Hey, I am pretty sure Jiraiya is very much better than Orochimaru. From what we've seen of both, Orochimaru would not last near as long as Jiraiya did against Pain.
I consider Jiraiya the single strongest Ninja since Minato passed, Mada-bitch doesn't count, what with all the cheap power-ups Kishi is giving him and Sasuke.

 

Itachi bitched slapped Orochimaru years ago. Itachi AND Kisame ran from Jiraiya. Pain himself said that Jiraiya would have one if Jiraiya knew about the 6 paths. If Itachi could bitch slap Orochimaru imagine what Pain would have done to him. Or Jiraiya in sage mode. By the time that Itachi seals Orochimaru and Pain kills Jiraiya, I would say its pretty obvious that Jiraiya stands head and shoulders above the other Sannin.

Jiraiya didnt want to be Hokage by the time, the third was retiring. The third did not trust Orochimaru by that time. If he couldnt get Jiraiya to be Hokage it makes a little bit of sense to go with Jiraiya's prodigy

 

Alright, the Lee spin-off was amusing.

Who the hell is it aimed at though?

 

How can you discuss whether Jiraiya will beat Minato (or vice versa). We haven't even seen whether Rasengan and Hiraishin are the only known abilities Minato has. In chap 430 (page 17-18 ) it was hinted that Minato might have known SM as well.

Edit: Orochimaru has his ressurection kinjutsu. If Orochimaru manages to evade Jiraiya then he can just tire him out. More over it also depends whether he is inhibiting a body with a blood line limit.

Finally he has his Eight Branches Technique, which is according to data book Orochi's strongest S-rank technique. I believe people have overlooked this technique just because Orochi was defeated fairly quikly by Itachi, but I think it is quite strong against any opponent who doesn't have sword of Totsuka.

Though I am not certain whether Orochi can be captured by Jiraiya's toad genjutsu while in his Eight Branches Technique. Overall I'd say it's 50-50 and very depending on the situation, whether Orochimaru can be captured by Jiraiya genjutsu while in his eight branches and the place they're fighting at.

Btw Ragon, Itachi and Kisame fleeing from Jiraiya is hardly a good way to compare Jiraiya against Orochi.
If I would compare Jiraiya, Orochi and Itachi then I'd say Itachi is the strongest of the 3.

Eight Branches Technique is the eight headed hydra form while fighting Itachi's Susanoo

 

To be fair, Itachi did not flee because he feared Jiraya but rather, since he was actually on Konoha's side, he didn't want to fight and kill Konoha's strongest remaining shinobi.

I would say that healthy Itachi is more than a match for Jiraya. It would be a close call either way. Even more so if he had Kisame backing him up.

 

Nah, Itachi wasn't the equal of Jiraiya in any real way. As far as the tiers of power go he ranks below Jiraiya, Pein, the Sandaime, and possibly Naruto since his latest power-up. Madara in his prime would probably have won too. For reference, here's my list of power ranks.

Rikudo Sennin
Minato/Naruto (newest power-up)/Sasuke (after his inevitable 594773th power-up)/Rin'neSharingan!Madara
Pein/Jiraiya/Sandaime/Naruto (Sage mode)/
Madara/Itachi (healthy)
Rest of Akatsuki/Orochimaru/Kakashi/Tsunade/Itachi (dying)/Sasuke (powered-up)

There's a reason Kishimoto went for a massive group conflict in the latest arc rather than introduce another dragon for Madara, since Naruto would probably be able to wtfpwn them in seconds after his fight with Pein. Madara is still a shadow of his former self, though the Rin'negan probably puts him up to new!Naruto's standards through some wtfhax method.

Aside from that, there's also the fact that some people have a distinct advantage over others (like Sasuke vs. Deidara), and some people are just that much better than everyone else (new!Naruto and Minato respectively) and are able to overwhelm them with sheer speed/power.

 

This is true.

I thought we'd established (a couple hundred posts ago) that in this series, a>b and b>c ≠ a>c.

Itachi would not have been able to accomplish what Pein did in Konoha since there's a massive power differential and destructive capacity between him and Pein....but If Naruto had come back and to find Itachi instead of Pein, what exactly would he have done against Tsukuyomi, which can only be broken by a sharingan user with the same blood. Naruto's not exactly the type to avoid eye contact and his knowledge on the intricacies of these techniques is nearly non-existent.

How many ninja stronger than Shikamaru would have fallen against Hidan?

There's no certain way to guess who would win between Jiraiya and Minato.

As for Orochimaru vs Itachi.. well Itachi again has the right abilities to beat someone like Orochimaru who was first defeated by being trapped in an unbreakable illusion he'd never heard of and the second time came face to face with an unbreachable defense and an ultimate genjutsu sword.

 

Bullshit. Kisame himself wanted to avoid confrontation with Jiraiya, if I remember correctly. And since he hasn't gotten any power ups since then and we have seen how hax he can be, coupled with the fact that he was with Itachi, that says a lot.
A healthy Itachi would be able to go toe to toe with Jiraiya, but would ultimately be defeated, if only due to Jiraiya's sheer experience.

 

Fixed for awesome.

 

Normally I would agree, but Itachi is awesome on his own merit. Possibly the third or fourth most awesome person in the series.

 

Have to agree that raw power is not the big determining factor at the upper levels; preparation, tactics, personalities, how well abilities match up, and simple luck all play a huge role in how any given battle between two top-level ninjas will go. That's part of why power tiers don't really work too well in the Naruto-universe; raw power is only one part of the equation.

 

Awesome yes, but powerful? I'm not so sure. I'm pretty sure Jiraiya could have Falcon Punched him into the next manga if they ever fought.

He earned his S-rank classification but I never saw him as a heavy-hitter.

Anyways, it's pretty much a moot point by now. I just can't wait until Naruto shows down with Sasuke and Itachi's eyes explode in Sasuke's skull from crow powers.

 

Not a heavy-hitter? On his figurative deathbed he was superior to Sasuke.

 

Sasuke is hardly a good measuring stick though

 

True that. While capable in his own way, you can't really measure him against anyone, given how many wtfhax! powerups he'll pull out of his ass in a fight. Once all is said and done, meaning he isn't getting three more abilities per fight, then you can use him as a measure. I'm thinking that won't be until the last fight of the series though.

 

That would be hilarious; the epic battle that the manga has spent the last 300 chapters building up towards is Naruto taking Sasuke down with a single move.

 

It was more the fact that Itachi did this within minutes of succumbing to a disease he had struggled with for years. Is Sasuke as good a measuring stick as say one of the Sannin, Nagato, Naruto, or Madara? No, but Sasuke was no slouch after training with Orochimaru for 3 years.

 

Jiraiya was in the same condition, since he was poisoned by Tsunade and couldn't utilize his chakra properly.

 

By the same token, Tsunade was pretty worn down from having to use her regeneration power.

A re-match of the three Sannin when they're at the top of their game would have been an epic battle; as it is the fight with all three of them as a shadow of their usual selves was pretty awesome.