Naruto: Who does Gaara marry? His romantic experiences after the series, explained

Naruto Shippuden climaxed with fan-favorite characters like Sasuke and Naruto each finding a partner to spend their lives with. Some characters like Gaara moved on without any life partner, or so the fans think because he was not given any spotlight after the series.

Gaara has been an intriguing character since the day he was introduced in the series (during the first Naruto series). Everyone, even his teammates, feared his feral personality, but his personality mellowed after accepting Naruto's friendship.

His romantic life has been spotlighted in an original light novel named Gaara Hiden: A Sandstorm Mirage. This is an original story, penned by Ukyo Kodachi and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto, and tells the story of how Gaara was close to being married once.

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The story of Gaara's romantic experience after Naruto Shippuden

Gaara and Matsuri in Naruto Shippuden (Image via Studio Pierrot)

In episode 216 of Naruto (the first series), a few newbies were being trained by Gaara and his team during a training battle in the Village of the Sand. One of these newbies was Matsuri, a shinobi who admired Gaara and was the only one who agreed to train under him.

Later, during Naruto Shippuden, we see them get close and grow attached, making this one of the most popular fanships in the series. Matsuri made her last appearance during the "Infinite Tsukuyomi arc" and was not seen after that.

In Gaara Hiden: A Sandstorm Mirage light novel, the higher-ups of the Sand Village force Gaara to marry someone because he must pass his Kazekage role to an heir. So, Gaara was introduced to Hakuto, a rookie medical ninja, who intrigued him, and they were about to take part in an arranged marriage.

Unfortunately, bandits raided them on the day of their marriage, with their target being Hakuto. We later learn that the head of these bandits, Shigezane, is in love with Hakuto. Gaara was unaware of this, and was not informed about it by any higher-up of the village either.

So, to avoid any complications in an already established relationship, Gaara respected Hakuto's decision to flee with the bandits. Thus, he remained without a romantic partner and he is still not married. He later adopted a child to raise as his heir, named Shinki. Shinki is present in the Boruto: Naruto Next Generation series and is one of the strongest ninjas of Boruto's generation.

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Shikadai, the son of Shikimaru, was about to become the next Kazekage

As revealed in Gaara Hiden: A Sandstorm Mirage, neither Gaara nor Kankuro were ready to get married. So, the role of Kazekage was supposed to land on someone closest to the bloodline of Gaara, the present Kazekage.

As Temari (Gaara's blood-related sister) was about to get married to a Hidden Leaf Ninja (Shikamaru), the role of Kazekage would fall into the hands of their half-Leaf-half-Sand then-unborn child (Shikadai). So, to avoid this scenario, Hakuto was introduced to Gaara on an emergency notice so that a pure Sand Village heir could inherit the position of the next Kazekage.

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Closing thoughts

Gaara Hiden: A Sandstorm Mirage light novel cover (Image via VIZ Media)

Gaara's love life was nothing short of a tragedy as he was just about to enter a different life but was interrupted at the eleventh hour. Although his relationship with Matsuri hasn't been officially announced as "romantic," fans wanted to see him marry her.

As these light novel series of Naruto are not completely canon (these are semi-canon because a different author penned them), taking the information in these with a grain of salt is advised.