Originally posted by: hornetmike
Yeah, he probably wanted Oro as his first choice cause oro was probably wiser and had more experience. But he was evil so he chose the 4th.
is there any indication we know how powerful the 4th was compared to orochi? I do think from the general flow of the anime that the 4th was indeed more powerful, but thats a guess based on conversations such as anko's. I think the 3rd initially wanted orochi because he saw his genius, but as soon as he knew he was evil the idea of choosing him was gone, at that point the most he could hope for was for orochi to change his ways, but with such an individual there is no way the 3rd could risk making him hokage in hopes he would change.

hmm another question, since the 4th sealed his life with the kyubi when he banished him, and since the kyubi didnt die but is sealed in naruto, would this mean the death jutsu was not enough to kill the kyubi? or do you think the 4th chose to seal the kyubi in naruto instead of killing it? I think the earth(?) scroll at the beginning has all the jutsu the 4th used to capture the kyubi, hence the fear that naruto could release it if he learned them all.

in their primes i would guess the 3rd was badass and definatly more powerful then orochi and definatly could beat the 1st and 2nd hokages but he was only afraid of the 3rd box, which had the 4th. who knows who was more powerful in their prime, but i think when we learn more about the 4th we will be fairly impressed, even after seeing all the ninja we have so far.