Buffing stages are determined not by initiative but rather by placement order.

In order to fix your issue, simply move gaara to a different slot and back to where you want him - being the last one moved/positioned in the team his buff will activate last - thus shielding your clones.

I think you can solve that by removing all your ninjas on your team, and then start placing them 1 by 1 but place Gaara last, let me know if it works :P

it does not have to do with his initiative.
passive buffs/summons/shield etc all activate in the order that you place/drag your ninjas onto the team.

your gaara uses his shield before naruto because he was placed onto your team before you placed naruto in.
Therefore to shield narutos clones, take gaara out and put him back or just move him around and put him back to the same spot so he is "placed onto the team" after naruto.

Move him into a position where he'll go before Naruto.

Ok, not to hijack your thread or what not, but I just thought it was much better than creating a new thread regarding the same topic.

I'm very confused.

My earth main is in position 1 with around 400+ initiative, and the opposing lightning main is also in position 1 but has less than 80+ initiative, but guess what? He still goes first!

Only one advantage the opposing player has on me is that he's 2 levels above me. Does level superiority play a part in who goes first?
Btw, this was a 45+ ranked battle with two teams.
This post was last edited by Godsu* at 2016-8-22 04:41

it has to do with where your position is in the 3x3 grid.

Essentially the closer your are to the center and top of the screen, the earlier you'd move.

Well, my main was located on the middle grid as well as the opposing main.