Impression
You know, Kabuto’s never really seemed like a powerful guy to me. Especially back in the original series, where he allegedly failed the Chuunin Exams eight times or something. Okay, maybe that was all a front under Orochimaru’s orders, but still! I mean, Naruto managed to land a clean hit on him with his first proper Rasengan. I do admit that right now, it’s true that he has to be pretty strong to control so many Edo Tensei resurrections at the same time. Even so, he’s managing to oppose both Sasuke and Itachi not really because of his own merits, but instead because he’s leeched off other people. Putting aside the fact he’s transplanted Orochimaru into himself, he’s stolen Suigetsu’s liquid transformation ability, as well as healing techniques off Karin. Kabuto’s crudely lumped together a bunch of different abilities into one – producing the nasty mess that is now his body. It was bad enough when one arm was all scaly, but now it wouldn’t be right to call him human anymore.
And that’s not even taking into account his Sage Mode. Like how Myoubokuzan is where all the toad summons live when not in battle, Ryuchidou seems to be where all the snakes are. And likewise, the snake equivalent to the senile old frog elder is the White Snake Sage, whom Kabuto managed to successfully woo. While it looks pretty disgusting, admittedly it seems like he’s mastered the Snake Sage Mode to the point where he can dodge a Susanoo arrow from Sasuke – something Danzo couldn’t do. It’s actually sort of overpowered, to be honest. Remember, Naruto has that drawback of having to stay perfectly still to gather up natural energy for use in combat. As you move in combat, you can’t really replenish your natural energy – but that’s not a problem for Kabuto, as he can passively absorb this energy through the ability he stole from Juugo. In essence, his Sage Mode has no time constraints associated with it.
We’ve had this for several weeks now, but I’m still loving the sibling dynamic between Sasuke and Itachi. There’s definitely still something salvageable amongst the mess that is their relationship. Though it’s quite tragic that Sasuke’s only now reconciled his hate for Itachi, once you think about it. Itachi’s working to get Kabuto to stop the Edo Tensei – but he’s a corpse himself. Once the Edo Tensei goes, that’ll be it for Itachi. It would have been nice to see them spend a bit more time together – even if they’re simple things, like their boar mission. Once again, Itachi’s fallen into the role of a reliable older brother to Sasuke, watching his back just like in the old days xD Though he really should have used Tsukuyomi on Kabuto while he had the opportunity to.