Naruto's Most Psychotic Villain: Garra of the Desert!

In the show Naruto there are a large cast of hero's and villains, but none are as scary or down right crazy as Garra of the Desert. He himself is a villain among villains when it comes to each and every aspect of the word. He is powerful beyond reason, because he is possessed by a demon, and emotionally unstable, making him an unbalanced and insane character, but we all love to see him fight.

Garra comes into the Naruto saga during the second season of the show. We first meet him as the quiet red haired kid form the Sand village coming to the chunin exams held in the Hidden Leaf Village. His only ambition at the first encounter with our hero's Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, is to fight and defeat Sasuke, and he shows no interest in anyone else. This first impression leads us to think Garra is just a strong and quiet individual with some emotional problems, but his characters plot thickens with time.

During the begging exams we see that there is no information available about Garra in terms of statistics listed on Ninja Info cards. These special cards list a ninjas attributes, like special powers and so on, Sasuke has the ability of the Sharigan eye, and so it shows up on his card, just like Rock Lee's amazing Taijutsu abilities and Neji's Byakugan, but there is nothing on Garra. Just one fact shows up, and that is Garra has never been injured, ever. No one has ever touched him, in battle or otherwise.

During a survival exercise in the Forest of Death we see the true psychotic nature of this villain. The goal of this test is for teams of three ninja to survive in the forest, obtain 2 different scrolls and then head to the center building to await further instruction. Garra's team obtains the scrolls fast and heads to the center, but encounters another ninja team who is wanting to steal their scrolls, which is sort of the point of the whole mission, to fight and protect.

A ninja by the name of Kiba is tracking Garra's team when he seems the ambush. Kiba waits for the conflict to conclude before moving in, and so watches as this horror unfolds. Garra commands sand that he carries with him and uses this to literally crush the enemy ninja and kill them. Kiba backs off as he now fears for his life, and cannot comprehend the scene he just beheld, Garra killing other ninja his own age, when that could have been avoided, but then again that's what makes Garra a true villain.

During the next round of the exams Garra faces off against a ninja by the name of Rock Lee. Lee can't seem to get past the shield that the sand creates around Garra, so uses his powerful taijutsu, which is a form of martial arts enhanced to break this shield and attack. Garra is caught off guard and is beat into the ground on several occasions. Rock Lee is the first person on record to actually do some serious damage to Garra, breaking his sand armor and causing multiple injuries. After the battle Garra is still declared the victor after crushing Lee's arms and legs with his sand, but Garra knows that Lee is a powerful foe and then makes it a point to try and kill him.

While Lee is in the hospital sleeping and recovering Garra sneaks in and uses his sand to attempt to kill Rock Lee, however Naruto and Shikamaru step in and save Lee. It is during this time that you realize where all the madness began. Garra delivers a brief incite into his past, he was born as the son of the Sand village's leader, but his mother died during his birth. Garra's father, Lord Kazakage preformed a jutsu that allowed a sand spirit to possess Garra as a child. This spirit had terrorized the sand village years ago, but had been sealed away, now residing in Garra and it gave him incredible powers over the sand.

Garra's past was full of killing as his father saw him becoming too powerful, and sent assassins to kill Garra from the time he was young up until he was about 12 years old. Garra's sand shield had protected him and killed every would be attacker. Garra even learns the truth, that his mother cursed him because of what he was and resented him before he was born. Garra's only family, and friend was his Uncle Iyashimaru, who turned out to be another assassin. Garra killed him just like everyone else, but this time it made Garra snap, killing his uncle was the last straw and he was never the same after that night.

Garra's philosophy has been warped due to his disturbed past, he states the following "I must kill to feel alive, that is how I know that I exist, that is my purpose, to extinguish all life but my own" so that is how he lives, to take the lives of others.

Due to Naruto and Shikamaru Garra is unable to kill Rock Lee, and escapes vowing to kill them all. Later during the next round of the exams Garra faces off with the rival he has always wanted to fight, Sasuke Uchiha. Right before the fight Garra murders two guards who insist that he throw the match and allow Sasuke win because of a bet. Garra uses his sand to drag then to the ground and smothers them both.

During his fight with Sasuke we see Garra carry on a psychotic conversation with his dead mother, who he thinks he has to kill for, and the fight starts. Sasuke becomes the aggressor taking a page from Lee's taijutsu book and utilizing speed and agility to get around Garra's sand shield. After only a few minuets Garra forms a huge sand shield in the shape of a sphere and begins what his teammates in the crowd call the "transformation"

We see a form of this during a previous encounter with the ninja Dosu. Dosu attempts to kill Garra in the dead of night, but finds his target to be wide awake. Garra laughs explaining that he never sleeps, and proceeds to transform into some horrible beast that kills Dosu in a matter of seconds, but the view never sees Garra's true form, just its destruction.

Garra attempts to transform, but Sasuke uses his secret technique, Chidori, to break the sphere and hit Garra in the shoulder causing a devastating wound. The sphere dissipates and we see Garra lying on the ground bleeding. Garra's teammates Temari and Kankuro come to his aid and take Garra to safety as a plot to destroy the leaf village is set into motion. Garra was supposed to be a key part of the invasion but now lies out of commission.

Sasuke pursues Garra and his team, after receiving orders to take them out at all costs. Tamari delays Sasuke for only a bit, but she is quickly dealt with. Soon Sasuke takes on Garra again, but now Garra begins the transformation. Half of his body is transformed into a monstrous beast with amazing power. As time goes on the monster slowly takes over and defeats Sasuke. Then as Sasuke is about to be finished off Naruto steps in to save the day.

Garra and Naruto face off in battle, pulling out all the stops. Garra is almost fully transformed into a hideous creature, but Naruto prevails with all his techniques. As Garra falls to the ground he suddenly calls upon the "full transformation" and emerges as a huge raccoon looking monster that towers over the surrounding forest. He then uses his sand to crush Naruto. Naruto uses the last of his energy to summon his toad ninja Gambunta, who equals Garra in size.

Gambunta identifies Garra as Shikaku that sand spirit. Gambunta explains that Garra never sleeps because if he did, then Shikaku would take full control over his body, and as he says this Garra allows himself to slip away into sleep. A battle then takes place between Shikaku and Gambunta as Naruto attempts to wake up Garra. Eventually he is successful and Garra reverts to his human form. One last punch is thrown between Garra and Naruto, in which Naruto shows the strength and endurance to win the battle.

Both of them are totally spent on energy after the long fight, and before anyone can recover Kankuro and Temari take Garra and escape back to a hidden location, this time nobody is able to follow. Garra appears in later episodes, but this is his history to date. Garra is the perfect villain, he is insanely powerful, disturbed, and stands out in the crowd as a leader. His idea of living is radical, but he still fights for a cause and his past is tragic. Nobody in his village was even remotely interested in talking to him and he was sealed off from the world, labeled as a monster from the time of his birth. Garra is one of those villains you just love to hate.