- "Hmph, you are a fool, Nagato. You're still that same child I met all those years ago, the same child who saw his friend die! You hold on to your petty ideals, your dreams... you're but a child!" The man in the orange mask continued to berate Nagato, although he was actually speaking to the Deva Path. Nagato wasn't even mad, he had remained perfectly calm through all of the man's insults.
The Deva Path turned around, turning his back on the Masked Man. He then turned his head slightly to the side, glancing back at him from the corner of his left eye. "You call me a fool, yet the dream you seek is rediculous, Madara-san. What you wish for isn't peace, it's merely an illusion! Without really trying to get the world on the same page, you're basically giving up!"
The Masked Man's eye narrowed behind his mask, was he being talked down to by a child? "How could you hold on to such a childish ideal?!" he lifted both of his arms to his sides, holding his palms out in an explanatory manner. "There is no such thing as peace! All there is, is an empty shell, which is the world, full of selfish idealists who dream of a world of happiness. These pigs dream, yet they do not act. You do not have enough power, Nagato, you cannot change this world with ideals alone!"
The Deva Path wore a face of annoyance and disregard, yet somehow he remained stoic. He turned around once again, facing his would be enemy full on. He held his hand out, staring at the palm of his hand. He focused on the patterning, then closed his fist tightly. He looked up at the Masked Man and smirked. "You and I have both known our fair share of pain... Madara... we have both resolved to bring peace to this world... but in much different ways."
Madara was listening intently, curious as to where the man before him was going with this. "..."
"But unifying the world as one through a genjutsu... this will not attain true peace, and you know that. Come! We shall decide who will lead this world to peace right here... right now!" The Deva Path said, bringing his hand into the air, holding it out with his palm open, facing Madara.
"Hmph, you should have just remained a loyal pawn, Nagato!" he replied, he performed a 5 consecutive handsigns, soon finishing it with the tiger sign. "Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" a fairly large fire ball shot out of the mans face, which was travelling at a fast speed, straight towards the Deva Path.
The Deva Path just stared at the oncoming fire ball, side stepping it fairly easily. What he didn't realize that the enemy had actually fired two fire balls, the other only inches away from enveloping the said path. "Haaaah!" he exclaimed, as a shimmering barrier covered the Deva Path, dispersing the fire ball with ease.
"Hm hm hm.." The Mask Man grinned behind his mask. Suddenly, he disappeared, only to reappear a second later above the Deva Path, merely half a meter on top of him. "Die!" he exclaimed, as he bought a kunai to the man's head. "Oof" he grunted, as he felt a very powerful, sharp kick slam into his stomach. He was sent flying to the ground, rolling along the dirty floor for perhaps 5 meters.
Next to the Deva Path, stood another man with Orange hair and piercings, as well as the Rinnegan. He was tall, and very skinny. The Human Path stared directly at the man he had just kicked. Then the Deva Path spoke once more. "At your current level of power, you cannot defeat me, Madara-san..."
"Heh" he retorted, as he begun to stand again. "Just another cocky fool. You have no idea what I'm capable of!" he proclaimed, as he pulled a long chain out of his cloak. Again, he began to charge towards his enemy, both of the Path's stood there, just staring.
The Human Path went out alone to challenge the adversary. With only a flicker of movement, he appeared before Madara.
"Your speed is impressive, but that was a foolish mistake!" he smirked behind his mask, as the Human Path bought his fist towards him. With his Sharingan, he was able to read the attack perfectly. A vortex of sorts appeared infront of Madara's uncovered eye. The Human Path began to become distorted, he was being sucked into another dimension, and in no less than 3 seconds, The Human Path had disappeared completely. The Mask Man just stared at The Deva Path. "You're still as reckless as ever, aren't you, Nagato!"
"Enough talk!" The Deva Path answered, slipping two chakra receivers out of his sleeves. He then charged towards Madara, throwing one of them towards the enemy. The bending material edged ever closer, but Madara simply became intangible, letting the receiver phase through him. "?!" The Deva Path seemed to have noticed something. "What... what was that?" He shrugged it off, instead he held his hand out towards the enemy. "Bansho Tenin!"
"Attractive force?" Madara questioned, as he could feel himself involuntarily move towards his enemy. "Impressive power..." he thought to himself. "Your Rinnegan will be mine!" he shouted. With that, he once again performed various seals. Then from his mask once again, a barrage of small fire balls numbering around a hundred shot out towards Pein. The surrounding area was colored in a red lighting from the mass of fire.
