Orochimaru has manipulated everyone he comes across to further his evil agenda of becoming immortal and powerful. He used everyone’s weakness to get them to do what he wanted. In other words, Orochimaru symbolises deception, death, and hatred. He even has his evil music instrumental in the anime series whenever he is present, which clearly shows he is the main antagonist.
Orochimaru’s role as the main antagonist in the anime series is shown in various ways.
Orochimaru’s main goal was to find a vessel suitable for him to obtain power and immortality. So when he realised Sasuke’s hatred for his brother Itachi for killing his clan, he set his plans to get him. He was going to manipulate Sasuke to become his vessel by promising him that he could give him power so that he could kill Itachi Uchiha. For instance, in Season 1: Episode 30, Orochimaru disguised himself as a Grass Shinobi named Shiore to target Sasuke in the forest of death. At that moment, Sasuke offers him the scroll in exchange for protecting him and Sakura. The fact that Sasuke was afraid of the ninja to the extent that he was willing to give him the scroll shows just how scary Orochimaru is. It further emphasises that Orochimaru is the main antagonist of the anime series. Eventually, Orochimaru disguised himself as Shiore extended his neck to inflict Sasuke with an unidentified mark and introduced himself as Orochimaru. Afterwards, Orochimaru left while promising that Sasuke would look for him in the future. Orochimaru had planted the seed that if Sasuke faced any challenges, he could look to him to obtain power.
Eventually, when Sasuke had tasted the taste of power from the curse mark, everything went downhill from there. For instance, in Season 1: Episode 33, Sasuke becomes a cruel and sadistic monster as he easily defeats Zaku while breaking his arms. Terrified by Sasuke’s extremely cruel brutality, Sakura stops him before he can inflict fatal injuries on either of the remaining Sound Genin. Deciding that they stand no chance, Dosu leaves their scroll behind so that he and his team can retreat without further harm. It is crucial to note that the Sound Genin is part of Orochimaru’s Sound Village. Orochimaru was involved from the get-go to get Sasuke to join him, and he didn’t care about anyone’s well-being, especially Zaku, who had his arms broken. He was willing to hurt others to get what he wanted, which was Sasuke.
In Season 1: Episode 40, Kakashi was sealing Sasuke’s curse mark until he came face-to-face with Orochimaru. Before Kakashi could kill Orochimaru, Kakashi saw a vision of his death, which meant he was paralysed with fear. If Kakashi was afraid of Orochimaru, then it meant that Sasuke was in a deep position to fall under Orochimaru’s clutches.
In Season 1: Episode 54, Dosu learns that he and his group were nothing more than tools for Orochimaru to test Sasuke. Dosu attempts to assassinate Gaara so he can ruin Orochimaru’s plan by killing Sasuke during the finals. But Gaara quickly kills Dosu. This just proves that Orochimaru is the master of deception, influencing everyone to bend to his will so that he can pursue his evil agenda of getting power and immortality. He didn’t care about anyone, as long as he got what he wanted.
He even had Kabuto attend the chunin exams, not just for Sasuke but to prepare for an invasion of the Leaf village. In Season 2: Episode 67, during the chunin exams, Kabuto used a genjutsu to put the audience to sleep, signalling the start of the invasion of Konoha. Thereafter, in Season 2: Episode 68, Orochimaru was disguised as the fourth Kazekage of the Sand Village so that he could take the third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, hostage, as he had his bodyguards, the SoundFour, establish a barrier so no one would interfere in his battle with the third Hokage. This just proves that Orochimaru is the main antagonist who destroyed his former village without showing any remorse.
In Season 2: Episode 69, Orochimaru uses the Reanimation Jutsu to summon Hiruzen’s deceased predecessors: the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju, who invented the Reanimation Jutsu, and the First Hokage Hashirama Senju. The Senju brothers apologise to their former students for what is about to happen as Orochimaru forces them to fight Hiruzen. Orochimaru didn’t care that these were his former teachers, as long as he could defeat the third Hokage. Moreover, Hiruzen is his former master, which makes the situation sad and makes one wonder what went wrong. Eventually, in Season 2: Episode 79, he defeats Orochimaru by robbing him of his ability to use jutsu, and what makes it tragic is that Hiruzen bids his enraged student a fond farewell as he dies, reciting one last proverb. His former master still cared about him, but that didn’t stop Orochimaru from continuing his evil plans, even though he had to call off the invasion.
Losing his ability to use jutsu, Orochimaru made plans to find his former teammate, Lady Tsunade. She is one of the legendary sannin who is skilled in medical ninjutsu. For instance, in Season 2: Episode 89, he tries to manipulate Tsunade by using her weakness against her. Orochimaru asks Tsunade to heal his soulless, decayed arms, as the effects of the Reaper Death Seal inflicted on him are causing him excruciating pain. Although she has no intentions of helping Orochimaru due to his killing their teacher, Tsunade decides to consider the matter when he offers to revive her dead brother, Nawaki, and lover, Dan. Eventually, Tsunade refused, and a battle took place among them as the three legendary sannin. When Tsunade won the battle, she returned to the village to become the fifth Hokage. Orochimaru is willing to manipulate his former teammate’s emotions to get what he wants, which makes him selfish, as he is only interested in pursuing his evil agenda as he tries once again to get to Sasuke.
