History Characters / NarutoOrochimaru

* SnakePerson: He can shed his humanoid people and show a snake-like form, which he can use to escape or possess others.

* SnakePerson: Can take this shape giving himself tremendous speed.

* TheSociopath: All the way until his CharacterDevelopment toward the end of the first series.

* EvilLaugh: He loves this.
* EvilMentor: To Sasuke, and implicitly to nearly all of his named underlings. But mostly to Kabuto.

* WorfHadTheFlu: When he loses, this is usually because of this. Save for when the 3rd Hokage sealed his arms and later when Itachi sealed him entirely. And he's still around, '''even''' after all that, and is more powerful than ever.

In ''Shippuden'', Orochimaru's most recent body has all but given out on him, but he's still tough enough to tangle with Naruto's [[FourIsDeath Four-tailed]] [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Fox form]] during the second arc. Later, Sasuke attacks him while he's bedridden. Orochimaru reveals his true form (a snake made out of a bunch of smaller snakes) and tries to take Sasuke's body by force, but is defeated offscreen. Fragments of his body are integrated into the bodies of both his right-hand man Kabuto and Sasuke himself. The portion of his body absorbed by Sasuke shows up in the fight with Itachi, where Sasuke, exhausted, lacks the chakra needed to suppress him. Orochimaru doesn't contribute much to the fight and is promptly flattened by Susanoo, the third technique of the Mangekyo Sharingan, trapping him in an endless dream state that cannot be undone or escaped from while also absorbing his body, effectively killing that part of him. Using Anko's Cursed Seal of Heaven and a chunk of Sage Mode Kabuto's flesh, Sasuke resurrects Orochimaru, who strips Kabuto of his OneWingedAngel and agrees to help Sasuke.

* ExpendableClone: Has an entire laboratory devoted to cloning including [[PeopleJars clones growing jars]]. Indeed, all of Orochimaru's horrible experimentation in the Gaiden arc seems to be completely ignored solely because he's doing it to his own clones.

* EasilyForgiven: [[spoiler: As of Naruto Gaiden, Orochimaru is still kicking around and still experimenting. And for all that, Naruto and Sasuke simply treat him closer to an annoyance than a despised foe. Despite a novel stating that he regards himself as having been "tamed," willing now to help the shinobi world in exchange for his life and some freedom, his appearances in ''Boruto'' show that Orochimaru is still going strong with violating basic human rights- including being the cause for his son's rampant mental and emotional issues while creating numerous clones and still doing unethical things to them, but the heroes seem to not care [[ClonesArePeopleToo because the subjects are clones.]] He is allowed free range for some reason, simply because he pays lip service while willingly being babysat by Yamato and he even comments [[WhatTheHellHero Naruto should know him well enough to understand exactly what he's doing.]] Naruto, for his part, isn't fine with it and makes his discontent known, but makes no actual effort to stop him.]] They even let him visit Konoha in order to attend a parent-teacher meeting and Naruto talks to him like they're old friends who haven't seen each other in a while instead of what's basically a ninja Josef Mengele.

Years after the Fourth Shinobi World War, Orochimaru and the rest of Team Taka go back to their regular hideout to continue their usual activities (to a degree, there are no signs of prisons, inhumane experiments, or sacrifices). Naruto and Konoha continue to keep an eye on him but it is unclear how much they do to restrict his activities. He himself thinks he, Kabuto, and Sasuke are allowed to be somewhat free so he could be used later in case a new big crisis like Madara would come and Konoha would need him and his strange unorthodox techniques. In ''{{Manga/Boruto}}'' he sends his [[ArtificialHuman laboratory grown]] child, Mitsuki, to be educated and trained as a Ninja in Konoha and to befriend Boruto Uzumaki for an unknown purpose.

* AmbiguousGender: In the Seventh Hokage Gaiden. [[spoiler:Assuming he still uses the Living Corpse Reincarnation (he may not need to anymore since the White Zetsu clone he possessed may function differently), his current host's gender is ambiguous due to its youthful appearance and the fact that he's neatly combed his bangs and tied his hair into a ponytail.]]
** Lampshaded and discussed in ''Boruto''. When Mitsuki asks if Orochimaru is his mother or father, Orochimaru dismisses it as a silly question, stating that it doesn’t matter what he is since there have been times where he was a man, other times a woman, and sometimes something else entirely. To him, all that matters is the core of one’s being. Despite this, Orochimaru is generally referred to as a male in and out of universe.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/naruto__orochimar.png]]

[[quoteright:175:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/naruto__orochimaru.png]]

* EvilVersusEvil: He's a former member of Akatsuki. They want him dead and vice versa. He even keeps Sasuke from trying to kill his former teammates, in the hopes that they will kill off a few more members for him.

