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Character Bios - Orichimaru
Legendary Sennin/Unknown/S-Rank Criminal

Techniques:
Fushi Tensei (Living Corpse Reincarnation)
Futon: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)
Goguoufuuin (Five Element Seal)
Juin Jutsu (Cursed Seal Technique)
Kanashibari no Jutsu (Temporary Paralysis Technique)
Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)
Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei (Summoning: Impure World Resurrection)
Kuchiyose: Rashomon (Summoning: Rashomon)
Kusanagi no Tsurugi: Kū no Tachi( Kusanagi Sword: Long Sword of the Heavens)
Nan no Kaizo (Soft Physique Modification)
Senai Jashuu (Hidden Snake Hands)
Souja Sousai no Jutsu (Double Snake Assassination)
Sanju Rashomon (Triple Rashomon)
Senaitajashu (Hidden Many Snake Hands)
Shikumi no Jutsu (Death Foreseeing Technique)
Shūshagan no Jutsu (Vanishing Facial Copy Technique)
Utsusemi no Jutsu (Projection Technique)

Description: Orochimaru is perhaps the most famous and infamous person to ever inhabit Konoha. Trained by the Third Hokage, referred to by many as the God of Shinobi in his prime, he shares the group recognition with Tsunade and Jiraiya as one of the "Legendary Three" (Sannin). It is possible that he may have even been his tutor’s favourite from the way that Jiraiya was asked to be more like him. However, his legacy would be smeared in blood before he ever surpassed his master.

Morino Ibiki, the sadistic and iron-gutted sadist confessed that Orochimaru gave him the creeps, something Ibiki was used to doing himself. Ibiki described him as though he was not human, just something evil that had a humanoid shape. With his dead-white skin, prehensile, long tongue and reptilian eyes, it’s easy to understand why even Ibiki would be intimidated. However, unfortunately for many, Orochimaru’s appearance was not the most horrible thing about him. Orochimaru was a perfectionist and showed unequalled devotion to learning and collecting techniques, a trait he almost passed onto his sole student, Mitarashi Anko, teaching her a number of forbidden techniques and passing on his skills related to snakes. He also branded her with something that would become his signature later, a “curse seal”. Appearing as an inky marking on the body of the person he gave it to, they would go into a coma-like state, one that had a 1/10 survival rate. Anko survived, but later realised that the man she hero-worshipped was a manipulator and she was just his guinea pig.

In his later years, Orochimaru began to realise that no matter how good a ninja was, age and death would always overcome him. Seeing his tutor grow old and no longer shine as he once did, he committed a sin that would forever taint him. Already, his immoral ideals had spooked enough people, probably including the advisory council, into rejecting him for the position of Fourth Hokage. It was then that Orochimaru went to work on something truly nihilistic. Gathering living human subjects for experimentation, Orochimaru plucked victims from Chuunin, Jounin and even the ANBU. One such experiment involved Orochimaru infusing the genes of Shodai Hokage into 60 children. Shodai was unique in his ability to control the tailed demons at
his will and also his ability to use Mokuton techniques. Though he would not be around to see it, 59 of the children soon died. One lived and grew up to be known as the elite ANBU "Yamato". Orochimaru's experiments would prove successful, with Yamato able to use Shodai's abilities as his own.

Eventually, the Third Hokage penetrated his booby-trapped lair and he was caught red-handed in a laboratory lined with the mutilated remains of the abducted hanging from chains on the walls. As he was questioned, he revealed his epiphany. He was working on something that would allow him to cheat death and gradually become a master of all techniques, gaining the knowledge
that would grant him a title beyond even his tutor’s – the ultimate being. However, instead of being punished, he took advantage of the compassion that his old teacher was known for and fled with his life. As he fled, Jiraiya took chase. Jiraiya pleaded for him to return, but Orochimaru mocked his feelings and his failure to see the truth of his actions. The two battled
and Orochimaru fled for good. Jiraiya would thereafter give up on trying to save Orochimaru.

Orochimaru’s activities around this point become muddy. It is known for sure that he was a member of the criminal organisation Akatsuki. However, he left at some point due to Uchiha Itachi. Orochimaru, at some time, decided a major factor in his goal to know every technique would be the Sharingan eye, enabling him to copy what he saw. However, Itachi would not give up his eyes so easily and Orochimaru proclaimed that he feared Itachi, presumably after seeing the Mangekyou Sharingan in action and deciding that trying to take Itachi’s eyes would be too risky. Orochimaru left Akatsuki, fully aware of their plans and with bad blood between them.

