Jiraiya

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Lore & Background

Jiraiya is a ninja from the village of Konohagakure trained by Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage. He becomes known as the "Toad Sage" and also "Pervy Sage" due to his training under the Great Toad Sage in the field of Senjutsu (仙術; lit. "sage techniques"), enabling him to summon toads as allies during battles. The Great Toad Sage also informs Jiraiya of a prophecy that he will mentor a child who will either save the world or destroy it. As he grows older, Jiraiya and his two teammates, Orochimaru and Tsunade, are collectively referred to as the "Legendary Sannin" owing to their exemplary ninja abilities allowing them to survive a fight against Hanzo—Amegakure's dictator—during the Second Great Ninja War. Soon after, Jiraiya encounters a trio of Amegakure orphans consisting of Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan, training the three in ninjutsu to protect themselves before returning to the Land of Fire. At that time, Jiraiya considered Nagato to be the child from the Great Toad Sage's prophecy. For most of his adult life, though loyal to Konohagakure, Jiraiya often leaves his hometown to explore the world. Sometime later, Jiraiya becomes a mentor to Minato Namikaze, the future Fourth Hokage, who dies due to sealing the Nine-Tailed Fox inside his newborn son, Naruto Uzumaki.

In Their Own Story

Jiraiya makes only sporadic appearances, returning to Konohagakure after long absences to report on information he has learned throughout his travels. During his first appearance in the series' Part I, Jiraiya takes the time to train Naruto, teaching him his own signature abilities and trying to help him learn how to control Kurama. When his teacher, Hiruzen, who has resumed his duty as the Third Hokage since Minato's death, dies during an invasion by Orochimaru, Jiraiya is offered the position of Hokage. Despite this, Jiraiya thinks his inability to prevent Orochimaru from becoming a criminal makes him unworthy of the responsibility and instead offers to search for Tsunade so that she can take the position instead—a task he eventually succeeds at. After Naruto's flawed attempt to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha, Jiraiya decides to take the boy for two and a half years of training to make him strong enough to bring Sasuke back and to protect himself from the Akatsuki organization. In Part II, Jiraiya returns to inform Kakashi Hatake and Yamato about the threat Naruto can become under the Nine-Tails's influence by telling them of his near-death experiences when the youth used only a fraction of Kurama's power. To keep Naruto from participating in Team 7's new Sasuke-related mission, Jiraiya offers to train him again and takes Naruto to Yugakure, the Village Hidden in Boiling Water. After entrusting Naruto with the key to Kurama's seal, Jiraiya begins investigating the Akatsuki's leader, Pain. His investigation leads him to battle Pain, whom he recognizes to be Nagato using the corpses of Yahiko and five other ninja he met in his journey. At the battle's conclusion, while reflecting on his life, Jiraiya realizes that Naruto is the boy foretold in the prophecy. Due to this, remembering it was his first novel that inspired Minato to name his son after the book's protagonist, Jiraiya musters the strength to send a message about Nagato's Paths of Pain, along with a disabled Animal Path, to Naruto and the rest of Konohagakure to give them an edge. While Pain kills Jiraiya, he concludes that Naruto will be a hero.