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: By the time of ''Manga/NarutoGaiden'', Orochimaru, international terrorist extraordinaire, is still up to his usual business to an ambiguous extent. Naruto, 7th Hokage, is not only fully aware of this but knows where Orochimaru's base is and hasn't got word one to say about Orochimaru's activities until a rogue experiment that slipped his leash shows up in Konoha and he immediately drops the subject after being assured that it was indeed rogue and not following Orochimaru's orders. It's implied in a novel that Orochimaru's semi-freedom was not Naruto's decision alone, but a practical resolution reached by the ninja authorities of the world after Orochimaru's knowledge and abilities proved instrumental in saving the world. In return for no longer causing suffering and mayhem, and being available to use his skills should a great threat arise again, he is allowed some measure of freedom and mercy. Orochimaru himself, humbled by his defeats and perhaps even regretful of some of his choices, seems to find this an acceptable arrangement.

** The second time it happened when he tries to grab the body of Sasuke, but Sasuke turns it back on him. Before Sasuke killed him, Orochimaru only could shout about how [[ThisCannotBe this could not happen to him]] and that he is [[SmugSnake invincible]].

* SissyVillain: Orochimaru first appears disguised as a woman, [[BodySurf at one point used another woman's body as a vessel]], and in his least freaky times speaks with a feminine speech pattern. And this is before you factor in [[MemeticMolester his obsession with young Uchiha men]] and the giant purple [[FanNickname butt bow]]. However, he is a very formidable opponent who, despite being killed twice, is still around in one form or another.

** The second time it happened when he tries to grab the body Sasuke, but Sasuke turns it back on him. Before Sasuke killed him, Orochimaru only could shout about how [[ThisCannotBe this could not happen to him]] and that he is [[SmugSnake invincible]].

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/{{Kujira}} (JP, original body), Creator/MayumiYamaguchi (JP, young), Creator/YurikoYamaguchi (JP, as Shiore), Masahiko Tanaka (JP, as Rasa), Sachiko Kojima (JP, female host), Creator/SteveBlum (EN, original body; main series), Creator/VicMignogna (EN, original body; ''Rock Lee's Springtime of Youth''), Creator/MaryElizabethMcGlynn (EN, as Shiore and female host), Creator/CrispinFreeman (EN, as Rasa), David Robles (Spain); Hecor Emmanuel Gómez (Latin-American Spanish, as a child); José Luis Reza Arenas (Latin-American Spanish, adult), Irina Índigo (Latin-American Spanish, in his Grass Ninja disguise), Ricardo Brust (Latin-American Spanish, when impersonating the Fourth Kazekage), Peppino Capotondi (French)

* SelfMadeSuperPowers: Orochimaru is a brilliant scientist, and using his expertise with biology [[BioAugmentation modified his body]] to be very [[VoluntaryShapeshifting malleable]] and snakelike, a power he refers to as the Power of the White Snake.[[note]]The Fourth Databook and ''Boruto'' indicate that the Power of the White Snake was at least in part obtained from his training under the White Snake Sage at Ryūchi Cave.[[/note]] He gains a HealingFactor, ability to reconnect body parts via snakes, shed his skin to regurgitate a new body free from all damage, etc. Most importantly, he gains the power to use Living Corpse Reincarnation, his path to immortality that allows him to [[GrandTheftMe transfer his consciousness to another body]]. He can store his consciousness within the cursed seals he brands others with, allowing him to revive himself, albeit with some outside help, even after being sealed by Itachi Uchiha's extremely powerful sealing jutsu.

* ShesAManInJapan: His Kusagakure disguise from when he infiltrated the chūnin exams has feminine features and is voiced by a woman, but is referred to by characters in the Japanese versions and the English manga as a male. The anime's dub (plus the official subs on the DVDs and streaming service) has them referred to as a female until Orochimaru's identity is revealed.

* BerserkButton: Don't you dare patronize him or he'll kill you. He threatens Kabuto upon the latter attempting to cheer him up despite the loss of his arms to Sarutobi and later when the younger man muses that his lord is being impatient waiting for Sasuke to come to them during Kimimaro's battle with Gaara.

