--When Hiruzen (no blood line limit [e.g. storm release/Sharingan], no blood line expansion [e.g. dust release]) was younger, he spared Orochimaru's life - it was a mistake. It's the only reason we saw Orochimaru in the series later on. Orochimaru was not the epitome of much.
--I'll grant he was a genius as many are, and a exceptional shinobi who mastered the branch of Kinjutsu as virtually none did, nor have since. Further, he seemingly perfected the role of being the main antagonist better than most and was a deep and interesting character, but that's as far as my praise goes.
--The fish bowl of ninja these days (post 4th war w/ IWR) is not as small as it was pre-time-skip, or ante-bellum (i.e. before the 4th War), he's simply not the among the biggest fish out there. I think that's a relatively fair, yet brief commentary, albeit I may have missed some stuff. :shrug:
off-topic:
I'm trying to remember who it was, but they made a brilliant thread on all of Orochimaru's facts/feats/hype, and I think their names was something like "OrochimaruIsAlive" (I'm horrible with names... Sorry). I recommend you search for it under the manga section.
Peace