A.N.: So here is it, the battle between Naruto and Gaara. For everybody who wanted a fight, here you go.

Also, because several people asked: THIS IS NOT A YAOI STORY. I don't write yaoi and I don't intend to. If you want yaoi, go somewhere else.

A.N.2: Now reposted with less grammar and spelling errors.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I'm bored with repeating this, but I have to anyway.

Naruto spared one glance for his captured teammate. She was in obvious pain, the sand slowly smothering her. He had to act quickly to save her. His hands flew through a sequence of seals. 'Fuuton: Daitoppa' was his technique of choice. Sand was picked up from the ground and thrown at the stationary redhead. A protective wall formed in front of him. Naruto's jutsu was however powered with a portion of Kyuubi's chakra and had a lot of strength. Most of the sand was blown away.

"Good, very good," Gaara cackled insanely. "You'll serve well to confirm my existence. Mother can't wait to taste your blood!"

"I told you to cut the crap already!" The angry voice came from dozens or maybe even hundreds of identical throats. Gaara lowered his sand to gain a better view. Nearly a half of the training grounds were occupied by identical blond ninja. The vessel of Shukaku grinned. This promised to be a lot of fun.

The clones in the front row ran forward for an assault, their blades unsheathed and charged with wind chakra. He formed spikes of sand and sent them to intercept them. They were fast and agile, but none of them managed to reach him. What he didn't realize was that it never was their creator's intention. They served only as a distraction to hide the other clones' movements. That is why he was so startled when he noticed a dozen fireballs heading his way, their flames fanned by Wind jutsus. His automatic defense enveloped him in a tight sphere of sand just before the flames reached monstrous proportions, entwining into a gigantic firestorm. Naruto had trained this combo since the first time he had used it, so it took a longer time before his clones started popping. Eventually the storm died down.

A giant glass ball was revealed in the middle of the training grounds. The glass was still molten, slowly dripping on the equally molten ground. Than ripples appeared in its surface and then it started cracking like a monstrous egg. A scream sounded from it. Some of the liquid glass had dripped down on the boy inside and his automatic defense wasn't fast enough, mainly due to a significant lack of unmolten, unheated sand. For the first time in his nine years Gaara felt true physical pain.

"What is it?" he whispered befuddled. "That feeling… is this pain? I'm hurt! Mother! Uaaaah!"

Naruto was watching him curiously. His battle instincts screamed at him that now would be a good time to finish him off, but a rational part of his brain pointed out that killing a local Kage's son while visiting a foreign village is generally considered a major diplomatic faux-pas, usually leading to war. So he stayed his hand, even though he had already a new bath of clones on position for another firestorm. He had no reason to kill the deranged boy anymore now that he was so startled he let Hotaru go.

"Run" he ordered his teammate and she obeyed unquestioningly. She understood that she could do nothing here and the only way she could aid Naruto would be to summon help. She was still in pain and her legs wobbly, but she was putting all her effort into her retreat.

"I'm going to kill you!" Gaara screamed. The last bits of sanity seemed to leave him, only madness apparent in his eyes. Sand picked up from the ground and attacked the clones. Naruto gave his command. Dozens of Wind and Fire techniques flew towards the deranged boy, who was once again enveloped by a protective cocoon of sand.

This time it took him considerably longer to come out. When the sphere of glass finally cracked and fell off, it revealed the creature inside. It looked somewhat like Gaara, but there were major differences. Half of his face changed into a monstrous mask and one of his arms was replaced with a giant animal paw. As Naruto watched, even the rest of his body seemed to slowly change. 'It's sand,' he realized. 'He's being covered with it. What does it mean for me? Guessing from his expression, nothing good.'

He considered his options. He could try another firestorm, but all his clones had already popped and making new ones would cost him more chakra then Gaara needed to defend against the technique. It just wouldn't do to collapse unconscious in front of an insanely powerful homicidal enemy. He had to try something less energy consuming. 'Let's see how he deals with a close-range attack.' He drew his ninjato, let out a battle cry and charged in.