* BroughtDownToNormal: The 3rd did this, which remained for the majority of Part I. He got his powers back only to be sealed away twice. He later fixed this by cutting open the death god's stomach, which restored his arms.

* ComplexityAddiction: Quite a bit of his plans are way more complicated than they have any reason to be for the goal he wants. For example, his primary goal in the series is immortality. Near the end of the original series, his Cursed Seals turned out to be [[SoulJar Soul Jars]]. Which means he had the means of immortality for decades. Instead, he kept on experimenting trying to find a different, more complex resolution to the problem he already answered. Admittedly this method was less than perfect, as it required both that the people with curse marks stayed alive and that someone else have the knowledge, means, and desire to revive him as he couldn't do it himself. Played straight with many of his other plans, which Sasuke mocks made it seem like Orochimaru didn't even know what his own goals were anymore.

* InferredSurvival: Orochimaru was absorbed by Sasuke at one point, but it was speculated by many fans he was merely suppressed and waiting for an opportunity to re-emerge. He did and was immediately killed, but the appearance of a white snake trying to flee the battlefield hinted it wasn't so clean cut. Turns out Orochimaru's consciousness can hide in any of his cursed seals, so he came back again.

* KnightOfCerebus: While Zabuza was intimidating, Orochimaru brings the first present [[CharacterDeath death]] of a main protagonist, helps send TheLancer into serious SanitySlippage and was playing for keeps.

* MercyKill: Back during the third Great Ninja War he suggested to the other Sannin that he do this to the begger children Konan, Nagato and Yahiko, as he reasoned he had seen many children in their situation and that he believed nothing but misery awaited them in their future. He's rebuffed by Jiraiya, who opts to instead train them for a time.

* SelfMadeSuperPowers: Orochimaru is a brilliant scientist, and using his expertise with biology [[BioAugmentation modified his body]] to be very [[VoluntaryShapeshifting malleable]] and snakelike, a power he refers to as the Power of the White Snake.[[note]]The Fourth Databook and ''Boruto'' indicate that the Power of the White Snake was at least in-part obtained from his training under the White Snake Sage at Ryūchi Cave.[[/note]] He gains a HealingFactor, ability to reconnect body parts via snakes, shed his skin to regurgitate a new body free from all damage, etc. Most importantly, he gains the power to use Living Corpse Reincarnation, his path to immortality that allows him to [[GrandTheftMe transfer his consciousness to another body]]. He can store his consciousness within the cursed seals he brands others with, allowing him to revive himself, albeit with some outside help, even after being sealed by Itachi Uchiha's extremely powerful sealing jutsu.

* SinisterSurveillance: His Cursed Seals let him spy on everyone who has one, letting his see and hear whatever they do. They seem to only serve this function when he is "dead", though.

* {{Ubermensch}}: Tries to change the world through war, but Tobi beat him to it. He also abandoned the village largely because he rejected its ideals and values.

* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Clearly recognizes certain potential, and won't kill those who are outright useful to him or his goals, even if frustrated and in a YouHaveFailedMe mood. He also believes that this also applies to him as the primary reason he's allowed to be a KarmaHoudini.

* MoreThanMindControl: How he gets most of his followers. It's rare for him to actually try to force anyone to do anything.

* ObviouslyEvil: Just look at him: pale skin, snake eyes, snake tongue, snake body... The guy has "evil" written all over him and that's ''before'' his motives are even revealed. Interestingly he looked like this well before he actually turned evil.

* {{Orochi}}: Turns into one when Sasuke is weakened enough to unseal him, only to be sealed again by Itachi. Currently provides the page picture.

%%* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Even when he was famed as a genius shinobi of the Leaf Village, he was secretly feared and dreaded by many including his own teacher for his disturbing personal habits, ruthless ambition, and unnatural serpentine appearance. This reputation would increase, despite him establishing a cult of followers, due to his increasing acts of evil and depraved experiments. Even when the manipulative Danzo endorsed for Orochimaru to become Hokage, Minato was chosen due to being more popular and outgoing and Danzo lamented if Orochimaru was even remotely likable he would have been Hokage already.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Even when he was famed as a genius shinobi of the Leaf Village, he was secretly feared and dreaded by many including his own teacher for his disturbing personal habits, ruthless ambition, and unnatural serpentine appearance. This reputation would increase, despite him establishing a cult of followers, due to his increasing acts of evil and depraved experiments. Even when the manipulative Danzo endorsed for Orochimaru to become Hokage, Minato was chosen due to being more popular and outgoing and Danzo lamented if Orochimaru was even remotely likable he would have been Hokage already.

