This article uses material from the “Jiraiya” article on the Narutopedia at FANDOM is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.
Jiraiya, also known as the Ero-Sennin and the Toad Sage, is a character from the Naruto anime and manga.
The legendary Toad Mountain Sage, Jiraiya is a randy loner who spends much of his time Walking the Earth. His first appearance in the series was during the Chunin exam arc, when he knocked out Naruto's trainer when the latter caught him peeking on a women's shower. Naruto (who had no clue as to the old man's true identity and power, and called him "pervy sage") subsequently badgered him into continuing his training personally.
Jiraiya is basically indolent and shuns responsibility, despite his great skill as a ninja. The village elders initially offered him the position of Hokage after the Third's death, but he turned it down because he knew he'd screw it up and then he suggested Tsunade as an a better option. He makes most of his money from writing the pornographic novels that are a runaway hit in the Naruto universe (the same ones Kakashi is never seen without), and would much rather spend his time drinking, gambling, and wenching than doing anything serious. Nevertheless, Jiraiya is a fierce warrior and never backs down when he's really needed, helping to beat back Orochimaru's attack on Konoha in the Chunin Exam arc and always keeping his eyes and ears open regarding the whereabouts of Konoha's enemies, particularly Orochimaru and the Akatsuki.
In the AWA fics, Jiraiya, known as Jiraiya Goketsu, was given a second chance in life in ZeroTopia. He is a part of the AWA Academy as one of it's instructors and serves as the main adviser of Class 15.
Appearance[]
Jiraiya was a tall and well-built man in adulthood with fair skin. He had a wart on the left side of his nose and waist-length, spiky white hair that he usually ties back into a pony tail, with two shoulder-length bangs framing his face. There were red lines under his eyes which extended further down his face as he got older, going all the way to the bottom by the time he was an adult. Following an encounter with Naruto's Version 2form, he received a large scar on his chest. His usual attire consisted of a green short shirt kimono and matching pants, under which he wore mesh armour that is visible at his wrists and ankles. He also wore hand guards, a black belt, traditional Japanese wooden sandals, and a red haori with two yellow circles on each side. He often carried a large scroll on his back, and had a tattoo on his left palm, and he wore a horned forehead protector with the kanji for "oil", which denoted his affiliation with Mount Myōboku.
Personality[]
Jiraiya was generally light-hearted and gregarious, making jokes at his own expense and giving a mirthful laugh about it afterwards. In his interactions with others, he liked to pretend to be smug or selfish, upsetting them so that he could further rile them up with his humour. Even when entering combat he did not miss an opportunity to be flashy and over-the-top, striking kabuki poses and giving dramatic self-introductions; these intros were often interrupted in some way, and Jiraiya was quick to express his annoyance at whoever was responsible. Friends and foes alike were fond of Jiraiya for his eccentricities, admiring that somebody so seemingly irreverent could in actuality be an extremely competent shinobi: he was deeply loyal to Konoha despite how often he is away from it, not hesitating to threaten to kill Tsunade if she betrayed the village, despite their long history. Jiraiya also demonstrated no hesitation in attempting to destroy his former best friend Orochimaru in retribution for the death of their teacher, nor in attempting to dispatch his former pupil Nagato when he learned Nagato was the true leader of Akatsuki, despite the pain it brought him. Jiraiya felt that his personality quirks render him incapable of being Hokage, as he either lacked the responsibility for the position or he had, through his past infractions and failures, proven unworthy of such an honour.
Despite being seen as an eccentric troublemaker in his youth, Jiraiya proved to be an exemplary and competent Shinobi. Jiraiya would establish a vast information network across the countries and in battle demonstrated the ability to both recognise and analyse threats and danger on short notice. Jiraiya was also capable of coming up with quick gambits and new strategies in the middle of battle based on his keen observations.
Jiraiya was a self-proclaimed super-pervert with no equal. His favourite hobby was spying on women while they bathe, a passion he flaunted openly and in fact took pride in because of how infrequently he was caught. Despite this, Jiraiya disliked it when Naruto Uzumaki referred to him as the "Perverted Hermit" in front of others. With the "research" from his peeping, Jiraiya wrote a series of adult novels called Icha Icha. The novels were based on his personal experiences in love - particularly his rejections by Tsunade - retold in a comical way. The books were wildly popular, giving his chequebook a balance that is "filled with zeroes"; this fact did not stop him from taking Naruto's money when he got the chance and spending it on alcohol and women. In the anime, Naruto ghost-writes an Icha Icha book without anybody noticing, suggesting that either Naruto can write like an adult, or that Jiraiya's writing abilities were no better than a child's. Tsunade suspected it was the latter, as she notes that a report Jiraiya wrote when he was younger was poorly written and accompanied by crude crayon illustrations.
