Masashi Kishimoto took over a decade to complete Naruto , and managed to become one of the most popular manga and anime series in history. One of the reasons it became so popular is because many of the characters are well written and skilled, including the villains. Orochimaru spent most of the series as a villain who did terrible things to achieve his goal.
Orochimaru is one of the Legendary Sannin of the Leaf Village, and in terms of strength and overall skill, he is one of the strongest ninjas the village has produced. He was a very dangerous ninja, but also quite cunning, and he almost destroyed the Leaf ninjas. Orochimaru might be smart, but that doesn’t mean that everything he did made sense.
10 For some reason, he decided never to take Suigetsu’s body
At one point, Suigetsu wielded one of the legendary seven swords of the Mist Village, but he also possessed his clan’s Hydrification Technique. Members of the Hōzuki Clan could use this technique to liquefy their bodies when necessary. In battle, this technique caused physical attacks to simply pierce through Suigetsu’s body.
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Orochimaru was always looking for new ships, especially those with unique traits like Kimimaro and his Shikotsumyaku kekkei genkai. Orochimaru presumably held Suigetsu captive for at least two years, but he never got hold of his body even though doing so would have given him a significant defensive advantage in battle.
9 could have got my arms back sooner
There are definitely jutsu that should be classified as forbidden, but none of them cause immediate death like the Grim Reaper’s Seal of Death. This sealing jutsu was developed by the Uzumaki Clan, and the 3rd Hokage used it to seal Orochimaru’s arms.
Orochimaru eventually regained the use of his arms by changing bodies, but he couldn’t use many jutsu because his true arms were still sealed. The Uzumaki Clan had a temple near the Leaf Village, and it contained a mask that allowed someone to be possessed by Shinigami. This possession allowed the person to recover the souls trapped within the Shinigami. Orochimaru knew how to get his arms back, but for some reason, he decided not to.
8 Killing the 4th Kazekage was unnecessary
When Orochimaru attacked the Leaf Village, he did so with the help of the Sand Village. The Arena had been losing funding for quite some time because the Feudal Lord of the Wind Country was outsourcing missions to the Blade, so when Orochimaru approached the village with an offer to destroy the Blade, the 4th Kazekage accepted.
However, before the invasion occurred, Orochimaru killed the 4th Kazekage to impersonate him. The 4th Kazekage was by no means the healthiest character in the series, but he was extremely powerful, and killing him didn’t make any tactical sense. By killing him, Orochimaru lost a powerful ally who could have helped fight the 3rd Hokage.
7 Technically I didn’t even need the Sand Town
Orochimaru used his own Sound ninjas to attack the Leaf, and it was smart to bring the Arena as allies since they are one of the Five Great Nations, but he didn’t really need their help. During the invasion, Orochimaru proved that he could use the Edo Tensei to bring the dead back to life when he resurrected the 1st and 2nd Hokage.
The Edo Tensei comes with quite a few advantages, including the fact that the user can create an army of reanimated soldiers. Kabuto provided an army for Edo Tensei during the Fourth Great Ninja War, so it’s possible. If Orochimaru had followed this path, he would have attacked the Blade with dozens of powerful and indestructible shinobi.
6 he didn’t use Anko as a spy
The ninja world was full of seemingly endless conflicts, so the villages sent spies into enemy territory. Being a spy is a dangerous job, but the information they gather can be quite useful, and Orochimaru may have had a spy in Leaf Village in addition to Kabuto.
Anko was once a student of Orochimaru, and he gave her the same curse mark that he put on Sasuke. He used Anko as a test subject, and altered his memories to make him believe that he had abandoned her because he could not feed the curse mark. If he had the ability to alter her memory, he could have easily turned her into a spy without knowing it.
5 He voluntarily teamed up with Danzō
Danzō did a lot of questionable things for the good of the Leaf Village, making him one of the most evil villains in the series. At some point after the Second Great Ninja War, Orochimaru joined the ANBU of the Leaf, and decided to join Root so that he could work under Danzō.
Orochimaru knew that Danzō had no regard for others, especially when it came to “protecting” the Leaf Village. Danzō would undoubtedly have betrayed Orochimaru whenever he had the chance, and yet the Sannin decided to trust him anyway.
4 he didn’t need Sasuke since he had Shin
Most of Orochimaru’s story revolved around making Sasuke his new vessel because he wanted a body that possessed the Sharingan. This makes sense since Sasuke was the youngest of the remaining Uchiha, but Orochimaru had already captured someone who possessed the Sharingan.
Shin may not be a true Uchiha, but he was obsessed with the clan, and had a unique physiology that allowed him to accept any new genetic material. This allowed Orochimaru to successfully implant multiple Sharingan into Shin’s body, and one of these eyes even became a Mangekyō Sharingan.
3 He could have achieved immortality through Edo Tensei
Orochimaru wanted to learn all the secrets and jutsu in the world, and believed that he could only achieve it if he was immortal. He managed to achieve a certain level of immortality, but ended up becoming a true monster in the process.
Orochimaru knew how to use the Edo Tensei, which means that he should have also known that a reanimated shinobi can break free from summoning if he knows the proper hand signals. If Orochimaru had allowed himself to be revived, he could have freed himself and given himself a true immortal body like Madara did during the war.
2 could have avoided being the target of the Akatsuki
Orochimaru is one of the most fearless characters in the series, so he didn’t mind being hunted by the Akatsuki, but turning the powerful criminal organization into an enemy was not the smartest choice. When Orochimaru was part of the Akatsuki, he tried to steal Itachi’s body, but the Uchiha stopped him and cut off his left arm.
He ended up leaving the organization right after this incident to get a new body. The Akatsuki never punished Kakuzu for killing his comrades, so Orochimaru probably wouldn’t have been punished either, so leaving the group was pointless in that regard. He could also have simply told Pain that he needed time to get a new body instead of defecting outright.
1 He knew that Sasuke would try to kill him, but he took no action.
When it comes to scientific research and actual combat, Orochimaru is one of the smartest characters in the world. Naruto, but for some reason, he didn’t adequately prepare for a betrayal that he knew was coming.
When Sasuke attacked Orochimaru, the Sannin mentioned that he knew Sasuke would come after him, but he had no countermeasures to deal with the Sharingan’s genjustu, despite knowing that Sasuke’s eyes were sharper than Itachi’s. It’s true that Orochimaru reappeared when Sasuke’s chakra was depleted during his climactic match with Itachi, but trying to seize a body in the middle of a fight doesn’t make much sense either.