Sen sat on a high branch, tossing the black-and-red Ten-Tails Core Ball in his hand.
"Can he take a beating? Black Zetsu, you sure talk big."
"Does this old immortal you summoned have health insurance?"
"I've never been good at pulling my punches. If one slap knocks him to pieces, who's taking responsibility?"
The black sphere below swelled like a pig's black bladder about to burst.
Foul-smelling bubbles rose from the surface of the black mud, gurgling away.
Madara's screams came muffled through the black mud, hoarse and ragged.
"Black Zetsu... you damned sludge! Let go of me!"
"I created you with Yin-Yang Release! I am your master!"
"I am the Uchiha's savior! The true Sage of Six Paths!"
A ghastly white crack split open on the sphere's surface, revealing Black Zetsu's featureless face.
Black Zetsu let out a strange, grating laugh, like broken roof tiles scraping the bottom of a pot.
"Created me? Lord Madara, haven't you been dreaming a little too long?"
"I'm no lowly thing your pathetic little bit of chakra could produce."
Madara struggled desperately inside the black mud, his withered arms straining to push back its black skin.
"Nonsense! You are the embodiment of my will!"
"I spent all those years plotting underground! Even Obito danced in the palm of my hand!"
"How could I be wrong? Impossible!"
Black Zetsu laughed louder, dripping with mockery and malice.
"You never saw this coming, did you, Lord Madara? You thought you were the one playing chess."
"In reality, you were just a wooden pawn hopping blindly around the board."
"Obito was your pawn, but weren't you my pawn all along?"
Sen listened from the tree, thoroughly amused, and snapped off a twig to pick his teeth.
"Hey, old Madara, hear that? He's calling you a brainless wooden