A/N: DISCLAIMER: I forgot to say last chapter, but I have been accidently calling the Land of Frost the Land of Snow. I fixed every instance of this mistake, but I wanted to let current readers know that the country Team 7 is in is called Land of Frost.

Also, I just want to remind some of you how Kamui works. My friend had no idea how it did when I showed him the chapter early, and he got really confused. But, uh, basically Obito's body appears in the Kamui dimension when he phases through something. That's all.

Writer's block sucks, but I managed to keep to my once a week deadline. As an apology, Chapter Ten will come out Monday. If I have to stare at my computer for an hour to get myself to write to meet that deadline, I will bloody well do so.

Review as a thank you when you're done? They motivate me.

Chapter 9: Titan vs Titan

Kamui was a uniquely dangerous ability. With it, one could phase through any obstacle and avoid any attack. If Madara wished for it, he would not be touched. It was as simple as that.

But, as with all techniques, it had its weaknesses. He couldn't teleport as he was phasing, and he couldn't phase as he was teleporting.

Now the problem was, how could Nagato take advantage of this?

He had quite a few ways to, actually. For ten years, he had been preparing for this. This was his chance to prove he had the power to enact real change in the world.

When Madara charged towards him, Nagato focused. A single hand sign and lightning coursed through his body.

The world seemed to slow down to his senses. Madara's blitzing run became a slow crawl. His sharingan, however, followed Nagato exactly.

Surprise was evident in those crimson eyes.

Nagato had a time limit with this technique. Channeling lightning inside your body increased your speed tremendously–the Raikage was proof of this–but Nagato didn't have the control, nor the expertise, to replicate the Lightning Armor. Instead, he was using a similar technique that sped up his perception.

But, again, all techniques had weaknesses.

The more he used this particular one, the greater the chance his control would slip and the lightning would destroy his body from the inside out.

Nagato raised a hand to the air, with Madara's sharingan following his every movement. The thunder roared. As if the gods themselves were obeying Nagato's will, a dragon made of pure lightning formed out of the heavens.

Nagato raised his other hand. The water that was pouring down to flood the earth bent to his will, gathering to form another dragon. The two dragons were side by side, staring down as if preparing to enact justice.

Nagato had to finish this before his perception returned to normal speeds. His chains surrounded him, forming a barrier. He poured as much chakra as he could into the shield.

He would need it to survive.

The two dragons combined with a roar, and with a crack of lightning, punished the earth for existing. In an instant, the Valley of the End was made to heel. Unfortunately, it would have to be renamed, because the 'valley' part ceased to exist. The river that streamed through it before now became an ocean that swallowed up any within its grasp.

Nagato, deep beneath this new ocean, poured vast amounts of his chakra into increasing the volume of the water even further. If a sensor were to witness this, their mind's eye would be forever blinded. They wouldn't be able to distinguish what was rain and what was Nagato's chakra.

Nagato's eardrums were about to explode from the deafening cracks of lightning exhibiting its dominance on the ground. The ground itself seemed to groan under the stress.

Althroughout this, he counted down the time. He didn't know the time limit of Kamui, but he and Konan theorized it was under ten minutes. When the clock struck zero, the infinite tears the sky was crying stopped. The deafening cries of thunder became slight croaks until it, too, ended its hellish torment.

Nagato carefully swam to the surface. His eyes widened at what he saw. For miles, all that could be seen was water. What was before a valley that was evidence of Madara's bout with Hasirama was now an ocean that was proof of Nagato's fight with Madara.

"Truly, you would've been useful for my plans, if this is how powerful you are," a voice whispered behind him. His chakra coils screamed in pain as he forced his body into a sudden body flicker.

As Nagato dashed through the water, he turned his head to glance at Madara, who was just a step behind. His previous Akatsuki cloak was gone, now only wearing a tattered shirt and pants. The left half of his mask was destroyed. A sharingan could be seen, slowly turning white. Whatever technique he used to survive must have been a one time use.

When Nagato's body flicker ended, he leaped into the air. A water dragon formed from the ocean and swallowed him. Safe from Madara's clutches, Nagato flashed through another set of hand signs. When he heard a screech behind him, he forced his dragon to spit him out to escape whatever technique Madara threw at him.

Landing on the surface again, Nagato finished preparing his technique. Dozens of water dragons formed from the rain and raced towards Madara, who was blurring through his own set of hand signs. Instantly, a dragon of his own, made from wood, swallowed him. The dragon blurred towards him, uncaring of any obstacles. Nagato's water dragons splashed uselessly against Madara's.

