Wooah. Long time no see eh? Bunch of crazy shit has happened to me in the past, crap almost three odd years or so since I last updated. To all those who are new to this story, welcome. To those who may have just noticed this pop back up after such a long silence, I hope you can forgive my absence. Let's see the conclusion of the Chunin Prelims, shall we? If you haven't read this in a while, we pick up from where Gaara has enveloped Naruto in his Sand Coffin, and goes to finish him off.

Naruto couldn't breathe, his mind raced as pain registered from everywhere on his body. The numerous cuts and terrible wounds he'd received were taking their toll, along with the terrifying feeling of sand filling his nostrils mouth and ears. He wasn't in control of himself as he felt himself start to lift from the ground. This was it, if he didn't do something and quick - !

"Sand Burial!"

Time slowed to a crawl, as Naruto could feel every agonizing squeeze from the sand on all sides. His death was imminent and there was nothing he could do. As soon as he knew he would die, Naruto felt his consciousness shift, and the feeling of his physical body left him. At first, he thought it was the feeling of death, but as soon as the familiar smell of rotting sewer filled his nostrils, he knew where he was.

Looking up, he saw the bright red glow of the tainted chakra of the Kyuubi. Taking a grim step forward, Naruto began to walk forward wondering how long it would take before the sand would crush him outright.

"The look on your face tells all, idiot child. Time moves differently here. You won't die, just yet." The Kyuubi spoke, his voice full of irritation.

Naruto scoffed, turning his head. Something about the way the Kyuubi spoke annoying him. "Oh yeah? So what did you call me here for then, I hope it wasn't just to annoy me until that red headed bastard finishes me off."

The Kyuubi growled, one of it's tails slamming against the walls of it's cage. "No, you stupid child. I've brought you here to save both our hides. Release me now, and I will flay the flesh from the Ichibi's jinchuriki's bones. You clearly are too weak to do so yourself."

Naruto was about to shout a retort, but bit his lip as he looked away from the beast, knowing some of what he said was true. He had no idea what to do now. Obviously death was something he'd rather avoid, he still had so much to do, so much he wanted to accomplish.

Glancing over at the large seal that held the door to the Kyuubi's cell shut, Naruto began to wonder if he could truly let the fox go, and still expect to reign him back in after everything was said and done. His hands began to tremble as he started reaching for the seal, and he saw the Kyuubi's lips curl back into a twisted, sadistic grin. Then, as his fingers almost touched the paper, images began to flash through his mind of the dream that plagued him so. Of the demonic version of himself that destroys Konoha with fire, and causes the streets to run red with blood. The image of Hinata's severed head being drained of blood by his greedy maw.

Something within him switched, as that image froze and burned itself within his mind. His lip trembled, as the thought of Hinata dying at his hands made him freeze on the spot.

Hinata. . . Naruto thought. So many things had happened to him, since they became friends. Feelings he never had before had welled up within him, feelings that he truly did not know. All he knew, was that she was the single most important person in his life. He would stop at nothing from seeing her happy, and would do nothing to hurt her.

And if that meant he had to die to ensure that. So be it.

Dropping his hand, Naruto turned his back to the cage, and clenched his fists.

The Kyuubi stared at the back of his host, truly feeling incredulous at the choice he just made. Gnashing his teeth hard enough to cause his gums the bleed the demon roared. "You FOOL! We we will die! Do you not understand that?!"

Naruto began to walk forward, holding up his right hand and using it to flip off his prisoner. "To hell with you Fox. Death is preferable to letting you run free and kill my friends. But I'm not going to die, I will not let that red-headed bastard kill me so easily." He spoke, as the thought of the Hyuuga heiress sparked an idea on how he could get out of his predicament.

"And just how do you expect to win?! You are completely encased in a sand tomb that is about to squeeze your guts out of your ass!"

Naruto grinned as he reached the edge of the mindscape that made up the Kyuubi's cell. "Just watch, I got a plan."

Time had seemed to slow in reality as well, as all the spectators watched as Gaara's hand began to clench, and the sand began to enclose upon the hapless genin, promising a terrible and bloody death.

As Gaara yelled out his killing technique, his visage warped into sheer glee, anticipating the blood shower that would coat him and the ground.

But, his sadistic smile vanished, as he watched his sand suddenly stop it's collapse. Gaara grit his teeth as he attempted again to command his sand to completely crush the blond ninja, but something stopped it again. Gaara yelled out in frustration as he grasped his wrist and again attempted to kill his opponent, but not only did the sand not budge, but he watched in horror as it seemed to expand.

