Naruto : Orochimaru

Orochimaru

Orochimaru is a fictional character from the Naruto universe created by Masashi Kishimoto and developed into a media franchise, which consists of a series of manga, anime, soundtracks, OVAs, movies, video games, and other collectibles. Many of the character’s attributes are derived from the Orochimaru of Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari.

In the anime and manga, Orochimaru is a former ninja of the village of Konohagakure, and leads his own ninja village, Otogakure, in hopes of destroying his former home. During his time in Konohagakure, Orochimaru distinguished himself as one of the village’s most powerful ninja; however, his desire for power led him to obtain a means for immortality by transferring between different host bodies. Orochimaru has appeared in media outside the Naruto anime and manga, including several video games.

Several anime and manga publications have praised and criticized Orochimaru’s character. Among the Naruto reader base, Orochimaru has been popular, ranking within the top twenty characters in several polls. As one of the villains in the story, Kishimoto created Orochimaru as an antithesis to the protagonists’ values. Orochimaru’s name and snakelike characteristics are derived from the character of the same name in Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari.

Background

Unlike most other Naruto characters, whose backgrounds are told in chronological order over a consecutive series of chapters, small portions of Orochimaru’s past are explored throughout the series. Orochimaru, however, craved more power than could be obtained from training with his master, and began abducting villagers of Konohagakure for experimentation. Unwilling to bring himself to harm Orochimaru, the Third allowed him to escape and flee the village. When Itachi was easily able to repel his efforts, Orochimaru was forced to flee the organization.Orochimaru’s various human experiments take place so as to serve two purposes, most prominent of which is his desire to learn every jutsu in the Naruto world. Once accomplishing this goal, Orochimaru hopes to be worthy of the title of “ultimate being”. By living throughout the ages, Orochimaru need never worry about death and thus all the knowledge he gains will never be lost.

Above all else, Orochimaru cares only for himself.

Abilities

Much of Orochimaru’s arsenal of abilities deals with snakes. Of the more common of his snake-related abilities, Orochimaru possesses the Kusanagi sword (,Kusanagi no Tsurugi^?, English TV “The Grass Long Sword”), an extendable blade that he stores within a snake that is in turn stored in his own mouth.

The influence snakes have had on Orochimaru is most evident in the results of his immortality research: after years of study and self-modifications, Orochimaru’s “true” form has become that of a giant white snake that is composed of many smaller snakes. To live forever and escape death, Orochimaru first finds a new body that will act as his own. ^[19] Once doing so, Orochimaru needs only to consume the new body and gain dominance over the soul of its current inhabitant, thus gaining complete control and access to all the body’s unique abilities. Orochimaru can only perform this body-transfer once every three years, at which point in time weaker bodies begin to reject him and therefore necessitate he find a new body.

Orochimaru acts as the primary antagonist for the first part of the series, planning the invasion and eventual destruction of Konoha so that he can kill the Third Hokage and gain the body of Itachi Uchiha’s brother, Sasuke Uchiha. Wanting to regain the ability to use jutsu, Orochimaru seeks out a way to cure himself. When all his efforts prove unsuccessful, Orochimaru sends his Sound Four to fetch Sasuke, hoping that a body-transfer will undo the Third’s seal. Once Sasuke arrives, Orochimaru begins molding him into the ideal body, coveting the day that he will be able to take the body for himself.

Two-and-a-half years later, in the second part of the series, Orochimaru prepares to take Sasuke’s body. Sasuke, unwilling to give himself up to Orochimaru, fights an attempted body-switch. Having the stronger will, Sasuke retains control of his body while trapping Orochimaru’s soul within him, giving him access to many of Orochimaru’s abilities in the process. During Sasuke’s later fight with Itachi, Sasuke is left too weak to continue suppressing Orochimaru’s spirit, allowing Orochimaru to escape and try to take his body again. Orochimaru so far has only appeared in the most recent Naruto film, Naruto Shipp?den 2: Bonds. Naruto Shipp?den: Gekitou Ninja Taisen EX 2 marks the first appearance of Orochimaru in a video game set in Part II, with the second one being Naruto Shipp?den: Narutimate Accel 2.

Orochimaru has been featured consistently in the Shonen Jump popularity polls, commonly placing in the top twenty characters. Merchandise based on Orochimaru has also been released, including action figures, plush dolls, and key chains.

Several publications for manga, anime, video games, and other related media have provided praise and criticism on Orochimaru’s character. IGN compared Orochimaru’s search for power and subsequent fall into villainy to that of Darth Vader, and labeled Orochimaru as “something more than just pure evil.” DVDTalk celebrated the introduction of Orochimaru into the series, as well as the potential plot development from the curse seal Orochimaru placed on Sasuke, noting it was one of the best parts of the series.^[50][51] However, they considered Kujira, Orochimaru’s Japanese voice actor, as one of the best ones from the series.