History Characters / NarutoOrochimaru

** Which is actually [[FridgeBrilliance makes sense in series]] as well: having become a monster, it's likely that both he and Tsunade have gone out the way to forget that he ever did her any favors.

** Which actually [[FridgeBrilliance makes sense in series]] as well: having become a monster, it's likely that both he and Tsunade have gone out the way to forget that he ever did her any favors.

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

* EasilyForgiven: Downplayed as most characters plainly still do not like him and have not necessarily forgiven him. [[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 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 one cause for his son's rampant mental and emotional issues (admittedly with the goal of helping him become a full human) while creating several synthetic humans and potentially still doing unethical things to them. He is allowed somewhat free range (it's noted it's best he not be seen in public in the rare event he's permitted to leave his hideout, such as a parent-teacher meeting in Konoha), simply because he pays lip service while willingly being babysat by Yamato and assisting the ninja nations in emergencies.]]

* ForTheEvulz: When the Third Hokage presses him for his motives beyond revenge, the only other reason Orochimaru gives ... is that he was bored. It is implied all this was an excuse, and that his real reason was something different (possibly a lingering bond with the village that he wanted to sever), but it's never explicitly confirmed.

* 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 it's 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 have 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.

** When Itachi sealed him, he was still trying to revive himself from within Sasuke. [[spoiler: Although, Itachi was ''also'' in pretty poor health by that point.]]

* BerserkButton: He doesn't appreciate being patronized for any perceived shortcomings on his part. 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.

* WouldHitAGirl: Orochimaru had no problem getting into a physical fight with Tsunade.

* BroughtDownToNormal: The Third 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.

* CreepyChild: Young Orochimaru [[UsedToBeASweetKid wasn't evil yet]], but he was rather [[UncannyValley disturbing]] to look at.

* AffablyEvil: In ''Manga/NarutoGaiden'', he chats politely with [[spoiler:Sasuke and Naruto]], like they're old friends visiting for tea.

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/{{Kujira}} (JP, original body), Creator/MayumiYamaguchi (JP, young), Creator/YurikoYamaguchi (JP, as Shiore), Masahiko Tanaka (JP, as Rasa), Creator/SachikoKojima (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, as Shiore), Ricardo Brust (Latin-American Spanish, as Rasa), Peppino Capotondi (French)

The Leaf Village\\

* WeHaveReserves: He sacrifices the squad of teenage ninja (minus Dosu, who was already dead) he had infiltrate the Chuunin Exams in order to use their bodies to resurrect the deceased Hokages, just to help him win one fight. One of the resurrections even ends up failing and kills its component ninja anyway. Beforehand, Orochimaru even flat-out admitted to Kakashi that he considers ''all'' of his subordinates without special worth to be nothing but worthless pawns. That said, his willingness to take in the desperate and give them some measure of power means he never really suffered from a lack of followers no matter how he treated them.

[[Characters/NarutoOtherCharacters Other Characters]] | [[Characters/NarutoTaka Hebi/Taka]] | [[Characters/NarutoTailedBeasts Tailed Beasts and Their Hosts]] | [[Characters/NarutoOtsutsukiClan Otsutsuki Clan]] ([[Characters/NarutoKaguyaOtsutsuki Kaguya Otsutsuki]])\\

* EasilyForgiven: Downplayed as most characters plainly still do not like him and have not necessarily forgiven him. [[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 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 one cause for his son's rampant mental and emotional issues (admittedly with the goal of helping him become a full human) while creating several synthetic humans and potentially still doing unethical things to them. He is allowed somewhat free range (it's noted it's best he not be seen in public in the rare event he's permitted to leave his hideout, such as a parent-teacher meeting in Konoha), simply because he pays lip service while willingly being babysat by Yamato and assisting the ninja nations in emergencies.]]

* 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.

