Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Got it?

Naruto was going to end it. He slammed Gaara into the ground one last time and was going to follow up with an axe kick to the stomach. (Yes, like the Shishi Rendan) he yelled Naruto Rendan! (Maelstrom Barrage)

"That's why it was so easy past the sand once my barrage started. He gathered it all to his body. He probably doesn't even have a scratch on him. So, knowing that, it doesn't matter how many clones there are, I need more power behind my punches. Guess I'll have to use its chakra."

Gaara, eyes wide and almost fearful, since mother was screaming for him to back down (she never did that) asked, "What is that?"

"As far as you're concerned, this is the Will of Fire!

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Ch3 This is the End!

Proctor Hayate Gekko was slightly relieved that the fox boy-no, Uzumaki Naruto seemed to be controlling some of the Kyuubi's chakra rather than being possessed by it, like most people feared. It also helped that the youkai felt vastly different than what was felt during the attack twelve years ago. Rather than overbearing and filled to the brim with bloodlust, there was an almost protective aura surrounding the orange clad boy. It didn't seem to contain any more killing intent than an average genin going on Chunin should be able to produce, much unlike his opponent from Sand, who was capable of insanely large amounts of it.

Most of the Rookie Nine was astounded that the dobe, the loser, the idiot of Team 7 was now displaying a show of power that nobody would even expect from Sasuke, or anyone else their age for that matter.

Kiba had gone from worrying for his friend to being jealous of his power. Shino now had a theory as to why his bugs tended to avoid Naruto. Ino was still trying to comprehend the fact that Naruto was so much better than the idiot that she thought she knew to have noticed that he was now gushing out power. Choji had stopped munching on his chips in sheer awe. Shikamaru was trying to figure out how Naruto was producing red chakra, of all things.

Sakura, already expecting something like this, was watching intently to see what it was capable of against a foe in their own age bracket. She then swore to not be left behind. If Naruto could be this strong, then so could she. It was no longer about proving herself to Sasuke, but proving that she was worthy of being on the same team as two such strong pinnacles of power.

As the red aura finally enveloped Naruto completely, he rushed forward once more, noticeably faster than before. The tile floor was scorched where he had stepped. Naruto hit Gaara with a standard jab and pushed off in preparation for the next punch. He noticed that from where he hit, a small amount of powdered glass fell from Gaara's protected figure.

Lee, although outwardly screaming about how youthful the technique was thinking differently. "So even Naruto, a loser not unlike myself, has a special power that gives him the edge. Maybe that is what is required to be strong. No! I can't think like that! I know that I am faster than that with three gates open, much less the five I am capable of, and his form is terrible! I know that even at his strength, I could defeat him! Yosh!"

Neji just chalked up Naruto's success to fate, convinced that when they finally fought that he, being a Hyuuga, would have fate on his side. After all, no destiny is worse than being branded with a mark that you cannot remove, right?

Naruto's next few hits spun Gaara around like a pinball, leaving a bit of powdered glass behind with each punch. After deeming the Suna no Yoroi pummeled enough, the Kyuubi vessel kicked Gaara up into the air once more. Then he quickly formed the seal for the Kage Bushin no Jutsu to produce four clones of himself.

As Gaara attempted to right himself through the pain that he was unaccustomed to as he fell to try to land on his feet, three Naruto's kicked his now heavier body even farther into the air. The other two then kicked him up to where he was nearly an arms length away from the ceiling.

As he fell, the Naruto's begin to juggle him again. They let Gaara fall a few feet before kicking him back into the air. After letting it go like this for almost a minute, Gaara's sand armor was almost completely gone due to the effects of the red chakra.

The four Kage Bushins poofed out of existence, seeming to have expended all of their energy by then. The real Kyuubi vessel however, kicked off from the ceiling, all of the red chakra focused to his right fist, kicked Gaara down one last time before preparing the final blow.

Temari and Kankuro were terrified. The orange kid that they had immediately deemed as a weak and useless shinobi not only had gotten through Gaara's Suna no Tate, not only had he forced Gaara into a complete defensive by making him activate the Suna no Yoroi, not only had he injured Gaara, not only was he producing more chakra than they had ever felt even from Shukaku, but this little monster of a kid was now going in for the final blow.

Naruto's youkai enhanced fist struck Gaara just before he would've impacted on the floor, causing a small crater that was a couple of meters in diameter to form. Naruto used the recoil of the impact to launch himself away from the damaged tile, landing just far enough away to react if Gaara wasn't down for the count.

Sure enough, Gaara's gourd that just happened to be made of sand had cushioned his fall. He felt just about every kick in that barrage, but was alive. Well, alive enough to try to send his sand to attempt to crush this very worthy foe.

Naruto's right arm was, well it was sore. He had never focused such a large amount of energy to one part of his body before. He snapped out of contemplating whether or not his hand was fractured when he noticed that several tendrils of sand were being shot towards him by his downed (but not out) foe.

The blonde quickly dodged around the sand and moved towards the redhead who was slowly picking himself up. Naruto went in for a knockout shot, but was thwarted by the remaining sand once more.

"I've used all of the red chakra, but I could still make a few shadow clones if I had to. That sand must not be used to moving so much, it moves slower than the stuff I glassed up. All I need is one solid hit and I should be able to knock him out."Then Naruto noticed that rather than throwing the sand at him in waves or keeping it close as a defense, Gaara was forming the sand in to an arm blade.

