Part One top 10 shinobi

[ghost nappa]

There are tons of top 10 strongest threads out there, so I decided to put a new spin on it. Let's say naruto and sasuke just got done duking it out at the valley of the end and that's all there is to the series as far as you're concerned. Who would you say the 10 strongest ninjas were before the power-creep of Shippuden? (flashbacks of minato don't count) Here's mine:

1. 3rd Hokage
2-4. Jiraiya/Orochimaru/Itachi
5. Kakashi
6. Kisame
7. Tsunade
8. Guy
9. Zabuza
10. Kabuto

 

[EternalSage]

-Itachi
-Orochimaru
-Jiraiya
-Kakashi
-Hiruzen Sarutobi
-Might Guy
-Kabuto
-Gaara
-Naruto
-Rock Lee

 

[Gajaraj]

-kabuto
-naruto
-sasuke
-itachi
-tobi
-tsunade
-raikage
-danzou
-kakasi
-guy

 

[ghost nappa]

-kabuto
-naruto
-sasuke
-itachi
-tobi
-tsunade
-raikage
-danzou
-kakasi
-guy

Part one dude. Half those characters were'nt even introduced yet.

 

[ANNEDAX]

Gaara.
Sabaku no Gaara.
Gaara of the sands.
Gaara of the sand waterfall.
Etc....

 

[SuperDouchebag]

-Third Hokage

 

[SuperDouchebag]

-Third Hokage

Miss click

-third hokage
-itachi
-orochimaru
-jiraya
-tsunade
-kisame
-kakashi
-guy
-shino
-sasuke

 

[Bogard]

1- Jiraya
2- Hiruzen Sarutobi
3- Itachi
4- Orochimaru
5,6,7- Kakashi/Guy/Kisame
8- Kimimaro
9- Zabuza
10- Tsunade

 

[Rikuudo Sage]

Since you requested part 1:

1-Jiraya
2-Orochimaru
3-Kakashi Hatake
4-Naruto
5-Gaara
6-Zabuza
7-Haku

These are the characters, no Akatsuki, though.

 

[teetooktier]

With hindsight, Itachi number one for sure. I still remember when I first saw Kakashi lose, and I was like NOOOOO WAY.

However, without hindsight, it had to be Jiraiya, because the infamous "Itachi + Kisame = Jiraiya in battle" quote.

Orochimaru was impressive, seemed like he'd be the big bad for a while, until he said Itachi beat him. Seeing as Oro did pretty good against Tsunade and handicapped Jiraiya, this contradicted the above quote and screwed everything up.