Orochimaru is a veteran shinobi from Konohagakure, a member of Team Hiruzen, and one of the legendary Sannin, along with his companions Jiraiya and Tsunade. He was a member of the Root organization under the leadership of Danzō and later defected from the village after being discovered doing experiments on the villagers, as well as being a former member of Akatsuki. He was one of the main antagonists of the series until his death at the hands of Sasuke Uchiha. But, in Boruto, Orochimaru came back and seems to be a good guy now. In this article, we are going to tell you whether Orochimaru is a good guy now or whether he is still evil.
Orochimaru is definitely not a bad guy anymore, but he is also far from a classical hero (or good guy). He went through a redemption arc in Boruto and certainly stopped being a villain, and although the characters trust him, he doesn’t seem to be a typical here, rather an amoral persona or an antihero at best. Be that as it may, he is definitely on the side of good at this moment.
As you might have deduced, this article is going to be focused on Orochimaru and his story in Boruto. You’re going to find out what exactly happened to the former antagonist and what his actual goals in Boruto are, as well as what happened to him in the sequel to Naruto. You’re also going to find out how Orochimaru’s return influenced the plot in general.
Why did Orochimaru turn evil?
Orochimaru was born in Konohagakure about 50 years before the beginning of the story. His parents passed away at an unknown point in his childhood. Already in his childhood his interest in immortality developed. As a result, he left some shinobi with the impression that he was inhuman and that something evil was developing in him. However, his master, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who later became the Third Hokage, always stood behind him. He saw a good person in Orochimaru and even a coming Hokage.
He got this impression through several conversations with Orochimaru and through his time as his sensei. On his team, Orochimaru has taken on the same role that Sasuke took on on Team 7. However, he has had a different attitude towards his team members and his sensei. They were like family to him and whenever Jiraiya made another stupid mistake, all he ever got was a smile.
Years later, when Konoha, Iwa, Suna, and Ame were at war, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade were also on the battlefield. During the war, they received the title “Sannin”. Later in the war, the Sannin encountered the Ame orphans, whom Orochimaru had no hesitation in killing, believing it would spare them a more painful end. But Jiraiya stopped him. After the war, Orochimaru devoted himself more to his experiments. Many of his test subjects died in the process. During this time, he developed the mark of the curse, which he inherited through Juugo’s own DNA.
About 26 years before the start of the series, he conducted an experiment on 60 newborns, in which he implanted the DNA of the first Hokage in order to “breed” the wood element in them. Believing that all children died from these experiments, he “disposed of” them. However, one of these children, Yamato, survived the experiments unnoticed, even displaying the ability Orochimaru bestowed upon him.
Orochimaru took Anko Mitarashi as his student. It is not known whether she was assigned to him. Orochimaru used Anko as a test subject for passing on the mark of the curse and subsequently abandoned her when she survived but seemed too weak. When it came time for the Third Hokage to choose his successor, Orochimaru figured his chances would be great. But not he, but Minato Namikaze became the Fourth Hokage. When Orochimaru confronted his sensei about this, he said something evil was growing in him and that he was no longer suitable for the position of Hokage.
Because of this, Orochimaru has developed a strong dislike for Konoha and Hiruzen Sarutobi. During the turmoil of the Third Shinobi World War, Orochimaru worked with Tatsuma Aburame to escort Danzou Shimura. Having been surprised by his former sensei and some ANBU units during his experiments, Orochimaru has been forced to leave Konoha to continue his research. There was a fight between him and Jiraiya, which Orochimaru won and Konoha finally turned his back on him. A short time later he joined the Akatsuki organization.
In which episode does Orochimaru become good?
The interesting thing about Orochimaru is that he died in Naruto, during the Fourth Shinobi World War, but he came back. After Sasuke’s defeat of Kabuto, Sasuke revives Orochimaru by using material from Kabuto’s body and Juugo’s Sennin chakra from Anko’s Bane Mark to grow a snake that spat out Orochimaru. Unlike those revived with Edo Tensei, Orochimaru was not actually dead.
His rebirth was possible because he had channeled his own Senjutsu chakra into the cursed marks. By his own admission, Orochimaru has seen everything that Anko has seen and thus knows about the war and Sasuke’s motives. He also drains Kabuto of his own chakra to regain some of his strength. Along with Juugo and Suigetsu, Orochimaru and Sasuke go to Konoha, where they visit the remains of the Uchiha’s Naka Shrine to invoke the god of death. Orochimaru uses secret art to trick the god of death into releasing the souls of those once sealed within him. In return, he demands the user as a victim.
However, with his rebirth jutsu, Orochimaru manages to survive this process and take over the body of a white Zetsu clone. Furthermore, through the ritual, he has regained the full power of his once-sealed arms and is now able to wield Edo Tensei himself. Finally, he summons the previous four Hokage and forces them to answer Sasuke’s questions. At this point, Tobirama Senju realizes that Orochimaru’s body consists almost entirely of the cells of his brother, Hashirama Senju, which is probably due to Zetsu’s body.
Once outside, Sarutobi asks Orochimaru why he wanted to help Sasuke, to which Orochimaru replies that Kabuto’s way of copying him was wrong. He is now curious about Sasuke’s fate, who has embarked on his own path. However, instead of following Sasuke and Juugo to the scene of the battle against the Ten-Tails, he goes to the place where the five Kage of Madara were defeated along with Karin and Suigetsu. There he causes his two subordinates to heal Tsunade, who then allows the other Kage to recover.
Speaking to him, Orochimaru reveals that he has changed and now no longer wants to “be the wind that turns all windmills”, but instead wants to enjoy the unexpected wind that others (especially Sasuke) create. After that, he goes to the battlefield together with Karin and Suigetsu with Katsuyu’s help. Although he said he was not interested in the war, he realizes that the fulfillment of Obito’s “dream” means the end of his experiments and that he cannot allow it. Along with Sarutobi he fights the Shinju and remembers the time when he was still a student and Hiruzen of the Sensei.
So, technically, Orochimaru became good the moment he was revived. Of course, his evolution continued and it was not an immediate process, but since the exact moment cannot be pinpointed, we can say that he becomes good when he comes back to life. This happened in Episode 341 of Naruto: Shippuden, titled “Orochimaru’s Return”. The episode premiered on December 5, 2013.
Is Orochimaru a villain or a hero?
Orochimaru is one of the most intriguing case studies you could actually find in modern-day anime. Namely, he started off as a major villain in the series and was one of the creepiest characters in Naruto. And throughout the main story, Orochimaru remained a villain up until his death. He was later resurrected by Sasuke and while his personality changed, he was still not someone that could be trusted.
But, in Boruto, things changed. Orochimaru went through a redemption arc and despite the initial distrust of Naruto and Sasuke, he has earned their trust in the meantime and is now a well-respected character. Sure, he did not give up on some of his old ways – mostly those related to science and experiments – but he is not a villain, that we can be certain of. Orochimaru is definitely on the side of the good, but intrinsically, he seems like an amoral antihero more than anything else.
This is why people are unsure of Orochimaru’s loyalties and whether he can be trusted in the long run. Sure, he probably won’t betray the heroes, but he still seems like someone who would care for himself first and then about the others, which definitely doesn’t make him a hero. But, as we have said, he is also not a villain so we’d say that he is somewhere in between these two categories, leaning more toward the heroic side. This is also why Yamato keeps following him, but that is a wholly different topic.
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