Episode 14 — Obito sends Samehada to Bee

Why Obito starts the war

Obito’s plan was built to counter what he sees at his biggest threat: Zetsu. From Obito's perspective, capturing Naruto and Bee never was a problem to begin with, especially now that, with Nagato dead, he can claim the Rinnegan for himself. Obito doesn’t see the alliance as a realistic threat either: to him, the only men who might have been able to defeat him in a fight, Nagato and Itachi, are dead.

But there still is the Zetsu problem. Obito’s body is still half-made of White Zetsu, and he still has Madara’s seal on his heart. So Obito has to assume that as soon as he equips Madara’s Rinnegan, Zetsu will be able, with the heart seal, to force him to cast Rinne Tensei.

However, as far as Obito knows, Zetsu's position is still complicated, because Rinne Tensei would revive Madara exactly as he was when he died: old, frail, on his deathbed, and unable to defend himself.

In other words, Zetsu can only trigger Rinne Tensei when two conditions are met:

A cleared battlefield. (As any competent ninja would be able to kill an old Madara.)

The Jūbi ready to be absorbed. (As Madara will quickly die of old age again, and isn't in any shape to capture a Bijū himself.)

Unless those conditions are met, Zetsu cannot use Rinne Tensei, because Madara would get revived only to die again immediately after.

So, the plan is, by starting a war and having several Kage-level ninjas fight him, Obito will make it difficult for Zetsu (whom he believes is a weak fighter) to get close to him and trigger Rinne Tensei, and especially difficult for Zetsu to find a clean opportunity to safely revive Madara. Obito wants the battlefield as chaotic and dangerous as possible.

So as we can see, Obito has a good reason to over-complicate the board with the war. He's making the position more complex not just for himself, but especially for Zetsu, his main remaining enemy. In Obito’s logic, Naruto and the alliance aren’t his enemies: they are his shield against Black Zetsu.

The heart seal is still there. (Chapter 675.)

Obito’s plan assumed Madara would be revived in this decrepit state. (Chapter 606.)

Everything makes sense

At first glance, the reader could wonder how Obito ever intended to win the war with his White Zetsu army, before Kabuto strengthened them and bolstered their forces with Edo Tensei.

Well, that’s exactly the idea: Obito never wanted his army to win the war. He was actually hoping that the alliance would massacre the Zetsu army for him, because as far as he knows, the White Zetsu are loyal to Madara, not to him. And if Black Zetsu could get himself killed as well, that’s all the better.

This is why Obito initially declined Kabuto’s offer: if the Edo Tensei army helps defeat the alliance, then nothing will stop Zetsu from forcing Rinne Tensei. Winning the war would be a disaster for Obito.

With that, we can understand why Obito was so terrified when Kabuto revealed his Edo Madara. Up until that point, Obito assumed the revived Madara would need protection. Edo Madara completely changes the math: Rinne Tensei will now revive a young, prime Madara.

With Edo Madara, the alliance will no longer protect Obito from Zetsu, because Zetsu no longer needs a clean battlefield. Madara himself can become the battlefield; a few Kage and a couple of Jinchūriki are no threat to him. And until he is revived, Edo Madara can protect Zetsu himself. Kabuto did not merely gain leverage over Obito. He accidentally made Zetsu’s route much easier. Obito’s foolproof plan has completely collapsed: he now has to hope that Zetsu actually cannot force Rinne Tensei as easily as he feared.

This also explains why Obito immediately summons the Jūbi in chapter 594, when Edo Tensei is undone by Itachi. Obito assumes Edo Madara has been sent back to the afterlife, and his plan is back on track. So he triggers the endgame immediately, before Zetsu can have Kabuto cast Edo Tensei again — and is understandably horrified when it turns out Edo Madara is, in fact, still here.

Edo Madara is revealed, and Obito’s plan falls apart. (Chapter 490.)

Obito was hoping that the alliance would wipe out the Zetsu army. (Chapter 512.)

