Impression
From what I remember, this episode should have come from canon material – quite contrary to what you might expect from an episode full of flashbacks, talking and minimal fighting. Kabuto has fully taken over Orochimaru’s former role as the creepy snake guy – and I think his ego took a huge boost from that. He’s such a joker, comparing himself to the Rikudou Sennin 😀 Does he seriously think that? I’d imagine that being able to use Sage techniques is a minor component of what the Rikudou Sennin can achieve; someone like the real Madara (with legitimate Rinnegan and Senju DNA in his body) is probably closer to his level. While it’s true that Kabuto’s strong, his advantage (if any) over Sasuke and Itachi is more to do with his opportunism in taking advantage of the situation rather than proper skill. They can’t kill him, he recovers from injuries and he can avoid their genjutsu. Very convenient of him.
Anyway, we were also introduced to Kabuto’s past today; as a nobody who had nothing, his first memory was one of his adopted mother finding him somewhere and taking him into their orphanage. He came off as this mostly apathetic, quiet child who only really started responding after an act of kindness. He’s still using those glasses today! To be honest, I couldn’t really care less about Kabuto’s past – I suppose it’s true that he’s a central figure in this war, but it’s not really the sort of world-building I’d get excited over. We were already aware of his spy credentials ever since the original series, when he messed up the Chuunin exams then ran off with Orochimaru. I have sort of noticed that Kabuto’s personality changes at different points in the series – he was sorta alright a child, while in the Genin exams he seemed like an odd guy. After that he basically worshipped Orochimaru, and ever since he died Kabuto’s become an increasingly arrogant bastard.
The only other interesting thing this week was Itachi’s mention of Izanami, yet another Sharingan-specific jutsu. How many of them are there? This one’s a genjutsu, that oddly enough doesn’t need visual contact to work. Izanami apparently decides fate, and has a very similar backlash to Izanagi – the Sharingan that uses it loses its light permanently. It’s lucky Itachi’s an Edo Tensei then 😀 Let’s hope he has more success with this kinjutsu that Danzo did.