#otogakure

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General Idea

So this idea kinda came to me when I was rewatching the Kimimaro vs Lee’s fight and realized how it was possible for Haku to have been a part of the sound village.

And since Orochi is a man who is obsessed with power, he defeats (murks) Zabuza and takes Haku under his wing. Kimimaro and Haku are a part of Orochi’s arsenal, but how does Karin join the fray?

I firmly believe since Orochi is all about learning, he would 100% look into Uzushiogakure and any remnants of the Uzumaki and their seals. He hears a little rumor about a woman from the land of grass having striking red hair and immediately investigates.. unfortunately said woman died and instead what was left behind was her kid who hardly knew anything about her lineage and thus Orochimaru takes in Karin early on.

(A headcanon of mine is that he also looked for Tayuya thinking she was an Uzumaki, but she was just a normal redhead.. he still decided to take her in)

With that being the case, Orochimaru entrusts all 3 kids under Kabuto and says that someone as young as him would be able to understand them… this is also how the sound village will have an elite team besides the Sound 4.

Kimimaro health deteriorates like how in the anime, but with Karin being here, it becomes much more manageable and he can continue on with his work.

I truly believe that Orochimaru would not want any room for errors for the upcoming war against the leaf and thus he would employ those 3 under him during the Chunin exam. I also think he would make them do the “test” for Sasuke and his curse mark during the forest of death, but with them holding back (Orochi gave them severe handicaps)

Still, there would be an even bigger power gap, and Sasuke would definitely spiral even more.

Also Karin would still fall in love with Sasuke, but instead for how desperate he was to save his team…

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Personality Ideas

So I kept Kimimaro’s outfit the same and all around the same vibe. But I believe he would be more angry, because he sees firsthand how obsessed Orochimaru is with Sasuke. With Kimimaro’s dying body that can only be managed by biting Karin, Orochimaru still goes with the plan of getting an Uchiha body and that makes Kimimaro more agitated.. causing him to go overboard during the forest of death.

Haku would be more cynical and coy. In OG Naruto, he kept his kind self alive thanks to his love for Zabuza, but with his savior dead and being surrounded by high key the worst of the worst + with being experimented with his kekkei genkai, he would be twisted in a way. But he would also easily change into a kinder version of himself if he meets kind people. (Cough Naruto cough)

He would really see himself through Kimimaro, seeing how much the boy respects Orochimaru and how similar it was to how Zabuza felt. So he would either be close to Kimimaro to remind himself of how used to feel, or be distant from him in order to forget the pain.

Since Orochimaru took in Karin much earlier than in Canon, she shouldn’t have as much trauma, but since Karin is the first Uzumaki that Orochimaru got his hands on, he definitely experimented on her for an egregious amount of time. That led her to still developing the same personality but with less loyalty towards Orochimaru. (She also respects Kabuto more than him). She would also develop the adamantine chains MUCH earlier (maybe she uses it accidentally during her Chunin 1v1 👀).

I also believe that Orochimaru would consider her as a vessel, so he makes her push her limits and try to reach her max potential. That would include her also learning and knowing a lot of sealing and sensory like jutsus.

She has less bite marks, but would be more embarrassed about. In canon, she got desensitized to people looking at her bite marks when she was at the grass village, but since that didn’t happen in this au, she would instead be more embarrassed. She would definitely get over it when she grows older though.

I also based her outfit around the similar to Ibiki’s and Kabuto and her OG Genin outfit.

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Dynamic Ideas:

In battles, Kimimaro is the front liner, brawler and tank, soaking up the damage and making space for the other two. He would be the one with the most kill, not just because of the his strength, but that he values life much less than the other two. For him, only Orochimaru matters.

Unfortunately with his health issues, Haku front lines with him much more often.

Haku would be a ranger and be the one to administer non lethal damage/blow. I also believe he has medical knowledge, so if Karin is downed/low on chakra, he’s the one to help patch up the others.

He would be the one carrying out assassinations the most, as compared to Kimimaro killing with no reservations.

He would have some knowledge about handling weapons since he would 100% take Zabuza’s sword as a memento.

Karin would be the support (healing, sensing) , spy and has sealing knowledge. Thanks to her plethora of abilities, she is vital in maintaining the team if things go south. From providing intel about the nature chakra of her enemies with her mind’s eye of Kagura, to her providing chakra and healing to her ally. Kabuto would definitely teach her more about spying and the sorts thanks to the fact that she could easily hide her chakra.

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Can you tell I drew and wrote this all in under an hour 😭

Alas, brain juice gone… some stuff might seem contradictory or confusing.. I’ll try to explain in another post but for now I think this is A-Ok!

If we take fillers into account, (bear with me here) it is established that Konoha, despite its strengths, is already known for letting their rogue shinobi run free without doing much.

The notion is, the better the village treats its shinobi, the less rogue shinobi there will be. It's natural to assume that only Kirigakure, as a village with frequent rogue shinobi have an organized task force for such cases. But in the case of a shinobi with intel like Orochimaru, why on earth wouldn't they try to track him down?

