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Naruto 76March 26, 2004Title: Assassin in the Moon Light Ok, at this point, Sasuke is barely conscious, since he used up most of his chakra while attacking Gaara with his ultimate attack (Chidori). However, Gaara is still unscathed after fighting with Sasuke. Triumphantly, Gaara turns to deliver the killing blow, but he is blocked by Sakura.
Naturally, Gaara overpowers Sakura, since he's much more powerful than her, but he is surprised at Sakura's sacrificial defense of her teammate. In a painful flashback, Gaara remembers the Sand Ninja Yashamaru, who cared for him even though everyone else in the Sand village scorned Gaara as a monster.
However, in a bitter twist of fate, the night after Gaara was told that he was precious, he was attacked by a masked ninja, who, when defeated, turned out to be Yashamaru.
Now, in the Konoha forest, Gaara struggles against the realization that he has no-one who will stand up for him (as Sakura did for Sasuke). In his growing rage, Gaara taunts Naruto on his inability to save either Sasuke or Sakura. Naruto knows that he is no match for Gaara, but, in an act of selflessness, decides to attack Gaara anyway to save his friends. The End. * * * RATING: B Erg. It's so easy to paint Gaara as a stereotypical bad guy (now that he has fangs and a tail), but this episode forces us to realize that Gaara was a sensitive child that was utterly betrayed by his parents, teachers, and peers. This is probably just me, but I think that it's amazing to see how the producers can make us feel sorry for a super-powerful half-demon, even to the point that we forget about the unconscious Sasuke, who really deserves a lot more pity. Without a doubt, this is clearly excellent storytelling. Besides this, it's uncanny to see how similar Naruto is to Gaara. After all, both had a demon foisted upon them when they were born and were accordingly treated as social outcasts. In fact, Gaara's words in this episode ("Why do they look at me like that?") are spoken exactly by Naruto in a prior episode (right before be uses 'Harem no Jutsu' on Konohamaru's perverted tutor). This brings up a weird point. If Naruto is so identical to Gaara, why does Gaara only see himself as similar to Sasuke? Could they *all* be the same? It's a triangle! * * * disagree? read 8 comments! * * * Related Reviews
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