Orochimaru is a fictional character and major villain in the anime and manga series Naruto.
Personality and Ability
Template:Spoilers Orochimaru is a twisted, manipulative and ruthless man, whose prime ambition is to become "the ultimate being" by achieving immortality and knowledge of all jutsu in the world. While technically a Jōnin, as it was the last rank he made in Konoha before defecting, his abilities are obviously far beyond those of the average Jōnin, and he is allegedly powerful enough to even defeat a small country on his own. Orochimaru has a knack for winning otherwise desperate people to his cause, filling the void in their life with loyalty to him; he brands some of his subordinates with a cursed seal which corrodes their body and free will in exchange for power. He relishes conflict and unrest.
Orochimaru's specialty is forbidden techniques having to do with souls, departed or otherwise, which he has researched to the point where he can defy death itself and his mind transcends the body it happens to currently inhabit. He is also very talented with techniques related to snakes (hence the name Orochi, a legendary eight-headed snake from Japanese folklore) and can summon snakes of various powers, such as the 'Boss Snake', Manda; the equal to Jiraiya's Gamabunta and Tsunade's Katsuyu. His introduction is riding a gigantic snake. His own appearance is bordering on inhuman, with very pale skin, slitted eyes, and an extending, snake-like tongue (also, this tongue is actually a permanent Jutsu, which enables the user to extend this part of their body to an infinite length. He also uses his tongue as a weapon. And it's a powerful weapon at that) Orochimaru has the unique ability to molt or repair his skin as easily as someone else's clothes. Even Morino Ibiki, Konoha's veteran torture and interrogation specialist, admits that when he saw Orochimaru for the first time, he was very frightened and was convinced that what stood before him was not a man but rather something else which had merely donned human skin.
Years In Konoha
Orochimaru was originally a student of Sarutobi (who was also the Sandaime Hokage) as a part of a three-man team containing himself, Jiraiya and Tsunade. He was considered the most talented out of the three and Sarutobi had high hopes for him, often berating the clumsy Jiraiya and telling him he should be more like Orochimaru; he hoped that one day, Orochimaru would succeed him.
While Orochimaru's ambitions did include becoming Hokage, his eyes were set upon goals quite alien to the ideals traditionally associated with the title and emphatically embraced by his teacher. Sarutobi knew that "A shinobi's true strength will manifest when protecting something important," and the Hokage's role is to love and protect the people of the village as if they were family; For Orochimaru, however, Hokage was nothing more than a potential conquest on the way to what truly interested him - power.
Sarutobi hoped to make his student see the error of his ways, but the more time that passed, the more it became clear that Orochimaru was a lost cause. This culminated in Orochimaru kidnapping his fellow Konoha shinobi as human guinea pigs. He experimented on them to develop techniques that would grant him immortality, as he had already decided that he would settle for no less than to learn all Jutsu in the world, a task that would take much more than one human lifetime. When the many disappearances were finally traced back to Orochimaru, Sarutobi knew that it was his duty to kill him, but even then he couldn't bring himself to kill his prized student for whom he had had such high hopes. But at the same time he realized that Orochimaru was a twisted man that was not fit to fill the role of Hokage, and when he finally retired years later he chose a student of Jiraiya's over Orochimaru as his successor, making the student the Fourth Hokage. Though it is not known just how much of a capable ninja The Fourth was compared to Orochimaru, it is implied in the series that The Yondaime could at least equal Orochimaru in battle.
While it is unknown as to how many and what experiments Orochimaru had conducted during his stay in Konoha, a few things are currently known: one is that he had developed his cursed seal, first tested upon Anko. Another one would be the injection of Shodai's gene into sixty babies, in hope of using Shodai's mokuton and biju control ability; 59 babies were killed, but one, Yamato survived.
Defection and Conspiracy Against Konoha
Realizing that he has hit a dead end in his quest to become the ultimate being and has nothing to gain from staying in Konoha, Orochimaru defects from the village and joins the elite criminal organization Akatsuki. His old teammate, Jiraiya, tries to convince him to reconsider, but to no avail - he betrays the village and the title of the 'Three Legendary Leafs' is no more, though they are still known as the "Densetsu no Sannin" (伝説の三忍, "Legendary Three"), the name Jiraiya, Orochimaru and Tsunade are currently known by. The role Orochimaru played in Akatsuki is unclear, as are the reasons he some time later opts to leave the organization to found his own Hidden Sound Village (although he does mention in a later episode that it had to do with the fact that he was jealous and frightened of Uchiha Itachi's strength; he also mentions he wants the power of the Sharingan and Itachi was too powerful to kill so he went after Sasuke instead..); but his ambitions are as clear as ever. He intends to wage war on Konoha, destroying it completely and triggering a world war. He also seeks a worthy body to use with his immortality technique - Fushi Tensei - which he had finished developing. His first choice for a body is the talented Kaguya Kimimaro, blessed with a Kekkei Genkai which gives him an almost indestructible body. Although Orochimaru does give Kimimaro the Chi no Juin (Cursed Seal of Earth), considered the sister seal to Sasuke's Ten no Juin (Cursed Seal of Heaven), Kimimaro is abandoned as a vessel when he contracts a disease which weakens and eventually kills him. In this regard he develops a great interest in Uchiha Sasuke, particularly due to the Sharingan, which would allow him to copy and learn all the jutsu in the world more easily than if he did not take over Sasuke's body.
