Revealing why Kishimoto didn't bring Jiraiya back to the battle

This article contains spoilers for Naruto's Fourth Great Ninja War.

summary

• Jiraiya's death was a turning point in the Naruto series.

• Kishimoto decided not to return Jiraiya in order to maintain his full character arc.

• Jiraiya's resurrection complicates the story and undermines character development.

Kishimoto has never been shy about killing off characters Naruto series. In fact, one of the reasons fans invested as much in this story as they did was because none of the characters were truly safe and even the main characters like Naruto and Sasuke were scared to death in the story. . Naruto Saw many important characters die that fans never thought would die and one such character is Jiraiya.

Jiraiya was influential in Naruto's life, and without him, he wouldn't be the man he is today. As fans know, Jiraiya lost to Pain, and the loss was huge for not only Naruto, but Konoha. In the Fourth Great Ninja War, Kishimoto used the power of Edo Tensei to bring back many former ninjas, but surprisingly, Jiraiya was not one of them. He said, Kishimoto has already disclosed the reason for not bringing him back.

Jiraiya's death in Naruto was a shock

• Jiraiya infiltrated Amegakure

• Six paths of pain combined to take her life

Jiraiya's death was incredibly important in Naruto. While incredibly sad it was not only one of the best moments of the entire series, but it was also a turning point for Naruto Uzumaki himself. Jiraiya essentially built a network for him where he set up ways to get key intel on different people. At one point, when the Akatsuki were actively hunting for the Nine Tails, Jiraiya began gathering intelligence on them with the aim of identifying the leader and taking them out on top. This was Jiraiya's master plan, and, if successful, he would inevitably succeed in defeating the Akatsuki and leading the other members to disperse. It was a high risk high reward move, and a challenge Jiraiya was certainly willing to take on.

In the end, my life was full of failures. – Jiraiya

To accomplish this task, he infiltrates the Hidden Ren Village, and is quickly discovered by Konan and Nagato. Here, Jiraiya ended up facing the Six Paths of Pain, and at this point, he gave his all. Despite tapping into the power of Sage Mode, Jiraiya was unable to win. In fact, he took down three of the six pains, but he still lost. Because Jiraiya didn't know the secret of sorrow himself, it was his greatest elimination. Despite all the intel he had, he didn't know the workings and ins and outs of the Rinnegan, and paid a heavy price for it.

In the end, despite the power of sage mode and the two sages of Mount Myoboku by his side, he lost his life. He could easily run away if he wanted to. But, he didn't run and choose a hero's death, because he knew that for shinobi, the way they die really matters. He left a message for Naruto Uzumaki to find him, and then, finally realized that the boy he had been looking for all his life, namely, the child of the prophecy, was Naruto.

Why didn't Kishimoto bring Jiraiya back?

Kishimoto didn't want to spoil Jiraiya's ending

When Kikimoto began bringing back one shinobi after another during the Fourth Great Ninja War, fans wondered if Jiraiya would make an appearance at some point. After all, he was one of the most powerful ninja in existence, and at the same time, one of the most important people in Konoha's history. Kabuto addressed this in the story itself, and according to him, his body was on the ocean floor and would have been impossible to extricate under great pressure. Of course, that was definitely the only explanation within the Naruto world. Kishimoto could have shown Jiraiya in battle if he wanted to, but he certainly didn't. There is a reason for that and Kishimoto once said it in an interview.

Parvi Rishi taught me that true peace is possible, and I will find it. – Naruto

According to Kishimoto, the reason for not returning Jiraiya was very simple. He didn't know how to write his return properly. This basically means that Kishimoto considers Jiraiya's character arc to be completely perfect and acknowledges his importance in the grand scheme of things. Bringing him back would force him to write a new ending for Jiraiya, something he was clearly unwilling to do. Jiraiya's life and death had a huge impact on Naruto Uzumaki, among other characters.

It was because of Jiraiya that Naruto was able to grow significantly in both strength and maturity, eventually leading him to understand what the Cycle of Hatred was and how to break it. Without Jiraiya, Naruto would never be the person he is today, and bringing him back would undo all that. This would set up complicated scenarios with Naruto and the war, and that was definitely something the writer didn't want.

According to Kishimoto, Jiraiya's death also brought Naruto closer to understanding Sasuke's feelings in a way. Once again, bringing him back would undo all of that, and it wouldn't be a good way for the story to conclude this character arc if he did come back. The best way Kishimoto could move the story forward was to let Jiraiya stay, and that's what he did.

Should Kishimoto revive Jiraiya as well?

Jiraiya was the right decision to stay dead

Kishimoto could easily revive Jiraiya if he really wanted to. However, he could not prove that he knew in his heart that he should be brought back after the conclusion he gave to Jiraiya. When a writer permanently kills off a character in a story, then, they shouldn't bring them back. Of course, there are many ways in which revival can actually help the story and, in the case of the main characters, it works to a great extent. For example, both Naruto and Sasuke had a fear of death in the Fourth Great Ninja War, where they could have easily died, but came back to life, stronger than ever. Other series have done similar things with main characters, but, for some characters that affect the main plot of the story in a significant way and turn the tide with their death, returning via some kind of revival is not a good idea.

If a writer is unsure about a major death and wants to bring a character back for one reason or another, they shouldn't kill them off in the first place. Kishimoto made a really great decision by not bringing Jiraiya back, and if he had brought him back, the Fourth Great Ninja War would have been worse than the fans knew.

Naruto is available to read on MangaPlus and the Shonen Jump app. Fans can read the official release and support the author by doing so.