Episode 13 — The first pattern

Sasori’s portrayal

As you’d expect from a puppet master, Sasori was introduced as a careful planner. He uses poison, traps, sleeper agents, and meticulously crafts his puppets. His first bits of dialogues have him scold Deidara for being reckless and not preparing himself sufficiently before a fight.

Personality-wise, Sasori was portrayed as a creepy psychopath. When he first sees his grandmother, his first thought is that she’ll make a good addition to his puppet collection.

So, in his first major fight, did he live up do this portrayal?

Chapter 250, scolding Deidara.

One of Sasori’s sleeping agents, chapter 247.

Sasori’s reunion with his grandmother, chapter 264.

Sasori’s performance

Sasori underperforms, and even seems out of character:

First, he loses his most valuable puppet, the Third Kazekage, by sending it into Sakura’s punching range, instead of safely attacking from a distance. He does this after seeing that Sakura can destroy his puppets in a single punch.

Later, he gets killed because, according to Chiyo, he chose not to dodge her final attack, implying he got emotional when surrounded by his parents’ puppets. Indeed, in that scene, Sasori does have a flashback of his parents’ puppets hugging him.

Falling for Sakura’s bait… (Chapter 270.)

Sasori’s flashback, chapter 274.

Sasori — conclusion

So, Sasori got reckless and emotional, in opposition to his established personality, and got killed as a result. In the meantime, Deidara was drawing Naruto and Kakashi to safety, away from Sasori, as he barely had any clay left…

Now, who did Sasori spend three days with just before his final battle? The rest of Akatsuki, as they were sealing the Ichibi.

Sasori’s last Akatsuki meeting, chapter 263.

For the moment, Sasori’s death doesn’t prove anything - he may have, after all, truly missed his parents all along, and got emotional when he saw their puppets again.

But if we could find a pattern of similarly suspicious deaths, they may become a minor clue… So let’s move on to the next Akatsuki member.

Kakuzu’s portrayal

Kakuzu was portrayed as an experienced, ruthless killer — a sort of evil Hiruzen. In chapter 337, we can see that Kakuzu’s Jiongu is so fast that not even Kakashi can defend himself, and yet, Kakuzu himself still considers his experience, rather than his ninjutsu, as his strongest asset.

In chapter 333, even Shikamaru is impressed with Kakuzu’s quick-thinking, after the latter countered his ambush.

Finally, we are shown that Kakuzu’s standard tactics would be to abuse Hidan’s immortality.

So, how did Kakuzu live up to his reputation?

Immortality tactics, chapter 334.

Impressing Shikamaru, chapter 333.

A ruthless killer, chapter 336.

Kakashi can’t react to Jiongu (chapter 337), but Kakuzu still values his experience more (chapter 336).

Kakuzu in action

In chapter 334, we see what may be the worst blunder in the novel. Kakashi believes Kakuzu is dead, turns his back to him, and charges at Hidan with a Raikiri. The obvious winning move for Kakuzu is to let Kakashi hit Hidan, who is immortal anyway, and then kill Kakashi from behind while his hand is stuck in Hidan. Instead, Kakuzu steps in and kicks Kakashi away, protecting his immortal teammate that didn’t need protection.

How could Kakuzu miss such an opportunity, especially when abusing Hidan’s immortality has been established as his standard strategy?

Later, Kakuzu correctly identify Naruto’s Rasenshuriken as the main threat, and yet he keeps losing track of it as he gets distracted or tricked by clones.

An unbelievable blunder, chapter 334.

Distracted by clones, chapter 340.

Falling for a clone trick, chapter 341.

Kakuzu — conclusion

So, based on his portrayal, Kakuzu’s performance was suspicious, at best. In the meantime, in chapter 336, Hidan didn’t realise his bladed hadn’t hit anything… Now, who did Kakuzu and Hidan spend time with just before their defeat?

Just like Sasori, they spent several days with the rest of Akatsuki, including Samehada, in a Bijū sealing session.

Chapter 332.

Let’s take a step back

Why would Samehada even want to sabotage Sasori, Hidan and Kakuzu? She would have three main reasons:

Naruto mustn’t be captured yet. Edo Madara isn’t ready to be summoned; Naruto isn’t ready to fight Obito. It’s too early to trigger the endgame.

Ideally, Kakashi should be kept alive, because his Kamui will be Konoha’s best answer to Obito’s Kamui.

