Naruto Anime Analysis (Season 5)

Orochimaru: The Antagonist

Orochimaru has manipulated everyone he comes across to further his evil agenda of becoming immortal and powerful. He used everyone's weakness to get them to do what he wanted. In other words, Orochimaru symbolizes deception, death, and hatred. He even has his evil music instrumental in the anime series whenever he is present, which clearly shows he is the main antagonist. You can check out the instrumental below:

Orochimaru's role as the main antagonist in the anime series is shown in various ways. 

Orochimaru's main goal was to find a vessel suitable for him to obtain power and immortality. So when he realised Sasuke's hatred for his brother Itachi for killing his clan, he set his plans to get him. He was going to manipulate Sasuke to become his vessel by promising him that he could give him power so that he could kill Itachi Uchiha. For instance, in Season 1: Episode 30, Orochimaru disguised himself as a Grass Shinobi named Shiore to target Sasuke in the forest of death. At that moment, Sasuke offers him the scroll in exchange for protecting him and Sakura. The fact that Sasuke was afraid of the ninja to the extent that he was willing to give him the scroll shows just how scary Orochimaru is. It further emphasizes that Orochimaru is the main antagonist of the anime series. Eventually, Orochimaru disguised himself as Shiore extended his neck to inflict Sasuke with an unidentified mark and introduced himself as Orochimaru. Afterwards, Orochimaru left while promising that Sasuke would look for him in the future. Orochimaru had planted the seed that if Sasuke faced any challenges, he could look for him to obtain power. 

Eventually, when Sasuke had the taste of power from the curse mark, everything went downhill from there. For instance, in Season 1: Episode 33, Sasuke becomes a cruel and sadistic monster as he easily defeats Zaku while breaking his arms. Terrified by Sasuke's extremely cruel brutality, Sakura stops him before he can inflict fatal injuries on either of the remaining Sound Genin. Deciding that they stand no chance, Dosu leaves their scroll behind so that he and his team can retreat without further harm. It is crucial to note that the Sound Genin is part of Orochimaru's Sound Village. Orochimaru was involved from the get-go to get Sasuke to join him, and he didn't care about anyone's wellbeing, especially Zaku, who had his arms broken. He was willing to hurt others to get what he wanted, which was Sasuke. 

In Season 1: Episode 40, Kakashi was sealing Sasuke's curse mark until he came face-to-face with Orochimaru. Before Kakashi could kill Orochimaru, Kakashi saw a vision of his death, which meant he was paralysed with fear. If Kakashi was afraid of Orochimaru, then it meant that Sasuke was in a deep position to fall under Orochimaru's clutches. 

In Season 1: Episode 54, Dosu learns that he and his group were nothing more than tools for Orochimaru to test Sasuke. Dosu attempts to assassinate Gaara so he can ruin Orochimaru's plan by killing Sasuke during the finals. But Gaara quickly kills Dosu. This just proves that Orochimaru is the master of deception, influencing everyone to bend to his will so that he can pursue his evil agenda of getting power and immortality. He didn't care about anyone, as long as he got what he wanted. 

He even had Kabuto attend the chunin exams, not just for Sasuke but to prepare for an invasion in the Leaf village. In Season 2: Episode 67, during the chunin exams, Kabuto used a genjutsu to put the audience to sleep, signalling the start of the invasion of Konoha. Thereafter, in Season 2: Episode 68, Orochimaru was disguised as the fourth Kazekage of the Sand Village so that he could take the third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, hostage, as he had his bodyguards, the SoundFour, establish a barrier so no one would interfere in his battle with the third Hokage. This just proves that Orochimaru is the main antagonist who destroyed his former village without showing any remorse.