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I think there's few other people capable of taking out Orochimaru besides Itachi and the Akatsuki Leader. Jiraiya could do it or maybe even an extremely pissed four-tailed Naruto. Part of the reason Oro is so dangerous is because he is fully aware of his own strength and weaknesses. He almost never initiates battle unless he is sure that he has every possible advantage, like when he was prepared to resurrect 3 hokages to aid his with fight Sandaime who was several years past his prime to begin with. This is the reason I think he claims Itachi is stronger than himself. It's not so much that he's not capable of defeating Itachi, it's just that he has no way of ensuring victory against him and so he considers him too powerful to fight.
On the topic of Oro's choices for a container, Kimimaro was his first choice. I don't think he considered Anko as a vessel since he met Kimimaro before he even took Anko as a subordinate (at least that's what the anime indicates). Anko was probably meant to have the role Kabuto has now or something similar to that. His interest in Itachi probably started around the time Kimimaro took ill but it's likely he would 've abandoned Kimi as a vessel regardless of his health, could he have obtained Itachi.
BTW. Oro's body when he fought the 3rd was freaky. What bothers me is they never explain whose body Oro stole. He/she must've been very powerful, but looked so young, it was weird.
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