so, wait, how does this chapter fit into the timeline?

how old is kabuto? we see him first when naruto is 12 (i think) in the chuunin exams.

orochimaru defected sometime after minato was made hokage and before the kyuubi attack.

if kabuto is, say 6 years older than naruto, how old was he when danzo and oro turned up at the orphanage?

this all seems pretty fishy to me. does someone have a better explanation or did kishi screw up his own continuity?

 

There is about a two year gap between Kakashi getting the Sharingan and the Nine-Tails attack, perfect for Minato to be Hokage and Orochimaru to defect.

Kabuto was 19-20 during part 1, so it's about seven years difference between them.

 

Kabuto is 19 years old when Naruto first met him. That means he needs to be less than 7 years old when we was healing Oro (when they met at the orphanage he could already leave Village and still work with Danzo). It makes sense if Minato was Hokage for a short time, year or two so Kabuto was 5-6 years old in this scene (though he look older to me).

 

Orochimaru didn't defect before Kyuubi attack...

 

I'm sure that in all the battles he's been he must have deflected his fair share of thrown weaponry, even before the Kyuubi attack.

 

You know what I mean, he was Konoha shinobi for at least 2 years after Kyubii attack...

 

Yawn I really don't care about Kabuto at all. I am rather curious about Izanami though

 

It dosen't say that anywhere...

 

Well there are many facts that are pointing in this direction, but you are right directly there isn't said anywhere when he become missing-nin, it's little plot hole.

But I will give you 2 facts that point to my thesis.
1. Anko 2 weeks after Kyubi attack/Naruto birth(24 Oct), celebrated her 8 birthday. When she was 10 she graduated from academy and become Orochimaru student.

2. In various flashbacks about Orochimaru, we see him observing Itachi, who was ninja and is looking older than during nine-tails attack - Orochimaru is seen waring konoha hitai (or however it's written). I know it can be fake, he could be infuriating village then etc.

 

Wow, he knocks off the chick's glasses and is surprised when she doesn't recognize him. Kabuto was kind of a fucking idiot.

 

She was 24 years old Pre-TS. She was celebrating her 12th birthday after the Kyuubi attack.

The only flashback with Orochimaru and Itachi is when they were both a part of Akatsuki. And it's spelt "hitai-ate".

 

I actually like this development, as it shows where Orochimaru got his start. I always found it odd that a random missing-ninja, no matter how powerful, had so many resources at his disposal. Apparently he had a good deal of backing from Danzou during his years in Konoha, and most likely when Root was "disbanded" Orochimaru cannibalized a good deal of Danzou's assets.

Would also explain how and why Orochimaru was able to get away with all of his experiments, seeing as they were most likely sanctioned by Root "for the good of the village."

I've always hated Orochimaru as a villain, and if he needs to get knocked down a peg for his rise to villainy to make sense then I'm all for it.


As for when Orochimaru defected, I have to believe that it was before Minato was officially made Hokage. Would explain much better why it was Hiruzen who confronted him and not Minato, who I have to believe would have taken him apart.

Once it became clear that Hiruzen had his doubts in Orochimaru and he had another rising star to consider for the position (Minato), Orochimaru probably decided to split, which would still make Ibiki's line about Orochimaru being a contender for Yondaime make sense.

 

She was 22 before time-skip I think, but whatever maybe you are right, it's really not that important.

 

I think this has come up before, but can I ask why? I'm curious as to why you specifically say "as a villain" rather than just hating Orochimaru.

Nah, it's in DB1. I'm guessing the wiki cba to update her page (and seeing how she only recently became 'relevant', it's not surprising).

 

Because he's the epitome of the cliched bad guy. If I wanted to put the most cookie-cutter, evil for the sake of evil, cackling maniac in my story he would look exactly like Orochimaru.

His character has no substance other than being an evil dick. That's just about his only defining characteristic. His motivations were deliberately glossed over because Kishimoto didn't want to flesh out his character into anything interesting or relatable.

He's ninja Voldemort, down to the very last detail, and while I believe that Kishimoto has possibly (probably?) read Harry Potter, I doubt he based his character on JKR's. Meaning both these authors came up with the same stupid villain.

So how original could Orochimaru possibly be? And yes I'm aware that Orochimaru is based on a character with an affinity for snakes that far predates Harry Potter, but that's not the only parallel that can be drawn between Orochimaru and Voldemort by a long shot.

 

I politely disagree.

https://forums.darklordpotter.net/showpost.php?p=548922&postcount=6235

 

So it has come up before then.

 

Guys, mangastream is back with the big 3.

http://mangastream.com/

 

Seems to me that the fact that he's a bad evil douchebag with delusions of grandeur makes him a better character in your mind. The "I'm better than you and can't be beat" attitude is just another part of his cliched character, because indeed he can.

Again, I don't see how this tired old song and dance is interesting to anyone, or how his arrogance and pomposity are endearing traits.

Perhaps the one thing about Naruto that makes Orochimaru's character unique in its setting is that he gets curbstomped fairly early and often, which to readers can soften the ugliness of seeing him on panel over and over again.

 

Not sure what you mean in the second sentence.

Endearing? Orochimaru isn't endearing at all. He's the bad guy. He is however, a fleshed out and interesting character in Naruto, which is more than can be said for others.