Nagato inwardly growled, frustrated. He blitzed through hand signs and slammed one of his hands on the surface of the water. Wind chakra gathered underneath his palm. Just as the dragon was about to consume him whole, the wind launched him far into the air. A water dragon formed out of the air, and he landed on top of its head.

As his dragon zipped through the air, Nagato raised a hand to the air, forming another lightning dragon from the clouds. His chakra was growing dangerously low, so he had to end this soon. A furious roar threatened to destroy his eardrums again. The clouds opened up as the gods once more obeyed Nagato's will.

This wasn't enough. Madara would just phase through the attack if this was it. His chakra coils screamed as he abused it. Dozens of water dragons formed from the rain, ready to tear the world asunder.

There was nothing Madara could do. His wood dragon, as fearsome as it was, was destroyed with a crack of thunder. Nagato had to focus all of his attention on not falling off of his dragon due to the gales produced from the impact. He could distantly hear cracks of thunder still letting the world know its fury.

When the gales and thunder ceased, he searched for his opponent. It was hard to see from how far away he was, but a body could be seen. He had his dragon charge towards it. There was not much else he could do. His chakra was at dangerous levels now–he wouldn't even be able to maintain the technique soon.

He had to end this.

As Nagato descended, he had full sight of Madara slowly rising. He was without his right arm, and every part of him was bloody. His sharingan spun furiously, promising a gruesome death.

Madara opened his mouth to speak, but Nagato's chains flashed towards him, impaling his chest. The old fossil phased through it, of course, but Nagato just did it to irritate the man.

"I have to commend you, Nagato. I didn't expect to ever be wounded this much," Madara said, glaring daggers. "But you must realize you can't defeat me. You have to be out of chakra by now, and as bloodied as I am, I haven't been throwing ninjutsu around like you. I have more than enough." He casually walked towards Nagato, uncaring of the chains still attacking him.

Nagato pulled back his chains and winced when he checked his chakra reserves. It was dangerous to use another jutsu.

As Madara charged towards him, Nagato wondered if this was it. Would all of his plans end here? Would Yahiko's wish for peace never be realized? Would he die?

Growling, he forced his chains to attack once more. Three of them dissipated, but one still remained, impaling Madara's chest.

He phased through it.

Before Nagato could accept his death, Madara suddenly fell to his knees, eyes wide in shock.

Nagato's own eyes widened when he realized what was happening. The chain flashed towards Madara's sharingan. It phased through it, but Madara's sharingan burst out its socket. The chain stopped, its target becoming tangible. It came around and impaled Madara's brain. The Uchiha fell to the ground, dead. Fuinjutsu kanji appeared on the sharingan and it burst into flames, destroying it. Madara's body did the same.

Nagato checked his chakra coils for any disturbance. None to be found. He wasn't under a genjutsu.

The realization hit Nagato. He won.

Beside him, streams of paper coalesced into the form of a woman. "It seems your guess of Kamui sending him to another dimension was correct. Go figure," Konan said softly.

Nagato shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe I only won because he sucked in the kunai." He couldn't help but sigh. "I had my suspicions of Kamui, but to think the guess of it sending Madara to another dimension was true…" He laughed. "That clone took far too long to find his body."

Konan pursed her lips. "And it was completely unnecessary, Nagato. You should have let me help you. Together, we would have won without risking our lives."

Nagato turned to stare at the sky. With his chakra depleted, the rainstorm disappeared. There weren't any clouds in sight. The ocean was here to stay, however. His fight against Madara replaced the previous landmark. He wondered what they would call it. The Ocean of the End?

"We've argued this for years, Konan. There's no point anymore," he said, a smile forming. "Now, we have to prepare. Without Madara's interference, the world is ours to mold. Contact Konoha. With Kiri busy with its civil war, there's a spot open in the Chunin Exams for a kage. Pressure Konoha into letting us take it."

It was time Amegakure played on the world stage, and everyone would soon know Nagato was its leader.

Naruto stilled, awaiting judgment. He and Sakura were sitting together on the bed, and he had just revealed his secret, his heart, out to her. As perplexing as it was to say, he trusted her. She had comforted him when he was at the brink of breaking. Besides Sasuke, no one had ever done that before.

He was hesitant at first to reveal anything, but the more she implored him to reach out to her, the more his walls crumbled.

And so he told her about the kyuubi, his father, and what happened to him at the hands of the jonin.

Now they were here, with him clenching his fists and looking away from her, worrying what her reaction would be.

Would she be frightened of who he was, of what he contained? Would she want nothing to do with him afterwards?

