Naruto 583 – Who Are You?
The trip down memory lane continues and it’s pretty much a given that Kabuto’s dead end is coming. I can’t say I liked this chapter, but at the same time, I can’t say I disliked it either. The same view from the last few weeks still apply, but there was definitely something about this flashback that felt better than any of the previous ones. I’m not quite sure why this is the case, but it’s most likely due to the fact that the focus was entirely on his past this time, and there were no other interruptions and no Uchiha appearances to break the flow. Furthermore, when you bring back Danzo into the picture, a person whose personality and tactics make him even worse than Kabuto, I just can’t help but feel just a little bit of sympathy for him.
I get the feeling I should’ve expected Danzo’s involvement in some way or form though, as situations like these are pretty much his specialty. I guess I can chalk that oversight to the fact that he’s been dead for quite a few chapters now and the fact that the flashbacks of the past few chapters weren’t quite expected, but still… In any case, this chapter manages to give us quite a bit of background on Kabuto’s past and assists greatly in developing his character and showing us the reasons he’s become the person he is now. But, if there’s one negative, it’s that his story turned out somewhat generic for the most part. I can understand that this is something that most likely results from the fact that his back story has been delayed until now and there’s only so much chapters available to phase out everything about him, as well as the fact not every character can have an amazing past, but it still irks me just a tad bit.
Overall, while there are a few random questions I do have in regards to why Kabuto’s orphanage didn’t attempt to contact the Third Hokage anyway, it doesn’t seem like there’s much else to talk about this time around. I reckon there may yet be some more flashbacks to come, but it seems that there isn’t much left to tell, especially regarding Kabuto. Though, I have to say that surprise seems to be the name of the game in terms of chapter content recently, so I may yet be wrong in this regard.
April 18, 2012 at 9:19 amAlec
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Kabuto wont be remembered as the emotionally distressed young man who’s inlove with his tentacle master, Orochimaru ; He’ll be remembered as the orphan who had such a sob story
April 18, 2012 at 9:06 pmdouble two
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it should be the OTHER WAY around
April 18, 2012 at 9:38 amMonk
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Death flag for Kabuto is on :P
April 18, 2012 at 10:14 amSin1505
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Yeah that’s a serious death flag, however, I still cant bring myself to sympathize for Kabuto.
Human experiment, torturing and so forth seriously made me dislike him.
As support character for Orochimaru I did like him a bit, but now as a main villan with a sob story… Nah Im not feeling it.
April 18, 2012 at 10:44 amsjohnson1577
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You aren’t wrong about not sympathizing with Kabuto, but I can’t help but feel a little bad for the guy. He is an evil malicious bastard, no doubt, but he did get so sympathy from me.
April 18, 2012 at 10:43 amRyuuzaki21
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i think Danzo did something with his eyes(sharingan) when he touch it and suddenly the talk went smoothly for him, nonou suddenly accepts danzo’s request.
April 18, 2012 at 12:24 pmJustinnnnnn
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Good call…That might also explain her brain-wash when in the mission, too.
April 18, 2012 at 11:21 amejoh524
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I wonder if Danzo used Shisuis eye on Kabuto. Or maybe he atleast saw him threw the wood.
April 18, 2012 at 11:48 amCrook
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I don’t dislike the fact that the series provides you with some information on the characters, but at the same time I realize what kind of content could’ve been used right now, making me think these kind of chapters are gradually getting more and more useless. It seems Kishimoto leaves some characters (as Kabuto) with little interesting developments, because he knows he can shove some flashbacks in between anyways. It’s kind of a shame that he overuses this because it won’t make the reader feel as much for the character as otherwise saddening characters would. That aside, now the memories have rolled past, we all know that it’s time for the good stuff :)
April 18, 2012 at 12:22 pmJustinnnnnn
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It was a nice chapter…
The good:
-Loving to see Kabuto’s innocence. It’s good to know he once was a loyal shinobi, working for noble reasons and for his village. His shock at killing her loved nana, and at seeing Orochimaru pop out from the lake…We’re not used to getting too much of these expressions and worried thoughts from Kabuto.
-I chuckled at Danzo’s appearance. I find it funny how Kishimoto has /always/(always!!!) put him to blame for when Leaf village is forced to do something evil for the greater good; the cold truth. If you see Danzo in a flashback of somebody, then you /know/ how it’s all going to end.
The bad:
-The timing of this flashback…It’s simply off! I hate it when they put these stories here, because you then know it’s a death flag. He’s going to die. Kisame, Kabuto, Deidara, and many others. I know it’s hard to put this stuff into a story otherwise, without being even more out of place, but that’s the author’s job, to create a good pace between character development and plot progression, among other stuff! It was excellently done in FMA, for example, with the Ishbalan Civil War. Even random flashbacks, like Bleach’s Turn Back the Pendulum, proved to be way more interesting than if they had been placed when characters died (they never die though, lol).
There are a few exceptions to this trend in Naruto though, and those are Kakashi and Oonoki’s. There, the author used this common death flag knowledge to his advantage for some good twists. When Kakashi met his father after he died back with Pain’s Invasion, I really thought he was a goner. And now Oonoki, getting so many flashbacks in so many possible death-scenarios(I’m predicting he’ll die soon eventually, though).
The thing is that this whole Kabuto story is good. Seriously, I’m intrigued and hooked to know what happened next…But not now, please; because now I know he’s going to die. Kishi is just making you sympathyze with a character only to kill him off moments later…Hope it’s not the case, but I really find it hard to see him escape alive from Sasuke and Itachi.
April 21, 2012 at 11:52 pmSOSAnimeBoy
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Um, you’re forgetting the fact that it’s been established that he cannot be killed if they want to stop the Edo Tensei.
April 18, 2012 at 12:50 pmRyougaZell
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This chapter made me remember how much better villain Orochimaru was. So far good villains have been Zabuza & Haku, Orochimaru and Pain.
April 18, 2012 at 12:54 pmdarkloco
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I still cant sympathize with Kabuto even after reading this chapter. Surprisingly i feel more for the mother lady than him. Her story was tragic and makes me hate danzo even more. But Kabuto still had chances and options to change his life. He needs to die, i simply cant like his character or choices he has made.
April 18, 2012 at 4:30 pmKarmafan
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I wonder if the woman that is his “mother” at the orphanage really is his mom (or older sister maybe?). They look way too similar for it to be a coincidence.
April 18, 2012 at 1:32 pmTeela
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if the spoiler cd was telling the truth Kabuto gets to live past this whole war mess.
April 18, 2012 at 2:28 pmMania Lyssa
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People do know they can’t kill Kabuto right? He has to release Edo Tensei.
Anyways, I expect the flashbacks to end with Kabuto mentioning himself finding his existence through Naruto, like he told Naruto, Yamato, and Hinata.
I don’t expect Kabuto to die in this battle. I expect him to flee once Itachi gets him to release Edo Tensei, likely setting him up as the Orochimaru of the next generation.
April 19, 2012 at 12:16 pmHalfDemonInuyasha
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Well, that’s what he SAYS anyway, but it’s not known for certain and Itachi doesn’t want to take that chance.
Kabuto, obviously, is a lot more like Orochimaru now and we know how Orochimaru was quite a bluffer and good at deceiving/confusing people with lies and threats, making them more cautious, allowing him to make easier strikes or escape according to his own plans. Like how he threatened Kakashi at not holding back Sasuke from participating in the last round Chunin Exams or he’d destroy Konoha when, either way, he would have done so, but the threat alone made Kakashi relent and allow Sasuke to participate and, as we saw, Sasuke ended up using the Curse Seal again against Gaara (after the invasion began) and ended up upstaged by Naruto in his defeat of Gaara, which helped fuel his own lust for more power and drive him further into defect.
April 18, 2012 at 2:54 pmSortedeVaras
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I hope they kill Kabuto just so we never have to do another flashback for him, we already have enough characters who no doubt have dozens of tradgic flashbacks left for us before this series is over.
April 18, 2012 at 3:06 pmHorus
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Argh…I can’t take this!!!
I was really liking Nono and now she’s… ._. It was a pretty depressing rainy day today, now I know why…
April 18, 2012 at 4:28 pmKarmafan
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Don’t think for a minute the US govt. doesn’t have some Danzo’s in their employ as well. Doing anything for the safety of their nation (Hidden Leaf in this case) even if it is evil and underhanded.
April 19, 2012 at 12:54 amNegi Ryuuga
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Um… yeah, who doesn’t know that? Lol. Not very relevant to the story though.
