OOC: Application
Series: Naruto (Part 2)
Series' Medium: Manga, ignoring the anime.
Character: Jiraiya (no canon family name given)
Character's role in their canon: Mentor/Grandfather-type to the main character
Character's age: 53/54
Character's gender: Male
Character's "Real Name": Phil Randy
Personal History (MAJOR SPOILER WARNING):
Born and raised in the hidden ninja village of Konoha ("Leaf"), Jiraiya graduated from the ninja academy at the tender age of 6. The four man team he then joined was commanded by the man would would one day become the third leader--or Hokage--of Konoha village. Along with the other two children his age--Tsunade, a blond woman with brown eyes and Orochimaru, a dark haired child with pure white skin and snake eyes--quickly grew in strength and became the legendary Sannin ("Three Nin[ja]") of Konoha village. They were thrust into the middle of war like many other young ninja, and Tsunade even lost her little brother, Nawaki, shortly after he graduated from the academy. Jiraiya learned to summon toads, Orochimaru learned to summon snakes, and Tsunade learned to summon slugs.
Jiraiya learned to summon toads from the toads themselves when he stumbled upon Myouboku Mountain and became the Toad Sage. Eventually, the Great Toad Sage called for Jiraiya to be brought before him. He had a prophecy for the man--that Jiraiya would travel the world as a pervert without equal, and that Jiraiya would also raise/train the man that would bring salvation to the world or destroy it. The fate of the world would rest on Jiraiya's shoulders and the choice he made when the time came.
The three Sannin were awarded their title, Densetsu no Sannin ("Legendary Three Ninja") by the powerful Hanzo because they were able to survive his attacks. Eventually, older and more experienced (somewhere in their late teens to maybe their early twenties?), the three Sannin were sent to the Hidden Rain. The mission itself wasn't important, but the fact that three children begged them for food, saying that their parents were dead was. Jiraiya decided to do more than just feed them for a day, and taught them how to defend themselves, telling the others to go on ahead without him.
Except he got more than he bargained for--before he could even start training the children, they were attacked by a ninja from the hidden village of Stone while Jiraiya was still inside the house they were staying at. While the girl--Konan--ran and brought Jiraiya to help--one of the two boys, Yahiko, was injured. However, he was spared from death by the other boy's--Nagato's--"bloodline limit"--a mutation passed down generation by generation. It was by using the Rin'negan, the strongest of the three major eye bloodline limits and considered a tool of heaven itself, that he was able to kill the man attempting to kill them, although he blacked out and remembered nothing of it.
Shortly afterwards, Jiraiya began to train them the basics of how to defend themselves, ninja style. One night, he woke up to Nagato crying, and explained to him that although he killed the man attacking them, he saved Yuhiko's life by doing so, and that it was definitely the right thing to do. Nagato told Jiraiya that Yahiko saved him and Konan, even stealing food for them, and that he wanted to protect his two friends no matter what kind of pain he had to go through. Jiraiya, at that time, believed Nagato to be the child of prophecy because of his bloodline limit.
So Jiraiya trained them, and they grew stronger. Finally, after three years, Jiraiya decided that they were strong enough to defend themselves, and returned home. Every now and then, he would hear about the three of them, and how no one could stand in their way for long.
Later down the road, Jiraiya became the leader of a four-man squad, working with three children like his sensei before him. One of the three, Namikaze Minato, was a genius that only came once a decade, even that. He became Jiraiya's apprentice, and Jiraiya taught him many things, including how to summon the toads. Eventually after three years of hard work, Minato developed his own special ninjutsu called the Rasengan; it was a whirling ball of energy, spinning in all directions yet retaining its shape, and is powerful enough to send people flying send people flying with nasty internal injuries or buzz saw through trees as if they were made of paper. Minato also passed the Rasengan to Jiraiya, probably teaching him the technique.
The next thing known about Jiraiya came from the time when Minato met a lover--Uzumaki Kushina--and she was pregnant with their first--and only—child (it was never revealed if they married). Jiraiya had finally published his first book, but it was a spectacular failure in terms of sails.
Except Minato didn't think so; he said it read like an autobiography of Jiraiya's life, and that he liked how the main character never gave up and tried hard to reach his goals. In fact, those were the exact traits that he and Kushina wanted their own child to have. They decided to name their child after the main character--much to Jiraiya's surprise--even though Jiraiya protested that he had come up with the name while eating ramen. Naruto was a fishcake with a swirled design commonly in ramen, but his parents didn't care. They wanted their Naruto to be strong, brave, and to have a spirit that never gives up.
Then, they died. Or, Minato died and Kushina is presumed to have perished as well. The village was attacked by the powerful fox demon, Kyuubi, and Minato defeated it at the price of his own life. He used a sealing technique that took the life of the caster, and imprisoned the Kyuubi in the belly of his newborn son, Naruto.
Here, things become fuzzy. Jiraiya had one clear memory of Naruto as a newborn, swaddled in cloth, but he quickly becomes absent from the child's life. Jiraiya was perhaps prevented from taking care of the child, or didn't know enough about how to take care of newborns in order to do so. Regardless, Jiraiya left the village to gather information on Orochimaru's whereabouts, whom had been forced to flee the village when his human experiments towards immortality were discovered; he vowed revenge on Konoha for both this, and for the fact that Minato was chosen as the Fourth Hokage instead of himself. He found out that Orochimaru joined, then left, the evil organization Akatsuki, which until Naruto's time, continued to lay low and make few moves, keeping Jiraiya unaware of their true motives.
When he met Naruto again twelve years later, after many years of wandering, the boy failed to recognize him, even though Jiraiya seemed to recognize him immediately. Naruto, while learning how to walk on water with his chakra, spotted Jiraiya peaking into the ladies' hot springs, and alerted the man teaching him, Ebisu, to Jiraiya's presence as he lost balance and fell into the water. Ebisu took great exception to this behavior and tried to stop Jiraiya. Jiraiya took a greater exception to that, summoned a gigantic toad, and then had it wrap its tongue around Ebisu to slam him into the ground with a knock-out strike.
Predictably, Naruto took great exception to all of this and immediately demanded Jiraiya take over his training because he had knocked out the man teaching him. Jiraiya at first refused, stating that he didn't like men, but Naruto was able to easily convince him by henging--"transforming"--into a naked woman using his Sexy No Jutsu. Jiraiya, being a pervert, agreed to teach him immediately afterwards.
It is here that an aside must be taken. The majority of fandom believes that Jiraiya only recognized Naruto after seeing Kyuubi's seal, but was obvious that he recognized Naruto immediately, since seeing the seal didn't surprise him, and he was aware that Naruto was training to walk on water even before he turned away from the women's hot springs. Naruto looked remarkably like his father as well. Jiraiya may have purposefully let himself get caught since he had been an expert at spying on bathhouses since a young age. Jiraiya would have known better to stand out in the open where anyone could have seen him and giggle loudly.
When Naruto was told to try walking again, Jiraiya immediately noticed that his chakra control was off, and had Naruto mold chakra to inspect the seal, which he determined allowed the Kyuubi's chakra to leak out to protect Naruto. Jiraiya, somehow, immediately recognized the seal on top of the seal preventing the chakra from leaking out to be Orochimaru's handiwork (given to Naruto in an earlier encounter with the man) and removed the seal.
The boy's chakra control was instantaneously restored, and Jiraiya told him that they were done training for the day, but that he would train him in a new technique tomorrow. Unlike the anime, this all took place at the same location, and Jiraiya went on further to take the unconscious Ebisu someplace safe. Sometime after Ebisu awakened, Jiraiya apologized, but he was taking Ebisu's student.
