Kabuto is another example of why I love most of Naruto's villians - shining shades of grey. Aside from Kakuzu & Hidan being terrible terrible people, most of the villians have shown what made them into such monsters, and why the Shinobi world is such a totally devastating place on what could be otherwise decent human beings.
I'm really getting curious about Kabuto. His obsession about obtaining others' abilities is even more intrinsic to his personality than I'd
EVER have guessed. He starts with no name, no parents, no home, and barely any vision.
At some point (which we'll probably find out soon), he learns medical ninjutsu - something that will make him useful elsewhere. Whether or not this is his own natural talent or not remains to be seen. Medical abilities make him useful, and he starts spying and learning about other countries and ninja abilities, eventually hooking up with Orochimaru who would find a true use for those talents, unlike Sasori. Throughout this entire time, he obsessively catalogs everything, but doesn't enter the Chunin Exam until he's
WAY more than capable.
After Orochimaru's gone, he fills the vaccuum by crafting himself into the type of Shinobi he's always looked up to, by using all of his research. However, he's still the same person deep down. He doesn't want the notoriety that comes along with that power (hence his comments about Edo Tensei), and that gives his character a really significantly interesting aspect, since he's now someone who can "create & control"
It's no coincidence that Izanami is a technique that decides someone else's destiny.
I'm still
REALLY curious if they'll get into what Kabuto was thinking during the moment that Orochimaru said "If you want to betray me, all you have to do is kill him" and later Kabuto was standing over Sasuke in the hospital with a kunai held at his throat, and decided not to kill him - escaping as Kakashi broke in.
THAT ALL BEING SAID-
Muki Tensei is a
crazy awesome technique. Animating non-living things is really impressive, especially since he's doing it with a whole cave. I hadn't really considered how much of a SIGNIFICANT disadvantage Itachi is at:
• He won't let Sasuke get hurt.
• They can't kill Kabuto.
• Kabuto can reprogram Itachi through physical contact by embedding a new command into him.
Overall, it's looking more like even though Itachi wouldn't be fighting to protect Sasuke, without his little brother, he'd be at an even greater disadvantage. I also love how Itachi silences Sasuke when Kabuto badmouths the Uchiha. Their sibling relationship is so spectacular.
It's also interesting that Itachi starts to get into the idea that you can't become the single sole powerful being, and that you need to rely on others. This is as much as message to Sasuke as it is to Kabuto's reliance on manipulating everything himself. I figure that this will start to play in to Sasuke & the other Taka members coming back into the picture, and Sasuke figuring out who he really is. Seriously,
Page 7 is just dripping with foreshadowing.
But yeah - so much love for this chapter.
X 
