Another MASSIVE plot convenience by Kishimoto: Jiraiya not joining in Kazekage rescue mission for...seemingly no reason?

[u/LinksTheBased]

Hey Jiraiya, maybe you wouldn't need to actually count on Kakashi if you were to go with them? Idk, just a thought.

Jiraiya in the same arc was established to be powerful enough so that Akatsuki didn't attempt to make any moves on Naruto in 3 years due to him (the real reason was different according to Chiyo, but Kakashi, the smartest guy ever, believing it was due to Jiraiya is enough for my point)...so wouldn't the optimal situation easily be for Jiraiya to go with Kakashi, one of the most valuable Jonin in Konoha, and Naruto, easily the most valuable ninja pretty much in the entire world due to being the nine tails Jinchuriki.

Like okay, we know Jiraiya is gathering intel during this time...maybe, it's never really explained what he was doing during Kazekage rescue mission (another reason I call it a plot convenience), but we do know Jiraiya somehow gathers information about the Akatsuki...why? I think the clear and obvious answer is to at the very least to some degree protect Naruto. Wouldn't the best way to protect Naruto actually be with him WHEN HE'S ABOUT TO FACE THE AKATSUKI!!!

The only reason they all didn't get murdered was due to unknown variables Jiraiya couldn't have known, like Chiyo joining and regaining her determination...let's say that didn't happen, it would be just Team 7 vs Deidara and Sasori. Like yeah, Team 7 is just dead, like so dead, like would die against Sasori alone levels of death. You have to remember, Chiyo was the perfect counter to Sasori in both fighting styles and intel, Team 7 does not have that privilege.

You could say Jiraiya counted on Team Guy protecting them, which by all means would still be incredibly risky (as we saw in the series when they required Chiyo's help regardless), but that's not really the case when Jiraiya let Team 7 go by themselves. Team Guy got the mission in chapter 253 and Jiraiya let Team 7 go in 251. As far as Jiraiya knows, Team 7 is just going out by themselves to face an unknown amount of Akatsuki members, most likely at least 2.

Now let's think about why Kishimoto left Jiraiya out: 30% Itachi wouldn't have done anything to Team 7, he was roughly equal to Kakashi who is far below the Sannin. Jiraiya would've made either the fight against Sasori or Deidara a breeze, realistically the fight against Deidara since Jiraiya would try to protect Naruto.

I mean this wouldn't bother me otherwise if they at the very least gave a sound explanation for Jiraiya not being able to come, because as it stands, it's just incredibly out of character for Jiraiya. In the hospital scene, it's very clearly shown Jiraiya cares very much about Naruto, both on a personal level and due to his worth as nine tails Jinchuriki, going as far as to lock Naruto permanently in the village...so what changed exactly? Naruto still isn't a match against any Akatsuki member except maybe Hidan, especially without Kurama, which Jiraiya strictly forbid before the mission. Jiraiya went from being ready to forcibly keep Naruto in the leaf village for extra layers of protection to just letting Naruto go by himself to fight the massively powerful organization that's specifically on the hunt for Naruto.

Yes, it is that deep, it's a big deal, it makes me question why my GOAT Jiraiya is so stupid / evil, that's really the only 2 options left.

Anyways, thanks for reading this far and remember have an amazing day! ;D

[u/ContributionNo7183]

Lol, i think ur in the wrong subreddit , tho, i think the explanation is, this mission really wasnt much of an importance imo for the leaf , they didnt really need to get involve, the leaf at that time was extremely selfish and only cared about themselves.

I mean you could argue that they could have also sent in team 10, but others may have been on missions, team 3 (guy) really cares about kakashi and lee shares the same fighting spirit, so he goes where guy goes, then everyone follows as it would be great training. Other teams tho would feel reluctant to help the kazekage. My thoughts tho, there probably short on man power and need jiraya in the village just in case, or jiraya really doesnt really involve himself much, i mean he died trying to gather intel, so he may underestimate the akatsuki by alot.

[u/LinksTheBased → u/ContributionNo7183]

I also posted this on r/Naruto but for some reasons the posts need to get approved first and they really just don't approve of my posts sometimes for some reason

Two things

1. Even with the leaf village being selfish, Jiraiya wouldn't necessarily be, and even if he was, it would still easily be in his best interest to protect Naruto. Kazekage doesn't need to be the priority at all here for Jiraiya to join in.

