Gaara's backstory became one of Kishimoto's favorite stories from Part I; Kishimoto had to revise his illustrations in such chapters as he wanted readers to understand more of Gaara's mental state. The character was originally going to be called Kotarou Fuuma, but Kishimoto's editor highly refused to give him that name. As a result, he was given the name Gaara why he felt more suitable to the fact he always uses sand. By 2013, Kishimoto stated he still did not understand why such name was discarded. Nevertheless, he refrained from giving him a complete name like Gaara Yuzawa. Another early name was a younger child named "Kumomaru" but was avoided by Kishimoto. However, after multiple changes, he became Gaara. Due to his importance in the manga as a result of being Naruto's foil, Kishimoto added the kanji for "love" in his head to complement his name (part of Gaara's name can be read as "love").