Orochimaru

was one of Konohagakure's Sannin. He later became a member of Akatsuki and the leader of Otogakure. He was the primary antagonist for most of Part I.

Background
Orochimaru was originally a student of Hiruzen Sarutobi as part of a three-man team, consisting of himself, Jiraiya, and Tsunade. From a young age, Orochimaru stood out as a prodigy. His talents, knowledge, and determination were considered by his sensei a sight seen once a generation.

Orochimaru had always been twisted, even back when he was a child. His sadistic attitude was presumably due to the death of his parents, which led him to study kinjutsu. Jiraiya theorized that Orochimaru went down this path in an attempt to forget about his painful memories. Sarutobi in particular had had very high hopes for Orochimaru, often berating the clumsy Jiraiya and telling him he should be more like his teammate. After becoming the Third Hokage, Sarutobi hoped that one day Orochimaru would succeed him.

While Orochimaru's ambitions did include becoming the Fourth Hokage, his eyes were set upon goals quite alien to the ideals traditionally associated with the title and emphatically embraced by his teacher. Hiruzen 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 a family. For Orochimaru, however, Hokage was nothing more than a potential conquest on the way to what truly interested him - power.

Hiruzen had hoped to make his student see the error of his ways, but as more time passed, it became evident that Orochimaru was a lost cause. When Hiruzen finally retired years later he chose a student of Jiraiya's, Minato Namikaze, over Orochimaru as his successor, thus making Minato the Fourth Hokage. Realizing that he had hit a dead end in his quest to become the ultimate being and therefore had nothing to gain from staying in Konoha, Orochimaru began to be less discreet with his actions.

Over the years, he had been 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, Hiruzen knew that it was his duty to kill him. At the time however, Hiruzen was unable to bring himself to kill his prized student for whom he had had such high hopes.

Before Orochimaru defected he stole 60 infants in the hope of recreating the First Hokage Wood Jutsu. Before he could finish his work he was forced to leave Konoha, but he believed all the infants to be dead. However, one of these infants was Yamato. He was the only survivor of the experiments, and had gained the use of the Wood element.

Orochimaru defected from the village and joined the elite criminal organization of Akatsuki. His former teammate, Jiraiya, tried to convince him to reconsider, but to no avail. Although the role Orochimaru played in Akatsuki is unclear, it is known that he was partnered with Sasori prior to his defection (the two apparently had great respect for each other when they were partners; Sasori also claimed that he and Orochimaru did a lot when they were partners in the organization).

It was around this time, that Itachi joined Akatsuki, that Orochimaru saw his opportunity to gain possession of the Itachi's much coverted Sharingan, and soon Orochimaru made his attempt to steal Itachi Uchiha's body. Orochimaru tried to use his Living Corpse Reincarnation, but Itachi used his Sharingan to reverse it and damage Orochimaru's body, causing him to leave Akatsuki to acquire a new body. He eventually founded his own village; Otogakure.

At some point, when the Kaguya clan barbarically attempted to massacre Kirigakure Village, in which they were slaughtered instead, Orochimaru was on the outskirts of the village, watching and commenting on their foolishness. It is there that he met Kimimaro, and after the slaughter, Kimimaro, being the sole survivor, was adopted by Orochimaru, in the hopes of becoming his new vessel.

Personality
Orochimaru's various human experiments took place so as to serve two purposes, most prominent of which was his desire to learn every jutsu in the Naruto world. Jiraiya speculated that this was due to the fact that his parents died when he was at a very young age, and flashbacks shown during his battle with the Third Hokage spoke to this effect. Perhaps because he wanted to see his parents, or as a means of avenging their deaths. Another reason might be that he witnessed firsthand the deaths of Tsunade's younger brother, Nawaki, and her lover, Dan, and the pain that it caused her. He seemed saddened by the frailty of human life and how it affects those still living.

