Orochimaru

Orochimaru was an orphan who became a part of team Hiruzen, along with Jiraiya and Tsunade. Hiruzen thought of Orochimaru as a prodigy that was only seen once in a generation, due to his talents, insights, and determination.

Tsunade thought that Orochimaru had a twisted personality as a child and that it was due to his parents passing away. One day, when he was visiting his parent’s grave he saw a white snake which Hiruzen said represents fortune and rebirth. This inspired Orochimaru to study forbidden techniques to obtain knowledge about all the techniques that were there. Jiraiya thought that he was doing this to forget his painful memories.

During the Second Great Shinobi War, Orochimaru along with Jiraiya and Tsunade were battling Hanzo, who gave them the title of ‘Three Legendary Sannin’. This was a reward for surviving their battle with him while the rest of their group was easily killed in the process.

On their way back to Konoha they encountered 3 Amegakure orphans. Upon seeing them, Orochimaru proposed killing the trio but Jiraiya stopped him by saying that instead of killing them, he would choose to train them instead.

Orochimaru was also known to be behind the Eight-Tails rampage in Kumogakure by disguising himself as a Kumogakure shinobi and infiltrating the village. He even tricked Blue B into taking Genjutsu-induced pills to extract the Eight-Tails from him. After the rampage, Orochimaru obtained the severed horn of the Eight-Tails and used it to extract Blue B's DNA from it.

Orochimaru fought in the Third Great Shinobi War and his performance was so good that he was considered a potential candidate for the position of Hokage along with Minato Namikaze. Sometime after team Hiruzen was disbanded, Orochimaru became a member of Anbu and joined the organization which worked directly under Danzo. He also became a mentor to Anko. Orochimaru's ambition included becoming the fourth Hokage as he intended to use the title for his agenda.

Hiruzen sensed the potential evil in his pupil and tried to keep him from straying on the wrong path before slowly realizing that he was beyond anyone's help. When Hiruzen appointed Minato as his successor as the Hokage, Orochimaru cut all his ties with the village and started becoming less discreet with what he was doing.

One of the things that Orochimaru did was use Hashirama’s cells and inject them into sixty students to recreate Wood Release with help from Hanzo. After a while, he thought that it was a failure but he was unaware that one child had survived the experiment. When he later refined the cells he injected them into Shin Uchiha’s Sharingan-infused right arm.

Orochimaru performed various experiments on the shinobi he kidnapped from Konoha, using them as human guinea pigs to test and develop techniques that would grant him mortality. When Orochimaru was traveling from the outskirts of Kirigakure, he found Kimimaro who was the only survivor of the Kaguya Clan.

When Kimimaro was helping Orochimaru during his research, he stumbled upon the Ryuchi cave and wanted to master Senjutsu. He was unable to enter sage mode due to his fragile body and instead developed an alternative method of harnessing his sage mode chakra using cursed hand seals which were tested on Anko and a few other shinobis. Once he perfected it, he used it on Kimimaro and the Sound Four.

When Orochimaru found out about the Iburi clan's ability to become smoke, he told them that he wanted to perfect the technique, and the clan willingly offered him test subjects. As his test subjects began to die, Orochimaru got caught red-handed by Hiruzen. Even though he knew that it was his duty, the Third Hokage could not bring himself to kill his student. Seeing this as an opportunity Orochimaru escaped but he encountered young Kakashi. Despite Kakashi’s best efforts, Orochimaru escaped.

He ultimately escaped Konoha and joined the elite criminal organization Akatsuki. He was then partnered with Sasori and the duo did a lot of good for the organization. When Itachi joined Akatsuki, Orochimaru was quite intrigued by him. He tried to steal Itachi’s body to gain the Sharingan but Itachi trapped him inside a Genjutsu and defeated him easily.

Orochimaru has a very twisted and complex personality. Jiraiya thought that it was because his parents died when he was too young. This also made them question how fragile human life was and after they died, how it affected the living, which made him want to possess immortality.

