Naruto arrives in the nick of time to save a helpless, chakra-depleted Sasuke from Gaara's rage. Catching a glimpse of Gaara's now monstrous form, he stares in disbelief. Meanwhile, Sakura notices the cursed seal's presence on Sasuke's body and realizes Kakashi hadn't been 100% accurate with her.
Sasuke flashes back to his training with Kakashi - if he was to attempt a third chidori, he would be putting himself in grave danger because of the seal. Once he lets the seal take over, he will no longer be in control of himself. Not willing to give up quite yet, he makes an attempt to reduce the seal's influence over him. Gaara uses the opportunity to strike, but Sakura steps in front - just like Yashamaru did so long ago with the school children. He bats Sakura out of the way, while Naruto grabs Sasuke and moves him from harm's way.
Naruto finds himself in a bad situation. An enraged Gaara now has Sakura pinned to a tree. He must fight for the lives of his teammates, but he has no idea how to fight something with such murderous intent. Meanwhile, Gaara remains perplexed by Gai, Sakura and Yashamaru's actions to protect those they care about.
Gaara remembers an incident he had as a small child. He had tried to cut himself so that he too could feel pain, but his sand protected him, despite his attempts. Yashamaru saw what he was doing and tried to comfort him. Gaara had felt guilty for hurting his caretaker and asks if Yashamaru now hated him. Yashamaru explained that while people may get hurt or hurt others, that emotion is different from hate. Gaara points to his chest and explains that his heart always hurts. Yashamaru then takes Gaara's knife and cuts himself. He explains that flesh wounds heal with time and medicine, but emotional wounds take longer and require another's love to heal. Gaara received this healing love from his mother, who gave her life so that Gaara would always be protected by the shukaku of the sand. His mother's spirit still lives within that sand and wants to protect him.
With his new found wisdom, chibi Gaara decides to try to make amends with all the children he almost killed. He runs door to door, with ointment in hand, only to have each door slammed in his face. He heads home, disheartened and alone, wondering why he is such a monster. As he collapses into a bout of self pity, several kunai fly at him. His wall of sand reacts, and he kills his attacker easily with desert coffin. When he investigates the body, he learns that Yashamaru has betrayed him.