Are the rookie nine overrated?

[Hans-sama]

Orochimaru cldn't win against Itachi. Dis is to say Itachi is already above the legendary sannin since Jiyraiya and Tsunade together cldn't best Orochimaru. With Itachi in the Akatsuki I'm sure the leader wldn't choose anyone whose lagging to far behind Itachi to be in the same organisation. Den we see Sakura killed Sasouri. Den it's Shikamaru beating Hidan. And den there's Naruto defeating Kakuzu who fought shodaime. Although it's not singlehandedly. Wat about Sasuke? He won against Orochimaru. So can we say dat they're all above the sannin already? The sannin in which one of them is the current hokage?

[Ibataké]

I think one thing that you must have in mind is that the rookie nine improved trear skills rapidly!

[Seff vi Britannia]

And den you decided to spell then properly.

Sasuke..he's being getting trained for 3 years by Orochimaru, and it took curse seal level 2 to defeat Orochimaru's physical form.

And then Oro underestimated him. I get the feeling Sas did a mangekyou sharingan on him, like Itachi did, although i don't know how.

Sakura vs Sasori.
Sakura wasn't alone, she was with that old lady. And let's bear in mind Sakura did get owned and stabbed through the chest.

Hidan vs Shikamaru.
Hidan just rushed it. His only real weapon is his immortality, and Shikamaru found a way through that. And there's no way Shikamaru could have won if Hidan hadn't gone all out against Asuma. SHikamaru knew what Hidan's ultimate weapon was, and found a way around it.

Naruto vs Kakuza.
Kakauza had already lost two hearts, naruto was using what looks to be like one of the most powerful jutsu's we've seen so far. and bear in mind Naruto has the Kyuubi inside him. That's gotta count for something.

And let's remember that team 7 have been trained by one of the sanin each. That counts for something.

[Zanga]

Ok Kakuzu only had 2 hearts remaining when Naruto came on the scene. Kakashi did half the work. Naruto's jutsu took out 1.5 of his hearts(he was still alive even after getting hit) So all Naruto had to do was hit him with the Shuriken Rasengan.

Sakura had Chiya-bbachan with her. Sakura had the super strength, all he needed was speed, which was what Chiya gave Sakura with her puppet mastery. Also remember, Sasori WANTED to die.

As for Shikamaru.....Dues ex machina. There.

[Ryukuu]

I know what you mean. They do seem kind of "easy" since a bunch of 15 year olds are able to defeat them. I guess stuff can seem kinda out of proportions when the main characters are uberpowerfull. 9tails, Tsunades strength, sharingan, buyakugan, gate releases, super iq, etc etc. List goes on..

Would be kinda weird if they all died on first encounter :P