Seto Kaiba

Seto Kaiba is the majority shareholder and CEO of his own multi-national company, KaibaCorp, who aims to become the world's greatest player of Duel Monsters, by gaining the 3 of 4 "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" cards. To accomplish this goal, he must defeat his arch-rival, Yugi Muto. He is largely considered an anti-hero, as his motives are usually ego-centric, but in several cases towards a good cause.

Among one of the recurring plots Seto Kaiba forced to deal with either people adversely affected by Gozaburo Kaiba's actions wanting to take their revenge on Seto Kaiba, or people from within KaibaCorp attempting to take over the corporation.

Conception
Kaiba is based on a collectible card games player whom a friend of Kazuki Takahashi met. Takahashi's friend asked this person to teach him how to play a card game, but he replied "Hmp! Come back when you've collected 10,000 cards". The story made Takahashi mad, but thought the player would make a good character.

The name "Seto" came from the Egyptian deity, Set.

Takahashi had originally considered making Kaiba the heir to a gaming company and have him challenge Yugi using strange games he continuously comes up with, but on short notice, ended up having him play Duel Monsters a second time. He also reconstructed Kaiba to make him a semi-lead character and rival to Yugi.

Appearance


Kaiba's character design was overseen by Kazuki Takahashi. His usual outfit from the second series anime consists of a long white sleeveless KaibaCorp designed coat featuring shoulder pads and a raised studded collar, with black sleeves from his shirt coming out from under. He has extra belts in pairs strapped around his upper arms and shins. He often wears a KaibaCorp Duel Disk on his left arm.

In the first series anime, Kaiba has green hair, while in the manga, Toei's Yu-Gi-Oh! movie, and the second series, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, Kaiba has brown hair.

Personality
In the original Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Kaiba omits honorifics and has a "rude" pattern of speech. Kaiba uses the word "ore" to mean "I" instead of the usual boku; ore is a boastful way to say "I" in Japanese. Kaiba usually calls Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler) names, such as "bonkotsu" (mediocre), "make-inu" (pathetic dog, loser), "uma no hone" (a nobody), and "zako" (insignificant person, weakling). This name calling was carried over to the English anime.

In the English version, Kaiba has a certain contempt for Yugi's group of friends; he refers to them constantly with derisive nicknames such as "the nerd herd", "the dweeb patrol", or "the geek squad". Plus, he is fairly condescending and scathing to everyone, with the exception of Mokuba, the only one he consistently cares about and shows his softer side around, going so far as losing a duel so as to not endanger him.

However, Kaiba does have a soft spot for kids--especially orphans (as he was one himself and knew what it felt like). And deep down, beneath his stony, ice-cold exterior, he is also very lonely, and wishes to be more open with people, but is unable to do so because of suffering under the delusion that everyone is alone.

Also, Kaiba dislikes other people using his cards, namely his "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" (his favorite and signature card; notably, he uses its motif to decorate a large portion of his personal effects - e.g., Kaiba Land, his jet, and his clothing). This is shown in Yu-Gi-Oh! - Episode 001 when he rips up Solomon Muto's Blue-eyes White Dragon after winning it so that it could never be used against him, and also in Yu-Gi-Oh! - Episode 136 when Kaiba becomes very angry due to Joey using his "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" in their Duel. Kaiba goes so far as to attack Joey's "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" with his own, destroying both in the process, to prevent Joey from using it for another turn. (He even says angrily, "I'm the only one with the skills necessary to wield a Blue-Eyes!" while doing so.) He also despises Pegasus' "Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon", saying it strips the original of all its pride. According to Takahashi, Kaiba's obsession with the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" stems from the feelings between Kisara (the girl whose Ka housed the Blue-Eyes) and his ancient Egyptian incarnate, Priest Seto.

One of Seto's recurring traits in the English version is his absolute refusal to believe in the powers of magic often used in the series. Later on during sagas like Waking the Dragons, he openly admits to believing in all the supernatural events occurring around him instead of just ignorantly saying they don't exist as he does in the English anime. Also, in the Japanese version of the Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light, Kaiba stated at the end that the only reason he tried to destroy the Pyramid of Light card during his duel with Yugi was because if the card really was magic, it would mean he didn't defeat Yugi using his own strength and he refused to win that way. However, the closest the English Kaiba has come to this is "Maybe there is some truth to this junk" in the final episodes; however, when questioned by Joey, he quickly denies he ever said such a thing. He probably did this because of his arrogance and the fact that had he admitted to saying so knowing Joey's occasional childish nature he would have been teased to no end by Joey because of their rivalry. Kaiba is much more accepting of the powers of magic in the Japanese version. In the Memory World arc Kaiba's past self, Priest Seto, is introduced. Priest Seto is depicted as being less antagonistic than modern-day Kaiba, and is portrayed as being very loyal with a strong sense of justice.

Manga biography

 * See: Seto Kaiba in the manga

First series anime biography

 * See: Seto Kaiba in the first series anime

Orphanage
At a young age, Seto and his younger brother Mokuba's parents both died. Their relatives took everything from their will and sent Seto and Mokuba to the orphanage. (In the English version, it simply said that their parents disappeared and there was no mention of their relatives).

On their first day at the orphanage, Seto comforted Mokuba, who was crying. He told him that he will be his father from there on and vowed to protect him no matter what. He advised Mokuba to always stay on his guard, as he will be finished if he shows any weakness.

Together at the orphanage, Seto and Mokuba would often play games, including chess, which Seto always won, but still encouraged Mokuba. When Mokuba was bullied by other kids, Seto would stick-up for him and even jumped on another kid to retrieve a toy he'd stolen from Mokuba.

One day they made a model theme park in the sandpit. Seto said that one day they would open real theme parks around the world, that everyone would want to visit and orphans would be allowed in free of charge.

The former head of KaibaCorp, Gozaburo Kaiba, arrived at the orphanage to perform a publicity stunt. Seto, who was 10 at the time (12 in the English version), saw the chance to challenge him to a game of chess, with the stakes being that Gozaburo was to adopt Seto and Mokuba together, should Seto win. Seto won since he had already studied Gozaburo's chess methods. Gozaburo then adopted both brothers.

Adoption
When he adopted Seto, Gozaburo planned to only use his body as a shell for his son, Noah. Noah had been injured in an accident and had his mind uploaded into a virtual world, as he was unable to survive in his real body. Gozaburo also used Seto to motivate Noah to work harder. However Seto proved to be more capable of running KaibaCorp than Noah. Gozaburo abandoned his idea to transfer Noah's mind into Seto's body and focused his energies in training Seto. Gozaburo forced Seto into a rigorously accelerated school program.

When Gozaburo asked Seto what he planned to do with KaibaCorp after he inherited it, he said that he planned to build a Kaiba Land theme park for underprivileged children. Gozaburo called this boring, but Seto protested that games purify the soul. Gozaburo was not interested as games cannot be used to rule and ordered Hobson to confiscate all of Seto and Mokuba's toys, refusing to let Seto touch toys until he knew how to rule. (In the English version, Seto couldn't keep up with the pace Gozaburo wanted him to study at. Gozaburo disallowed him from having weekends off. As Gozaburo said that discipline is the only way to crush your enemies, Seto protested that he has no enemies. Gozaburo insisted that he does and he must learn that he can't even trust Gozaburo. He ordered Hobson to confiscate all of Seto's toys, so that they won't distract him from his studies.)

Mokuba hid Seto's Duel Monsters Deck in a hollowed-out book, including a drawing of a "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". He also left a note saying that their new family couldn't take everything away from them. Kaiba stepped out onto a balcony and vowed to get a real "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", one day.

Gozaburo brought Seto and Mokuba to a party he threw. Seto had achieved a name for himself as a prodigy. A German man introduced his son as a prodigy too. The son, Zigfried von Schroeder, whispered to Seto asking if they should spice things up. Then the lights began to flicker on and off. Gozaburo was astonished as the system was protected by a fail safe system. Zigfried whispered to Kaiba that he dabbles in technology. He said that spending all your time alone causes you to tinker in your own projects and Seto must understand.

On Seto's birthday, he was given a 2% share of KaibaCorp (in the English anime, 10 million dollars) and was told that although he could spend the money any way he wished, he must return one hundred times (in the English anime,10 times) the amount in one year. Seto returned all the money within a single day. He did this by buying 51% shares of a small company that cares for its employees, Seto then made the president buy it back, under threat of it being shut down and leaving the employees jobless.