The strange move: sending Kisame away

As we have seen, Obito still is intelligent; he still plays good moves. His war plan is reasonable. But a couple of his decisions get weird.

The first one is, sending Kisame to infiltrate the alliance.

Obito is surrounded by enemies, and he knows his “allies”, like Zetsu, will turn against him eventually. Even the few people who did follow him to some extent, such as Sasuke, did so under the assumption that he was Madara, and would likely side with the real Madara rather than Obito if they learnt the truth.

There's only one man Obito trusts: Kisame. As far as Obito knows, Kisame is personally loyal to him — not to his “Madara” persona or to Akatsuki as a whole. In chapter 404, Obito actually took his mask off in order to show Kisame his face.

So you would expect Obito to keep Kisame, his only genuine ally, close to him, especially when you consider the one skill that would make Kisame invaluable: healing.

Obito knows he will need, at some point, to get grievously injured in order to remove the heart seal — which he is planning to accomplish with Kakashi’s Raikiri. Samehada would be capable of healing such as injury, which would make the position much easier for Obito. Kisame is also good at finding and fighting Jinchūriki, which is a bonus. And when you are surrounded by enemies, a sensor teammate is always good to have.

Instead, Obito send Kisame away on a dangerous mission to spy on the alliance.

Obito sending Kisame to infiltrate the alliance, chapter 487.

Obito completely trusted Kisame, to the point of showing him his face. (Chapter 404.)

Who does the mission truly benefit?

The obvious defense is that Obito needs intelligence on the alliance, but the value of that intelligence is limited:

The alliance’s general battle plans are not Obito’s main concern.

Naruto’s location is less valuable than it seems, because Obito has already made the conflict personal by gloating about corrupting Sasuke. Obito only needs to show up on a battlefield and massacre a few ninjas; Naruto will come to him.

One could argue that Obito's goal here was to get Zetsu-independent information. But even that doesn’t really work, because Zetsu could always intercept Kisame's scroll, especially with the thousands of Zetsu clones on the loose. In fact, that's exactly what happens in chapter 511: Zetsu is the one who got the scroll first, and could have doctored it before giving it to Obito if he had needed to.

So for Obito, the mission isn’t really useful, and risks the life of the only man he believes he can trust.

For Samehada, on the other hand, it is perfect.

Samehada wants to worm her way into Naruto's group and start possessing Bee. (We'll see the details in the next few episodes.) But she cannot just go to Bee by herself. She needs a reason to be carried into the Jinchūriki group. Obito’s mission gives her that reason. She gets to join the Jinchūriki group while pretending to be following Obito’s orders. So neither Obito nor Zetsu can suspect Samehada may be following her own agenda.

So the mission doesn’t make much sense if we assume it was Obito’s idea. If we assume it was Samehada’s idea, however, everything makes sense. So Samehada is the one who talked Obito into sending her to Bee.

Zetsu got Kisame’s information before Obito. (Chapter 511.)

The position Samehada wanted. (Chapter 487.)

The Sasuke problem

How would Samehada get Obito to send her on an unneeded mission? The answer lies is Obito’s other suspicious decision: grooming Sasuke. In every possible scenario, Sasuke is always going to turn against him:

If Sasuke sides with Konoha (as Itachi wanted), then he becomes Obito's enemy. This is what happened eventually.

If Sasuke goes to the "dark side", as Obito wanted, then he is likely to eventually want the Jūbi for himself, once again meaning he becomes Obito's enemy.

Even if Sasuke decided to follow the Infinite Tsukuyomi plan, he'd side with the real, legendary Madara, rather than with the masked usurper.

So grooming Sasuke, and empowering him with the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, is only creating a dangerous, future rival for Obito.

Additionally, Sasuke's existence means that Obito isn't indispensable anymore to Zetsu. Without Sasuke, Obito would be the last Rinnegan-compatible Uchiha alive, and as such, the only person capable of reviving Madara. So Zetsu would actually need to keep Obito safe until the Jūbi is summoned.

