the Fourth Kazekage wanted to make one of his children the jinchūriki of the tailed beast Shukaku to serve as a weapon for the village. His first two children, Temari and then Kankurō, had not been compatible with Shukaku. Rasa's third child, however, Gaara, was compatible with Shukaku. For that reason, Shukaku was sealed inside of Gaara by Chiyo before he was even born, when Gaara was still a fetus inside of his mother Karura's womb. Gaara was raised in isolation during his early life, taught ninjutsu by his father and cared for by his maternal uncle, Yashamaru. When he was allowed to roam around the village, Gaara would try to connect with the villagers, being kind to them and offering them any assistance he could. However, being a jinchūriki made the villagers frightened of Gaara; adults avoided him and, when they couldn't, treated him delicately while children would run from him on sight. When he was six years old, Gaara asked Yashamaru to explain pain to him. Gaara, said Yashamaru, received love everyday, from both his mother - whose spirit controlled the sand that protected him - and from Yashamaru himself. He was attacked by one of Suna's Anbu, whom he fatally wounded with his sand. When he unmasked the Anbu, Gaara discovered it was Yashamaru. Gaara was devastated that Yashamaru, the only living person to love him, would try to kill him and asked for an explanation. Yashamaru replied that it was a mission given to him by Rasa, Gaara's father, it having been decided by the Suna Council that Gaara was a failed experiment that, if allowed to live, would only continue to do harm to the village and its people. Gaara tried to find solace in the fact that Yashamaru had been ordered to kill him, but Yashamaru insisted, lying to Gaara that he volunteered and that he'd always hated Gaara for causing Karura's death. Karura had not loved Gaara either, and named him after the phrase "a self-loving monster" so that he would be a curse upon Suna for what it had done to her. With his explanation done, Yashamaru asked Gaara to "please die" before blowing himself up with explosive tags.