Kabuto Yakushi

Latest revision as of 05:45, 20 October 2023

Kabuto Yakushi is a male anime and manga character who features in Naruto.

Biography

Origin

Kabuto Yakushi in Naruto v1 #52.

Kabuto Yakushi (Japanese: 薬師カブト, Hepburn: Yakushi Kabuto) was a male human who came to live in the Ninja World. As a child, he was found by Nonō Yakushi on the outskirts of a city recently destroyed in a battle where he had suffered suffered a head injury leaving him with no memory of his name or past. Nonō treated his wound and brought him to the orphanage in Konoha. Another orphan named Urushi came to place a helmet on his head so he would not be injured again thus 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 couldn't read a clock due to his poor eyesight. She gave him her glasses so that he could see, overwhelming Kabuto with thankfulness. 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 didn't turn one of the orphans over to his Root organisation. 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. Kabuto apologised profusely and tried to heal Nonō, but she did not recognise 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 didn't know him. He was soon confronted by Orochimaru who was working for Danzō Shimura and 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 recognise 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'd acquired through her.

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. 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. He was later found by the Akatsuki where he was turned into one of Sasori of the Red Sands sleeper agents and tasked with spying on Orochimaru. Shortly afterwards, Orochimaru came to uncover the hidden seal in Kabuto and freed him from the Akatsuki's control where he was tasked with sharing any information he learnt from the meetings with Sasori. When not spying, Kabuto helped Orochimaru with his experimentations and his studies of different Oto-nin's abilities in Otagakure.

Naruto

He teamed up with Yoroi Akadō and Misumi Tsurugi so that they can enter the Chūnin Exams being held in Konoha. Before the exam's first stage begins, Kabuto befriends the Rookie Nine. Because they're all quite confident in their prospects, he warns them about the exam's inherent difficulty as well as the considerable competition that some of the other participants pose. He confesses that he has little information on the ninja of Oto, but he doesn't feel this is an issue. This provokes the eavesdropping Dosu Kinuta - an Oto-genin - to attack him; although Kabuto dodges, Dosu's Resonating Echo Speaker shatters his glasses and makes him nauseous. The exam proctors later had to intervene in order to break up the fight. As the second stage of the exams near completion, Kabuto finds the members of Team 7 in the Forest of Death, arriving in time to stop Naruto Uzumaki from opening one of the scrolls they're supposed to be gathering; he explains that doing so results in unconsciousness and thus failure. When asked, he explains that he was separated from his team and that he's on his way to meet them with the two scrolls he's acquired. Sasuke Uchiha challenges him to a fight, needing one of the scrolls if Team 7 is to pass. Kabuto suggests that they instead trying taking a scroll from one of the teams gathering in the centre of the forest. He offers to help them in exchange for accompanying him, providing safety in numbers. During the second stage of the exam, he was in the Forest of Death where he came upon Team 7 and arrived just in time to stop Naruto Uzumaki from opening one of the scrolls that they were meant to be gathering. Kabuto explained that opening the scroll would result in the person falling unconscious and failing as a result. When questioned, he claimed to had been separated from his team but had a scroll that he needed to return with for completing his mission. At first, Sasuke Uchiha challenged him to a fight as he needed one of the scrolls if Team 7 was to pass. Kabuto suggested that they instead trying taking a scroll from one of the teams gathering in the centre of the forest. He offered to help them in exchange for accompanying him, providing safety in numbers. As they approach the centre and the deadline to finish nears, Kabuto and Team 7 are caught in a genjutsu by Team Oboro, who have similar plans of taking scrolls as they do. Naruto uses shadow clones to draw out Team Oboro, who fight his clones with their own haze clones. Kabuto is impressed by Naruto's large chakra supply, but, as Sasuke discovers with his Sharingan, the fight is meaningless since the haze clones are only a distraction. Team Oboro tries sneaking up on Naruto and attacking him, which Kabuto blocks, becoming injured instead; he exudes killing intent in response, creating an opening for Naruto to knock them out. Team 7 takes Team Oboro's scroll and Kabuto accompanies them to the centre of the forest where he reunited with his team and thanked Team 7 for their help.

