Ch. 101Exploiting a Bug with Pain's Powers
Chapter Summary
1. Key Plot Points and Events
- Su Bai assesses his available assets: Nagato and Chiyo (both possess resurrection techniques) must be protected and kept out of battle.
- Su Bai assigns three of the Six Paths of Pain abilities to specific skeletons:
- Human Path → Baki (memory/soul extraction)
- Naraka Path → Hidan (King of Hell, repair, interrogation)
- Animal Path → Tayuya (summoning)
- He hesitates over the Deva, Preta, and Asura Paths, weighing options like Sasori, Jirobo, Manda, Deidara, Konan, and Kakuzu.
- Black Zetsu suddenly emerges, steals Nagato's Rinnegan eyes, and escapes. Su Bai burns Nagato and Konan's bodies, but remains unconcerned since his skeleton army already has Rinnegan abilities.
- Su Bai conceives a plan: using Pain's shared vision/identity mechanics, his flaming skeletons can collect experience points remotely on his behalf. He tests it by sending Hidan's skeleton to the medical unit—it succeeds, granting 800 experience points and confirming the exploit works.
- Su Bai returns to Konoha to public celebration, but vanishes immediately using Flash Step, leaving villagers and his uncle Hayate Gekko confused.
- He checks on Tsunade (unconscious from chakra exhaustion, but safe) and confirms his tracking technique on Sasuke is still active, indicating Sasuke still values their bond.
- Su Bai decides not to intervene with Danzo taking over as Hokage, planning instead to let Sasuke kill Danzo at the Five Kage Summit and reap experience afterward.
- He resolves to use Deidara's Infinite Self-Destruction against the Impure World Reincarnation army during the Fourth Shinobi World War to farm massive amounts of experience.
2. Character Developments
- Su Bai: Demonstrates strategic, cold, and opportunistic thinking. He focuses heavily on optimizing his "experience gain," views abilities and allies as resources, and manipulates known future events for personal power. His ties to Konoha appear distant—he avoids social interaction despite being hailed as a hero.
- Black Zetsu: Shows himself as an opportunistic antagonist, stealing Nagato's eyes for future schemes.
- Sasuke (off-screen): His still-active tracking marker suggests lingering attachment to Su Bai, though Su Bai anticipates he may eventually become hostile.
3. Significant Themes
- Strategic exploitation of game-like systems: Su Bai "farms experience" using his skeleton summons, exploiting Pain's shared-vision mechanics to be effectively present in multiple places at once.
- Resource management: Allocating powerful abilities to the most suitable vessels, balancing combat power vs. protection.
- Preparing for war: Everything Su Bai does is geared toward maximizing strength before the Fourth Shinobi World War.
- Moral detachment: Su Bai knowingly permits events to unfold (Danzo's takeover, Sasuke's assassination attempt) for his own benefit rather than interfering.
4. Character Interactions
- Su Bai & Kakashi: Su Bai asks about Tsunade's condition; Kakashi informs him she is unconscious but not in danger.
- Su Bai & His Skeletons: He directly commands his summoned flaming skeletons, assigning them abilities and dispatching Hidan to the medical unit.
- Su Bai & Black Zetsu: No direct dialogue—Black Zetsu acts covertly to steal the Rinnegan before Su Bai can react.
- Su Bai & Konoha Villagers: The village celebrates his return, but Su Bai avoids engagement, departing quickly and leaving the crowd (including his uncle Hayate Gekko) bewildered.