@Aldrich:
I don't blame Sasuke for being outclassed by Oro like I don't blame Naruto for being outclassed by the two guys from vol 1. But Naruto never tried to get away from the fight, he was just out of his depth. If you can't see the difference between trying to fight but being too weak and flat out surrendering because you're scared of being hurt, then I don't know what to say.
Now wait, you're saying that Sasuke is weak/pathetic for trying to escape from a fight that he and Sakura would have most certainly be killed? So, standing and dying and letting your teammate die would be better?
…well, I guess some people would think that. But I think it's a moot point since Sasuke after not too long got the courage to fight him. It's more of a moment of weakness, not flat out being a coward. It's like Naruto's fear of Gaara, it should be negated because he got over it.
Not waiting for Oro to be an dying decrepit pile of shit to fight him? Whether or not it was an intelligent thing to do is not the problem, the fact is it was weak and cowardly. If you have to kill Fedor Emilianenko, of course the right thing to do is to wait for him to get a terminal disease, then sneak into his hospital bedroom and smother him with a pillow. But it's still the coward way to do it.
Yeah, well….reall ninja's kill people like that. Yeah, I know naruto's not "real ninjas" but Sasuke's always had the basics down: stealth, throwing stars etc.
Plus...could Orochimaru get better before the transfer takes place? It seems to me that by the time Sasuke was strong enough Oro's health could have started fading.
And lastly, cowardly or not, I have a hard time believeing that Orochimaru's ever down, he's been "sick" since his fight with the 3rd, yet he's managed to fight well. Frankly, I thought it was some BS statment. Especially when I saw Oro turn into a freakin' snake. Yeah, that guys real weak and defenseless.