Kabuto and his team met with Orochimaru before the next stage of the exams start and Kabuto gave him the intel he had gathered on Sasuke. They then assembled with the other qualifying teams and are informed that one-on-one preliminary matches will be held. Kabuto opts to withdraw. When asked by Naruto, he claimed to be too tired from his encounters with Dosu and Team Oboro to fight. When asked by Yoroi, he claimed that this would give Yoroi and Misumi a chance to earn Orochimaru's favour. In truth, Kabuto was concerned that he would not be able to hold himself back in combat and that he would end up blowing his cover. Orochimaru's presence in the audience also meant Kabuto no longer needed to gather intel for him. Kabuto left with the Third Hokage's permission, eager for his next encounter with Naruto and Sasuke. Kabuto met with Orochimaru after the preliminaries concluded. Although he did not want to trigger his long-term plans yet, Orochimaru was concerned about Sasuke's development, believing that Naruto was having too positive an influence on him. He sent Kabuto to capture Sasuke while it was still possible for Orochimaru to corrupt him. Kabuto located Sasuke in the Konoha Hospital and killed his eight Anbu guards. He was discovered by Kakashi Hatake before he could accomplish his task and was forced to flee through the window. He met with Baki of Sunagakure later that night to discuss their villages' planned invasion of Konoha. When they notice that their conversation was being listened to by Hayate Gekkō, Kabuto offered to eliminate him, but Baki did so instead. A month later, during the final matches of the Chūnin Exams, Kabuto killed one of the Anbu guarding the stadium where the finals were being held. He disguised himself with the Anbu's clothes and mask so that he could infiltrate the stadium and watch Naruto's match. During the fight, Hinata Hyūga started having a coughing fit as she was still recovering from her preliminary match with Neji Hyūga from a month ago. Kabuto offered to treat her and she was healed, but fell unconscious whereupon Kabuto knocked out Kiba Inuzuka and Akamaru as well.

Next Generations

Afterwards, he came to graft the remains of Orochimaru onto his own body where he claimed that they made him stronger but had to constantly struggle to keep them from overwhelming him. At the time, he had met with hidden leaf shinobi to confirm to them that Sasuke had killed Orochimaru and struck out on his own. At the time, Naruto and the others looked to capture Kabuto but he retreated though promised to fight Uzumaki once he had mastered Orochiarmu's powers as well as dealt with Sasuke. Upon feeling confident at mastering Orochimaru's powers, Kabuto decided to venture out to the Mountains' Graveyard in order to confront Tobi who was the hidden mastermind of the Akatsuki and seemingly the returned Madara Uchiha. By this point, Tobi had declared the start of the Fourth Shinobi World War where he looked to take the power of the remaining two Tailed-Beasts. Tobi was quick to recognise that Kabuto was Sasori's former spy and was prepared to kill him for betraying the Akatsuki. However, Kabuto showed his value was revealing that he had mastered the Impure World Reincarnation technique which he used to revive the corpses of five of the deceased Akatsuki members and stated that he would be useful for the war. In exchange for his support, he wanted Sasuke with Tobi refusing until summoned the remains of the real Madara Uchiha thus forcing the Akatsuki to reluctantly enter into an alliance with Yakushi. As part of their deal, Tobi said that Kabuto could not have Sasuke until after the war was won with Yakushi agreeing to these terms. This saw Tobi incorporating Kabuto into his war plans as they looked to acquire the missing Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails.

Later on, they came to receive intelligence from Kisame on the location of Naruto Uzumaki and Killer B with Kabuto volunteering himself to capture the two jinchuriki. He though wanted to see the White Zetsu army that Tobi had assembled where he came to see the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path along with the remains of Hashirama Senju that were cultivated to grow the Zetsus. Yakushi then departed on his mission with the revived Deidara where they came to track their quarry to the Island Turtle. Their arrival though was detected by the Third Tsuchikiage and his two subordinates who attacked the pair though Deidara was sent to deal with his former comrades in the hidden stone whilst Kabuto went to the moving island. Yakushi also came to summon his cloned snake Manda II to attack the Island Turtle to stop it from moving so that he could complete his mission. It was then that he was confronted by members of the Allied Shinobi Forces with Yamato being among them. The two sides clashed where Kurotsuchi seemingly managed to trap Kabuto in cement where Aoba Yamashiro looked to probe his mind for information. However, this was a trap as Kabuto used his Orochimaru-style snake substitution to shed his body and in his serpentine form he swallowed Yamato whereupon he escaped from the scene. He then recalled the revived Deidara as he returned to the Akatsuki stronghold with his prize. At first, Tobi was displeased at Kabuto as he wanted the jinchuriki but Kabuto revealed that his own plans were the capture of Yamato so that his genetics could be used to improve on the White Zetsu army for the coming war.

Overview

Personality and attributes

In appearance, Kabuto Yakushi was a male human with onyx eyes and ash-grey hair that he normally kept in a ponytail. Typically, he was almost always seen wearing black rimmed circular glasses that had been given to him by Nonō.

In his allegiance to Orochimaru, Kabuto acted as Orochimaru's personal medic, assistant, and general right-hand man. Through his many other affiliations he is also able to spy on others for Orochimaru; when acting as Sasori's subordinate, he was able to gather intelligence on Akatsuki's doings. As an inhabitant of Konoha, he was also able to acquire the rank of Genin and enter the biannual Chunin Exams, using the first few phases of the exam to gather information on his fellow participants for Orochimaru's use. While each source of information is used to great effect, both are abolished to help Orochimaru achieve his goals; Kabuto loses his alliance with Konoha when caught trying to kidnap Sasuke Uchiha and he severs his ties with Sasori when joining Orochimaru in trying to kill him. While his known sources of information are gone, Kabuto remains with Orochimaru and fights on his behalf whenever necessary.

