Despite the fact that I do love the parallel of Kabuto's story ending with him being head of the orphanage and taking care of the kids just like Nono, something about it does not sit right with me. Like yes, everytime I see him introducing himself to those weird-ass clones in the time-skip I remember this panel:
And it's like yes! He's finally doing what he's always wanted to do! That's the real him right there! He found his way back home after all! He's not only helping earn money for the orphanage, he's running it! BUT there's a very quiet voice in the back of my mind that always asks: is he really doing what he's always wanted to do?
Because one thing that never lets go of my collar when I think abt Kabuto is the fact that probably his entire family is dead and who was he really before he lost his memories? What was it that little kid Kabuto who hadn't lost his memories and his family and perhaps friends dreamt of doing when he'd grow up? The only reason he wanted to help the orphanage in the first place is exactly as he says in the panel above, to help Nono. And he probably feels he must repay her too, even saying that all he could do was buy her new glasses. He wants to care for the kids in the orphanage because that's exactly what saved his life. Nono's care is what saved his life, of course she'd be her biggest role model. But again, who would he have wanted to be if he didn't need to be saved? If he had gotten the chance to grow up with the family he was born into? Would he have taken his parents as role models? Did he have older siblings he looked up to or was jealous of? Younger siblings he wished to protect or thought were annoying and avoided? Friends he shared dreams with? The possibilities of who he could've been are endless with this guy.
And everytime I see this:
I get this feeling of yeah, it's nice but it's (still) not him. It's just who the story inevitably forced him to become.
But what do I know. I'm not the author or whatever. Just my two cents.
On a side note, I am aware you could argue that that's just life. Stuff happens. It inevitably influences you and your actions. But that's not what I'm talking about here. I'm just so curious about his life and his personality before he lost his memories. Who was he before he forgot and had to start anew? Who would he have been if he had gotten to keep that life? That's what I'm talking about. And Idk if I love or hate that we know basically nothing about that very short time of his life. (Neither does he).
Done with the tenchi bridge arc in Naruto Ninja Stom 2. I think I like the beginning to it better in the manga and the end in the game.
I got a bit long winded but I had some thoughts on Kabuto’s presentation in the arc and on the arc itself.
The fight with Sasuke kind of feels like it undermines the difference between he and Naruto. Naruto is able to get a few good hits in and despite the game saying Sasuke isnt trying that hard its a small thing. On the other hand it's really cool to see the flashbacks to their last fight and Naruto's growth. I like that Sakura and Sai vanish partway through the fight as supports because ultimately the conflict is between Sasuke and Naruto. I feel like the intensity of the fight also gives more credence to Sao deciding to join Naruto and Sakura in trying to bring Sasuke back (not that thus goes anywhere) and Sai being the one to remind Naruto that Sasuke isn't out of reach as long as he can feel their bond is cute.
I think the Danzo stuff was largely underwhelming though. The Manga does a great job of setting Danzo up here through Sai, Tsunade, and the little we see of him. Even the moments we do get like Orochimaru welcoming Sai into the fold feel better in the manga. More like the implicit threat Danzo poses and his supposed connection to Orochimaru is just more interesting to me with that presentation. We are missing several Danzo scenes like his meeting with Tsunade and his introduction with Sai but idk I feel like more could've been tweaked to give him a startling impression. That being said I do prefer Naruto and Sai's conclusion here. I love the callback at the end of their fight in Orochimaru’s base to their first fight, how Naruto is stronger when hes fighting for Sasuke. Something in the wording there also recalls Haku for me.
Loved all the Kabuto moments. I don't play with sound on so as not to annoy my family, so I am just going off the words and not the line delivery. But I love his talk with Naruto and Sakura before the Sasuke fight. I love him trying again to make Naruto stand down by being an absolutely rotten bastard who talks a big game. I love his perspective into Sasuke as someone who can't be changed now. I love the little moment at the end where he tells Naruto "I told you, Sasuke can't hear you now" followed by Naruto shouting Sasuke’s name and Sasuke not listening.
