Strongest to Weakest - a rating system

[February]

Instead of making those "omg I thinnk **** iS TeH sTRongesT!!" threads, and we really don't know who is exactly stronger than who for every character since not all characters have fought each other, I think we could make a system of rating that is voted on by all users. I will post most of the major characters and try to rate them based on the scale below, and people can reply and comment and give reason why who is weaker than who and so on.

Greatest to Least:

S+ = Strongest of the Strongest. The most powerful characters to have ever been discovered in the Naruto series.
S= Legendary powers
A+= Characters that most people believe to be close to legendary strength
A= Intensely strong
B+=Decently Strong
B= A typical Jounin Strength
C= Typical Chuunin Strength
D= Typical Genin Strength, a.k.a. Failure

This is a rating sytem based on what the manga users have SEEN so far, so it will be subject to change in the future.

The S+ Members =
4th Hokage (Inventor of Rasengan, and the only person that can tame Gama, and his past well-known demonstrations of his power)

Leader of Akatsuki (To be able to be the leader of such a powerful organization, he must have some incredible powers)

S Members=
Itachi (Mangekyou Sharingan, Master of Genjutsu. He is qualifiable to be S+ but I still think Itachi gets tired from using his Mangekyu...he also takes order from the leader of Akatsuki meaning that he should be weaker than S+)

Orochimaru (Although in the series, Orochimaru says he is weaker than Itachi, I still think Orochimaru qualifys as S rank instead of A+ rank. He knows many crazy jutsus and ability to summon dead people; he is on the brink of finding out the secret to immortality, plus he never seems to ever get hurt in the series no matter what)

Jiraiya (Although I hestitated to put Jiraiya in this category, because he has never shown us really insane moves. However, Itachi's hestitation to fight Jiraiya head on leads us to believe that Jiraiya is more capable than A+ rank

Sasuke (I currently feel Sasuke has improved so much. He has been able to show us readers crazy jutsus like chidori current, but he has also learned to manipulate his cursed seal effectively with good control, and even defeated Orochimaru, or at least so it seems. I feel that he is a bit weak to be in the S category , but he is too strong to be in the A+ category at the moment)


Sasori (Master Puppeteer of the Akatsuki group, he had so many forms and defensive seen during his fight. His ability to control the 4th Kazekage and making a puppet out of himself made him look incredibly strong;; Chiyo even said that she thinks Sasori LET himself die at the last moment and Deidara admitted that Sasori was stronger than him)


Kakuzu (Lived for so long, ability to steal other's jutsus by using their hearts, 5 lifespans, ability to use high level jutsus of every element)

A+ Members=

Kakashi (Yes, I would have put him in A for his many many copied jutsus and good instinct, but Kakashi has moved up to A+ with his Mangekyou Sharingan)

Tsunade (Although she is a legendary sannin, I don't think she is capable of matching up to the other two sannins. She is a medical ninja, not necessarily great for pure power and did show us her weakness during the Sannin fight. She almost got beat down by Kabuto)

Naruto (After learning the wind rasengan, I felt he become a little stronger. He now uses his kage bunshin correctly when fighting. He defeated an Akatsuki member....despite how unrealistic it was)

Third Hokage (Although we've only seen him at his old age, and who knows how powerful he was in his prime, we haven't seen that much power from him so he can't be placed higher for now. He did defend himself against Oro pretty well and used quite a bit of powerful jutsus)

A Members=
Kabuto (He really proved his strength when he fought Tsunade, and his ability to adapt so quickly to switched body senses- Tsunade's medical jutsu made me believe that he is very skilled. Orochimaru said it himself that he believed Kabuto is strong as Kakashi but this was before Kakashi got the Mangekyou)

Hidan ( A recent Akatsuki who has been defeated by Shikamaru, one of the most mysterious and crazy things about Hidan is that he never seems to die. However, Hidan is very stupid when it comes to fighting and only uses a ritualistic type of jutsu.)

Gai (Even though he has never shown us anything except Taijutsu, I think that Gai is capable of using ninjutsu;; only Lee is incapable. If Gai's student Lee was that exceptional in taijutsu, we can expect much more from Gai especially with his gates opened)

Gaara (This is after he became Kazekage and before he lost his Jinchurriki powers, I believe he could have beaten Deidara if he didnt have to protect the sand village)

Deidara (Too strong to be ranked B;; although he is the weakest of the Akatsuki seemingly, he is still a member of Akatsuki)

Kimimaro (with his 2nd form cursed seal)

B+ Members=
Neji
Rock Lee
Chiyo (great fighting experience and amazing jutsus plus great puppeteer)
Sai (as far as we have seen of him)
Yamato (large variety of wood element jutsu and ability to tame Naruto's kyuubi)

B Members=
Shikamaru (with his intellect)
Kiba (after his demonstration of his giant two headed dog jutsu)
Zabuza (Although he seemed really powerful in the beginning, he was easily beaten down by Kakashi...and he lacked lots of good jutsus)
Kankuro
Sakura (after her increase in physical strength and medical training with Tsunade)
Shino

C members =
Ten ten
Choji
Ino
Haku

D members=
Konohamaru


Feel free to add on to the list whom I didnt mention...and if you think a character shouldn't be in a certain category, state your reason why

Edited 10/4/06 : Third has now been placed in A+ category
Sakura has been placed in B category

Edit 10/10/06: Haku has been placed in C category

Edit 5/2/07: Naruto has now been placed in the A+ category
Sasuke has now been placed in S category
Hidan has been placed in A category
Kakuzu has been placed in S category
Shino has been placed in B category

Edit 5/3/07: Sasori has been moved to S category