* AdaptationDeviation: His {{Kusanagi}} blade is given a different appearance in the anime, looking much more accurate to what its Japanese name implies, where in the manga it’s just a katana.

* BerserkButton: Don't you dare patronize or he'll kill you. He threatens Kabuto upon the latter attempting to do the former upon the loss of his arms to Sarutobi and later when the younger man muses that his lord is being impatient waiting for Sasuke to come to them during Kimimaro's battle with Gaara.
* BeyondRedemption: In the past, Jiraiya tried to convince him not to leave the Hidden Leaf Village behind for more power, but the latter rejected his pleas. Since then, he has given up on trying to redeem him since Orochimaru chose to defect of his own will.
* BigBad: His efforts to destroy Konoha and acquire Sasuke's body make him the main antagonist of Part 1.

* BigBadWannabe: He became one in Part 2. In Part 1 he's was too strong for any of the heroes to defeat, forcing the Third Hokage to sacrifice himself to save the village (which doesn't even kill him entirely). But later it's revealed that he lost to Itachi in the past while trying to claim his body, and in most of the battles after that, he's defeated easily or forced to retreat. This is partly because [[WorfHadtheFlu he wasn't at full strength when he fights]], but it shows that he's lost much of his original threat. This was worst when he fought against Itachi (while fighting Sasuke) in the manga, and was defeated in merely a few pages. By the time he's resurrected, the main characters are so far out of his league that he's content to just observe what happens.

* DidntSeeThatComing: PlayedForLaughs in Boruto, where is is as surprised as everyone else [[spoiler: that someone wants his autograph.]] [[PetTheDog He gives it.]]

* DiscOneFinalBoss: Part 1 ended on a note that he would still be the BigBad of Part 2, or at least a villain driving much of the storyline. Nope; he gets dealt with pretty quickly, and while he does return, he's not nearly as big of a threat as he was in Part 1.
* DishingOutDirt: Can disappear through walls and trees, an ability of earth users in ''Naruto''. In addition, in the anime, he can create Shadow Clones made out of mud.

* HazyFeelTurn: He aligns himself with Sasuke during the Fourth Shinobi World War. Sasuke has decided to aid the United Shinobi front, and Orochimaru goes along with him. Ultimately it seems to be more like a Face Neutral Turn than any real change to his character; none of his actual opinions or ultimate goals seem to have changed, but he has no particular reason to want the world to be destroyed or to end up in a LotusEaterMachine, so he has no objections to aiding Sasuke in preventing this. [[spoiler: His treatment of his created son and willingness to assist both Sasuke and Naruto long after the war implies that he's closer to Face.]] Overall its unclear if he regrets his past crimes (beyond the regret that most of them never really accomplished much as far as his goals went), but he certainly sees no reason to continue them and is satisfied enough with his new "tamed" status given how justifiably he could hav been put to death, and is quite supportive of his son trying to become a better person than he ever was. Tsunade herself admits he has changed to some degree.

* BerserkButton: Don't you dare patronize or he'll kill you. He threatens Kabuto upon the latter attempting to do the former upon the loss of his arms to Sarutobi and later when the younger man muses that his lord is being impatient waiting for Sasuke to come to them during Kimimaro's battle with Gaara.

* BadassBookworm: He is a [[MadScientist mad]] [[ForScience scientist]], after all, as well as a legendary soldier, assassin and spy and war hero.

* BeyondRedemption: In the past, Jiraiya tried to convince him not to leave the Hidden Leaf Village behind for more power, but the latter rejected his pleas. Since then, he has given up on trying to redeem him since Orochimaru chose to defect on his own will.

* AdaptationalJerkass: As bad as he is in the manga, suffice to say anime filler episodes add considerably to his body count and crimes in general, even having him play a role in things that as far as we know he had nothing to do with in the manga (like the previous jinchuruki of the eight tails going out of control).

* ComplexityAddiction: Quite a bit of his plans are way more complicated than they have any reason to be for the goal he wants. For example, his primary goal in the series is immortality. Near the end of the original series, his Cursed Seals turned out to be [[SoulJar Soul Jars]]. Which means he had the means of immortality for decades. Instead, he kept on experimenting trying to find a different, more complex resolution to the problem he already answered.
* ContemplateOurNavels: He sometimes slips into this when he describes why he's seeking immortality.

