Everyone is slow

[LeroyP]

I just saw a thread saying could sasuke beat Kabuto if itachi wasn't there!!well first of all he's sasuke orochimaru can't beat him so what make u think that he can!! Any way Kishi isn't going to make sasuke lose even if they did battle! :P

[Katkot]

Kabuto uses dirty jutsu to beat everyone ..
He is strong indeed and do not undersimate him

[Juha]

Sasuke was not allowed to kill kabuto as per itachi's orders because of needing to stop edo. Otherwise he would have killed him then.

[Drakengard]

You'll find that opinions range wide on the base - in fact, I feel that some intentionally go for the crazier scenario or unlikely victor.

As for the actual fight, I do think that Kabuto was more powerful during that time. Of course, there's always some chance that he has another unknown jutsu that came as a result of awakening his EMS, but from what we know.. he hasn't acquired such a trump card yet. His only chance would be to stop Kabuto from entering Sage Mode thanks to his previous knowledge (or does he not know this time since he's supposed to be in the same scenario w/o Itachi?) - if Kabuto does manage to do so, then things become much easier on him. All of the Uchiha brother's collaboration tactics become a hazard to pull off by Sasuke himself. Sasuke was left vulnerable several times against Kabuto's power, and would have lost more than once if Itachi had not intervened. He has extreme durability and several capable offenses, I mean there's not much he can do from what we know.

[ForbiddenUzumaki]

Sasuke can't be DSM Kabuto