Orochimaru was one of the most evil shinobi in the Naruto verse. He was the most talented out of the three Legendary Sannin, and Hiruzen Sarutobi expected great things of him. But instead of walking down the right path, he chose to seek vengeance on the Leaf Village and tried to destroy the village on multiple occasions.
He experimented on several human beings and created a faction from the Sound Village shinobi to carry out his missions. Orochimaru was fond of forbidden jutsu and was always on the lookout to decode those jutsu using experimentation. But later on, he left his evil ways behind. Fans believe him to be the prime reason why Jiraiya was not reanimated during the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Orochimaru Prevented Jiraiya From Edo Tensei
Jiraiya’s death was one of the saddest deaths in anime history. No one expected it, and when it happened, the tears would not stop. Jiraiya was killed by his ex-student, Nagato, who took up the name Pain. He was brutally murdered, and his body was last seen to drown in the sea. Naruto fans feared that he might be reanimated during the Fourth Great Ninja War, and it would make it impossible for Naruto to face him.
But Kabuto mentioned that he did not get hold of Jiraiya’s DNA and could not reanimate him. But that doesn’t seem too plausible since his blood and saliva were all around the Hidden Rain. Pain tortured him before killing him. He was bleeding everywhere. Being a crafty shinobi, there was no way Kabuto failed to acquire Jiraiya’s DNA when there was plenty available. Fans speculate that it was all Orochimaru’s doing.
Even though he bore ill feelings towards the village, he was sympathetic towards his fellow Sannin. He did want him to be reanimated and wanted him to rest in peace. Orochimaru is a genius, and his knowledge of different jutsu helped him devise a plan that would prevent Kabuto from resurrecting Jiraiya. Tobirama Senju created the reanimation jutsu. For several years, Orochimaru studied and perfected it.
It is possible that after extensively studying the Edo Tensei, he might have changed a few hand signs or developed it in some new manner. The new format of Edo Tensei would disallow Kabuto to reanimate the Pervy Sage. Orochimaru’s conscience kicked in when there was a possibility of his former team member being used for evil things, which was opposite to his ideals.
Jiraiya walked a different path in comparison to Orochimaru. But Orochimaru never forced him into following him. He was respectful to the path Jiraiya chose. So, to pay respect to his former comrade, he prevented Kabuto from using him for his evil plans.
Orochimaru Started To Change After Jiraiya’s Death
Orochimaru was pretty fond of learning new jutsu from a young age. He wanted to become immortal and was always on the lookout for new hosts. There was hardly any forbidden jutsu that he did not know about. The Edo Tensei one of them. He used the jutsu twice in the anime – once during the Chunin Exams and once during the Fourth Great Ninja War.
The first time he did it to kill the Third Hokage and destroy the Leaf Village. The second time Orochimaru did it to save Sasuke and bring manpower to the Allied Forces’ side. For a long time, Orochimaru was pure evil, but it was after Jiraiya’s death that he started to change. Maybe it hit his conscience, and he actually felt bad about losing one of his former comrades.
It was due to these feelings that he did not want Jiraiya to be reanimated. Otherwise, there seems to be a huge plot hole in Jiraiya not being reanimated. The only other reason could be that he is alive, which seems too hard to believe. Even Boruto featured Jiraiya’s clone, Kashin Koji, which further boosts the theory since he was made from DNA. After Jiraiya’s death, Orochimaru slowly shifted from his evil ways.
He tried to amend everything he did and used the Edo Tensei to bring back the former Hokage by undoing the Reaper Death Seal, which is a highly difficult task. Tobirama Senju, who formulated the jutsu, was shocked to see Orochimaru improve the jutsu and bound him easily. In Boruto, Orochimaru has raised a son and is seen to help the Seventh Hokage to carry out experiments or gather information on required matters.
It is great to see him paying respect to his old friend. Even though their ideals differed, they held each other in high respect. Not every day the fans get to see such strong bonds. Jiraiya would be happy to know Orochimaru is working for the Leaf Village instead of seeking revenge against it.
