Episode 10 — Orochimaru’s masterplan

First discrepancy — Orochimaru doesn’t die that easily. (1/2)

Shortly before the time skip, we are told that Orochimaru cannot wait a few more hours for Sasuke because his current body is collapsing. If he doesn’t take a placeholder host immediately, he will die before Sasuke can reach him.

At the time, we had to accept this explanation. However, later on, we are shown that Orochimaru isn’t that easy to kill.

First, in chapter 344, against Sasuke, Orochimaru outright leaves his host, and is able to keep fighting Sasuke in his “White Snake” form. In the following chapter, the snake is sliced by Sasuke, and yet Orochimaru is still not in any danger.

Orochimaru dying? (Chapter 198.)

Orochimaru without a host. (Chapter 344.)

Chapter 345.

First discrepancy — Orochimaru doesn’t die that easily. (2/2)

Later still, in chapter 392, Orochimaru is extracted from Sasuke, stabbed and sealed away by Itachi’s Totsuka Sword. For good measure, two chapters later, his last remaining snake is burnt to ashes by Amaterasu.

And yet, Orochimaru still doesn’t die. He returns during the war, perfectly fine.

With all of this, the idea that Orochimaru was about to die in chapter 198, just because his host was collapsing, doesn’t add up. That’s our first discrepancy. Even if the host truly couldn’t hold on for a couple more hours, Orochimaru could have simply waited for Sasuke in his White Snake form.

Sealed away. (Chapter 392.)

The last snake finished off by Amaterasu. (Chapter 394.)

Sealed away, burnt to ashes, and without a host, Orochimaru is still alive. (Chapter 593.)

Second discrepancy — the cooldown.

In chapter 199, after Orochimaru takes the placeholder body, we are told by Kabuto that he cannot swap for Sasuke’s body immediately after, because Fushi Tensei has a cooldown of several years. By the time Orochimaru can initiate Fushi Tensei again, Sasuke has grown strong enough to resist him.

Again, at the time, we had no choice but to accept this information. Later on, however, this cooldown is proven wrong too. In chapter 618, Orochimaru uses Fushi Tensei again to take a White Zetsu body, and it hasn’t been three years yet since his last body swap attempt.

This is our second discrepancy: the cooldown isn’t as absolute as we were told.

A much more interesting discrepancy, however, is Orochimaru’s plan itself. Can you find it?

The cooldown, stated in chapter 199.

The cooldown, contradicted in chapter 618.

Third discrepancy — what if Orochimaru wins too early?

Let’s say Orochimaru does manage to take Sasuke’s body as we’re told he wanted, either before the time skip or just after Kakuzu’s death. What happens next?

First, Orochimaru would have to face Itachi’s wrath. Itachi was fine with Orochimaru training Sasuke, but he if takes Sasuke’s body, Itachi will want to kill him. Even within Sasuke’s body, Orochimaru would have no chance against a blood-lusted Itachi, as he seemed aware of.

Then, there’s the other Akatsuki leaders. For the moment, from Nagato’s and Obito’s perspective, Orochimaru is just a nuisance — and in fact, just like Itachi, Obito is fine with him training Sasuke. If he takes Sasuke’s body, the math changes: within a Rinnegan and Jūbi-compatible body, Orochimaru becomes a credible competitor for the Jūbi. So Nagato and Obito would team up to get rid of this new and unwanted competitor before resuming their own schemes.

So what we’re looking at is: Orochimaru vs Pain + Obito + Itachi. Orochimaru is dead in that scenario.

Taking Sasuke’s body too early would be a blunder. An early success would paint a huge target on Orochimaru’s back.

Chapter 345. Imagine the same “battle” with a bloodlusted Itachi.

And with Pain and Obito (here in chapter 364) helping Itachi.

The better move, and the hidden plot

So, what should Orochimaru do then? The best move is exactly the one Orochimaru played: lose and get absorbed by Sasuke.

After getting absorbed, Orochimaru, whom everyone believes is dead, can “ride” Sasuke to Itachi, and let the two Uchiha exhaust each other. Only then does he emerge, finish off Itachi if needed, and take Sasuke’s body. From there, he gets:

The Mangekyō Sharingan, awakened in Sasuke thanks to Itachi’s death.

Immediately after, the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, because Itachi’s eyes are right there, ready to be harvested.

With this timing, Orochimaru doesn’t have to engage in a straight fight against Itachi, and he also avoids a Pain fight, as Nagato is currently on his way to Konoha.

So the fight we’re now looking at is the following: Orochimaru (with the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan) against Obito. It’s not a guaranteed victory, but Orochimaru’s odds are looking much better than if he took Sasuke’s body too early.

That’s our hidden plot: Orochimaru lost on purpose against Sasuke. What a brilliant move! With this one move, Orochimaru suddenly becomes the clear favourite in the competition for the Jūbi.

Chapter 392: Itachi and Sasuke both exhausted while Pain is away. That’s exactly the position Orochimaru was looking for.

Orochimaru’s killer move: losing against Sasuke. (Chapter 346.)

Conclusion

With this hidden plot unlocked, Orochimaru’s decisions throughout the novel make a lot more sense. For example, training Sasuke too well would be weird — and in fact, a discrepancy — if Orochimaru just intended to take this body. But in our hidden plot, training Sasuke was necessary, because the plan required Sasuke to successfully reach and exhaust Itachi. If Sasuke hadn’t been trained properly, he would have died against Deidara, and Orochimaru’s plan would have failed before even reaching Itachi.

So Orochimaru faked or exaggerated the Fushi Tensei cooldown, as well as his risk of dying before the time skip, in order to have a credible reason to “fail” to take Sasuke’s body, and to train him during the fake cooldown.

With that, our quest is complete. But you may be wondering: if Orochimaru’s plan was so brilliant, to the point he fooled Sasuke, Nagato and Obito, and if everything was going as envisioned until he emerged from Sasuke, why did he fail so spectacularly at the final step? Why would such an intelligent character try to fight Susanoo head-on, and just get stabbed by the Totsuka Sword, when the main purpose of his plan precisely was to avoid a fair fight against Itachi?

This question is the perfect transition into the main quest, for we have completed enough side quests to unlock the main, Samehada quest.

Here’s a little spoiler: chapter 380 is the moment everything fell apart for Orochimaru.

Chapter 380: the moment everything fell apart.

Orochimaru trained Sasuke (here using Kirin in chapter 391) well because he needed him competent enough to reach and exhaust Itachi.