"I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you're saying."
At this point, the leader of Takigakure wasn't the "movie extra A" from the film, but some other "extra B."
When he first met the two bigshots from Konoha, he'd actually tried to cozy up, attitude even a little fawning.
But the moment he heard they were here for the village's tailed beast, his demeanor cooled visibly.
If he could, he'd have loved to pull a "triple denial" routine and see if he could hand-wave his way out. Unfortunately for him, neither Shisui nor Kakashi were the type to be fobbed off.
When the Takigakure leader played dumb like that, Kakashi still wanted to try talking it through, but Shisui's eyes were already glinting scarlet—he was ready to act.
After Yorin had shown him that worldline where Yorin didn't exist, Shisui had become his most fanatical believer, bar none; the type who would die for him at any moment.
So the moment he heard Takigakure's leader refuse, he switched from emissary mode straight into combat mode.
"Denial is meaningless," Kakashi tried once more. "Konoha already has enough evidence. We know Chōmei, the Seven-Tails, is in Takigakure.
"If you hand over the Seven-Tails' jinchūriki now, we can pretend none of this happened. That's best for everyone.
"But if you insist on staying in the dark—"
The very next second, his Sharingan flared and genjutsu washed over the Takigakure leader, binding his mind in an instant.
"No need for so much talk, Kakashi," Shisui said coldly. "Takigakure is already an enemy."
Kakashi: "...?"
He was a bit shocked. He hadn't expected Shisui to be this bold—skipping straight to "we're enemies now."
Takigakure might not be one of the Five Great Villages, but it was still first-rate among the smaller ones, with formidable fighting power. With some effort, they could field a three-thousand-strong ninja force.
Just the two of them, up against Takigakure's three thousand… wasn't that a bit much?
Still, doubts or not, questions could wait until after the fight.
With a kunai pressed to the leader's throat, Shisui said loudly, "If you want him to live, hand over the Seven-Tails' jinchūriki!"
Unsurprisingly, that arrogance didn't make Takigakure more cooperative. It just pissed them off.
"Damn it, Konoha ninja, this is going too far! Someone! The Konoha shinobi have taken the leader!"
At the shout, more Takigakure ninja swarmed in from all directions. Seeing this, Kakashi's gaze went cold as well; it was clear there'd be no peaceful solution now.
"Last chance," he called. "Hand over the Seven-Tails and we can be lenient."
"We won't hand it over. We really don't know what you're talking about."
Even with things this far gone, they still tried to salvage the situation.
Whether you won or lost a fight with two Konoha elites, it wasn't good for you either way. If you had to fight, obviously winning was better than losing… but best of all would be avoiding the battle entirely.
In a blink, Takigakure's nin flung projectiles at the pair.
Senbon, kunai, shuriken rained down on them like a storm—though the closest wave of Takigakure ninja had already been dropped by the Sharingan.
Eternal Mangekyō really was broken.
Meanwhile defense was nothing Kakashi had to worry about.
No matter how they tried, Takigakure's thrown weapons couldn't even scratch Shisui's Susanoo.
"He's too strong… so this is the legendary Uchiha?!"
"Wasn't Shunshin Shisui supposed to be famed for his body flicker? Why does he also have such insane ninjutsu?!"
"Damn it, our attacks are completely useless!"
"Compared to him, that silver-haired dead-fish-eyes next to him looks like a total burden…"
Kakashi: "..."
Thanks for the compliment, really.
While he was silently roasting them, the battle moved into its second phase.
Since direct-fire projectiles with no setup did nothing, the next step was heavy ninjutsu bombardment.
In theory, that made sense. The problem was they still didn't understand what Susanoo really meant. Firing off C- and B-rank jutsu at it wasn't a whole lot better than throwing shuriken at the damn thing—pretty much on par with Danzō's old tricks.
At least Danzō had seen Susanoo before; that made him even more pathetic.