Naruto bit his bottom lip, angsting over the possibilities.

He heard her sigh next to him, and dread filled him. His thoughts sped up over what that could mean.

Sakura grabbed his hand and squeezed. When he looked at her with surprise, she gave him a small smile.

"You know, I can't help but feel I'm a little boring compared to you guys. One of my teammates has a demon in his gut and is the son of the greatest Hokage, and the other is the last of one of Konoha's founding clans, and his brother was the one who killed them all. Me? I'm just a normal girl. I'm not an orphan, and I don't have a tragic past," she said, sighing.

"You don't know how much I would kill to be you, Sakura. Having a family, being normal, that's all I've ever wanted," Naruto softly said.

Sakura squeezed his hand again. "I know, Naruto. I'm grateful for everything I have. I just find it a bit weird, is all. I bet Kakashi had an awful childhood, too."

"He told me he walked in on his father committing seppuku, and every one of his team died before he turned fifteen."

"Just my luck," Sakura breathed. "Thank you, Naruto, for telling me. I don't know much about fuinjutsu, but I know the Fourth was a master at it. I trust him, but more importantly, I trust you." She gave him a smile. "As quiet as you were in the academy, I always knew you were sweet. I know you a lot more now, and I still think that. You'd sooner hurt yourself before you hurt the people you care about."

Naruto stared at her with wide eyes. "I–thank you, Sakura. You don't know how much that–"

The door opened suddenly, and they looked to the culprit in surprise.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at them to express his perplexment. "Am I interrupting something?" he asked.

Naruto inwardly groaned, while Sakura giggled. She gave Naruto a hug, whispered later, and skipped out the room, giving Sasuke a happy wave.

Sasuke blinked. "I'm guessing I did?"

Naruto threw his pillow at him.

"Well, you dipshits, I hope we see each other again. You and I haven't had our battle yet, Hatake," Raiga said, a feral grin on his face. Ranmaru sighed.

Kakashi gave the man his classic eye-smile, somehow making it look patronizing. "The longer I go without your presence, the happier I will be, Kurusuki. I hope you wait a long time for that fight."

Naruto couldn't help but raise an eyebrow when Kakashi held out his hand for Raiga to shake. The two did, dropping their antagonizing antics and becoming serious.

"It was good working with you Konoha-nin. I thought you were weak, bumbling fools who never saw a day of hardship at first. I'm glad to be proven wrong." Raiga looked at them. "Are they ready to advance?"

Kakashi nodded. "It may be sooner than advised, but these three are different. They can handle anything the exams will throw at them."

Raiga placed his hand on Ranmaru's shoulder. "Then it's guaranteed we'll see each other. Ranmaru here plans to win it all for Amegakure. Hopefully your kids give him a challenge."

"Is he going solo?" Kakashi asked, surprised.

"I'm more than capable of beating anything that's meant for a genin," Ranmaru said before Raiga could speak for him.

"The boy has more heart than anyone else I know." Raiga chuckled heartily. "But it's true. Ranmaru's more than ready to become a chunin. It would be a disgrace for him not to advance."

Naruto's eyes lit up. So they were talking about the Chunin Exams. He was confused at first about what exactly they were discussing, but he realized now.

Kakashi was already planning on nominating them to participate?

Sakura joined in on the discussion. "Kakashi-sensei, we've only been genin for a month. Don't you think it's too soon?"

When Naruto turned to gauge Sasuke's reaction to this, he saw an excited glint in his friend's eyes.

Kakashi shrugged. "Yep."

Sakura waited for an elaboration. When she didn't receive one, she furrowed her brows in confusion. "Can you please explain what you mean by that, sensei?"

"You're right that it's too soon. Usually genin don't take the exams until a year in. Nominating you this soon is jumping the gun a bit, but usually, genin aren't as strong as you three are. Naruto and Sasuke already have the skills of chunin, while you, Sakura, are close to catching up. In just a few weeks, you'll be on their level. Add in the fact that we still have over a month left until then, and I think I'm justified in being a bit hasty."

It was obvious Sakura was still hesitant, but she accepted Kakashi's logic with a nod.

Team 7 bid their farewell to Team Raiga. If Naruto didn't see the Land of Frost ever again, he'd be happy. His body wasn't built for this type of climate.

Jiraiya walked through what was previously the Valley of the End, but was now a large lake. If one was generous, it could even be called an ocean. He couldn't help but frown. What could cause this?

"Interesting. And you dealt with Kitsuchi, you say?"

Kakashi nodded. "For fear of Iwa declaring war in retaliation, I didn't kill him, but I did cripple him."

