Jiraiya

Jiraiya (自来也) was one of Konohagakure's legendary Sannin. He was known as the Toad Sage (蝦蟇仙人), because of his special affinity for toads. Famed as a hermit and pervert of stupendous skill, Jiraiya traveled the world in search of knowledge that would help his friends, his series of adult novels, and ultimately the world in it's entirety. In which knowledge that would be passed on to his godson and final student, Uzumaki Naruto.

Background
Jiraiya was born on the day of November 11th. He was mostly raised by his unseen parents who didn't die during his childhood. After he had graduated from the Ninja Academy, Jiraiya was teamed up with Orochimaru and Tsunade under the leadership of Sarutobi Hiruzen. Hiruzen officially had gave them a bell test for the team's first exercise, during which Jiraiya repeatedly fell for all of Hiruzen's tricks, and therefore for failing to acquire a bell he was tied to a stump as punishment. Hiruzen encouraged Jiraiya to be more like Orochimaru, but Jiraiya angrily countered that his Transparent Escape Technique was a fair testament to his skills, as he could spy on bathing women without getting caught: Hiruzen offered to accompany him to see if this was true. He soon after try to have Orochimaru join him on spying at the women's bathhouse, but Orochimaru left and Jiraiya was caught when an old lady angrily pours steam hot water on him. Jiraiya had a certain interest in Tsunade from their very first meeting, and when her breasts developed she became a frequent target of his peepings. She nearly killed him when she caught him on one occasion, forcing him to be more discrete about his interests.

Jiraiya at some point accidentally discovered the residence of the toads, a species he proved to have a natural affinity for. In the anime this is shown to have occurred when he was still the Third's student; after seeing the Third perform the Summoning Technique, Jiraiya tried to use it himself. Since he did not have a contract, Jiraiya was reversed summoned to Mount Myoboku. Fukasaku trained Jiraiya in their ways, most prominently senjutsu. While he was at Mount Myoboku, the Great Toad Sage made a prediction about Jiraiya: that he would travel the world and during that time meet the Child of the Prophecy, a student who would grow up to either save or destroy the world depending upon how Jiraiya taught them.

When he returned to Konoha and began training a team of his own, Jiraiya started to suspect that one student, Namikaze Minato, might be the Child of the Prophecy because of his natural genius. As such, he took Minato on as his disciple and taught him many of his skills; Minato would eventually teach Jiraiya the same.

Although their team under Hiruzen's leadership had disbanded, Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade continued fighting together. During the Second Shinobi War, while fighting in Amegakure. They rest at a fire and talk about dreams, where Jiriaya say he wanted to join Tsunade during her travels. The group fought enemy ninjas for the rest of the night, with Jiraiya using fire attacks. They were the only three to survive an encounter with Hanzo, for this accomplishment Hanzo nicknamed them Konoha's "Legendary Sannin". After the battle, three war orphans approached them and asked to be taught ninjutsu. Jiraiya, guilty for his involvement in the war, decided to stay in Ame for a time in order to look after them. Shortly after he joined them, he discovered that one of the orphans, Nagato, possessed the Rinnegan, once used by the Sage of the Six Paths to save the world. Jiraiya decided that Nagato was the Child of the Prophecy, and as such agreed to teach the orphans ninjutsu so that he might guide Nagato towards the world's salvation.

Nagato who was a kind hearted child, torn between his desire to not hurt others and his wish to protect Yahiko and Konan. Jiraiya comforted Nagato that it was enough to want to protect people that one holds to be important, as the world is plagued with seemingly endless conflict. Nagato decided that it was possible to end the constant bloodshed, and though he didn't know how, that he would someday find the path to peace. Jiraiya was inspired by Nagato's words and started writing what would become known as The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi. After three years of training the orphans, Jiraiya decided they were ready to forge out on their own and he returned to Konoha. Before leaving he left them a finished copy of the Gutsy Shinobi, dedicating it to Nagato. News of the orphans' deeds would reach him from time to time, but eventually he had heard that they'd all died.

Sometime after, Jiraiya encountered the leader of the Nadeshiko Village, as he trespassed into her village to do "research" for his next novel. After he escaped, she pursued him and challenged him to a duel for his hand in marriage. This match was however postponed, as neither party was making headway against the other. Jiraiya promised that their students instead should one day seek each other out, and fight if the two never met again.

Later, Jiraiya's first book, The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi, failed to be a best seller. Minato, now the Fourth Hokage, thought the book was excellent, and praised Jiraiya, by saying that the main protagonist resembled him greatly. It was then that Minato revealed that he and Uzumaki Kushina, who was pregnant at the time, wanted to raise their child to be a great shinobi, like the one in the book, and for that reason they decided to name him "Naruto", after the main character. Jiraiya jokingly pointed out that it would make him Naruto's godfather, and asked if they were sure that they would want that. Minato replied that Jiraiya was a good example for them all and that he could not think of a finer shinobi than him. However Minato died during the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha, giving his life to seal Kurama into his newborn son Naruto. As one of his last acts, Minato sent Gerotora to Jiraiya, whose stomach he had wrote the key to Naruto's seal. Jiraiya guessed that Minato wanted him to help Naruto gain control of Kurama's power, though he couldn't guess what that power would be needed for.

Years later, when Orochimaru betrayed Konoha and left the village, Jiraiya pursued him, trying to convince his friend to come back (similar to Naruto's efforts to bring Sasuke home). Orochimaru refused, and attacked Jiraiya. While he tried to find a reason for Orochimaru's defection, Jiraiya eventually realized that his friend wasn't coming back. Feeling that he was responsible for Orochimaru's escape, Jiraiya left Konoha so he could follow Orochimaru's movements, as well as those of the "Akatsuki", an organisation which Orochimaru had eventually joined. In doing so, Jiraiya was unable to fulfill Hiruzen's wishes of him taking on the role of the fifth Hokage, since he felt that tracking down Orochimaru was more important. Thus, he was not even able to be there in Konoha, to look after Uzumaki Naruto for the next twelve years of the young boy's orphaned life.

