His fist smashed through the air in a flash of green, his bones cracking loudly. Unexpectedly, space folded inward like a rotten rag. White light flickered wildly before his eyes, making them ache. The solid footing beneath him vanished, and weightlessness dragged his stomach downward. Then a scorching blast of heat, hot enough to boil his brains, slammed into his face. His bangs instantly curled into singed yellow springs, and the smell of burning hair rushed up his nose.
The yellow mud below had disappeared. All he could see was a vast expanse of churning, bubbling, crimson lava. The heat made the soles of his feet ache through his shoes. He fell through the air, the hot wind lashing his face. Sen tugged at his collar and shook off a spray of sweat, the droplets evaporating into white smoke as they fell. "Lovely. Dragging me into a midnight sauna without warning? I didn't even buy a ticket."
Kaguya floated overhead. Flecks of black ash clung to the hem of her white robe as she panted heavily. The Rinnegan on her forehead stared fixedly downward, her gaze icy cold. Black Zetsu poked his black, muddy head out of her sleeve and laughed in his strange, shrill, rasping voice. Against the popping of lava bubbles, the sound was especially grating, as irritating as a stray cat whose tail had been stepped on.
"Mother's Amenominaka is the domain of a god. Sen Senju, you country bumpkin, today you finally get to see something!" Black Zetsu writhed around, spitting bubbles of black mud. "The lava below can melt stone. Even if your lousy wood were made of iron, it would burn to ash down there. There's nothing for you to brace against this time. Just accept your fate, you damned monster, and become a