KaibaCorp take-over
Seto invented virtual software for playing video games. However, Gozaburo intended to use it for war. Seto confronted him over this, but Gozaburo scolded him again for wanting to play games. Seto was to inherit the company one day, Gozaburo said, and the company is about beating enemies and rising to power, not making toys. Seto called him insane and Gozaburo had his guards take Seto away. Seto called out "Father" as he was dragged away. That was the last time he called Gozaburo "Father".

Not wanting his virtual system to be used by Gozaburo to kill countless people and make a fortune, Seto refused to let himself hand his system over to that evil man. He lost his expectations of Gozaburo, and decided that he would take-over KaibaCorp.

Seto made a deal with The Big Five, where they would try to overthrow Gozaburo. He told the Big Five that Gozaburo didn't give them the respect they deserved and he would treat them better once he becomes in charge.

Together they gained 51% of KaibaCorp. Seto made sure Gozaburo came to know of their plan and accused Mokuba of snitching on them. Seto and Mokuba were briefly turned against each other and Mokuba was given comfort by Gozaburo. Aware of Seto's plan, Gozaburo planned to use his 49% with Mokuba's 2% to overrule Seto. However as Seto planned Mokuba switched back to his side last minute, giving Seto his 2%. With the 51%, Seto was able to take full control of the company. Unable to live with the defeat, Gozaburo committed suicide, but not before he uploaded his mind into Noah's virtual world.

Refocusing KaibaCorp
After taking control of KaibaCorp, Seto shifted its economic interest from the manufacturing of weapons of mass destruction to gaming-oriented equipment.

Kaiba didn't give The Big Five the respect or power they had been expecting when they made the deal to overthrow Gozaburo. He refused to provide finance to Crump to build his dream penguin theme park. He told Nesbitt to show his loyality by destroying the military factory on Alcatraz. Once that was done, Kaiba closed the military department and proceeded to build the Duel Tower in its place. He demoted Nesbitt to dispatching material for building the tower.

Kaiba started building an amusement park for orphaned and underprivileged children called Kaiba Land. At the start of the series, only one Kaiba Land had been built, in Domino (in the English version, none of the parks had been built, and Kaiba Land was touted as the KaibaCorp headquarters).

Kaiba began work on creating holographic technology to heighten the experience of playing Duel Monsters.

Maximillion Pegasus invited Kaiba as his special guest to the Intercontinental Duel Monsters Tournament in New York City. Kaiba witnesses Pegasus face Bandit Keith in the finals. At the Duel, Pegasus simply sat in front of Keith for a few seconds, then wrote down some instructions on a piece of paper, which he gave to a beginner, Sam, from the audience to use against Keith. While Sam dueled Keith, Pegasus sat with Kaiba. He hoped Kaiba was "enjoying the tournament so far, even though it must seem so crude to him, unlike the holographic dueling stations KaibaCorp is developing."

Kaiba inferred that Pegasus must have read Keith's mind in the Duel, so later he began making Duel Disks to combat Pegasus' mind reading strategy. With Duel Disks, players would be able to stand further apart and avoid face-to-face contact, which he hoped would be enough to avoid having his mind read.

Duelist Kingdom
Kaiba became the Duel Monsters World Champion and came into possession of 3 of the 4 "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" cards.

At school, Kaiba overheard Yugi Muto talking about a rare card his grandfather, Solomon Muto has. Suspecting it might be the 4th "Blue-Eyes", Kaiba visited Solomon's shop and saw the card. He tried to trade for the card and buy it, but Solomon refused, since the card is of high sentimental value to him. Still determined and sickened by Solomon's attitude, Kaiba kidnapped him and challenged him to a Duel. Kaiba defeated Solomon and overwhelmed him with the holographic technology used in the Duel. As a prize, he took Solomon's "Blue-Eyes". He then called Yugi over to collect his grandfather. Shortly after Yugi arrived, Kaiba tore-up the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" card in front of him and his friends. Outraged, Yugi dueled Kaiba as Yami Yugi. Yami is put in a tight place after Kaiba Summons all 3 "Blue-Eyes White Dragons", but managed to win by Summoning "Exodia". After winning, Yami inflicted a Mind Crush on Kaiba dispelling his evil half.

After his defeat, Seto dropped out of playing Duel Monsters.

Maximillion Pegasus teamed-up with The Big Five to try to take-over KaibaCorp. They sent two men to Kaiba's office to capture him. Kaiba refused to cooperate, so the henchmen prepared to open fire. However, Kaiba knocked them back with a chair and deflected their gunshots with his briefcase. He jumped out the window of his office, leading them to believe he died. (In the English version, the guns are removed and Kaiba jumped out after refusing to cooperate.) However Kaiba clung onto the side of the cliff and climbed to his safety. In the meantime his Deck was stolen and Mokuba was kidnapped.

Later Kaiba sneaked back into his mansion through a hidden passageway. He entered a hidden computer lab, where he got an update on what Pegasus had done to KaibaCorp. He learned that Mokuba was held prisoner on the Duelist Kingdom island and Pegasus will be given shares of KaibaCorp once Yugi is defeated in the Duelist Kingdom tournament. Kaiba hacked into Pegasus' computer system and found Yugi was dueling an imposter Seto Kaiba, who even had the real Kaiba's Deck. Kaiba infected a "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" Summoned by the imposter with a virus, weakening it and consequently preventing Yugi from losing the Duel.

Kaiba flew to the Duelist Kingdom to confront Pegasus. He brought his Duel Disks with him to combat Pegasus' mind reading.

As soon as he arrived on the island, he bumped into Yugi and his friends. Yugi returned Kaiba's Deck to him and suggested that they stick together as they are all going to Pegasus' castle, but Kaiba declined. Joey Wheeler, who was disgusted by Kaiba's attitude, confronted him, and the two wound-up dueling. Kaiba used the Duel as a chance to test his Duel Disks. Joey foolishly attacked Kaiba's monsters with a barrage of weaker ones, until he Summoned his "Red-Eyes Black Dragon", which Kaiba defeated with "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and took out the remainder of Joey's Life Points. Kaiba cruelly mocked Joey and called him a loser. before leaving, he told the group about Pegasus' Duel with Keith, so Yugi and Joey know what they are up against.

The next day, Kemo found Kaiba on the island and pointed a gun to his head. However Kaiba jammed the gun with a "Gyakutenno Megami" card. Kaiba pulled the gun from Kemo, injuring his hand. (This scene is removed from the English version.) Kemo lunged at Kaiba, but Kaiba subdued him and ordered him to take them to Mokuba. Kemo took Kaiba to Pegasus' dungeons, but triggered a security alarm, calling for backup. Pegasus, who had already known this would happen insisted they turn off the alarm and goes to the dungeons to meet Kaiba himself.

Kaiba hid on one of the walls and listened-in on a group of Pegasus' guards, who had been unable to find him. The guards decided to go to Mokuba's cell, believing Kaiba will show up there soon. Kaiba leaped down and followed them. Once they arrived at the cell, Kaiba sneaked-up on them and knocked them out. Kaiba was briefly reunited with Mokuba, but was confronted by Pegasus before he could release him. Pegasus used the Millennium Eye to strip Mokuba of his soul, which he trapped in a "Soul Prison" card. Pegasus said that Kaiba must defeat him in a Duel if he wished to free Mokuba. Kaiba was willing to duel on the spot, but Pegasus refused telling Kaiba that he must defeat Yugi in a Duel, before he can do that.

Kaiba confronted Yugi outside the castle and imposed a Duel. Initially Yugi refuses, but he switched to Yami Yugi and accepted. During the Duel, Kaiba Summoned "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon", causing problems for Yami, but Yami fused it with "Mammoth Graveyard", causing it to decay and lose ATK each turn. As Yami was about to win, Kaiba stood-up on the edge of the castle, such that if Yami made another attack, he would fall to his death. Although Yami tried to attack, Yugi took-over and called it off. Kaiba won on the next turn, taking five of Yugi's Star Chips. Combined with the five Pegasus gave him earlier, Kaiba had enough to enter the castle and face Pegasus.

Kaiba got ready to duel Pegasus. He insisted on using the Duel Disks, but Pegasus wasn't too keen. Pegasus accepted under the condition, that Mokuba who is stripped of his soul, held the Duel Disk for him. Kaiba refused to face his brother in such a way and agreed to duel without the Disks. Pegasus defeated Kaiba and also trapped his soul in another "Soul Prison" card.