"So this is it, huh? Keeping that sand shield on you must've taken up a lot of chakra." Although it was clear that Naruto had more stamina left than Gaara, all that running around has taken a number on him. He has enough chakra to keep going, but a body will rebel if pushed too far. It has to end, here and now.

Without warning both shinobi charged. Naruto went for one last chakra enhanced right hook while Gaara was looking to skewer the blonde with his Suna no Ittou. (Blade of sand)

Naruto shifted to the right slightly, avoiding a fatal impalement, and clocked the Suna Nin right in the face. Nearly all of the genin in the audience flinched slightly at the sound Gaara's head made when it cracked against the tile floor.

It became clear the Naruto did not get away unscathed when the left sleeve of his orange jacket fell off to reveal that he had been cut all the way to the bone.

(1)After a few seconds of Gaara not getting up, Hayate announced; "Winner Uzumaki Naruto. I believe that we are in need of medical attention."

There was no applause for this astounding victory. This was mainly because everyone was still processing that Naruto the idiot, the loser, the dead last had done it. He had defeated that scariest genin in the entire exam. By the time anyone thought to cheer for the victory, the two Jinchuuriki had been moved to the medical bay to be treated for their injuries

"Naruto Kun, I respect you as the better fighter. I see that even with your special ability, you do not get any shortcuts like with the Byakugan or the Sharingan. I know that for me to get Gaara san in such a condition would've required the use of the Ura Renge. I also know that if I had done that, I would've been caught in the sand afterwards. I salute you, a fellow genius of hard work."

In the Medical Bay

One redheaded genin was beginning to wake up. "Urgh… this pain. I am still alive?" The memories of the fight began to resurface. "…Why? He could've killed me. He is superior, why did he spare me?"

"So you finally up, then?" Naruto asked, playing with his recently bandaged arm. (Turns out that there were no fractures.)

"…You… Why are you so strong?"

Naruto blinked at the sudden question and scratched his head in confusion."What do you mean? There are lots of different kinds of strength, you know."

"What is your purpose? What makes you strong?"

"My purpose? I don't know what you mean by that, but I know that I got this strong through lots of hard work. Nothing came easy to me. I had to train my butt off every day to get where I am right now. From the way you fought, I looked like you're used to relying on your sand to do everything for you. It looked like you didn't know what to do when the sand couldn't keep up with me. I think I just had more tricks up my sleeve than you."

"…Hard work, huh? I never did have to train much… Mother always protected me... I will become strong enough to defeat an opponent such as yourself by learning to not depend on Mother. I will grow strong on my own strength. Then I want a rematch. Promise me this Uzumaki."

"…Right. I promise we will have our rematch in the future. You can count on it! Cause Uzumaki Naruto doesn't break his word! Sand-Mother-wait, what"

"…You have your word to uphold to that Hyuuga girl as well, don't you? "

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I still gotta kick Neji's ass! I better go check on how the others are doing! See ya, Gaara!"

"… Uzumaki doesn't seem to need to kill to prove his existence. So what does prove his existence…?"

At the Prelims Arena

Naruto arrived on the scene just in time to see his 'plump' friend Choji get fried by the Oto mummy's sound punch attack/thing.

"Hey Shika, what did I miss?"

Shikamaru grumbled slightly at being called such a weird name but figured it would be too troublesome to say it out loud. "I think he lost on purpose. We agreed to take him out for barbecue regardless of whether or not he won. "

Naruto sweatdropped. "Yeah, that would be Choji all right. What?" The rest of the Rookie Nine were all staring at him now, as if they were looking for an underneath the underneath.

"When did you get so strong?" Ino inquired, obviously still not entirely believing what she saw during Naruto's match.

Naruto deadpanned. "During the last six months." Everyone face vaulted at that, since that would be anytime between graduation and now.

"How did you get so strong?" Kiba asked/demanded. He was not about to be left behind by the dobe.

Naruto smirked. "I do lots of push ups and sit ups and drink plenty of juice.""HOW YOUTHFUL!!! SOMEONE ELSE USES OUR TRAINING REGIMENT OF YOUTH!" Lee and Gai began to man-hug complete with sunset uber-genjutsu.

Shikamaru had a question not too troublesome to ask. "How did make your chakra red?"

"Err… Oh, lookie here! Hokage Jiji is calling the winners down for some sort of speech. We better not make him wait!" Naruto proceeded to jump over the railings down to the floor, dragging the shadow user with him.

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Author's Note

Ug… the end of the fight feels so… unoriginal. Well, at least the wheels of change are beginning to move. With Naruto's different explanation as to why he is strong will Gaara still become Kazekage in the future? Will the invasion still go according to plan since Gaara won't be having his match? Will Gaara participate in the invasion? People are starting to ask questions and Naruto is on the spot!

I hope you all like this chapter. I sure do.

I figure that with Gaara's body in such bad condition, Shukaku wouldn't have been able to do anything even if it did possess Gaara. It's not like Shukaku has the healing factor that Kyuubi does after all. Besides, knocked out is different than asleep, right?

Suna no Ittou-Blade of sand- Gaara can manipulate his sand to form a sharp blade like structure.

Naruto's youkai enhanced barrage is still the Naruto Rendan.

Over and Out

Eye of the Blizzard.

No this is not the final chapter of the Will of Fire Lives Stronger than Ever.