this was brilliant.. im surprised you only got 2 reviews for it O.o
truthfully, while reading the beginning half, it felt like any other fic. Kinnda shallow, only touching the surface of the characters, you know? It built up though, rather quickly and unexpectedly but very nicely. (so many ly's @.@). I guess you did that purposely though, ne? It makes prefect sense now that I think about it xP. Orochimaru himself was taking the whole situation lightly at first, only realizing his mistake later on. I love the flow of the story, everything fits so perfectly together and the story as a whole balances out.
You wrote killer last six paragraphs, you have no idea how much I love you for it T^T.

"Itachi's in it (I write way too much about him) but only as a periphery figure."

its good you write about so much about him! write more itachi! xDD Itachi-chama (he'd so kill me if he heard me call him that T.T) is the best, ne? :)

Fun...I like Itachi getting the better of Orochimaru.

Woah. Interesting.