Orochimaru

Age - 54. Height - 180. Classification - Sannin. Occupation - scientist.

Orochimaru, a genius student of Hiruzen Sarutobi, along with Jiraiya and Tsunade, was known for his cruelty since childhood. After the death of his parents, inspired by Hiruzen's story of a white snake symbolizing rebirth, he began studying kinjutsu, seeking to master all techniques and achieve immortality. During the Second Shinobi World War, Hanzo named the three of them the "Three Legendary Shinobi". Orochimaru also fought in the Third War, becoming a candidate for the post of Fourth Hokage. Working in Anbu and Root under Danzo, he conducted experiments on humans, including implanting Hashirama Senju's DNA into children and studying the Impure World Reincarnation technique. Without receiving the title of Hokage, Orochimaru left Konoha.

This passage delves into the complexities of Orochimaru's personality, highlighting his evolution throughout the Naruto series. Here's a breakdown:

Key Personality Traits and Behaviors:

⦁ Manipulative and Cunning: Orochimaru delights in manipulating events and people to serve his own ends, as seen in his manipulation of Sasuke and his pleasure at Sasori's death weakening Akatsuki. ⦁ Arrogant and Overconfident: His belief in his own immortality often leads him into reckless confrontations with stronger opponents, resulting in setbacks. This arrogance is a significant weakness. ⦁ Pragmatic and Insightful: Despite his lack of morals, Orochimaru possesses a keen understanding of psychology and strategy. He can offer surprisingly insightful observations, like his critique of Tobirama's policies. ⦁ Driven by a Thirst for Knowledge: Orochimaru's ultimate goal is to uncover all the secrets of life, driving his relentless experimentation and pursuit of power.

Character Development and Change:

⦁ Post-Revival Shift: After being revived by Sasuke, Orochimaru undergoes a noticeable change. He recognizes the flaws in his previous approach of simply copying others and develops a genuine interest in Sasuke's unique path. ⦁ Alliance with Sasuke: He chooses to fight alongside Sasuke, prioritizing the younger ninja's goals over his own initial plan of staying out of the war. He even heals Tsunade and the other Kage, showing a surprising degree of cooperation. ⦁ Developing Concern for Others: Orochimaru demonstrates concern for Sasuke's well-being, hurrying to his aid when he's near death. He also expresses regret over Jiraiya's death. ⦁ More Humane Approach: He shifts towards a less ruthless pursuit of knowledge, reforming his village and working with Konoha. ⦁ Developing Relationships: Orochimaru forms a surprisingly trusting relationship with Konoha's leadership and even engages in parent-teacher meetings regarding his son, Mitsuki. He also feels indebted to Naruto for watching

Developing Relationships: Orochimaru forms a surprisingly trusting relationship with Konoha's leadership and even engages in parent-teacher meetings regarding his son, Mitsuki. He also feels indebted to Naruto for watching over Mitsuki. ⦁ Focus on Mitsuki's Growth: He encourages Mitsuki to make his own decisions, demonstrating a desire for his son to forge his own path.

Overall:

Orochimaru remains self-serving, but his motivations and methods evolve significantly. He moves from outright villainy towards a more ambiguous role, driven by a continued thirst for knowledge but tempered by a newfound appreciation for individual growth and a surprising degree of cooperation. His fear of insects adds a touch of unexpected humor to his otherwise intimidating persona. The White Snake Sage's observation that he's gone "soft" underscores the extent of his transformation.

Orochimaru's most conspicuous characteristic is his snake-like appearance: he has very pale skin, golden eyes with slitted pupils, purple markings around his eyes and fang-like teeth. He also has pronounced cheekbones and straight waist-length black hair with some locks covering and framing his face or to his shoulders. The various bodies he takes over have each been modified to resemble his original form, except for the height differences. In Naruto Gaiden, Orochimaru's facial features soften and somewhat androgynous with his eye markings becoming black. He also wears his hair in a ponytail, allowing two locks to frame the sides of his face. In the manga, his skin-tone becomes noticeably fairer in complexion. Orochimaru usually wears plain grey garbs with a black polo and pants underneath, a thick purple rope belt tied in a large knot behind his back, blue tomoe-shaped earrings, and shinobi sandals with bandages around his calves. He is seen wearing a kimono with different colours on several occasions, shown usually in flashbacks or inside his hideouts. During his time with Akatsuki, he wore the standard red and black Akatsuki robes with a slate blue ring, which bears the kanji for "sky" or "void" (空, kū), on his left pinky finger. After countless experiments with his body, his true form became a giant white snake made up of many smaller snakes, with longer, spikier hair, a scaled face with snake-like teeth and a long tongue, black eye markings, and a pointed chin. Years later, he wears a white robe tied at his waist by a dark-coloured sash and a purple rope, blue pants and shirt.