He experimented on others to see what kind of modifications the human body can endure and to otherwise harness a subject's unique abilities for himself. Once accomplishing this goal, Orochimaru had hoped to be worthy of the title of "ultimate being". Because a human's lifespan does not allow enough time to learn every jutsu, Orochimaru also experimented on others so as to achieve immortality. By living throughout the ages, Orochimaru needed to never worry about death and thus all the knowledge he gained would never be lost.

Above all else, Orochimaru cared only for himself. He grew bored when there was no conflict or violence in the world, and immediately struck fear into others when they first met him. Though he had a number of followers who would do anything for him, Orochimaru treated them as mere pawns. He did not hesitate to send them to their deaths for his own personal benefit, and only found remorse in their loss if they were unable to properly complete a task. To win over these followers to their disposable status, Orochimaru approached them with promises of making their dreams come true. He applied a cursed seal to many of his stronger subordinates in order to corrode their body and mind, making them more susceptible to his influence and control.

While he showed great interest in Sasuke Uchiha as a prodigy, Orochimaru had shown disdain toward Naruto Uzumaki, believing him to be a lost cause without any talent in ninjutsu arts. However, when Naruto injured Kabuto with his Rasengan (improved with the use of Shadow Clones), Orochimaru thought Naruto would become a threat in the future and tried to kill him. After the timeskip, Orochimaru revealed he was now more interested in Naruto's development, despite the failed murder attempt against him, taunting and angering Naruto about Sasuke.

He trained Sasuke so he could become stronger to kill his older brother, Itachi. But Orochimaru was actually planning to take over Sasuke's body, and as a result the Sharingan, in his possession, would sky-rocket him towards his prime objective of learning all the jutsu in the world. Because of that, he would help Sasuke in whatever he needed, with the knowledge he had to become his new vessel. However, he hadn't truly planned on foul play from Sasuke, who never intended to become Orochimaru's new body, instead always planning on creating his own platoon and leaving Orochimaru behind. Orochimaru showed little surprise when Sasuke moved to betray him, merely saying "so, it came down to this after all".

Chunin Exams arc
For a while, Orochimaru left Konoha alone, plotting to destroy them when he was ready. The opportunity presented itself with the start of the Chunin Exams. With this, Orochimaru saw both a chance to destroy his former home and acquire Sasuke Uchiha, Itachi's younger brother. Acquiring Sasuke's body would give him the Sharingan, which would aid him greatly in his ultimate goal. To this end, Orochimaru enlisted the help of Sunagakure, since his own village lacked the necessary strength to defeat Konoha. Although the village gladly accepted, Orochimaru later killed the Fourth Kazekage and assumed his place to make controlling Sunagakure easier. He also had the Kazekage's bodyguards killed off and had the Sound Four impersonate them.

During the second part of the Chunin Exams, he killed the members of Team Shiore and impersonated them so that he could infiltrate the Forest of Death. During a confrontation with Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, he sealed Naruto's Nine-Tailed Demon Fox chakra and branded Sasuke with his Cursed Seal of Heaven. Orochimaru was discovered by Anko, but the exams continued due to his threat of retaliation. His Genin team was sent to kill Sasuke, but the three were unaware that they were just measuring posts for Sasuke's power. They failed in their effort, as Sasuke proved compatible with the Cursed Seal and used its power to drive them off.

During the preliminary rounds of the Chunin Exams, Orochimaru disguised himself as the leader of his Genin team. There he watched Sasuke's performance against Yoroi Akado. While initially hoping Sasuke's emotional state would further release the Cursed Seal, he instead watched in shock at Sasuke's will being strong enough to suppress it, ironically making Orochimaru become awestruck and desire Sasuke even more. After Kakashi was able to seal away the mark on Sasuke, Orochimaru confronted him. He made no attempt to hide his envy of Kakashi's Sharingan, and noted before leaving that despite Kakashi's best efforts, Sasuke will eventually come to him seeking power.

