Jiraiya (Naruto)

Jiraiya
Naruto character
File:Jiraiya main.jpg Jiraiya by Masashi Kishimoto
First appearance	Manga Chapter 90 Naruto Episode 52

Jiraiya (自来也) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Naruto created by Masashi Kishimoto.

His name literally means "coming on one's own", which is a description of his personality; quietly appearing and disappearing from Konoha at any time. It may also be a reference to his perverse hobbies. The kanji on his forehead protector (油, Abura) means "oil".

Jiraiya is named after the character of the same name from Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari (児雷也豪傑物語, "The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya"). The Jiraiya in this story excelled in summoning a giant toad (the toad itself was sometimes called "Jiraiya") and toad magic. In that story, Jiraiya and Tsunade were a married couple. There, his name is written as "児雷也" meaning "Young Thunder" which in turn comes from the name Garaiya (我来也, "I came") from the Chinese story Kaishi (諧史).

Background

File:Jiraiyageninteam.jpg

Jiraiya's Genin team with Minato Namikaze and two other unknown members.

As a child, Jiraiya and his former teammates, Orochimaru and Tsunade, were students of the Third Hokage. Later in life, during the time of the great ninja war, he along with his fellow teamates were defeated by Hanzo; but were spared under a given condition that they renown themselves the title of "Legendary Three Ninja" (伝説の三忍, Densetsu no Sannin) to indicate their potency as the strongest ninja in Konoha, having proven themselves worthy of being exemplary shinobi. During their years as a team, Jiraiya developed a close relationship with Orochimaru and came to hold him as a good friend.

Once becoming a Jonin capable of leading a squad, Jiraiya became the sensei of Minato Namikaze and two other, as yet unknown, Genin. Years later, when Orochimaru betrayed Konoha and fled the village, Jiraiya pursued him, trying to convince his friend to come back. Orochimaru refused and attacked Jiraiya, turning his back on Konoha forever. While he tried to find a reason for Orochimaru's defection, he eventually realized that his friend wasn't coming back. Feeling he was responsible for Orochimaru's escape, Jiraiya left Konoha so he could follow Orochimaru's movements as well as the organization he eventually joined, Akatsuki. In doing so, Jiraiya was unable to fulfill the Third's wishes of taking on the role of Hokage, finding the tracking of Orochimaru to be more important.

Personality

Despite the fact that he left Konoha for many years, Jiraiya has maintained a strong allegiance with his hometown. During Orochimaru's invasion of Konoha, he helps fend off the invading forces in order to protect the village. When Konoha finds itself in need of a new Hokage after the Third's death, Jiraiya volunteers to look for Tsunade so that she can become the Third's successor after turning the job down himself. After he finds Tsunade and begins to suspect that she may be assisting Orochimaru, he makes it clear that he will kill her if she betrays the village. Tsunade ultimately turns out to be loyal to Konoha, and Jiraiya joins her in attempting to defeat Orochimaru.

Jiraiya is a self-proclaimed super-pervert and a frequent voyeur, going so far as to create the Transparent Escape Technique (透遁術, Tōton Jutsu, English TV "Transparency Jutsu") to allow him to spy on naked women without being caught (doing "research" as he calls it). He never actually hides his perversion, and even seems proud of it, as seen when he told the Third Hokage about it when he was still a child. Despite this, Jiraiya doesn't like being called Ero-sennin (エロ仙人, literally "Perverted hermit" or "Erotic hermit"; English TV "Pervy Sage") by Naruto Uzumaki in front of others.

Jiraiya's perversion has been used against him on occasion, as seen when Naruto gets Jiraiya to start training him after a simple display of the Sexy Technique. When two Akatsuki members (Itachi Uchiha and his partner Kisame Hoshigaki) later try to distract Jiraiya, they use a hypnotized woman to catch his eye and keep him busy. While their effort initially succeeds, Jiraiya eventually sees through their plot due solely to the fact that women do not typically express interest in him. His peeping habits have also caused him great injury on one occasion; when caught spying on Tsunade in his younger years, she proceeded to break both of his arms, six of his ribs, and ruptured a number of organs as punishment.

Some time after leaving Konoha, Jiraiya became an author of adult novels, his most popular work being "Make Out Paradise" (イチャイチャパラダイス, Icha Icha Paradaisu), a personal favorite of Kakashi Hatake's. The novels are based on his rejections in love that he retells in a comical way. In a filler episode of the anime, Naruto ghostwrites one of Jiraiya's Icha Icha novels and the book is found to be very popular, indicating that Naruto is capable of writing on the same level as Jiraiya, or that Jiraiya's writing abilities are no better than those of a child. Tsunade seems to suspect that the latter is true, as she notes that a report on the Onbaa he wrote as a child, accompanied by crude crayon illustrations, was poorly written. The popularity of the Icha Icha series seems to have paid off well, as Jiraiya's checkbook reveals that he is fairly wealthy (Naruto exclaims that there are quite a few zeros at the end). Despite his wealth, Jiraiya is not above taking Naruto's money and spending it on sake and women, and frequently suddenly disappears when Naruto attempts to make him pay.

