The Origin of the God Tree, The Truth of the Infinite Tsukuyomi

Fifteen minutes.

Hashirama's voice came from atop the Wood Golem's head, carrying a tremor even he himself had not noticed. The Wood Golem's massive arm slowly lowered. Fresh wooden fibers were growing from the surface where Susanoo had severed it, but far more slowly than before—after the prolonged battle, even Hashirama's Sage Art chakra had been more than half depleted. Madara's Susanoo hung motionless in midair, its purple greatsword suspended above the Wood Golem's shoulder without coming down.

Madara's Rinnegan pierced through the smoke and the God Tree's hanging branches, settling on the white Six Paths figure high in the distance. Obito's face was expressionless, like the statue of a god carved upon a Stone Tablet, looking down on the battlefield below where blood flowed in rivers. His white robe barely stirred in the wind, as though he no longer belonged to this world, but had become some higher existence observing a swarm of insects about to be swept away.

Madara withdrew his sword.

Susanoo silently came apart in the air, dark-blue chakra fragments drifting down like a soundless snowfall. Madara leaped from Susanoo's head and landed on the Wood Golem's arm, the hem of his robe spreading behind him like a black banner. His gaze left Obito and swept over the bodies being dragged, pierced, and drained dry by the God Tree's branches. There was no pity in his eyes, no anger—only an indifference so profound it bordered on cruelty.

Hashirama also jumped down from atop the Wood Golem, landing roughly ten paces away from Madara. Behind them, the Wood Golem's enormous body slowly lowered its arms, its severed wooden fibers dragging a deep furrow through the ground with a dull grinding sound. The remains of the Wood Golem and Susanoo began collapsing behind them at the same time.