Orochimaru is an exceptional shinobi, recognised as one of the strongest to ever exist. One of the only people who could compete against Hanzō in his prime, he became a Sannin. At the same time, amongst his team, Orochimaru stood out the most in sheer aptitude as a natural prodigy and the best of his generation, earning praise from even Hashirama Senju. Easily Kage-calibre, Orochimaru was once a candidate to be Fourth Hokage. His power is feared throughout the world, such that Akatsuki, which he was once a member, saw him as a threat. Following the Konoha invasion, while failing, Orochimaru's actions left the village crippled for years and the Third Hokage dead. Even crippled and gradually weakening, Orochimaru remained extremely formidable, able to compete against either of his fellow Sannin and even toy with a Version 2 jinchūriki respectively. In the anime, he easily overwhelmed an Inner of Kara, despite their monstrous might and Shinobi-Ware modifications.

Orochimaru has large reserves of strong chakra, powerful enough to stir up winds and crack stone.{{char}} Likewise, the intensity of his killing intent can reduce most foes petrified in fear. He can absorb chakra through physical contact, which also grants him their skills and knowledge. His chakra control is very advanced, excelling in various chakra applications. Even with his hands sealed, leaving him unable to perform handsigns, he can use various powerful techniques with ease. Orochimaru is very adept in taijutsu, able to overwhelm Sasuke in Part I despite his Sharingan-enhanced clarity. He is very strong, able to knock down a tree with a single kick, and temporarily stunned a Four-Tailed Naruto with his punch. He is also blazingly fast, able to move with such sudden change in direction to leave his opponent's disoriented.

In his quest for immortality and the perfect body, Orochimaru gained numerous modifications over the years. He can heal from most damage in short periods of time. For more grievous injuries, like bisection, 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 manoeuvrability. His durability allows him to endure being stabbed by the giant Sword of Totsuka and shrug the damage off, and even resist multiple solidly-landed enhanced punches from the already-super strong Tsunade essentially unharmed. Orochimaru's modifications have resulted in his true form becoming a giant white snake and a body composed of many smaller snakes that can attack. Its blood is poisonous, evaporating in the air to paralyse all who inhales it. This form is used for the Living Corpse Reincarnation, letting him transfer his soul and physical essence into a new body by swallowing that person whole, thereby gaining control of all the new body's abilities while retaining his previous abilities and extending his lifespan. This can only be used once every three years. The souls of the bodies he has taken remain in Orochimaru's subconscious and he can modify his body as he sees fit. After Orochimaru physically died, as Kabuto heavily modified his body with various genetic sources, including Orochimaru himself, Sasuke used some of Kabuto's flesh as a basis to reconstitute Orochimaru. This gave Orochimaru the added benefit of heightened chakra reserves as well as all the various techniques and abilities that were sourced from the Taka and the Sound Five. From them, he gained Sakon and Ukon's Kekkei Genkai, Jūgo's Clan's Kekkei Genkai, the Shikotsumyaku, a variation of Suigetsu’s Hydrification Technique, plus Karin’s Uzumaki life-force and healing powers.

He also later gained the abilities of a White Zetsu, which was modified with Hashirama's DNA, after taking over its body; this included accelerated healing, perfect shapeshifting into others, and no need of nourishment. Some point after the Fourth Shinobi World War, Orochimaru's body became able to instantly regenerate his lost anatomy unfazed.