* ForTheEvulz: When the Third Hokage presses him for his motives beyond revenge, the only other reason Orochimaru gives ... is that he was bored.

* MoreThanMindControl: How he gets most of his followers.
* MotiveDecay: Pointed out InUniverse by Sasuke. His stated goal is to attain true immortality and learn the truth behind ninjutsu, but by the series proper he's devolved into conducting cruel experiments on people, few of which really have anything to do with his goals.

* ObviouslyEvil: Just look at him: pale skin, snake eyes, snake tongue, snake body... The guy has "evil" written all over him and that's ''before'' his motives are even revealed.

* ParentalSubstitute: He was one to Kabuto, being despite everything, the closest thing he had to a father.

* AdaptationalVillainy: As bad as he is in the manga, suffice to say anime filler episodes add considerably to his body count and crimes in general, even having him play a role in things that as far as we know he had nothing to do with in the manga (like the previous jinchuruki of the eight tails going out of control).

* AllYourPowersCombined: After he's revived by Sasuke, during the Fourth Great Ninja War, he absorbs his senjutsu chakra from Kabuto, and along with it the all the kekkei genkai's Kabuto has amassed in his body: Sakon and Ukon's unnamed cells manipulation, Kimimaro's Dead Bone Pulse and Jugo's passive ability to absorb natural energy, along with Karin's Uzumaki lifeforce. Soon after, he uses his Living Corpse Reincarnation on a White Zetsu, and gains Wood Release. Although so far all of them fall under InformedAttribute, since he's never shown using either.
* AmbiguousGender: In the Seventh Hokage Gaiden. [[spoiler:Assuming he still uses the Living Corpse Reincarnation, his current host's gender is ambiguous due to its youthful appearance and the fact that he's neatly combed his bangs and tied his hair into a ponytail.]]

* HazyFeelTurn: He aligns himself with Sasuke during the Fourth Shinobi World War. Sasuke has decided to aid the United Shinobi front, and Orochimaru goes along with him. Ultimately it seems to be more like a Face Neutral Turn than any real change to his character; none of his actual opinions or ultimate goals seem to have changed, but he has no particular reason to want the world to be destroyed or to end up in a LotusEaterMachine, so he has no objections to aiding Sasuke in preventing this. [[spoiler: His treatment of his created son and willingness to assist both Sasuke and Naruto long after the war implies that he's closer to Face.]]

* FallenHero: Despite his claims to the contrary, his flashbacks establish that while he was always creepy, Orochimaru was, once upon a time, a genuine hero, or at least an {{Anti hero}}. Watching everyone around him die caused him to become obsessed with obtaining immortality, first for the entire village, and [[MotiveDecay eventually just for himself]]. Orochimaru would rather bite out his own tongue than admit this of course.

* KarmaHoudini: As of the end of Part II and ''The Last'', '''he gets away scot-free in the ending'''! In ''Manga/NarutoGaiden'', which takes place at least 15 years after the end of the war, he's shown to [[spoiler:still be free and lounging about in his hideout, doing what he wants to some extent (supposedly he's kept under observation, but it's slipshod at best, and it's entirely unclear how much of the new limits to how far his experiments go nowadays are under pressure or self-imposed). Plus he has an even younger body than he had in Part II. Kishimoto even confirmed that [[http://qaelios.tumblr.com/post/130767854594/notes-from-the-kishimoto-interview Orochimaru gained immortality]] later on.]] So far he's the biggest KarmaHoudini in the series, bar none.

* KnightOfCerebus: While Zabuza was intimidating, Orochimaru brings the first present [[KilledOffForReal death]] of a main protagonist, helps send TheLancer into serious SanitySlippage and was playing for keeps.
* {{Large Ham}}: Orochimaru chews more than a bit of scenery.

* {{Satanic Archetype}}: Snakes are considered Satanic, Orochimaru is incredibly sinister for most of the series and has an unhealthy interest young boys who he can transfer his body into to avoid aging. He does mellow out at the end of the series but was still one of the most devilish figures of the series. Not to mention that he acts as a corruptive and temper figure for many characters, particularly Sasuke and Anko.

* SmugSnake: [[{{Pun}} Naturally]]. Though, he remains a high-functioning type, straddling the line between this and MagnificentBastard. It is arguably the smugness itself that is what gets in his way.