He had expected the sand to try and grab his feet, but nothing like that happened. Gaara was allowing him to come close. 'Why?' the blond wondered. 'Does he want to deal with me close up and personally? Just how good is he at close range?'

He didn't get a lot of time to consider it. The monster, now covered more than halfway in sand, struck. 'He's slow,' Naruto realized. He evaded the huge arm with no effort at all. He jumped up and kicked at the monster's head. Sand appeared in his path and stopped his foot. 'Ok, that didn't work,' he thought. This was bad both for himself and Gaara. He didn't want to kill or maim the other boy, aiming rather just to knock him out, but now he would have to use potentially lethal force. He grimaced. 'What happens to the demon if one kills the jinchuuriki?' he asked hoping for an answer, but the Nine-tailed furball stayed stubbornly silent.

He landed on his feet and immediately sprung up again. Charging Wind chakra into his blade he struck at the partially sand-covered side of his opponent. Once again sand appeared in the path of his weapon, but the ultra-sharp blade was slicing through it. The sand was pressing at its sides, making a valiant effort to stop it. The sword was slowing down. The sand eventually managed to stop its progress, but not before the blade made a shallow cut near Gaara's ribs. The sand counterattacked and Naruto was forced to jump back to avoid the spikes. His ninjato had to be abandoned, he wasn't able to pry it out of its prison.

"What is it?" asked Gaara studying the red liquid flowing from his side. "Is that blood? My blood? Kyaaaah! Mother! I'm bleeding!"

'He acts like he was never harmed before,' the Konoha genin observed in surprise. 'But then, with that sand defense of his, it is really hard to injure him.' He didn't have the time to pursue the idea further. The sand around him sprang to life, enveloping him in a tight cocoon, slowly squeezing the life out of him.

"I'm going to kill you!" The Suna jinchuuriki screamed. 'That's bad,' Naruto thought. 'I can't move. Is that it? No!' He felt the familiar burning of the Kyuubi's chakra spreading through his veins. It came with more intensity than ever before. It filled every last cell of his body and continued even further. The sand was pushed back from his body.

"Show that impudent whelp what it means to mess with somebody who has eight more tails," the demon growled in his mind. Naruto grinned. He had every intention to do just so.

"What?!" Gaara seemed befuddled that his Sand Coffin failed to work. When his sand was batted away and the blond boy emerged shrouded in red chakra, an expression of panic briefly crossed his face before being replaced by a maniacal grin. "I see you're even stronger than I imagined. You'll serve well to confirm my existence." Naruto noticed that the redhead changed even further. Most of his body was now covered in sand, resembling some animal standing on its hind legs. He couldn't tell what it was, the sand swirling around wildly was obscuring his vision.

"I'm gonna end your existence!" The blond shouted and ran forward. The sand tried to block his path, but he batted it away. Shukaku's power animating it couldn't stand in a direct confrontation with the Kyuubi's. Gaara was roaring in rage and sending even more of his sand towards him. It was like going against a sandstorm, but Naruto wouldn't be stopped. He got close enough to the desert monster to strike. That brought him also within Gaara's striking distance, but the sand-covered child was slow. He easily evaded his crushing arm and buried his red chakra claws in the sand body. That's when he was hit from the side and sent flying.

He struggled to regain his breath. 'Where did this come from? Oh! Is that a tail?' Yes, Gaara had grown a tail sometime he wasn't looking. What did that mean? He didn't know. He wanted just to rush in and rip it of. 'No,' he stopped himself. 'Think. Brute strength doesn't help here.' He stopped for a moment and ran through handseals. The sand tried to stop him, but the red chakra cloak didn't allow it to come close. 'Fuuton: Daitoppa.' Great wind picked up blowing away the sand floating in the air and much of that lying on the ground. There was infinitely more underneath. Even the sand monster standing in the middle of it remained unmoved.

