Board Thread:Naruto Gaiden/@comment-3279282-20150504200737/@comment-734582-20150508081840

Loueh wrote: As for the man in the Akatsuki robe, I think he is Orochimaru. He was the originally the most feared villain in the series and I think it’s about time we are treated with seeing what he is fully capable of in battle capacity vs. Naruto & Sasuke. Considering that Sasuke was in Orochimaru's posession for years, and that Obito's sharingan collection could've been found by Kabuto or Orochimaru, it's not impossible that the boy is some sort of genetic mashup. His hair reminds me of the Zetsu's.

As to Orochimaru's possible goal, i think that he saw how effective Itachi was to developing Sasuke and tries to do the same to this boy, as his next vessel.

". But that could explain Sakura’s strange condition, something happened while she was giving birth," I agree, it seems that something bad happened and nobody wants to talk about it for fear of spilling the truth. Given how scared everyone is, i think it's definitely a Hokage-level order of secrecy. It can't really be Sasuke related seeing as people await his return happily and she's openly an Uchiha.