The technique was none other than the toad summoning technique that Jiraiya taught Naruto's father. Jiraiya informed Naruto that he had two types of Chakra, without going into details about Kyuubi, and that he needed to use the stronger one to summon the toads. Even after exhausting his own chakra to force himself to draw on the Kyuubi's chakra, Naruto was still unable to do so, and Jiraiya came to the conclusion that the key to unlocking Kyuubi's power was a life-or-death situation and the emotional high involved.
His solution to this dilemma was to knock Naruto unconscious, carry his still body to the side of a cliff, apologize to his father, and promptly shove the newly awakened Naruto off the cliff side. Surprisingly, this worked, and Naruto completed the jutsu, learning how to demand chakra from the Kyuubi in emergency situations.
Soon afterwards, Konoha was attacked by Orochimaru's new village, Sound, and the hidden village of Sand. Jiraiya helped protect Konoha, but found out after the short war that Orochimaru killed their former teacher. The manga and anime both glossed over his reaction to this news, other than giving him one brief moment to remember a warm scene between him and his teacher. Sometime during this time, Jiraiya informed Kakashi, Naruto's teacher, about Akatsuki organization and that they were after the Kyuubi inside of Naruto.
The elders of the village elected Jiraiya to be the next Hokage, but he refused, citing that Tsunade would be the best choice. Since she left the village sometime after the death of the man she loved, he says he would find her and bring her back to Konoha, further deciding to bring Naruto with him on the journey. A reluctant Naruto was easily convinced to join him by a promise of a new technique. When Naruto asked why Jiraiya decided to bring him, Jiraiya answers truthfully that Naruto reminded him of the Fourth (which excited Naruto greatly).
The technique Jiraiya planned to teach Naruto was the Rasengan—the very technique developed by Naruto's father. Soon after they leave the village, one of the members of Akatsuki—Uchiha Itachi, the brother of Naruto's best friend, Uchiha Sasuke--attacked both Kakashi and Sasuke in separate fights, throwing them both into comas. (As an aside, Itachi was the one who murdered their entire clan, save Sasuke and himself; this information will be important later. He was also the man responsible for causing Orochimaru to leave the Akatsuki.) In order to return them to their old selves, it became even more critical to find Tsunade, the only medic-nin strong enough to lift their stupor.
For the majority of Naruto's training, Jiraya gave him hints and let him figure the rest out himself. However, one time, Jiraiya realized that when Naruto asked him to stay, it was not because he wants extra hints, but because he was lonely. (Naruto, being an orphan, had felt incredibly lonely after watching a father and son share a double Popsicle.) Amazingly, Jiraiya decided to buy that very same Popsicle to cheer Naruto up and shared it with him; this image of Jiraiya stuck with Naruto as one of the most powerful and important to him.
While Naruto trained, Jiraiya searched for Tsunade and eventually found out her current location. He told Naruto to complete the final step of the jutsu while they were on the move, leading to random and hilarious explosions as Naruto lost control over the technique periodically. They managed to find Tsunade and her apprentice in a bar soon after coming across a building that had been demolished by a giant snake--in other words, Orochimaru's summon. At first, Tsunade and Jiraiya reminisced about Naruto's father (which went over Naruto's head), but then Jiraiya asked Tsunade to be the next Hokage. She refused, insulting the Hokages for stupidly giving away their lives, and Jiraiya just barely stopped Naruto from outright attacking her. They took it outside and Naruto predictably lost against the Sannin, but she promised to give him the necklace she wore if he finished the Jutsu within the week. Naruto found out from Tsunade's apprentice, Shizune, that the necklace was worn by Tsunade's brother and would-be lover on the days of their deaths.
Jiraiya realizes that week was significant and further realized she has met Orochimaru; he threatened her, saying he would kill her if she betrayed Konoha. She did not, instead attempting to kill Orochimaru while pretending she was going to heal the injuries he obtained from fighting their old teacher. However, she failed. Jiraiya, hindered by the drug slipped into his drink by Tsunade so that he would not get in the way of her second meeting with Orochimaru, informed Naruto and Shizune of what occurred. They joined the already in-progress battle between Tsunade and Orochimaru.
To make a long battle short, Jiraiya got knocked unconscious after some awesome moves, Naruto completed the Rasengan, Tsunade got over her greatest weakness to protect Naruto (whom embodied the spirit of her dead loved ones, whom wanted to become Hokage like him), Tsunade gave Naruto the necklace because he won the bet, and Tsunade declared herself the Fifth Hokage before beating the ever-loving shit out of Orochimaru, who was forced to retreat.
They returned to Konoha, Tsunade officially became Hokage, and Naruto brought her to heal Sasuke, who then acted like a jealous dumbass concerning Naruto's rapid growth and decided to go to Orochimaru because he had an inferiority complex the size of a large Kuiper Belt object (but we love the brat anyways). When Naruto failed to bring him back, Jiraiya told him to give up, because he knew the type of person Sasuke was—a person just like Orochimaru. Naruto refused, however, saying that he'd rather go on living as a fool than to be smart about it, not willing to give up on his friend. This struck a deep chord in Jiraiya, as he was trying to prevent Naruto from suffering the same heartache that he had, and Naruto, for one of the only times, saw Jiraiya during a moment of weakness. Jiraiya decided to train him because Naruto could not succeed on his own, and they left the village to train (and gather information on Akatsuki) for over two years.
During this time, Jiraiya taught Naruto better chakra control, helped Naruto learn how to control Kyuubi's power a bit better, gave him a new jumpsuit, made Naruto read over the manuscripts for his new perverted novel (which Naruto declares to be boring), and taught Naruto a variety of other things. Naruto also almost killed Jiraiya when he lost control over Kyuubi's chakra and turned into a mini fox demon, but Jiraiya somehow managed to seal the energy back to its normal level. (He later informed Kakashi, Tsunade, and Naruto's temporary team captain about the event.) They returned to Konoha and Jiraiya left to gather more information on Akatsuki.
Eventually, Jiraiya learned that Sasuke killed Orochimaru and informed Tsunade and Naruto's team. He went further on to say that Sasuke wouldn't return to Konoha, but would instead seek his revenge on Itachi. Naruto and his team, as well as other friends of Naruto, were once again sent on a mission to retrieve Sasuke's dumb butt and bring him back home.
It was during Naruto's mission that Jiraiya informed Tsunade that he had learned the true identity of Akatsuki's leader, and that he had to find out for himself if his identity was true. She told him to come back alive, and they remembered on Naruto's parents. Jiraiya commented about how Naruto was like a grandson to him, and how much training Naruto had been like training Minato all those years back, but Tsunade stated that Naruto acted more like his mother.
The Akatsuki leader was none other than one of Jiraiya's former students, Nagato, renamed Pain. Konan was still by his side, but Yahiko was supposedly killed. Pain fought with multiple bodies (up to six at once), none of them looking like his original body, and all of them with the Rin'engan. Jiraiya struggled hard, using even Hermit Mode and a slew of new techniques, but was no match for Pain. As he lied dying, Jiraiya remembered about Naruto's parents--and then Naruto himself--and forced himself back to life, saying that Naruto's ninja way of never giving up should be the way of Naruto's teacher as well. He lived just long enough to pass on the most vital piece of information about Pain to Naruto and the others by imprinting it on the back of an old toad. He then died, realizing Naruto to be the child of destiny--not Nagato. Because he made the choice to not give up, he changed the fate of the world, making Naruto the child of destiny instead of Pain. (The prophecy is detailed in chapter 376, page 10 onwards.)
Personality:
Before Jiraiya's apper goes into detail about his personality, Jiraiya would like to humbly request that his nurse is female, is pretty, and although it isn't required, is often seen wearing a short skirt. He, furthermore, promises to behave, keep his hands (mostly) to himself, and will treat her with plenty of respect. A lovely personality would also be a plus.