Personality
Jiraiya is 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 likes to pretend to be smug or selfish, upsetting them so that he can further rile them up with his humor. Even when entering combat he doesn't miss an opportunity to be flashy and over the top, striking kabuki poses and giving dramatic self introductions; these intros are often interrupted in some way, and Jiraiya is quick to express his annoyance at whoever is responsible.

Friends and foes alike are fond of Jiraiya for his eccentricities, admiring that somebody so seemingly irreverent can in actuality be an extremely competent shinobi: he is deeply loyal to Konoha despite how often he is away from it, not hesitating to threaten to kill Tsunade if she betrays the village, despite their long history. Jiraiya feels that his personality quirks render him incapable of being the Hokage, as he either lacks the responsibility for the position or he has, through his past infractions, proven unworthy of such an honor.

Jiraiya is a self proclaimed super pervert with no equal. His favorite hobby is spying on women while they bathe, a passion he flaunts openly and in fact takes pride in because of how infrequently he's caught. Despite this, Jiraiya dislikes it when Uzumaki Naruto calls him "Ero sennin" (エロ仙人) in front of others. In the English version, Naruto calls him Pervy Sage. With the "research" from his peepings, Jiraiya writes a series of adult novels called Icha Icha. The novels are based on his personal experiences in love particularly his rejections by Tsunade - retold in a comical way. The books are wildly popular, giving his checkbook a balance that is "filled with zeroes". This fact doesn't stop him from taking Naruto's money when he gets 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 are no better than a child's. Tsunade suspects it's 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 and asks Naruto to continue to use it for the duration of their training. As Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame later hypnotize an attractive woman to lure Jiraiya away from Naruto so that they can try to capture him. Though it works at first, Jiraiya quickly realizes that women aren't usually attracted to him, therefore 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 then, he's used greater discretion in expressing his interests in Tsunade, by being 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.

Jiraiya in fact regrets a number of things in his life. He believes the world is plagued with violence and has long wanted to find a way of bring peace to it, but he's never been able to come up with a way to do so. He fail to stop Orochimaru along with trying to save Minato and Hiruzen from dying. Jiraiya also never had children of his own, for this reason he thought of Naruto's father, Namikaze Minato as his son, and thinks of Naruto as his grandson. Jiraiya states simply that to be happy is not his fate; although Tsunade doubts he believes his own words. He does have great faith in the next generation, mostly Naruto's generation in particular, believing that Naruto will be able to create and enjoy the world that Jiraiya could only dream of. When he dies, Jiraiya decides that, despite his numerous failures, the successes of his time with Naruto made everything worthwhile.

Appearance
Jiraiya was a tall man with fair skin, black eyes, thick eyebrows, and waist length, spiky white hair usually tied back into a pony tail, with two shoulder length bangs that framed both sides of his face. He also had red lines that ran down from his eyes and wore a horned forehead protector with the kanji for 'Oil (油), which denotes his affiliation with Mount Myōboku. He also had a noticeable wart on the left side of his nose. Jiraiya wore a green short shirt kimono and matching pants; under which he wore mesh armour that showed out of the sleeves and legs of his outfit. His outfit was completed with hand guards, a simple black belt, traditional Japanese geta (wooden sandals), a red haori with two simple yellow circles on each side, and a scroll on his back. He also had a tattoo in his left palm which resembles one that Gama has in his as well.

Jiraiya was also seen sporting different attires. As a child, he wore pale grey robes with a design of red flames on the edges, with a green ribbon showing a curled gold design tied in a loose bow around his waist. In childhood, the length of the red lines that ran down his eyes extended to just over half his face, but became longer in time. Underneath it, he wore the standard black mesh shirt with red lining, and wore puffy black pants that are tighter around the ankles as well as black sandals to go with the outfit. During the Second Great Shinobi War against Hanzō, he wore the wartime variant of Konoha's flak jacket. He was also shown wearing what appeared to be a rubber frog suit during a flash back to when he was training the Ame Orphans.

Abilities
As one of the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya was one of the strongest ninja in history, offered on two occasions to be the Hokage. He was noted by Ebisu as the only shinobi strong enough to defeat Orochimaru, and indeed, he matched the latter in battle while both were handicapped. He also survived a rampage from Naruto in his "Version 2" state, resealing the Nine-Tails' chakra afterwards. Even Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi, both S-rank shinobi, opted not to battle Jiraiya. Fearing their best efforts against him would end in a stalemate, even with reinforcements. Jiraiya's former students, who became extremely powerful shinobi themselves, still held their master's prowess in high regard; Minato wished to fight him, Konan was easily subdued, and Nagato admitted he would have been defeated if Jiraiya knew the secret of his technique.

Chakra
Jiraiya possessed exceptionally large amounts of strong chakra. Even on low reserves, he could still create a swamp that sank and immobilized one of Orochimaru's massive snakes (two in the anime) during the battle. However, Jiraiya admitted the technique had failed to some extent. He has also shown considerable chakra control, able to use the Rasengan in a single hand, or two at once as well as displaying each of the technique's stages to Naruto. Jiraiya could even use the Finger Carving Seal despite being stabbed multiple times by the Six Paths of Pain's Chakra Disruption Blades.

Ninjutsu
Jiraiya was well-versed in a variety of ninjutsu types. He could grow and sharpen his hair for offensive and defensive purposes. Jiraiya was taught how to use the Rasengan by Minato, and had since developed a larger variant. He is highly skilled in stealth, espionage, and reconnaissance, even having his own personally made technique known as the Transparent Escape Technique to aid him in such missions (although he mainly uses it to help him spy on women). Kakashi noted that Jiraiya was a specialist when it comes to infiltration and espionage tactics.

