Orochimaru is automatically the strongest Sannin thanks to the clever device that is Edo Tensei.
Restrict that; And for the most part, armless Orochimaru can still compete with Jiraiya and has techniques to allow him to pressure a SM Jiraiya. I'd say due to the lack of feats, SM Jiraiya is the strongest variation of the sannin. But new feats will soon follow that'll allow Orochimaru to claim the spot of strongest Sannin
Yeah I only see Edo Tensei putting him above, without that then it's Jiraiya above him in my opinion. Also I possible way of dealing with the only 4 Edo's in Oro's arsenal is to do like what Hiruzen did and cancel it's summoning. Also base Jiraiya has shown to turn someone into frogs with hand seals, which can most likely stop an edo. Also he shown to have great sealing knowledge when he sealed Amaterasu so shadow clone and using his hair to grab them and other clones to seal them is possible. I only say this cause only way Oro woudld have them fight is if he is controlling them and we already witness, controlled edos aren't as strong as when they have control over their own bodies.
Orochimaru is easily the greatest Sannin.
Orochimaru fought a 4-Tailed Naruto just for kicks (WITHOUT ARMS), while Jiraiya nearly died from 4-Tail Naruto even though he was prepared.
Orochimaru is easily the strongest. It's no contest.
Uh, Wrong. Orochimaru just wanted to test Kurama's power and nearly died in the process. He said so himself he would have died it the tbb hit him and we said Oro wiped out after that last rebirth so he used his sword to move the 4 tails away so he wouldn't die. You say without his arms but fail to see that he was using his arms in that fight. How do you think he did his jutsus? He can use his arms after switching bodies for a certain amount of time, he said this in part one after fighting Tsunade and Jiraiya that he had another way to get his arms back and it shows the lady's face of who body he's in.
And No Jiraiya wasn't prepared for the 4 tails, Go back and reread. He was training Naruto to control his power and had the key only slightly open Naruto's seal and then Naruto went 4 tails and almost killed a surprised Jiraiya who was trying to disable, not kill Naruto. Orochimaru is only stronger due to Edo, without then Jiraiya is stronger.
Show me a scan of tsunade and jiraita taking on 4 tails naurto for the fun of it.
Oh wait...
Show me a scan where Oro taking on the 4 tails for fun and not almost dying in the process, oh wait.... He wnted to test Kurama's power and end up almost dying, he said this himself that he would have died.
Well, Jiraiya is not Itachi, he's Jiraiya. And by that logic, Orochimaru can beat Jiraiya because he himself implied that he could,
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And besides, as you said, Itachi is stronger than Jiraiya, so he was obviously lying to Kisame so they wouldn't have to kill Konoha's most powerful public guardian for no reason.
By that Same Logic Jiraiya can beat both Itachi and Kisame because he implied he could. Who to say that gap meant power wise? You seem to forget Oro logic wasn't that great back then, he underestimated Naruto and then was shocked to see Naruto use a high ranked jutsu to beat Kabuto, a jounin ninja and then wanted to kill him in fear of what he might become. Last time Oro fought Jiraiya was when he left Konoha and Jiraiya tried to stop him but he wasn't trying to kill him but bring him back where as Oro had the advantage because he would fight to kill just like Naruto and Sasuke in the VoTE.
Also Jiraiya is stronger than Itachi, he had full confidence in beating them and has knowledge on them due to his many years of spying on them. Jiraiya even knew about the Rinnegan and fought 1 to 3 to all 6 paths which are all kage levels. And using the didn't want to kill Konoha strongest ninja excuse don't fly here because Jiraiya wasn't a Konoha Ninja anymore, he cut off his ties and left Konoha years ago. He can do whatever he wants just like the other Sannins.
As for Lying to Kisame, Kisame and Itachi didn't trust each other so if Kisame thought that was highly unlikely then he would have either fought Jiraiya himself or report the matter to the rest of the Akatsuki plus the fact that Zetsu always spying on Akatsuki members. We all learned that Itachi kept his Sharingan on because he didn't trust Kisame, in Kisame's flashback he threaten Itachi to always keep an eye on him with Samehada by Itachi and Itachi with MS on then goes 3 tomoes.