Jiraiya is more than just a pervert who likes to spy on the women's side of bath houses. He, in fact, has taken his perversion to the extreme, becoming famous (and rather rich) with the Icha Icha ("Come Come") adults-only series of books that he has written. However, his love of women is not his greatest defining characteristic.
Before he's a womanizer, he's a ninja, and before he's a ninja, he's a man with a heart. While he acts tough, children can strike a particular chord in him that others cannot. Not only did he delay his return from one mission by months to train three random children to defend themselves, but he dropped everything to take on his newest apprentice, Naruto--and it took Naruto under two minutes to "convince" him to train him. (This was detailed in the personal history section.)
While he's capable of getting into childish arguments with his apprentice with all the immaturity if a two-year-old, he is also capable of bringing the widest of grins to Naruto's face with a few words or a simple action. With both of them being hot-headed and stubborn, it's surprising that they don't have more arguments than they do. Luckily for Naruto, Jiraiya usually is either amused or exhausted by his antics. In fact, one could say that training Naruto taught Jiraiya to exercise a greater amount of patience than ever before while dealing with his excitable, hyperactive student--not that he would ever regret spending those years with the boy. The anime over-emphasizes Jiraiya's love for women and underemphasizes his love for his student, whom is like a grandson to him.
Jiraiya is extremely proud of Naruto, speaking about him as he would a grandson, and dies believing that he would be the one to change the world, the "child of destiny" spoken about in the prophecy. As the last two/three years of his life have been entirely focused on a mixture of training Naruto and keeping tabs on Akatsuki, the organization after his student, it is understandable that much of Jiraiya's thoughts are currently focused on the boy even after returning from their two/three year journey.
However, unlike his apprentice, age has made his decisions much less brash. Before he does anything, he gathers information, and he spent many years gathering information on Akatsuki before sharing it with anyone else. It is a learned response, to force himself to look before he leaps, but it is one that has served him well. Even though he knew Naruto's parents, and probably immediately knew who Naruto was at first glance, Jiraiya observed Naruto before engaging the boy (again, more in the personal history section). His information gathering skills were the only reason he managed to track down their next Hokage, Tsunade, to the right town--but, even then, they came across her by luck in a bar.
Naruto aside, Jiraiya is a generally nice, although perverted, man. He doesn't say outright perverted comments to women (despite what the anime says, having been beaten to an inch of his life has dissuaded Jiraiya from mentioning breasts in casual conversations with the fairer sex), and respects them, knowing they can cause just as much damage to ones internal organs as men (especially Tsunade, who gave him the previously mentioned beating). He will do things for others without expecting anything in return, simply because it's the right thing to do. Assholes and brats can certainly get under his skin, but he won't attack them, and he's done nothing worse than smack Naruto upside the head for being a dumbass from time to time. However, he has no problem taking the first strike when necessary to prevent a fight before it's even begun, such as when he took out a former ninja from another village that was threatening Naruto after Naruto accidentally ruined his expensive designer suit (even interjecting a lesson, telling Naruto to watch carefully to see the technique that he'd be learning).
Jiraiya is a sensei, a grandfather figure, a father figure, a mentor, and a friend to Naruto. He believes that Naruto will not only succeed in eventually becoming Hokage, but that he'll change the world for the better. Naruto is always at the forefront of his thoughts, and will continue to be so, even if he is absent. He didn't teach Naruto because he was a genius, since teaching a genius would be no fun, but because Naruto understood that the most important thing, according to Jiraiya, is for a ninja to have a spirit which never gives up. Naruto calls him Ero-Sennin (Perverted Hermit), which Jiraiya wears almost as a badge of honor, except when other people are present.
Physical Description:
Jiraiya is a fifty-plus-year-old, large, white-haired man. His hair is long and spiky, held in a pony tail that trails past his torso. He has a mole on the left side of his nose (from his perspective). He has a thick red straight-lined tattoo each cheek, that descends from just underneath the middle of his eye to the base of his jaw.
He is about 6 feet, 4 inches tall (191.2 cm), weighs approximately 193 pounds (87.5 kg), and is muscular. Jiraiya has aged well, looking and acting younger than his real age. In the middle of his chest is a large scar with one central impact that branches out that he received when Naruto lost control during training.
What kinds of magical/special/crazy powers does your character have, if any?:
First off, his craziest power is that he can summon toads. And we're not talking regular toads, but ones that can talk, kick ass, spit fire, and loom over multi-story buildings. He can summon more than a simple toad, however--he once transformed a hall of a hotel into the stomach of a giant, fire-breathing toad with Kuchiyose: Gamaguchi Shibari (Summoning: Toad Mouth Bind), which allows him trap and digest enemy shinobi (yum?).
He can also transform into a stronger "Sage Mode"—but he must merge with two old, married toads in order to do so. His form changes, making his nose stubby and giving him webbed hands and feet. It also gives him tons of warts and scares away women. In this mode, he can work along with the toads to create large fire blasts, create a liquid box with paralyzing agents surrounded by four large toads with stone swords, and do other powerful techniques (the full list was not revealed before his death).
He also has another technique called Doton: Yomi Numa (Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld), which summons a swamp to swallow up his opponents. Katon - Endan (Fire Element - Fireball) allows him to shoot a blast of flame from his mouth. He also has a Gama Daira Kage Ayatsuri no Jutsu (Toad-Silhouette Control Technique) in which he can merge and become one with the shadow of another, allowing him to control them until he finally reemerges from their shadow.
Jiraiya was taught how to use Rasengan, a ball of powerful, whirling energy, by his student, Minato (otherwise known as the Fourth Hokage). He has developed a more powerful version called Cho Odama Rasengan (Super Great Ball Rasengan). Jiraiya is also capable of spitting fire or oil from his mouth, and has done this while battling alongside summoned toads. His hair can be transformed to be like the spines of a porcupine, although as much larger spikes which can also be shot at his opponent.
He is able to use many of the usual techniques available to ninja--walking on walls, walking on water, walking on tree trunks, and jumping long distances--all using the spirit and body energy called chakra. Jiraiya is skilled with ninja daggers called kunai and is able to throw them with deadly accuracy, use them to stab his opponents, or utilize them to block attacks. He can also henge--transform--into other people or objects, as all (or at least, most) ninja can. Jiraiya also, like most ninja, uses Kawarimi no Jutsu (Change of Body Stance Technique) to switch his body with that of another person or of an inanimate object.
Finally, he has a large knowledge of sealing techniques. He was able to immediately recognize the seal preventing Naruto's chakra from flowing properly, and was able to easily remove the seal. He also was able to write and use a scroll to seal a high-level fire jutsu that managed to burn a hole into the fire toad's stomach.
If present, how do you plan to tweak those powers to make him/her appropriately hindered in the setting of Landel's?:
Jiraiya's chakra will be sealed, and, therefore, he will have access to none of his techniques.
How about improbable appendages?:
Other than Hermit Mode, when he has a merged elder frog on either shoulder, Jiraiya thankfully has no improbable appendages.
Does your character have any other non-magical skills or abilities that we should know about?:
Jiraiya writes extremely popular erotica. While it is never revealed the exact rating, only people of age can purchase his novels. His first book, however, was an adventure novel, and Naruto's parents named him after the main character, whom would never give up, no matter what.
He is also an expert on gathering information, and is the main source of information about the Akatsuki organization after Naruto and others throughout the series. Because of his skills, it was possible to find Tsunade and bring her back to be Hokage. He was able to find the truth out about Pain and passed this information on to Naruto, which will one day lead to Naruto saving the world from Pain's dark future.
