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Kabuto Yakushi (薬師カブト, Yakushi Kabuto) spent most of his life as a spy working for many different individuals, organizations, and countries. His natural talents in intelligence-gathering and medicine attracted the attention of Orochimaru when he was younger, who made Kabuto his right-hand man.
Background[]
A young Kabuto developing amnesia from his injury.
He was found as a child by Nonō Yakushi on the outskirts of a city recently destroyed in a battle, suffering a head injury which left him with no memory of his name or past. Nonō treated his wound and brought him to the Konoha Orphanage. Urushi, another orphan, placed a helmet on his head so he would not be injured again, prompting Nonō to name him “Kabuto”. Kabuto liked the name and left his bed that night so that he could thank her, unaware of the orphanage’s strict schedule. When Nonō found him, she discovered that this was in part because he could not read a clock due to his poor eyesight. She gave him her glasses so that he could see, overwhelming Kabuto with thankfulness.[1]
To earn money for the orphanage’s operations, Nonō used her medical ninjutsu to treat injured shinobi of Konohagakure; Kabuto, having been taught medical ninjutsu by Nonō, would assist. Although the money helped, they still relied on direct funding from Konoha in order to get by. Aware of this fact, Danzō Shimura visited the orphanage one day threatening to withhold Konoha’s funding if Nonō did not turn one of the orphans over to his Root organization. Kabuto, after eavesdropping on this conversation, volunteered against Nonō and Urushi’s protests. Root trained Kabuto in espionage and over the years sent him to gain intel by, at different times, posing as a ninja of Kumo, Kiri, Suna, and Iwa. While in Iwa, Kabuto’s spying was discovered and an Iwa-nin cornered him. He was able to strike down his pursuer, but only afterwards discovered that it was Nonō, who was also working for Root.
Orochimaru confronts Kabuto.
Kabuto apologized profusely and tried to heal Nonō, but she did not recognize his face, even when he told her his name. She died from her injuries and Kabuto was forced to flee before Nonō’s backup found him. Once safe, Kabuto was disillusioned by what had happened, wondering who he was if even Nonō did not know him. He was soon confronted by Orochimaru,[2] an underling of Danzō who had taken an interest in Kabuto over the years. Orochimaru explained that Danzō had been giving Nonō falsified photographs of Kabuto so that she would no longer recognize him when they met. This in turn allowed Danzō to pit Nonō and Kabuto against each other and thus eliminate Root’s two most effective, and consequently, knowledgeable spies. Assuming that Orochimaru planned to finish him off, Kabuto attacked him, distraught by the loss of both Nonō and the self-identification he had acquired through her.
Kabuto meeting Sasori.
Orochimaru survived the attack and suggested that Kabuto now try making a new identity for himself using whatever knowledge of the world he could acquire. Orochimaru offered to help him in this regard and invited him to help make a new village, Otogakure, where individuality could thrive. Kabuto agreed and Orochimaru gave him a new backstory: that he was found by Nonō - a captain of Konoha’s Medic Corps - after the Battle of Kikyō Pass and adopted as her son.[3] With this backstory, Kabuto was able to become a genin of Konoha, which he used to enter the biannual Chūnin Exams so that he could gather information on his fellow participants for Orochimaru’s use. Later, he was found by Akatsuki and was turned into one of Sasori’s sleeper agents so he would spy on Orochimaru.[4] Shortly afterward, Orochimaru realized the truth and freed him from this control, allowing Kabuto to effectively infiltrate the organization for Orochimaru. When not spying, Kabuto helped Orochimaru with his experimentations and his studies of different Oto-nin’s abilities.
Personality[]
Appearance[]
Abilities[]
Ninjutsu[]
Nature Transformation[]
Kabuto’s natures include Earth and Water, as well as Yin and Yang Release. He can use Earth Release to travel underground and upend the earth. He can also use Water Release to create large water projectiles and launch water dragons from his mouth. Kabuto can produce barriers to hide his location[5] and make himself invisible.[6]
Medical Ninjutsu[]
Kabuto using the chakra scalpel.
