Five Kage Summit Arc

Gaara is the first Kage to arrive in the Land of Iron. When the other Kage arrive and the meeting starts, Gaara is the first to speak. He indicates that, because he was captured by Akatsuki and died while the Shukaku was removed from his body, being revived later on, he considers the organisation very dangerous. He adds that he had previously requested collaboration between the villages against Akatsuki, but that only Tsunade of Konoha responded. Gaara is repeatedly interrupted by the other Kage for the rest of the meeting and his input is dismissed because of his young age. Only the Fifth Mizukage was willing to listen to Gaara; even at one point defending him from Third Tsuchikage's disrespectful behaviour.

When Sasuke is revealed to have infiltrated the meeting and the Raikage goes to fight him, Ōnoki offered to give him tips on how to be a good Kage, having previously dismissed Gaara's suggestions on the basis that he was too young. Gaara voices his concern with the others' lack of ethics and says that a world without faith and understanding would be a world with only fear. Gaara, Kankurō, and Temari then leave to join the Raikage's battle with Sasuke. When they arrive, Gaara uses his sand to stop Sasuke and the Raikage from attacking each other, demonstrating that despite the loss of Shukaku, Gaara's sand manipulation powers were still strong and is even more powerful than before to be able to block the Raikage with his Lightning armour on.
While the Raikage recuperates, Gaara tries to convince Sasuke to stop living in the darkness, citing past experience by saying no good will come of it. Sasuke could not be convinced so, with a tear in his eye, Gaara attacks Sasuke with his Sand Shield which Sasuke comments to be extremely swift and hard enough to penetrate Susanoo's ribs which causes Sasuke to rely on his Blaze release as a more defensive measure. Sasuke also attacks Gaara with Amaterasu, which seems too slow and ineffective against the automatic Sand Shield. After showing an equal match, Darui joins with Gaara, Kankuro and Temari to form a combined attack at Sasuke.