Like all ninja, Jiraiya knows how to fight hand-to-hand, fight with kunai (ninja daggers), and use a variety of ninja tools, such as explosive paper tags, scrolls, and shuriken (both regular and giant, most likely).
Lastly, he is able to judge the size of a woman's bust just by looking at it. Or, at least, he's able to judge Tsunade's.
Third-Person Sample:
The back of a pen tapped against a page in a broken, disharmonious rhythm. After the fiftieth or so tap-tap, the hand holding the pen froze, and then dropped the pen, letting it roll into the dip opposing the book's spine. One was half-filled, the words ending in mid-sentence; the other page was completely blank.
Damn. It. The scene just wasn't working, something was missing, and the words refused to flow right. Up until now, the scene had been writing itself, too.
The white-haired man sighed long, leaning back--with a wince--and stared at the cracked ceiling above him. Where had all his inspiration gone? Being cooped up in this room was finally taking its toll on him; he had to--
--a door opened and closed behind him, surprisingly quiet for whom could have moved it. He heard the crunching ruffle of paper bags being set down on the kitchenette counter. Not quite understanding why he was hearing these sounds now out of all times--it was still early--he glanced out past the window to check the time.
"Ah..." It was dark.
"Let me guess," a young man's voice behind him muttered. "You just realized it's nighttime."
"Yeah..." he sighed again, then finally glanced back to meet his blond apprentice's very irritated gaze--the movement caused him to flinch a second time. "So, what did you get me for dinner?"
"I got us Ramen," the boy smirked only to grow obviously irritated when the man again sighed loudly. "Hey! You have no right to be picky! You let your lunch go cold! So I picked out something I wanted for a change so if you didn't--"
"--ramen is fine," the man replied, amused at his student's antics--only to blink a moment later as the rest of what the boy said registered. "... I forgot to eat lunch?"
The boy's irritated gaze shifted from him to the plate next to him. The man looked down, blinking at the plate of cold food beside him. "I did forget."
No wonder why his student was so riled up--even though the man was well into recovery and much more alive than dead, his student always grew frantically worried when he did something as simple as skipping a meal. It was kind of endearing, if not downright irritating, he thought as he glanced out the window again. His student could be so very pushy when he wan--
"YO, Ero-Seeeeeeniiiiiiin!" a hand waved in and out of the man's field of vision, making him jump and wince yet again, damn it. "Are you gonna eat this--HEY! I saw that!"
"Saw what?" Jiraiya groused good-naturedly.
"You winced!"
"And?"
"You let the pain meds wear off!" the hand was replaced by an accusing, blue-eyed glare. "You gotta take care of yourself or you'll never get better!"
He must have gotten the kid pretty worked up if he-who-would-not-eat-vegetables was scolding him, Jiraiya realized. Jiraiya let out another sigh and a wince, then chuckled, trying not to move his chest too much with the sound. Naruto's worrying about him was cute, really.
Not as cute as he would have been had Naruto nursed him back to health while using Sexy no Jutsu, Naught Nurse Edition, but it seemed that the boy had no qualms with hitting an almost fatally injured man upside the head for such a suggestion.
Jiraiya smiled at the angry boy--who blinked at him, probably having expected him to get angry right back--and reached up to ruffle his hair. Even if that simple movement made him wince-stupid chest wound. "All right. If you give me a bowl of ramen, I promise to eat it."
Predictably, Naruto's entire face lit up--Jiraiya would never grow tired of how it could do that--and he pulled away from Jiraiya's hand to quickly disappear from his line of sight once more. "Yes, sir!"
Jiraiya chuckled and shook his head. Even as a teenager, his student was cute. More of a pain in the neck than he used to be, but still cute. And he had calmed down, even if just--
"Ero-Sennin!! How much ramen do you want?!" Naruto shouted excitedly from somewhere behind him.
--not at all. "About half of what you're going to get should be good."
"Blyeeeeeeeh!" Jiraiya could clearly picture Naruto's tongue sticking out at him.
"Just make my dinner, brat!" Jiraiya called back in mock irritation.
"I'm not a woman!" Naruto protested.
"I noticed you weren't pretty enough to be one," Jiraiya snickered. "And even if you were, I don't like--"
"--men! Yeah, yeah, I know, Ero-Sennin," Jiraiya could hear Naruto's eyes rolling. "You don't know what you're missing!"
Jiraiya whipped his entire body around to stare at Naruto with wide, horrified eyes, ignoring the pain that it brought to his chest. "WHAT?!"
Naruto promptly burst out laughing. "Got you, Ero-Sennin!"
Jiraiya gave him a truly irritated look, "I'll have you know that if you'd like men, you'd announce it in just that way."
Naruto paused for a moment then grinned wide. "Probably! To you, anyways."
"To everyone," Jiraiya countered, expression lightening.
"No, to you," Naruto replied seriously, bringing over the two bowls of ramen and setting them down on the floor (while ignoring Jiraiya's protest of having his things pushed aside as he did so). "You're one of the few that I know would have no problems with it."
Jiraiya looked at him in shock, but quickly felt his chest warming. Naruto was right. Jiraiya would be OK with it, in the end. Huh. "Just don't' tell me anything about your sex life if you end up with another man, and I won't be traumatized for all eternity."
Naruto choked on his ramen with first shock, then laughter, and Jiraiya wasn't sure if it was from what he had said or the fact that he had said it. Jiraiya smirked and picked up his own bowl of ramen. He blinked--he had twice as many toppings than Naruto did in his bowl. He sighed.
"Brat, give me your bowl," Jiraiya easily took it from Naruto's hands, whom he suspected didn't protect it with his usual death grip because of his teacher's injuries, and ignored Naruto's protests as he tippled half the toppings on top of Naruto's ramen.
He then pushed the boy back towards Naruto. "There."
"Those were for you!" Naruto groaned. "Because you're recovering from almost dying and you need your strength to--"
"--and you are a growing b--young man," Jiraiya interrupted; the "b-word" had recently become taboo to Naruto, who was insisting that he wasn't a little kid anymore, for some reason or another. "And you also need your strength."
Naruto stared at him for a moment then reached down for his own bowl without complaint, much to Jiraiya's relief. A small smile played on Naruto's lips as he glanced down at the extra mound of food, and Jiraiya found himself smiling back. After a long moment, Naruto met his gaze again, smiling wider.
"We both need our strength!" Naruto concluded happily before he dug into his food with enthusiasm once more.
Jiraiya chuckled, taking up his own bowl to join his student. "We do."
First-Person Sample (Although he wouldn't really write journal entries, but he'd write down ideas and inspiration for his stories):
Naruto still doesn't remember what happened. Not surprising, his memory blanks around when the fourth tail appeared. Not surprising at all, considering how Minato designed the seal, for four tails to be his current limit....
Both Naruto and I are doing well, otherwise--he's up and running again, but I still need more time to recover. He keeps on pestering me about what happened, and he refuses to give up on getting a full answer. Naruto's forgetting that I'm just as stubborn as he is, and I'm more experienced at dealing with stubborn brats than he is at dealing with stubborn old men. He's lately been trying to catch me when I'm half asleep, but he didn't expect me to remember to wake up fully every time after the first. Brat.
At least he has his strength back, and I'm well on the way to recovery. I don't think I could survive him "nursing me back to health" if I wasn't. Although, it's odd watching the kid take on the responsibility without a complaint. He must have been really worried about me.
I'm hoping that keeping him focused on taking care of me keeps him from focusing on what happened to get me in this condition in the first place. I'm not entirely sure if he's figured out what happened--while he'll pester me incessantly about what I saw, he'll go quiet when I do the same to him in turn.
... For now, though, I'll keep him focused on me. The brat needs time to work it through in his head before we deal with it directly. He's not ready for that discussion yet.