Eventually, his primary purpose became to test out what modifications the human body could handle, and harness the new abilities for himself. Once he had obtained this, he thought that he would finally be the ultimate being and could obtain every Ninja technique that was present in the world.

Orochimaru’s goal had made him develop a God complex and he started to value himself highly, all while causing chaos and terror. Even though he started conflicts to cure his boredom, Orochimaru never waged any wars or had an interest in wars started by others.

Due to his charisma, he tends to attract a lot of people, who he never hesitates to use as test subjects for his experiments or suicidal missions which would benefit him. He did have a genuine interest in the development of his test subjects.

He took in Sasuke as his apprentice as he saw himself in him, even though he thought of taking Sasuke’s body for himself to obtain the Sharingan which would add another step towards his goal of immortality and obtaining every technique in the world. Even though Sasuke was ready to sacrifice his body for obtaining the power to get revenge, Orochimaru sensed that he would betray him and wasn't surprised when it did happen. The only thing which surprised him was Sasuke's decision to protect the Village which he had decided to destroy. Orochimaru only approved this as he was interested in seeing the results.

Orochimaru’s arrogance is one of his personality weaknesses. When he believed that he was truly immortal he recklessly attacked very powerful opponents. Due to this, he was left crippled in one way or another as he wanted to make his opponent suffer or he was uninformed before facing his opponent. Even though he lacks morals, he is quite well-versed in psychological warfare and is seen displaying wisdom on the battlefield. He is also quite scared of insects and bugs.

After being revived, his personality changed. He is still self-serving but he realized that copying someone is a mistake. Orochimaru also genuinely cared about Sasuke's well-being. He even showed regret and was sad when he got to know about Jiraiya's death. He even congratulated Naruto and Hinata on their wedding.

To this day he has the drive to uncover the greatest secrets of the world. Even though his relationships with others are quite questionable, he did develop trusting bonds with many people. He also willingly helps Konoha in serious matters and also holds himself accountable for his past mistakes. He is indebted to Naruto for watching over Mitsuki. Due to his past experiences, he encourages Mitsuki to make his own decisions and be his person.

Orochimaru is mostly seen as a snake-like person. He has pale skin, golden eyes with slitted pupils and purple markings around his eyes, and fang-like teeth. He has prominent cheekbones and waist-length black hair with some of his bangs covering his face and giving it shape. The bodies which he takes over always resemble his original form in a modified way except for height differences.

Orochimaru usually wears plain gray garb with a black pole and pants. He has a thick purple rope belt tied in a large behind his back with blue tomoe-shaped earrings and sandals with bandages around his calves. He is seen wearing different kimonos for various occasions which are seen during flashbacks. During his time with the Akatsuki, he wore their robe and the ring on his left pinky finger.

After a lot of experimentation on his body, his true form was a huge white snake which was made up of smaller snakes with long spiky hair, a scaled face with snake-like teeth and a long tongue, black marking, and a pointed chin. Years later he wears a white robe tied to his waist by a dark-colored sash and purple rope, blue pants, and a shirt.

Orochimaru is an exceptional shinobi who is recognized as one of the strongest to ever exist. He was one of the only people who could compete against Hanzo during his prime and became a Sannin. He also stood out among his peers as he was a prodigy and the best of his generation which earned him praise from. Hashirama. He was even Kage caliber and was even considered a candidate for the position of the Fourth Hokage. His power was feared by the world and even the Akatsuki viewed him as a threat even though he was once a member.

Orochimaru had powerful chakra reserves which were strong enough to crack stones. His intent to kill is so strong that it can stop the enemies right in their tracks. He can absorb people’s chakra by physical touch which grants him access to their knowledge and skills. He is also very skilled in Taijutsu. He is very fast and can move at such a speed that leaves his opponents disoriented.