Jiraiya's perversion has backfired on him a number of times. When he first meets Naruto, he has no interest in training him. Naruto convinces him to change his mind by using the Sexy Technique, which Jiraiya so strongly approves of that he asks Naruto to continue to use it for the duration of their training. Itachi Uchiha and Kisame of Akatsuki later hypnotise an attractive woman to lure Jiraiya away from Naruto so that they can try to capture him; though it works at first, Jiraiya quickly realises that women aren't usually attracted to him, allowing him to return to Naruto in time to rescue him. When he was younger, he spied on Tsunade while she was bathing and, when she caught him, she broke both of his arms, six of his ribs, and ruptured a number of organs as punishment. Ever since, he's used greater discretion in expressing his interests in Tsunade, careful to make his advances come off only as playful. Jiraiya considers his inability to win Tsunade's heart to be one of the greatest failures of his life. Despite his boisterous nature, Jiraiya was plagued by doubts and insecurities that his life was nothing more than a series of failures. Being unable to save Orochimaru weighed heavily on him, as did the deaths of the Third and Fourth Hokage. Jiraiya considered his achievements paltry things next to the previous four Hokage and desired a death as glorious as their own. In his final moments, Jiraiya expressed his pride in realising a heroic death that was "just barely glorious, but glorious indeed".
Despite his self deprecation, one of Jiraiya's defining feature was his indomitable spirit and drive to never give up. Despite the multitude of failures he suffered in life, he never succumbed to despair, always forging ahead as he felt a shinobi must. Against Orochimaru, Jiraiya revealed his belief that the truest essence of the shinobi was one who endured and fought on no matter what they faced, regardless of inborn talent or genius. Even mortally wounded, Jiraiya's willpower was so powerful that he willed his own heart to begin beating again in order to impart a final message to Konoha. He would pass these beliefs and drive on to his pupils.
Perhaps Jiriaya's greatest contribution to the world was his abilities as a teacher. Driven by the prophecy he would one day find the world's saviour, Jiraiya would mentor three of the most powerful shinobi in history, Nagato, Minato and Naruto, imparting his belief in the spirit of a shinobi to all three. While he could be harsh to Naruto at first, Jiraiya held a genuine love for the boy and took time to make certain he acted like a parental figure as opposed to merely teacher and student, even buying ice cream to share with him when Naruto was depressed at his lack of a family. Even in death, Jiraiya's last thoughts were of Naruto, who he entrusted the world's salvation to. In the anime, before departing for the afterlife, Jiraiya's spirit would use its final moments to clap Naruto on the shoulder in a final show of affection.
While he rarely revealed it outwardly, Jiraiya was a great believer in peace and held a deep longing to change the hatred inherent in the world. While he desired to find an answer to the cycle of hatred that plagued the world, he was never been able to come up with a way to do so. He never had children of his own, for which reason he thought of Minato Namikaze as his son and, by extension, thought of Naruto as his grandson. Jiraiya stated simply that to be happy was not his fate; Tsunade doubted he believed his own words. Under his bluster, Jiraiya remained a fundamentally kind man who treasured those close to him, maintaining a strong faith in the next generation, especially those he personally trained and Naruto in particular, believing that Naruto would be able to create and enjoy the world that Jiraiya could only dream of. When he died, Jiraiya decided that, despite his numerous failures, the successes of his time with Naruto made everything worthwhile.
Abilities[]
Like his fellow students of the Third Hokage, Jiraiya was an exceptionally talented shinobi, hailed as one of the strongest ninja of his generation and one of the most powerful shinobi ever produced in Konoha. It wasn't until the Second Shinobi World War that his skills became widely known; dubbed by Hanzō as a Sannin, a title which makes the Uchiha Clan and Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist pale in comparison. Kisame Hoshigaki viewed him as being in a league above himself, and Itachi Uchiha believed that at best he would stalemate with Jiraiya if they fought even with assistance. His skill lead him to becoming a jōnin and was offered the position of Hokage three times, and would have been offered it a fourth time had he lived longer. Kakashi, a highly experienced ninja himself, found the notion of someone single-handedly defeating Jiraiya almost absurd. Although he ultimately met his end by the strongest Akatsuki member Nagato, the latter stated that he would have lost had Jiraiya known the secret of the Six Paths of Pain, which Tobi feels is a major testament to the Sannin's abilities.
