Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-1018594-20150217173857/@comment-25771935-20150220015828

I agree with Rachin in that he, much like his sensei, was hyped to be one of the strongest characters with a wide variety of jutsu but does not show it during the series. Orochimaru is rarely seen fighting and when he does he has a handicap or he is shown using one or two jutsu. And although I will admit that he was shown to be able to casually handle himself against Naruto's four-tailed form while being in a weakened state, he still has not shown the mass of power that made all these jonin and above so scared of him. However, I think I would actually prefer his abilities to be an enigma so my thoughts on what he could really do don't turn to disappointment. To me that's what happened with Minato who felt like a carbon-copy of Naruto's abilities+FTG, so I guess that rather take a similar risk with someone whose status had diminished they decided to leave it a mystery for the readers' imaginations.