'Not enough,' Naruto realized.

"Is that all you got?" Gaara taunted. "I'll squash you like a bug!"

"You wish," replied the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. He created a clone for a combo attack, but the replica didn't have the protective red chakra around it and was destroyed before it could clasp its hands in a seal. 'Damn it,' Naruto cursed, 'there goes my strongest attack.'

The sand creature, now looking like a miniature version of Shukaku, finally moved from his spot and attacked in a straight line. Naruto waited for the last possible moment before leaping sideways. Te monster couldn't turn in time and ran right past him. Naruto grinned. He got now right behind its unprotected back. Well, not completely unprotected, there was still the tail, but the Konoha genin had no trouble avoiding it. With a burst of speed he landed on the creature's back and dug his claws into it. He couldn't get deep enough to reach the host's body, but the sand was melting under the Kyuubi's chakra. Now if he could keep it up for a while longer…

He was forced to dodge a wildly swinging tail. He managed to keep his hold on Gaara's back, but he had to abandon his attack. He tried to resume it, but then the One-tail host started rolling on the ground and he had to retreat or be squashed. He stopped for a moment to consider his options. It seemed hurting Gaara directly was a tricky prospect. It wasn't completely impossible, but he probably wouldn't be able to land a debilitating blow. Turning this into a battle of endurance didn't seem like a good idea either. Even though he felt full of strength now, the red chakra was burning his body and he wasn't sure how long can he hold onto it. And was it just him or was the already overgrown sand tanuki slowly getting bigger? Option one it was then, he'd just have to come up with a more damaging attack.

His mind wandered back to the fight with the bone freak. Back then he had managed to partially transform the red chakra into Wind chakra and almost tear the monster's arm of. If he could pull it off again, it might just allow him to dig through the protective layer of sand before Gaara could shake him off.

It wasn't easy, the red chakra resisted, being more suited for Fire, but he managed. He resolved that the next thing he was learning was Fire elemental recomposition. He let out a battle cry and charged. Once more sand obscured his path, but it wasn't able to stop him. The desert monster rushed to meet him. The giant arms flew forward trying to catch him. He ducked between them and got right in front of the now unprotected belly. He thrust forward his own arms, now surrounded in jagged red chakra. The sharpened claws dug deep into the sand. Gaara screamed. 'Success,' thought Naruto before Gaara's sand arms struck his back. 'Ouch!' he couldn't even cry aloud as the breath was forcibly squeezed out of him. He lost concentration and the Wind chakra dispersed. 'I have to get out of here,' was the thought ran through his mind. He wanted to do a Kawarimi, but he couldn't see anything he could switch with. He couldn't see much of anything from his position.

"Pathetic," resounded within his mind. 'Damn the fuzzball,' he thought. He somehow found the strength to push the monstrous arms a bit back and take a deep breath. Then he Screamed. The chakra-laced air blown away a bit of the sand covering the Suna boy. It gave Naruto just the leverage he needed. He freed his arms from their prison and pushed up. The sand hands tried to grab him, but he somehow managed to slip through them. He jumped high. The Shukaku's tail hit him midair, but it failed to do any significant damage. He landed in a roll and quickly sprung to his feet. 'Damn, that was close.'

He took one look at his enemy and almost froze. Where once used to be a man-sized likeness of Shukaku, now the Sand Demon towered in all his glory, as big and tall as whole apartment complexes back in Konoha were. 'Not good,' was the only thought present in his brain. If the battle was hard before, now it was going to be virtually impossible to land a hit on the deranged jinchuuriki. The layer of sand was now so thick he wouldn't be able to get through. He also seemed to gain more control of the sand and the red chakra cloak had more trouble repelling it. If there just wasn't so much sand everywhere…

"Hahahahahaha," Gaara laughed. "Good, very good! Show me more of your strength! Prove my existence before I kill you!"