The room fell silent, not understanding what it was that was happening. Then without warning, the sand coffin expanded once more, and then in an instant, the room was flooded with a foreboding energy of demonic chakra and the sand coffin exploded with a wave of blood red chakra, causing a small explosion and slight crater to form, obscured by dust that had been kicked up.

Everyone was pushed back from the sheer force of the chakra wave that emanated from the now destroyed sand coffin. Gaara, being closer, was knocked to the ground, though his sand caught him to soften the fall.

Gaara looked up, feeling fear creep into him, as he looked ahead trying to make out what was in the dust. He felt a chill run up his spine, as he began to hear labored breathing, and the dust began to settle, a dull red glow starting to appear within.

Everyone held their breaths, watching as the dust cleared, revealing Naruto, kneeling and holding himself up by his sword. His clothing had been completely destroyed, only his pants survived, though torn to shreds. At first he seemed fine, but upon closer inspection, tiny holes had exploded all over his body, every one of his tenkentsu had ruptured and bubbling red chakra had began to pus out of the wounds, working as fast as they could to repair the damage. His eye too was still bleeding, with the same chakra that was visibly attempting to repair the damage.

Kurenai held a hand up to her mouth as she recognized the evil aura as the Kyuubi's, knowing that Naruto clearly had to call upon it in order to escape the sand coffin. How he managed to think of pushing out Chakra in enough volume to rupture his tenkentsu is beyond me though. She started to bite her lip, as she watched her student begin to stand, his legs wobbling but Naruto was having none of that, as he grit his teeth and forced them to stabilize.

Naruto stifled a groan as he stood, his body screaming in pain to a point where he couldn't register how badly he was hurt. He gripped his sword tighter as he used it to keep himself up right. He felt nausea start to kick in as the tainted chakra from the Kyuubi was now the only one he was using, the feeling of it's evil coursing through his damaged chakra pathways making his skin crawl. Inspecting himself, he did have to admit it had it's uses, as he watched it heal his body faster than it had in the past.

Staring ahead with his one good eye, he studied his opponents face of terror, and what seemed to be some form of twisted glee. Hoisting his blade up to come to rest on his shoulder, Naruto took a step forward, feeling the movement more agreeable than it had been just moments earlier. He took another step, keeping his gaze trained perfectly on Gaara.

Gaara watched, as the Kyuubi's host moved closer with obvious intent written in his gaze. Gaara heard the cries of the Ichibi to stand and fight, but his legs wouldn't respond. Never before had he encountered something so terrifying before. The very air was being choked from his lungs by the sheer thickness of the invisible miasma of the Kyuubi's chakra. He could sense the Ichibi too was affected by it.

"Tell me bastard," Naruto spoke, his voice not betraying any hint that he was hurt, "Are you feeling alive? Do you feel as though your existence is confirmed?"

Gaara opened his mouth to speak, but stopped as he watched in horror as the gaping wound that was Naruto's right eye began to squirm and move, and to his horror a black eyeball came pushing forth from within the wound. If Naruto felt it, he made no motion of it. With a quick movement, the eye spun, revealing a blood red iris joining it's blue twin in it's intense glare of malice, all directed towards him.

His voice finally returned, and with a fear filled yell, Gaara screamed "Get away from me!" Sand spikes exploded from the ground in all directions, causing Naruto to jump up towards the ceiling in order to avoid the random strikes.

"MOTHER!" Gaara exclaimed in fear as he grasped himself in terror. His sand responded and it all flew directly back to him, encasing him in a cocoon of sand.

Still airborne, Naruto could feel the influence of the Kyuubi's Chakra start to try and take hold of his mind. Strange thoughts started to surface, but he was able to stave them off. Though annoying, he did have to admit that using this power had it's benefits. Even wounded as he was, he could feel the sheer power of the tainted chakra giving him strength that was not his own. Looking down, he saw that Gaara had encased himself in a protective layer of sand. Gritting his teeth, Naruto grasped his sword with both hands, repositioning it over his head as he began to fall back down. Utilizing ever last bit of strength he could muster, he prepared to bring the sword down in a savage strike as he landed next to the cocoon. But the sand anticipated this, and thrut out with a single spike, With quick thinking, Naruto spun mid-air, causing the spike to barely nick his flesh, and with a roar, Naruto's sword found it's mark as he landed.

The sword slammed into the sand and shattered through the shield, the sand worked quickly to stop it and succeded, though the damage had been done. Naruto looked within the broken shell and saw Gaara looking at the sword, it's blade firmly planted an inch into his shoulder. Blood exploded from the slight wound and Gaara's mind was overtaken by the sensation that he had never felt before. Pain.