[[Characters/NarutoTeamSevenMembers Team 7]] ([[Characters/NarutoNarutoUzumaki Naruto Uzumaki]], [[Characters/NarutoSasukeUchiha Sasuke Uchiha]], [[Characters/NarutoSakuraHaruno Sakura Haruno]], [[Characters/NarutoKakashiHatake Kakashi Hatake]]) | [[Characters/NarutoTeamEightMembers Team 8]] ([[Characters/NarutoHinataHyuga Hinata Hyuga]]) | [[Characters/NarutoTeamTenMembers Team 10]] | [[Characters/NarutoTeamGuyMembers Team Guy]] | [[Characters/NarutoTheLegendarySannin The Legendary Sannin]] | [[Characters/NarutoHokages Hokages]] | [[Characters/NarutoTheUchihaClan The Uchiha Clan]] | [[Characters/NarutoOtherLeafVillageMembers Other Leaf Village Members]] | [[Characters/NarutoHiddenSandVillage Hidden Sand Village]] ([[Characters/NarutoGaara Gaara]]) | [[Characters/NarutoHiddenMistVillage Hidden Mist Village]] | [[Characters/NarutoHiddenCloudVillage Hidden Cloud Village]] | [[Characters/NarutoHiddenStoneVillage Hidden Stone Village]] | [[Characters/NarutoHiddenSoundVillage Hidden Sound Village]] ('''Orochimaru''') | [[Characters/NarutoAkatsuki Akatsuki]] ([[Characters/NarutoItachiUchiha Itachi Uchiha]], [[Characters/NarutoObitoUchiha Tobi]], [[Characters/NarutoNagato Pain/Nagato]]) | [[Characters/NarutoMadaraUchiha Madara Uchiha]] | [[Characters/NarutoOtherCharacters Other Characters]] | [[Characters/NarutoTaka Hebi/Taka]] | [[Characters/NarutoTailedBeasts Tailed Beasts and Their Hosts]] | [[Characters/NarutoOtsutsukiClan Otsutsuki Clan]] | [[Characters/NarutoAnimeOnly Anime-Only Characters]] | [[Characters/NarutoMoviesOnly Movie-Only Characters]] | [[Characters/NarutoNovelsOnly Novel-Only Characters]] | [[Characters/NarutoGameOnly Game-Only Characters]] | [[Characters/{{Boruto}} The New Era]]]]-]]]

!!!'''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, as Shiore), Ricardo Brust (Latin-American Spanish, as Rasa), Peppino Capotondi (French)

* SissyVillain: Orochimaru first appears disguised as a woman[[note]][[ShesAManInJapan In the English anime only]][[/note]], [[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.

* GodhoodSeeker: Orochimaru's self-stated goal is to learn all ninjutsu and discover their origin, which led him to covet the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan for its ability to copy ninjutsu. His study of the Uchiha Clan led to him discovering the stone tablet written by the Sage of Six Paths -- the legendary figure said to have created ninjutsu -- and he became obsessed with obtaining the Sage's power, developing an [[ShootTheShaggyDog incorrect]] hypothesis that the Rinnegan could be attained by reuniting the Sage's bloodlines, the Senju and Uchiha clans. To this end, Orochimaru attempted to attain Sage Mode -- obtaining the Power of the White Snake and developing the Cursed Seals in the process -- and figured out how to [[BodySurf transfer his soul into a host body]] with Living Corpse Reincarnation. Orochimaru experimented to figure out how to transplant Hashirama Senju's cells into others,[[note]]Which would also let him use [[GreenThumb Wood Release]] and control the Tailed Beasts.[[/note]] succeeding with Yamato and Danzo. However, his efforts to acquire an Uchiha as a host continually backfired and got him killed ''twice''.[[note]]His attempt at taking Itachi as a host led to him having Living Corpse Reincarnation turned against him by Tsukuyomi; his attempt to use Living Corpse Reincarnation on Sasuke led to Sasuke assimilating him and gaining his powers; and after Sasuke was weakened to the point where Orochimaru manifested from his Cursed Seal in order to claim him as a host, he was promptly impaled and sealed away by Itachi's Sword of Totsuka.[[/note]] By the time of ''Boruto'' he has attained immortality and claims to have given up on his god-complex, though he still performs a myriad of unethical experiments.[[note]]As mentioned in the character description above, he doesn’t seem to gather (let alone imprison) human guinea pigs anymore, nor do his experiments seem to be as inhumane as they used to be, but he now creates his own human guinea pigs through cloning and is still willing to subject somebody besides a clone to an experiment as a form of punishment. He isn’t above manipulating his own son through LaserGuidedAmnesia either. Granted, it was to teach him free will, but still.[[/note]]

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* AmbiguousGender: Downplayed and played with. 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 (assuming he is even using a new host) due to its youthful appearance and the fact that he's neatly combed his bangs and tied his hair into a ponytail.]]

