Sins of the Father
Being Kazekage was harder than Gaara had thought it would be, dealings both within and outside of his nation were unnecessarily difficult. And for that he could only blame his father. During his tenure the Fourth Kazekage had managed to sever ties with several countries and villages, and within the Hidden Sand he had all but erased any form of democracy.
And Gaara was left to fix that.
He began within his own council, kicking off any who had been on the Kazekage council during his fathers reign, and replacing them with those who's judgement he trusted.
After that he worked on the bonds with other nations. Some were keen to listen to this new young leader, filled with ideals and none of the malice of his father. But most were not. When they saw him they only saw his father, or worse just a Jinchuuriki, and a puppet like the Third Mizukage. At those times he was thankful for the strenuous ties with Konoha, which was largely respected (and feared). That made being heard by the other nations a little easier.
Gaara had spent the first part of his reign accounting for the sins of his father, and the last part ensuring that his successor would not have to account for his.
Yesterday . . . A friend and I had a joint birthday thing where about 30 people from my Hall all went out on the town (Our birthday's are both 5 may [Holy shit it's 5 may in my timezone already]). It was fun.
Are any of you Attack on Titan fans? Big day in that fandom. New Manga chapter + Dubbed anime airing.