Because I am a Naruto&Kabuto fan I also love the bit where Naruto is going on about the strength of his bond with Sasuke to Kabuto and how unbreakable it is considering he's completely foregone is bond with Kabuto. My interpretation of his ragging on Naruto beforehand is that he's still trying to make Naruto give up and stand down. A continuation of their fight from the Tsunade arc. He uses the same goading, that Naruto is an idiot and he's being senseless, which idk if he thinks is true since he does stand aside when Sai and Sakura back Naruto up. This is probably just because he's outnumbered and did lose against Sakura, but he was still standing and chatting and he and Orochimaru didn't interfere until the end of Naruto's fight with Sasuke despite Kabuto not being captured here. I think it could be fair to interpret that, like Sai, Kabuto maybe giving Naruto a chance to prove that connection here. It also makes his "see? Sasuke can't hear you" take on more interesting meaning than an "I told you so" if he was giving Naruti a chancs to prove hin wrong. Easy enough to read it as typical villian behavior though so this is also very much my lenses of analysis.
It's the same with Orochimaru. I like the idea that the pair were watching the Naruto vs Sasuke reunion battle to see if maybe Naruto could talk Sasuke into going back. Orochimaru fought Naruto as well and saw the strength of that bond and maybe deciding to see, to let things play out, until the winner (Sasuke was about to use Kirin) was decided. The game isn't trying to lead me to this interpretation for either character, I think you're meant to read Kabuto as cynically hating Naruto and dismissing his bond with Sasuke and Orochimaru as indifferent, and it taking so long to step in because Kabuto is grabbing Orochimaru after being outnumbered in a fight (once Sai swaps over, not before when he decides ti fight Sakura and Yamato by himself and seemingly still would've fought Naruto once he lost). But I have space enough, I feel, to interpret their motives as a bit more complicated so I will.
For the moot who may be doing an analysis on Kabuto's sexism, he fights Sakura in the game in this arc and says he doesn't like fighting women but he'll make an exception because she's being stubborn. I find that interesting because it works with my interpretation that he's not trying to hurt Naruto and co so much as make them stand down. That he wasn't planning on hurting Sakura despite the fact that they're currently enrmies but she forces his hand through standing with Naruto. As you said in oje of your series of tags it fits with kabuto being more gentle on women, but he does fight her regardless. Idk how hard we are meant to interpret him fighting, he compliments her skills after in a sense (shes better than he expected) but he's also still standing and talking and tsunting so the fight wasn't even to the knock out on either side. Idk what you could make of that but it's there if you're reading this post. This could go with his fight with Tsunade and Shizune? All three slug people fight Kabuto in this verse. The games aren't manga canon and change the way events play out so up to you if you even want to take it into consideration.
I won't do a long post like this for every kabuto appearance in the game but I had some thoughts and am curious what others think.
Never not thinking about Kabuto deciding to step in and save Naruto. He didn't have to. Sakura and Sasuke both didn't (not saying they're bad friends they were occupied) but Kabuto knew Naruto was changing Sasuke’s heart by now. It'd be more beneficial to Orochimaru’s goal to step aside and let him get hurt. He never even tries using it against Naruto. He helps Naruto and Naruto helps him back.
I like team kabuto mostly because yoroi and misumi are connected to kabuto (who I like a normal amount) but also all the weird shit the story implies for them that is never fully addressed.
Like, Kabuto thinks Yoroi is jealous of his promotion which could just be Kabuto but after he says this and leaves Yoroi thinks about how much he wants to ruin Kabuto's life which isn't confirmation but isn't not conformation. What is his relationship with Orochimaru then? Or Otogakure? Why does he want power in the organization?
Orochimaru also stays to watch Yoroi vs Sasuke and calls Yoroi’s ability "unholy" which, I dont think is generally used to describe abilities. Is Yoroi's chakra steal a kekkei genkai? Something he got through experimentation? Can it be learned like the shadow clones or edo tensei? No one else had comments on this power much less tried to stop the fight so it cant be that forbidden. Also when Yoroi absorbs the chakra does he get it added onto his chakra or....?
