Uruha’s revival was a moment of pure, unadulterated hype. And honestly Takeru Hokazono handled the development with an incredible finesse.
However, as the hype settled some questions started to surface. While the obvious ones revolved around how exactly Uruha was revived, the development also left us wondering about Samura’s motives.
Throughout the Sword Bearer Assassination arc, Samura appeared hell-bent on a singular, grim mission: to execute all contracted users of the Enchanted Blades. His reason? They were all sinners who needed to atone for their crimes.
But as we, the readers, came to understand, none of the bearers—save for the Sword Master himself—were truly to blame for the tragedies of the Seitei War. The sins were never theirs to bear.
This painted Samura as a man with a rigid and almost fanatical sense of justice, seeing the world in stark black and white.
However, Kagurabachi chapter 82 shattered that perception. The information revealed in this chapter, tied together all the tiny bits and pieces of information we have been getting from Hokazono in this arc.
We now have a complete picture of what Samura is really planning!
Understanding Samura’s motive:
Samura is more level-headed than we were initially led to believe. While the manga has stated multiple times that he is infact a very sensitive person, and kind to a fault, Kagurabachi chapter 82 proved it beyond any doubt.
His ultimate goal is to take down the Sword Master to ensure a disaster like the Malediction never happens again via the Shinuchi. Dealing with the Hishaku was only an addition to this plan.
However, a massive obstacle stood in his way: the eternal contracts binding the bearers to their blades.
As long as these contracts were active, killing the Sword Master would mean killing his own friends and former comrades whom he served with in the war.
This is where Samura’s genius and sacrifice come into play.
Though he made a huge show by declaring that he planned to kill all the Enchanted Blade users for their sins, his real strategy was simply to sever the eternal contracts.
HOWEVER, the only way to do that was by killing the user. So, Samura honed the Suzaku ability of his blade, Tobimune, evolving it into a tool for temporary death and immediate resurrection.
We saw its mechanism first with Chihiro. After Samura dealt a fatal blow, Chihiro genuinely died, only to be mysteriously resurrected moments later.
And with Uruha’s revival, chapter 82 confirmed that Samura has truly found a way out of this problem.
So, Samura’s true motivation was never based on a misguided sense of justice. All of this was a charade, a desperate plan to prevent a future catastrophe and to save his friends.
If his plan works without a hitch, their lives are no longer tethered to the Sword Master’s fate.
Samura’s dialogue with Uruha:
Kagurabachi chapter 82 also added more to the conversation that Samura had with Uruha back in chapter 58.
The new information confirmed that Samura communicated his plan in a subtle manner to Uruha, noting that only the latter’s “hero” personality would meet an end that day.
While he was confused, Uruha understood the complete extent of Samura’s plan once he was revived. While cutting him down, Samura had imbued his slash with the flame of mercy, Suzaku, in order to help him revive.
However, this heroic plan had one tragic, fatal flaw: the revival power of Suzaku does not work on Samura himself.
As Uruha realized, Samura intended to sever all the bearers from their contracts, leaving only himself and the Sword Master to truly die.
When Samura spoke of shouldering the burden alone in chapter 58, he wasn’t talking about the guilt of killing his friends. Instead, he was referring to his decision to be the only one who would need to pay the ultimate price.
He had to kill his comrades to save them, all while knowing he would be the only one who wouldn’t be coming back.
So no, he is not a blind executioner. He is a self-sacrificing savior.
However, now that Chihiro is trying his best to make sure does not walk this path alone, we have to see if he will truly be able to pull off his plan.