There is an old saying that a hero is only as good as his villains. Throughout Naruto’s entire journey, he was faced with a myriad of interesting, dynamic, and sometimes downright terrifying, villains. However, none of them set the tone quite like Orochimaru.

He was nasty, powerful, and above all, spooky. The master of the slippery-snake-no-Jutsu, Orochimaru set into motion the events that would rock the ninja world time and time again. It was he who tempted Sasuke Uchiha into darkness, which basically resulted in the climax of part one, and Naruto’s motivation for part two. Yes, Madara, Obito, and even Zetsu were more impactful to the ninja world as a whole, manipulating events for years behind the scenes. But it was Orochimaru’s actions that had the greatest personal effect on Naruto himself. Had it not been for Orochimaru, Sasuke would have most likely stayed in the village, and things would have been very, very different.

Once a touted prodigy of the leaf, turned into its greatest threat, then ultimately redeemed, Orochimaru sure got plenty of screen time and development throughout both series (and even in Boruto: Next Generations). Do you think you know everything there is to know about the snake summoning shinobi?

21 He Wasn't Afraid To Experiment On Himself

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Officially, Orochimaru is listed as not having any Kekki Genkai. Well, that wasn’t good enough for him. Orochimaru was known for his experimentation on others but never wavered in giving himself a taste of his own medicine. Through intense and loosely explained gene therapy, Orochimaru was able to use the wood release Jutsu, something only members of the Senju clan should be able to do. On top of that, Orochimaru is able to use all five nature releases as well as yin and yang release Jutsu. His ultimate dream was to learn every Jutsu possible, and nothing, even tampering with his own body, would get in the way of that.

20 We've Heard This Story Before

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Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru, all got their names from a bit of Japanese folklore titled Jiraiya Gōketsu Monogatari, or in English “The Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant.” First recorded in 1806, the story follows the title character, Jiraiya, who was a shapeshifting ninja. If you guessed, he could transform into a toad, you’ve been paying attention. He tries to win the love and affection of the beautiful Tsunade, who uses slug magic. In the original legend, Orochimaru was actually Jiraiya's student. He went by the name Yashagorō but was slowly corrupted by evil magic. He became the serpent master, Orochimaru, and became his former master’s sworn enemy. Ironic, considering Jiraiya was the one always chasing Orochimaru’s skill!

19 I'll Make My Own Village

Orochimaru was notorious for his experiments throughout the series. The first we see is, of course, the curse mark he gives to Sasuke and the one he had already placed on Anko. It didn’t stop there, however. Orochimaru had founded an entire village, just to be a cover-up for his human experiments. His idea was to attract powerful ninja and use them for his twisted games. He also had the ulterior motive of using the village to gain access to Konoha’s Chunnin exams, to aid in eliminating his former master, the Third Hokage. If you don’t want to follow the law, make your own country, then make your own laws. I guess it makes sense, even if it is a tad extra.

18 Not a Picky Eater

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So, we're guessing this is playing off the whole snake motif. We're pretty sure there are a lot of species of snakes that eat bird eggs, and if there aren’t, there are at least cartoons depicting such a relationship. That’s not the disturbing part though, after all, plenty of people like eggs. Seeing past the irony that Orochimaru himself is a cold-blooded, reptile-like man, anything cold bugs us a lot. Does it imply that Orochimaru would eat anything not cold, including, oh maybe, a person? I wouldn’t put it past him to have tried some fresh-cut human meat while he was doing his experiments. Admittedly though, leaving it open-ended makes it even spookier.

17 Nothing Lasts Forever

The snake iconography associated with Orochimaru wasn’t by happenstance. Yes, the Orochimaru in The Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant was also fond of serpents, but the reference goes even deeper than that. Snakes are seen as an image of immorality in western and eastern cultures alike. The imagery of a snake shedding its skin is often linked to reincarnation and ultimately, eternal life. Orochimaru takes this up to the 11th degree by not only shedding his skin but hopping into someone else’s. There is also the iconography of Oroborus, a snake consuming its own tail. This symbol is meant to show that power will ultimately destroy itself, which Orochimaru kind of did by making Sasuke a wrecking machine who eventually turned his blade on the snake-man.

16 A Scale Off The Ole' Snake

Orochimaru in Boruto

So, you put the legendary Sannin in a room, right? You give them a nice up and down, maybe read about them a bit, chat with them for a while, etc. Then you get asked, “out of the three of them, who would you think should raise a child?” If your answer is Orochimaru, maybe you need to work a few things out. Though the other Sannin passed off their knowledge, and have spiritual successors in Naruto and Sakura, only Orochimaru has an actual offspring. Maybe he figured that was the key to immorality all along? After all, Sasuke was never meant to be his successor, just his new vessel. Yuck. Either way, thus far, he looks like he’s an ok parent so maybe he’s changed for the better?

