diff --git a/tests/test_fused_ce_not_return_dict_logits.py b/tests/test_fused_ce_not_return_dict_logits.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..51a6ec4843
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_fused_ce_not_return_dict_logits.py
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+# Unsloth - 2x faster, 60% less VRAM LLM training and finetuning
+# Copyright 2023-present Daniel Han-Chen, Michael Han-Chen & the Unsloth team. All rights reserved.
+#
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
+
+"""Drift detector for unsloth#2068.
+
+The fused-CE path never materializes ``logits``, so its ``not return_dict``
+return must use ``EMPTY_LOGITS`` (it once used ``logits`` -> UnboundLocalError).
+Pure text inspection, so it runs GPU-free (the fused path is GPU/triton only)."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import re
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+
+
+_REPO = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+
+
+def _fused_ce_not_return_dict_return(source: str) -> str:
+    """Return the `output = (...) + outputs[1:]` assignment from the first
+    `if not return_dict:` after the `unsloth_fused_ce_loss(` call. Whitespace-
+    tolerant regexes survive reformatting; the anchor targets the fused branch."""
+    fused = re.search(r"unsloth_fused_ce_loss\s*\(", source)
+    if fused is None:
+        raise ValueError("unsloth_fused_ce_loss( call not found")
+    guard = re.search(r"if\s+not\s+return_dict\s*:", source[fused.end() :])
+    if guard is None:
+        raise ValueError("`if not return_dict:` guard not found after fused-CE call")
+    guard_start = fused.end() + guard.start()
+    out = re.search(r"output\s*=\s*\(.*?outputs\s*\[\s*1\s*:\s*\]", source[guard_start:], re.DOTALL)
+    if out is None:
+        raise ValueError("`output = (...) + outputs[1:]` assignment not found")
+    return out.group(0)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("rel", ["unsloth/models/llama.py", "unsloth/models/mistral.py"])
+def test_fused_ce_not_return_dict_uses_empty_logits(rel):
+    path = _REPO / rel
+    source = path.read_text(encoding = "utf-8")
+    assert "unsloth_fused_ce_loss(" in source, f"{rel}: fused-CE call vanished"
+
+    ret = _fused_ce_not_return_dict_return(source)
+    assert "EMPTY_LOGITS" in ret, (
+        f"DRIFT (#2068): {rel} fused-CE `not return_dict` returns {ret!r}; it must "
+        f"use EMPTY_LOGITS since `logits` is never assigned on the fused-CE path."
+    )
+    assert "(logits,)" not in ret, (
+        f"DRIFT (#2068): {rel} fused-CE `not return_dict` references the unassigned "
+        f"`logits` ({ret!r}) -> UnboundLocalError at runtime."
+    )
diff --git a/unsloth/models/llama.py b/unsloth/models/llama.py
index 7b9cf3df0e..c61e64b41a 100644
--- a/unsloth/models/llama.py
+++ b/unsloth/models/llama.py
@@ -1486,7 +1486,9 @@ def CausalLM_fast_forward(fast_forward_inference):
                     logit_softcapping = logit_softcapping,
                 )
                 if not return_dict:
-                    output = (logits,) + outputs[1:]
+                    # Fused CE never materializes `logits`; use EMPTY_LOGITS
+                    # like the return_dict branch below (fixes #2068).
+                    output = (EMPTY_LOGITS,) + outputs[1:]
                     return (loss,) + output if loss is not None else output
 
                 output = CausalLMOutputWithPast(
diff --git a/unsloth/models/mistral.py b/unsloth/models/mistral.py
index 74f7acbb03..df2a4de5bd 100644
--- a/unsloth/models/mistral.py
+++ b/unsloth/models/mistral.py
@@ -332,7 +332,9 @@ def MistralForCausalLM_fast_forward(
                 logit_softcapping = logit_softcapping,
             )
             if not return_dict:
-                output = (logits,) + outputs[1:]
+                # Fused CE never materializes `logits`; use EMPTY_LOGITS
+                # like the return_dict branch below (fixes #2068).
+                output = (EMPTY_LOGITS,) + outputs[1:]
                 return (loss,) + output if loss is not None else output
 
             output = CausalLMOutputWithPast(