Apart from his fighting abilities, Jiraiya was very proficient with barrier based techniques. Examples would include Barrier: Canopy Method Formation, which allowed him to detect all movements within a wide radius and block attacks, and Barrier: Toad Gourd Prison, which allowed him to trap an enemy inside the belly of a small toad-shaped gourd, the inside of which contains a landscape with a lake of stomach acid.

While he had basic knowledge on how to recognise and counter genjutsu, he was not skilled at using it, and relied on his partners to use illusions, like when the Two Great Sage Toads supported him with a powerful genjutsu.

Taijutsu
While not his specialty, Jiraiya was still proficient with taijutsu, stopping some of the individual dogs that split from the Giant Multi-Headed Dog with some kicks. In the anime, he was shown physically strong enough to lift a massive boulder and toss a large snake a great distance away as a child. Jiraiya also had a high level of durability, withstanding a direct kick to the face from Maito Gai, and getting ploughed through several steel pipes by Nagato's Giant Ox without much damage.

Natural Transformation
Jiraiya could utilize multiple elements which included Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind Release, as well as Yin and Yang Release. Even when low on chakra, he could use Earth Release to create deep swamps that can immobilize opponents as large as Orochimaru's gigantic snakes or as strong as Human Path. His proficiency in Fire Release is great enough to unleash oil-enhanced blasts of flame. With the help of Gamabunta, he could produce a large torrent of fire that filled an entire valley. When in Sage Mode he could create a lake of burning oil with the help of Fukasaku and Shima. His vast knowledge of ninjutsu allowed him to teach Nagato all five chakra natures (albeit it was a feat made possible by Nagato's Rinnegan).

Summoning Technique
Jiraiya was known as the "Toad Sage", due to his natural affinity for toads, and his utilization of a number of toad-related techniques. Many typically dealt with summoning toads. He had risen to a level of ability that allowed him to summon Gamabunta. He could even summon the nearly indestructible Oesophagus of a great, fire-breathing toad with Summoning: Toad Mouth Bind. Once the technique had been used to cover the area, Jiraiya could control it as he pleased, and used it to trap most ninja. Due to his training with toads, he even gained the ability to spit oil from his mouth.

For spying and infiltration, Jiraiya had the Toad Flatness — Shadow Manipulation Technique, which allowed him to hide himself as a shadow, and even attach to the shadow of another ninja to control them. He also had the Hiding in a Toad Technique, where he hid in the belly of a small toad, which could enter most areas undetected.

Fuinjutsu
Jiraiya had been shown to be very skilled and otherwise knowledgeable with sealing techniques, and had used a number of them throughout the series. When first meeting Naruto, he quickly deduced that the seal on Naruto's stomach, which kept the Nine-Tails sealed within him, also allowed its chakra to mix with his own. Jiraiya also recognized the Five Elements Seal that Orochimaru had placed on top of the seal on Naruto's stomach and how it was distorting Naruto's chakra, easily removing it. He later created a method of suppressing the Nine-Tails' influence over Naruto through the Chakra-Suppressing Seal, which activates by simply coming into contact with Naruto's body. In addition, he could utilize the Fire Sealing Method to contain even Itachi's Amaterasu within a scroll for future study.

Senjutsu
Jiraiya's chakra reserves were large enough to learn the Mount Myōboku teachings of senjutsu — the art of gathering natural energy to augment one's overall abilities. The pinnacle of his skill is to enter Sage Mode. This form greatly increased Jiraiya's strength and speed, such that he could destroy the Human Path's eyes with just a kick to the face, as well as leap down from a high vantage point and form an attack, before his sandals which had fallen before he jumped — had even reached the ground. This form allowed Jiraiya to use stronger versions of his other techniques, such as the Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan. He also learned and mastered the Frog Kata fighting style.[30] In addition to maintaining Jiraiya's natural energy while he fought, they added their own abilities to aid him, using powerful techniques such as the Sage Art: Goemon and helping him perform genjutsu.

As one must remain absolutely still to gather natural energy, Jiraiya would summon Shima and Fukasaku and have them fuse to his body to absorb the energy for him. He didn't like Sage Mode because it gave him a more toad-like appearance, with longer marks along the sides of his face, a goatee, a larger nose with warts, webbed hands and feet and sharp teeth, all of which made him unappealing to girls. This appearance is due to Jiraiya's incomplete complete mastery over the form. Despite this, he often used his appearance to his advantage, forcibly changing his feet and legs to frog legs to increase his jumping power, or enlarging his fist to the size of a frog of human size to make a stronger blow, turning a disadvantage to a strength.

Intelligence
While he would normally come off as goofy, Jiraiya had repeatedly shown himself to be a shrewd man. His intelligence enabled him to track Orochimaru and the Akatsuki through the years, and he headed his own spy network all over the Five Great Shinobi Countries for this purpose. He was very knowledgeable in various techniques, able to quickly recognize them and know how to counter them. He also demonstrated being a capable teacher, as even Itachi acknowledged Naruto's growth under Jiraiya's tutelage for two and a half years. Jiraiya was also very skilled in information gathering, as he would constantly relay any important intelligence he acquired to his allies. He also possessed tremendous memory, as he managed to relay a coded message regarding to Pain's identity by the usage of the Icha Icha Tactics book pages, remembering the first word on those pages.

