I simply give up trying to understand the sharing i accepted the idea that the sharingan is like a cheater console on the shinobi world.
a simple eye that greatly increases all the three ( ninjutsu , genjutsu and taijutsu(seeing moves of opponents), gives u the possibility to counter everything
it gives u an amor assault unit that can face a bijuu alone (suzano), a flame that can extinguish everything ( amateratsu), genjutsu that can alter even the reality itself ( izanagi)port up thought dimensions (kamui), can awake the rinnengan ( sharing 2.0) i really dont know how the shodaime could defeat him because the edo tensei's version of shodaime could not beat the sandaime, and the edo tensei madara is kicking everyone ass.
As Nate states the material does seem to fall pray to the problem of trying to have one villain top the last and going to far with each step, but I'll also add it's for keeping Sasuke above Naruto so he continues to be a real threat. As far as the edo tensi Madara being uber powered, remember he is supposedly a juiced up version thanks to Kabuto. Unfortunately we don't know how much he was tweaked with. Also, we forget that the first's wife, who was an Uzumaki, was also present at the battle at the valley of the end. I think the fact that he's an edo tensei and is infused with the shodaime negates the one weakness the Sharingan is
supposed to have but inconsistently does, in that it's supposed to be draining on the user. But I agree with you, it's gotten a bit out of control. At this point I don't know if Naruto could even touch Sasuke. It seems his sage-mode is still used primarily for taijutsu and close-quarters, which is a big no-no for a fight with the Sharingan.
Yeah...Orochimaru got bargain basement version. Remember he could not outright defeat a long past his prime third while having the help of the Second with him. I've said it before, if I were Orochimaru, I'd be wondering....what the hell, man?!
Lack of details about sharingan has allowed limitless expansion without too many outright contradictions (though there have been some), but yeah, opens him up to massive ass-pull accusations (well deserved) and complete confusion about the parameters we actually do have.
I don't remember 100% of that battle but what I seem to remember is that Orochimaru didn't play a very active role in that fight until the very end so I'm not sure it was an accurate depiction of what a 1-on-1 match between him and the 3rd would be. He had the same foil many villains have: why do the dirty work when someone else can do it for you. I don't think the concern should be placed on Oro vs the Third but how the Third was able to stay afloat in a battle between two kages, who were younger at their passing and probably still closer to their prime.
I do concur that there seems to be a patch for every chip in the sharingan's armor, making a utilizer of the sharingan god-like. It was somewhat okay at first when it seemed like the mangekyou skills were special to each individual, but now it seems like anyone can learn any of the abilities once they achieve it. At this point it doesn't seem like Kishi intends to have Naruto win in a match against Sasuke, which while I understand simply beating Sasuke won't illustrate to him the error of his ways, Sasuke has been asking to get is butt handed to him for quite some time now.