The Deva Path used the Almighty Push once again, keeping the barrier active to repel the quantity of the technique. However, as soon as he did this, the attractive force pulling Madara came to an end.
"So you can't use both at once?" he discovered, as he smirked again. "Then what will you do about this?" he disappeared once more.
"There it is again!" Nagato thought behind the eyes of The Deva Path.
While Madara was in his intangible phase, The Human Path was staring directly at him from one of the giant cubes he was standing upon. "So... that's his weakness." with that, The Human Path used his incredible speed to appear before the man he saw in this strange dimension. He slammed his fist into the unaware enemy's mask, causing him to go flying into the corner of one of the giant cubes.
"What?! What is this?! Madara questioned in disbelief, staring at the Human Path.
"It seems you were unaware of your ability's weakness, Madara-san..." The Human Path suggested, as he began walking towards the grounded man. The top right corner of the man's mask had cracked, just a little. "You have to die... for the good of the world!" he stated as he increased his pace. His feet pattering against the strange material of the cube they were standing on.
The Masked Man adjusted his mask, staring at the encroaching enemy in anger. "You were my pawn, you won't interfere!" but before the Human Path did anything, Madara was gone once again, he had appeared back in the real world.
"The numbers of the Six Path's usually prove too much, for anyone. There is no reason to be ashamed, Madara-san. With the power of The Rinnegan on my side, my victory is only natural. stated the Deva Path. Along side the spiky orange haired man stood another Path. This one was tall and chubby, his long hair tied back into a pony tail. He wore a menacing glare, staring straight into the eye of Madara.
"You hold your beliefs with such vehement." the Mask Man had a memory of himself standing next to Rin and Kakashi. It only lasted a moment, as he once again prepared himself for a fight. "In this world... there is no hope... no light... there is only despair!" he prepared another set of handsigns, this time he blew out a massive stream of fire, which headed towards the Deva Path and his ally in the shape of a dragon.
"That won't work against me!" The Deva Path claimed, as the Preta Path stood in front of the oncoming projectile. A barrier similar to the one that the Deva Path uses formed up immediately, and the jutsu suddenly began to dissolve upon touching the barrier.
"A sealing type?" Madara thought to himself. "Then ninjutsu won't work." with that, he appeared back in the Cube world, disappearing from the real world once more.
"So, you're back again?" The Human Path smirked as he readied himself for another fight.
"Hmph, don't get ahead of yourself!" Madara yelled out again. "Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu Scatter!" a large fire ball shot out and headed towards The Human Path. The Human Path dodged this with ease, being as fast as he was. But then another, and another, and another. The more that came, that harder it was to dodge his onslaught. Ofcourse, The Human Path wasn't able to keep this up forever. One of the fire balls covered him, sending him ablaze immediately. Due to the fire covering him, he wasn't able to move as well as he could before, and sure enough, another fire ball hit him, and then another. As Madara stopped the technique, he was panting lightly. He looked over at the Human Path, who was now a smoldering corpse lying in his alternate dimension.
Madara reappeared back in the real world again. He stared over at the Deva Path, who was simply staring back. Madara had already known of the shared vision that the Rinnegan held for it's user. What he didn't know was the abilities of the Path's. "Nagato... I killed your other path, now it's your turn. You're pushing me much farther than I ever imagined!"
"Hmph... look at yourself, Madara-san. You're exhausted. I haven't even begun to break a sweat. You cannot defeat me."
"Impudent mongrel!" Madara retorted as he ran towards The Deva Path. His plan was now to take him in taijutsu.
Both the enemy paths prepared to face Madara. The Preta Path was the first to react, stepping in towards the enemy. Madara attempted to punch Preta in the stomach, only for the Path to parry his fist by pushing it down with his palm. The Preta Path then attempted to elbow Madara in the side of the head, only for Madara to bring his forearm up to block the attempt. The two continued to trade blows like this, until The Deva Path also stepped in. Madara was forced to defend against two attacks.