Chunin Exam arc
Having spent years gathering information on Orochimaru and the Akatsuki, and having considered the possibility they were after Naruto with the goal of obtaining the Nine-Tails, Jiraiya returned to Konoha with the goal of preparing Naruto for the upcoming threat. Jiraiya first met Uzumaki Naruto while he was "researching" at the hot springs in Konoha. After Jiraiya knocked out Ebisu for catching him in the act, Naruto demanded that Jiraiya become his trainer in Ebisu's place. He refused, until Naruto used his Sexy Technique. When they started training, Jiraiya removed Orochimaru's Five Elements Seal from Naruto's stomach, which allowed him to tap into the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's chakra. To teach him how to take advantage of the Nine-Tails' reserves, Jiraiya taught Naruto how to use the Summoning Technique, but was met with very poor results. To this end, Jiraiya decided to force Naruto to use the Nine-Tails' chakra by pushing him off a cliff. Naruto survived by summoning Gamabunta. Jiriaya left the scene after Gamabunta was summon.

Invasion of Konoha arc
When Orochimaru began his invasion of Konoha, Jiraiya summoned Gamahiro to stop Orochimaru's snakes. He later mourned Sarutobi Hiruzen's death, but decided not to attend his funeral.

Search for Tsunade arc
With the Third's death, the village elders, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, requested that Jiraiya become the next Hokage, which he quickly turned down. Instead, he volunteered to search for his former team-mate, Tsunade, asking only that he be allowed to take Naruto with him.

Just a day after setting off, however, Uchiha Itachi and Kisame Hoshigaki of Akatsuki tried to kidnap Naruto. To do so, they used genjutsu on a woman to distract Jiraiya while they captured Naruto. Jiraiya saw through the trick, and intercepted Itachi and Kisame, who decided they did not want to get involved in a fight with one of the Sannin. When they tried to escape, Jiraiya used Summoning: Toad Mouth Bind to trap Itachi and Kisame. Nobody had ever managed to escape that technique before, but Itachi used Amaterasu to burn through the walls and escaped. After that, Naruto and Jiraiya resumed their search for Tsunade, Jiraiya teaching Naruto the Rasengan along the way to keep him occupied.

Orochimaru found Tsunade before Jiraiya did, and asked that she heal his arms. When Jiraiya eventually found her as well, he suspected that they were in contact, and threatened Tsunade not to help Orochimaru. In response, Tsunade drugged his sake when they went to a bar, making it difficult for him to move or use chakra. After he discovered that this was so he wouldn't interfere in her attempt to kill Orochimaru, Jiraiya came to help her. In his drugged state, he struggled to fight Orochimaru, but was able to recover to the point that he could summon Gamabunta to fight Orochimaru's Manda. The healthy Tsunade proved too much for Orochimaru and Manda, defeating the two and causing them to flee. Tsunade then accepted her post as the Fifth Hokage, and battle Naruto, and give the boy the Hokage good luck kiss charm on his forehead (The same way she did with Nawaki and Kato Dan). After Tsunade's battle with Naruto, they returned to Konoha.

Sasuke Retrieval arc
After Naruto failed to stop Uchiha Sasuke from defecting to Orochimaru at the end of Part I, Jiraiya encouraged him to give up on Sasuke, remembering his own experiences with Orochimaru. Naruto refused, prompting Jiraiya to take him away for two-and-a-half years of training, to make him strong enough to bring Sasuke back, and to protect himself from the Akatsuki.

Pre-Shippuuden Filler arc
After recovering from his battle against Sasuke, Naruto joins Sakura in another attempt to save Sasuke from Orochimaru. Before crossing Konoha's border, Jiraiya appears. He saves them from becoming labelled missing-nin from leaving the village without authorisation by allowing them to join him on a mission to gather information on Sasuke and Orochimaru. Their journey takes them to the Land of Rice Fields, the land of the Otogakure. After a couple comedic failures to gather info due to Jiraiya's perverted antics, Naruto and Sakura met a young kunoichi named Sasame of the Fūma clan. She revealed her desire to find her cousin Arashi, who along with the majority. After facing three members of the Fuma clan and managing to escape them, Jiraiya returned with new information he gathered from the remnants of the Fuma clan that saw through Orochimaru's lies.

Jiraiya explained that Orochimaru was gathering as many supporters as he could from various clans simply to gain their secret technique. After facing the three members again and defeating them, Sasame led Naruto and his team to Orochimaru's current hideout. Inside the base with no knowledge of where to go, the team took different paths. Eventually, Naruto found Sakura in a long corridor facing off against Kabuto. Naruto was able to hit Kabuto with his Rasengan, but unfortunately fell prey to a devastating technique that attacked his heart. After being saved by Sakura and Sasame, it was discovered that Kabuto was actually another Fuma clan member, Kagero in disguise.

Soon after, they found Arashi, who became the victim of an unstable technique of Orochimaru's that merged him with his two fellow clan members and drove him insane. Naruto, along with Sasame and Sakura, were able to restore his mind. As Orochimaru's hideout began to fall apart, Arashi revealed that Sasuke was safe for now, but Orochimaru was doing everything in his power to make Sasuke a perfect host for him in the near future. After making sure that the Fuma clan were free from Orochimaru's control, Naruto and his team returned to Konoha.

In the Mizuki strikes Back arc, before he left to do intel on the Akatsuki, he gave Naruto a willpower scroll to train on. On Naruto's way back to Konoha from a recent mission, Naruto stops at a village with a hot springs resort. Along the way, he meet a unique ninja called a Courier Ninja who's mission duties were solely to deliver mail through the most difficult and dangerous of terrains. At the village, his shock and fury Naruto discovers Jiraiya fooling around with some girls. To calm Naruto down, Jiraiya reveals the real reason he hasn't started Naruto's training yet was because he was on a mission to gather information on the Akatsuki and learned that an agent of theirs was reported to be arriving in the village soon. Naruto asked Jiraiya to train him since they had the time, but Jiraiya explained he also had to finish the manuscript for his latest novel. After constant procrastination on Jiraiya's part, he eventually fell asleep with his work unfinished. Naruto instead decided to ghostwrite the manuscript for Jiraiya and had a courier ninja deliver it, after bumping into a couple men and getting their mail mixed together.