Finally, the more Akatsuki members are taken off the board, the more likely Obito is to send Kisame to capture the last Jinchūriki. If Kisame is the last remaining member, Samehada will have better control over when the final Jinchūriki is captured.

Two cases and a half don’t prove anything yet though. Let us see if we can add another occurrence to our pattern…

Deidara’s defeat to Raiton

Deidara’s defeat to Sasuke is weird. Not the loss in itself — Sasuke is a competent opponent —, but the way it happened. The key to Deidara's defeat was Sasuke countering his bombs (especially his C4) with Raiton. Deidara's lack of a plan against that is surprising. Let’s sum up what Deidara knew:

Raiton disables his bombs. (In chapter 361, he is surprised Sasuke found the weakness, not that the weakness exist.)

The Sharingan can see chakra (including the C4 nano bombs) and read hand seals. (We’re told Deidara specifically studied the Sharingan in order to have a rematch against Itachi, so he should at least know the basics of what a Sharingan can do.)

Sasuke happens to wield a Sharingan and be a Raiton user…

From there, you would expect Deidara to anticipate that Sasuke would use Raiton to deactivate his C4, and to try to come up with a plan to cover this weakness. Indeed, against Gaara, Deidara was established as a good tactician (if a bit reckless) and a quick thinker. For example, Deidara could have used fake hand seals to trick Sasuke into thinking his bombs are made of Fūton, and can be disabled by Katon. The plan may or may not have worked, but you’d expect Deidara to at least have a plan.

Instead, Deidara plans nothing, and is flabbergasted when he realises Sasuke has deactivated his bombs. He acknowledges that he knew about this Raiton weakness, but still can't believe that Sasuke, a Sharingan user, has found it.

Chapter 361.

Deidara’s Sharingan trauma (1)

Aside from his poor fighting performance, Deidara’s behaviour with Sasuke is weird.

First, before the battle, he hesitates between going after Naruto and Kakashi (who injured him earlier in the story) and going after Sasuke (who denied him the opportunity of killing Orochimaru). In his anger, he eventually chooses to attack Sasuke.

This doesn’t make much sense, considering Deidara never even met Orochimaru, as he joined Akatsuki after Orochimaru left.

When he does get to Sasuke, Deidara becomes increasingly rageful at the Sharingan, and the Uchiha bloodline in general.

Chapter 354. (Deidara is the one speaking).

The first comment about Sasuke’s eyes, chapter 356.

First comment about the Sharingan, chapter 357.

The trauma… Chapter 359.

Deidara’s Sharingan trauma (2)

Finally, Deidara snaps and, after one final hysterical rant about the Sharingan, goes for a suicide attack in chapter 362. Now, why does Deidara hate the Sharingan so much? Did you notice the discrepancy?

According to Deidara himself, it started with his humiliating defeat against Itachi just before he joined Akatsuki. The flashback is shown in chapter 359.

There’s a discrepancy with this: earlier in the novel, when Deidara fought Kakashi, he didn’t show any hostile reaction to his Sharingan. Even when Kakashi sent his arm to another dimension with Kamui — something far more rule-bending than anything Sasuke did —, Deidara merely seemed impressed and interested in Kakashi’s technique.

So, what happened between chapter 276, in which Deidara was indifferent to the Sharingan, and chapter 357, in which Deidara, traumatised by the Itachi flashback, gets hysterical as soon as he sees a Sharingan? Who did Deidara spend time with while his flashback turned from a distant memory into a trauma?

Once again, Samehada - who would have wanted Deidara to go after Sasuke rather than Naruto, as Sasuke was better-equipped to deal with him.

Deidara getting hysterical, chapter 362.

The flashback that apparently caused Deidara’s Sharingan trauma, chapter 359.

Deidara’s calm reaction to Kakashi’s Mangekyō Sharingan, chapter 276.

Kisame performs ignorance

Sasori, Kakuzu, Deidara… We’re starting to have a pattern. Just like others, Deidara spent time in an Akatsuki meeting, with Samehada, before his death.

Another pattern is, after these deaths, Kisame repeatedly performs ignorance:

He pretends not to know Kakuzu is dead.

After Deidara’s death, he asks Zetsu who killed him.

He also performs belief in Tobi’s fake death.

Mr Kishimoto keeps showing us Kisame insisting that he definitely didn’t know anything.

