Recently I saw some posts where people claim that Sannin are overrated, that kage beat them, KN4 Naruto beats them, that they lose to lots of War Arc characters because they don’t really participate in these events (mainly I am talking about Jiraiya right now since Oro exists in WA).

Anyway, let’s dive into this topic starting with Jiraiya. I often hear opinions that he is weak in base form. Is he? Let me educate those who think he is weak in base.

What jutsu does he have in base? 

1. Summoning jutsu. And this is by far the strongest jutsu he has in base. Why? Because his summons are busted. What is so special about his summons? What can they do?  

a) Summoning frog’s stomach to trap opponents forced Itachi to use Amaterasu (daily reminder that Itachi’s eyes suffer from each use of his ultimate abilities). 

b) Summoning Boss Toad to drop it on his opponents they way he dropped it on Oro’s big snakes or Minato dropped Bunta on Kurama

c) Boss Toads can cover huge distances quickly with their leaps. Also useful against flying opponents to reach them with most of attacks if necessary 

d) Pa and Ma are crazy OP. Jiraiya doesn’t need to be in SM for them to use their OP jutsus. Frog song? No need for SM, frogs were about to save Naruto from Pain using it on their own. But you may think that it requires prep time Jiraiya’s opponents won’t give him. Oh well, Pa and Ma has lots of other stuff to do without prep time. For example, Frog Call. They can paralyze multiple opponents in front of them instantly via senjutsu amplified sound waves. No only that, they can cover the whole area with senjutsu amplified smoke screen instantly (essentially much better version of smoke bomb). You are going to ask me, what’s the point if Jiraiya can’t sense enemies in base? No, he can sense enemies in base. He has sensory barrier. So any opponent without sensory abilities risks fighting base Jiraiya. Sage frogs also have elemental jutsu on their own and some other stuff. 

e) One of his toads can even BFR his opponent. Base Jiraiya can literally send his opponent in another dimension similar to Kamui 

2. Swamp. He can immobilize even physically strong summons. This swamp can be crazy big if needed

3. Sensory barrier. I have already mentioned its combo with smoke screen, but I need to mention it separately since thanks to this barrier base Jiraiaya can’t be caught off guard

4. Lion’s Mane, Hair needle senbon. He can use his hair both for close combat and for long range high speed little needle like projectiles spam. Or he can use them as shield as durable as steel

5. Huge area Katon jutsu (in combo with Bunta). He can kill thousands of Shinobi with this. Its size is insane. Bunta himself and Manda combined are dozens of times smaller than this flame base Jiraiya and Bunta can produce in combo

6. Reverse summoning. Need to survive Deidara’s C0, Konan’s billions of paper bombs or Chibaku Tensei? You can use reverse summoning jutsu that is basically space-time ninjutsu

7. Sealing jutsu mastery. He was able to apply his own seal on top of Orochimaru’s high level sealing jutsu (5ES) that was used to disrupt Minato’s high level sealing jutsu. Or he was able to seal away Amaterasu. Or he could stop KN4 Naruto using sealing jutsu. 

8. Twin rasengans. So he can do precise strike with Rasengan x2

9. Bro can even merge with someone’s shadow. Ridiculous 

10. Shadow clones jutsu. He can multiple effects of his jutsus and use different tactics unlike those who don’t have it or don’t use it like A4, OM Obito, Guy etc. 

So please tell in what place this is weak? He has great versatility even in base and lots of options against almost any opponent possible. 

What about his stats? 4.5/5 in speed. He literally shunshin intercepted Kisame’s attack appearing to save Naruto in time. Taijutsu 4.5/5. Strength 4.5/5. So in conclusion he has high level physical abilities, lower than someone like Guy, obviously, but still high tier. Combined with his almost crazy versatility he is confident kage level combatant even in base form. In SM his 4.5 physical stats skyrocket. He gets access to senjutsu boosted Choodama Rasengan (mountain buster per DB). His other jutsu mentioned above gets significantly amplified just because he infuses ordinary chakra with senjutsu chakra. He also gains access to few unique jutsu like Goemon. 

Now when it comes to narrative he shines brighter than most of the characters in Naruto. He was praised by Obito, Pain, Itachi and Kisame - literally by all top Akatsuki tiers. WA Kabuto openly admitted that he wanted to revive him alongside Shisui (this forced WM Obito to say something like “Don’t push your luck”). It’s despite Kabuto having a lot of other Edo Tensei Shinobi in his collection.

So if you ask me, base Jiraiya is confident mid kage level. I can clearly see him winning against some Akatsuki members and some kage even in Base form. In SM he is high kage+ level pretty close to low end top tier like Itachi, OM Obito, prime Killer Bee (although lower than them).

Next time we will talking about Lord Orochimaru. 

Jiraiya is underrated