Naruto Creator Masashi Kishimoto Thinks Jiraiya's Story Is Worth Telling

In 2015, "Naruto" author Masashi Kishimoto made his way to the United States to take part in the New York Comic-Con. The manga artist sat down with Anime News Network for an interview, in which he was asked which character's perspective he would choose to retell the story of "Naruto."

Kishimoto was interested in Jiraiya's perspective, mostly because he wanted to delve into Jiraiya's unexplored backstory explaining, "This actually just came to me but, for example, if I were to draw the story from Jiraiya's viewpoint, from what we've already seen of Jiraiya he's very... not so much arrogant, but overconfident, blusterous, and very, very skilled. But there was a time when he was still young, when he didn't really know much and he was kind of dumb too. So it'd be interesting to show that contrast."

Additionally, the author was intrigued with the time in which Jiraiya grew up, which was, apparently, an era of primitive jutsu, wanting to juxtapose it with the modern era. "Also, Jiraiya grew up in a time when the jutsu that we know now in the current Naruto worldview had not been refined, or even developed in some cases," he mused. "So I think it would be fun to show that gap."

And it seems that Kishimoto isn't the only one who feels that Jiraiya's story is an interesting tale to tell. In 2022, Redditor u/david062404 took to r/Naruto to ask their fellow fans about any character spin-off they would like to see. Several fans expressed their interest in consuming a spin-off centered on Jiraiya's childhood, with u/No-Ad7492 summing it up with "I would love to see Jiraiya's entire life play out." Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like Kishimoto has any plans to make it a reality any time soon.