Naruto was taken aback by the scream Gaara unleashed, something akin to that of a child's scream. Gaara began to wildly push at the sword, attempting to take it out of him. Naruto grinned at the antics of the once maniac murderer feeling a sense of justification and held the sword firmly, though he could feel the sand try to push it away as well. His newfound strength however was able to stave it off for now.

"What's wrong Gaara?" Naruto mocked, "Don't you like feeling what you've put others through?! You should feel grateful, this is barely a fraction of the suffering you've given others!" Naruto felt anger creep into him, and his voice as he kept thinking about the way Gaara was acting, and the bodies of the three ninja he had found in the Forest of Death. He wanted to make Gaara suffer. How many others had died at his hand, begging for their lives and thinking how they'd never see their families again? And all the while Gaara would of just looked on with that sadistic glee that was no where to be seen.

Naruto grit his teeth, staring at the still panicked Gaara and felt his anger explode. "You bastard! I'm sick of your face! Get out of there!" In a quick thrust, Naruto shot his left hand forward, grabbing a handful of red hair and yanked as hard as he could to pull his opponent from his shell. Gaara started sobbing uncontrollably as he cried for his Mother again. The sand responded with renewed vigor and slammed into Naruto's midsection, causing him to get pushed back, along with his sword long enough to reform it's shell.

Though muffled, Gaara's cries of anguish could heard, along with him chanting the word 'blood'. Naruto grasped his sword again and charged towards the shell again, slamming his sword against the seemingly improved sand shell. Growling, he drew his sword back and began to rapidly bring it back down with all his might on the same spot, yelling out as he did.

All eyes in the stadium were focusing intently on the inhuman match that was currently being played out below. No one had time to think about anything, only the fight held any significance at this time. Except for the Sand team. All three watched on with baited breath, and sweat trickling down their brows, as their Jounin sensei, Baki, watched with knitted brows and clenched fists. To anyone, they would think it just concern for his student, but in reality it was quite the opposite. He knew if this continued any further, there was a very good chance that Gaara would loose total control and then there would be no stopping him. And that would completely end the plans, as well as his own life if that occurred. Gaara was central to the plot. He had to avoid that at all costs.

"Temari, Kankuro." Baki spoke in a harsh whisper. The two genin looked over, knowing full well what it was that he was going to say. If worst came to worst, they would have to get Gaara out of here and quick.

Naruto's continued strikes began to have effect, as the sand shield started to visibly shake more with each blow Naruto landed. His roars became more bestial, evidence of the Kyuubi's chakra taking further root. Naruto knew this. He had to end this match and quick or risk loosing control of this power. Feeling frustrated at this, Naruto focused as much power as he could in his next strike, seeing the sand start to once again pile itself at the point of impact. Feeling his arm muscles bulge, Naruto released one final strike to cleave through the shield. The sword hit the shield with terrific force, and shattered through it once more.

Gaara's cries stopped, and all sound in the arena ceased as the only sound that could be heard was Naruto's sword finishing it's arc, it's owner stopping it as it broke through the other side of the shield. Naruto watched, as the eerie silence continued. Then, without warning, the sand collapsed, revealing Gaara standing perfectly still, his eyes completely locked onto his chest where a giant red gash had been left behind from the final strike. Blood exploded from the wound, and Gaara fell. He blankly looked up to the ceiling with unfocused eyes, the tiles of the roof blending with the lights. His mind was absent of thought, as he began to feebly attempt to put his arms to his chest.

Hayate, who had taken refuge atop the catwalk jumped down and ran forward toward Gaara. The Sand Team all balked as they saw the terrible wound and quickly jumped down to join their teammate.

Gaara raised his head weakly as he tried to look at his blond opponent who met his gaze with a cold glare. "I. . .Is this for real?" Gaara weakly uttered, blood pouring from his mouth.

Naruto took a step forward, looking down at the once crazed murderer and then turned around, slinging his sword over his shoulder and walking away. "Your existence is denied. Rot in hell."

Gaara's eyes widened, and then his head fell back limply.

Hayate quickly moved to check the pulse of the sand-nin, but after several seconds withdrew. Looking over at the Sand team he grimly shook his head. Standing, Hayate raised his hand, "Winner: Naruto Uzumaki!"

No applause was given, all present still trying to process what had just happened.

The Sand team all looked down at their teammate, who was currently being taken away by the medics. Trying to fully come to terms with that Gaara of the Sand, was dead.