Why had he come to the Sunagakure front?
Was it to earn himself the title of Nut-Cracker?
Obviously not. On the Sunagakure battlefield, he posed as an Anbu. Even if he cracked a thousand eggs, or ten thousand, no one would know his true identity. Every bit of credit here belonged to Orochimaru—including Hanzo's head in the future.
Only if Orochimaru accumulated enough achievements would he have an advantage in the future struggle for the Hokage's seat. And only then would he be all the more furious when he lost, dealing even greater damage to Konoha, especially the Hokage faction.
Suifeng had never tried to guide Orochimaru toward ideals, the future, or the Will of Fire. Nor was he tempting him with power, beauty, or money. Orochimaru didn't care about any of that. He was a pure man who paid little heed to things he didn't value, so in the original story, he accepted his defeat without making trouble.
But Suifeng was a nasty piece of work. He fed Orochimaru nothing but poisonous chicken soup. First, he was cementing the idea in Orochimaru's mind that the Hokage's seat was his for the taking. Whether or not he ever became Hokage, Suifeng wanted him to internalize the notion that the Hokage's seat is mine. Second, Suifeng kept hinting that becoming Hokage meant he could do whatever he wanted. Funds, experimental materials, and all the rest would no longer be a problem, and he wouldn't have to sneak around like he did now...
So, wasn't being Hokage great? Yeah, it really was!
And then, when that day finally came...
Orochimaru, one of the illustrious Sannin, would lose to a kid in his twenties—and lose for no apparent reason. Even a clay figurine had a temper, let alone a man as proud as