Orochimaru is one of the main villains of the Naruto series. Introduced quite early during the Chunin Exams arc, he went on to become a huge threat for the village of Konohagakure throughout the majority of the story.
However, much like most villains in the Naruto story, Orochimaru was, ultimately, redeemed and let off even though he did some horrible things in his life. While there are some reasons as to why that was the right decision, others simply indicate that he shouldn't have been forgiven as easily as he was.
10 Makes Sense: The Death Of His Parents Affected Him And Made Him Seek Answers
Orochimaru was once a gentle kid, just like the others in the village. The only thing he wanted as a child were answers to life and death, triggered by his parents' death, and this ultimately, affected him a lot.
Orochimaru became obsessed with it to a point where he couldn't see right from wrong and ended up doing some vile things. Realizing his mistake, however, Orochimaru stopped in his evil ways and decided to do the right thing later on.
9 Doesn't Make Sense: He Did Vile Experiments On Children
Although Orochimaru had no ill intentions as a child, he grew up with nothing but evil in his mind. During his time at Konohagakure, he secretly experimented on children and never thought about their lives.
In fact, most of his experiments ended with his test subjects dying. He killed a countless number of children in his experiments and that's something that should never have been forgiven.
8 Makes Sense: He Realized His Mistakes From Watching Kabuto
Kabuto Yakushi decided to take over Orochimaru's mission after he died and wanted to achieve the perfection that Orochimaru once sought. After getting his hands on what he wanted, Kabuto was faced by Sasuke and Itachi Uchiha and was ultimately defeated.
Noticing this, Orochimaru realized the path he took was flawed from the start and gave up on his evil ways because of his subordinate. In the future, he is known to have become a better person.
7 Doesn't Make Sense: He Is A Mass Murderer
Orochimaru abandoned Konohagakure after his experiments were found out and turned rogue. He then went on to continue down the evil path and killed a huge number of people on the way.
During the Konoha Crush arc, Orochimaru was directly responsible for multiple deaths and what's shocking is that he was never held accountable for it. All his crimes were simply erased which is rather bizarre.
6 Makes Sense: He Found The Answers Through Sasuke Uchiha
Orochimaru always had a keen interest in Sasuke, primarily because he wanted to take control of his body and become stronger. However, as the story went on, Orochimaru realized that he was much more interested in seeing where destiny takes Sasuke.
Through him, Orochimaru wanted to arrive at a different conclusion about the meaning of shinobi, living and dying. As such, he followed this up by aiding Sasuke in his goals and in doing so, helped save the world too.
5 Doesn't Make Sense: He Attempted To Destroy Konohagakure
Orochimaru is known to have held a grudge against Konohagakure and had made it his goal to destroy the village in his lifetime. During the Chunin Exams arc of the series, he managed to successfully infiltrate the village and orchestrated an attack there.
Thanks to the effort of the Third Hokage, the village was saved from complete destruction and Orochimaru lost his arms. His crimes against the village were never brought up in the series later, which makes very little sense.
4 Makes Sense: He Helped The Shinobi Alliance In The War
While Orochimaru did commit lots of evil acts, he also helped the Shinobi Alliance during the war against Madara Uchiha and in doing so, helped save the world.
In fact, he was one of the reasons why Tobi was stopped in the war and thus played an active part in saving countless lives there. After the war, Orochimaru's relationship with the village seems to have improved and that is probably the reason why.
3 Doesn't Make Sense: He Killed The Third Hokage And Fourth Kazekage
Among the many crimes that Orochimaru committed was the murder of the Third Hokage and the Fourth Kazekage. Sunagakure was led into the war against Konohagakure by Orochimaru and eventually, he turned his back on them and killed their Kage.
In Konoha, while he failed to destroy the village, he managed to kill the Third Hokage before going down. Surprisingly, all these crimes of his were forgiven as well.
2 Makes Sense: He Is A Big Source Of Help
In the Boruto era, Orochimaru is monitored by Konohagakure shinobi, however, for the most part, he is allowed to do what he wants. The relationship he shares with Konohagakure seems to be okay as he sent his son, Mitsuki, there to become a shinobi.
In return, Konoha often asks him for help, especially the likes of Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha due to his superior knowledge.
1 Doesn't Make Sense: He Supported The Akatsuki
At one point after abandoning the village, Orochimaru ended up joining the Akatsuki, and in doing so, played an indirect part in starting the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Although he left the group once he made use of them, that doesn't change the fact that he helped them for quite a bit and played a big part in the potential destruction of the entire world.
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