* 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 (assuming he is even using a new host) 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 at different times in his life his body was that of a man, another time a woman, and still another he was something else entirely (his Zetsu body). 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.
* AmbitionIsEvil: Orochimaru's ambition to have eternal life which results in his research in forbidden jutsu and experimentation that drove him away from the village which is pretty much the reason why he turned into the BigBad. He mocked the idea of becoming Fourth Hokage and helping the village prosper as those things would become meaningless in the grand scheme of time in his mind.

!!!'''Debut:''' ''Naruto'' Chapter 45 (Manga), ''Naruto'' Episode 27 (Anime) [[quoteright:175:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/naruto__orochimaru.png]]

!!!'''Debut:''' ''Naruto'' Chapter 45 (Manga), ''Naruto'' Episode 27 (Anime)
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/naruto__orochimaru.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Orochimaru in ''Boruto''.]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/orochimaru__boruto__render__nxb_ninja_tribes__by_maxiuchiha22_ddv3klp.png[[/labelnote]]]]

* {{Sadist}}: He is a power-hungry psychopath but he clearly likes making people suffer along the way. He also seems to enjoy making a mockery of other peoples' beliefs and values, for example by how much his horrific actions freak other people out, as well as manipulating others to fight and die for him; in addition, his stated reason for trying to start another global war was "peace is boring". He also once lost the use of arms because he dragged a fight out for too long- because he was trying to make his opponent, his mentor the Third Hokage, psychologically suffer before losing.

* ScaledUp: His true form is a serpentine monster made up of [[BodyOfBodies smaller snakes]].
* 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 long ago shows up near 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.

* 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 that 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.

* TooPowerfulToLive: The only way to get rid of him was to [[SealedEvilInACan seal]] [[SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan him]]. And it had to be done ''twice'' to actually work. He's technically still alive.

* TrulySingleParent: Mitsuki's side chapter reveals Orochimaru cloned Mitsuki and at least one elder brother known only as Log from himself.

* WarIsGlorious: Expresses this belief in the Chuunin Exam/Konoha Invasion arcs. Or rather, he expresses the belief that "peace is boring".

* WeHaveReserves: He sacrifices the squad of teenage ninja (minus Dosu, who was already dead) he had infiltrate the Chuunin Exams in order to use their bodies to resurrect the deceased Hokages, just to help him win one fight. One of the resurrections even ends up failing and kills its component ninja anyway. Beforehand, Orochimaru even flat-out admitted to Kakashi that he considers ''all'' of his subordinates without special worth to be nothing but worthless pawns.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Nowhere to be seen after the great war; the character's final on-panel appearance shows him being freed from Mugen Tsukuyomi along with Kabuto, Suigetsu, Jugo and Karin. He's apparently a KarmaHoudini.

* TheWorfEffect: At the start of Part II he was quickly [[NotQuiteDead killed off]] by Sasuke to show off how strong Sasuke had gotten.

* WouldHurtAChild: Once proposed to kill Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan when they were children, although he viewed it as a MercyKill since "a miserable life is all that awaits them". He has actually murdered many, many children though (ForScience), including infants and his own pupils/minions, and has made several attempts to kill others. He also attempts to kill an unconscious Naruto during his battle with his former teammates.

* 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 the 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.

* KarmaHoudini: As of the end of Part II and ''The Last'', he gets away scot-free in the ending of the ''Naruto'' story through to at least the ''Boruto'' start. 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.]]

He later proves instrumental in driving the outcome of the war towards the Alliance's favor when he helps Sasuke resurrect the original four Hokage. When questioned why he's doing all this, Orochimaru notes that his way of trying to obtain everything was mistaken and from now on wants to see what Sasuke is going to do.