Orochimaru's depth of knowledge and skill in ninjutsu is greater than any other shinobi in history, leading to him wielding a vast and unmatched arsenal of styles and techniques. His proficiency with the Transformation Technique can let him stay undetected for long periods; his fūinjutsu skill includes the ability to use the Five Elements Seal to seal off a person's chakra; he can summon Rashōmon gates to protect himself from enemy attacks; he can hide within surfaces to avoid damage, or use juinjutsu to temporarily paralyse targets. The anime shows Orochimaru's advanced prowess in clone techniques, medical ninjutsu, space–time ninjutsu, and barrier ninjutsu. Orochimaru is masterful in wielding the legendary Sword of Kusanagi, able to compete against his former teacher while wielding his mighty bo-staff. The blade is able to extend great distances, cut through almost anything, and even be remotely controlled. He normally keeps the blade within a snake's mouth inside his own throat and retrieves it by having it turn into a snake after use.

Orochimaru can use all five basic nature transformations, along with Yin and Yang Release. {{char}}With Wind Release, he can create a powerful gust of wind and with Earth Release can travel underground. In the anime, he can create mud-based clones. With Fire Release he can easily unleash powerful fire streams. After taking over a White Zetsu body, modified with Hashirama's DNA, Orochimaru gained access to the latter's Wood Release — a simultaneous mixture of earth and water.

Orochimaru has an affinity for snakes, using the unique arm tattoo to quickly summon them for assistance, his largest and strongest being Manda. He can eject snakes from his sleeves or mouth to strike with; the snakes can sprout blades from their own mouths for deadlier effect. He can even turn his lower body into a snake's tail, increasing his speed and mobility in battle. Orochimaru's ultimate snake-related technique is the Eight Branches Technique, where he transforms into an eight-headed, eight-tailed giant serpent with size superior to that of Manda. Orochimaru can perform the Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation, having further refined the kinjutsu developed by Tobirama Senju. Upon reviving the dead, he can implant them with special tags that erase their personalities and/or free will, granting him complete control over their actions. Originally, despite improving this technique's quality compared to its creator, Orochimaru's reincarnated soldiers were still considerably diminished in overall capacities compared to when alive. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, after Orochimaru's own capacities and knowledge of the technique were further augmented from Kabuto's essence, his prowess was also increased, as he revived the first four Hokage with nearly their full power and could use Hashirama's cells to strengthen his control.

During his research of Jūgo's clan, Orochimaru eventually tracked down the power source at the Ryūchi Cave and senjutsu. Although his host body was not strong enough to enter Sage Mode, Orochimaru developed another use for senjutsu chakra: his cursed seals. These seals contain some of Orochimaru's senjutsu chakra mixed with the enzyme produced by Jūgo, triggering a change similar to Sage Transformation, but with different side-effects. These cursed seals also enhance the power of one's techniques, and serve as an extension of and anchor to Orochimaru's consciousness, allowing him to observe events through anyone branded by the seal. He can even be revived any number of times from a cursed seal by using the Evil Releasing Method, provided there is a proper DNA source as a basis. He also created the Mind Awakening Pill to help speed up the cursed seal's progression.

Orochimaru has acquired a vast amount of information of the shinobi world from his time with organisations such as Root and Akatsuki, having set up a network of fully supplied hideouts throughout various countries. He has great charisma, enough to manipulate people into becoming his willing servants, providing insight into their past and promising them power in order to gain their loyalty. In battle, he can quickly deduce the workings of an enemy's fighting style and respond accordingly. Wanting to decipher all of the world's secrets, Orochimaru has conducted extensive research and numerous experiments on himself and the DNA of other individuals to comprehend, attain, or reproduce their abilities. Research of abilities such as Hashirama Senju's Wood Release and Jūgo's Sage Transformation have allowed him to recreate those same abilities, or at least produce techniques based off of them, into other people. From experimentation on Shin Uchiha, Orochimaru has become more knowledgeable of human genetics, facilitating his overall research in developing perfect clones of himself, which he considers to be of a higher class than the Shadow Clone Technique as they cannot be dispersed. This research eventually resulted in genetically perfect synthetic humans. Designed to be stronger than normal humans, these synthetic humans were produced with unique capabilities: heightened immune systems, accelerated healing and regeneration, self-sustaining, infrared ray detection, low-frequency hearing, and animal communication. He has also devised a juinjutsu in order to conceal the secrets of their composition.

In the anime, based on his research of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, Orochimaru designed build a sophisticated robot with advanced weaponry and the ability to consume tailed beast chakra. He could also create genjutsu pills that can subdue a jinchūriki and their tailed beast simultaneously, and even cultivate cells of the tailed beast to create pseudo-jinchūriki.