With Sasuke, however, Zetsu now has a plan B if things don't work out with Obito. So Obito is making himself expandable.

Sasuke about to use his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan against Obito, chapter 650.

Obito about to give Sasuke the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, chapter 487.

Who benefits from Sasuke’s new powers?

If we were to give Obito the benefit of the doubt, we could argue that he initially had good reasons to want Sasuke:

At first, he may have wanted Sasuke as a plan B to kill Nagato, in case Nagato successfully captured Naruto. When Obito first recruited Sasuke, Nagato still was his main competitor.

After Nagato's death, he may have wanted to let Zetsu believe he was still loyal to Madara, and intended for Sasuke to replace Nagato as the sacrifice to revive Madara.

Later still, we could argue Obito needed Sasuke to kill Danzō for him, in order to take Shisui's eye without risking exposing himself to Kotoamatsukami.

But after Danzō’s death, the calculation worsens. From this point on, Obito would have been better off letting Sasuke either die to Danzō’s final seal, or foolishly attack Konoha by himself.

So, who truly benefits from Sasuke getting the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan? Only two characters do: Zetsu and Samehada.

If Madara is to be revived, they might need the alliance to defeat Jūbi Jinchūriki Obito. A Sasuke and Naruto team would help with that — and indeed, their Kyūbi + Susanoo combo was the key in overpowering Obito.

If Zetsu is to backstab Madara, then Madara will need to be distracted. Once again, Sasuke can help with that — especially after the Rikudō Sennin empowers him further.

So once again, it seems taking Sasuke under his wing wasn’t truly Obito’s own idea.

Obito protecting Sasuke from Danzō’s seal, and from his decision to attack Konoha immediately. (Chapters 481 and 482.)

Sasuke was pivotal in Obito’s defeat, chapter 651.

Samehada amplifies Obito’s wound

So, how can we explain Obito’s behaviour?

Unlike Zetsu and Samehada, Obito is a human being who genuinely believes in what he preaches. His own despair is genuine, and he wants to prove that the world is hopeless. He truly despises hope, because he gave up on his long ago.

In chapter 510, Obito still tries to convince Konan that hope does not exist — a useless endeavour at this point, since he is about to kill her anyway. After years of pretending to be Madara, Obito’s dark-lord persona is becoming unstable, and the real, desperate Obito is leaking.

With Sasuke, what Obito is truly seeking is validation. If he can take Sasuke onto a dark path, it will validate his own choice. Madara broke Obito. Obito wants to become the kind of monster who breaks Sasuke. That explains why he keeps investing in Sasuke even when the strategic value declines.

Of course, Samehada did not create Obito’s despair. Madara did that long ago. But using and worsening Obito’s existing despair is the kind of thing she could do.

Sending Kisame away fits that pattern. Obito doesn’t want to believe that true loyalty and camaraderie can exist. So with a little push from Samehada, he sends his last comrade away in order to fight his war by himself, alone against the entire world, alone against a world he considers as hell. When, at the climax of the war, Obito finally falls apart, it is hardly surprising. He has been unstable for a long time; the Jūbi assaulting him with flashbacks was the last straw.

So Samehada gets sent on a mission to infiltrate the alliance, as she wanted. Meaning, in the next episode, we'll finally see Samehada in action. Get ready for the highest-IQ moves in the novel!

Obito still trying to break Konan (chapter 510) and Naruto (chapter 615) to prove his own ideology right.

Obito sincerely believes the real world is hell. (Chapter 605 flashback.)

Episode conclusion

Obito’s war plan is not stupid. It is a sophisticated attempt to make Zetsu’s Rinne Tensei route unsafe.

That is why the Kisame mission matters.

For Obito, the mission is risky and only partly useful.

For Samehada, it is the opening she needs to reach Bee, Naruto, and the route to the Jūbi.

This episode marks the end of Samehada’s background influence.

Next, she will stop merely nudging the board from a distance and begin acting directly.