Abilities

While he has appeared frequently in the series, Jiraiya has yet to be seen battling at his full capacity. When catching Akatsuki members Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki attempting to kidnap Naruto, the two flee rather than fight him. When later joining Tsunade in her fight against Orochimaru, his prior drugging by Tsunade makes it difficult for him to move and attack. While he is able to effectively use a few jutsu in this instance, all are underpowered due to the drug's effects. Though a full demonstration of his abilities has not yet been seen, Jiraiya states that he has only been brought to the verge of death twice in his life (once when caught peeping on Tsunade and again while training Naruto to use the nine tails chakra during the time skip), suggesting that he is quite powerful. Itachi comments that, were he and Kisame to fight Jiraiya, they could only kill him at the cost of their own lives.

Jiraiya is known as the "Toad Hermit" (蝦蟇仙人, Gama Sennin) due to his utilization of a number of toad-related jutsu. Many typically deal with summoning toads, and he has risen to a level of ability that allows him to summon Gamabunta. He can even summon the nearly indestructible esophagus of a great, fire-breathing toad with Summoning: Toad Mouth Bind (口寄せ・蝦蟇口縛り, Kuchiyose: Gamaguchi Shibari, English TV "Toad Mouth Trap"). Once the jutsu has been used to cover the area, Jiraiya can control it as he pleases and use it to trap most ninja. While not of much use in battle, Jiraiya is able to transform others into toads with Frog Transformation Technique (蛙変えるの術, Kaeru Kaeru no Jutsu), which has thus far served only to intimidate others. Jiraiya's connection with toads also extends to his methods of gaining intelligence. He can hide within one toad to move about unnoticed, as well as use a larger toad as a sort of mobile base of operations. He also utilizes toads for communications, and can send them to others in order to relay messages on his behalf.

In addition to his abilities with toads, Jiraiya can use Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld (土遁・黄泉沼, Doton: Yomi Numa, English TV "Dark Swamp") to create a large swampland under a target that is capable of completely engulfing them. He can also use Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique, as well as the Rasengan, to attack opponents. For defensive purposes, Jiraiya can grow and sharpen his hair with Needle Guardian (針地蔵, Hari Jizō, English TV "Needle Jizo") to surround him as a shield, protecting him from harm and injuring attackers.

Jiraiya has also been shown to be very knowledgeable with sealing jutsu, and has used a number of them throughout the series. When first meeting Naruto, he quickly notices the seal on Naruto's stomach and realizes that it is meant to keep the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox sealed within him. Upon finding that the seal's ability to mix the demon fox's chakra with Naruto's has been hampered by another seal (which he correctly surmises to be Orochimaru's work), he uses Five Elements Unseal (五行解印, Gogyō Kaiin, English TV "Five Pronged Seal Release") to remove it. He later uses Fire Sealing Method (封火法印, Fūka Hōin, English TV "Fire Seal") to contain a fire within a scroll for future study. During the timeskip, he also creates the Subdue Seal (押封印, Ō Fūin) to suppress the demon fox's influence over Naruto on contact.

Plot overview

Jiraiya predominately acts as Naruto's teacher, instructing him on how to better utilize the demon fox's chakra and showing him how to perform jutsu such as the Rasengan and the Summoning Technique. Due to the amount of time they have spent together, Jiraiya has come to think of Naruto as a grandson. He also acts as an intelligence-gatherer for Konoha, and frequently appears after long absences to report on Akatsuki and Orochimaru's doings.

Jiraiya takes Naruto with him at the end of Part I for an additional two-and-a-half years of training to help him better face the challenges that await him in Part II. During this time he tries to give Naruto more access to the demon fox's chakra by using the key to the seal left to him by Minato, though only injures himself and weakens the seal in the process. After returning Naruto to Konoha, Jiraiya learns that the Akatsuki leader, Pein, is located in Amegakure. He goes to the village to investigate where he learns that Pein was able to kill Hanzo, the ninja that had beaten him years earlier. As he makes ready to face Pein, Jiraiya makes plans to transfer the key of the demon fox, which is written inside a scroll with a frog on it to Naruto in the event that something should happen to him. The key may be a jutsu, though it is unclear if the jutsu refered to in Chapter 370 is the key.

Sources

• First Official Data Book (秘伝・臨の書キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK, Hiden: Rin no Sho Character Official Data Book)
• Second Official Data Book (秘伝・闘の書キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK, Hiden: Tō no Sho Character Official Data Book)
• Jump's 2nd Great Hero Book's Mini Data Book (秘伝・翔の書オフィシャルキャラクターデータBOOK mini, Hiden: Shō no Sho Official Character Data Book mini)
• Naruto anime and manga Guidebook (秘伝・翔の書オフィシャルキャラクターデータBOOK mini, Hiden: Shō no Sho Official Character Data Book mini)
• Taken directly from the Naruto manga chapters and anime episodes.