When Yugi defeated Pegasus, as promised Pegasus freed the souls of Seto and Mokuba Kaiba, along with Solomon Muto.

Kaiba thanked Yugi for saving Mokuba and insisted that have a fair Duel someday to determine who is the better duelist. He gave Yugi and his friends a lift home from the island afterwards.

Legendary Heroes
Kaiba prepared to fire The Big Five for trying to take over KaibaCorp, as well as payment for the suffering through which they had forced him and Mokuba. But the Big Five plead with Kaiba, and gave him the complete virtual reality game as a peace offering. Eager to try out the virtual reality game, Kaiba refrained from immediately firing them decided to test the system. Mokuba advised against it, harboring doubt. Kaiba however assured him otherwise, and continues to experiment with the game.

Inside the game, Kaiba was confronted by a Two-Headed King Rex, which he easily defeated by Summoning "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". However an Armed Ninja ambushed him, taking him by surprise as he had no recollection of programming it. Kaiba attempted to attack it with Blue-Eyes, but a Dragon Capture Jar appeared and trapped the dragon. The Armed Ninja threw a net on Kaiba, capturing him.

Kaiba was taken to the Castle of Dark Illusions and chained to a pillar, where he is held captive by the Witty Phantom. Witty Phantom told Kaiba that he is to be sacrificed to Summon the Mythic Dragon. In an attempt to escape, Kaiba tried to end the simulation, but learned that that function had been disabled.

Mokuba recruited Yugi and Joey to help him in his efforts to rescue Kaiba. Together they go to the castle and Mokuba managed to free Kaiba. Kaiba Summoned a second "Blue-Eyes", which destroyed the phantom. He re-encounters Armed Ninja and the Dragon Capture Jar, but destroyed the jar with "Trap Master" reclaiming his trapped "Blue-Eyes". The two "Blue-Eyes" easily defeated Armed Ninja.

Kaiba had "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" blast a hole in the floor, allowing him and Mokuba to meet-up with Yugi, Joey and Mai. The Big Five congratulated the players on making it to the final level, but Kaiba protested that they stopped the Mythic Dragon from being Summoned, so they have already beaten the game. However the Big Five had reprogrammed the game making them have to face the Mythic Dragon.

The group were sent to a room, where only Dragon-Type monsters are of use. The group had their dragons attack the Mythic Dragon to no avail. The Mythic Dragon started to take out the players and their dragons one by one. Mokuba pushed Kaiba out of the way of one of its blasts, saving Kaiba, but letting himself be taken out. Yugi's persuasion finally got through to Kaiba, who fused his dragons into "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon". Yugi then fuses it with "Black Luster Soldier" to form "Dragon Master Knight", which defeated the Mythic Dragon.

Kaiba and Yugi woke-up in the courtyard of the Edina's palace. The crowds cheered for them for defeating the Mythic Dragon. Edina turned into Mystical Elf and revived Joey, Mai, Mokuba and Iru.

Kaiba and his rescuers returned to the real world, while the Big Five were left trapped in the virtual world.

Battle City


Ishizu Ishtar invites Kaiba to an Ancient Egypt exhibition. Here she uses her Millennium Necklace to show him visions from the past, where a sorcerer, who looks like Kaiba, battled the Nameless Pharaoh, who looks like Yugi, using Duel Monster Spirits. She tells him about their most powerful monsters, the Egyptian Gods, which Pegasus made Duel Monsters cards of, but was unable to control their power. She has come into possession of one of the Gods, "Obelisk the Tormentor", while the others were stolen by thieves. She gives Kaiba the card, in exchange for him starting a Duel Monsters tournament to attract the thieves so they may gather the 3 Gods. Kaiba laughs at the idea of him returning the "Obelisk" card, but Ishizu insists that he will, as she has foreseen it. Kaiba agrees to host the tournament in the hopes of gathering the 3 God cards for himself through an ante rule and so he can defeat Yugi, reclaiming his title as World Champion.

Kaiba test "Obelisk the Tormentor", by dueling a Duel Computer, which is using his Duelist Kingdom Deck. The computer Summons "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon", but Kaiba defeats it with "Obelisk the Tormentor", whose strength proves too much for the computer, causing it to catch fire.

Kaiba invites duelists he thinks are good enough to participate in the tournament. All players are given the newest version of his Duel Disks. The Rare Hunters, who were not invited, hack into his computer system to add themselves as participants. Mokuba suggests that they disqualify them, but Kaiba allows for it. (In the English version, Kaiba had planned to have them hack in all along, so the holders of the Egyptian Gods would enter the tournament.)

The first Rare Hunter duels Yugi. Kaiba finds out the Rare Hunter is using fake cards, but still doesn't disqualify him, as he needs to learn more about the Rare Hunters.

Kaiba takes part in the tournament himself, leaving his employees monitor other Duels to find the Egyptian God cards.

Kaiba finds Koji Nagumo bullying a duelist he just defeated into giving him a second card through the ante rule. Kaiba challenges Koji to a Duel and gives him rare cards to improve his Deck beforehand. Despite this, Kaiba quickly defeats him using "Obelisk the Tormentor".

He spends much of the preliminaries trying to find and defeat Yugi. He bumps into Joey Wheeler in his search, surprised to see him wearing a Duel Disk as he hadn't been invited. Joey challenges Kaiba to a Duel on the spot, but Kaiba receives word of a God Card being played and takes off. He finds Yugi in a Duel against Strings, who is possessed by Marik Ishtar and using the Egyptian God card "Slifer the Sky Dragon". Seeing Yugi drops to his knees, doubting he can win, Kaiba calls down to him, ordering him live up to his reputation and thinking he is the only one who should defeat Yugi.

After Yugi wins, Kaiba congratulates him, but says it's a shame Yugi won't have "Slifer the Sky Dragon" for long and challenges him to a Duel. However Marik informs Yugi that his friends have been kidnapped. Yugi postpones the Duel as he must find his friends.

Kaiba follows Yugi and catches-up when Yugi is challenged to a Duel by Lumis and Umbra, who can't decide which of them should face Yugi first. Kaiba appears and tells them to both duel at once in a Tag Duel against him and Yugi. They agree and Kaiba easily defeats both of them at once using "Obelisk the Tormentor". Kaiba takes their Locator Cards and hands 1 to Yugi. He then offers to use KaibaCorp's satellite system to trace the location of Joey's Duel Disk.

As they search for Yugi's friends, the guys are confronted by Lumis, who shows them that they have kidnapped Mokuba. In order to get Mokuba back, Yugi and Kaiba must Tag Duel him and Umbra on top of a skyscraper. The Duel is setup such that when a player loses, the glass roof below them shatters sending them to their death. (In the English version, there was a vortex to the Shadow Realm under the glass.) Kaiba's refusal to work as part of a team, initially hinders his and Yugi's performance, while Umbra and Lumis' Decks have been built to work together and prevent the Summoning of the Egyptian Gods. However Kaiba eventually accepts they must work as a team. He sacrifices his "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" to prevent Yugi losing and provokes Umbra and Lumis turning them against each other. Yugi and Kaiba work together to Summon "Obelisk the Tormentor", which defeats Umbra, who uses a parachute to save himself. Marik takes control of Luma's mind after he surrenders. Kaiba seizes him demanding they release Mokuba. However Marik doesn't keep his promise and leaves Luma fall unconscious. Kaiba takes "Masked Beast Des Gardius" and the locator cards from Lumba. He hands Yugi one of the Locator Cards, qualifying them both for the finals.

Despite Marik's refusal to keep his end of the bargain, Mokuba arrives on the top of the skyscraper in the KaibaCorp helicopter, having escaped captivity with Téa's help. To repay Yugi's friends for saving Mokuba, Kaiba takes Yugi to find his friends, having tracked the signal from Joey's Duel Disk. On the helicopter, Yami Yugi tells Kaiba that he is a seperate personality from Yugi.

They arrive at the Domino Pier and find Joey and Téa are posessed by Marik, with Joey prepared to duel Yugi. Seeing the Duel has been set-up to kill the loser, Kaiba tries to call it off, but Marik disregards his authority. Once Tristan and Duke arrive at the Duel, Kaiba and Mokuba explain the situation to them. Towards the end of the Duel, Kaiba throws a card at one of the Rare Hunters monitoring the Duel. The card gets lodged into his hand, causing him to drop the controls for a crane hovering a giant crate over Téa. With him temporarily unable to drop the crate, the KaibaCorp helicopter pulls it away from Téa. Once the Duel concludes with everyone alive, Kaiba parts and tells Yugi he'll see him at the finals.