Chakra and Physical Prowess
Jiraiya has chakra reserves large enough to summon Gamabunta and chakra potent enough to use senjutsu. Jiraiya also was masterful with his chakra control, able to perform two Rasengan at the same time, or even carve a message just using his chakra despite it being disrupted. He also taught Naruto how to break genjutsu using chakra control. The manga shows little of his physical prowess other than being able to fling Naruto several metres with a single finger tap. In the anime, he is shown lifting and throwing large boulders, as well as kicking away some of the Giant Multi-Headed Dogs.
Jiraiya was also remarkably durable, able to withstand a lot of damage before going down. He could survive a full on kick from Might Guy with barely a scratch, and even attacks from summons as big as Gamabunta, such as the Giant Ox. Due to this durability he's only been brought to the brink of death twice: against Naruto Uzumaki's Four-Tailed Form and Tsunade's monster strength, and even Nagato had a difficult time inflicting lethal damage on his old master using the Six Paths of Pain.
Ninjutsu
Jiraiya is a ninjutsu master, who is famed as the "Toad Sage" because of his affiliation with the toads of Mount Myōboku. This affiliation is most commonly displayed through summoning toads, either to fight alongside him in battle or simply summoning a toad's œsophagus to cover an area and restrict any movements within that area. Other toad-based skills include spitting oil from his mouth, hiding himself within a target's shadow to control their actions undetected, and using toads to infiltrate sensitive areas.
He is able to grow and manipulate his hair, either to bind and destroy targets or to surround him as a defense, injuring any who comes into contact with him. He is also able to use the Rasengan — a destructive ball of compressed chakra — as well as its improved version, the Big Ball Rasengan.
Jiraiya is well-versed in fūinjutsu, able to deduce the workings of Naruto's Eight Trigrams Sealing Style within moments of seeing the seal's design. He also quickly notices the seal is being restricted, and as such removes the restriction. He can create seals for others that they can use to suppress the chakra of those who have been applied with Jiraiya's seal. He also displays a certain skill for barrier ninjutsu, erecting barriers to either detect all movements within a wide radius or toad-themed barriers for him to take shelter in.
Jiraiya's can utilise the natures of Fire, Earth, Water, Wind, Yin and Yang Release. With Fire Release, he can a shoot a blast of fire that he can combine with his toad's oil to make for an even more devastating attack. With Earth Release, he can create a swamp beneath a target to trap them.
Senjutsu
Jiraiya was taught how to use senjutsu by Fukasaku, which he can use to increase his speed, durability, and physical strength. He can also use it to empower his other ninjutsu, such as the Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan. Before he can gain these benefits, Jiraiya must enter Sage Mode, which he does not have mastery of. This causes his Sage Mode form to make him more toad-like in appearance, such as warts and webbed hands and feet; although his frog-like legs enable him to jump better, he dislikes the overall appearance because he believes women will find it unattractive. Using Sage Mode requires his supply of natural energy be constantly replenished, something that is difficult to do while in combat. For this reason, Jiraiya summons Fukasaku and Shima and fuses them to his body, having them gather natural energy for him. As an added bonus, Fukasaku and Shima can combine attacks with Jiraiya's, as with the Sage Art: Goemon, or they can perform jutsu that he can't, as with genjutsu.
Intelligence
Despite what his personality might suggest, Jiraiya is actually very shrewd in the field. His specialty is intelligence gathering, having a spy network that runs throughout the Five Great Shinobi Countries that he can use to gain information about a particular person or group to be used to his or his allies' advantage. In combat, this translates to a keen perceptiveness; Jiraiya observes all of the opponents' various actions, forms a theory about the how and why, and uses that theory to try and capitalise in the battle. His memory is apparently very good, as he, while dying, is able to craft a coded message using the page numbers of Icha Icha Tactics, with the first word on each page serving as his message.
Trivia[]
- In the AWA fics, Jiraiya is among the people who knew that Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki were brought back to life.
- Jiraiya and the other Sannin are named after the characters in the Japanese folktale Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari; Jiraiya references the story before his death. The Jiraiya of that story excels in toad magic.
- Jiraiya shares the same blood type with his former team-mates, Tsunade and Orochimaru, as well as his former apprentices, Naruto Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze.