So, to start off, I will be detailing the point from which a lot of notable Naruto Characters scale from, and that is Ay (Fourth Raikage). Allow me to explain...
As already
discussed and accepted, Ay would be the strongest in Kirigakure based on his own feats and Databook statements but this is where details come into play. Let's talk about his V1 and V2 Cloaks and MS Sasuke. In the Manga we see that Ay in his V2 Cloak is capable of
chopping through Sasuke’s Susanoo Ribs but the end result is Sasuke is just left with a
bruised shoulder/neck. So we know that Susanoo Ribs absorbed most of Ay’s Attack and its because of this that we know that Ay’s V1 Cloak isn’t “Too much” weaker than his V2 Cloak as he is able to
damage Sasuke’s Susanoo Ribs in his V1 Cloak and this is where we officially begin the scaling (NOTE: I will “mostly” be covering PHYSICALS because as we know, Ninjutsu tends to scale higher than Physicals).
- Suigetsu — When Ay and Darui attempt to attack Sasuke, Suigetsu & Juugo block. Suigetsu manages to momentarily block & hold back Ay’s strike but after a bit, his sword snaps and he does say had he not been made of water, his arms would’ve been torn off. I’ll explain KB below but he also does Block a strike from KB.
- Juugo — As with Suigetsu, when Juugo steps up in his 2nd State, Ay rushed him with V1 Cloak & Juugo Managed to Momentarily block but eventually Ay managed to “Push” a hole through his body.
- Killer B — This one is pretty straight forward. He showed he is stronger than Suigetsu & Finessed Juugo. Now, Killer B has more feats against Ay, but those are controversial imo. Firstly, when he initially Blocks a Bloodlusted Ay, he is Partially Transformed. The next is when he tries to Lariat Ay but it does absolutely nothing and he get hurt by a casual elbow. Next he Matches (2nd Page) V1 Ay but then somehow overpower’s V2 Ay (Page 1, Page 2). I will make some proposals in the wrap up regarding KB.
- Kisame — In his fight with Killer B, Kisame matched Killer B’s Thrust & Headbutt after absorbing the Lightning Chakra & Biju Cloak. (Shown: Here & Here)
- Asuma — Asuma only has 3 fights in the series before he dies. He slaughters a group of Chunin being held by Shikamaru, fights Kisame when he and Itachi invade the leaf and Hidan & Kakuzu. In the Kisame fight, Asuma Takes a hit from a Serious Kisame (Something to NOTE, Asuma is actually holding up Samehada and it doesn’t actually touch his shoulder until Page 10, prompting Asuma to comment on his strength. This shows us that similarly to Suigetsu & Juugo, the initial hit isn’t what would mortally wound them, its the application of pressure after the hit). No doubt this is what prompted This response from Asuma as this is his first time meeting Hidan & Kakuzu.
- Kakuzu — So, Kakuzu physically hits hard enough to Hurt Asuma. I’ll address his Biju Feat later towards the bottom.
- Kakashi — Kakashi is stated in Databook 1 to be Konoha’s Strongest Ninja (Not Counting Hokage). The Databook also states that Asuma’s true strength is “Near” Kakashi’s but the implication is that he’s still below Kakashi. In addition to this, Kakashi is able to take direct hits from Kakuzu and keep fighting while also being able to Match his power output.
- Hidan — Hidan would scale from Kakashi mostly. In his fight with Asuma, they one clash but it ammounts to nothing because Asuma simply cut the sword he was using in half with Wind Release. I mean… he did tank Asuma’s Jutsu with almost no issues and just complained about it but his best feats are tanking Kakuzu’s Jutsu & exchanging blows with Kakashi (Here & Here).
