Lord Orochimaru will Live.
He had already perfected the method of soul transfer. Sauske was NOT the first vessell that Lord Oro wanted to use. He prepared kimmimaru (forgive spelling) and I'm sure he also prep'ed Kabuto as a backup as well. I still do not fully understand WHY Kabuto is so devoted to Lord Oro but he has obviously shown that he will do anything for him. There is something that Kabuto knows about Lord Orochimaru that no one else knows... and he damn near worshipped him for it while he was still "alive". I'm not sure if he would willingly have been a vessell for Oro, but as we saw in the Sauske/Itachi fight, once his natural chakra was depleted Lord Oro emerged! Sauske never knew he was still in his body!!!
Lord Orochimaru was known as a Genius in his village FULL of Geniuses. Do you really think he was defeated so easily without a backup plan? He obviously was not "killed" after his encounter with Sauske so why do people think that they know he is dead for sure?
If Kabuto put the 1st Hokage Cells into the revived Madara... that means Oro already had his cells. Kabuto told Madara that he "completed" him... Madara looked at the face of Hirashima (forgive spelling) on his chest and realized what new power he now had! Wood Release ASAP! Which would mean Oro may have had the same intentions that Tobi has? Remember this... Randomly Lord Orochimaru joined Atakuski (forgive my spelling). SOMEONE WHO REGARDS HIMSELF AS A LORD JOINED THE LOWER RANKS OF ANOTHER ORGANIZATION. Why would he do that? And why did he randomly "quit" the organization, after he was unsuccessful at taking control of Itachi's body...? I believe he could have stolen some of the 1st Hokage's Cells from Tobi... the face of Hirashima (forgive spelling) looked exactly like the face of Hirashima on Tobi's Statue! After he was unsuccessful with Itachi... he went after Sauske... I believe he did this because he has the 1st Hokage's cells too and special knowledge about all of these occular powers... Lets wait and see what's on this magical scroll suigitsu (forgive spelling) found...
Right now the revived Madara has both Rinnegan and The 1st's Cells... Kabuto called it his trump card... If Lord Orochimaru is revived look at the possible powers at his current aresenal... why would ANYONE think he couldnt compete with the High Level Ninja on the show now, when he held his ground against two of the best in Narutoverse (Sanin) with no arms?!? With a "new" body on his side... new arms... new powers (1st Cells, & possibly gaining new eyes in the future as well, PLUS THE SCROLL) Looks like to me he would end up being a greater villian than Tobi... and the only way Lord Orochimaru could be beat is by Sauske going back to the Good Side & fighting side by side with Naruto against Lord Oro .... with the 1st Cells and Rinnegan (Kabuto is controlling Madara currently) AND what ever else may lie in his future plans? Just a theory please dont torch me!!!
Long Live Lord Orochimaru...!
-gHostSenju