Episode 15 — Samehada chooses Bee

The pre-fight dialogue

Let’s have a look at the dialogue in chapter 468, before the battle starts. In just a couple of sentences, Kisame plants several useful ideas. Mr Kishimoto was as efficient as you can be in this scene.

Kisame says he had a hard time finding Bee, but found him thanks to Samehada liking Bee’s chakra. That quietly teaches Bee four things:

Samehada’s sensing isn’t perfect. (As Kisame had a hard time finding him.)

But she still is useful. (As Kisame did find Bee eventually.)

Samehada likes Bee’s chakra - implying that she may end up liking Bee himself eventually.

Samehada’s motive seems simple and harmless: she likes tasty chakra. She doesn’t have any plan beyond that.

With this dialogue, Samehada is already preparing Bee to become her next host.

Mr Kishimoto and Samehada being masters of efficiency. (Chapter 468.)

Pretending to have an absorption limit

In chapter 471, when Bee attacks Kisame with a chakra cloak, Samehada absorbs only part of it.

Once again, Samehada is displaying abilities that make her look useful, but not too powerful: she can absorb chakra, but not as much as Bee can produce. She needs Bee to think of her as just a useful sword, not as something he should fear.

Additionally, at the moment, Samehada wants bee to keep attacking Kisame with more chakra, for reasons we’ll see in the next slides. With the absorption limit she displays, she gets Bee to think he can win the fight with brute force. So Bee charges a “V2” cloak and attacks again…

Chapter 471.

The blitz calculation

In chapter 471, Bee enters Version 2 and charges Kisame.

Samehada needs precision here:

If she absorbs too much chakra, completely blocking Bee’s attack, then Bee might realise he is outmatched and run away.

If she absorbs too little, then Kisame will die too early.

Instead, Samehada calculates perfectly, and absorbs just the right amount so that Kisame will barely survive. That way:

Bee thinks he almost won, so he stays committed.

Samehada gets to display her healing skills in front of Bee, by healing a nearly dead Kisame. She can impress Bee, and also look protective, rather than just dangerous.

Additionally… (See next slide.)

Chapter 471: half-blocking the Lariat, and healing Kisame.

Samehada seems hurt — as planned.

During Bee’s “Lariat” attack, Samehada appears injured and in pain. That’s a crucial detail in her plan.

Later, when Samehada seems to protect Bee from the fake Kisame (actually a Zetsu clone), Bee is encouraged to read the situation emotionally: he hurt her earlier; and yet she still chooses to protect him. That means she must genuinely like him.

That makes Bee more likely to trust her, and will guilt-trip him into taking her with him.

Chapter 471: Samehada seemingly in pain.

Helping Kumogakure find Bee

Samehada doesn’t merely need to possess Bee. She needs to use Bee to worm her way into Naruto’s group, and then have Bee carry her all the way to the Jūbi’s revival location.

At the moment, however, Bee has escaped his village in order to advance his music projects. (Let’s not comment on that…) By absorbing Bee’s chakra and using it to power the Seawater Dome, she makes Bee easier for Kumogakure’s sensors to locate.

Later, Cee explicitly notes that Kisame effectively revealed Bee’s location through the chakra signature. Cee believes Kisame made a tactical mistake, but it was exactly what Samehada wanted: Bee is brought back under allied supervision — and eventually toward Naruto.

This is why Samehada wanted Bee to attack with a “V2” chakra cloak earlier: she needed to absorb enough chakra for Cee to locate them.

Chapter 473.

Conclusion

By the end of the episode, Samehada got everything she wanted.

Bee took her with him, believing she took a liking to him.

Bee is back in the alliance’s care. He will soon meet Naruto, bringing Samehada with him.

Obito believes Kisame is acting under his orders.

No one, neither in the alliance nor in Akatsuki, has any idea that Samehada has a plan of her own. She has preserved her public image as a sword who likes chakra, and is ready for her next move, on the Island Turtle…

Everything is going as planned… (Chapter 487.)