Chapter 553.

Chapter 363.

Orochimaru, so close to victory

As we saw in his side quest, Orochimaru had a brilliant masterplan: lose on purpose against Sasuke, get absorbed, ride Sasuke to Itachi, and emerge when the brothers have sufficiently exhausted each other.

The plan was great. Nagato, Obito, and even Kabuto seemed to believe Orochimaru was dead. Itachi and Sasuke exhausted each other exactly as planned, and Orochimaru got the perfect opportunity to obtain the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.

That moment is what Orochimaru had been planning for years, when he pretended he couldn’t take Sasuke’s body before the time skip. Now, if the plan was so great, why did Orochimaru fail so spectacularly in the final step?

Let’s look for discrepancies in Orochimaru’s defeat.

Chapter 392: the moment Orochimaru had been planning for.

Orochimaru — the discrepancies (1)

The first discrepancy is, we are told Orochimaru feared Itachi. Orochimaru himself said Itachi was too powerful for him, and indeed, the last time Orochimaru tried to fight him, it ended in a crushing defeat, as seen in chapter 345. In fact, the whole reason why Orochimaru went for Sasuke’s body, is that he knew he couldn’t take Itachi’s.

If that is the case, why would Orochimaru act so reckless in chapter 392, in front of Itachi? He emerges early, while Itachi’s Susanoo is still active, and monologues about his imminent victory, not even paying attention to the Susanoo and its sword..

As we saw in his side quest, the reasoning behind Orochimaru’s plan was to avoid a straight fight against Itachi — a fight he knew he couldn’t win. So in chapter 392, even if Itachi was on his last legs, finishing him off should have been the moment where Orochimaru was at his most careful.

Instead, Orochimaru talks, laughs, and gets stabbed.

Chapter 345: Orochimaru’s first “fight” against Itachi.

Chapter 392: not paying attention to Itachi.

Orochimaru — the discrepancies (2)

The second, minor discrepancy is that we are told Orochimaru has been searching for the Sword of Totsuka for years. It seems to be true, as Orochimaru does know of its sealing abilities. If that is the case, why wouldn’t Orochimaru recognise it sooner, before getting stabbed, and therefore realise he should be careful?

If he knows what this sword does, and if he has been looking for it, he should at least know it is ethereal. Ethereal swords aren’t a common thing in the Naruto world. In fact, Totsuka is the only one that we know of. And yet, when Orochimaru sees Itachi butchering his eight-headed snake with an ethereal sword, he doesn’t even suspect that this sword might be dangerous.

Realisation, a bit too late… (Still chapter 392.)

Orochimaru — conclusion

Now, who did Sasuke, with Orochimaru still within him, spend time with just before fighting Itachi?

Samehada. Again. In chapter 380, Kisame intercepted Team Hebi just before Sasuke's fight with Itachi. While Kisame claimed to be obeying Itachi's orders, it would have been the perfect chance to sabotage Orochimaru…

Samehada would have two reasons to want Orochimaru to fail:

- She will need someone to summon Edo Madara. Orochimaru knows his limits; he never would have revived a full-power, uncontrollable Madara, without serious precautions. Kabuto, on the other hand, driven by his god delusions, believes he can control Madara like any other Edo ninja. So, by taking Orochimaru out, Samehada is letting Kabuto take over the Edo Tensei project, allowing Zetsu to lead him to Madara's DNA.

- Orochimaru's defeat removes an unpredictable competitor (Orochimaru himself), and means Sasuke lives and stays on the board.

Chapter 380.

Episode conclusion

Individually, those deaths don't prove anything. Each failure has a surface explanation.

Sasori may have been emotional and on the verge of breaking all along; his puppet persona may have been a façade. Kakuzu may have become complacent, after living for so long. Deidara may have been unhinged the whole time. Orochimaru may have got too euphoric, when his masterplan finally came to fruition after years of waiting.

But the pattern keeps repeating, and Akatsuki members keep falling one after the other, just after spending time with Samehada. Each death brings Samehada closer to her goal:

Naruto remains uncaptured.

Kakashi survives.

Kabuto takes over the Edo Tensei project.

Soon, Kisame will be the only Akatsuki member left for Obito to send after the last Jinchūriki.

This doesn’t prove anything yet. But let us see if we can find other clues, later in the novel, that could hint at Samehada being a genjutsu user…