'Not that crap again,' Naruto rolled his eyes. Than a giant fist headed his way and he was forced to jump out of its path. He surveyed his surroundings. If he could just find something that would give him an edge... but the battleground was completely in favor of his opponent. If only… there! Yes, that might be his chance. Naruto smiled and took off at breakneck speed.

"Running already?" Gaara taunted. "That won't save you!" He sent a wave of sand to intercept him, but Naruto leapt high, higher than ever before, and overcame it. "Stop, you coward! Show me your true strength!" The madman tried to call him back, but the Konoha genin just kept on running. The giant tanuki pursued him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~With Hotaru~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She was running as fast as her still unsteady legs carried her. Her ribs felt badly bruised and every breath was torture for her. Every part of her being just yearned to get away from the battle raging behind her as fast and as far as possible. She was worried for her young teammate, but she understood his warning. This battle was far above her level and she would only get underfoot or outright killed. She shot a glance to the sandstorm raging behind her. 'Is that the power of Bijuu?' she mused. It was terrifying. 'How big a portion of their strength is this?' She wasn't sure she wanted to know. She just had to find Tenzo-sensei. He was supposed to be able to subdue their power. She knew his ability was limited in comparison with the Shodai's, but at least it was something. The First Hokage was told to have been able to command the Bijuu like household pets. How powerful was Tenzo? She had no idea, but she had trouble comprehending how any human could be powerful enough to subdue such sheer force of nature. But if he couldn't, what would happen then? She didn't want to finish the idea. She concentrated on getting to their hotel as soon as she could.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The plateau above Sunagakure~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto didn't stop to take a breather when he climbed up the cliffs surrounding the Hidden Sand Village, but he allowed himself a smile. It was just like he expected. Up here were rocks, stones and boulders, but very little sand. The Ichibi host wouldn't have the advantage anymore. One glance over his shoulder told him that he had just enough time to prepare him a proper welcome.

Gaara was past all rational thought. Bloodlust was clouding his mind. Bloodlust and pain. It was a new feeling for him and he decided he didn't like it. He was going to punish the one who made him feel it thoroughly. Shukaku was calling for his blood as well and giggling drunkenly. The demon was very close to breaking out. He jumped over the edge of the cliff and came into sight of his prey again.

"Boom," Naruto said activating the Exploding tags. He sacrificed most of his stash for the trap, but the result was spectacular. The giant was lifted off his feet, a good portion of his sand blown away. It wasn't quite enough to expose his real body, but it was a good start. Naruto charged for an attack while Gaara was in midair, once again converting Kyuubi's chakra into Wind element. He hit the sand body like a missile, plowing through the pressured sand. He got far inside before the sand started closing around him, threatening so squeeze the life out of him. He performed a Kawarimi with a rock he prepared for this purpose before and then watched as the rest of his Explosive tags stash blew up inside the monstrous sand body. Sand sprayed in all direction as the tanuki lost form.

Gaara's body was thrown aside and landed with a snap near a boulder. Pain shot through him with an intensity he couldn't have even imagined before. He tried to move, but the torturous sensation intensified. He wanted to scream, but he started coughing up blood instead. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his opponent approaching rapidly. "No!" he screamed before another coughing fit hit him. 'I will not disappear!' With sheer determination born out of fear, an entirely new experience as well, he brought his hands together in a seal. "Playing Possum," he shouted. Then his eyes closed and he slumped down in sleep.

'What the heck?' Naruto thought. 'Did he just fall asleep in the middle of a battle?'

"Wake him up!" the Kyuubi screamed urgently. Naruto wondered why, but assumed the demon knew what he was talking about and wasn't trying to pull a nasty prank on him. Before he could do so, the redhead's eyes snapped open again. They weren't green anymore, instead they were yellow with a strange diamond pattern in place of pupils.