When Naruto told Jiraiya what he did, Jiraiya was furious as he feared this would ruin his career as an author. After getting the mail back, Jiraiya was horrified to discover that the package contained a peace treaty between the Land of Fang and Claw who were on the brink of war. Realising that Naruto's manuscript was being sent to the Fang Daimyō and fearing that the Fang Daimyō would view as an insult for war, Jiraiya and Naruto rushed to get the manuscript back. After a heated struggle against the courier ninja, the Fang Daimyō unfortunately got the manuscript. But to Naruto and Jiraiya's shock, the Fang Daimyo was a huge fan of the Icha Icha series and thought it was a peace offering from the Land of Claw, effectively causing the war to be cancelled. Later, Jiraiya had to leave as his Akatsuki target had already left the hot springs resort, forcing Naruto to return to Konoha to wait for Jiraiya's return.

With Naruto's display of stubborn resistance to Seimei, Gaara manages to prevent Shukaku to fully emerge and kill Seimei with his Sand Waterfall Imperial Funeral. Everyone returns to Konoha, where Ino makes a request to also become Tsunade's student. Tenten is enraged by the fact that she was left out of the mission. As Naruto prepares to leave for his two-and-a-half years of training with Jiraiya (who had returned with information about the Akatsuki's plans), the others discuss the future and resolve to train harder so as to keep up with Naruto. Hinata watches him head off.

As Jiraiya and Naruto have left Konoha to begin their two year journey. While walking, they talk about Naruto's need to overcome Sasuke's Sharingan. During a genjutsu practice, Naruto tries to disrupt his inner chakra flow, but instead, creates a wave of chakra around him thus hitting Gamariki in the physical world. To overcome this part of the training, Jiraiya takes Naruto to the Genjutsu Tree Village. After realising that the village was taken over by a man named Kandachi, Naruto and Jiraiya decide to liberate the village. As the final battle with Kandachi continued, Jiraiya and Naruto got trapped in the Conch King's Water Release Genjutsu: Mystic Fog Prison but later managed to escape thanks to Tanishi's Chilli Pepper Bomb. At the end of the battle, Naruto defeats Kandachi with his Big Ball Rasengan.

Two years later after he and Naruto left Konoha, Jiraiya was seen training Naruto on how to avoid the Needle Jizo Technique. But the plan back fire when he saw Naruto used Kurama's cloak for the first time in order to escape the massive attack. Over the course of training, Jiraiya begins training Naruto to gain better control of Kurama's chakra, soon helping Naruto to master wielding the demon cloak up to two tails. Feeling he was ready to take it to the next level, Jiraiya had Gerotora tweak the seal enough for additional charka to be unleashed. Kurama however took advantage of this and was able to overwhelm Naruto by producing four tails, causing him to slip into a "Version 2" state, which allowed Kurama to go on a rampage in his body. Jiraiya was narrowly able to reseal the fox's chakra, to which his passive methods of saving Naruto led to Jiraiya being severely injured which made him and Naruto whine up in the hospital. When they are in the hospital, Jiraiya waits for Naruto to wake up.

While waking up in the hospital Naruto apologize to Jiraiya for doing this to him, but Jiraiya tells him that there is nothing to be sorry for including that unexpected things happen for a reason. Naruto admitted that he was able to gain control of his body when three tails appear, but lost control when the fourth tail appear. Jiraiya asked Naruto if he is going to give up, which surprised the latter. But he also tells Naruto not to give up on training, and that they will just have to find another way to control Kurama's chakra.

Later after they were release from the Hospital, Jiraiya and Naruto were seen outside eating fish while having a camp fire. Jiraiya was laying down while Naruto remarks that he still hasn't completely healed yet from his stomach wound. While Naruto told Jiraiya that he'll go continue his training alone, Jiraiya silently remarked that it's time for them to head back to Konoha.

Kazekage Rescue arc
Jiraiya and Naruto return after two and half years of training and goes to Tsunade about how much progress Naruto has made. He later meets up with Kakashi with information about Akatsuki and gives him a seal to Naruto's transformation.

Sasuke & Sai arc
After taking Naruto back to Konoha, Jiraiya went off to search for information on Akatsuki. Jiraiya would soon return to inform Hatake Kakashi and Yamato about Naruto's four-tailed form, a form so powerful that it nearly killed Jiraiya before he managed to stop it. It was later revealed that Jiraiya himself released it (not expecting Naruto's loss of control) with a special key passed down from Namikaze Minato, capable of unlocking Naruto's seal.

Three Tails arc
In the anime, Jiraiya returned to Konoha to congratulate Naruto on defeating the Akatsuki's members Kakuzu and Deidara. In order to keep Naruto from participating in Team 7's new Uchiha Sasuke-related mission, Jiraiya offered to train him again, and took Naruto to Yugakure. Jiraiya and Naruto also had a discussion over the meaning of 'home': "Wherever someone is thinking of you, that is the place you can return to." In light of Naruto's need to learn some high-ranked, long-distance techniques, Jiraiya introduced Naruto to the concept of synchronised, collaboration jutsu and began by demonstrating a synchronised technique, the Water Release: Water Gun technique, in collaboration with Gamariki.

When Naruto and Gamariki proved unable to synchronise, due to their conflicting personalities, Jiraiya confronted Naruto with the fact that, unless he can work with a summoned toad, a collaboration techniques would stay out of his reach. Naruto compensated by summoning toads that he did get along with, and, after giving up on trying to work with Gamariki, finally began on working on a synchronised technique with Gamatatsu, while Gamakichi guided the process.

Jiraiya openly applauded Naruto's progress, and expressed how pleased he was at his dedication to his goals and beliefs. After receiving a message about Akatsuki, Jiraiya was forced to leave Naruto to continue training by himself, though not before convincing Tsunade to let Naruto go on the mission.