15 All Work And No Play...

During his time as an official ninja of Konoha, Orochimaru completed 1,468 missions. They were 16 D-Rank, 332 C-Rank, 521 B-Rank, 491 A-Rank, and 108 S-Rank. Now take into account that Orochimaru defected from the village in his early thirties. That means he had about a twenty-year window to complete all those missions. This man ate, slept, and breathed ninja action. You could imagine the isolation, and mental strain Orochimaru had during his time as a ninja. I could only imagine what his actual elimination count was all those years. Even more disturbing was how much his mission ranking progressed. To only do 16 D-Rank missions meant they moved him on up very young. No one in this village seems to know a thing about developmental psychology!

14 Cult Of Personality

Turning into a snake, biting people, and giving them curse marks (heck, even stealing people’s bodies), are all scary in their own right. But, what I find to be the most disturbing about Orochimaru is how people flock to him. Orochimaru was able to inspire fierce loyalty in his servants. From Kabuto to the Sound Four, to Kimmimaro, all were willing to follow him to their deaths. When Anko was growing up, it was almost implied she fell in love with Orochimaru and allowed him to use and experiment on her body. Though never loyal to him, Orochimaru was even able to sway Sasuke to abandon his entire life in the village, just for the promise of power. Let’s not forget the literal army he had during the Konoha Crush incident as well. Orochimaru’s Jutsus are fearsome, but it’s his power of persuasion that makes him incredibly dangerous.

13 Best Of The Best

Orochimaru is a great story of what could have been. Together with Tsunade and Jiraiya, they were arguably the greatest ninja squad to ever live (before Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke matured). To be the strongest, from the strongest squad, has a lot of implications. Orochimaru was able to 2 vs 1 Jiraya and Tsunade, without the use of his arms. Granted he had Kabuto pulling some weight, and Tsunade was a little rusty, but still, that was no easy feat. Despite Tsunade and Jiraiya's good hearts, Orochimaru was better than both of them, basically since birth. I think this is where Naruto differs from a lot of shonen manga. Sometimes, the bad guy is just better than you, and no amount of Nakama magic is ever going to change that.

12 It Didn't Have To Be Like This

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The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was the master and squad leader for the Legendary Sannin. Among them was his star pupil, Orochimaru. Orochimaru was able to copy Sarutobi’s techniques after watching them once. It didn’t take long before Sarutobi admitted that Orochimaru was indeed stronger than he was. Sarutobi often chastised Jiraya and wanted him to be more like Orochimaru. In fact, if Sarutobi had his way, Orochimaru would have been the Fourth Hokage. However, once Orochimaru’s crimes came to light, Sarutobi had no choice but to sentence his former student to death. Eventually, Orochimaru would repay his master, by killing him. Orochimaru was left with a bitter hatred for the leaf, but had he not strayed off to the path of evil, he would have easily gotten his wish to lead the village. Talk about throwing a kunai into your own foot.

11 No Turning Back From This

You may be asking yourself, “what crimes did Orochimaru commit that were so bad he was sentenced to demise?” Well, basically, he was taking members of his own village and experimenting on them. There was a period of pandemonium and fear in the hidden leaf as powerful shinobi kept disappearing. Eventually, those disappearances were traced back to Orochimaru. What’s even creepier is Orochimaru spent his days amongst the villagers, acting like nothing was wrong, while he was harming his own comrades. Before he made his leave permeant, Orochimaru stole 60 infants from Konoha for his experiments. The one to survive was none other than Captain Yamato.

10 Absolute Disregard For Life

After Sasuke “eliminated” the slippery snake master, he went on a journey to gather up some friends. On his emo-world-tour, he managed to find Suigetsu, who Orochimaru left in a tube, Karin, who was another victim of Orochimaru’s genetic medaling, and Jugo the source of the curse marks. What is interesting to note is where he found these people, particularly Jugo. It seemed that using the Hidden Sound Village as a front wasn’t enough for Orochimaru. He had set up large prison camps, where he would house his failed experiments, or cultivate potential vessels for a body transfer. The conditions in these camps were less than stellar, as Orochimaru saw their inhabitants as assets, and not living things. Sasuke ended up liberating some of these camps, but only the ones he found. It begs the question, how many of these did Orochimaru set up, and what happened to the poor souls in the ones we never got to see?

9 Attack Of The Body Snatcher

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This was Orochimaru’s M.O. from the beginning. He wanted to snatch Sasuke’s body from him. Then you find out that Sasuke was kind of like sloppy seconds because he really wanted to snatch Itachi’s body. Then you see that he kind of just snatches bodies for the heck of it. Orochimaru uses the Living Corpse Reincarnation technique that he invented to steal people’s bodies. The first time he reveals it, he shows that he stole the body of an unknown woman to replace the hand that Itachi had cut off. Girl or boy, it didn’t matter to Orochimaru. All that mattered was the bottom line, power. He eventually pulled the move off on Sasuke but was unable to overtake his body. Instead he kind of just chilled inside of it, waiting for the right time to strike. Gross.