Invasion of Konoha arc
During the final round matches, Orochimaru disguised himself as the Fourth Kazekage so that he could sit next to the Third Hokage. When the invasion of Konoha began, this gave him an easy opportunity to capture his former master. He isolated the Third from the other Konoha ninja, and had the Sound Four erect a barrier to prevent any interference. The Third, regretting letting Orochimaru escape years earlier, agreed to battle. Exhilarated that he could finally fight his former teacher, Orochimaru used Impure World Resurrection to revive the First and Second Hokage to give Hiruzen the same feeling.

In his old age, the Third was little match for Orochimaru and two of the Hokages, something made all the more difficult when the Hokages regenerated from any damage they received. In the end, the Third decided to use the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to seal away the souls of the Hokages, before turning on Orochimaru. Sensing what was happening, Orochimaru stabbed the Third in the back with his Kusanagi Sword. Unconcerned with the wound, since he would die anyway, Hiruzen struggled to seal Orochimaru's soul as well, but after an hour only had the strength to seal his arms. To do what little he could, he robbed Orochimaru of the use of his arms, in turn taking away his ability to use jutsu. The Third died, and Orochimaru cursed him. Unable to proceed with his plans, Orochimaru and the invaders retreated. Afterwards, Sunagakure broke ties with Orochimaru, after discovering that he killed the Fourth Kazekage.

Search for Tsunade arc
Initially, Orochimaru planned to have his condition healed by appealing to his old teammate, Tsunade, a legendary medical ninja. He offered to revive her brother and lover, in the hopes that it would persuade her to cooperate. Although it seemed as though he had succeeded at first, it turned out that Tsunade had actually intended to kill him rather than heal him, in order to prevent another attack on Konoha. Kabuto intervened before she could do so, and Orochimaru expressed disappointment in the betrayal, even going so far as to say that he "would have kept his promise". Kabuto engaged Tsunade in an attempt to capture her and force her to help, but Jiraiya and Naruto soon arrived to help her.

Orochimaru and Jiraiya (having earlier been drugged by Tsunade and thus unable to properly perform jutsu) faced off, but could do little to each other. Kabuto, meanwhile, dealt with Naruto and Tsunade. When Naruto defeated Kabuto, Orochimaru, concerned that Naruto and the demon fox might become a problem in the future, tried to kill him. Tsunade stopped him, having decided to become the Fifth Hokage, and teamed up with Jiraiya against Orochimaru. Despite summoning Manda, Orochimaru was defeated. Healing his arms no longer being an option, Orochimaru retreated with Kabuto, deciding it was time that he took a new host body.

Sasuke Retrieval arc
Even though he had hoped to wait for Sasuke to grow older, Orochimaru sent his Sound Four to retrieve and bring Sasuke to him. He held out for as long as he could, anticipating Sasuke's arrival, but the pain in his arms became too much, and he was forced to switch to the body of Gen'yumaru, a host Kabuto had earlier prepared. Stuck in the body for the next three years, Orochimaru decided to start training Sasuke once he finally arrived, hoping to shape him into the ideal host.

Pre-Shippūden filler arcs
Orochimaru's background is expanded upon in the anime, delving into parts of his past not addressed in the manga. During the Fuma clan arc, he was shown to have recruited some of the members of the Fūma clan, by promising to restore them to their former glory. Later in the arc, Arashi Fuma disguised himself as Orochimaru, killing his fellow clansmen to gain power before being killed himself.

In the Land of the Sea arc, Orochimaru's time with Anko Mitarashi is expanded upon. Orochimaru, Anko, and nine others came to the Land of the Sea, where he branded them with Cursed Seals. When Anko was the only one to survive, he arrived at the ten percent survival rate of the process. However, Anko lacked the personality to properly utilize its power, so could not prove very useful to Orochimaru. Although she believed he had abandoned her, she remembered during the arc that she chose to leave him. During this arc, he is also shown to have previously had an interest in creating an army capable of breathing and operating underwater. Realizing it would take too much time on his own, Orochimaru contracted with a rogue scientist named Amachi, and began experimenting on the country's citizens, notably Isaribi. He eventually lost interest in the program and demanded it be discontinued, but Amachi continued regardless.

