Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-25516007-20141008201906/@comment-3568954-20141103072327

Actionmanrandell wrote: ItachiWasAHero wrote: The academy apparently kept records of each shinobi's skill and aptitude and the length of time it took them to graduate to Genin, Itachi was stated to the most gifted and intelligent in the entire history of the academy as there has been none like him apparently.. and mind you Hiruzen was part of the first graduating class in the academy at the age of 15-16. Hiruzen also said his intelligence and mindset was already at Hokage level when he was 7, he defeated Orochimaru at 11. If he never had his disease, there would be no single shinobi in history to be able to beat him in a one on one fight. He was THAT much of a gifted prodigy apparently.. and people have to remember that Shikamaru didn't have massive stats, yet he beat people stronger than him with his mind alone, Hidan for example so Itachi himself is definitely somebody that Kishi needed to give a deathly disease to...

itachi would never defeat hashirama or madara ever. he simply doesn't have enough chakra or stamina. all of his stats they have but better. the only thing he may have over them is slight intelligence advantage

DazzlingEmerald wrote: Alright, let's put this debate to rest! (not really)

We all know Jiraiya is crazy strong, though so is Orochimaru. Dating back to their days under Hiruzen, all the Sannin were especially gifted, having all graduated from the academy at age 6. Now, that being said, these guys are prodigies. However, Orochimaru was even beyond that... he was a prodigy among prodigies, so let's not forget that. Even against the best of the world, he was... THE BEST.

Now, that's not to say the others wouldn't have progressed as well. Jiraiya and Orochimaru were both offered the position of Kage at different times, though Orochimaru was eventually beaten off by Minato. However, I must say, that Orochimaru, imo is stronger.

Now, let's compare something here. Itachi stated that him and Kisame would not be able to defeat Jiraiya, the same Itachi who effortlessly defeated Orochimaru, in a matter of seconds.

With all that said, we've never seen Orochimaru fight to his fullest. We really haven't. He looked great against Hiruzen, though he really only had the previous hokages do work in that fight, and for the rest of the series, he was crippled.

I'm going to go with...

Orochimaru here.

Orochimaru was not a prodigy among prodigies he was said to be prodigy seen once in a generation. even then minato also a Prodigy that appears only once a generation and even then minato was still superior to orochimaru

also it matters not that Orochimaru was a prodogy. the databooks list his stats at 35 where in Jiraiya is listed as 35.5 the only part that Orochimaru is actually superior to jiraiya in is Genjutsu(5), intelligence (5)and hand seals(5). Jiraiya has orochimaru beat in all the most important areas 4.5 in taijutsu 4.5 in strength 5 in stamina opposed to Orochimaru 3.5 taijutsu 3.5 strength.5 in stamina