Series' Medium: Manga, ignoring the anime.
Character: Jiraiya (no canon family name given)
Character's role in their canon: Mentor/Grandfather-type to the main character
Character's age: 53/54
Character's gender: Male
Character's "Real Name": Phil Randy
Personal History (MAJOR SPOILER WARNING):
Born and raised in the hidden ninja village of Konoha ("Leaf"), Jiraiya graduated from the ninja academy at the tender age of 6. The four man team he then joined was commanded by the man would would one day become the third leader--or Hokage--of Konoha village. Along with the other two children his age--Tsunade, a blond woman with brown eyes and Orochimaru, a dark haired child with pure white skin and snake eyes--quickly grew in strength and became the legendary Sannin ("Three Nin[ja]") of Konoha village. They were thrust into the middle of war like many other young ninja, and Tsunade even lost her little brother, Nawaki, shortly after he graduated from the academy. Jiraiya learned to summon toads, Orochimaru learned to summon snakes, and Tsunade learned to summon slugs.
Jiraiya learned to summon toads from the toads themselves when he stumbled upon Myouboku Mountain and became the Toad Sage. Eventually, the Great Toad Sage called for Jiraiya to be brought before him. He had a prophecy for the man--that Jiraiya would travel the world as a pervert without equal, and that Jiraiya would also raise/train the man that would bring salvation to the world or destroy it. The fate of the world would rest on Jiraiya's shoulders and the choice he made when the time came.
The three Sannin were awarded their title, Densetsu no Sannin ("Legendary Three Ninja") by the powerful Hanzo because they were able to survive his attacks. Eventually, older and more experienced (somewhere in their late teens to maybe their early twenties?), the three Sannin were sent to the Hidden Rain. The mission itself wasn't important, but the fact that three children begged them for food, saying that their parents were dead was. Jiraiya decided to do more than just feed them for a day, and taught them how to defend themselves, telling the others to go on ahead without him.
Except he got more than he bargained for--before he could even start training the children, they were attacked by a ninja from the hidden village of Stone while Jiraiya was still inside the house they were staying at. While the girl--Konan--ran and brought Jiraiya to help--one of the two boys, Yahiko, was injured. However, he was spared from death by the other boy's--Nagato's--"bloodline limit"--a mutation passed down generation by generation. It was by using the Rin'negan, the strongest of the three major eye bloodline limits and considered a tool of heaven itself, that he was able to kill the man attempting to kill them, although he blacked out and remembered nothing of it.
Shortly afterwards, Jiraiya began to train them the basics of how to defend themselves, ninja style. One night, he woke up to Nagato crying, and explained to him that although he killed the man attacking them, he saved Yuhiko's life by doing so, and that it was definitely the right thing to do. Nagato told Jiraiya that Yahiko saved him and Konan, even stealing food for them, and that he wanted to protect his two friends no matter what kind of pain he had to go through. Jiraiya, at that time, believed Nagato to be the child of prophecy because of his bloodline limit.
So Jiraiya trained them, and they grew stronger. Finally, after three years, Jiraiya decided that they were strong enough to defend themselves, and returned home. Every now and then, he would hear about the three of them, and how no one could stand in their way for long.
Later down the road, Jiraiya became the leader of a four-man squad, working with three children like his sensei before him. One of the three, Namikaze Minato, was a genius that only came once a decade, even that. He became Jiraiya's apprentice, and Jiraiya taught him many things, including how to summon the toads. Eventually after three years of hard work, Minato developed his own special ninjutsu called the Rasengan; it was a whirling ball of energy, spinning in all directions yet retaining its shape, and is powerful enough to send people flying send people flying with nasty internal injuries or buzz saw through trees as if they were made of paper. Minato also passed the Rasengan to Jiraiya, probably teaching him the technique.
The next thing known about Jiraiya came from the time when Minato met a lover--Uzumaki Kushina--and she was pregnant with their first--and only—child (it was never revealed if they married). Jiraiya had finally published his first book, but it was a spectacular failure in terms of sails.
Except Minato didn't think so; he said it read like an autobiography of Jiraiya's life, and that he liked how the main character never gave up and tried hard to reach his goals. In fact, those were the exact traits that he and Kushina wanted their own child to have. They decided to name their child after the main character--much to Jiraiya's surprise--even though Jiraiya protested that he had come up with the name while eating ramen. Naruto was a fishcake with a swirled design commonly in ramen, but his parents didn't care. They wanted their Naruto to be strong, brave, and to have a spirit that never gives up.
Then, they died. Or, Minato died and Kushina is presumed to have perished as well. The village was attacked by the powerful fox demon, Kyuubi, and Minato defeated it at the price of his own life. He used a sealing technique that took the life of the caster, and imprisoned the Kyuubi in the belly of his newborn son, Naruto.
Here, things become fuzzy. Jiraiya had one clear memory of Naruto as a newborn, swaddled in cloth, but he quickly becomes absent from the child's life. Jiraiya was perhaps prevented from taking care of the child, or didn't know enough about how to take care of newborns in order to do so. Regardless, Jiraiya left the village to gather information on Orochimaru's whereabouts, whom had been forced to flee the village when his human experiments towards immortality were discovered; he vowed revenge on Konoha for both this, and for the fact that Minato was chosen as the Fourth Hokage instead of himself. He found out that Orochimaru joined, then left, the evil organization Akatsuki, which until Naruto's time, continued to lay low and make few moves, keeping Jiraiya unaware of their true motives.
When he met Naruto again twelve years later, after many years of wandering, the boy failed to recognize him, even though Jiraiya seemed to recognize him immediately. Naruto, while learning how to walk on water with his chakra, spotted Jiraiya peaking into the ladies' hot springs, and alerted the man teaching him, Ebisu, to Jiraiya's presence as he lost balance and fell into the water. Ebisu took great exception to this behavior and tried to stop Jiraiya. Jiraiya took a greater exception to that, summoned a gigantic toad, and then had it wrap its tongue around Ebisu to slam him into the ground with a knock-out strike.
Predictably, Naruto took great exception to all of this and immediately demanded Jiraiya take over his training because he had knocked out the man teaching him. Jiraiya at first refused, stating that he didn't like men, but Naruto was able to easily convince him by henging--"transforming"--into a naked woman using his Sexy No Jutsu. Jiraiya, being a pervert, agreed to teach him immediately afterwards.
It is here that an aside must be taken. The majority of fandom believes that Jiraiya only recognized Naruto after seeing Kyuubi's seal, but was obvious that he recognized Naruto immediately, since seeing the seal didn't surprise him, and he was aware that Naruto was training to walk on water even before he turned away from the women's hot springs. Naruto looked remarkably like his father as well. Jiraiya may have purposefully let himself get caught since he had been an expert at spying on bathhouses since a young age. Jiraiya would have known better to stand out in the open where anyone could have seen him and giggle loudly.
When Naruto was told to try walking again, Jiraiya immediately noticed that his chakra control was off, and had Naruto mold chakra to inspect the seal, which he determined allowed the Kyuubi's chakra to leak out to protect Naruto. Jiraiya, somehow, immediately recognized the seal on top of the seal preventing the chakra from leaking out to be Orochimaru's handiwork (given to Naruto in an earlier encounter with the man) and removed the seal.
The boy's chakra control was instantaneously restored, and Jiraiya told him that they were done training for the day, but that he would train him in a new technique tomorrow. Unlike the anime, this all took place at the same location, and Jiraiya went on further to take the unconscious Ebisu someplace safe. Sometime after Ebisu awakened, Jiraiya apologized, but he was taking Ebisu's student.
The technique was none other than the toad summoning technique that Jiraiya taught Naruto's father. Jiraiya informed Naruto that he had two types of Chakra, without going into details about Kyuubi, and that he needed to use the stronger one to summon the toads. Even after exhausting his own chakra to force himself to draw on the Kyuubi's chakra, Naruto was still unable to do so, and Jiraiya came to the conclusion that the key to unlocking Kyuubi's power was a life-or-death situation and the emotional high involved.
His solution to this dilemma was to knock Naruto unconscious, carry his still body to the side of a cliff, apologize to his father, and promptly shove the newly awakened Naruto off the cliff side. Surprisingly, this worked, and Naruto completed the jutsu, learning how to demand chakra from the Kyuubi in emergency situations.
Soon afterwards, Konoha was attacked by Orochimaru's new village, Sound, and the hidden village of Sand. Jiraiya helped protect Konoha, but found out after the short war that Orochimaru killed their former teacher. The manga and anime both glossed over his reaction to this news, other than giving him one brief moment to remember a warm scene between him and his teacher. Sometime during this time, Jiraiya informed Kakashi, Naruto's teacher, about Akatsuki organization and that they were after the Kyuubi inside of Naruto.
The elders of the village elected Jiraiya to be the next Hokage, but he refused, citing that Tsunade would be the best choice. Since she left the village sometime after the death of the man she loved, he says he would find her and bring her back to Konoha, further deciding to bring Naruto with him on the journey. A reluctant Naruto was easily convinced to join him by a promise of a new technique. When Naruto asked why Jiraiya decided to bring him, Jiraiya answers truthfully that Naruto reminded him of the Fourth (which excited Naruto greatly).
The technique Jiraiya planned to teach Naruto was the Rasengan—the very technique developed by Naruto's father. Soon after they leave the village, one of the members of Akatsuki—Uchiha Itachi, the brother of Naruto's best friend, Uchiha Sasuke--attacked both Kakashi and Sasuke in separate fights, throwing them both into comas. (As an aside, Itachi was the one who murdered their entire clan, save Sasuke and himself; this information will be important later. He was also the man responsible for causing Orochimaru to leave the Akatsuki.) In order to return them to their old selves, it became even more critical to find Tsunade, the only medic-nin strong enough to lift their stupor.
For the majority of Naruto's training, Jiraya gave him hints and let him figure the rest out himself. However, one time, Jiraiya realized that when Naruto asked him to stay, it was not because he wants extra hints, but because he was lonely. (Naruto, being an orphan, had felt incredibly lonely after watching a father and son share a double Popsicle.) Amazingly, Jiraiya decided to buy that very same Popsicle to cheer Naruto up and shared it with him; this image of Jiraiya stuck with Naruto as one of the most powerful and important to him.
While Naruto trained, Jiraiya searched for Tsunade and eventually found out her current location. He told Naruto to complete the final step of the jutsu while they were on the move, leading to random and hilarious explosions as Naruto lost control over the technique periodically. They managed to find Tsunade and her apprentice in a bar soon after coming across a building that had been demolished by a giant snake--in other words, Orochimaru's summon. At first, Tsunade and Jiraiya reminisced about Naruto's father (which went over Naruto's head), but then Jiraiya asked Tsunade to be the next Hokage. She refused, insulting the Hokages for stupidly giving away their lives, and Jiraiya just barely stopped Naruto from outright attacking her. They took it outside and Naruto predictably lost against the Sannin, but she promised to give him the necklace she wore if he finished the Jutsu within the week. Naruto found out from Tsunade's apprentice, Shizune, that the necklace was worn by Tsunade's brother and would-be lover on the days of their deaths.
Jiraiya realizes that week was significant and further realized she has met Orochimaru; he threatened her, saying he would kill her if she betrayed Konoha. She did not, instead attempting to kill Orochimaru while pretending she was going to heal the injuries he obtained from fighting their old teacher. However, she failed. Jiraiya, hindered by the drug slipped into his drink by Tsunade so that he would not get in the way of her second meeting with Orochimaru, informed Naruto and Shizune of what occurred. They joined the already in-progress battle between Tsunade and Orochimaru.
To make a long battle short, Jiraiya got knocked unconscious after some awesome moves, Naruto completed the Rasengan, Tsunade got over her greatest weakness to protect Naruto (whom embodied the spirit of her dead loved ones, whom wanted to become Hokage like him), Tsunade gave Naruto the necklace because he won the bet, and Tsunade declared herself the Fifth Hokage before beating the ever-loving shit out of Orochimaru, who was forced to retreat.
They returned to Konoha, Tsunade officially became Hokage, and Naruto brought her to heal Sasuke, who then acted like a jealous dumbass concerning Naruto's rapid growth and decided to go to Orochimaru because he had an inferiority complex the size of a large Kuiper Belt object (but we love the brat anyways). When Naruto failed to bring him back, Jiraiya told him to give up, because he knew the type of person Sasuke was—a person just like Orochimaru. Naruto refused, however, saying that he'd rather go on living as a fool than to be smart about it, not willing to give up on his friend. This struck a deep chord in Jiraiya, as he was trying to prevent Naruto from suffering the same heartache that he had, and Naruto, for one of the only times, saw Jiraiya during a moment of weakness. Jiraiya decided to train him because Naruto could not succeed on his own, and they left the village to train (and gather information on Akatsuki) for over two years.
During this time, Jiraiya taught Naruto better chakra control, helped Naruto learn how to control Kyuubi's power a bit better, gave him a new jumpsuit, made Naruto read over the manuscripts for his new perverted novel (which Naruto declares to be boring), and taught Naruto a variety of other things. Naruto also almost killed Jiraiya when he lost control over Kyuubi's chakra and turned into a mini fox demon, but Jiraiya somehow managed to seal the energy back to its normal level. (He later informed Kakashi, Tsunade, and Naruto's temporary team captain about the event.) They returned to Konoha and Jiraiya left to gather more information on Akatsuki.
Eventually, Jiraiya learned that Sasuke killed Orochimaru and informed Tsunade and Naruto's team. He went further on to say that Sasuke wouldn't return to Konoha, but would instead seek his revenge on Itachi. Naruto and his team, as well as other friends of Naruto, were once again sent on a mission to retrieve Sasuke's dumb butt and bring him back home.
It was during Naruto's mission that Jiraiya informed Tsunade that he had learned the true identity of Akatsuki's leader, and that he had to find out for himself if his identity was true. She told him to come back alive, and they remembered on Naruto's parents. Jiraiya commented about how Naruto was like a grandson to him, and how much training Naruto had been like training Minato all those years back, but Tsunade stated that Naruto acted more like his mother.
The Akatsuki leader was none other than one of Jiraiya's former students, Nagato, renamed Pain. Konan was still by his side, but Yahiko was supposedly killed. Pain fought with multiple bodies (up to six at once), none of them looking like his original body, and all of them with the Rin'engan. Jiraiya struggled hard, using even Hermit Mode and a slew of new techniques, but was no match for Pain. As he lied dying, Jiraiya remembered about Naruto's parents--and then Naruto himself--and forced himself back to life, saying that Naruto's ninja way of never giving up should be the way of Naruto's teacher as well. He lived just long enough to pass on the most vital piece of information about Pain to Naruto and the others by imprinting it on the back of an old toad. He then died, realizing Naruto to be the child of destiny--not Nagato. Because he made the choice to not give up, he changed the fate of the world, making Naruto the child of destiny instead of Pain. (The prophecy is detailed in chapter 376, page 10 onwards.)
Personality:
Before Jiraiya's apper goes into detail about his personality, Jiraiya would like to humbly request that his nurse is female, is pretty, and although it isn't required, is often seen wearing a short skirt. He, furthermore, promises to behave, keep his hands (mostly) to himself, and will treat her with plenty of respect. A lovely personality would also be a plus.
Jiraiya is more than just a pervert who likes to spy on the women's side of bath houses. He, in fact, has taken his perversion to the extreme, becoming famous (and rather rich) with the Icha Icha ("Come Come") adults-only series of books that he has written. However, his love of women is not his greatest defining characteristic.
Before he's a womanizer, he's a ninja, and before he's a ninja, he's a man with a heart. While he acts tough, children can strike a particular chord in him that others cannot. Not only did he delay his return from one mission by months to train three random children to defend themselves, but he dropped everything to take on his newest apprentice, Naruto--and it took Naruto under two minutes to "convince" him to train him. (This was detailed in the personal history section.)
While he's capable of getting into childish arguments with his apprentice with all the immaturity if a two-year-old, he is also capable of bringing the widest of grins to Naruto's face with a few words or a simple action. With both of them being hot-headed and stubborn, it's surprising that they don't have more arguments than they do. Luckily for Naruto, Jiraiya usually is either amused or exhausted by his antics. In fact, one could say that training Naruto taught Jiraiya to exercise a greater amount of patience than ever before while dealing with his excitable, hyperactive student--not that he would ever regret spending those years with the boy. The anime over-emphasizes Jiraiya's love for women and underemphasizes his love for his student, whom is like a grandson to him.
Jiraiya is extremely proud of Naruto, speaking about him as he would a grandson, and dies believing that he would be the one to change the world, the "child of destiny" spoken about in the prophecy. As the last two/three years of his life have been entirely focused on a mixture of training Naruto and keeping tabs on Akatsuki, the organization after his student, it is understandable that much of Jiraiya's thoughts are currently focused on the boy even after returning from their two/three year journey.
However, unlike his apprentice, age has made his decisions much less brash. Before he does anything, he gathers information, and he spent many years gathering information on Akatsuki before sharing it with anyone else. It is a learned response, to force himself to look before he leaps, but it is one that has served him well. Even though he knew Naruto's parents, and probably immediately knew who Naruto was at first glance, Jiraiya observed Naruto before engaging the boy (again, more in the personal history section). His information gathering skills were the only reason he managed to track down their next Hokage, Tsunade, to the right town--but, even then, they came across her by luck in a bar.
Naruto aside, Jiraiya is a generally nice, although perverted, man. He doesn't say outright perverted comments to women (despite what the anime says, having been beaten to an inch of his life has dissuaded Jiraiya from mentioning breasts in casual conversations with the fairer sex), and respects them, knowing they can cause just as much damage to ones internal organs as men (especially Tsunade, who gave him the previously mentioned beating). He will do things for others without expecting anything in return, simply because it's the right thing to do. Assholes and brats can certainly get under his skin, but he won't attack them, and he's done nothing worse than smack Naruto upside the head for being a dumbass from time to time. However, he has no problem taking the first strike when necessary to prevent a fight before it's even begun, such as when he took out a former ninja from another village that was threatening Naruto after Naruto accidentally ruined his expensive designer suit (even interjecting a lesson, telling Naruto to watch carefully to see the technique that he'd be learning).
Jiraiya is a sensei, a grandfather figure, a father figure, a mentor, and a friend to Naruto. He believes that Naruto will not only succeed in eventually becoming Hokage, but that he'll change the world for the better. Naruto is always at the forefront of his thoughts, and will continue to be so, even if he is absent. He didn't teach Naruto because he was a genius, since teaching a genius would be no fun, but because Naruto understood that the most important thing, according to Jiraiya, is for a ninja to have a spirit which never gives up. Naruto calls him Ero-Sennin (Perverted Hermit), which Jiraiya wears almost as a badge of honor, except when other people are present.
Physical Description:
Jiraiya is a fifty-plus-year-old, large, white-haired man. His hair is long and spiky, held in a pony tail that trails past his torso. He has a mole on the left side of his nose (from his perspective). He has a thick red straight-lined tattoo each cheek, that descends from just underneath the middle of his eye to the base of his jaw.
He is about 6 feet, 4 inches tall (191.2 cm), weighs approximately 193 pounds (87.5 kg), and is muscular. Jiraiya has aged well, looking and acting younger than his real age. In the middle of his chest is a large scar with one central impact that branches out that he received when Naruto lost control during training.
What kinds of magical/special/crazy powers does your character have, if any?:
First off, his craziest power is that he can summon toads. And we're not talking regular toads, but ones that can talk, kick ass, spit fire, and loom over multi-story buildings. He can summon more than a simple toad, however--he once transformed a hall of a hotel into the stomach of a giant, fire-breathing toad with Kuchiyose: Gamaguchi Shibari (Summoning: Toad Mouth Bind), which allows him trap and digest enemy shinobi (yum?).
He can also transform into a stronger "Sage Mode"—but he must merge with two old, married toads in order to do so. His form changes, making his nose stubby and giving him webbed hands and feet. It also gives him tons of warts and scares away women. In this mode, he can work along with the toads to create large fire blasts, create a liquid box with paralyzing agents surrounded by four large toads with stone swords, and do other powerful techniques (the full list was not revealed before his death).
He also has another technique called Doton: Yomi Numa (Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld), which summons a swamp to swallow up his opponents. Katon - Endan (Fire Element - Fireball) allows him to shoot a blast of flame from his mouth. He also has a Gama Daira Kage Ayatsuri no Jutsu (Toad-Silhouette Control Technique) in which he can merge and become one with the shadow of another, allowing him to control them until he finally reemerges from their shadow.
Jiraiya was taught how to use Rasengan, a ball of powerful, whirling energy, by his student, Minato (otherwise known as the Fourth Hokage). He has developed a more powerful version called Cho Odama Rasengan (Super Great Ball Rasengan). Jiraiya is also capable of spitting fire or oil from his mouth, and has done this while battling alongside summoned toads. His hair can be transformed to be like the spines of a porcupine, although as much larger spikes which can also be shot at his opponent.
He is able to use many of the usual techniques available to ninja--walking on walls, walking on water, walking on tree trunks, and jumping long distances--all using the spirit and body energy called chakra. Jiraiya is skilled with ninja daggers called kunai and is able to throw them with deadly accuracy, use them to stab his opponents, or utilize them to block attacks. He can also henge--transform--into other people or objects, as all (or at least, most) ninja can. Jiraiya also, like most ninja, uses Kawarimi no Jutsu (Change of Body Stance Technique) to switch his body with that of another person or of an inanimate object.
Finally, he has a large knowledge of sealing techniques. He was able to immediately recognize the seal preventing Naruto's chakra from flowing properly, and was able to easily remove the seal. He also was able to write and use a scroll to seal a high-level fire jutsu that managed to burn a hole into the fire toad's stomach.
If present, how do you plan to tweak those powers to make him/her appropriately hindered in the setting of Landel's?:
Jiraiya's chakra will be sealed, and, therefore, he will have access to none of his techniques.
How about improbable appendages?:
Other than Hermit Mode, when he has a merged elder frog on either shoulder, Jiraiya thankfully has no improbable appendages.
Does your character have any other non-magical skills or abilities that we should know about?:
Jiraiya writes extremely popular erotica. While it is never revealed the exact rating, only people of age can purchase his novels. His first book, however, was an adventure novel, and Naruto's parents named him after the main character, whom would never give up, no matter what.
He is also an expert on gathering information, and is the main source of information about the Akatsuki organization after Naruto and others throughout the series. Because of his skills, it was possible to find Tsunade and bring her back to be Hokage. He was able to find the truth out about Pain and passed this information on to Naruto, which will one day lead to Naruto saving the world from Pain's dark future.
