Well most people know about Iori and his relation to the Orochi clan. If not, well read on...
OROCHI CLAN - THE BEGINNING1800 years ago, in the times of Feudal Japan, there lived many religious sects. Of the hundreds, there was one that was called the Orochi, roughly translatable as "Serpent". Members of this clan became numerous and it became a large clan. It began to seek greater power amongst the other clans and began to fight and defeat smaller clans and became the largest clan in Japan.
They became very powerful because of a religous link to the mystical Orochi Dragon, a spiriitual dragon that held all the "chi" energy of the world. The Orochi harnessed this power from the dragon and become extremely powerful.
For the Orochi to wake the Orochi dragon, they sacrificed 8 young virgins to the dragon to release it from it's slumber. These girls were known as the Kushinada. The Orochi found the Kushinada, sacrificed them to the Orochi and reaped the enormous powers of the Orochi, symbolised by the stained purple Orochi blood.
When they became powerful, three large clans baded together and vowed to stop the slaughtering of the Orochi clan. They were the Kusanagi, Hasshaku and Yata clans. They combined their forces to defeat the Orochi clans' Mighty Assembly of Eight. The Kusanagi slay the dragon using their sword, the Hasshaku neutralised the dragon's power using their mystical magatama and the Yata sealed the power away in a mirror.
The mirror was to be sealed by the twin daughters of descendants of the Yata. As they only sealed the Orochi and did not destroy it, the dragon awoke every 200 years only to be re-sealed by the three clans.
660 years ago, the Hasshaku, growing in power and dominance, created an eerie and fatal blood-pact with the Orochi clan. In exchange for the unsurpassed power of the Orochi, the Hasshaku must let the Orochi live through the Hasshaku's own blood. The clan agreed to this and the Orochi lived again through the blood of the Hasshaku. After gaining this power, the Hasshaku changed their name to Yagami and since then, gained enormous power and controlled many powerful figures from a distance. While they amassed this power, the Orochi was quietly sleeping, gaining chi energy from the Yagami.
Since then, the Orochi has slowly gained energy from the Yagami and has assembled a new force, the Four Heavenly Kings that are in place to protect Orochi and aid in the reserrection of the Orochi. The Four Heavenly Kings have been revealed to be
* Goenitz - Keeper of the Wind
* Yashiro Nanakase - Keeper of the Earth
* Shermie - Keeper of the Lightning
* Chris - Keeper of the Fire
Well where does Iori fit into all of this? Well he is the last remaining descendant of the Yagami clan, the fateful clan that had the blood pact with Orochi. This means that as long as Iori or any of the Orochi descendant live, Orochi will be alive.
During the course of the whole King of Fighters tournament, Iori has sought to kill Kyo. But during this, he feels uneasy, a boiling sensation inside his body.
Although he knows that the flames he wields harms him, he does not care and does not realise how he can summon such powerful flames. He slowly realises that his flames come from his ancient blood-pact with the Orochi, telling fateful King of Fighters organiser, the insane, Rugal Bernstein that "Only those of the blood line can control such power...you never had a chance". This shows us his realisation of Orochi power and his own connection to the Orochi.
After he sees Rugal off (ie. Being killed by Kyo) he happens to run into his teammates. Suddenly enraged, he feels his blood boil. Unable to control his anger, he rips into his teammates (Billy Kane and Eiji Kisaragi) leaving both badly injured.
Slowly he begins to feel his blood boil once again during the course of the King of Fighters 96. He tries to control this pain, but he succumbs to this powerful aura and is entranced with Orochi blood. He sees Kyo and Goentiz, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, doing battle and he rips into Goentiz and ultimately destoys him.
He feels the Orochi blood within him. Chizuru Kagura, the organiser of KoF 96, tells Iori and Kyo about the breaking of the Orochi seal and how they three must band together, as their ancestors had, to seal the Orochi once more. Iori, having none of that, leaves and tells Chizuru to find another person for the job.
He leaves the two, leaving the fate of the Orochi still undecided. Again, he sees his teammates, this time Mature and Vice. They tell him he was a pawn and used to find out about the true power of Orochi. Enraged once again, and his blood boiling more than ever, Iori lapses into a psychotic trance and kills both his teammates. After that, Iori remembers nothing.
As the seal was destined to be broken and Orochi to awake, this was the year for Orochi to awake. It was 1997 and King of Fighters 97 came again. Iori entered again, but this time as a solo fighter, tired of hapless and useless teammates. Again he sought to kill Kyo. Chizuru also enters this year, eager to persuade Iori to join her and Kyo. Once again, Iori does not wish to participate in anything that doesn't involve him killing Kyo. Anyway, the tournament again runs smoothly.
That is until the New Faces Team start acting very strangely, as if they knew something everyone else didn't. Iori and Leona went missing and the tounrnament again was thrown into chaos. Iori was again feeling the blood of his ancestors boiling inside him. But this time it was worse. Iori buckled to his knees, throwing up blood and convulsing. He lost concisouness and began to act like a zombie. For he was under the control of Orochi. The blood of Orochi had awakened inside Iori.
He had become "Tsuki no yoru orochi no chi ni kurufu Iori" , or as he became known, Orochi Iori. He was subdued by Kyo and the rest of the fighters and regained concisousness. He returns and follows Kyo and Chizuru to the lair of Orochi. There they are told of the Orochi awakeneing by the remaining three of the Four Heavenly Kings. The kings are actually the New Faces Team.
They battle them and win, but sensing the awakening of Orochi, they sacrifice themselves to Orochi and he fully awakes from the body of Chris. Now, with history repeating itself, the three clans must now battle Orochi. Iori has no interest, but somehow is forced to fight Orochi. Orochi, seeing his Orochi descendant, seizes Iori with the Riot of Blood once more. Iori convulses but attacks Orochi regardless.
Choking him and surging his remaining purple flames into Orochi, he keeps Orochi stationary while Kyo moves in delivers a fatal blow. Orochi dies, and Iori is now released from his Orochi bonds. While his blood is tainted, he will not die the fateful early death of the Yagami clansmen.
FONTE