It is known that after leaving, Orochimaru completed half his goal: He gained immortality. By using a technique where he caused his soul to forever remain in the mortal world and transferred his mind into the bodies of victims, he could never pass on. Orochimaru proved it true as he took a female’s body and inhabited it for a number of years, although he gradually managed to reshape it to a certain degree to resemble his old one. The corpse of the old Orochimaru was probably disposed of, but a memento of his past remains in the form of his forearm and hand mounted onto a base like a trophy, with the Akatsuki ring he once wore still sitting on the decaying middle finger.

Orochimaru then decided upon his next plan of action, with both of his next accomplishments being in his old village. Knowing that Itachi left one other of the clan alive, Orochimaru set his sights on Uchiha Sasuke among other skilled ninja. Travelling around the world as a sage offering to help those lost and vulnerable, his real purpose was to collect talented young ninja as
either servants or for the “luckiest”, his next body. His managed to sway many to his side, including the allegiance of a Leaf ninja, Yakushi Kabuto, who would become his spy. His other converts included the last of the brutal Kaguya clan, Kimimaro and the orphan Zaku Abumi. Orochimaru’s charisma and skill as a manipulator grew to the extent that he held influence over many clans as their saviour, even allowing him to persuade the Feudal Lord of the Rice Field country to allow him to found and establish a hidden village there for the purpose of training ninja and strengthening the country. Of course, none of Orochimaru’s offers were benevolent, only self-serving. Regardless, the village of Hidden Sound came to be.

It was the year that Uchiha Sasuke attempted to become a Chuunin that Orochimaru made his move, sneaking into the exam in disguise – initially as the tutor of three Sound Genin participating in the exam, next as a participant from Grass after literally melting the face from his skull and wearing it as a mask. Under the Grass ninja disguise, he first engaged Sasuke in single combat to test him, and then gave him the curse seal. At the same time, he gave his trio of subordinates the command to terminate Sasuke. It was only thanks to Sakura that Sasuke lived long enough to wake up. The order was really to place Sasuke under as much stress as possible, forcing him to rely on the curse seal, as use of it over time would slowly divert Sasuke’s will into serving him. Orochimaru also ran into Anko during his travels, humiliating her by almost allowing her to kill herself and him at the same time while bringing up their past relation. He also later came to mock Kakashi’s efforts in suppressing the seal, telling him Sasuke would remove the barriers himself and come to Orochimaru of his own will.

Orochimaru’s next move was personal. In the finals of the Chuunin exam, the Kazekage, a guest spectator, suddenly held the Third Hokage hostage and from nowhere, scores of Sound and Sand ninja flooded the stadium. It was revealed that both villages were working co-operatively to wage war on Leaf. However, the Kazekage addressed him by his real name – Sarutobi. Instantly, he recognized his attacker, who tore off the Kazekage’s robes and engaged his former mentor, pulling some of his most inhuman acts yet. Pulling the souls of the First and Second Hokage from the afterlife, he fixed them into the bodies of his teenage subordinates – who had been prepared for sacrifice through live burial in ash and dirt, finally using a charm to turn their minds into ferocious killing machines. Though a totally heartless act, Orochimaru did show an instance of emotion through a single question.

Do you know the happiness and sense of accomplishment you gain when you have a chance to hurt the one you called "master"?

However, even though the battle was in Orochimaru’s favour, using his own reptilian sword, the combined Hokage slaves and his personal bodyguards forming a barrier, his defeat came when Sarutobi, knowing he would die, performed a suicidal technique that cost him his soul. Summoning the death god itself, Sarutobi instructed it to rip out and consume the souls of
Orochimaru’s slaves, then Orochimaru’s soul. However, he was too close to death, especially with Orochimaru’s sword in his back, to complete the task. Choosing the next best thing and possibly something worse than death for Orochimaru, the death god took away the portions of Orochimaru’s soul that connected to his arms, which fell limp and impotent and rendered him unable to even make a hand seal. The irony of knowing so many techniques and not being able to utilise them hit Orochimaru as Sarutobi died in front of him, seeing not the furious abomination that almost murdered him as he closed his eyes, but the confident student he admired and raised. Orochimaru and his forces were driven away to their village, also cutting off his alliance with Sand as the Kazekage’s corpse was found, alerting Sand that he was not co-operating with Orochimaru and instead, the Kazekage that ordered the strike on Leaf was Orochimaru himself.