Orochimaru finally finds an opportune time-frame to further both these ambitions in the up-and-coming Chūnin examinations taking place in Konoha. He orchestrates a joint assault on Konoha using both Sand and Sound ninja in a crucial moment during the exams, when many of Konoha's Jōnin would be gathered in one stadium, creating an opening to neutralize them all and leave the village very vulnerable. He also infiltrates the examination in various disguises throughout, appearing before Team 7 - which includes Sasuke - and branding Sasuke with his cursed seal. Knowing Sasuke's history, Orochimaru figures that with the aid of the cursed seal corroding Sasuke's will, his offers of power will eventually outweigh whatever other forces could be pulling his psyche in other directions than his quest as avenger, specifically his bond with Naruto which Orochimaru sees as crucial to subvert.
At some point during the brewing of the conspiracy to bring about the downfall of Konoha, Orochimaru kills the leader of the Hidden Sand Village - the Fourth Kazekage - and steals his identity, from then on playing both sides of the alliance he formed. Eventually, when the attack finally commences, he sheds this disguise and forces his old teacher, Sarutobi, into a one-on-one match, sacrificing his own henchmen and reviving the former Hokages of the village to fight on his side using the forbidden technique Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei, another of his developments which can bring the dead back to eternal life.
Initially, Orochimaru clearly has the upper hand, and he continually mocks and belittles the way his teacher was growing weak with age. Even while overpowered, Sarutobi refuses to acknowledge that what Orochimaru has become is anything reflecting true strength, lecturing him one last time about how even if you learn all jutsu in existence you will not achieve true strength in this world, and only when fighting to protect the people important to them would a shinobi's true strength manifest. Finally, in the fight's climax, he proclaims that he will hand down Orochimaru's punishment for drowning himself in jutsu, and sacrifices his own life to seal Orochimaru's arms (lacking the power to seal his whole soul), using the same technique the Yondaime used to seal the Kyūbi inside Uzumaki Naruto. Without the use of his hands, Orochimaru is now incapable of forming hand seals and executing jutsu, and more importantly, is forced to call off the invasion in Konoha.
After the Failed Invasion
Initially, Orochimaru planned to have his condition healed by appealing to his old team-mate, Tsunade, who has since become a legendary medical ninja. He offered to revive her brother and boyfriend, both of which have died in battle in front of her eyes, in hopes this would persuade her to cooperate. At the same time, Jiraiya also contacted Tsunade, asking her to replace the late Sarutobi as Konoha's Fifth Hokage. Though inclined to give in to her weaknesses and accept Orochimaru's offer at first, she ultimately chose to live her loved ones' dream rather than linger on their dead bodies and accepts the position of Hokage, becoming Orochimaru's opposition and leaving him with only one option of replacing his crumbling, useless arms: Transferring to another body through the use of Fushi Tensei.
Though Orochimaru was right about Sasuke after all, and Sasuke does eventually seek him out for power, by the time Sasuke found Orochimaru, he was already in a critical state, the pain in his arms and the constant bleeding reaching the point when soon it wouldn't matter whether Sasuke arrives or not. Desperate for a new body to transfer to, Orochimaru holds a tournament of fights to the death between his prisoners and takes over the body of the last man who remains standing, Gen'yūmaru. This, while getting rid of his condition, drastically delayed his plans for Sasuke, since he can only take over a new body once about roughly every three years. When he took over him, he also noted that parts of Gen'yūmaru's will and consciousness would remain in the new body's subconscious.
Naruto II Arc
It is unknown what Orochimaru had been up to since then for about three years the manga storyline skips, though reason suggests he had been training Sasuke and biding his time until he would finally be able to use Fushi Tensei to transfer into him. Recently in the manga, he is revealed to have been spying on the meeting between Yakushi Kabuto and Yamato disguised as Sasori. Orochimaru explains that Sasori's "binding jutsu" on Kabuto had long ago been undone by him, before calling out Naruto, Sakura and Sai to do battle. He explains that Yamato was the only one out of sixty test subjects that survived one of his genetic experiments, to duplicate the Shodai Hokage's Mokuton techniques and his previously unknown ability to "control bijū". Orochimaru demonstrates a number of inhuman abilities during his battle with Kyūbi Naruto: he can shed his skin like a snake and by doing so, repair any damage to his body, make a large number of snakes and even a replica of himself (apparently also made up of snakes) emerge from his mouth. This clone was able to land a hit on Naruto, and also reform itself after being cut in half at the waist with no apparent side effects.
