Rant and Timeline (Not a chapter)

So I was going over a bit of the timeline since I'm more or less not dealing with the main cast for a bit and I discovered a LOT of inconsistencies with a certain pedo snake.

I never realized how many plot holes and retcons were in Naruto before now. In any case, I was under the impression Orochimaru had already left the village by now but it appears that is and isn't the case.

It was originally said he left the village shortly after Minato became Hokage. A.K.A, about 1 year before Naruto was born. That was retconned pretty quickly and could still line up with later accounts so due to poor choice of words so I can let that one slide.

Next, it was said he left 2 years after Naruto was born, but later Orochimaru himself said he left the village about 3 years after Minato died. That would be fine and all and still line up with what I thought, if not for the fact that Orochimaru was still a member of ROOT 7 years after Naruto was born!

At the time he was given a mission by Danzo (yes, Orochimaru worked FOR Danzo, not with) to kill whoever survived between Kabuto and his orphanage matron Nono. He subsequently decided to keep Kabuto alive and left ROOT with the boy.

Now I might still be able to work with that, but noooo, that would mean he wasn't caught by Hiruzen and chased out of the village until about 8-9 years after naruto was born!! Wrong, because Hiruzen actually caught him experimenting the previous 2-3 years after naruto was born.

It gets even better than that. When he was being chased out of the village, Kakashi and Tenzo were the ones to chase after him and get this, with Tenzo still in ROOT at the time! This means it HAD to have happened 3 years after naruto was born since Tenzo left ROOT by then. that could all still add up, maybe he was just hiding in the village and should have already left right? He's a slippery little bastard. Okay, let's continue.

After that Orochimaru Immedietely joined the Akatsuki and stayed for 2 years before he supposedly left. Kabuto was later captured by Sasori and turned into a sleeper agent before Orochimaru removed it later. So Orochimaru had to have left the Akatsuki before he picked up Kabuto. Otherwise, it would have been really stupid to use him as a spy. adds up, he left in year 6 and picked up kabuto in year 7. Okay, so what's the problem?

Now that might still work out kind of if it hadn't been said that Orochimaru betrayed the Akatsuki 6 years after Naruto was born (both Kisame and Sasori say this on separate occasions). You might be wondering why that's a big deal, right? Well, it's because freaking Itachi doesn't cleanse the gene pool until about 8 years after Naruto was born! The whole reason Orochimaru betrayed the Akatsuki and was forced to leave is because he tried to take Itachi's body. The real kicker about that is, Itachi was said to have been 15 when Orochimaru tried to take his body, which means about 2 years after the massacre!!! Kabuto is also the one who saved him from Itachi so he definitely had already left ROOT by that point. The same 2 years that line up with how long he was reported to have stayed.

Now, why is all that important? It's because the whole reason Orochimaru wanted to take Itachi's body in the first place is that he coincidentally got to see him training once while still a regular jonin reflecting on his life. when did that happen? Apparently, it was at least after Itachi mastered his Sharingan as it was the whole reason he became obsessed with them. Itachi awakened it when he was 8 so about 4-5 years after Naruto was born.

Huh? That's strange? Orochimaru was still a mostly sane jonin 4-5 years after naruto was born? but wasn't he chased out of the village about 2-3 years ago for experimenting on immortality? that doesn't add up. Well maybe he had seen it during his time in ROOT somehow, but nope that doesn't add up either since he should have been in the Akatsuki by that point. That's also ignoring the fact that he already wanted the Sharingan before being chased out. He couldn't have been in the Akatsuki because he doesn't pick up Kabuto and leave ROOT until like 7 years after Naruto was born. Was he in ROOT and the Akatsuki at the same time? Unlikely since Danzo was apparently in contact with "Madara" before he attacked the village and already knew about the new Akatsuki since it was formed the year before Naruto was born. Would Danzo have allowed an Akatsuki member to join his Anbu? Idk, Danzo is pretty stupid...

In any case, as you can see, there are some conflicting accounts in the story. They aren't so major that it breaks the story, but they do bring up issues when trying to pin everyone into a position or faction so I know how my changes affected them. I mean as you can see, Orochimaru is apparently hiding away in root right now, so now I have to take that into account seeing as Natsune has officially joined them. I don't want characters to act too OOC either so she's going to have it a lot worse than I originally planned thanks to a pedo snake not knowing how to pick a location and sit still for a few years.

Though it does bring in some opportunities that I had only planned to explore a little later on. so yay? Anywhere here is the general canon timeline I'll be following. minus my own changes.

0 naruto is born

2 orochimaru leaves the village

3 orochimaru leaves the vllage

- orochimaru joins ROOT

4 itachi awakens his sharingan and orochimaru witnesses his potential (somehow)

5 Itachi becomes a chunin

6 *where we are as of chapter 2. in March apparently*

7 orochimaru leaves ROOT with kabuto and joins the Akatsuki

8 itachi unalives his clan, itachi joins akatsuki

9 sai becomes a chunin?

10 orochimaru leaves the akatsuki, kabuto is captured by sasori?

11

12 otogakure is established

Did you know Sai apparently became a genin at 9 and chunin at 10? I didn't. So...that's something. Now all of these events won't be happening since things have changed but this is the general canon timeline I'll be following so I know how my changes affect the story.

Sorry for the rant, I just needed to vent my frustrations over the various inconsistencies. Look forward to the next chapter. This one will probably be deleted or I'll just move it to the Aux.