For a while, Orochimaru’s activity was limited. In constant agony from his incapacitated arms, Orochimaru decided to seek out the legendary medical specialist, his former partner, Tsunade. Coincidentally, Jiraiya had also decided to look for her as a replacement for the Third Hokage. It was Orochimaru who got to her first, proposing a deal with her. Knowing her history, he would use his resurrection technique, as he did with the former Hokage brothers, to bring back Tsunade’s younger brother, Nawaki and her lover, Dan, who had both been killed when she was younger. Leaving her a week to decide, Orochimaru was well prepared for her, knowing of her phobia of blood and preying on her sentimentality, saying he could only perform the resurrection if his hands were healed.

A week passed and at their meeting point, Orochimaru raised his hands to her. However, Kabuto stopped her at the last minute, recognising that Tsunade was about to assassinate Orochimaru instead of healing. The two fled as Tsunade chased them, resulting in Kabuto exploiting her phobia and taking her on in combat, being a medical specialist himself although not quite on her level. Jiraiya arrived to even the odds, slowing Orochimaru down a lot while Naruto took on Kabuto. Orochimaru was stunned by the boy’s capabilities, deciding his #1 priority, even over dealing with Tsunade and Jiraiya, was to kill Naruto before the Akatsuki Organisation abducted him. Tsunade used herself as a human shield, vowing to protect the boy. Orochimaru then decided to hold her to her position and slashed her up with his sword in his mouth, giving her fatal injuries. Tsunade, however, also intended to stick to her word and on that decision, accepted the position of Fifth Hokage, using a technique to heal herself even though it shortened her lifespan. Fighting back, the legendary three pulled out their trump cards, summoning the masters of all animals. Orochimaru’s gigantic anaconda, Manda, held off both Jiraiya’s toad, Gamabunta and Tsunade’s slug, Katsuyu on his own and was about to bite into Gamabunta when Tsunade herself drove Gamabunta’s huge dagger into Manda’s mouth. With nothing to be achieved, Orochimaru once again retreated, taunting that there was still another way to heal his arms and that he was immortal.

Orochimaru then sent his personal bodyguards, The Sound Four, to sneak into Leaf with an invitation for Sasuke, who had suffered numerous losses. Each member of the group bore a Curse Seal, just like Sasuke and once they engaged him, they told him the seal had a second stage of release that they would help him acquire – IF he left Leaf behind and joined Orochimaru.
However, while the temptation occurred, Orochimaru’s arms were now putting him through unbearable torture. Cracked, bleeding and crumbling away, Orochimaru needed a new body and couldn’t wait. Kabuto arranged for a royal rumble among selected prisoners of Orochimaru’s, telling them to fight to the death until one remained. Orochimaru approached the winner and
transferred his mind into the entranced ninja, ending his agony at a price – the transfer has a three-year “recharge” period. When his bodyguards took too long, he sent out a solitary ninja as reinforcement – stricken by illness and almost crippled, Kimimaro Kaguya, the leader of the Sound Four (which was previously the Sound Five before his sickness). Moving by means he described more or less as mind over matter, Kimimaro held back the forces of Leaf sent to bring Sasuke back long enough for Sasuke to adapt to the seal and run to Orochimaru of his own (if somewhat warped) will. Although his bodyguards all perished in the mission, Orochimaru’s face lit up as his new body, bearing a fully released curse seal and the Sharingan, walked down the halls of his lair. In three years, his ambition would finally be realized…

In the intervening years Orochimaru would escape the eye of Akatsuki and move bases. He, Kabuto and Sasuke would move every week to a new location, and only stay at that location for three days. Akatsuki member Sasori had utilized a memory block jutsu to place his subordinates in different ninja villages as a means to gather information and provide sabotage. One such
memory block had been placed on Kabuto approximately five years earlier in the hopes of finding more information on Orochimaru's body transfer jutsu. Sasori had arranged to meet with Kabuto to gain updated information on Orochimaru. Sasori fell in battle before the meeting but Leaf ninja impersonated his Hiruko puppet form in the hopes of attaining the information meant for him. When Kabuto met the Leaf ninja Yamato and his team of Naruto, Sakura and Sai, he acted as Sasori's faithful servant. When Orochimaru appeared Kabuto jumped to Sasori's side but quickly revealed himself by cutting off Hiruko’s head. Orochimaru and Kabuto, who had actually had the memory block removed years earlier by Orochimaru, hoped to actually kill Sasori but now they were pitted against Naruto and the other Leaf ninja.
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