Sai and Sasuke arc
Two and a half years later, Team Yamato, hoping to find Sasuke, learned of an opportunity to meet with a spy in Orochimaru's organization. Kabuto turned out to be this spy, having come to meet with Sasori, Orochimaru's former partner, who had been keeping tabs on Orochimaru. Yamato disguised himself as Sasori and met with Kabuto, but Orochimaru soon interrupted. Having switched sides, Kabuto attacked Sasori, finding it to be Yamato. He called the rest of his team for back up and they faced off with Orochimaru and Kabuto. Although he was surprised to see Yamato, a former test subject of his, he showed more interest in Naruto. He expressed interest in seeing if Naruto was as strong as "his Sasuke", angering Naruto into a three-tailed state.

In this form, Orochimaru was able to elude Naruto, finding the battle extremely enjoyable. When Naruto progressed to a four-tailed transformation, however, Orochimaru took the battle seriously, recognizing that Naruto's Four-Tailed Fox Menacing Ball could kill him. After evading the attack, he used his Kusanagi to force Naruto away while he collapsed, his body beginning to reject him. While he briefly recuperated, he was approached by Sai, who made an offer on behalf of Danzo to work together in destroying Konoha. Intrigued, Orochimaru and Kabuto took him back to their base.

Later, after the rest of Team Yamato arrived at the lair and Sai teamed up with them, Orochimaru confronted Sai and Naruto to question Sai about his loyalties. He fled before he could be drawn into another fight, and later kept Sasuke from killing the team, noting that they might kill another Akatsuki member like they had done with Sasori.

Three-Tails Arrival arc
In the anime, sensing that the time was close approaching to change vessels, Orochimaru sent Kabuto to find Guren, so that she could help with preparations for the process. During this time, Orochimaru was also experimenting on a child named Yūkimaru, with unusual powers. Orochimaru eventually decided it was time to test Sasuke's abilities, and watched in awe as he defeated an army of ninja, without killing any, and without receiving a scratch. As Sasuke walked off, Orochimaru admitted that while he used to be recognized as a genius, Sasuke's powers far surpassed his own when he was Sasuke's age.

Noticing that Guren was watching, he offered her another chance to prove herself worthy as Orochimaru's next vessel, to which she was delighted. Orochimaru teamed her up with Yūkimaru, noting that their two abilities should work well together. Later, it was revealed that Orochimaru also chose Guren because he knew she would eventually grow attached to Yūkimaru, which he appeared to have a use for. He ordered Kabuto to be ready to eliminate her should she betray him.

Later, after receiving word that the Leaf Ninja were complicating things, Orochimaru decided he might have to intervene personally. Later, after Yūkimaru lost his abilities and Guren supposedly died, Kabuto reported back to his master about the failed operation. Orochimaru dismissed it as nothing more than a minor setback, saying once he had Sasuke's body, it wouldn't make any difference.

Hunt for Uchiha arc
On the verge of being rejected by his current body, Orochimaru contemplated how best to take Sasuke's body. Also, in the anime only, he and Kabuto recapped all the events that led to Sasuke defecting, and how much he had improved since. Before he could formulate his plan, Sasuke attacked him, trying to kill him with Chidori Sharp Spear, but only suceeds in piercing his arm and having decided that Orochimaru was unworthy of having an Uchiha's body. Orochimaru proceeded to reveal his true body, a large white snake made of several smaller snakes, in order to initiate the body-switch process. Sasuke however cuts up Orochimaru's large snake body and seemingly kills him, only to realize that the vaporizing blood is turning into a poison and Orochimaru succesfully starts the body-switch process. Sasuke however stops the process like Itachi had done years earlier, but took it a step further by turning the switch against Orochimaru, absorbing him into his own body. Sasuke gained access to some of Orochimaru's abilities, but at the same time had to dedicate some of his chakra to suppressing Orochimaru.