Kaiba takes his helicopter to the KaibaCorp Stadium, where he waits for the other finalists. After 6 of the other 7 finalists arrive, the true location of the finals, the Kaiba Craft 3 lands. Kaiba's men try to prevent Yugi and Joey's friends from boarding as they are not finalists, but Kaiba nonchalantly allows it. On board Kaiba insults Joey about making it this far by luck and advises Yugi to start using his Egyptian God Card.

Bakura is greatly injured after is Duel with Yugi. His friends try talking Kaiba into making an emergency stop to take him to the hospital, but Kaiba refuses and instead has the medical team on the blimp sent to look after Bakura.

Kaiba sees Joey's quarter-final Duel against Odion, who they believe to be Marik, as a chance to find out the abilities of his Egyptian God, "The Winged Dragon of Ra". During the Duel, both players are struck down by Ra's lightning. Kaiba declares that the first player to stand up will be declared the winner and if neither stand within five minutes they will both be disqualified. He learns that Marik was also a finalist under the disguise "Namu" and while Odion had a fake "The Winged Dragon of Ra", Marik holds the real one. He refuses to disqualify Marik as he won't be able to win his God Card in that case.

Mai's Duel against the real Marik is also used as a chance to learn more about "The Winged Dragon of Ra". When Mai tried Summoning Ra, which she managed to add to her own hand, hieratic text appeared on the card, which Mai must receit in order to Summon it. Kaiba has his satellites photograph the card, so he can have the text translated later, although Marik suggests that Kaiba is already able to read them.

Once Mokuba begins the translation, he finds that some of Ra's effects are also printed there.

In the last of the quarter-finals Kaiba finds out the eight finalist is Ishizu Ishtar, as the two of them duel. In the meantime, Kaiba has Mokuba work on translating Ra's text. Ishizu has already predicted Kaiba's moves for the Duel using her Millennium Necklace and foresaw her own victory. In the first few turns of the Duel, Kaiba has Ishizu send plenty of cards from her Deck to her Graveyard. Ishizu uses "Exchange of the Spirit", causing both players to swap the contents of their Decks with their Graveyards, leaving Kaiba with very few cards. Almost finished the translation, Mokuba comes out to support Seto in the Duel. Ishizu deliberately allows Kaiba to Summon "Obelisk the Tormentor", so that she may win using "Blast Held by a Tribute", as predicted. However Kaiba is affected by the Millennium Rod and feels "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" calling out to him, feeling it wants him to Summon "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". Kaiba sees a vision of the sorcerer holding Kisara's body up to a "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" tablet. Kaiba follows the instinct, claiming he makes his own future and tributes "Obelisk the Tormentor" to play "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", which he uses to attack and defeat Ishizu.

Kaiba checks on the progress in translating "The Winged Dragon of Ra's" text. Mokuba tells him that they're having trouble with the last few words, but Kaiba looks at the text in astonishment, finding that he's able to read it himself. Remembering what Marik said about only chosen people being able to read the text, what Ishizu said about him being connected to an ancient sorcerer and the instinct that told him to play "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" in the last Duel, Kaiba wonders what's happening to him.

Virtual World
While traveling to the finals, the Battle City blimp goes out of control and is guided into a mechanical fortress in the sea, by Noah. Kaiba, Mokuba, Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Téa, Serenity and Duke are greeted by a projection of the Big Five, who explain that they got trapped in the Virtual World, after they failed to trap Kaiba there, during the Legendary Heroes game. For that they hate Yugi and his friends for helping Kaiba. Having Kaiba as a common enemy, Noah uploaded their minds into his computer system. Using an altered form of Duel Monsters, they plan to face the gang in order to claim possession of their bodies, so that they may exist in the real world.

The group are then transported to a virtual jungle. Kaiba isn't fooled into thinking the place is real and allows himself to be struck by a dinosaur, whose claw simply passes through Kaiba, leaving him unharmed. A virtual copy of Kaiba appears and duels a Total Defense Shogun in a demonstration of the Deck Master rules, used in this virtual world. The Big Five separate the gang, by making holes appear under them.

Seto and Mokuba end up together in a forest. The two of them come to a door, which transports them to a virtual reconstruction of the orphange, they used to live in. Here they are shown projections of their past, including when they got sent to the orphanage and when they got adopted. Mokuba runs away from Seto over to the door, telling Seto he'd liked things before they got adopted. At least back then, says Mokuba, "you smiled once in a while". Seto reminds him that they can't change the past and assures him that it's just an illusion created by Noah. However Mokuba opens the door, causing him slip over the side of a cliff. Seto reaches in on time, catching Mokuba's arm before he falls any further. Seto pulls him up and the two finds themselves on top of the cliff. The virtual world Seto designed had safeguards to prevent such harm befalling on people, but this place, they realize, is different. Seto tells Mokuba that no matter what they see, he must realize that the past is over. He says that he's not proud of every decision he's made, but they were all made in favor of getting the two of them a better life.

Seto and Mokuba make their way to a log cabin in a forest. Inside they witness projections of when they started living with Gozaburo, including Seto being forced to study and having his toys confiscated. The projection fades away and Noah appears before Seto and Mokuba. Seto asks Noah why he's making them watch this stuff. Noah replies that it's to refresh Seto's memory of how he forced Gozaburo to a dead end and one day Seto shall be punished.

Shortly afterwards, Noah sends them to another recreation of Seto's past, where he argued with Gozaburo over the use the virtual software, that Seto invented. Present day Seto accuses Noah of using the virtual software that Gozaburo stole from him.

Seto and Mokuba are then sent to a beach, where they find a tv half-buried. In it they see Joey's Duel with Johnson and Noah telling Johnson off for cheating.

Having lived in Seto's shadow, Noah needs to prove that he is more deserving of the position of president of KaibaCorp and cannot do that through cheating. Seto wonders why Noah is putting the two of them in competion. Seto suspects, but can't believe it's to do with Gozaburo, since he is dead. Kaiba starts to wonder who Noah really is.

Kaiba and Mokuba travel through a desert, where the see the ruins of KaibaCorp's old military center.

The two finally make their way to a city. Here Nesbitt, inside Tristan's body, attacks them with a kendo stick. Kaiba tries throwing a card at Nesbitt, but he blocks. He then grabs a pipe, which Nesbitt easily knocks out of his hand. The real Tristan, in the body of a robot monkey, jumps at the imposter, saving Kaiba. Yugi and his friends arrive and catch the action. Joey punches Nesbitt, smashing him through a warehouse door. However Nesbitt emerges on a motorbike and snatches Mokuba, before driving off. Kaiba grabs another motorbike and takes off after Nesbitt.

The chase leads Kaiba to a bridge, where he is stopped by Lector. Lector has taken the form of Jinzo, but this is hidden by his trenchcoat. In order to get Mokuba back, Kaiba must first defeat Lector in a Duel. Kaiba is given access to Duel Monster cards, bar the Egyptian Gods to build his Deck. Kaiba choses "Lord of Dragons" as his Deck Master. He is initially unable to see Lector's Deck Master, nor does he care, until 1 of his Trap Cards is destroyed, revealing Jinzo to be Lector's Deck Master. During the Duel, Lector taunted Kaiba about using the Big Five and Mokuba in order to overthrow Gozaburo. Lector's Deck is weapon-themed and Kaiba had worked to remove such aspects from KaibaCorp. Refusing to lose his dream to a weapon of death, Kaiba Summons "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", which takes out Lector's "Satellite Cannon", before it can launch an attack, winning the Duel for Kaiba.

After the Duel, Noah forms a tunnel and tells Kaiba he must come this way to find Mokuba. Inside he finds Noah, disguised as Mokuba, who transports Kaiba to a living room, containing the real Mokuba. Noah insists that it was Kaiba's former employee that kidnapped Mokuba and that he was the one who rescued him. Kaiba tries to leave with Mokuba. However Mokuba has now been brainwashed against Seto, by Noah.

Yugi and Téa arrive and show Kaiba a picture of Noah with Gozaburo. Noah shows Seto a clip from is own past. There Gozaburo was shown speaking with Noah, he handed him a picture of Seto, saying that he plans to bring Seto here to challenge Noah academically and prove Noah has the intelligence to run KaibaCorp. Noah agreed and called Gozaburo father. Kaiba refused to believe Noah was Gozaburo's son and asked how come they never met before.