Despite his apparent loyalty to Orochimaru, Kabuto's true personality was difficult to discern. Frequently throughout the series Kabuto rapidly changed face, switching from a light-hearted and polite teenager to a twisted and sadistic maniac in a matter of seconds. He also enjoys playing mind games with his opponents, often unnerving them by pointing out their weaknesses and turning personal horrors against them. Kabuto is also confident in his power, even showing disappointment when told by Orochimaru that he could not fight Jiraiya, stating that he would've liked to test his abilities against the Sannin. Orochimaru himself seems to have a hard time determining Kabuto's thoughts, as seen when he orders Kabuto to kidnap Sasuke Uchiha and wonders if perhaps Kabuto will kill Sasuke instead. Even in this instance, Orochimaru had great confidence in Kabuto's loyalty, laughing at the prospect that Kabuto would betray him.

While Kabuto does generally obey Orochimaru's orders, even going so far as to save Orochimaru's life at times, he was not above helping Orochimaru's enemies; for example, he heals Hinata Hyuga and Sakura Haruno on different occasions. When healing Sakura, Kabuto hints at an ulterior motive, saying that Akatsuki is the true enemy. Even Orochimaru has suggested that Kabuto has motives differing from his own, again seen when instructing him to kidnap Sasuke; as Kabuto leaves to carry out the task, Orochimaru reminds him that killing Sasuke is the only way he can stop him from accomplishing his goals. While Orochimaru quickly writes this off as a joke, Kabuto is visibly shaken by the suggestion. Despite his unclear motives, Kabuto seems to be content in following Orochimaru, even using Orochimaru's remains as a means to become more powerful and to no longer be the mere tool of others.

Powers and abilities

As a human, he was born with the ability to harness chakra like many in the Ninja World though he was said to have had a natural talent towards the shinobi arts since childhood. When he was young, he was taught medical ninjutsu by Nonō Yakushi immediately displayed a natural skill in using it. He devise a means to heal wounds by reactivating dead cells to grow new ones.

After Orochimaru's first death, Kabuto began to modify his own body and alter it to gain greater power thus causing him to develop a new chakra signature. Part of this involved taking in the remains of Orochimaru that had a visible impact on his appearance. These led to him becoming more snake-like in form where he could move quickly and distend his mouth to swallow targets which he could capture. In one case, he could shed his skin revealing a more snake-like form that he could use to escape a trap.

Among the techniques known to him included:

• Chakra Scalpel (チャクラのメス­, Chakura no Mesu) : a medical jutsu whereby the user turned their chakra into a small, sharp blade which could be used to perform highly accurate incisions necessary for surgeries and anatomical dissections. Unlike regular scalpels, the chakra scalpel could make cuts inside the body without actually creating an open wound, limiting the risks of an infection. Kabuto came to use the technique in an offensive manner which was considered highly unusual ad required a high degree of great precision to be effective.
• Summoning Technique (口寄せの術­ (Kuchiyose no Jutsu) : a transportation technique where a contract was made allowing him to manifest snakes to him. Kabuto used this jutsu to summon Manda II into the field for missions.
• Temple of Nirvana Technique (涅槃精舎の術­, Nehan Shōja no Jutsu) : an area effect jutsu that subjected to a large number of people falling under an illusion where they saw white feathers fall from the sky with the greater the number leading to the person falling into a deep sleep. Only by using a technique that breaks genjutsu was a person able to free themselves from this effect.
• Hidden Shadow Snake Hands (潜影蛇手­, Sen'ei Jashu) : a technique that allowed him to manifest several snakes from his sleeves where he could deploy them against his target and followed his commands with the serpents either attacking or capturing their quarry.
• Orochimaru-Style Body Replacement Technique (大蛇丸流の変わり身の術­, Orochimaru-Ryū no Kawarimi no Jutsu) : a substitution technique used in the event of sustaining massive injury or escaping capture that involved regurgitating a new body from the mouth with this resembling a snake shedding its skin.
• Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation (口寄せ・穢土転生­, Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei) :

His scientific acumen allowed him to create a clone of the great snake Manda with this version being known as Manda II. It was said that this clone was stronger than the original with Kabuto summoning the creature into the field for certain missions. He was known to use the giant snakes superior sense of smell to track down certain quarry.

Notes

• Kabuto Yakushi was created by Masashi Kishimoto where he featured in the setting of the Naruto universe.

In other media

Television

• In Naruto, Kabuto Yakushi appeared in the setting of the anime television series where he was voiced by Japanese actor Nobutoshi Canna and by English actor Henry Dittman in the dub.

Video games

Appearances

• Naruto:
• Boruto: Naruto Next Generations:

External Links

• Naruto Wiki Entry
• Comicvine Entry

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