Misumi agreed to get surgery on all his bones. Enough said.
The three of them are probably all higher ranking than team Dosu due to proximity to Kabuto and Orochimaru. So did Misumi and Yoroi also know about the invasion? Yoroi was likely there to test Sasuke but what was Misumi’s purpose? We don't see him collect information or do infiltration, Orochimaru never asks him for info like they do with Kabuto.
Have the three of them been a team for every exam? Which would imply Misumi and Yoroi have known Kabuto for 4 years since he was 15. They are, by implication at least, Kabuto's first and only genin team and he never has thoughts about these two again. Or does Kabuto swap teammates every exam in which case why pair with Misumi and Yoroi for the invasion specifically, how much does Orochimaru trust them? What is their roles within Otogakure?
The wiki implies Misumi and Yoroi both left Konoha which is fascinating on its own. Their ages (23 both of them) make me think they probably were kids at the tail end of the last war and defo were old enough to remember the nine tails attack. What's their relationship with the village if they both made the choice to leave for Orochimaru? Was it purely for power? Sadism? Was it like Sasuke and both or one thought they could get stronger outside Konoha?
All three members of the team lost to like. Children. I like to think Misumi and Yoroi both threw their matches because idk what purpose they serve to Orochimaru’s plans making it to the finals but that's just my speculation. Both of them made it to the tower no worse for wear on their own so I'd say they are relatively talented but hard to scale with any degree of accuracy assuming both of them had other reasons to be in the exam beyond beating up children. But it doesn't matter because we never see them again. They might have died in those fights in the manga for all we know. But the point stands, all three are major failboys who talk a big game and get their shit wrecked by people who's voices r still squeaking.
Some of this might be answered in the filler I've never seen. I refuse to see it (beyond looking up what Misumi and Yoroi look like under their masks). I love them as is. The ambiguity around them and their connections to a lot of big important people and things that go nowhere because they're idiot failboys and not Orochimaru’s favorites. Its delightful. I hope they appear in a storm game or Naruto online so I can beat them up, see their victory poses/quotes, and force feed them.
What if you went on a mission for 4 years where you could not reveal anything about yourself to anyone except two other people. But they suck so badly all of you end up never talking to them either.
OK but honestly? Also an interesting idea that maybe the way Otogakure works keeps them from bonding meaningfully. Yoroi has some one sided thing going on with Kabuto for sure. Maybe the pressure to be better than the other two to remain alive in a village where Orochimaru’s favor is king contributed to their distance.
also consider. Oro did set them up to be a mock team, in the same principle as Konoha three-persons team, expecting them to work it out. Since Oro didn't discourage team up (eg Sound four, team dosu). But Kabuto's team was just so abyssal horrible with teamwork, it just never clicks even after six chunin tests.
I consider that often <3 I do think on a level they do all just suck. The idea that at least some of the reason for the distance was their perception, real or imagined, that they had to compete for Orochimaru’s attention creating a distance between them, is fun too.
Who are your favorite Naruto characters other than kabuto?
i like tons of naruto characters. show's got a ton of entertaining ones. chronological-ish order, intensity varies:
sasuke (edgy very complex character), kakashi (cool pathetic guy), shikamaru (like his attitude), naruto (i guess his positive energy), sakura (read enough posts making up interesting characterization to like her), her whole deal with ino, hinata (cute but trapped in comphet world), neji (like his hair), rock lee (watched the spinoff he;s very endearing), ten-ten, gaara (yayy stopped killing people for his friend), the sannin are interesting and v fun to watch, itachi (!!!), rest of the akatsuki too: deidara's very entertaining, hidan, sai (becoming a person again), tobi is funny, obito is such an interesting guy, suigetsu is fun (he just wants to swing his sword)
that's all i can remember right now. but give me an hour with a dedicated [character] fan and i'll agree
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