Naruto Shippuden continued the adventures of Naruto Uzumaki as the titular hyperactive young ninja worked to achieve his dreams of becoming his village's strongest warrior and Hokage. Along the way, Naruto made many new friends and fought powerful enemies as he worked to keep his village safe.

As one of the best shōnen anime of all time, Naruto Shippuden introduced exciting new characters that took the franchise to new heights over its 500-episode run. While Naruto is the star of the series, he has had a lot to learn throughout the series, looking up to three characters in particular – some of the most renowned ninja alive – in his quest to be the strongest. At the end of ShippudenAll three of these legendary ninjas proved to be extremely powerful, but only one of them stood out above the rest.

Who were the Sannin in Naruto: Shippuden?

The Sannin, also known as the Three Legendary Ninja, were hailed as the greatest ninja of their time in the Hidden Leaf Village. The members of the Legendary Sannin were Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade, and the trio were taught under the tutelage of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Despite working together as a team during their training, the three often fought heavily among themselves, resulting in what Tsunade would call a "triple standoff". This caused the trio to go their separate ways after completing their training, though they would join forces once again during the Second Shinobi World War.

As the only Konoha ninja to survive the battle with Hanzo of Amegakure, he dubbed them the "Legendary Sannin of Konoha". This would be the last time the three would join forces in battle, with each going their separate ways due to the intense rivalry they shared, with things getting especially heated between Orochimaru and Jiraiya.

The Three Sanin were known for their strength and skill

The Sannin underwent rigorous training during their time with Hiruzen Sarutobi, and this made them some of the most skilled and elite ninja in the history of the Hidden Leaf Village. Because of their elite ninja prowess, each of the three Sannin was considered strong enough to assume the role of Hokage during their time, though only one actually took on the role.

After his mentor Hiruzen decided to retire from his role as Third Hokage, Orochimaru applied to take over the role, but his master chose Minato Namikaze—Naruto's father—instead, citing that Orochimaru did not understand what it meant to take on such an important role. After Naruto's father's death, Hiruzen wanted Jiraiya to become the Fifth Hokage. In fact, Jiraiya was offered the role but declined, saying that the prestigious duty should go to Tsunade.

With all three Sannin being extremely powerful ninjas, capable of being the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, ranking them by strength is no easy task. Each of the Sannin was incredibly strong in their own ways, and all three looked out for each other despite their differences. That being said, by the end of Shippudenone of the Sannin proved to be the strongest of them all.

3 Orochimaru's dark path prevented him from becoming the greatest Sannin

Orochimaru was one of the strongest characters in all of history. Naruto franchise, but his willingness to follow a dark path prevented him from being the strongest of the Legendary Sannin. He sought to become immortal, which led him to perform unethical experiments on others, and he eventually fled the Hidden Leaf Village rather than face trial for his crimes. Orochimaru had many powerful abilities at his disposal and was widely considered a prodigy in the ninja arts.

His quest for immortality led him to enhance his own body over the years, making it capable of powerful healing and regeneration, even from fatal wounds. After these experiments, Orochimaru's body became that of a giant white snake, and his ability to summon more snakes to attack made him one of the most terrifyingly powerful characters in the series. Orochimaru's strongest ability was his unique Eight Branches Technique, where he uses the power of reincarnation to transform himself into a giant white snake with eight heads and tails, easily capable of total destruction.

Ultimately, Orochimaru's focus on achieving immortality and learning every possible ninjutsu technique made him a powerful but misguided ninja. Unfortunately, his prodigious talents were used in nefarious ways, and his selfish motives prevented him from becoming stronger than his other Sannin peers. It is likely that Hiruzen sensed Orochimaru's dire ambitions, refusing to make Orochimaru the next Hokage as he felt his student did not understand what it meant to be a Konoha ninja.

2 Tsunade's power led her to become Hokage.

Tsunade is the second most powerful Sannin, known as the strongest female ninja in the world and the greatest healer of all time. She is also one of the strongest sensei in the series, having taught Sakura everything she knows about her medical jutsu. Tsunade became the Fifth Hokage after Hiruzen's death, and used her incredible abilities to keep the Hidden Leaf Village safe throughout. Shippudenthe story. She largely believes that a medical ninja should avoid heavy fighting, staying in the back to heal others, but she is still a quite capable fighter in her own right.

She has immense physical strength and chakra control, as well as the ability to gain temporary immortality with her Creation Rebirth technique, which surprisingly allows her to heal any wounds, no matter how severe or life-threatening they may be. Tsunade also healed Rock Lee's spinal injuries and notably cured Shikamaru's severe chakra depletion almost instantly after he came into contact with the God Tree.

1 Jiraiya's battle prowess made him the strongest Sannin.

Jiraiya was the most cheerful of the three Sannin, but his easygoing nature belied his true power. He was offered the chance to become Hokage three times, with Hiruzen initially expressing his desire for Jiraiya to become the Fifth Hokage after the death of Naruto's father. As Jiraiya had no interest in taking on the serious role, he declined the position.

After his training with Hiruzen, Jiraiya became the sensei of both Naruto's father and Naruto himself. The fact that he trained two of the most powerful characters in the series is a testament to his incredible power. Part of the reason Jiraiya was such a legendary Sannin was his massive chakra reserves and his ability to summon toads, which had a wide variety of abilities to aid him in battle. He also had immense power from his Sage Mode, an enhanced state that allowed him to tap into the forces of the world by imbuing his already powerful powers with new chakra. This made him an extremely difficult ninja to deal with in battle, with even Itachi Uchiha fearing Jiraiya.

In the end, Jiraiya died at the hands of Pain, but not before an intense battle that showed the true power and extent of Jiraiya's legendary power. Even Nagato commented that if Jiraiya had known how the Six Paths of Pain worked, he would have probably been able to defeat him. Considering that Orochimaru was easily defeated by Pain and even Tsunade fell into a coma during Pain's attack on the village, it is safe to say that even Naruto ShippudenJiraiya's main antagonist considered Jiraiya to be the strongest of the three Sannin.

That said, the three legendary Sannin were closer in terms of power than they would probably ever admit, considering their intense rivalries. Even though he was the weakest, Orochimaru still proved himself to be incredibly powerful when executing his dark schemes. Tsunade regularly proved her power when defending the village during her time as Fifth Hokage, and even with his dying breath, Jiraiya proved his power by weakening Pain and setting up his student, Naruto, for one of the most epic revenge battles in anime history.