- Sasuke — Sasuke is a primary scaler here. He doesn’t have “many” scalable feats prior to the KB fight and the Itachi fight isn’t a good indicator as its implied he was holding back and a lot of it was Genjutsu. That said, the KB fight is a perfect jumping off point as it represents Sasuke without the power of “The White Snake”. Here we see Sasuke initiate his assault on KB and in the next exchange, he completely blocks the strike (Note that as Sasuke rolls on top of the blade, the Blade isn’t moving as evident in its lack of motion lines and even if you wanted to argue that point, when Sasuke stabs his sword through the hole of the Executioners Blade, it doesn’t move beyond that, touch the blade even or so much as drags it. Sasuke legit just blocked it. Now yes, there is the “Infamous” Chest kick but as funny as that is, its inconsistent with the rest of Sasuke’s showings. After the chest kick, Sasuke goes on to exchange blows several times (2nd Page) before being overwhelmed. Later on he’s also shown being able to take strikes (2nd Strike) from Kakashi. As far as Ninjutsu strength goes, Sasuke was able to Hurt KB with a Nonlethal Chidori and could Harm Ay through his V1 cloak a little. I already Discussed Susanoo Ribs in the opening but obviously higher forms scale higher.
- Danzou — Scales to Sasuke physically. He literally went H2h with Sasuke for 3 Minutes Straight after Sasuke Deactivated Susano’o. Higher with Combination Jutsu with his summoning jutsu & Izanagi for damaging a higher level Susano’o.
- Gai — Databook 1 (See Kakashi For Link) states his strength & speed are comparable to Kakashi’s in Base. In Kazekage Rescue Mission, Guy blocks a strike from Kisame, as well as takes a punch to the gut, and even though he coughed up blood from the strike, he continued on without any real adverse affects and Destroyed the clone (Morning Peacock). I also want to note that the Itachi Clone was also Physically on par with Kakashi (And no, That punch wasn’t apart of the Genjutsu) so I know the Jutsu pain used uses 30% of their chakra to create these clones but that would mean the Kisame clone was still physically comparable if not superior to Base Gai & Kakashi. Then there is 7th Gate that One Shot Kisame.
- Orochimaru & Jiraiya — These two are a headache but they have statements & narrative weight that could support their scaling. For starters, the first databook (See Kakashi for Link) asserts Jiraiya and Orochimaru are comparable to each other and this is supported by the flash back where Orochimaru (A Hokage Candidate At the Time), when he attempted to leave and Jiraiya tried to stop him, fought Jiraiya 1-on-1. Orochimaru assessed Kabuto’s strength to be Equal to Kakashi. When Orochimaru approached Kakashi and Sasuke, Kakashi was visibly shook after Orochimaru laughed at him and Invited him to attack him. I’ll get to Tsunade Later but Orochimaru did get back up from Not 1, but 2 strikes from Seal Released Tsunade. As for Jiraiya, he did tank a Dynamic Entry to the face with little damage. Itachi has a statement regarding Jiraiya that says If they fought, they might kill each other. Now, many people here don’t want to take Itachi’s statement as a fact because of his undercover status and what not (Even though that’s still highly speculative), but that doesn’t apply to Kisame who isn’t sure he can defeat Jiraiya and damn there admits inferiority. I believe these present good scaling for these characters based on the feats and Narrative weight.
- Itachi -- This one is pretty straight-forward. Itachi scales over Kakashi. The clone Pain created was already comparable to Kakashi and these clones were weaker than their originals. Now, idk if the 30% thing translate to literally being a third as strong as the originals but its straight-forward none the less, Original > Clone. Now, I want to address Itachi's illness. So... as far as I know from all sources, we don't actually know "when" Itachi got sick. IIrc, it's never stated or implied "When" he gets sick in the Manga, Databooks & Novels. I guess one could argue that because even Zetsu didn't know of the illness, it would've been relatively recent but is still too speculative. So, as far as Part 1 Itachi is concerned, he'd likely need a "Possibly Higher" tag on his rating due to the uknown status of his illness date/timeframe. Edo Itachi however wouldn't be restricted from this illness and I believe that shows us exactly how strong he really is. First showings of strength is against KCM Naruto where he has several exchanges, as well as burn KB and had several exchanges with him as well. Against Kabuto he cut off a horn and equally clashed with him.