Orochimaru

"The strength of the shinobi lies in the ability to acquire and master all the jutsus of this world. The true reason we are called ninja is due to the ninjutsu arts that we have mastered." Orochimaru to Jiraiya.

Orochimaru is one of the Legendary Sannin, along with Tsunade and Jiraiya, from Konohagakure. With his life's ambition being to learn all the secrets of the world, Orochimaru sought immortality so he could live as many lives as necessary to accomplish his task. After being caught red-handed conducting unethical experiments on his fellow villagers in pursuit of this immortality, Orochimaru deserted Konoha, becoming a fugitive driven by his ambitions, and for many years sought the village's destruction in order to exact revenge and demonstrate what he had learned. After witnessing numerous deaths during his pursuit of his goals, Orochimaru realizes his approach is flawed upon witnessing Kabuto Yakushi's actions, and begins to monitor the choices and actions of his former associate, Sasuke Uchiha.

Personality Orochimaru has often been described as a person with a twisted mind by a large number of people, including Tsunade. Jiraiya speculated that this was due to the fact that both of his parents died when he was very young, along with the horror of seeing Tsunade lose Nawaki and later shedding tears when she lost Dan Katou. This implied that Orochimaru grew up despising the fragility of human life and how it affects those still living, which led him to desire immortality. With this, his primary goal was to experiment on other people to see what kind of modifications the human body could withstand, and otherwise exploit a subject's unique abilities for himself. After achieving this goal, Orochimaru hoped to be worthy of the title of "supreme being," unable to die and able to achieve his secondary goal, which was to learn all the ninja techniques in the world, something that would normally take many lifetimes to accomplish.

According to Sasuke, Orochimaru lost his purpose over time after he ceased being a member of Team Hiruzen. His goals caused him to develop a god complex and revel in the terror he inflicted on his victims. Despite instigating conflict to alleviate his boredom, Orochimaru seems uninterested in wars started by others. His charisma also attracts a large number of followers, many of whom he would not hesitate to send on potentially suicidal missions for his own personal gain, expressing no remorse if they failed to complete a task correctly, having no sentimental attachments to any of them, despite their values. Despite this, Orochimaru has a genuine interest in the development of his subordinates and experiments.

Taking Sasuke as his apprentice, seeing him as a prodigy like himself, Orochimaru intended to take the young man's body to obtain the Sharingan, thus taking another step towards his goal of immortality and learning all the techniques in the world. This goal developed to the point of obsession. However, despite knowing that Sasuke was willing to do anything for revenge, including sacrificing his own body, Orochimaru foresaw his disciple's betrayal and showed only a small level of surprise when it actually occurred. What truly surprised Orochimaru was Sasuke's decision to follow his own path and ultimately choose to defend the village, which he initially swore to destroy, a move that Orochimaru openly approves of and is curious to see the final outcome of.

Orochimaru also initially disliked Naruto Uzumaki, believing him to be a joke as a ninja until one day he defeated Kabuto with the Rasengan. Despite attempting to kill Naruto moments after concluding that he would become a threat to him in the future, Orochimaru became interested in Naruto's development, provoking Naruto during their battle to see the full extent of his abilities at that moment. Although he came to hate his home village, orchestrating several attempts to destroy it, Orochimaru despises his former Akatsuki colleagues the most, as seen in the "Sai and Sasuke Arc". He expresses satisfaction with Sasori's death and convinces Sasuke to avoid killing Team Kakashi so that they could defeat more Akatsuki members.

One aspect of Orochimaru's personality is also his greatest weakness: his arrogance. He genuinely believed himself to be an invincible immortal at times, recklessly attacking powerful opponents, such as his former teacher and Itachi Uchiha. On both occasions, he was somehow crippled, either because he wanted to inflict suffering on his opponent, as against Hiruzen, or because he was too ill-informed to confront his opponent, as against Itachi. Despite his clear lack of morals, Orochimaru appears to be well-versed in human psychology and possesses keen wisdom, as seen when he criticizes Tobirama for actions stemming from his policies.