8 Remember All That Stuff I Did? Me Neither

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Orochimaru did a lot of awful things. From stealing people’s bodies, to attacking Konoha and assassinating its leader, to kidnapping 60 infants, to kidnapping his colleges to experiment on them, and who knows what else off-screen, I’d say Orochimaru’s ticket to the underworld has been punched several times. Now, granted, he helped a lot in the final battle with Madara and Obito but… does that really just make all the terrible things he did go away? Think of all the families he’s destroyed, the lives he’s ruined, to say nothing of the people he’s hurt. I know Naruto is a sweet boy, but he may have been a little too soft on this one.

7 I'll Always Be A Part Of You

Orochimaru

Immortality is definitely a reoccurring theme for Orochimaru. He seemed so desperate to achieve it, that he went through multiple different routes to assure he would live forever. One of those ways was to merge his own chakra into the curse seals he placed on his disciplines. As we saw with Sasuke, and later Anko during the Shinobi war, Orochimaru is somehow able to physically live inside his victims, like a virus. It is almost like Sakon and Ukon’s parasite body Jutsu. Orochimaru’s curse seal became the ultimate life insurance policy, as anyone with knowledge of it, could bring him back from oblivion. The grossest part was how he was physically pulled out of the victim’s body like a sprout. It still gives me shivers when I think about that scene, poor Anko went through so much.

6 You Just Had To Have It All

Orochimaru really had it all, but it was never enough for him. He was orphaned at a very young age, but despite this, was surrounded by plenty of love. He was Sarutobi’s prized student, Jiraya’s best friend, and well respected by Tsunade. He was touted as one of the finest ninjas to ever live and a once-in-a-generation talent. His followers, such as Anko, gave him the utmost respect and devotion. Still, it wasn’t enough for him. Orochimaru wanted to master every single ninja technique in the world but knew he wouldn’t have enough time to do so. This desire for power, for perfection, eventually led him to the path of ruin. While trying to gain it all, he lost everything, his friends, his reputation, and his honor. The worst part is? He never seems to lament his choices or seek redemption. It’s as if he would do it all again if he were given the choice.

5 History Repeats Itself

Much of Orochimaru’s lore was borrowed heavily from ancient Japanese mythology, as so eloquently explained above. Much like his life was outlined loosely in the Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant, his death was also prewritten. The myth of Yamata No Orochi (or the Eight-Forked Giant Snake) tells of a giant, eight-tailed, eight-headed snake, that battled the god Susanoo no Mikoto. Yamata No Orochi keeps the Kusanagi sword inside of him, just as Orochimaru does. When Yamata No Orochi is ultimately defeated by Susanoo, he uses the Totsuka Sword to put down the beast. This mirrors Itachi ultimately defeating and sealing Orochimaru in his Susanoo form using the, you guessed it, Tosuka Sword.

4 No Excuses

Now, way before Orochimaru fell at the hands of Itachi, many fans were already drawing connections between him, and the Yamata No Orochi of legend. A common belief among many fans was that Orochimaru was in fact, the Jinchuriki of the 8-tailed beast. In this theory, the 8-tailed beast was obviously Yamata No Orochi. Fans figured that he had either fully succumbed to the will of the beast, or perhaps had some oddly-shared consciousness with it. After all, this was an easy way to rationalize all the horrid things he had done and his monstrous abilities. Obviously, as the series went on it was revealed the 8-tailed beast was actually inside of Killer B of the Hidden Cloud Village. Orochimaru didn’t need a tailed beast to be an absolute terror. As the series progressed, the reader saw that there was nothing affecting or controlling Orochimaru, he was the way he was, because he chose to be.

3 Yeah, Nothing Concerning About That

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You can probably put this under the “major red flag” department in any sort of psychological evaluation. According to the databooks written by Kishimoto, Orochimaru’s favorite words, as seen above, translate to “destroy” and “chaos,” respectively. Yikes. Well given all the stunts he’s pulled throughout the ninja world, these really don’t come as a shock. I mean I would go with “immortal” or “power” but maybe those are too on the nose? Orochimaru, for a man who loved to create techniques, did way more destroying in his life. His very existence sowed seeds of chaos and distrust between nations, and even close friends.

2 My, You're Looking Younger, Which Is Bad

When Naruto, Sasuke, Cho Cho, and Sarada, go to uncle Orochimaru’s hideout, he seems even younger than he did in part one. Naruto makes a comment about it, which is met with an eerie silence from Orochimaru. Couple this with Mizuki calling him “parent” (not specifying Mom or Dad) and one can probably infer Orochimaru is still body snatching. One week he’s Mizuki’s mom, the next he’s a dad, so Mizuki prob said forget it and figured it was easier to say “parent.” I guess old habits die hard, but what's even stranger is Naruto was just like “eh whatever."