During his battle with Itachi, Sasuke ran out of chakra, and Orochimaru was able to emerge through his signature hydra technique. He marvelled at the fact that he would finally have the chance to take Sasuke's body, but was immediately struck down and permanently sealed away by Itachi's Susanoo, as well as the Cursed Seal. In a separate encounter, Kabuto met with Naruto, and revealed that he had integrated some of Orochimaru's remains into his body, hoping to surpass his former master.

Shippūden the Movie 2: Bonds
Orochimaru made a small appearance in the second Shippūden movie. Feeling that his time was running out before he had to transfer his soul again, but fearing that the repeated use of his jutsu was starting to be too taxing, Orochimaru ordered Sasuke to retrieve a man named Shinnō, who had developed his own immortality jutsu. At the end of the movie, Sasuke failed to get the man, but did retrieve the scroll containing the jutsu's information. Orochimaru noticed that Sasuke's demeanor seemed shaken from the mission.

Abilities
Being one of the Sannin, as well as a former member of Akatsuki, Orochimaru is an extraordinarily powerful ninja. His power is so great that, around the time of of his invasion of Konoha, the Third Hokage feared that no-one alive in Konoha could defeat or even fight on equal footing with him, even the Third Hokage himself. Orochimaru was also able to fight on equal footing with a Four Tailed Naruto Uzumaki in Part II while his body was in a weakened state, and despite the danger Naruto imposed, he found the battle highly entertaining. Due to him rarely being shown fighting, he has only displayed a limited amount of techniques, although it stands to reason that in his efforts to learn all existing jutsu, his array of abilities has probably become larger than any other single character. He has a vast knowledge in all forms of jutsu.

Ninjutsu
One of the few techniques he was seen using is the Earth Clone Technique, which creates a copy of himself out of mud that can attack on his behalf. He was also able to utilize Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, through which he can level a wide area with a powerful gust of wind. In terms of defensive techniques, Orochimaru uses both Summoning: Rashomon and Triple Rashomon, in which he summons a varying number of large demonic gates that are capable of enduring the most intense forms of damage. If need be, he can also place a Five Elements Seal on an opponent, sealing off their access to chakra and thus rendering them useless in battle.

Immortality Jutsu
In his quest to gain immortality, Orochimaru has made a number of modifications to his body, resulting in his natural form taking on the appearance of a giant, white snake composed of many smaller snakes. This form has the advantages of allowing him to stretch any part of his body to great lengths, regenerate any wound inflicted upon him, and otherwise use the snakes that he is composed of for attacks. The primary use of the form is with his Living Corpse Reincarnation, which allows him to transfer his soul to another's body and extend his life indefinitely. To use this jutsu, Orochimaru leaves his former body, revealing his true form. Once he has done this, he swallows the new body and transports its current inhabitant to a dimension within himself where he absorbs them, thus allowing him to take over their body.

Orochimaru can only perform this technique once every three years, which is also around the time that his new body begins to reject him and forces him to find a new host. Although he might leave their bodies behind, the souls of those whose bodies he has taken always remain within Orochimaru's subconscious, causing some of their traits to affect the choices he makes, even if only slightly. While within another's body, Orochimaru uses Vanishing Facial Copy Technique to assume his original appearance. This ability also allows him to take the identities of others by forcefully peeling off their face for his own use, killing them in the process.

Kinjutsu
Orochimaru can use Summoning: Impure World Resurrection, which allowed him to revive the dead. To perform the technique, Orochimaru must sacrifice a living human so that the soul of the deceased person can be tied to the living world. The sacrificed body is then surrounded with dirt and dust that compacts into the shape of the summoned soul's original body. Although the revived retain their original memories and personalities, thus leaving them out of the control of Orochimaru, he can suppress their free wills with his own special seal to force them to do his bidding. The bodies of the resurrected are also able to regenerate any wound, meaning the only way to defeat them is to remove the soul within them.