In Season 3: Episode 207, Sasuke starts to rebel as he challenges Naruto to a fight when he and Sakura come to visit. Naruto accepts, and the two head to the roof. After exchanging several attacks, Naruto creates a Rasengan, and Sasuke prepares his Chidori. The two rush towards each other, with Sakura screaming for them to stop. At that moment, Orochimaru sends the Sound Four to convince Sasuke to join him by attacking him. Sasuke continues his battle with the Sound Four but eventually becomes too injured, including being weakened by using the CurseMark. The Sound Four tell stories of how Sasuke can become stronger if he lends his power to Orochimaru. Sasuke, tired of playing ninja games, finally gives in and goes to them. At that moment, Orochimaru is the evil force that caused a broken friendship between Sasuke and Naruto. In other words, he was against the protagonist so that he could fulfil his evil agenda.
Eventually, there was a Sasuke retrieval squad, which interrupted his plans to use Sasuke as his vessel. Therefore, Orochimaru was forced to switch to the body of one of his prisoners because his body was causing him excruciating pain. The third Hokage did a number on him when he used the Reaper Death Seal; hence, this is poetic justice. So, he sent out Kimimaru to get the vessel for him.
Orochimaru initially wanted Kimimaru to be his vessel. In his conversation with Kabuto, Orochimaru said that he wanted Kimimaru’s body as his vessel. He went on to say it was the body he wanted the most. For example, Orochimaru said that it was best suited for his spirit. However, due to Kimimaru’s illness, he could not use Kimimaru’s body as his vessel. In other words, if Kimimaru was not sick, Orochimaru would not waste his time on Sasuke Uchiha. So the fact that he is sending Kimimaru to get the vessel despite his illness clearly shows he doesn’t care what happens to Kimimaru. He considers him useless and doesn’t care if he dies or not.
Kimimaro remained loyal to Orochimaru because he believed that he gave him a purpose. During his fight with Gaara, Kimimaru remembered the first time he got the curse mark when he was part of the Sound Five Ninja. This proves that he values the time he spent with Orochimaru as his master while he was a slave, following his orders. When he was on the verge of death, he said, “Lord Orochimaru. I’m sorry I failed you. Please forgive me, my lord.” This proves again that the relationship was that of a master and a slave. However, despite his loyalty until his death, Orochimaru doesn’t show empathy. This is shown when he says, “No matter. He’s of no further use to me. All that matters now is that Sasuke is coming and of his own free will, just as I foretold.” Orochimaru has narcissistic tendencies because he only cares about himself. It is a tragedy that Kimimaru died for the sake of Orochimaru’s wants and needs. Orochimaru’s manipulation ran deep in Kimimaru’s life through and through.
So after Orochimaru managed to get Sasuke, his plans for pursuing his evil agenda didn’t stop there. For instance, in Season 3: Episode 140, he manipulated the Fuma clan by making them believe he could restore their clan if they participated in his experiments. For instance, he changed Arashi into a monster. He used the dead bodies of Jigumo and Kamakiri to join together with Arashi; hence, this situation makes it sad to watch. For instance, before Jigumo and Kamakiri died, they went to Orochimaru’s lair carrying Kagerou’s body. When they begged Orochimaru to revive her, he blatantly refused. So when they found out that Orochimaru had been using them all this time, they wanted to kill him, but he killed them instead. Afterwards, Orochimaru revived Kagerou, who disguised herself as Kabuto and then died again. The fact that Orochimaru revived her after Jigumo and Kamakiri’s deaths was like a slap in their faces. Sadly, Jigumo and Kamakiri trusted Orochimaru only to be stabbed in the back when he used their dead bodies on Arashi. The way he manipulated everyone in the Fuma clan to further his evil agenda makes him so evil to the extent that he can’t be ignored as the main antagonist of the anime series.
Orochimaru was indirectly against Naruto from the start. In Season 4: Episode 146, it is revealed that Orochimaru had a hand in Mizuki stealing the scroll. When Mizuki suffocated his comrade during a mission, Orochimaru appeared and gave him the curse mark. He then told Mizuki that it was a gift and that he would seek power when he was ready. Eventually, Mizuki pursued power as he stole a formula from one of the labs of the Leaf Village that had belonged to Orochimaru. Sadly, Mizuki did get powerful, but he reverted to his original form, badly damaged, when Tsunade showed up and explained that due to the potion Mizuki took, he would no longer be able to fight as a shinobi. At that moment, Orochimaru abandoned the formula, and he didn’t inform Mizuki about it because he didn’t care about him. Orochimaru was just trying to find a vessel to conduct his research; hence, wherever Orochimaru goes, he is bound to cause chaos in someone’s life.
Orochimaru continued to conduct illegal experiments on Demon Island. In Season 4: Episode 173, it is revealed that Orochimaru gave his former pupil the curse mark when she was just a kid. He was hoping he could use her body as a vessel. Moreover, in Anko’s memories, Orochimaru said, “You simply didn’t measure up, my dear. I’m afraid you lack the hunger for power, the drive, the hatred, everything, and anything. Although you didn’t die, to make it this far, you can’t be useless. Well, how about it? Care to accompany me then?” He didn’t care about her, and the young Anko realised that her former master was no longer the person she knew and respected but a villain who was interested in pursuing his evil agenda.
To understand how evil Orochimaru is, Anko explained it in Season 4: Episode 171. For instance, she said, “I think I'd better start at the beginning. Back when he left the village, more than 10 years ago, Orochimaru’s lust for knowledge and power became so insatiable that he gradually exceeded the normal limitations of a shinobi and began experimenting with forbidden jutsu. Of course, this all became common knowledge in the leaf village, but his missions have taken him far and wide in this world. The hidden leaf village wasn’t the only place he had research facilities set up.” Indeed, Orochimaru also manipulated the Fuma clan and conducted illegal research at Demon Island. He manipulates everyone in his path to get what he wants, and one hopes that Sasuke will realise how evil Orochimaru is before it is too late. As the series has a sequel, “Naruto Shippuden,” Orochimaru’s evil intentions will come to an end.
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