I was just listening to the ending of episode 80, and they DO say 'Gaara ni mo nai' which means "Gaara here [mo] not" ...basically. It would kinda make sense in an anime-arc way to give some sort of 'closure'. And maybe they're saying it cuz a youma/demon guy isn't there for them to get power from; with both gaara and naruto there, they could have been 'hitting two birds with one stone'. (And "Gaara" does not mean "character" in any way) Well, that's just my view I conjured up right now ^^''