Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-28374870-20160527184403/@comment-734582-20160527203435

The idea of the Sannin is that they're different, but equally matched.

I believe the theme was Slug>Snake>Frog>Slug. Following this, Tsunade > Orochimaru, Orochimaru > Jiraiya, Jiraiya> Tsunade.

Still, it's highly suggested that such a "deadlock" does not truly exist in Naruto, and rather than one being stronger than the other, they're equally matched to each other in general (since no animosity exists between Tsunade and Jiraiya, but does with Orochimaru).