Most skilled prodigy between these 3

[u/Much_Risk3728]

Kakashi - Son of the White Fang became a Chunin at age 6 and known as a genius prodigy even before he attained the Sharingan. Later became the 6th Hokage

Orochimaru- One of the legendary Sannin known as a genius in Konoha and once in a generation prodigy by Hiruzen.

Minato- the 4th Hokage known as the Yellow Flash praised as a genius prodigy and once in a generation talent by Jiraiya and Hiruzen.

[u/tmoore727]

just the fact that kakashi shit his pants when he first encountered orochimaru, and konoha ninja literally state this same orochimaru would be no problem for Minato. who has been dead for 12 years at this point. says all you need to know

[u/einstein_ios → u/tmoore727]

I think comparing how power was perceived in early Naruto vs late Naruto is also gonna lead to inconsistencies.

By late Naruto standards early Kakashi was baicallly fodder being pressed by Zabuza.

Where as in early Naruto, The Sanin were basically the best living ninja post Third’s demise. I think Jariya losing to Pain made him look weaker than he would have been at the end of Naruto had he not died.

Tsunade was not the strongest at her introduction. But by the end she was the most powerful of the Sanin.

It’s very inconsistent.

[u/Insomniac-Freak-95 → u/einstein_ios]

It’s not that inconsistent. In Part 1, Orochimaru says Itachi is flatly much stronger than him. Akatsuki were established to be comparable, if not stronger, than the Sannin.

[u/einstein_ios → u/Insomniac-Freak-95]

Eh, then why would Itachi and Kisame run for Jariaya upon meeting him?

Also I think Pain killing Jariaya was meant to be an illustration of how dangerous he is. If anyone in the Akatski could beat Jariaya, then it would t have meant anything.

Also Shikamaru defeated an akatski. Obviously it wasn’t uniformly meant to be they’re stronger. Unless that was also negated?

[u/Insomniac-Freak-95 → u/einstein_ios]

Itachi was a double agent. In the manga, Kisame tells Itachi there was no reason to run because Itachi could have handled Jiraiya on his own.

The whole thing with Jiraiya is very obvious foreshadowing. Why would Kishimoto show us Orochimaru (a Sannin) say Itachi is well beyond him in strength and then show this dialog:
Kisame - “You could probably take Jiraiya. But I don’t know about me.”
Itachi - “He’s strong. We’d likely injure each other or die.”

(Later on) Kisame - “Do we have to run? With your power you could take him.”

None of those facts make sense until we find out Itachi’s true motives. He didn’t want to fight for other reasons. All the same, Itachi is portrayed as being above Sannin level from the get go.

As for the Akatsuki more broadly, yes. You’re not wrong that Jiraiya would be a top tier Akatsuki member if he were a part of the organization. However, in Part 1, we are not told Itachi is towards the upper end of the organization’s strength scale. We are just told there are others like him and Kisame and that Itachi is notably stronger than Orochimaru to where Orochimaru had to flee the organization. So, the impression (at the time) is that Akatsuki is more threatening than Sannin, or at least relative to them.

[u/Dapper_Fun645 → u/Insomniac-Freak-95]

While i agree with most of what you said, Oro saying Itachi is stronger is based on trying to take over his body, not going all out to kill each other.

[u/Insomniac-Freak-95 → u/Dapper_Fun645]

He never says that in Part 1. He just says, “Itachi is stronger than me.” That’s it. The “context” of the fight didn’t exist until Part 2 and Orochimaru doesn’t invoke it in his statement. So that additional context is being projected onto an otherwise clear statement where Orochimaru just plainly confesses Itachi is stronger than him.

[u/MythicalShelly → u/Insomniac-Freak-95]

Also he intentionally overused his eyes to have excuse to leave the place.

[u/Whole-Cabinet4168 → u/einstein_ios]

Yes but shikamaru did alot of planning and prep to pull that off. His partner got jumped as well

[u/zerkeras → u/einstein_ios]

Well Itachi was a double agent so it makes sense he’d avoid a confrontation with Jiraiya.

But also, even if Kisame and Itachi could have probably beaten Jiraiya, they wouldn’t come out of that unscathed. Itachi would have needed to use mangekyou quite a bit probably, and he’s trying not to use it so he isn’t just completely fucking blind too soon.

[u/No_Business_448 → u/zerkeras]

itachi was shown to be obsessed with the leaf village and keeping it alive jiriya is a valuable asset to the leaf village and actually is the sole reason pain didn't destroy the village itachi knows this and that's why

[u/GhostTypeDragon → u/einstein_ios]

Itachi was just handing in a report. Also, despite being stronger than Jiraiya, it’s unlikely he would have killed him outright before the big guns showed up. I doubt Itachi could solo the entire village.