Orochimaru’s knowledge and skill in ninjutsu are greater than any other existing shinobis, which means that he has a vast number of skills and techniques. His learnings of the forbidden techniques also help him have access to knowledge that not a lot of people have. He had also mastered the use of the Kusanagi sword. Orochimaru is skilled in all five basic nature transformations like wind release and earth release, and he can also use the yin and yang release.

With the help of Wind Release, he can create a gust of wind and with Earth Release he can travel underground. He can even create mud-based clones and can release fire streams with the help of Fire Release. After he took over Zetsu's body, he modified it with Hashirama’s DNA and gained access to Wood Release.

Orochimaru has vast amounts of knowledge about the shinobi world from his time with Root and Akatsuki. He has numerous hideouts everywhere which are fully equipped. He can easily manipulate people with the help of his charisma and uses them as guinea pigs for his experiments, which helps him gain insight into them. He uses their past against them and grants them a lot of power in exchange for their loyalty. He can even deduce the workings of an enemy's fighting style and come up with counterattacks instantly.

As he wants to decipher all the secrets of the world, he conducts extensive research and a lot of experiments on himself and others too. Due to this, he has become more knowledgeable than he was ever before. He even created Genjutsu-infused pills which can subdue a Jinchuriki and their tailed beast simultaneously, and even can cultivate the user's cells and make them a pseudo-Jinchuriki.

Orochimaru as we know was quite skilled and has a lot of techniques up his sleeve. Some of them were:

Body modifications: He can reconnect himself or regurgitate a new, fully-healed body. Orochimaru's body is also able to stretch and manipulate its form for greater maneuverability. This technique can only be used once in three years. The souls that have been taken will always remain in Orochimaru’s subconscious and he can even modify his body as he sees fit. Its blood is so poisonous that when it evaporates in the air, it can paralyze anyone who inhales it. After Orochimaru physically dies, Kabuto heavily modified the body. After these modifications, he had received heightened chakra reserves and access to the various techniques and abilities Kabuto had put in it.

Living corpse reincarnation: It immortalizes one's mind, transferring it to a stronger body before the current host rots. Repeating this process periodically allows the user to remain in the realm of the living, so long as they can keep the host body alive while residing within.

Hydrafication: It allows the user to liquefy any part of their body at will, from the hair on their head to the muscles in their arms.

Summoning Jutsu: As he had an affinity for snakes, Orochimaru could summon his snake Manda using his arm tattoo, whenever he needed assistance. He could even eject snakes from his sleeves and mouth to strike his opponents. These snakes sprout blades from their mouths that act as weapons; he can even turn his lower body into a snake's tail which helps increase his speed and mobility in battle.

Eight branches’ Techniques: Using the "power of reincarnation" possessed by the White Snake as an intermediary, he can transform into a giant white serpent with eight heads and eight tails.

Impure world reincarnation: It’s a Jutsu that binds the soul of a deceased person to a living vessel, restoring them as they were in the last moments of their lives in order to do their summoner's bidding. He can erase the personalities of people he has summoned and then manipulate them and give them new targets to attack. He also has complete control over their actions.

Movies

Orochimaru appears in Naruto Shippūden the Movie: Bonds

Orochimaru makes a small appearance along with Kabuto in this movie. He is feeling that his time was running out for transferring a soul again, and fearing that using the techniques multiple times had caused his body to get exhausted, Orochimaru orders Sasuke to retrieve a man called Shinno. This man had developed his immortality technique. Even though Sasuke wasn't able to get a hold of this man, he was able to retrieve the scroll containing the technique’s information. When he saw Sasuke's change in demeanor after the mission, he was quite taken aback.

Video Games

Orochimaru is a playable character in the following video games:

Q. Did Orochimaru turn into a good guy?

A. Yes, Orochimaru turned into a good guy during his redemption arc and by the time Boruto started.

Q. How old is Orochimaru?

A. Just like Jiraiya and Tsunade, Orochimaru is in his fifties.

Q. How did Orochimaru have a son?

A. Orochimaru experimented with his genetics and made a clone. Thus, Mitsuki was brought into this world.