"I'm free! I'm finally free! Bwuhahahahahahahaha!" the Suna boy cackled madly and the blond realized he was talking to Shukaku himself. 'Crap,' he thought. 'You said I should wake him up,' he asked the Kyuubi, but didn't get an answer. Sand started to swirl around the wounded boy, quickly reforming the giant body of the One-tailed Tanuki once again.

'I don't think so,' Naruto narrowed his eyes and charged. The Nine-tailed demon was pushing even more of his chakra into his system. It was burning through him, burning so much. He shot through the sand around the human body and started tearing at the protective cocoon that immediately surrounded him. He concentrated on sharpening the chakra again. Shukaku's tail tried to bat him away, but he countered it with his own. 'When did it appear?' He had no time to wonder, but he put it to good use. He struck with it the same spot he had been tearing with his claws. There was more power in his tail. It broke through the molten shell and connected with the body inside.

"No!" shouted Shukaku. It felt its control on its host slipping, but he wasn't giving up so easily. He gathered all his strength into one last attack. The sand formed into one gigantic spear. It shot forward at great speed, hitting the Kyuubi jinchuuriki point blank. He had only time to cross his arms in front of himself before the sand slammed into him, throwing him high into the air.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Somewhere in Suna~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Baki was running through the streets of Sunagakure as fast as his legs would carry him. All around him the citizens were panicking. He didn't hold it against them. He was on the verge of panic himself. But then, who wouldn't be if they felt the power of Shukaku being released so close to them. Every one of them had some knowledge of the demon's power, most of them had seen mangled bodies and sprayed blood on the streets, some witnessed such acts themselves. Gaara was dangerous even at his calmest, if there was a way to tell when he was calm, and lately he had been agitated. Baki saw it himself when he interrupted his encounter with the Leaf team. He had no idea what had sprung Gaara's interest in the youngest boy, but it must have been something big. He pitied the child when he saw it. He was dead and he didn't know it yet. Nobody could defeat Gaara, not in the middle of desert, where an endless supply of sand waited on his beck and call.

He still couldn't fathom what could have brought on such a reaction. Gaara's kills had always been swift and brutal, one attack with sand, one squeeze and it was all over. Some people attempted to fight, but the ever-present sand trapped them quickly. Most jounin couldn't stand against Gaara and that was when he wasn't using Shukaku. When he was, everything around was crushed.

But now an obviously prolonged battle was taking place and the Ichibi's power was palpable in the air for quite some time. And it felt even worse than he remembered. 'What's going on?' he wondered. 'Did Gaara release Shukaku? Had the demon broken free on its own and is coming to kill us all?'

He reached the training ground reserved for the Konoha Chuunin Exams participants. There was a large pool of molten glass slowly cooling down. His eyes widened in surprise. This wasn't Gaara's work. What could have caused it? Did Gaara finally meet an equal opponent? Such thought was just plain scary.

He noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned to the newcomer. It was the Leaf jounin who commanded the unlucky squad. Did he come to save his charge? How did he know where to come? Baki had no idea, but it didn't matter now. What mattered was finding Gaara and stopping him if possible. He held no delusions about his own ability, but he was obliged to try. Gaara was his responsibility after all.

Then the demonic power spiked. The Sand jounin stopped dead in his tracks. 'Oh no,' ran through his mind. Now the Ichibi was truly out. He noticed the Konoha ninja, he couldn't recall his name, whisper something and speed towards the source of the ominous power. 'He's going to die,' Baki thought. 'We're all going to die,' followed shortly. He was scared out of his mind yet nothing seemed to matter anymore. 'It can't get any worse.' He watched the other man's back as he rushed to his certain doom. 'Is he so stupid or so brave?' he wondered. Then he decided it didn't really matter and that he looked like a coward just standing there when he should be doing something to stop the monster. He didn't want to die a coward. He rushed after the Konoha shinobi.