Before Noah can answer, an alarm sounds causing him to leave. Kaiba, Téa and Yugi end up with the rest of Yugi's friends, while Noah takes the Big Five away to tell them off for trying to steal bodies having not won their Duels.

As Yugi's friends ask Kaiba about Noah and saving Mokuba, he tells them to mind their own business and redirects their attention to The Big Five, who are now sharing Tristan's body.

While Yugi and his friends are distracted, Kaiba searches for Mokuba by himself. At the top of a hill, he starts calling for Mokuba. Although Mokuba hears him, he refuses to answer, accepting Noah as his only brother. The clouds in front of Kaiba disappear, revealing a KaibaLand. (In the English version that KaibaLand had not been built, nor had Kaiba shown anyone its blueprints.)

Inside KaibaLand, Seto is shown a video with footage of young Noah, spending time with Gozaburo and Noah's funeral, in which Gozaburo says Noah can still be saved.

Kaiba takes a train from KaibaLand to a volcanic area, where he meets Noah. Noah explains how he had his consciousness uploaded into the Virtual World shortly after the accident, where he nearly died. Once Noah beats Seto in a Duel, he says that he will prove he is superior and return to the real world in Seto's body, where he will take over KaibaCorp. Seto laughs at the idea of Noah beating him and being able to run KaibaCorp. He accepts the challenge and selects "Kaiser Sea Horse" as his Deck Master.

Yugi and his friends arrive to watch the Duel. After a few turns, Seto gets a chance to win, but Noah uses Mokuba as human shield. Kaiba refuses to attack Mokuba and ends his turn. Seto tries talking Mokuba into returning to his side. Yugi points out that he was in this situation before when Marik possessed Joey and urges Seto to keep fighting to awaken his bond with Mokuba. Kaiba manages to Summon "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". Mokuba recognizes this as the the card he drew for Seto. Mokuba imagines Seto and himself on the back of a "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and breaks free from Noah's influence. With "Blue-Eyes" out, Seto plays "Last Turn" creating 1 final battle to determine the winner of the Duel. Kaiba chooses "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", with 3000 ATK as his monster and Noah chooses his Deck Master, "Shinato's Ark", but reveals its true form "Shinato, King of a Higher Plane", with 3300 ATK. "Shinato" defeats "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", causing Seto to lose the Duel.

Having defeated Seto, Noah turns Seto and Mokuba into stone. However Yugi accuses Noah of foul play, by causing Seto to give up his chance for winning over his brother's safety. Yugi then challenges Noah to continue the Duel with him. Should Yugi win everyone Noah trapped would be freed. Yugi combines his Deck with Seto's and continues the Duel from where Seto had left off. When Yugi is on the brink of defeat, he imagines everyone Noah has turned to stone, including Seto, are with him. They each hand Yugi a card to draw with "Card of Sanctity". Using them Yugi defeats Noah, returning everyone who was turned to stone to the way they were before.

Gozaburo appears in the sky before Noah and his prisoners, revealing that he had digitized his mind after losing KaibaCorp to Seto. Gozaburo reveals how he had used Seto to motivate Noah and previously planned to use his body to host Noah's mind. After Gozaburo uploaded his mind into the Virtual World, he planned to take Seto's body for himself. He no longer intends to do that as he has plans to digitize the entire world and rule it.

Noah leads the prisoners, claiming to be taking them to an exit. Despite not trusting Noah, Kaiba goes along. As he predicted, Noah betrays them and splits the gang up. Kaiba heads to the virtual KaibaCorp headquarters to confront Gozaburo.

Gozaburo imposes a game of Duel Monsters for Seto to play for his freedom. Seto accepts and finds himself struggling against Gozaburo's "Exodia Necross". However he finds its weakness and removes the "Exodia" pieces from Gozaburo's Graveyard, stripping it of its abilities. Seto defeats "Exodia Necross" with "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", winning the Duel.

Gozaburo was unwilling to give up and transforms into a monster and proceeds to attack Seto. Yugi appears and manages to save Seto in time. Noah had set the virtual world servers to self-destruct, but having had a change of heart, he helps Seto and Yugi escape. He tells them to jump off the KaibaCorp building and opens a gateway to the real world, which they pass through before hitting the ground. Before leaving Kaiba exclaims, "I won't be buried with you, Gozaburo".

Yugi, Kaiba and Mokuba run to escape the fortress before the missiles strike. Joey and Tristan help them get onto the moving blimp, as they leave Noah's fortress, before it gets destroyed.

Battle City finals
Kaiba, his colleagues and guests arrive safely at Alcatraz for the Battle City finals.

Kaiba, Yugi, Joey and Marik partake in a Battle Royal to determine the matchups for the semi-finals. Each duelist selected a monster to exclude from their Deck to determine the order of play. Kaiba chose the "Masked Beast Des Gardius", which he had taken from Lumis. Since it had the highest ATK, Kaiba got to go first. Since "The Winged Dragon of Ra" is the strongest of the Egyptian Gods, Kaiba planned to win "Slifer" off Yugi so he could have 2 Egyptian Gods when facing Marik and "Ra". Wanting to face Yugi in the semi-finals and too proud to purposely lose, Kaiba made sure he and Yugi were the last two standing in the Battle Royal, matching them up for the second semi-final.

Before Joey's Duel with Marik, Kaiba comments that Joey doesn't stand a chance against "The Winged Dragon of Ra". Joey protests that he went up against "Ra" before, but Kaiba reminds him how it knocked him unconscious. Kaiba tells Yugi that his computer has managed to translate "Ra's" effects. However, Yugi is unconvinced and believes Kaiba connection with the past played a part in translating the text. Kaiba plans to use Joey as a guinea pig, so he can study Marik's strategy. Had it been Yugi that was facing Marik, Marik would win "Slifer the Sky Dragon" making it harder for Kaiba to defeat him in the finals. Yugi smirks that Kaiba's plan has a flaw; he has to get past him first.

Towards the end of the Duel, Marik has Joey hit hard by one of "Ra's" effects. Mokuba protests that Marik has gone too far, but Kaiba refuses to stop the Duel as he must see "Ra's" abilities with his own eyes. Kaiba is stunned to see Joey still standing after taking the blast. Joey prepares to attack Marik to win, but collapses. Kaiba gives Joey 30 seconds to stand up. Unable to do so, Joey was disqualified. Kaiba was impressed with Joey's performance, thinking to himself "The way you die, at last I'll recognize you as a duelist". (In the English version, Kaiba thinks maybe Joey isn't the third-rate amateur, he thought he was.)

Kaiba faces Yugi in the second quarter-final. He creates a holographic Colosseum of spectators around the top of the tower for the Duel.

Kaiba tries to Summon "Obelisk the Tormentor" at an early stage, but Yami Yugi manages to counter both his attempts. Kaiba steals "Slifer the Sky Dragon" from Yugi's Deck using "Lullaby of Obedience". However Yami takes it back with "Exchange", which he had been planning to use on "Obelisk". Yami and Kaiba each manage to Summon their respective Egyptian Gods. The two constantly alter the Gods' ATK or block each others attacks, preventing the other from destroying their God. Kaiba attempts to win using "Obelisk's" effect, tributing 2 monsters to inflict 4000 damage to Yami, but Yami discards "Kuriboh" to protect himself. Eventually the 2 Gods attack each other and after a number of alterations each end up with 4000 ATK and destroy each other.

The battle of Gods causes Yami Yugi and Kaiba's consciousness to be transported to an ancient city. Here they see "Obelisk" and "Slifer" turned to stone, while elsewhere, the Sorcerer Seto and Nameless Pharaoh battle. The Sorcerer tells the Pharaoh that he's powerless in the face of the darkness and the land will soon meet the fate of its destruction. When questioned as to why he joined the forces of darkness, the sorcerer replies that he and his followers have allegiance to neither the Dark One nor the Pharaoh. The Sorcerer Summons Blue-Eyes White Dragon from a tablet and the Pharaoh counters with Dark Magician. The two return to present time. Kaiba asks if Yugi had the same vision as he did. Yami claims that their Duel is related to the one from 3000 years ago, and Kaiba says their Duel is destined. (In the English version, Kaiba calls the vision an illusion.)