Itachi Pursuit arc
His meeting with Tsunade and Shizune, is cut short when Naruto and Sakura enter the office. Surprised that his master had returned to the village, Naruto informs him that he finally mastered the collaboration technique with Gamakichi and Gamatatsu, impressing him. After discussing on how to capture Uchiha Itachi, Jiraiya and Tsunade got to the front gate to see the Eight Man Squad off.

After Deidara's death, Jiraiya informed Tsunade that he had found the location of the Akatsuki leader, somewhere in Amegakure. After a chat with Tsunade, revealing much of Naruto's history, amongst others who his parents were, he left to infiltrate Amegakure and see what he could find out. He captured two Rain villagers while there, and sent one to Konoha to be interrogated. After hearing that the Akatsuki leader, Pain, killed Hanzō in battle, Jiraiya decided to leave the key to the Nine-Tails' seal to Naruto, before going out to see what else he could learn.

Jiraiya eventually found Konan, and after incapacitating her with his oil, questioned what happened to her, Yahiko, and Nagato. Suddenly Pain appeared and Jiraiya recognised him as his former student, Nagato, because of his Rinnegan. Fearing that his student would destroy the world, as was warned against in the prophecy, Jiraiya tried to kill Pain. After summoning Gamaken to protect him from various summons, he entered Sage Mode, and summoned Shima and Fukasaku to help him, but had difficulty with the battle when Pain summoned additional bodies (the Preta Path and the Human Path). Although they were able to defeat three of Pain's bodies with a powerful genjutsu, Jiraiya was handicapped when Pain's Asura Path ambushed Jiraiya and somehow severed his left arm. The Asura Path was joined by the other five paths, with the first three having been reanimated. Doing the most that he could without his arm, Jiraiya managed to kill and capture the Animal Path, and ordered Shima to leave and take it to Konoha, before heading out one last time to see if he could figure out the secret behind Pain.

Jiraiya was able to discover that all of Pain's bodies belonged to ninja he once knew, amongst them being his old student, Yahiko, functioning as Pain's Deva Path. With this information, Jiraiya was able to discover the truth, but his throat was crushed by the Asura Path and he was pinned down to the ground by the other paths, leaving him unable to tell Fukasaku what he had learned. As his life waned, he mused over his death, calling it unworthy compared to the Hokage and flashed back to his life and his failures, failing to win Tsunade's heart, failing to stop Orochimaru from leaving Konoha, and failing to protect both his master Hiruzen and his student Minato. But when he remembered how Minato called his book a success and decided to name his son after the book's protagonist, Jiraiya realised that it was he who named him Naruto.

Seeing that the student's way should also be the teacher's way, Jiraiya realised that Naruto, not Nagato, was the child foretold of in the prophecy. Knowing that Naruto would someday save the world, he forced himself back to life and inscribed a coded message into Fukasaku's back and sent him to Naruto. When the Asura Path saw the coded message on Fukasaku, he attacked him with a rocket hand, destroying the rock Jiraiya was lying on, making him fall into the water. As Jiraiya died, he compared himself to the "Frog at the bottom of the well… Drifts off into the Great Ocean", calling it a more honorable death and realised that he needed a title for his next book. Finding the title "Tale of Naruto Uzumaki" perfect, Jiraiya died with a smile while sinking into the watery depths of the battlefield.

Fourth Shinobi War arc

 * Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream

In the anime, Tsunade's dreams of Konoha being at Peace. She is given Jiraiya's latest work, and recalls when he was still writing it. She begins reading it. It begins with Minato and Kushina never dying from Kurama's attack on Konoha, which led for them to survive the ordeal. This leads for them to raise Naruto like Kushina always wanted. It also reveals that Naruto has Kurama's Yang half seal inside of him, while Kushina has the other half of Kurama seal within her. The villagers dislike Naruto, but show him some respect as he's the Hokage's son. This leads for them accusing Naruto of favoritism which angers him.

Jiriaya begins teaching Naruto how to master Kurama's power, along with teaching him the Summoning Technique. He wonders if Naruto could truly master Kurama's power, along with wondering if he truly is the Child of Prophecy that the great toad sage told him about. Upon searching for Orochimaru, he finds one of Orochimaru's compounds. Jiraiya ventures into Orochimaru's hideout, and comes across a bandaged individual. He discovers evidence linking him to the latest incident. After finding Orochimaru, Jiriaya realizes that something isn't right. He returned to Konoha and reported to Minato about something. He then heard about Naruto's mission, and what was happening. So he had Minato transport him there using the sealing formula incorporated in Naruto's seal. He finds Naruto inside a dimension, and clears Naruto's blocked tenketsu. Naruto asks him why he's there, and he explains that he's searching for someone. Jiraiya tells Naruto to try summoning a toad, but it fails. Jiraiya recalls Naruto's training, and Naruto recalls training with Minato. Jiraiya offers to weaken the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style a bit. Jiraiya weakens Naruto's seal, causing him to develop four tails. He battles the four-tailed Naruto, who destroys his Chakra-Suppressing Seal. He manages to immobilise Naruto.

Jiriaya tells Naruto to control himself, which leads Naruto to think back to his Rasengan training with Minato, and he manages to suppress Kurama's chakra. Jiraiya decides to retreat after telling that he has a few broken ribs, and tells Naruto not to worry about him. He then tells Naruto to join his friends who are battling someone, and sends Naruto outside of the dimension to help his team-mates. While back in the village, Jiraiya recovers in the hospital from the injuries inflicted by Naruto when Kurama's chakra took over. He then tells Minato what he discussed with Orochimaru.

