Board Thread:Naruto Gaiden/@comment-12509038-20150702050604/@comment-734582-20150702090723

BigBadBruin343 wrote: There were Nazi generals responsible for tens of thousands of American, British, Canadian, Russian, and French deaths but were given full pardons. Kabuto helped save Sasuke and by extension helped save the world.

I'm not 100% onboard with it either, but I'm just putting it in perspective. It's because the Nazi Warcrimes were a mess that turned out to be impossible to resolve. Many thought to be hardcore nazis were working in the underground and undergrounders worked for the nazi and people were turning in jews just to reveal at the end of the war that they had harbored jews themselves.

Besides, pardoning Sasuke Orochimaru and Kabuto is what probably ushered Konoha into this new era of prosperity considering the immense knowledge and power held between them. Medical technology must be at an all-time high. Adopting shins makes sense: they were raised by an "evil" father, they're technically not to blame. Even so, getting an army of what, 50+ or so shins with mangekyo is nothing to sneeze at. All in all, Naruto sends a message that you can have a turn of heart, as long as you're powerful.

As to Sakura being the mother: Turns out that being skeptical pays off. Still don't get why everyone was so secretive about it, but maybe Orochimaru wasn't pardoned at all but simply they let him "slip" away. Kind of like Danzo did. Hell, maybe Kabuto wasnt even pardoned but simply put into some kind of "witness protection". Interesting twist.