Kaiba and Yami continue the Duel. They quickly summon "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and "Dark Magician" respectively. Kaiba uses "Lord of Dragons" and "The Flute of Summoning Dragon" to bring out his other 2 "Blue-Eyes White Dragons". Yugi uses it to Summon Joey's "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" from his own hand. Yami blocks the attacks from 2 of the 3 dragons, destroying 1 of them and "Lord of Dragons" in the process. Kaiba uses "Monster Reborn" and "Polymerization" to Summon "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon", but Yami plays "Double Spell" copying Kaiba's last 2 Magic Cards, allowing him to Summon "Dark Paladin". Yami tells Kaiba that if he stands at the top filled with hatred, he won't find real victory. He'll only have to find new hatred, and his future will be filled with endless hatred. Kaiba attacks "Dark Paladian" with "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon", but Yami uses "De-Fusion", splitting the "Ultimate Dragon" into 3 "Blue-Eyes White Dragons". He uses "Diffusion Wave-Motion", allowing "Dark Paladin" to attack all 3 of them, winning the Duel.

Kaiba thinks Battle City was his tournament, the entire event was designed so that he would be victorious, he wanted to put the memory of his adopted father behind him and be crowned the world's best duelist atop his Duel Tower. Despite coming so close, his victory slipped away from him and says that he's nothing. Yugi compliments Kaiba on the Duel, but Kaiba says he doesn't want his pity. Yugi admits Kaiba is a strong duelist, but he was defeated by the monster in his heart called "hatred". Yugi points out how friendship helped him win, but Kaiba says that everyone is alone in this world and he doesn't want any pals to slow him down. Yugi calls that sad, to which he just scoffs. Kaiba accepts his defeat like a man and throws Yugi his "Obelisk the Tormentor" card to him, as per the rules of the tournament.

As Kaiba leaves, Joey, who has awoke from his coma, challenges Kaiba to a third place play-off. Kaiba isn't interested at first and considers dueling Joey to be waste of time. But Joey persists and Kaiba eventually accepts. At the bottom of the Duel Tower, the two face-off. Kaiba plays "Crush Card" at an early stage, eliminating Joey's stronger monsters. Regardless Joey puts up a good fight. He annoys Kaiba by taking control of 1 of his "Blue-Eyes White Dragons". Towards the end of the Duel, Joey attempts to win by using "Time Wizard" to age "Baby Dragon" into "Thousand Dragon" and weaken Kaiba's "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". Kaiba scolds Joey for thinking the Duel is fun. (In the English version, he mocks Joey for relying on luck to win his Duels.) Kaiba uses "Interdimensional Matter Transporter" to save his dragon from "Time Wizard" and wins on his next turn. Kaiba leaves thinking the Duel was a waste of his time.

Initially Kaiba has no intention of watching the final Duel between Yugi and Marik, but is confronted by Ishizu, who tells him Yugi is going to need his help to defeat Marik. Kaiba walks away, not caring if Yugi loses. Ishizu calls him back and says "pret kreto", an Ancient Egyptian phrase, which to Kaiba's own surprise, he understands. She says that these words were prayers for the dead, from a friend that were engraved on a stone found in the Pharaoh's temple. (In the English version, Ishizu doesn't speak Ancient Egyptian and tells Kaiba that his own future is at stake.) Ishizu tells Kaiba of his connection to the Sorcerer, who was the Pharaoh's rival, but ultimately helped the Pharaoh save his people and now history is repeating itself. Kaiba is unconvinced and leaves to prepare for the detonation of the the Duel Tower. However, Mokuba starts to cry that Yugi and Joey were right about Kaiba being filled with hate, dueling for all the wrong reasons and never having fun anymore either.

Kaiba reconsiders and decides to help Yugi, despite hosting the tournament to beat him. Kaiba estimates Yugi's chances of winning to be 3%, but he has a card that can beat "The Winged Dragon of Ra". If Yugi can figure out how to use it, it would give him a 20% chance of winning. (Kaiba makes no such calculations in the English version.) As he makes his way to the Duel, Kaiba remembers Yugi saying that the strength of his friends brought him victory and wonders if Yugi can create a miracle if he entrusts him with this card. (In the English version, Kaiba thinks he'd enjoy watching Yugi fall at the hands of Marik, but it would be interesting to see if Yugi has what it takes to use this card.) Before the Duel, Kaiba gives Yugi the card, "Fiend's Sanctuary". Kaiba tells Ishizu that he only helped Yugi to prove her wrong when he loses.

Kaiba watches the Duel and sees the card he gave Yugi, help out. He congratulates Yugi after he wins.

With the tournament over, Kaiba and Mokuba, initiate the self-destruction of the Duel Tower to destroy their memory of Gozaburo and his loss to Yugi. While everyone else leaves in the helicopter, Kaiba and Mokuba leave in the Blue-Eyes White Dragon jet, as they plan to start work on Kaiba Land right away.

Waking the Dragons
When real Duel Monsters started appearing, KaibaCorp got plenty of phone calls from people, who believed they were created by Kaiba's Solid Vision. Kaiba, who was still in America working on Kaiba Land, made an announcement on TV. He said that they had shut down their system as a test and found the monsters still appeared, so something other than their system is causing the monsters to be created.

In his office, Kaiba said that someone is trying to make a fool out of him and wondered if the monster appearances were the doing of one of his rivals. He suspected Industrial Illusions and got Roland to contact them. Mokuba rushed into the office and showed Kaiba that someone was buying their shares and owned nearly half the company. If the person was to buy any more shares, they could take control of the company, but Kaiba refuses to allow that. Alister, pretending to be Pegasus made contact with Kaiba, claiming to be the one who bought the stocks, but he's not interested in Kaiba's company and just wanted the upper hand so he could force Kaiba to do something for him.

Kaiba and Mokuba took the Blue-Eyes White Dragon jet to Duelist Kingdom. They confronted Alister disguised as Pegasus in the castle. Kaiba accused him of being responsible for the monster appearances. Alister claimed that it's all Kaiba's responsibility. Kaiba demanded to know what he meant, and Alister said that he will tell him if Kaiba can beat him in a Duel. Alister used the Dueling Arena, while Kaiba choose to put his cards on his Duel Disk, as he did not trust Pegasus.

Alister used Pegasus' Toon strategy. Kaiba stopped this by destroying "Toon World" and accused Pegasus of using the same old strategy. After noting that Pegasus isn't predictable, he doubted he was facing the real Pegasus, so Alister revealed the disguise. Alister then played "The Seal of Orichalcos", so that the loser would lose their soul. Alister accuses Kaiba of ruining his life, since his brother had been killed (went missing in the English version) in a war, where Gozaburo sold weapons to both sides. Since Alister had been studying Kaiba, he was able to predict that Kaiba would reply on "Crush Card", and prevented this with "Royal Decree". He took control of two of Kaiba's "Blue-Eyes White Dragons" to stage the perfect revenge. Kaiba realized that there wasn't a card in his Deck that could save him, but before drawing his next card, his consciousness was transported to a hall, where he sees two dragons trapped crystal. He removes a sword from one of the dragons, freeing it. To Kaiba's surprise, he somehow knows the dragon's name is Critias. (In the English version, Dark Magician Girl told him that he had been chosen to release Critius and instructed him to remove the sword.) Kaiba returned to reality and drew his next card, "The Fang of Critias", which was not in his Deck before. He combined it with "Crush Card", forming "Doom Virus Dragon". He used "Doom Virus Dragon" to destroy Alister's monsters and attack him, but Alister played "Contagion of Madness", making the Duel a Draw. Since it was a Draw, neither player lost their soul.

Afterwards Kaiba wondered about the card, "The Fang of Critias". After boarding his jet, he received an e-mail from HQ, saying that he needed to come back, but Kaiba opted to visit Industrial Illusions to ask about the card instead. Mokuba was unable to contact Pegasus on the way. Kaiba suspected that this would happen; whoever Alister is working for has already captures Pegasus and wants him next. Kaiba wondered how he could know the effect of the card; he doesn't believe in the supernatural, but the power of the card is very real. While on the jet, Kaiba noticed "The Fang of Critias" glowing while elsewhere Joey Wheeler acquired "The Claw of Hermos".