After being release from the Hospital, he and Minato officially teach Naruto the Big Ball Rasengan. Learning about Naruto's rivalry with Sasuke, Jiriaya learns that Sasuke has been put in the Anbu. But Jiriaya also tells Naruto that Sasuke also wanted to be place in the Anbu so can surpass Naruto. Which makes Naruto happy until Jiriaya tells him that Sasuke will be stronger than him. So Naruto asks Jiriaya, to take him with him on a two year journey to train with him, since Naruto knows that Minato is too busy with his Hokage duties. Jiriaya tells Minato that he doesn't mind Naruto's Idea, but worries that he will have to ask for Kushina's permission also.

While preparing to leave with Naruto for the two years of training, Jiriaya tells Naruto about his past friendship with Orochimaru. But he also tells Naruto how he blames himself for Orochimaru's defection, along with that he will not give up on bringing Orochimaru back to Konoha. While he and Naruto are being seen off by Minato, Kushina, Sakura and Team Asuma. Jiriaya tells a worry Kushina that if Naruto gets in his way, that he will handle it. They then leaves as Naruto says goodbye to everyone. During the two year training period, Jiriaya teaches Naruto how to expand his Rasengan along with teaching him Sage Mode.

Later while the other Akatsuki members retreated except for Sasori, Neji then arrived with the Allie Shinobi Force including to have Itachi and Team Jiraiya help them fight against Sasori's human puppet army. While fighting Sasori's human puppet army and reincarnated human puppet army, Naruto and Sasuke fought against Sasori. After Sasori is defeated, Jiraiya returns to Konoha to take a group with Naruto, Team Jiraiya along with the Konoha 11 including Sasuke and Itachi.

In the present while waiting for the Five Kage Summit with Dan as the new Hokage. Tsunade sees Orochimaru and Jiraiya with Nawaki. But she becomes enraged at Jiraiya for trying to give her brother a dirty book to read.

Naruto movie 1
Jiraiya is seen in a flashback by Naruto.

Naruto Shippuuden movie 2
Most of Jiraiya's appearances were more spiritual than actually appearing. When Naruto was sent on a mission without Kakashi or Yamato, Jiraiya gave Naruto, through Sakura, a small package. After Naruto transformed into his four-tailed form, the package was revealed to be a small seal charm, to force Naruto back to normal. Jiraiya then appeared again as a hallucination, pushing Naruto to fight on. In the end, Jiraiya finally made a physical appearance by saving his apprentice and Amaru from certain death by summoning Gamabunta to cushion their fall.

Naruto Shippuuden movie 3
Jiraiya met with a group of Sunagakure shinobi and talked with Gaara. Later, he took a message from Gaara to a ravine, where Suna and Konoha forces were ready to battle. He stayed there and talked to Tsunade after Suna withdrew from the war.

Naruto Shippuuden movie 4
Jiraiya called Minato aside to show him he learned to perform the Rasengan. Unfazed, Minato simply congratulated him and left, much to Jiraiya's confusion. Jiraiya is lastly mention by Naruto, when he reveals to Sāra that Jiraiya was gone like his parents.

Naruto Shippuuden movie 5
Jiraiya is seen in a flashback by Naruto.

Naruto Shippuuden movie 6
In the Genjutsu World, Jiraiya died trying to procure the Red Moon Scroll which the Great Toad Sage foretold will help defeat the Masked Man.

Legacy
Deciphering Jiraiya's dying message becomes Konoha's top priority, though Jiraiya's code is not recognizable to the Konoha Cryptanalysis Team. Only Naruto, one of the people closest to Jiraiya, is able to identify the code's key: Icha Icha Tactics. By taking the first word on each page that Jiraiya specifies, they produce the message, "the real one isn't among them." It isn't until the examination of the Animal Path and the interrogation of the Ame ninja are completed that Jiraiya's message makes sense: the Six Paths of Pain are controlled remotely by a main intelligence, Nagato. Pain's Invasion on Konoha is already underway by the time this is figured out, but Naruto, after defeating all six Pains, is able to use the information to find and meet with Nagato face to face.

Naruto is very depressed when he first learns of Jiraiya's death and tries blaming it on Tsunade since she let him fight Pain alone. It eventually occurs to Naruto that Jiraiya, by fighting Pain, has bought him time for his own fight with Pain; he uses this time to learn senjutsu which, in combination with what Fukasaku is able to report about Pain's abilities, allows him to defeat the Six Paths of Pain. When he meets Nagato, Naruto wants to take vengeance for Jiraiya's death. But he decides instead to forgive Nagato, thereby ending the cycle of hatred that the main character of Jiraiya's book, The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi, spoke against. Nagato realizes that this same idea that Naruto got from Jiraiya, in turn got from him, and that his actions in Akatsuki therefore contradict both himself and Jiraiya. He gives his life to revive those killed during his attack on Konoha, the only atonement he can offer. Nagato later observes that if Jiraiya's was the first story in a trilogy and Naruto's will be the last, his own is the better-forgotten middle volume.

After observing Naruto's confrontation with Nagato, the Great Toad Sage discovers that his prophecy was somewhat incorrect: Jiraiya would not train the Child of the Prophecy, he would train the Children of the Prophecy, Nagato and Naruto, both of whose actions steer the world towards peace because of Jiraiya's influence. Obito Uchiha, after plunging the world into the Fourth Shinobi War, blames the actions of Naruto and Nagato for the failure of his Eye of the Moon Plan; because Jiraiya was their teacher. Obito decides that in a sense, it was Jiraiya who defeated him in the end. For Jiraiya's influence, Naruto creates a memorial to him in the woods near Konoha after Pain's Invasion ends. The memorial itself is a rock with the kanji for "teacher" (師) carved into it; Naruto also leaves a copy of Gutsy Shinobi and the "never-dying flowers of hope" that given to him by Konan.