The old man nodded. "A wise choice. Iwa will retaliate for this, but only out of a desire to not seem weak. The other villages will look down on them if not, but they'll hopefully not resort to war. Even if they do, Konoha is prepared." Saru-jiji, as Naruto used to call him when he was younger, puffed on his smoking pipe. "Good work, Team 7. You all did splendidly. The mission is bumped up to an A-rank and your pay will reflect accordingly."

Naruto couldn't help but smile. He had more money than he really needed, but A-ranks paid stupid amounts of money.

He turned to Sakura, and she had the same idea as him. "Ichiraku's?" she whispered.

Naruto eagerly nodded, excited at the prospect of gorging himself on endless amounts of ramen. Tonight, he would go through the entire supply they had, he promised himself. He'd always wanted to try, but held off on it.

Not today.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at their antics, but even he had a small grin on his face.

The old man chuckled. "Ah, to be young again. For your sake, I won't take up too much of your time, but I do have a request. A mission has just been requested, and it's all very last minute. While I have you here, I'm hoping you'd accept the mission."

"Details, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked.

"Of course." He grabbed a folder from his drawer and went through its contents. "A bridge builder by the name of Tazuna needs an escort to the Land of Wave, claiming bandits have been seen near the area. You'll also need to protect him while he builds the bridge."

Kakashi looked back at his team, raising an eyebrow.

Sasuke nodded. Sakura was more hesitant in her answer, but she acquiesced with a nod of her own. Naruto, seeing their answer, went along with it. He didn't really care all that much.

Kakashi turned back to the old man. "As long as my team gets a couple days of rest, we're willing to accept, Hokage-sama."

Kurotsuchi bowed as deeply as she could, as expected of any Iwa-nin who stood before their Kage. Her team followed suit, while her father just glowered in his wheelchair.

It truly hurt to see him in such a state. Her father had always been a bit of a downer, but she knew who he truly was under that exterior–a truly happy man who wanted the best for her. He loved her with all of his heart, and she loved him.

Kakashi Hatake ruined everything.

It took all of her limited medical skills to keep her father alive. When the team's medic, Ishikoro, was brought to them by Hatake's clones, she almost attacked them, but the technique ended before she could. Afterwards, she couldn't help but be relieved.

Ishikoro took over and stabilized her father. It took the three of them a couple weeks to finally return to the village and to a hospital to get proper care for her father. They were allowed to postpone their report until he had recovered.

Now, they stood before their Tsuchikage waiting for his verdict. They had reported everything that had happened, and she could see the veins that were starting to appear in her grandfather's forehead.

"Four jonin… dead? My own son… a cripple?" Oonoki's boiling rage was interfering with his speech. "But, more importantly, you… let the Namikaze spawn live?!"

Kurotsuchi bit her lip, scared. Her grandfather had never looked at her with such fury before. Her father breathed out, frustration on his face. "Hatake was–"

"And the Hatake brat! How could you lose to him? You're the strongest jonin we have!"

"And he was stronger, father. There was nothing I could do. Before I could even blink, the others were dead, so I prioritized my genin, but even that was useless. I'm willing to accept any punishment for this," her father said, hating every word that came out of his mouth.

Oonoki growled. "And how am I supposed to punish you? You're a cripple. What can I do that's worse than that!" Her grandfather deflated, sighing. "Konoha's embarrassed us. You had their jinchuuriki and son of their hero dead to rights. That should have been it, but they stole him back, killed four jonin, and crippled my own son? The credibility we've lost because of this is astronomical."

"I know, father," Kitsuchi whispered.

Oonoki snorted in disgust. "I have no doubt you do. You'll never become a shinobi again, and say goodbye to the kage-ship. I'm disappointed in you, Kitsuchi. I thought I raised you better than this. To lose to Hatake in such a manner…" he muttered. He turned his glare to Kurutsuchi. "And you three. No more missions for this next month. All that you will do, all that you will know, is brutal training. Iwa needs a win over Konoha. We'll be ramping up missions that oppose them, but we need something more."

"Iwa's going to join Konoha's Chunin Exams for the first time since the Third Shinobi World War, and you're going to win."

A/N: I'm happier with this one, but you can definitely tell I was dealing with writer's block near the end. Things became way too quick. No worries, I will definitely slow down next chapter. I was just in a rush to meet the deadline.

Tell me what you guys thought of Nagato vs Obito. Did how it end make sense? It's my second huge fight and it happened to be between two titans. That sucks.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

- DoctorNiklaus.