Kabuto was taught medical ninjutsu by Nonō Yakushi when he was young and immediately displayed a natural talent for it. He can heal most injuries without difficulty, even performing the ordinarily close-contact Mystical Palm Technique from a slight distance.[7] He invented Yin Healing Wound Destruction as a way of keeping test subjects alive longer by preemptively healing damage they receive, but he can also use it on himself when he expects to be badly injured. He uses chakra scalpels quite extensively outside their intended surgical use, either to cut through defenses[8] or augment his physical strikes, severing muscles on contact in order to disable opponents. Kabuto was also able to sever the chakra pathway system, which also prevented a jinchūriki from receiving chakra from their tailed beast.[9]
Kabuto has an unprecedented knowledge of the human body, enough that, when his body’s electrical signals are scrambled, he is able to quickly compensate and relearn how to control his limbs. For others, he can use his knowledge to create drugs to various effects, either as pain killers, hormones to enhance physical attributes,[10] poisons to specifically neutralize a particular target’s abilities or immunities, and truth serums to aid in interrogations.[11] Kabuto has a unique affinity for corpses, able to reanimate them for use as allies in combat or decoys; in the case of the latter, he can quickly alter the corpse’s appearance to look like someone else, which is so convincing that the alteration is only noticeable on close scrutiny. He in fact likes to keep a supply of variously aged corpses with him at all times, which he stores in scrolls until he needs them.
Summoning[]
Kabuto uses his own blood to help Orochimaru summon snakes a few times in Part I, but it is not until after he takes on Orochimaru’s remains that he starts summoning snakes for himself.[12] Like the snakes he makes with his own body, he can use these snakes to restrain targets or inject them with venom or various drugs.[13] He also summons several other varieties of modified snakes that can absorb chakra, morph into copies of himself, and small clone snakes that can combine into replicas of others.
Intelligence[]
During his years in Root, Kabuto became one of the organization’s best spies, a role he continued to serve for Orochimaru. Over the years, he uncovers a great deal of information unknown to most of the world, such as how the White Zetsu Army was made, the truth surrounding the Uchiha Clan’s Downfall,[14] and Tobi’s true identity. Like Orochimaru, Kabuto has shown himself as an extensive researcher, performing multiple experiments to empower or neutralize an individual's abilities. In combat, Kabuto can use his gathered knowledge to plan around an opponents’ abilities by employing appropriate countermeasures.[15][16] This also speaks to his considerable ability to manipulate opponents, as he frequently tries to break down their resolve,[17] turn them against their allies, or even come up with similarities that might convince them to join forces with him.[18] Even if his manipulations fail or they cannot in and of themselves benefit him, Kabuto is good at making all possible outcomes work in his favor: the Allied Shinobi Forces’ losses helped his stated objective of winning the Fourth Shinobi World War, while the Allied Shinobi Forces’ victories helped his long-term objective of undermining Akatsuki.
Other Skills[]
Although Kabuto rarely uses genjutsu, his high skill with it allows him to put a large number of people to sleep.[19] Although Kabuto admits that taijutsu is not his forte, he has shown to have good reflexes, reacting to threats just in time to defend himself or allies[20] as well as fending off Naruto Uzumaki’s and his shadow clones despite being outnumbered.[21]
Part I[]
Chūnin Exams (Arc)[]
Main article: Naruto: A Shinobi Story/Chūnin Exams (Arc)
Konoha Crush (Arc)[]
Main article: Naruto: A Shinobi Story/Konoha Crush (Arc)
Search for Tsunade Senju[]
Main article: Naruto: A Shinobi Story/Search for Tsunade Senju
Sasuke Recovery Mission[]
Main article: Naruto: A Shinobi Story/Sasuke Recovery Mission
Part II[]
Tenchi Bridge Reconnaissance Mission[]
Main article: Naruto: A Shinobi Story/Tenchi Bridge Reconnaissance Mission
Land of Whirlpools (Arc)[]
Main article: Naruto: A Shinobi Story/Land of Whirlpools (Arc)
Itachi Pursuit Mission[]
Main article: Naruto: A Shinobi Story/Itachi Uchiha Pursuit Mission
Five Kage Summit (Arc)[]
Main article: Naruto: A Shinobi Story/Five Kage Summit (Arc)
Fourth Shinobi World War (Arc)[]
Main article: Naruto: A Shinobi Story/Fourth Shinobi World War (Arc)
Trivia[]
- A kabuto is the name for a samurai’s helmet or headplate. With his former teammates, Yoroi (“armor”) and Tsurugi (“sword”), they form an armor—helmet—sword trio.
- “Kabuto” is also the last part of the Japanese name for Aconitum, a plant that can either alleviate pain or kill, which seems fitting as he is a medical-nin who uses his medicinal knowledge in battle.
- His surname, Yakushi (薬師), is the short form of the Japanese name of the Medicine/Healer Buddha (long form: Yakushi nyorai), Bhaisajyaguru, and means “medicine user”.
- In the Live Spectacle Naruto, the role of Kabuto was played by Tatsunari Kimura.
- Studio Pierrot’s Settei sheets of Kabuto show that he was 120 cm when he was found by Nono, and 150 cm when he left to join Root with Danzō.
- According to the databook(s):
- Kabuto’s hobby is taking care of his scalpels.
- Kabuto wants to fight Naruto and Orochimaru.
- Kabuto in Konohagakure has completed 191 official missions in total: 163 D-rank, 28 C-rank, 0 B-rank, 0 A-rank, 0 S-rank.
- Kabuto’s favorite phrase is “A thousand changes, ten thousand transformations” (千変万化, Senpen Banka). This proverb refers to innumerable changes or infinite variety.
- His favorite foods are jack mackerel and sea bream both/either one grilled with salt, while his least favourite food is raw meat.
- Dragons and snakes are interchangeable in various mythologies, such as in the case of Yamata-no-Orochi. Thus, Kabuto saw himself to have grown from a snake into a dragon.
- In Rock Lee’s Springtime of Youth Full Power Ninja Chronicles, Kabuto serves as both the comedic foil to Orochimaru and the voice of reason when his master’s schemes border on idiocy.
Quotes[]
- (After accidentally wounding Nonō) “Why didn’t mother……recognize me…? Why didn’t she remember me…? Why? What was the purpose of my life then? What did I receive from her!? My name being one of her sons……even these glasses. Who is……this…? This isn’t me… It’s not the real me…”[22]
- (To Shindō) “Let’s see what you’re made of, Son of the Tailed Beast Without a Tail.”[23]
- (To Naruto) “After Orochimaru died, I found myself not knowing who I was, again… Without knowing parent or country, I was taken in by the enemy… Since a young age I've moved about countries and villages as a spy… To me, things like countries, villages…they hold no firm reality in my mind. That was, of course, until I found myself under the wing of Orochimaru…but that presence is gone again. What am I anyway… The pain of not having an identity… I’d think you should understand…Naruto.”[24]
References[]
- ↑ Naruto chapter 582, pages 8-17
- ↑ Naruto chapter 583, pages 15-17
- ↑ Naruto chapter 584, page 12
- ↑ Naruto chapter 290, page 14
- ↑ Naruto chapter 577, page 16
- ↑ Naruto episode 35
- ↑ Naruto chapter 296, pages 12-13
- ↑ Naruto chapter 290, pages 9-11
- ↑ Naruto chapter 168, page 9
- ↑ Naruto chapter 311, page 16
- ↑ Naruto chapter 515, pages 10-11
- ↑ Naruto chapter 516, page 8
- ↑ Naruto chapter 515, pages 10-11
- ↑ Naruto chapter 581
- ↑ Naruto chapter 513
- ↑ Naruto chapter 514, pages 11-12
- ↑ Naruto chapter 167
- ↑ Naruto chapter 581
- ↑ Naruto chapter 114, pages 15-17
- ↑ Naruto chapter 156
- ↑ Naruto chapter 304
- ↑ Naruto chapter 583, pages 15-17
- ↑ Naruto: A Shinobi Story chapter
- ↑ Naruto chapter 356, pages 14-15