After being revived by Sasuke, his personality changed somewhat. Although he still desired to take Sasuke's body, he recognized that he was too weak. He also realized that copying someone is a complete mistake, soon after observing Kabuto's actions, and demanded an interest in Sasuke's "different path." Later, he became somewhat sentimental about not being elected Hokage, though this may be because he was in front of his master and the Fourth. Wanting to see Sasuke's path, he chose to fight alongside the Uchiha instead of ignoring Madara's war as he had planned, and even made it a priority, as seen when he heals Tsunade and the other Kage after they were defeated, before rushing to the battlefield. Orochimaru also shows a sense of humor at times, using Sasuke's memory of when he stabbed him to convince Karin to help the young man again, with his comical method of threatening her and Suigetsu into cooperating to heal Tsunade. Orochimaru also displays a sense of humor at this point, using Sasuke's memory of when he stabbed him to convince Karin to help the young man again, with his comical method of threatening her and Suigetsu into cooperating to heal Tsunade.

Appearance Originally, Orochimaru was a tall man with extremely pale skin and black hair that reached his waist. He had a long face, golden eyes with slits in his pupils, and purple markings around his eyes—a reference to his snake-like nature. Although he repeatedly assumed new bodies, he modified each one to resemble his original form, except for differences in height. He apparently used his Extinguishable Facial Copy Technique on his original body so that he could use it on the faces of his hosts like a mask.

Orochimaru is sometimes seen sporting different outfits. He usually wears simple gray attire with black pants and a thick purple rope belt tied in a large knot at the back, and blue tomoe-shaped earrings. He is seen wearing a black polo shirt underneath. As a child, he wore long white robes with purple embroidery featuring black or yellow tomoe markings, tied with a purple ribbon forming a bow at the front, as well as white shin guards and black open-toed shoes, and a mesh top with a purple lining underneath. In various flashbacks, he is also seen wearing the Oto ninja uniform and headband, as well as the Konoha ninja uniform. During his time in Konoha, his casual attire usually consisted of a mesh shirt, bandages that he wears as a belt, dark pants, and armor around his hips. On his left hand, he has an intricate tattoo that he uses to summon snakes. On one occasion, when he proposed to Tsunade that she heal his arms, he was seen wearing long purple robes with a loose pink vest, as well as a gray kimono with a polo collar in a flashback of Zaku.

On some occasions, for example, in flashbacks of Kimimaro's childhood, Orochimaru is also seen wearing a pale, yellowish kimono, with a black polo shirt tied with a dark brown belt around his neck and dark-colored Zouri sandals.

During the Second Shinobi World War, Orochimaru wears the standard Konohagakure uniform of the time with an extra gray chest vest over the uniform, a standard vest and a gray cape on top, as well as bandages on his ankles, black shinobi sandals, gloves, and his Konohagakure forehead protector.

During his time with Akatsuki, he wore the standard black Akatsuki cloak with red clouds. Orochimaru's Akatsuki ring had a blue plate, which has the kanji for "Heaven" or "Vacuum," on his left pinky finger. In his room, he is sometimes seen wearing a mahogany shirt with a design of two white snakes on the back of the sleeves on both sides, as well as black pants.

Orochimaru also seems concerned about Sasuke's well-being, noting that it was best to stop Tobi as quickly as possible when Karin sensed that Sasuke was on the verge of death.

After numerous experiments with his body, his true form became a giant snake ("The Great White Serpent"), composed of a multitude of smaller snakes, with spiky black hair, a scalloped face with snake-like teeth, a long tongue, black markings around his eyes, and a pointed chin.

After being resurrected by Sasuke, Orochimaru regained his seemingly original height, before taking over Genyuumaru's body. He also wore a black cloak and hood sometime between his rebirth and his arrival in Konoha.

During Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, he is seen as being much younger and more feminine. He wears white pants and a black shirt. His long hair is tied back with two bangs falling across his face.