…
Those jutsu were nothing but a tickle to Susanoo. In return, Shisui's Susanoo, wielding its three sacred treasures, was one-shotting people in swathes.
Kakashi couldn't help thinking: why did Yorin even send him with Shisui? One Shisui was obviously plenty for this mission.
By himself, Shisui was turning Takigakure's shinobi into a bloody field of corpses.
Under those circumstances, Takigakure should really have realized the gap and surrendered.
Though speaking up now made him feel like Shisui's lackey, Kakashi still shouted for the sake of reducing casualties:
"This is your last chance! Surrender, Takigakure! If you hand over the tailed beast, peace can still be salvaged!"
"A weapon like a tailed beast is way beyond Takigakure's scale," Shisui added. "Handing it over is the best option."
Their words didn't cow Takigakure. Instead, many ninja exchanged looks, as if steeling themselves, then pulled out small bottles from their pouches and drank them—
Hero Water.
It could boost chakra and power, but devoured the user's life. Calling it "Hero Water" was generous; Yorin thought "suicide energy drink" might be more accurate.
Regardless of the name, after downing it they roared "For Takigakure!" and launched a kamikaze charge.
"What a waste," Shisui murmured.
Kakashi, on the other hand, couldn't help wondering if he'd complained about Yorin too loudly lately and put himself on a kill list.
Anyone qualified to drink Hero Water was at least an elite chūnin; there were even three jōnin who'd quaffed it and gone full kamikaze. Before drinking, these guys had been a notch below Kakashi, but juiced up like this, their chakra reserves were terrifying.
One-on-one they'd be manageable. In a group? Best case, he'd barely get out alive. Worst case, he'd die right here.
Yet this "trump card" unit, which in Kakashi's eyes was frighteningly strong, went 0–6 against Shisui all by himself.
No matter how strong their ninjutsu (from Kakashi's perspective) or taijutsu (from Kakashi's perspective), every blow against Susanoo did nothing. It was like scratching glass.
In response, Susanoo's sword simply bisected them.
Watching this, Shisui seemed to snap. He erupted into that quintessential Uchiha behavior: righteous hysterics.
"Damn you all!! Why won't you obey Yorin-sama's command! Only he can save the shinobi world! Only he can bring everyone peace and happiness!
"Why would you defy him?! Don't you understand you're dragging the world toward destruction?! Aaaaahhh!!!"
Kakashi was horrified to realize that one of his best friends (granted, mostly because Kakashi didn't have many) had turned into a full-on zealot for the Church of Yorin.
Shouting like a man possessed, Shisui did what every Uchiha does once they "flip the Gundam switch": he rampaged in Susanoo.
He charged in and out of Takigakure's formations, slashing and smashing through them over and over, reducing every ninja who stood in his way to paste.
And he still had the nerve to act aggrieved about it, voice louder than the dying Takigakure shinobi:
"Damn you! Damn you all!!"
Seeing Shisui go full overkill, the Takigakure nin finally broke.
For a small village, its military was an irreplaceable resource.
The same three thousand shinobi, if Konoha burned through them they could just recruit another three thousand, even six thousand, in no time. If Takigakure lost three thousand, they might as well shut down and start over.
Across hundreds of years, Takigakure had produced exactly one kakashi-level freak, Kakuzu. Other than him, those jōnin who'd downed Hero Water were their strongest assets.
And those men, after drinking, hadn't even had time to make an impact before Shisui cut them down like weeds.
Eternal Mangekyō really paid dividends. Shisui's Susanoo wasn't yet "perfect," but it was between phase 2 and phase 3.
With a super-weapon like that, who needed fancy genjutsu or stealth? You could just walk forward and press A to win.
"This is hopeless. We can't win!"
"Do we surrender…?"
"Let's at least retreat!"
"Damn it… then we use that! Our last option!"
"Really? If we do that, there'll be nothing left after…"
"Takigakure can lose. But we absolutely cannot surrender like cowards! Let's go—release the tailed beast!"
Kakashi: "…"