April 18, 2012 at 4:48 pmDovahkiinGGGGG
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In a way, Kabuto’s past and future/present behavior makes complete sense. Sociopathy isn’t genetic; it’s learned. Kabuto became a sociopath from his horrible past; his current behavior correlates perfectly with his upbringing.
April 18, 2012 at 5:09 pmYanDaMan
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I think the reason the orphanage didnt try to contact the third hokage is because they knew it was useless. Remember the threats Danzo’s goons made? The orphanage is easily infiltrated, whos to stop thieves from stealing the money the Leaf provide them? And then how are you gona prove Danzou’s men did it? You cant. They knew it was useless. So they had to comply.
April 18, 2012 at 5:51 pmgawrshness
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ah Orochimaru, you are missed.
April 18, 2012 at 6:30 pmSkins Thunderbomb
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Frankly, it goes to show how bad a chapter is when the one saving grace is seeing Orochimaru again. o.o
April 18, 2012 at 6:46 pmDa5id
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Again, this would have been better earlier in the story during Kabuto’s earlier appearances, so that we know all about him going into his death fight, not just cram it all in right before he dies thinking “HE WAS JUST MISUNDERSTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD”.
Yeah, no. I’m not buying that. Kabuto’s a prick. A smart prick, but a prick nonetheless, and he’s going to die a prick.
It’s not a badly written flashback or backstory by any means, but it feels like it would be better placed in Part 1, before the timeskip.
April 18, 2012 at 7:29 pmrandom viewer
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Wait did I read it right? Five years he’s been away from the orphanage and his foster mom can’t remember him? Oh and how exactly did he hurt her? Is she dead? What? I can’t get the big picture of this. Yeah, flashbacks…
April 18, 2012 at 7:49 pmwill
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…. Does anyone else get the feeling that Danzo has done far more harm to the village than good, well that is a given, but I mean why is he endlessly pushed as “The Ends Justify the Means” incarnate yet constantly proves the idea wrong as he only ever takes one step forward and three steps back. How many villains is that now directly connected to Danzo? Not even counting all the villains who gained strength through personnel or techniques as a result of his varies success AND failures, respectively.
I mean Sai is like the ONLY positive thing in all of Danzo’s résumé and that was only because he was directly influenced by Naruto. All in all he is a pretty pathetic character that continually mars the series with his legacy.
April 18, 2012 at 8:11 pmTOP2NE1
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Lol Kabuto’s caretaker is half dead and probably delusional and he decides she should die because she doesn’t remember him?
April 18, 2012 at 9:31 pmNarushow
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Last weak’s chapter was AMAZING,, and now we get this. jeez…
April 19, 2012 at 12:53 amNegi Ryuuga
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I know what you mean.. weird time for flashback and it’s the same “village betrays people” story from the Itachi arc.
April 19, 2012 at 1:31 amYukie
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Looking at Kabuto’s past reminded me of how disturbing Orochimaru’s obsession with talented little boys was. I’ve forgotten how he pursued, baited, and lured Sasuke, but everything’s coming back to me as I’m seeing how he eerily pops up everywhere in Kabuto’s life after taking an interest in the boy’s medical ninjutsu. Seriously, what was he doing in the water anyway? I’m so glad Itachi finished off this pedostalker. He just needs to clean up the remnants…
April 19, 2012 at 8:15 pmAizen
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Medical ninjutsu. Riiiiiiiiight.
April 19, 2012 at 12:10 pmHalfDemonInuyasha
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I’m also considering that, besides simply showing Kabuto’s long-absent past backstory (which, as mentioned, is pretty generic and nothing that special), but perhaps this is also Izanami ALREADY at work without Kabuto even realizing. Kabuto was all about not looking into their eyes, but remember that Itachi is someone who can cast Genjutsus just by pointing at people or with his crows without ever having to truly make direct eye contact.
April 21, 2012 at 11:59 pmSOSAnimeBoy
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No one is mentioning the BIG confirmation shown here that Oro was involved with Danzo, possibly as a member of Root (he was one of Danzo’s guards while they were talking to the Orphanage people).
Oro popping out of the water was hilarious. He seriously had nothing better to do than follow Kabuto around?? It’s obvious though that he had already defected from Konoha at this point, since he is wearing his evil clothes from the Crush Konoha arc.