Reader's Guide

Jiraiya appears in two Naruto films, Naruto Shippuden the Movie: Bonds (2008) and Naruto Shippuden the Movie: The Will of Fire (2009). He is a playable character in most Naruto video games, including the Clash of Ninja series, the Ultimate Ninja series, and the Path of the Ninja series. In the first Ultimate Ninja game (2003), he only appears as a support to Naruto during his special techniques. In the Path of the Ninja RPG series, he is a character who can be spoken to for information and support. In Ultimate Ninja 2 (2004), he is an available character and has been given variations of the Rasengan, fire techniques, and toads summoning techniques. In Path of the Ninja 2 (2006), he is not only a character in the storyline, but a "secret" acquirable character that can be added to the team as a fully active member. Manga author Masashi Kishimoto first conceived Jiraiya's name based on Kabuki. He conceptualized him as a wizard with frog-like traits. He gave him an incisive and energetic speech pattern specific to old Kabuki plays. Kishimoto stated that Jiraiya "makes everything more colorful" since he is one of the few characters who enjoy talking. Regarding the bonds in the story, Kishimoto highlighted the importance of the character's death during his fight against Pain; this remark was made since, in his last moments, Jiraiya manages to discover the origin of Pain's multiple bodies and uses his last forces to send a message to Naruto Uzumaki in which he explains how Pain can be defeated. Kishimoto felt he had done a good job of establishing Jiraiya's last moments. He commented that out of all the master-pupil relationships he had created in the Naruto series, the bond between Naruto and Jiraiya is his favorite, stating that drawing their interactions was "worthwhile". Jiraiya was one of the characters that resonated the most with the author alongside Naruto, Sasuke Uchiha, and Haku. At the 2015 New York Comic-Con, when asked which character besides Naruto is his favorite, Kishimoto chose Jiraiya. Due to the fans' preference, Kishimoto drew a sketch of Jiraiya in front of the audience at the event. He stated he felt nostalgic since this was the first time he had drawn Jiraiya or any other character in the series for a while. However, Kishimoto did not remember how to draw Jiraiya initially, and thus he used a person among the spectators who was cosplaying Jiraiya as a reference. After being asked which character's point of view he would choose to tell the story from instead of Naruto's if given the possibility, Kishimoto listed Jiraiya as one of his choices. He elaborated on this by stating Jiraiya was not very knowledgeable at a young age, feeling that this aspect would have created an interesting contrast with Jiraiya's "not so much arrogant, but overconfident, blusterous, and very, very skilled" adult self and that the story presenting Jiraiya's development would have been "fun to draw". Kishimoto further mentioned that jutsu was still in the process of developing during Jiraiya's childhood, and he felt this would have been an engaging subject to depict in the series. Jiraiya is played by Hōchū Ōtsuka in the series' original animated adaptation, while David Lodge voices him in the English dub. David Lodge stated that Jiraiya is one of viewers' "favorite characters". When questioned if he is frequently asked to voice Jiraiya in new features since the character is a part of such a popular franchise, he answered affirmatively. Lodge stated that besides being known as the "Toad Sage" due to controlling frogs, Jiraiya is also known as the "Pervy Sage", considering this a "big deal" in Japan due to such content being classified as sensitive. He stated that in the United States, a lot of the things regarding the "Pervy Sage" part had to be restricted. Lodge said that Jiraiya was the best character he had ever played due to having "so many dimensions"; he elaborated by mentioning that while Jiraiya can be "crazy", he can also be a "very serious, philosophical, wise sage". He characterized this aspect of Jiraiya's personality as "fun". He said he had "such a good time" playing Jiraiya, stating he managed to "delve into a character that is more than one-dimensional" in the process of voicing him. Lodge also stated he has "a huge fanbase" for Jiraiya's character. He commented that Jiraiya is his favorite character, characterizing him as "such a grand scope character".

Did You Know?

• Jiraiya's name was first conceived by Masashi Kishimoto based on Kabuki, and he was conceptualized as a wizard with frog-like traits.
• At the 2015 New York Comic-Con, Kishimoto drew a sketch of Jiraiya in front of the audience, using a cosplayer as a reference because he initially did not remember how to draw him.
• Jiraiya is played by Hōchū Ōtsuka in the original Japanese anime and by David Lodge in the English dub.
• David Lodge stated that Jiraiya was the best character he had ever played due to having 'so many dimensions', and that he has 'a huge fanbase'.
• Kishimoto listed Jiraiya as one of his choices for whose point of view he would tell the story from instead of Naruto's, noting that Jiraiya's younger self was 'not very knowledgeable' and that jutsu was still developing during his childhood.