Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-25516007-20141008201906/@comment-26302001-20141015183854

In power wise yes they are above Itachi, but his intellect and mental abilities were above everyone elses. There were two people Obito feared messing with and that was Nagato(He wanted the eyes but knew he couldn't beat Nagato) and Itachi(he simply knew not to eff with Itachi and mind you he trained with Itachi before the massacre and was with Itachi when the massacre happened, so he knows what Itachi is capable of). Prime Hiruzen, Hashirama, Madara, Prime Nagato, Prime Itachi, Naruto and Sasuke are the strongest shinobi this manga has. Hagoromo, Hamura and Kaguya don't even count because they were not shinobi and did not use ninjutsu.