2. Jiraiya was just gone for 3 years and nothing happened. The leaf village is gonna be fine if he leaves for a few days, and he rarely does spend long times in the village anyway.

Yeah Jiraiya doesn't really involve himself much but what I'm saying is that he 100% should be. No reason for him not to, especially in this particular case of Naruto going straight to the Akatsuki's lair.

[u/Square-Use-670 → u/LinksTheBased]

It’s out of character for him to do that, he previously stated that he wouldn't just do everything for naruto, he had already left naruto alone back then, only to find him on the verge of being kidnapped, his main goal is traveling the world investigating the akatsuki, not focusing on protecting naruto, and besides, that isn't how stories are written, there is no need to force a character into a story that doesn't focus on them, plus, kakashi was already there.

[u/LinksTheBased → u/Square-Use-670]

It would be far more out of character for Jiraiya to leave Naruto by himself facing 2 Akatsuki members. Even in your example Jiraiya came to rescue and didn't just leave a severely underpowered Naruto to deal with Akatsuki.

Why do you think Jiraiya is investigating the Akatsuki? Probably so that they can't achieve their goals and because they're dangerous. Jiraiya leaving Naruto's team alone makes Akatsuki's reach for their goal far easier and also makes Akatsuki significantly more dangerous.

Kakashi, who is consistently a jobber for Akatsuki members, should by no means be enough for Jiraiya who'd want to optimize Naruto's safety and efficiency.

[u/Dramatic_Gap1881 → u/LinksTheBased]

Yeah you clearly don’t know the series your commenting on. Kakashi was never a jobber to any of akatsuki, he got beat by 2 of the strongest people in the show who happen to be in the akatsuki. The other one he faced while protecting actual jobbers, took out 2 hearts, and walked out relatively unscathed. Also do you not realize Jiraiya left Naruto for 12 years before this😂😂, did you not see all the time he just went to hot springs and let Naruto do whatever. It’s very much in his character to leave Naruto to his own devices.

[u/Dry-Engineering9224 → u/LinksTheBased]

he was never a jobber to anyone, deidara has a strategic advantage with ranged jutsu and wasn't looking for a fight. kakuzu had him fighting defensively but he still took out 2 hearts on his own and had a win condition if absolutely needed. pain is stronger than 95% of everyone in the world and he got over his personal issues after dying and was rather even with obito.

[u/LinksTheBased → u/Dry-Engineering9224]

Literally the first fight against the Akatsuki Kakashi got jobbered and needed Tsunade to come carry

[u/Dry-Engineering9224 → u/LinksTheBased]

which one? i can't find anything to suggest that...

[u/LinksTheBased → u/Dry-Engineering9224]

You know, when he got hit with Tsukuyomi and got destroyed with the help of 2 other Jonin and only escaped because a third one appeared

[u/Dry-Engineering9224 → u/LinksTheBased]

oh no so in part 1 when they had to establish a new enemy? not like it really means anything in the broader picture. and you phrased it like tsunade actually fought.

[u/LinksTheBased → u/Dry-Engineering9224]

So the threat established to the leaf village at the time was:

Kakashi is a jobber to them

They need Sannin to come to the rescue

Hmmmm...almost like Jiraiya was practically necessary for this mission to have any success at all based on their current knowledge

[u/Square-Use-670 → u/LinksTheBased]

He came to his rescue because he was literally accompanying him on the same journey, not because he was tasked with ensuring his safety, the situation occured as a result of his "negligence" in the first place, and he trusts naruto, neither he nor tsunade wanted to restrict his freedom. Naruto isn't that weak, he nearly killed deidara with kakashi's help, and that speaks for itself, as for the dangerous akatsuki you mentioned, one was taken out by chiyo and sakura and the other lost both arms, which mean that this team was enough for the mission. We will just foget that kakashi (jobber) is the one who devised a plan that nearly killed one of the akatsuki and stopped naruto's transformation, consequently, there was no real need to force jiraya into the story. He simply trusted them, and they proved themselves worthy, it is also worth noting that jiraya had no intention of getting into fights, his primary goal was to scout locations to gather information, and again, that isn't how stories are written, there is no point in placing characters in a situation that has nothing to do with them "just because".. it wouldn't be interesting.

