Samui: The Cool Head of Kumogakure

A kunoichi of Kumogakure

Samui is a kunoichi of Kumogakure, the Hidden Cloud Village. She enters the story in chapter 417 of the manga, at the head of the small unit known as Team Samui. Tall, blonde, her face readily closed off, she carries a tanto strapped horizontally across her lower back and a shortened version of the Kumogakure tactical vest.

Her rank is that of jonin. Like her teammates, she fights with kenjutsu, the way of the sword that is the trademark of the Land of Lightning. The manga gives her no spectacular ninjutsu technique: her worth lies in her blade, in her reading of the battlefield and in an uncommon martial knowledge. On the battlefield, it is she who will identify her opponents' legendary weapons and explain how they work.

She is the older sister of Atsui, a hot-tempered shinobi of Kumogakure who wields a katana coursing with fire chakra. The pair of names is a deliberate pun: samui means cold in Japanese, while atsui means hot. The whole sibling bond rests on this contrast of temperature, and the story will make a dramatic device of it right to the end.

Composure as a method

Samui's personality is defined first by what she does not do. She does not shout, does not provoke, does not answer jabs. She speaks only when it is necessary, which sets her against the grain of a team made up of two strong heads, Karui the impulsive one and Omoi the worrier, both of them students of Killer Bee.

This economy of words comes with a verbal tic that has become her signature: the word cool, which she uses more than any other. The detail seems trivial. Yet it will become a matter of survival during the war, and it sums up her way of being, that of a professional who refuses grandstanding.

This composure earns her a rare degree of trust. The Fourth Raikage considers her capable and reliable, to the point of entrusting her with sensitive diplomatic missions outside the village. In the field, her authority works without raising her voice: when Karui goes too far in Konoha and physically attacks Naruto, a single word of reprimand from Samui is enough to close the incident.

Her role goes well beyond commanding three shinobi. As the conflict approaches, at the final preparation meeting, the Raikage entrusts her with organizational tasks: forming a surprise attack unit, then splitting the rest of the forces into divisions and putting them into formation. Samui belongs to the general staff as much as to the field.

The mission to Konoha

The plot that brings her onstage starts from a serious misunderstanding. Killer Bee, the jinchuriki of Kumogakure, has disappeared after a clash with Taka (Hawk), and Sasuke Uchiha is accused of having kidnapped him. The Raikage then sends Team Samui to Konoha with a double mandate: to warn the Hokage that Kumogakure will personally deal with Sasuke and the Akatsuki, and to bring back everything Konoha holds in the way of information on them.

The team arrives after Pain's attack and finds a crater where the village stood. Samui gets a local jonin to take her to the Hokage so she can hand over the Raikage's letter. Tsunade lies in a coma; the kunoichi then asks Shizune to put her in touch with the new leader, and it is Danzo Shimura, announcing himself as the new Hokage, who receives the letter.

Her firmness shows above all in a refusal. Naruto, who has just learned of Sasuke's involvement, begs her to let him meet the Raikage. Samui flatly refuses: the Five Kage Summit is under way, and this boy is officially nobody. Yet she remembers him as the ninja the villagers pictured becoming Hokage. Calculation wins out over emotion, which is exactly her role.

The team leaves Konoha after combing through the village archives on the subject of Sasuke. That departure is a trap: Yamato has planted a tracker on them by means of a wood clone. Kakashi, Yamato and Naruto follow the trail all the way to the Land of Iron, where Naruto can finally plead Sasuke's case before the Raikage. The Raikage refuses, and the Kumogakure ninja leave with him. Samui is seen again welcoming the Raikage and Killer Bee on their return to the village.

The Fourth Great Ninja War

When the Fourth Great Ninja War breaks out, Samui and Atsui are assigned to the First Division of the Allied Shinobi Forces, the mid-range combat unit commanded by Darui. On the western coast of the Land of Lightning, this division takes the combined assault of the White Zetsu army and of shinobi brought back from the dead.

There Darui faces Kinkaku and Ginkaku, two criminals out of Kumogakure's past, carriers of four of the legendary treasures attributed to the Sage of the Six Paths. The brother and sister come to lend him a hand, and it is Samui who spells out how these weapons work. The explanation is cut short: both of them are struck by the Kokinjo, which pulls their word soul out of them, cut at once by the Shichiseiken sword. The word each of them uses most then appears on the blade.

The trap is a curse coupled with a sealing: to say that word is to be drawn for good into the gourd Benihisago. Atsui, hit by a wave of flames, lets his favorite word slip and disappears first. Samui, for her part, holds out. Her composure holds where her brother's gives way, and where Darui's will give way later in turn.

Yet it is that very silence that undoes her. Ginkaku gags her with his hand to keep her mute and uses her as a hostage. The rule of the seal works the other way around as well: you can be sealed away for having kept silent too long. Darui tears her from Ginkaku's grip, too late, and promises to find a way to bring her back. The gourd then passes into Tobi's hands, as he covets the share of Nine-Tails chakra sealed away with Ginkaku. The story does give her justice at the very end, though: Darui keeps his word and frees the brother and sister from the Benihisago after the war. Prisoners of the gourd at the moment the genjutsu covers the world, they even count among the very few members of the Allied Shinobi Forces to escape the Infinite Tsukuyomi.

Summary Table

FAQ

• Is Samui the teacher of Karui and Omoi?
  No. Karui and Omoi are Killer Bee's students. Samui leads the unit sent to Konoha, which they are part of at that point in the story: she is its mission leader, not their appointed master. Her authority comes from her jonin rank and from her ability to defuse tensions.
• What is the connection between Samui and Atsui?
  Samui is his older sister. Their names form a Japanese pun, cold against hot, that describes their opposite temperaments exactly. Both serve in the First Division during the war and end up sealed together in the Benihisago.
• Why is she sealed away when she never said her word?
  Because the curse also punishes prolonged silence. Ginkaku gags her with his hand long enough for the seal to trigger, even though she had resisted the temptation to speak. Darui tears her from his grip, but too late.
• Does Samui use elemental techniques?
  The manga shows her no offensive ninjutsu: she fights exclusively with the sword. A video game profile credits her with a flow of Lightning Release (Raiton) chakra in her blade, but that element comes from neither the manga nor the anime. Better, then, to stick to kenjutsu.
• Does Samui survive the Fourth Great Ninja War?
  Yes. Darui keeps his promise and frees her from the Benihisago along with Atsui once the conflict is over. Their captivity even spared them the Infinite Tsukuyomi. She also appears in the fifth Shippuden movie, Blood Prison, alongside the Raikage and Mabui.

In summary

In summary, Samui holds a place in Naruto that few supporting characters reach: that of the competent, credible officer with no grandstanding. A respected team leader, a solid swordswoman, a valuable source on the Sage of the Six Paths' treasures, she carries Kumogakure's message all the way to Konoha with a coldness that stands out against the surrounding agitation. Her fate during the Fourth Great Ninja War hands her the finest irony on top of it: sealed away not for having talked too much, but for having kept silent.