Orochimaru not having a backstory in Naruto is one of its biggest flaws

For over ten years, Naruto author Masashi Kishimoto created characters that viewers couldn’t get out of their minds. The likes of Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi were some of the most well rounded characters.

Even minor characters were not spared from Kishimoto’s Midas touch as they were equally written well. The likes of Haku and Zabuza were fan favorites despite the little screen time they had and the role (which was not good) they played.

While Kishimoto did an exceptional job with some of the characters, he handled some other characters poorly. Most of them were female characters. The likes of Ten Ten, Ino, and Temari were used as a crutch for their male characters; Sakura who was one of the main characters was also a victim of Kishimoto. However, there was no character in Naruto who deserved a backstory like Orochimaru.

The Sannin was instrumental in almost every arc of the series, but much of his early life was shrouded in mystery. This mystery prevented Orochimaru from being a god-tier anime character, and kept him at being just memorable. Orochimaru’s backstory would have elevated the plot and made the Sannin’s later redemption; instead, fans were thrown a stale reason as to why Orochimaru changed. Here is why Orochimaru needed a backstory.

Disclaimer: This article reflects the author’s views and may contain spoilers.

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Why Orochimaru’s backstory would have made Naruto better?

Young Orochimaru was an orphan (Image via Studio Pierrot)

Throughout the beginning of Naruto, there was no villain that terrorized the Hidden Leaf and viewers like Orochimaru did. He was the big bad evil before the likes of Madara even made their presence felt. For those who read the manga, the fear was felt whenever they saw the Sannin, but for those who watched anime and heard Orochimaru’s theme, the fear was on another level.

The dread around Orochimaru reached new heights when the Sannin battled with the Third Hokage and outclassed him. The only way Hiruzen won that fight was through a Kamikaze-esque sealing jutsu called Shiki Fujin. Hiruzen’s Sealing Jutsu failed to seal, but they took his arms, and that limited him from using jutsu. This should have been a quality time for Orochimaru’s backstory to have begun.

This is not the first time a poignant backstory has been inserted. After Pain was defeated by Naruto, Naruto met Nagato after and in their discussions, fans saw a glimpse into what made Nagato become Pain. For a villain of Orochimaru’s gravitas, he deserved a proper backstory. Not a narrative that would make viewers empathize with him, but one where they could understand him better.

Orochimaru is privy to many secrets in Naruto, and a spin-off would show those secrets (Image via Studio Pierrot)

Madara was an irredeemable villain, and his backstory made viewers understand why, but it did not portray him as anything remotely close to good. Orochimaru’s backstory should also be the same. It was not enough for Kishimoto to present Orochimaru as a power-thirsty maniac. Something must have led the Sannin down that path. In Naruto, the viewers did not get to see any of this.

Various hints were dropped throughout the series on Orochimaru’s childhood. It was shown that he was an orphan, and from the accounts of both Hiruzen and Jiraiya, the death of his parents affected him greatly.

However, the hints were not enough to fully understand the enigmatic Sannin, who was deeply twisted; hence his interest in science. This was his turning point at the end of Shippuden and his redemption arc in the Boruto Saga felt like a glass castle.

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Final thoughts

If there was any character in the entire series that deserved a spin-off, it had to be Orochimaru. Not only was he responsible for many happenings at the beginning of the series, but he was a key influence on actions like the Fourth Ninja War. One also had to find out how he accessed Hashirama's remains.

His reach also extended into organizations like the ANBU roots, as he and Danzo had a lot of shady dealings. There's a possibility that he knew about the Uchiha massacre before it happened. He might also be the one who implanted the Sharingan and Hashirama’s cells in the former Kage.

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