Kaiba arrived at Industrial Illusions American headquarters, where he encountered Yugi, Joey, Téa, Tristan and Duke. He asked about Pegasus and learnt that Mai Valentine has been there earlier and taken his soul using "The Seal of Orichalcos". Kaiba briefed the others in on his encounter with the imposter Pegasus, who he believes is trying to take over his company. In search of answers, the group followed by Rex and Weevil go to a private room, which Yugi is able to open using a card Pegasus gave him. A hologram of Pegasus informed the party about Doma's involvement in historical events. Kaiba recalled Gozaburo saying something about a dark force behind the world economy, which he now believes could be Doma. (In the English version, Kaiba says that this is just a hoax by Pegasus.) Kaiba learned that Yugi and Joey also have Legendary Dragon cards like "Critias" and Yami claimed it was their destiny to work together to defeat Doma. However Kaiba left them, claiming that he's the one who decides his fate.

After Kaiba returned to KaibaCorp headquarters, he received word of their stock plummeting and nearly half of the company being bought out by an unknown investor. Kaiba believed that it was Doma's doing and had his employees research what they could find about Doma. Mokuba was concerned about Kaiba facing Alister, again as he believed that Alister was simply fighting for his brother. However Kaiba insisted that he must knock Doma down or there won't be any hope for KaibaCorp or Kaiba Land. (In the English version, Kaiba believed that Pegasus was behind the problems and Mokuba suggested that it could be Alister.)

Kaiba received a phone call from Joey, who asked him for a lift to Florida in exchange for information about Doma, but Joey got overexcited and told him that one of them defeated Yugi in a Duel and took his soul. Kaiba became outraged over Yugi throwing his title away to a "nobody". He called Yami a disgrace to the game and hung up the phone, thinking he now has another reason to hunt down these thugs.

On board a company plane, as Kaiba and Mokuba notice a bizarre light phenomenon outside the window, the pilot, who is Alister in disguise reports that there will be some turbulence. The brothers get curious as to what is going on and find that the rest of the plane is empty. They finally found Alister, who demands a rematch and informs them that the other passengers had been evacuated before the flight, as he didn't want them to interfere with their Duel. (In the English version, he said that the other passengers had been an illusion.) Kaiba flipped a switch, which removed the furniture and cleared a space for dueling. Alister vowed to hang Kaiba's soul on Mikey's tombstone and the Duel began.

Once Alister played "The Seal of Orichalcos", its green light damaged the plane and switched off the autopilot. The sides of the plane appeared as if they disappeared and the seal rose Kaiba and Alister to the roof of the plane and formed a dome over itself.

During the Duel, Kaiba is sent to an illusion of a city that was made a battlefield by KaibaCorp, when Gozaburo was in power. Kaiba appeared in a hideout, where he met Aaron, who looks like Mokuba. Aaron, along with Tony and Dennis had collected weapons from the battlefield to give to people protecting the city. (The references to the weapons were removed in the English version.)



Outside, Aaron offered to play chess with Kaiba by etching the board in the soil and using empty weapon cartridges as pieces. This reminded Kaiba of how he used to play chess with Mokuba in the orphanage. (The game of chess was removed in the English version.) Kaiba and Aaron were interrupted when the hideout was bombed. Aaron tried to run over there to save Tony and Dennis, but Kaiba stopped him, insisting that it was too dangerous. A tank then appeared and shot at Kaiba and Aaron. The tank turned out to be one of Alister's cards and the Duel resumed in the city, while Aaron had disappeared. Alister explained what Kaiba had seen had really happened before; Aaron, Dennis and Tony were his friends growing up, that attack from the tank had killed Aaron and Alister's brother Mikey had been killed in the same way. (The mentions of death are removed in the English version.) The vision of the city faded shortly afterwards and the Duel continued on the airplane. Alister accused Kaiba of being like Gozaburo and expressed his wishes for a world free of war, which isn't possible with people like Gozaburo. To achieve such a world, he claimed to need Kaiba's soul.

After sending an SOS to Roland, Mokuba appeared to watch and begged Kaiba to stop the Duel or Alister would lose his soul. Kaiba claimed that he needed to defeat Alister for the sake of Kaiba Land. (In the English version, he said that he doesn't back down from a challenge.) Roland appeared with a team of helicopters to rescue the Kaiba brothers later in the Duel. However Alister used the "Seal of Orichalcos" to damage the plane further and send it plummeting. Kaiba used "The Fang of Critias" to form "Tyrant Burst Dragon" and defeat Alister before the plane crashed. The three Legendary Dragons, Timaeus, Critias and Hermos then appeared and carried the plane to a safe landing.

At some point, Kaiba sent men to the museum in Florida to find clues regarding the undersea ruins.

Outside the plane, Kaiba and Mokuba met Joey, Téa, Tristan and Yami, who had followed the dragons. Roland landed his helicopter and informed them of KaibaCorp being bought out by Doma. Yami tried to convince Kaiba that they were brought together for a reason. Despite not believing in destiny, Kaiba said they might be useful and gave them a lift in one of the helicopters. Despite no longer working for Kaiba, Roland and Fubeta vowed to help him. Kaiba receives images of the ruins from the men he sent to the museum, who are attacked by ninjas immediately afterwards. Kaiba sent the data from the ruins to Rebecca's laptop. However the ruins were too worn for her and Arthur to decipher them. Kaiba ordered the pilot to take them to the United States KaibaCorp headquarters. Despite it being taken over by Doma, it had the necessary technology to clear-up the images.

The group met up with Duke, Arthur and Rebecca at the pier near the KaibaCorp building. Kaiba and Yami took an underground passage into the building. Once they got inside they were attacked, by Duel Monster Spirits. By playing cards on their Duel Disks, Yami and Kaiba were able to Summon monsters to fight them off. The monsters are eventually destroyed and the two are cornered. However Rebecca, who hacked into the security system manages to open and close doors to Kaiba and Yami's advantage safely guiding them to the central computer mainframe. Using the computer, Kaiba cleaned-up the images and sent them to Arthur, who translated them as a prophecy about a black serpent returning and Atlantis ruling again. Kaiba recognized an insignia on the ruins as that of Paradius.

The president of Paradius, Dartz, destroys the computers and appears before Kaiba and Yami standing on The Great Leviathan. Kaiba figured that Dartz is also in charge of Doma. Yami and Kaiba attempt to Duel him and Summon "The Eye of Timaeus" and "The Fang of Critias". However Dartz disappeared before they could attack him. The Duel Spirits then broke into the room, causing Kaiba and Yami to flee to the roof, where they boarded the Blue-Eyes White Dragon jet and crash landed.

Kaiba and Yami met up with the others and got the location of Paradius headquarters from Rebecca. However they were ambushed by Orichalcos Soldiers, who Yami and Kaiba managed to fight off by Summoning "Timaeus" and "Critias". Kaiba then left the group to find defeat Dartz himself and reminded them that they can use his satellite system to track Joey's location.

Kaiba and Mokuba stopped at a car shop and hopped into a sportscar. The salesman tried to stop them, but Kaiba handed him a check for $500,000 and sped off. They were stopped by a group of Orichalcos Soldiers one block from the headquarters. Kaiba fought them off using "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and "The Fang of Critias" and continued to drive to the headquarters, but was stopped once again when he bumped into Téa and Tristan with Joey's now soulless body. They were forced to abandon the car as they got onto a fire escape to get away from a swarm of rats with glowing red eyes. The five of them then made their way to the Paradius headquarters, where they found Yami dueling Raphael.

After the Duel, the building started to collapse. Fortunately for the group, Roland arrived in the helicopter to rescue them. They witnessed the outside of the building crumble away, revealing an Atlantian building inside it. Yami handed Kaiba a chip, he received from Raphael, which Kaiba inserted into a device and found it contained a map to Dartz's lair. They prepared to fly towards it, but military helicopters appeared and gestured them to follow. They were guided through a swarm of locusts and onto the USS Courage. (The locusts were removed in the English version.)

The military asked for their help in defeating Doma. Doma had been controlling the country's politics preventing them from initiating an attack. (In the English version, Dartz had not been leaving enough evidence to allow them to attack.) The military then flew them to Dartz's temple.

Inside the temple, they found the souls of everyone taken by "The Seal of Orichalcos" sealed in slabs lining the walls. Dartz appeared before them and explained that he has spent ten millennia collecting the souls to revive The Great Leviathan. For the souls to be freed, Dartz said that the Nameless Pharaoh must defeat him first. Not wanting to face Dartz alone, Yami enlisted Kaiba for help and the two of them faced Dartz together.

During the Duel, the Orichalcos generated another vision of the past. This time they witnessed Atlantis ten millennia previous, as it became corrupted by the Orichalcos, resulting in the Battle of Atlantis, which caused the city to sink.