Like all ninja, Jiraiya knows how to fight hand-to-hand, fight with kunai (ninja daggers), and use a variety of ninja tools, such as explosive paper tags, scrolls, and shuriken (both regular and giant, most likely).
Lastly, he is able to judge the size of a woman's bust just by looking at it. Or, at least, he's able to judge Tsunade's.
Third-Person Sample:
The back of a pen tapped against a page in a broken, disharmonious rhythm. After the fiftieth or so tap-tap, the hand holding the pen froze, and then dropped the pen, letting it roll into the dip opposing the book's spine. One was half-filled, the words ending in mid-sentence; the other page was completely blank.
Damn. It. The scene just wasn't working, something was missing, and the words refused to flow right. Up until now, the scene had been writing itself, too.
The white-haired man sighed long, leaning back--with a wince--and stared at the cracked ceiling above him. Where had all his inspiration gone? Being cooped up in this room was finally taking its toll on him; he had to--
--a door opened and closed behind him, surprisingly quiet for whom could have moved it. He heard the crunching ruffle of paper bags being set down on the kitchenette counter. Not quite understanding why he was hearing these sounds now out of all times--it was still early--he glanced out past the window to check the time.
"Ah..." It was dark.
"Let me guess," a young man's voice behind him muttered. "You just realized it's nighttime."
"Yeah..." he sighed again, then finally glanced back to meet his blond apprentice's very irritated gaze--the movement caused him to flinch a second time. "So, what did you get me for dinner?"
"I got us Ramen," the boy smirked only to grow obviously irritated when the man again sighed loudly. "Hey! You have no right to be picky! You let your lunch go cold! So I picked out something I wanted for a change so if you didn't--"
"--ramen is fine," the man replied, amused at his student's antics--only to blink a moment later as the rest of what the boy said registered. "... I forgot to eat lunch?"
The boy's irritated gaze shifted from him to the plate next to him. The man looked down, blinking at the plate of cold food beside him. "I did forget."
No wonder why his student was so riled up--even though the man was well into recovery and much more alive than dead, his student always grew frantically worried when he did something as simple as skipping a meal. It was kind of endearing, if not downright irritating, he thought as he glanced out the window again. His student could be so very pushy when he wan--
"YO, Ero-Seeeeeeniiiiiiin!" a hand waved in and out of the man's field of vision, making him jump and wince yet again, damn it. "Are you gonna eat this--HEY! I saw that!"
"Saw what?" Jiraiya groused good-naturedly.
"You winced!"
"And?"
"You let the pain meds wear off!" the hand was replaced by an accusing, blue-eyed glare. "You gotta take care of yourself or you'll never get better!"
He must have gotten the kid pretty worked up if he-who-would-not-eat-vegetables was scolding him, Jiraiya realized. Jiraiya let out another sigh and a wince, then chuckled, trying not to move his chest too much with the sound. Naruto's worrying about him was cute, really.
Not as cute as he would have been had Naruto nursed him back to health while using Sexy no Jutsu, Naught Nurse Edition, but it seemed that the boy had no qualms with hitting an almost fatally injured man upside the head for such a suggestion.
Jiraiya smiled at the angry boy--who blinked at him, probably having expected him to get angry right back--and reached up to ruffle his hair. Even if that simple movement made him wince-stupid chest wound. "All right. If you give me a bowl of ramen, I promise to eat it."
Predictably, Naruto's entire face lit up--Jiraiya would never grow tired of how it could do that--and he pulled away from Jiraiya's hand to quickly disappear from his line of sight once more. "Yes, sir!"
Jiraiya chuckled and shook his head. Even as a teenager, his student was cute. More of a pain in the neck than he used to be, but still cute. And he had calmed down, even if just--
"Ero-Sennin!! How much ramen do you want?!" Naruto shouted excitedly from somewhere behind him.
--not at all. "About half of what you're going to get should be good."
"Blyeeeeeeeh!" Jiraiya could clearly picture Naruto's tongue sticking out at him.
"Just make my dinner, brat!" Jiraiya called back in mock irritation.
"I'm not a woman!" Naruto protested.
"I noticed you weren't pretty enough to be one," Jiraiya snickered. "And even if you were, I don't like--"
"--men! Yeah, yeah, I know, Ero-Sennin," Jiraiya could hear Naruto's eyes rolling. "You don't know what you're missing!"
Jiraiya whipped his entire body around to stare at Naruto with wide, horrified eyes, ignoring the pain that it brought to his chest. "WHAT?!"
Naruto promptly burst out laughing. "Got you, Ero-Sennin!"
Jiraiya gave him a truly irritated look, "I'll have you know that if you'd like men, you'd announce it in just that way."
Naruto paused for a moment then grinned wide. "Probably! To you, anyways."
"To everyone," Jiraiya countered, expression lightening.
"No, to you," Naruto replied seriously, bringing over the two bowls of ramen and setting them down on the floor (while ignoring Jiraiya's protest of having his things pushed aside as he did so). "You're one of the few that I know would have no problems with it."
Jiraiya looked at him in shock, but quickly felt his chest warming. Naruto was right. Jiraiya would be OK with it, in the end. Huh. "Just don't' tell me anything about your sex life if you end up with another man, and I won't be traumatized for all eternity."
Naruto choked on his ramen with first shock, then laughter, and Jiraiya wasn't sure if it was from what he had said or the fact that he had said it. Jiraiya smirked and picked up his own bowl of ramen. He blinked--he had twice as many toppings than Naruto did in his bowl. He sighed.
"Brat, give me your bowl," Jiraiya easily took it from Naruto's hands, whom he suspected didn't protect it with his usual death grip because of his teacher's injuries, and ignored Naruto's protests as he tippled half the toppings on top of Naruto's ramen.
He then pushed the boy back towards Naruto. "There."
"Those were for you!" Naruto groaned. "Because you're recovering from almost dying and you need your strength to--"
"--and you are a growing b--young man," Jiraiya interrupted; the "b-word" had recently become taboo to Naruto, who was insisting that he wasn't a little kid anymore, for some reason or another. "And you also need your strength."
Naruto stared at him for a moment then reached down for his own bowl without complaint, much to Jiraiya's relief. A small smile played on Naruto's lips as he glanced down at the extra mound of food, and Jiraiya found himself smiling back. After a long moment, Naruto met his gaze again, smiling wider.
"We both need our strength!" Naruto concluded happily before he dug into his food with enthusiasm once more.
Jiraiya chuckled, taking up his own bowl to join his student. "We do."
First-Person Sample (Although he wouldn't really write journal entries, but he'd write down ideas and inspiration for his stories):
Naruto still doesn't remember what happened. Not surprising, his memory blanks around when the fourth tail appeared. Not surprising at all, considering how Minato designed the seal, for four tails to be his current limit....
Both Naruto and I are doing well, otherwise--he's up and running again, but I still need more time to recover. He keeps on pestering me about what happened, and he refuses to give up on getting a full answer. Naruto's forgetting that I'm just as stubborn as he is, and I'm more experienced at dealing with stubborn brats than he is at dealing with stubborn old men. He's lately been trying to catch me when I'm half asleep, but he didn't expect me to remember to wake up fully every time after the first. Brat.
At least he has his strength back, and I'm well on the way to recovery. I don't think I could survive him "nursing me back to health" if I wasn't. Although, it's odd watching the kid take on the responsibility without a complaint. He must have been really worried about me.
I'm hoping that keeping him focused on taking care of me keeps him from focusing on what happened to get me in this condition in the first place. I'm not entirely sure if he's figured out what happened--while he'll pester me incessantly about what I saw, he'll go quiet when I do the same to him in turn.
... For now, though, I'll keep him focused on me. The brat needs time to work it through in his head before we deal with it directly. He's not ready for that discussion yet.