Madara slammed the broken half of his black scepter against the rough tree trunk like a madman. A dozen sparks burst from the snapped end, and black ash mixed with mud splattered his head and face. A roar like a broken bellows tore from his throat, spittle flying everywhere. "I'll tear this rotten wood apart! We'll die together! Even if I die, I'm taking you with me! Sen Senju, you'll never take what's mine! Shatter!"
"Go on, hit it harder. What, didn't you get enough dinner?" Sen's enormous wooden face sneered from the ten-thousand-meter-tall trunk, blowing out a hot gust thick with the pungent smell of vegetation. "Your black stick's already snapped in two, and you're still tapping away like a monk on a wooden fish. Old Madara, my bark's plenty thick. Nice scraping technique, though. Even a bathhouse would turn you away for being too weak to scrub backs."
Madara ground his back teeth so hard they cracked, then swallowed them along with his blood. His fingers gouged ten bloody furrows in the ground, his nails splitting and peeling back as sticky yellow mud packed beneath them. He struggled desperately to wrench his legs free of the thorny black vines, but the more he struggled, the tighter they constricted. Blood spurted from the torn, curling flesh on his thighs, and the pain left his white hair plastered to his forehead with cold sweat.
"You bastard! My six paths power is invincible! Why should these rotten roots tether me like a dog?!" Madara glared with his bloodshot Rinnegan, panting heavily. "Don't get cocky yet, you little beast. Once I stabilize the Ten-Tails' chakra, I'll uproot this demon tree of yours and burn it for firewood! I refuse to accept this! I'll never bow!"
Sen let out a loud, satisfied belch