The two managed to work together as a team, but when Dartz's "Mirror Knight Tokens" bore the faces of Yugi, Joey, Mai and Pegasus, all of whom had been taken by "The Seal of Orichalcos", Kaiba was unable to talk Yami into attacking them. Kaiba learned that Dartz had been disguised as Gozaburo in order to manipulate Alister into hating the Kaiba family. Kaiba finally lost, but transferred the ATK of his "Mirror Force Dragon" to Yami's Life Points using "Wish of Final Effort", before losing his soul. Yami made use of the extra Life Points to win the Duel.

After he lost, Kaiba's soul was inside a bubble being sucked into The Great Leviathan, along with some of the other lost souls. Once Yami defeated Dartz, the Legendary Knights freed the chosen duelists; Yugi, Joey and Kaiba, from the Leviathan.

Outside, the group found that Atlantis has risen out of the sea. Kaiba, Yugi and Joey returned into temple to find Dartz. Yugi handed Kaiba and Joey back their Legendary Dragon cards and the trio entered a vortex transporting them to the heart of Atlantis. They found that Dartz had left his body and combined with The Great Leviathan, to compensate for not getting the souls of the chosen duelists.

Kaiba, Yami and Joey Summoned a barrage of monsters to battle the leviathan and are accompanied by an army Dark Magician Girl brought from the Spirit World. However the Leviathan shot tendrils at the three duelists and pulled them inside it. By absorbing the strength of the other souls within the leviathan, Yami managed to Summon the Egyptian Gods and free himself, Kaiba and Joey. Kaiba witnessed the Gods attacking the Leviathan, freeing the souls it had taken.

As Yami battled what was left of The Great Leviathan, Kaiba and Joey were forced to leave Atlantis as a tidal wave approached. They met up with the others and took off in the KaibaCorp helicopter. After The Great Leviathan was defeated and Atlantis sunk once more, Kaiba's "The Fang of Critias" card disappeared.

Grand Championship
Kaiba managed to reclaim the stock he lost to Doma, but KaibaCorp still lost a lot of reputation and the price of its stock went down. Mokuba suggested that they host a tournament at the grand opening of the new Kaiba Land. Kaiba agreed and decided to call it the KaibaCorp Grand Championship. He sent invites to some of the greatest duelists in the world, but, because of his busy schedule, he was not able to take part himself. He arranged it as a sixteen player knockout with the winner facing Yugi.

At the opening of the Kaiba Land Zigfried von Schroeder hacked into the Kaiba Dome's computer system. By the time Kaiba arrived at the Doma, Yugi had defeated the CPU in a game of Duel Monsters, restoring control to normal. Unsure who did it, Kaiba tightened security and vowed to punish the hacker.

At the beginning of the tournament Kaiba jetpacked into the Kaiba Dome to introduce the tournament as the ultimate test of survival with Kaiba Land as its battlefield.

With the tournament running too smoothly, Kaiba suspected the hacker must be already be in Kaiba Land and got Roland to perform a background check on all the competitors in the tournament. Kaiba grew suspicious of Zigfried, who had entered the tournament under the name "Zigfried Lloyd", when he saw him announce to a surveillance camera that he has a special show in store for Kaiba, before dueling Rex and Weevil who snuck in.

During Joey's Duel with Zigfried, Zigfried thought Kaiba was too slow with figuring him out and gave Kaiba a clue by triggering a virus causing electronics around the park to go haywire. Kaiba then remembered his encounter with Zigfried at the party thrown by Gozaburo. Kaiba managed to stop the virus and ordered Roland to perform another background check on Zigfried Lloyd and find out if he's connected to the Schroeder family.

His old economic competitor, Zigfried von Schroeder, returned hoping to collapse KaibaCorp, but Kaiba defeated him.

Dawn of the Duel


In the Memory World arc of the manga and anime, Kaiba is revealed to be the reincarnation of the ancient Egyptian priest Seto, holder of the Millenium Rod and cousin to Pharaoh Atem (whose spirit inhabits the body of Yugi Mutou in the present day). When the Pharaoh comes under threat from Thief King Bakura, Seto has many villagers gathered together so that he might identify those with powerful "Ka" - monsters created within an individual's soul - that may help defend the Pharaoh's rule. During his search Seto takes into custody a girl named Kisara, whose Ka is revealed to be the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Priest Seto develops strong feelings for the girl, and evidently vice versa, as Kisara later sacrifices herself to save Seto from Akhenaden (who is possessed by Zorc Necrophades). In the aftermath, Seto holds Kisara's body in front of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon tablet and weeps - notably, this is the "vision" which appears to Kaiba during his duel in the Battle City semifinals (as well as during his later duel with Yami Bakura). According to Kazuki Takahashi, Priest Seto's feelings for Kisara are the basis behind Kaiba's modern-day fixation with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

Seto subsequently assists Atem in the battle against Zorc Necrophades using the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. After Zorc is defeated, Atem says that his reign is over, and names Seto the new pharaoh. Priest Seto then creates the famous stone carving of the two of them as a tribute to their friendship. See "Priest Seto" for more info on Seto's role during the Memory World.



Although Seto Kaiba himself plays no direct part in the memory world in the manga, in the anime, Yami Bakura gives him the Millennium Eye, which begins to show Kaiba visions and convinces him to fly to Egypt (where he is subsequently transported into the Pharaoh's Memory World). During the final battle, Kaiba summons his Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, shown in the anime as a three-way fusion between his own spirit, that of Kisara, and that of Priest Seto. He is able to hold his ground against Zorc, something that even the three gods were unable to do. Zorc later explains that the Blue Eyes White Dragon is the "ultimate creature of light," and when pitted against Zorc - "the ultimate creature of darkness" - its power is greater than any other force on earth. With Atem's help, Kaiba is able to summon Dragon Master Knight (although this monster is quickly defeated by Zorc, most likely because it is no longer a pure light monster). Kaiba later protects Yugi and his friends using his Ring of Defense, giving Atem more time to re-summon and fuse the Egyptian God Cards.

After returning to the present he wishes to duel Atem in the Ceremonial Battle, but is refused the privilege as Yugi states his intentions to duel the Pharaoh. He responds to the refusal saying he didn't come this far to see Yugi lose his title to his imaginary friend. Nevertheless Kaiba watches the duel and witnesses the Pharaoh separate from Yugi's body and finally be put to rest. During the duel, he for the first time openly shows respect for Yugi by calling him the "True King of Games" when he defeats all three Egyptian God Cards in a single turn. In the original Japanese anime, Kaiba eventually does acknowledge his past and the events that occurred in the Memory World, although he warns Jonouchi to keep his mouth shut about it.

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Though not seen much in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX series, Kaiba is referred as the one who set up Duel Academy and named the dormitories personally. He made several appearances, the first being when he made a bet on his ownership of the school. He seemed bold and had full confidence in the duelist representing Duel Academy, Chazz, would win despite the unfair advantage in the duel (in the Japanese episode, Kaiba stated at the end that anyone who was a student at his academy should be able to win a duel no matter what the situations are, and in the English version stated that Chazz's brothers needed to learn a little bit more about world domination). During the second year, he also appears in Jaden's flashback, announcing a card illustration project, and again when he allows Sartorius (Takuma Saiou) the use of KaibaLand during the Academy's field trip. The Duel Monster spirit "Kaibaman", who duels against Jaden, is based on Seto Kaiba and uses the same deck, including his three Blue-Eyes White Dragons. Kaiba is also mentioned, and briefly seen, in a flashback of Aster Phoenix's, as being the second greatest duelist in the world, in the mind of Maximillion Pegasus, next to Yugi Muto.

In the English version, Sartorius says that "Kaiba hasn't aged in years". This is likely an inside joke to fans on how the character animation for Seto is nearly identical in both series, despite the fact that GX takes place 10 years later.

In the fourth season, Seto appears to be the only citizen of Domino City who survives Trueman's attack (although the screen pans out before viewers actually see whether or not his name is erased from the list).

Deck

 * Main article: Seto Kaiba's Decks

Although Kaiba's best known cards are his three "Blue-Eyes White Dragons" and the fusion monster formed from the three dragons, the "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon", other Duel Monsters Cards have been utilized in his Deck, including the XYZ series.

Kaiba appears to favor the Beatdown type of strategy, meaning he favors using cards and monsters that completely overpower his opponents. His cards are intended to be mean and vicious to reflect Kaiba's personality.