Sannin

The is the title given to the members of Team Sarutobi, namely Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade. The title was received after their battle with "Salamander" Hanzo of the Village Hidden in Rain, who after a long and intense fight which resulted in their loss, declared that he was impressed and would let them live if they would take on new titles as the Sannin of Konoha. The Sannin are widely regarded for their great skill and power, each one the level of a Kage in their own right. Their name is known in countries all across the world. Tsunade is the only surviving Sannin, Jiraiya and Orochimaru having been killed by Pain and Sasuke/Itachi respectively. From what can be seen, Pain plans to kill Tsunade as well.

Sannin Members

 * Jiraiya the "Toad Hermit" ("Gama Sennin"), "Pervy Sage" ("Ero sennin") (Naruto's nickname for him). Jiraiya is commonly agreed to be the most powerful of the Sannin with his wide variety of Toad based Ninjutsu.
 * Orochimaru the "White Snake". Orochimaru is Konoha's most wanted Missing-nin as well as the founder and former leader of Otogakure no Sato. He is widely known for his use of Snake based ninjustu and forbidden techniques.
 * Tsunade the "Legendary Sucker" ("Densetsu no Kamo", a reference to her poor gambling skills), "Princess" (due to her grandfather being the First Hokage (king) makes her the "Hime" or princess), "Slug Girl" (Chiyo's name for her, a reference to her ability to summon slugs). She is renowned for her prodigious healing abilities and immense physical strength.

Trivia

 * During the end of Part I each of them took in a member of Team 7 for their apprentice, training them, and in turn passing on many of their qualities on to them.
 * Jiraiya - Naruto Uzumaki, passed on his affinity to summon toads, the Rasengan, Hermit Mode, and some of his perverted traits.
 * Tsunade - Sakura Haruno, passed on her medical skills, super strength, quick temper, and as stated by many, her beauty.
 * Orochimaru - Sasuke Uchiha, passed on his affinity for snake summoning, some of his secret techniques, and his stare of killing intent that can paralyze most people with fear.
 * Each Sannin has prior to teaching a member of Team 7 taught before, the former more talented than the latter. For Jiraiya even though he known for teaching six people (Nagato, Konan, Yahiko and the genin of Team Jiraiya) is Minato Namikaze, for Tsunade it was Shizune and for Orochimaru it was Anko Mitarashi. Minato Namikaze was killed sealing the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox into Naruto Uzumaki and Shizune was presumably killed by Pain. Anko's status after the destruction of Konoha is unknown.
 * Despite being three of the most powerful fighters Konoha has ever produced, each of them departed from Konoha for different reasons. Orochimaru left to join Akatsuki and further develop his forbidden techniques, Jiraiya went to gather information on Orochimaru and Akatsuki's movements, Tsunade lost all confidence in her healing ability and went into exile.