Jiraiya’s Clan in Naruto, Explained!
Among the many Naruto characters that have appeared in the series, Jiraiya, Naruto’s mentor and friend, remains one of the most popular ones. He was a great fighter and a truly noble mentor, so in that aspect, it makes complete sense that people want to know more about him. On the other hand, even though he is a character who appeared early on in the story, there are still some unanswered questions about him; this article will answer one of them, as you will find out what Jiraiya’s clan is in Naruto.
As far as the canon is concerned, Jiraiya does not have a clan in Naruto. It is either that or that Kishimoto has not revealed it, but since there have been many opportunities to actually reveal Jiraiya’s clan, we don’t think that’s the case; it is not strange that a character in Naruto doesn’t have a clan, so this is not an issue per se. There are numerous fan theories suggesting that he might be from the Hagoromo Clan, which doesn’t seem to be likely, or even from the real-life Ogata Clan, which is simply wrong, as Naruto‘s Jiraiya has nothing to do with the real-life Jiraiya.
The rest of this article will focus on the issue of Jiraiya’s clan in Naruto, so you will finally get a proper and definitive answer to the question at hand. The question of Jiraiya’s clan is a major one, and many fans have debated it for some time now, so we have decided to settle the debate once and for all and bring you a proper answer that will ultimately resolve the issue. If you don’t know Jiraiya’s whole story, we must warn you that this article will have some spoilers, so be careful how you approach it.
Jiraiya probably doesn’t have a clan in Naruto
Jiraiya was a student of the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi along with Tsunade and Orochimaru. Having become an adult and in search of his path, he reached Mount Myoboku, the domain of the toads, and during his stay, he met the great hermit toads Shima and Fukusaku, from whom he learned the Sage Mode and Gamamaru, the Great Hermit Sage, predicted that one day he would have to make a choice that would lead the world to a path of either peace or destruction.
During the Second Shinobi World War, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru were the only Konohagakure shinobi to survive the battle against Amegakure, so much so that the leader of the latter, Hanzo, proclaimed them “three Sannin.” He later became the master of Minato Namikaze and two other unknown genin.
Minato became the Fourth Hokage, taking place from Orochimaru, who ardently desired the position and, therefore, fled and joined the Akatsuki. Jiraiya tried to stop him but failed, and regret always haunted him. After Tobi attacked the Village, he was given the key to the octagonal seal, thanks to which Minato sealed the Nine-Tails inside Naruto.
He first appears during the chunin selection exams, training Naruto in Ebisu’s place for the third and final exam. Jiraiya is then chosen by the council of the Land of Fire as his pupil’s successor but refuses the position of Hokage, stating that he is not suitable and nominating his old teammate, Tsunade, in his place: he will therefore set off in search of her together with Naruto to convince her to accept the nomination, clashing with Orochimaru and his subordinate Kabuto Yakushi.
He reappears following the epic duel between Naruto and Sasuke Uchiha, offering the student a long three-year training to make him stronger and prepare him for the next meeting with Sasuke. During this period, Jiraiya tries to make Naruto control his tailed beast by loosening the octagonal seal, but the boy loses control and seriously injures his master.
Subsequently, with the consent of the fifth Hokage, he infiltrates Amegakure alone, and by interrogating two ninjas, he learns that the mysterious Pain killed Hanzo: he will then clash with his former student Konan and then with Pain himself. Despite the help of Shima and Fukusaku and the use of the Sage Mode, Jiraiya is seriously defeated, but before being killed, he manages to discover the secret behind the mysterious ninja’s powers by engraving an encrypted message on Fukusaku’s back, which he entrusts to Konohagakure.
This is, in short, Jiraiya’s story from the series, which served as an introduction and as a basis for the rest of our text. Namely, what interests us here is whether Jiraiya has a clan in the series. It is a rule that powerful shinobi usually belong to a clan in Naruto, and the number of clans in the series is quite large. But, there are also numerous shinobi who do not have a clan (Orochimaru being a notable example) in the series, which is not strange. So, what about Jiraiya?
As far as the canon is concerned, Jiraiya doesn’t have a clan. This means one of two things. Either Kishimoto failed to reveal the name of his clan, or he does not, indeed (like Orochimaru), have a clan. The first theory seems unlikely, as Jiraiya has been around for so long that an omission hardly seems accidental at this point in time, so no, we don’t think Kishimoto forgot that. The most likely truth is that Jiraiya doesn’t have a clan, which would be perfectly normal.
There are, of course, numerous theories surrounding Jiraiya’s clan, with one – based on Jiraiya’s appearance – claiming that he is from the Hagoromo Clan, but this doesn’t make a lot of sense; had Kishimoto wanted to give him a clan, he probably would have done it by now.
As for the theories that he is from the Ogata Clan, they are simply wrong, as the Ogata Clan does not exist in Naruto – it is part of Japanese folklore and the real-life Jiraiya was a member of the clan, but the real-life Jiraiya and Kishimoto’s Jiraiya only share a name; in every other aspect, they are completely separate characters, so there is absolutely no chance that Naruto‘s Jiraiya is from the Ogata Clan.
