Episode 11 — Briefing

How the walkthrough will present the quest

As opposed to the hidden plots we have unlocked so far, Samehada’s plan spans hundreds of chapters, and tends to rely on patterns of coïncidences rather than obvious discrepancies. As a result, the investigation involves lots of back and forth between chapters: you notice a coïncidence, make a guess about an ability Samehada may have, you jump back 200 chapters to find another coïncidence fitting the pattern, then you jump 300 chapters forward to link it to another guess, etc.

That wouldn’t be practical for a walkthrough, as we would end up making one 80-slide episode, constantly switching scenes and topics. We will therefore proceed differently.

We will start with the conclusion: what Samehada wants, and what her abilities are. Then, we will proceed chronologically: we’ll have a look at Samehada’s scenes throughout the novel, starting from her first appearance, and explain what she is doing.

The clues Mr Kishimoto gave us are increasingly visible as we get close to the war. Samehada’s early scenes do not prove anything; they only are retrospective foreshadowing, when you read them again after you’ve already established Samehada is the main antagonist. Only later in the novel do we get evidence that is harder to deny.

Therefore, you will need to be patient. The first episodes will seem unconvincing. That is expected. Just bear with us, and review the quest as a whole after its final, Kotoamatsukami episode.

Goals and personality

Samehada is the true main antagonist of Naruto.

Goal:

Her goal is to obtain the Jūbi and use its formidable chakra to begin the Seawater Deluge: the transformation of the world into an ocean. Specifically, she needs the full Jūbi. An incomplete Jūbi, like the one Obito initially summoned, would not be enough. She wants Zetsu to successfully trigger Kaguya's revival, and she needs to be physically present in order to step in, hijack the revival, and claim the chakra for herself.

In the true ending of the novel, this is exactly what she does, and this is the ending we want to unlock.

Backstory:

She is the tenth Bijū, accidentally created when the Rikudō Sennin split up the Jūbi into 9 Bijū. But we’ll detail that in the third part of the walkthrough.

Personality:

Samehada is completely driven to her goal, and doesn’t have much personality beyond that. You could think of her as a computer playing a chess game (Stockfish, or maybe Stockshark?): she's just playing the best moves to win the game.

Samehada and Kisame

Samehada and Kisame are the same character.

Specifically, Kisame is Samehada’s human form, the interface she uses to interact with the world. They share the same mind, which means that:

Samehada cannot betray Kisame — they are the same person.

They do not have separate long-term agendas.

Kisame doesn’t have human-like emotions either. His jovial personality is an act.

When the walkthrough says “Samehada did this,” it may refer to the sword directly or to Kisame acting as her public form.

Samehada creates “Kisame” by possessing her wielder. Should Kisame die, Samehada can simply create him anew. When a new user picks and wields her, she slowly possesses them, eventually turning them into her "Kisame" template.

This is what happens to Bee late in the novel. Samehada chose as her new host for strategic purposes, and by the end of the novel, in the true ending, he has been fully turned into “Kisame”.

Samehada’s main assets

Underestimation. Everyone sees Samehada as just a useful sword. Not even Zetsu knows what Samehada actually is.

Intelligence. Samehada has the highest IQ in the novel, and behaves likes a cold long-term strategist.

Information. She knows about her competitors, and her sensing feats imply awareness of what’s happening far beyond her immediate surroundings.

Immortality. Like any other Bijū, Samehada cannot be permanently killed. Kisame may die, but Samehada can simply possess another wielder to create him anew.

Finally, Samehada is a genjutsu user. The exact mechanics aren’t described, since Samehada’s genjutsu is part of the main hidden plot, but from what we’ll see:

Her genjutsu seems undetectable.

It cannot cause direct damage in a battle context like, for example, Itachi’s Tsukuyomi. It cannot dominate the target’s mind and give a direct order like Shisui’s Kotoamatsukami either.

What Samehada can with it is subtle influence. She can nudge attention, magnify an existing memory, intensify an existing emotion… She can turn delight into euphoria, or a bad memory into a trauma.

Samehada would also be capable of slightly modifying an existing genjutsu programmed by someone else.

Samehada’s limits

Thankfully, Samehada also has limits and weaknesses. Otherwise, she would be a boring antagonist, and wouldn't need any high-IQ move.

She cannot summon or control the Jūbi herself. She needs to rely on a Rinnegan user.

Her win condition is complex. The right competitors must succeed up to a point, then fail at the right time, while she remains physically close enough to claim the prize.

Kisame is a strong fighter, but not strong enough to defeat the whole board directly. Samehada needs to rely on manipulation rather than brute force. For example, Samehada needs Madara to succeed at first, but wouldn't be able to defeat the Jūbi-empowered Madara in a straight fight.

Samehada needs a host to talk, move, and fight. If Kisame dies, Samehada will be left vulnerable until she can possess a new host.

More important, Samehada needs to maintain secrecy at all costs. She doesn’t have any willing ally, and if the world recognized what she really was, everyone would team up to seal her away. She needs to ensure the world keeps seeing her as a mere sword.

With that in place, we are ready to meet in the next episode to start the quest with Samehada’s first scenes.