The battle with Naruto comes to an end after Naruto parries an attack from Orochimaru's extended Kusanagi sword. He comments that his body had reached its limits, and says that he must wait for Sasuke's body to come to fruition.
Afterwards, back at Orochimaru's lair, it is made apparent that Orochimaru plans to team up with Danzou and destroy Konoha as it is today. (The wording would seem to indicate a revolution or takeover, rather than outright annihilation.) After a training exercise with Sasuke, he interupts Sai and Naruto after they form a bond to question Sai's loyalty in Chapter 304.
In chapter 305 it seemed like Orochimaru would resume his heated fight with Naruto, but instead he retreated, saying that he would let Naruto go just one last time, in hopes that Naruto and company can take down more Akatsuki members for him.
Orochimaru returns again in Chapter 309; just in time to stop Sasuke from performing a certain jutsu. Kabuto also informs Sasuke to let the Konoha shinobi manage the other Akatsuki to make his revenge a little easier. Although Sasuke is hesitant, the trio disappears in a puff of smoke.
Jutsu Mastery
The techniques listed above are only the ones that Orochimaru has used in the story. Because of his obsession with collecting all of the world's Jutsu, it is almost certain that he knows even more than Copy Ninja Kakashi (which is also due to the fact that Orochimaru is much older and much more experienced than Kakashi is). The Sandaime Hokage comments that the Shiki Fūjin (Dead Demon Consuming Seal), was "one technique even Orochimaru didn't know," implying that Orochimaru's arsenal of Jutsu is vast, although possibly not as great as that of the Sandaime, who was said to know all Jutsu in Konoha.
Trivia
- Orochimaru borrows heavily from Japanese literature — The names of Orochimaru, Jiraiya and Tsunade come from the Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari (児雷也豪傑物語, "The tale of the Gallant Jiraiya"), and the Orochimaru in that story excels in snake magic. In Japanese myth, the eight-headed snake Orochi, when slain, had the legendary sword Kusanagi salvaged from one of his tails; Orochimaru has the actual Kusanagi in the series, and uses it when he battles the Third Hokage, as well as in his later fight with Jiraiya and Tsunade and again against Naruto's four-tail transformation.
- Orochimaru's theme music in the anime seems to borrow some elements from Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.
- Some fans have speculated that Orochimaru is a demon vessel containing the Hachibi- the eight headed snake bijū, due to his snake-like traits and abilities, as well as the tendency for demon vessels to have some physical characteristics of the bijū (Naruto's whiskers like the Kyūbi no Kitsune, Gaara with his insomnia markings around his eyes that is similar to that of his demon Shukaku, etc.). However, it would mean that Orochimaru himself would have to unseal and seal in his biju whenever he were to changes bodies, and this does seem quite impossible, inferring to the fact that he could not possibly be a jinchūriki.
- However, it is mentioned that the Akatsuki so far has three biju - the Ichibi, and two other unknown. It is already speculated that Hoshigaki Kisame could be an Akatsuki-created demon vessel containing the Sanbi no Isonade, the three-tailed shark. It is possible that Orochimaru had contained the Hachibi no Orochi, the eight headed snake, but his demon was extracted by the Akatsuki, and due to his extensive knowledge of resurrection ninjutsu, manage to survive, which may explain why he can change bodies without having to perform the near-impossible task of unsealing and resealing his biju. Like Gaara, who maintained his ability to control sand which came from Shukaku, even after the demon was extracted and whom still had the dark markings around his eyes, the sign of the racoon demon, this may be the reason for Orochimaru's snake-like appearance and abilities, as they seem to stay with the demon vessel even after the biju is gone. This may be due to part of the demon's and the vessel's chakra fusing together, the way Uzumaki Naruto's chakra fuses with the Kyuubi no Yoko.
- There is a parallel between Orochimaru and Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter series. One is that they both have an affinity with snakes and have come to resemble them in appearance. Second is that they both hunger for power and have undergone great changes (both on their personalities and their bodies) to achieve this. Third, they both desire immortality, believing that death is more horrible than anything. Fourth, they both hold elitist views. Orochimaru when it comes to ninjas who are not 'geniuses', and Lord Voldemort with anyone who is not of pureblood.
- Fans have also jokingly drawn some parallels between Orochimaru and Michael Jackson, former pop star and accused pedophile. Both are known as inhumanly pale figures that have feminine features to them. Both are known to change their faces. Most joking of all is the fact that most of Orochimaru's students/assistants are mostly young adolescent males, most notably Sasuke, who Orochimaru takes special interest in for his body (actually his eyes).
- Orochimaru is male, yet he still speaks in very formal female japanese, which might be due to the fact that he has been in a female body for quite some time.