wikipedia,
"Assassin of the Moonlit Night."

"Gaara tries to attack Sasuke again but is covered by Sakura, who gets in the way. Gaara pushes Sakura out of the way, while Naruto grabs Sasuke's body and saves him. Gaara remembers his childhood with his maternal uncle, Yashamaru. While Yashamaru had been the only person who seemed to care for him for many years, Gaara is shocked to find Yashamaru suddenly attacking him out of sheer hatred."


Analysis

Sakura plays an important part in this episode because she is the one who triggers Gaara's memories from his past. When Sakura protects Sasuke, Gaara remembers his maternal uncle Yashamaru, who was protecting someone in the past. Therefore, without Sakura, we wouldn't know more about Gaara's past.

Gaara remembers his childhood with his maternal uncle, Yashamaru. While Yashamaru had been the only person who seemed to care for him for many years, Gaara was shocked to find Yashamaru suddenly attacking him out of sheer hatred. There is a flashback technique shown in this episode. This time, it's about Gaara's past. Others always shunned Gaara because they were afraid of him. After all, he is the host of the beast, Shikaku. Therefore, Gaara was always alone, and it seemed like his uncle was the only one who cared about him. The reason why Gaara is filled with so much hatred is not only because Yashamaru tried to kill him, but also because Yashamaru was following orders from Gaara's father! Moreover, what triggered Gaara's hatred for the world is that Yashamaru hated Gaara all this time. Yashamaru's sister was killed by Gaara when he was a baby. However, it was the tailed beast's power that killed Gaara's mother. This is a tragedy; hence, there is a theme of sadness shown in this episode. It gives us an understanding of why Gaara is the way he is. His family hated him, so he only lived for himself without caring about others. Gaara, in a way, is broken. He is suffering emotionally. Therefore, there is a resolution since the mystery behind Gaara being a monster has been unravelled. Moreover, Gaara is sort of shown as a round character because he behaves like a monster due to his past experiences. 

The lesson from this episode is that we shouldn't judge others without knowing the full story first, since Gaara had his reasons for behaving like a monster. 

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