Narutois one of the most popular shonen series of all time. It has sold over two hundred million copies, and only a handful of other series have outsold the series. The manga gained popularity due to Kishimoto’s writing and incredible art style.
The series has produced some of the most iconic characters that can be recognized from just their silhouettes. One of the most famousNarutocharacters is Jiraiya, who played a key role in the series. His name is often brought up whenever there is a debate about the best teachers but is Jiraiya actually a great teacher?
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One Of The Greatest
Jiraiya is one of the greatest ninjas of all time. During his illustrious career as a ninja, Jiraiya completed the most missions. He was a part of the famed Legendary Sannin, which is one of the greatest teams of all time. Jiraiya was respected throughout the village, and he was evenoffered the position of the Hokageseveral times, but he declined the offer. The main reason behind this was the prophecy of one of the toads of Mount Myouboku.
The Great Toad Sage prophesied that Jiraiya would be the teacher of the Child of Prophecy, so Jiraiya couldn’t afford to stay in one place. Jiraiya trained a lot of famous ninjas besides Naruto, which included the likes of Minato and Nagato. However, it wasn’t until the member of the Legendary Sannin met Naruto that he actually started believing that the young ninja could change the world.
Introduction and Impact On Naruto
Jiraiya was introduced in Part I of the series. He came off as a complete goofball, who was only interested in peeping on women who were using the hot springs. After some time, Naruto confronted Jiraiya and asked him to be his mentor, but the eccentric ninja turned him down. However, Naruto’s persistence paid off and Jiraiya took him in. Due to Jiraiya’s immense experience, it didn’t take long for him to notice how he could improve Naruto as a fighter.
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Jiraiya started off by training Naruto to improve his chakra control. Jiraiya got rid of the Five Elements Seal that was placed on Naruto, which stopped the young ninja from utilizing the chakra of the Nine-Tails properly. Jiraiya also taught Naruto how to use the Summoning Jutsu, which proved to be invaluable as Naruto used it against Gaara. Under Jiraiya’s tutelage,Naruto managed to learn the Rasenganas well, which became one of his most used Jutsu.
Leaving The Village With Naruto
After Sasuke left the village, Jiraiya took Naruto on a journey to improve his fighting skills. The main purpose of their journey was to make Naruto, not just a better fighter, but also a better person. They traveled together for three years and everyone expected Naruto to come back stronger than before as he was training with one of the greatest ninjas of all time.
During their adventures, Naruto learned about Jiraiya’s philosophy as a ninja and what he considered his ideal world. Jiraiya strongly believed that one day all the wars in the world would come to an end and everyone could live in peace. At that point, it seemed impossibleconsidering the Akatsukiwere causing problems for all the major villages. However, Naruto was quite inspired by Jiraiya, and he too believed in creating a peaceful world. Naruto definitely grew up mentally and emotionally, but his physical strength still remained questionable.
Where He Failed
During their voyage, Jiraiya tried to releasethe power of the Nine-Tails, but it backfired horrendously. Naruto lost control and attacked Jiraiya, who received several serious wounds. This served as a lesson to Jiraiya, who never tried doing such a thing again. For the rest of their trip, it is fair to say that they focused on improving the basics.
In comparison to Orochimaru and Sasuke’s training, Jiraiya basically taught Naruto nothing. When Sasuke left the village, he was still very weak, but within a short period of training under Orochimaru, he became a lot stronger. Sasuke was able to face various members of the Akatsuki, while Naruto did not have a prayer against any of the members after returning from his training.
Sasuke created various kinds of Jutsu, and it enabled him to kill Orochimaru and defeat Deidara. Naruto had to learn most of the new Jutsu on his own. He learned to make the Rasenshuriken with the help of Kakashi and Yamato. The Rasenshuriken was several times stronger than an ordinary Rasengan as it was imbued with Wind Release, and it affected the target at the molecular level.
One of Naruto’s biggest power-ups before the Fourth Great Ninja War was the Sage Mode.The Sage Mode allowed Narutoto defeat the Six Paths of Pain, and without its power, Naruto wouldn’t have managed to win. Jiraiya knew about the Sage Mode, and yet he did not teach Naruto how to use it. While mental growth is important, Jiraiya failed to teach Naruto new techniques that would actually allow him to face stronger opponents and bring back Sasuke. So, in comparison to the other teachers in the series, Jiraiya actually comes up short. Despite his failure as a teacher, Jiraiya remains a very popular character, and that won’t be changing anytime soon.