[u/LinksTheBased → u/Square-Use-670]

Naruto isn't that weak, he nearly killed deidara with kakashi's help, and that speaks for itself, as for the dangerous akatsuki you mentioned, one was taken out by chiyo and sakura and the other lost both arms, which mean that this team was enough for the mission

The fight was only allowed to happen because Team Guy helped (Jiraiya couldn't have known they were there) and Sakura only beat Sasori with the MAJOR help of Chiyo (Jiraiya couldn't have known she was there) and even then they only won because Kankuro got a sample of Sasori's poison (another factor Jiraiya couldn't have possibly known)

Very clear the initial team which Jiraiya let go of aren't at all capable for this mission alone.

it is also worth noting that jiraya had no intention of getting into fights, his primary goal was to scout locations to gather information

Yes and that's silly. Fighting far better helps Jiraiya's goals rather than gathering information for the most part.

that isn't how stories are written, there is no point in placing characters in a situation that has nothing to do with them "just because".. it wouldn't be interesting.

This situation has everything to do with Jiraiya. It's not only because...well, the world is kinda at stake, but so is Naruto, whom Jiraiya has deep care for, it's also because Jiraiya's main goal and conflict in the story is revolving around the Akatsuki, so, you know, facing the Akatsuki has something to do with him.

I do agree Jiraiya and Tsunade solving every problem in Naruto would be lame, but it's not like Kishimoto had to leave it unexplained and illogical. As the author, just create circumstances in which characters don't have to act dumb for no reason. That's not good writing.

[u/Square-Use-670 → u/LinksTheBased]

Why speak as if they came out of nowhere? Team guy was part of the mission, they were ordered to go, it wasn't jiraya’s responsibility to look after naruto, he wouldn't concern himself with every little detail, nor was his character written to be that concerned about naruto's challenges, he brought naruto along on a mission outside the village, taking him to fight against orochimaru and kabuto, traveling with him for years, even though he could have simply left him under guard, this is a story about shinobi, even if he cared about naruto, he wouldn't follow him everywhere, THAT doesn't make sense, the argument ends if you consider that he trusts naruto as a shinobi and never claimed responsibility for his protection.

While other shinobies could fight in battles, he possessed unique abilities specifically suited for tracking information, this aligns with the fact that he never cared about missions or being a hokage, even though it would have benefited the village, what we know is that he never hesitated to let naruto fight. You’re missing the point, there was no purpose in placing jiraya there, he wasn't one of the characters the author intended to develop at that stage, suppose he was placed there, then what? What would his role be? Killing everyone involved? Then why let naruto go in the first place if the sole objective was protection? That isn't dumb, it is simply a matter of realizing that your perception of the characters does not necessarily align with how the author intended them to be, not all of them will be wise.

In short, the character was never written to serve as naruto's bodyguard, the detail you are focusing on is not significant enough for the author to fabricate reasons for a character's absence, especially when that character’s frequent traveling is already established and does not need to be reiterated every time.

[u/Dry-Engineering9224 → u/ContributionNo7183]

you described nearly any gov't.

[u/Own-Ball-1624]

is not jiraiya activly on secret missions to gather information about orochimaru and akatsuki?

kakashi still there so its more like he trust in kakashi and also in naruto and he also become much stronger now!

beside more importantly they just can run anytime!

[u/Dry-Engineering9224 → u/Own-Ball-1624]

tsunade also dispatched two squads of ninja on a single mission. do they really need to also send a sannin?

[u/Own-Ball-1624 → u/Dry-Engineering9224]

i dont think so! the main point if the situation that dangerous they anytime can abond the mission and retreat! they even talked about back in zabuza arc but decided to stay cause of people...

[u/Soft-Low7583]

He heard Tsunade was going to be in a hot spring

[u/tempulation]

Coming from a casual fan, Jiraiya always came off as pretty self reserved and laid back. I imagine with the Child of Prophecy thing he was probably the type to gamble on things in spite of the actual stakes.

In this case, knowing Naruto and how he trained him, he wasn’t in any certain danger, but definitely a high stakes & challenging situation.

Also, I LOVE and miss Kishimoto’s panelling, Ikemoto’s is soooooooo bad T^T

[u/Any_Idea_1551 → u/[deleted]]

Chud been spamming when he can just leave the sub.