They climbed up the cliff's wall at top speed. The demonic power seemed less oppressive as they neared its source. 'Am I getting used to it or is it really fading? Did Gaara win already and is the Shukaku retreating back into the seal?'

Then he reached the top of the plateau and stopped on the spot, staring dumbstruck at the sight in front of him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Up the plateau~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto landed on the hard stone ground with a crash and rolled for a good distance. He idly wondered why he felt no pain. He was certain this was supposed to hurt like hell, yet all he felt was numbness. Maybe the burning of the Kyuubi's chakra desensitized him for pain. He got to his feet, even though it gave him some trouble. He looked at his opponent. The redhead was lying on the ground, the half-formed body of Shukaku disintegrating around him. It appeared he was down for the count, but Naruto wasn't taking any chances. He ran to him again.

He stopped just next to him. The Suna jinchuuriki was lying on the ground unmoving, blood covering his torso. The blond was unable to tell how serious the damage was. Gaara's teal eyes were wide open, staring at something in the empty sky.

"No," he whispered. "I cannot die here, I cannot die here." Naruto's rage was quickly leaving him. He couldn't feel anything but pity for the broken child in front of him.

"I won't kill you," he said, "but you must not touch any of my friends ever again, understood?"

"I can't die here. I can't die here," Gaara repeated like a broken record. It didn't seem he had even heard what the Konoha genin just said to him. Naruto sighed. He felt suddenly very tired. His whole body was in pain.

"Naruto!" someone shouted. He turned and recognized his guardian.

"Tenzo," he smiled weakly. Everything was going to be okay now.

Baki couldn't believe his eyes when he reached the top of the plateau. There was Gaara, the demon Gaara, the strong, unbeatable killing machine, lying on the ground, broken and defeated. If somebody asked him yesterday or an hour or just a minute ago, he would have laughed and brushed off such notion as ridiculous. Yet here he saw it with his own two eyes. The terror of the Sand Village was slumped on the ground, covered in his own blood, staring at nothing in particular and whispering like a madman, though that itself was nothing new. The short Leaf genin was standing above him, his eyes red and slitted, the marks on his cheeks more pronounced than he remembered, nails turned into claws, vile red chakra surrounding him in a shape resembling some animal, one transparent red tail swinging behind him.

'Another Jinchuuriki,' the Suna jounin realized. 'And strong enough to beat Gaara in his own sandpit.' Fear settled down inside the pit of his stomach. He knew that Gaara held the weakest of the nine Bijuu, but he had been created with maximum effectivity in mind. Even a small portion of Shukaku's power brought about massive destruction. It was speculated that Gaara should be able to take on vessels of more powerful demons, but obviously it wasn't true.

"Calm down, Naruto, he's had enough," the Leaf jounin said. The Konoha jinchuuriki looked first at the downed Gaara, then at his teacher and slowly nodded. The putrid red chakra started slowly receding. First the tail disappeared, then the shroud around his body. Claws turned back into nails, the whiskers on his face thinned and his eyes turned back to blue. Then the boy fell to his knees, leaned on one arm and started shaking. His sensei knelt next to him and hugged him.

Something about the scene disturbed Baki. He couldn't imagine anyone ever embracing Gaara. It was just impossible. He wondered what he should do now. What was the Kazekage going to do when he learned of this? What to do about a strong foreign jinchuuriki in their village? The demon vessel seemed down for the time being, he could take it out now, but there was still a jounin of unknown ability between them. And he didn't even want to imagine what the Hokage would do when he learned about it. It would be the end of their alliance with Hidden Leaf and would get them into a lot of trouble. No-one would want to deal with the village that killed the participants of their Chuunin Exams. And speaking of the Exams, should someone like him be allowed at all? Ah, why was he even thinking about it, that was the Kazekage's problem. He went to check on Gaara.

That's it for today. I hope it was up to your expectations.

Next time: The aftermath of the battle (you didn't think something like that could be overlooked?)