Snake Techniques
Orochimaru has an apparent affinity with snakes that, in addition to impacting the appearance and composition of his true form, has caused him to learn a number of snake-related abilities. One such ability is being able to summon giant snakes to fight alongside him in battle, made possible by the summoning contract tattooed to his arms. With Hidden Shadow Snake Hands, Orochimaru can call forth snakes from his sleeves and mouth to attack opponents in large numbers with poisonous bites.

Another usage of snakes comes in the form of his Kusanagi Sword: Long Sword of the Heavens, the Kusanagi of Japanese legend. The sword, kept within the mouth of a snake within his own throat, is able to extend to great lengths and can be controlled remotely by Orochimaru. Although he was capable of using the sword normally with great proficiency, it was not uncommon for him to wield it without ever removing it from his mouth.

Creation and Conception
As one of the villains in the story, Kishimoto created Orochimaru as an antithesis to the protagonists' values. His snake-like appearance and related features were intended to make it easier for the reader to recognize that he is a villain. In an interview, Kishimoto asserted that making the villains "flamboyant" was one of his "guiding principles", and attributed this to his desire to have the villains possess a "powerful aura".

Following this theme of distinguishing villains, Kishimoto attempted to make Orochimaru's face appear "pasty and sickly," which serves to emphasize the "scary looks" that Kishimoto frequently has Orochimaru performing in the manga. As these occurrences are his "trademark", Kishimoto modifies Orochimaru's appearance and the scene to focus on Orochimaru's face; for instance, highlights that are normally added to Orochimaru's hair are removed and the background is blanked out to create a "creepy atmosphere".

Trivia

 * Orochimaru borrows heavily from Japanese literature — his name (meaning: great snake circle), as well as those of Jiraiya and Tsunade come from the . The Orochimaru in that story was originally a student of Jiraiya's called Yashagorō, until he was corrupted by snake magic and took on the name Orochimaru.
 * Orochimaru also borrows heavily from the Japanese myth of the, a giant eight-tailed, eight-headed snake killed with the Totsuka Sword by the god Susanoo-no-Mikoto, who found the Kusanagi Sword in one of its tails. This mirrors almost exactly how Orochimaru, while in his Yamata form, and wielding the Kusanagi Sword kept inside of him, was sealed into the Totsuka Sword by Itachi Uchiha using Susanoo.
 * Before the Eight-Tailed Giant Ox was revealed, many fans thought it would be a giant eight-headed snake, like the Yamata-no-Orochi. Because of Orochimaru's pre-existing connections with the Yamata-no-Orochi of legend, they assumed he was somehow connected to the tailed beast.
 * While it's stated Orochimaru is now deceased after being sealed inside the Totsuka Sword, his remains are still intact in Kabuto's body, indicating that if Kabuto let the remains consume him, Orochimaru will return.
 * For some reason, after the preliminaries conclude, he is never shown again wearing a Sound headband.
 * Orochi means "Great Snake", and Maru is a common suffix in male names.
 * Orochimaru is the first Sannin to be shown in the series.

Quotes

 * "Sasuke ... you will be mine!"
 * "It's too late to do anything now. I win."
 * "I want to obtain all the jutsus and gain a true understanding of everything in this world. The first one to mix blue and yellow called the new color "green". I want to do something similar to that. If blue is the chakra, then yellow is the seal, and green is the jutsu ... just as there is no end to the variety of colors, there are so many thousands ... tens of thousands of jutsu in the world as well. But in order to obtain every possible jutsu and truth, it would require an eternity. Only one who understands everything after spending such time on this can be fittingly called the Ultimate Being.''"
 * (About Naruto) "This child ... intrigues me to no end!"
 * (To Sasuke) "I refuse ... to let this happen! I am Orochimaru! I am immortal! I will not die here! Destined to discover the true meaning behind everything! Destined to take control of everything in this world!!"
 * "Everything will be mine."