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As a child, Jiraiya and his former teammates, Orochimaru and Tsunade, were students of the Third Hokage. Because of the three's exemplary skills, they are known as the "Legendary Three Ninja" (伝説の三忍, Densetsu no Sannin?) or simply the "Sannin", while Jiraiya himself is known as the "Toad Hermit" (蝦蟇仙人, Gama Sennin?). 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 the future Fourth Hokage 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 determined that his friend wasn't coming back. To that end, Jiraiya left Konoha so that he could follow Orochimaru's movements, and in time began to follow the organization that Orochimaru joined: Akatsuki.
[edit] 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" wink to allow him to spy on naked women without being caught (or "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, Ero-sennin? literally "Perverted hermit" or "Erotic hermit"; Pervy Sage in the U.S. dub) 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 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. 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, meaning that Naruto is capable of writing on the same level as Jiraiya, or that Jiraiya's writing abilities are no better than that of a child. 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.
[edit] 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 before he can start battling them. 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. Despite this lack in showcasing of his abilities, Jiraiya's indication that he has only been brought to the verge of death twice in his life (once when caught peeping on Tsunade and again when training Naruto) suggests that he is quite powerful. Itachi and Kisame also comment that, were they to be forced into battle with him, both would surely be defeated, even if they fought together.
Of the jutsu that Jiraiya has been seen using, 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" wink . Once the jutsu has been used to cover the area, Jiraiya can control the stomach as he pleases and use it to trap most ninja.
In addition to summoning toads, Jiraiya can use Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld (土遁・黄泉沼, Doton: Yomi Numa?) to create a large swampland under a target that is capable of completely engulfing them. He can also use Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique with which to attack opponents. For defensive purposes, Jiraiya can grow and sharpen his hair with Needle Guardian (針地蔵, Hari j**ō?) 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 (五行封印, Gogyō Fūin?, English TV "Five Pronged Seal Release" wink to remove it. He later uses Fire Sealing Method (封火法印, Fūka Hōin?, English TV "Fire Seal" wink 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.
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