Madara's pale hand clamped tightly around Black Zetsu's throat, his nails digging deep into that sticky mass of black mud.
Black sludge squeezed out through his bony fingers and dropped into the muddy puddle with a muffled "glurp."
His purple Rinnegan was wide open, and the dead skin around his eye socket, not yet fully healed, split apart.
Yellow fluid mixed with black blood streamed down his cheeks.
"Activate the Summoning Jutsu for me!"
Madara roared through a throat like a broken bellows, spraying Black Zetsu's face with spit.
"That useless cripple Obito still holds the contract for the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path! Forcefully drain every last bit of chakra left inside it!"
Black Zetsu trembled from the pain, its two yellow eyes rolling wildly in their sockets.
"Lord Madara... that statue was smashed to pieces by Uchiha Yoru!"
Its face, like something molded from asphalt, twisted into a lump, its voice scraping like sandpaper.
"Now there's only a wooden lump left underground. There's barely any power left to drain!"
"I told you to drain it, so drain it! Why the hell are you talking so much nonsense?!"
Madara slapped the soft half of Black Zetsu's head.
With a crisp smack, black mud splattered everywhere.
A few stinking flecks landed on Madara's bare feet, but he could not even be bothered to wipe them off.
Yoru leaned against a half-charred tree stump some distance away.
He rummaged through his trench coat pocket and pulled out a half-crushed cigarette pack.
He took out a wrinkled cigarette and held it between his teeth.
Without lighting it, he simply chewed on the tobacco.
A bitter, spicy flavor spread across his tongue.
Yoru tilted his head, watching Madara's frantic, miserable state, and could not help snickering.
"Say, old bones, are you two