Tsunade is just as sad as Naruto when she finds out about Jiraiya's death, and it provides her with yet another reason to keep Konoha safe from Pain, so that his sacrifice isn't wasted. She is rendered comatose in her effort to protect the villagers, at which point the Fire Daimy voices his regrets that Jiraiya, being dead, cannot replace Tsunade as the Sixth Hokage. When the Fourth Shinobi War starts, Yakushi Kabuto expresses interest in reincarnating Jiraiya to have him fight for Akatsuki, but unfortunately is unable to reach him aa his body rests in the lower depths of the sea. Orochimaru, upon his death by having to been misreported, reemerges during the war with a reformed outlook. Tsunade argues that this change in him might have saved Jiraiya had it happened sooner, but Orochimaru believes it was better for Jiraiya to die as he was rather than risk him changing because of Orochimaru's change. When Naruto becomes the Seventh Hokage, Tsunade decorates Jiraiya's grave by placing two flower bouquets on the left and right side of the grave. While in the middle of the grave, she placed sake on it.

Video Games
Jiraiya is a playable character in the following video games:
 * Jump Ultimate Stars
 * Naruto Clash of Ninja Revolution
 * Naruto Clash of Ninja Revolution 2
 * Naruto Gekito Ninja Taisen! 3
 * Naruto Gekito Ninja Taisen! 4
 * Naruto Ninja Council 3
 * Naruto Ninja Destiny
 * Naruto Path of the Ninja
 * Naruto Path of the Ninja 2
 * Naruto Rise of a Ninja 3
 * Naruto RPG 2 Chidori vs Rasengan
 * Naruto Shinobi Collection
 * Naruto Shinobi Collection Shippu Ranbu
 * Naruto Shippuuden Clash of Ninja Revolution 3
 * Naruto Shippuuden Gekito Ninja Taisen! EX 2 29
 * Naruto Shippuuden Gekito Ninja Taisen! EX 3
 * Naruto Shippuuden Gekito Ninja Taisen! Special
 * Naruto Shippuuden Naruto vs Sasuke
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ninja Council 4
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ninja Destiny 2
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ninja Destiny 3
 * Naruto Shippuuden Shinobi Rumble
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja 4
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja 5
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Blazing
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Impact
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution
 * Naruto to Boruto Shinobi Striker
 * Naruto The Broken Bond
 * Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2
 * Naruto Ultimate Ninja 3
 * Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes
 * Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2 The Phantom Fortress
 * Naruto Ultimate Ninja Online
 * Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm
 * Naruto X Boruto Ninja Voltage

Tsunade
Jiraiya loved Tsunade and wrote stories that was base off of their relationship.

Knownable Relatives

 * Uzumaki Naruto (Godson)
 * Uzumaki Boruto (Great Godson)
 * Uzumaki Himawari (Great Goddaughter)
 * Namikaze Minato (Student/dead)
 * Sarutobi Hiruzen (Sensei/dead)
 * Tsunade (Teammate/love Interest)
 * Orochimaru (Former Teammate & #1 Rival)

Trivia
There are several differences between his character in the current timeline, and in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream: According to the databook(s):
 * 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.
 * The name "Jiraiya" (自来也), can mean "I came", whereas from the derived story the name holds the meaning "Young Thunder" or "Young Lightning".
 * Jiraiya shares the same blood type with his former team-mates, Tsunade and Orochimaru, Including his former apprentices, Naruto and Minato.
 * In a special episode, The Top 5 Ninja Battles!, Jiraiya was intended to have an interview, but Orochimaru popped up next to him instead.
 * Jiraiya's autograph is featured in the real version of The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi.
 * Studio Pierrot's Settei sheets of Jiraiya show that he was 153 cm when he was part of Hiruzen's genin team. They also show that his sandals add 7 cm on to his height.
 * Jiraiya is given no rank in the manga or its databooks, but the anime classifies him as a jonin.
 * In the current timeline, Jiraiya saw Naruto go into his four tail transformation form during their two year training journey. However in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, he sees this transformation happen after Naruto try to do the summoning technique.
 * In the current timeline, Jiraiya died during the middle of Part II. However in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream. Jiraiya never died at all. Therefore he got to live long enough teach Naruto Sage Mode before the start of Part II.
 * In the current timeline, it was Jiraiya who taught Naruto the Rasengan and Big Ball Rasengan. However in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, it is Minato who teaches Naruto the Rasengan and Big Ball Rasengan.
 * In the current timeline, Jiraiya never saw Naruto train on Mount Myoboku. However in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, he does see Naruto train on Mount Myoboku.
 * In the current timeline, Jiraiya never saw Nagato and Konan be redeemed. However in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, he does see Nagato and Konan be redeemed even fighting alongside them against Sasori's human puppets.
 * His birthday was November 11, & his bloodtype was B.
 * Jiraiya's hobby was sneaking a peek into a Women's Bathing House.
 * Jiraiya wished to fight Uzumaki Naruto.
 * His favorite food was garlic pickled with Japanese basil & karaage-fried chicken. While his least favorite food was kiwifruit & gratin.
 * Jiraiya completed 1,839 official missions in total: 58 D-rank, 345 C-rank, 684 B-rank, 614 A-rank, 138 S-rank. With this rating of mission completion by Jiraiya, he has the most completed missions of all characters in the entire Naruto series.
 * Jiraiya's favorite phrase was "Free and uninhibited" (自由奔放).
 * Jiraiya is tied with Uchiha Itachi as having the highest stats total in the databook.
 * Jiraiya's last words are based off of a Japanese proverb: "A frog in a well does not know the great ocean" (井の中の蛙大海を知らず).
 * He has his own Extreme: Shinobi Picture Scroll training card.

Voice Actors
all information on Jiraiya is from http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Jiraiya
 * Japanese : Hochu Otsuka (Adult), Toru Nara (Child)
 * English : David Lodge (Adult), Brad MacDonald (Child)
 * Played by in (Live Action) : Yoshiaki Umegaki (Live Spectacle Naruto)