Why Gaara Was So Terrifying In Naruto's Chunin Exams Arc
Shonen anime such as Naruto are dedicated to displaying the most awesome fights possible, and for an awesome fight to have real tension, the hero needs to have an equally awesome villain. Villains need to have a level of power and ability that genuinely threatens the heroes. It should be scary to fight them.
This is the defining feature that makes the character Gaara such an effective villain during Naruto's chunin exam arc (via CBR). When viewers are first introduced to Gaara as a preteen, his character has already become a cold, hard killer. His father, the leader of the Sand Village, sent assassins to kill him at an extremely young age. Somehow, Gaara survived these attempts at his life and grew extremely powerful as a result. He pulls no punches for his Leaf Village opponents during the exams. In fact, his cold demeanor and intimidating presence let fans know it's a miracle that the heroes survived any encounter with him at all.
What makes Gaara so tough on Naruto?
According to CBR, the main characters experience this murderous intent during Gaara's fight with the Leaf Village's martial arts specialist, Rock Lee. Even though Lee puts up a good fight, becoming the only person to penetrate Gaara's defenses, Gaara proves that he was simply "toying" with his opponent.
Rock Lee is no slouch amongst the Leaf Ninjas. Even though he cannot use supernatural jutsu, Lee is an expert fighter with speed and strength far outclassing what anyone else could muster. The fact that Gaara manages to beat him while only suffering minor damage is a testament to his terrifying power level.
The source of Gaara's overwhelming strength lies on the inside. Much like Naruto, Gaara is a Jinchuriki, meaning there is an incredibly dangerous demon spirit locked within his person. This demon, Shukaku, provides Gaara with massive amounts of chakra and grants him the ability to manipulate sand. One of Gaara's favorite practices is to create a "Sand Coffin," surrounding and crushing live opponents to death. His sand powers also automatically protect him from all forms of attack, making Rock Lee's feats against Gaara even more impressive.
And of course, the chunin exams only scratch the surface of Gaara's power. If he desires, Gaara is able to fully summon Shukaku from within him and cause devastation on a city-wide level. The fact that Naruto characters are able to overcome Gaara is quite an amazing feat.