Theory #1

"Orochimaru's alignment with Danzo and the root organization makes Danzo actively hinder the village from locating him, that's why they can't fight him."

Danzo having someone like Orochimaru as an ally would snowball into such a scandal, I imagine only his most brainwashed loyal soldiers would be aware of that union. I would think Danzo wants to keep it that way. Even if he is able to pull a few strings, he does not have as much impact over what missions get approved and what missions don't. I can imagine him bringing his men onto Orochimaru surveillance missions and killing other shinobi if they find relevant intel.

Theory #2

"Orochimarus hideouts are just too well hidden to be discovered."

I don't think so. His main hideout is in Otogakure, which is a small village. If several small teams are sent there to scout the area, they'd easily locate his hideouts and could find him sooner or later. Unlike Pain (reminder: he uses the rain to surveil Amegakure, where I think Akatsuki's main hideout is located), Orochimaru does not possess surveillance powers to look over the entire village. Locating him would be easier than locating Akatsuki.

Which brings me to my theory.

"Konoha is keeping Orochimaru alive because he's still useful."

Most, or dare I say all of biological research involves genes, or rather, a genetic sequence. Have you ever wondered how these sequences are stored? The answer is databanks. Huge databanks. For reference, the genomic raw data of one (1) human is 200 gigabytes large[1]. For reference, that's more storage than the entire Naruto shippuden series needs, fillers included[2]. If we add onto that a variant list with all possible mutations that people have, we can add 125 megabytes per person.

That amount of data requires quite some infrastructure and genetic know-how. If only there was someone with vast amounts of space, genetic know-how and heaps of genetic data to maintain such a databank... Oh wait.

I can imagine Orochimaru hosting such a databank where researches from all over the world can gain access to all the genetic data they need - against a small monthly fee. And the agreement to enter all data they generate to the databank for other researchers to use. Independent researchers, small research teams, schools, universities and other institutions, they all rely on that service for that research. Sure, some competitors do exist, but Orochimaru's databank is probably the most expansive, and more importantly, the most accessable. For a man who built his state on offering opportunities to the most unfortunate (Dosu, Kimimaro, Kabuto), you can bet he knows how crucial access to information is. He probably even has different subscriptions tiers for students, independent researchers and institutions so everyone can afford that service. He knows most people can't do as high level research as he can because they're bound by things like scientific ethics, so he doesn't see a problem sharing his research data freely. And the research organizations? They look the other way. They know the unethical roots of that research, but in a fast paced, profit oriented world, it's all they have. Just like in our world.

Apart from just data-bank hosting, I also think Orochimaru probably also runs a kind of service laboratory where private individuals and companies alike can send in tissue/blood/hair/saliva samples for sequencing. Non-essential and non-vital sequencing work is outsourced to his laboratory. It's costly, but still cheaper than running your own genetic sequencer. Orochimaru is able to negate the costs by adding the sequences to his own databank. People essentially PAY for their data to be added to his databank. (Which is exactly what companies like 23andme, ancestry and others are doing, btw.)

If the service is free, you're the product.

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(keep in mind that the scale could be different and the lands in the naruto world could be smaller or bigger)

LAND OF FIRE : North States of the USA.

KONOHA : Replace NY by Tokyo (aesthetically)

We laready know The Land of Fire is giving USA (pic above). For its diversity, aesthetic and more. The north especiallly for its population density compared to the rest of the country and geopolitical importance.

LAND OF LIGHTNING : Southern States of the USA

KUMO : New Orleans

Kumo's is like Konoha's sister. The land of lightning covers the south of the USA for mainly its high black population/leadership while still being diverse. I see the high temperature of the region apply to the country of lighthinig because its a forest-less type of country without being a full blown desert.

LAND OF WIND : Syria + Iraq

SUNA : Damascus

Not only a huge part of the reigion is covered in desertic lands but many parts of both countries have the same color scheme as Suna portrayed in the show. Emphasis of an imposing with a spheric archetecturial elements.

LAND OF WATER/KIRI (+ LAND OF WAVES) : Combined the demography of Brazil and South East Asia and disperse them all over the S.E. Asians islands.

South East Asia Geographic copy-paste. (I'm adding Brazil for ethnic diversity)

LAND OF EARTH : The USA’s Mountain States

IWA : Pheonix

Yeah where all the mountains are in the states and orange desert/grand canyon aesthetic. I put the whole region since the country of earth is very large but i dont think it would extend this large when i really think about it (maybe just Arizona and the 3 states surroinding it)

AME : Kowloon, The Walled City + vast fields

Ame has a very specific dystopian vibe that very few ctities of regions could ever capture but i really feel like the ''organized chaotic'' layout of Kowloon is the closest to it.

LAND OF WHIRLPOOL: Ireland

HEAR ME OUT! (Mention of the Uzumaki Clan's red hair, DISTANT relation to Konoha, History of conflict of discrimination (victim of))

Otogakure : AREA 51

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