The Masked Man, after blocking a kick to the side of his stomach by Deva, pushed the said Path away slightly, only then for the Preta to attempt to kick him in the face. "Now!" Madara thought, as the Preta Path phased through him. With that, just on time, he slipped his chains out to ensnare the Preta Path. He tightened the chains around the chubby enemy, but while he was doing this, the Deva Path interfered once more, attempting a spinning back hand at his already cracking mask. "That won't work!" Madara stated, as he ducked under the attack, using his one free hand to uppercut The Deva Path in the chin, forcing the Orange haired man to stumble back.
With the small amount of free time, Madara used his one free hand to form up various seals. WIth that done, he blew out a stream of thick fire, in the form of the Fire Ball Jutsu. And just as he had presumed, The Preta Path was not able to absorb it, as his hands were tied to his side. The Preta Path was covered in flames, and soon dropped to the floor. Madara stared back at the Deva Path. "That's two down, Nagato. Now it's time for your dead friends demise!"
"No... this battle isn't close to being over, Madara-san." Deva claimed as he ran towards the enemy. He bought the palm of his hand towards Madara's face, only to have it pushed aside. Madara then attempted to kick Deva in the stomach, but that too was parried with Deva's fore arm. Madara bought his fist towards Deva's face, but suddenly, he couldn't move. Something else was holding him. His left arm was being held but then an arm gripped his neck. It was The Human Path.
"What?! I killed you! What is this?!" he questioned in an angered confusion.
The Deva Path slipped a chakra receiver out of his right sleeve, while holding Madara's one free hand. The Deva Path arched his elbow backwards in a 90 degree angle, then attempted to bring his weapon into the heart of Madara. It pierced right through, Pein could even hear the stabbing noise, and the travelling blade going further and further into Madara's chest cavity. "It's over, Madara-san."
"Hah... hahahaha... Hahahahaha!" The Masked Man cackled maniacally.
"You should be dead, what is this, some sort of forbidden technique?" The Deva Path theorized.
"Hmm... there is nothing there. There is no heart, there is only emptiness. You cannot kill me, Nagato!" Madara then phased out of existence once more, easily slipping out of The Human Path's solid grip. "Why would you try to save this world, Nagato... why?! There is nothing but hatred and pain. You know that!"
The Deva Path frowned at the question. "Yes, I thought the same thing once too, Madara-san. But then... I discovered that this world is but a child. The world itself has known Pain, and I have inflicted alot of pain on this world, which has caused it to grow. But I am not the only one who has suffered, neither are you. There are people all over this world who suffer. Who wish for peace... some wish for it to end. I can save this world. I know what must be done. The Akatsuki and I... we will save it together."
"You spout the same nonsense over and over! Now you bring Akatsuki into it?! As if they have the same goal in mind, or as if they care about this world?! Nagato, I think the Rinnegan is making you lose your mind! Hahahahaha!"
The Deva Path closed his eyes, he lost his frown, his face just becoming as stoic as ever. "No, Madara-san... I have been sane this entire time... however, somewhere along the line... whatever it was that caused you to bare such hatred for this world... you lost your mind back then..."
As soon as those words were said, Madara was distracted, just for a moment, considering what Nagato had just told him. It was in that moment, that The Human Path was able to slip behind him once more. He placed his hand over the head of the Masked Man, digging into his very thoughts... his very soul.
"Just as I thought... you're not Madara... you're nothing but a child who was torn apart from war, just like me, just like so many others. Uchiha Obito... I apologise, but your ambition ends here." Obito's eye had begun to roll up to the back of his head. The Human Path pulled a bluish-white silhouette from Obito's skull. A moment later, the Masked Man dropped to the ground, laying lifeless on the floor, face down.
Images were flowing through Nagato's head. He saw a young girl, Obito addressed her as Rin. He then saw Kakashi, who he had fought at Konoha. He saw everything that happened to Obito, everything that had caused him to become what he was today. Nagato had now understood his enemy's pain. "Now you can rest in peace, Obito-san."
With all these flashes came the images of an old, decrepit man. He saw images of a mutilated boy, talking with this old man. They were discussing a plan, a plan which would take place years from now. "Obito... you can slowly pay your debt to me..." stood out in the voices Nagato heard. "I understand, Madara-sama" the boy replied.
"..." Nagato stared at Konan, a look of bewilderment on his face, as if he could sense that this wasn't the end of this story.
"This... isn't over yet, is it Nagato...?" Konan asked, a knowing frown on her face.
"No... no I'm afraid it's not, Konan. Our dream will have to wait a while longer..."