There have been speculations, with theories claiming that Jiraiya had features with red marks on his face running down his eyes and white hair, similar to the second Hokage, making everyone believe Tobirama Senju is Jiraiya’s father.
However, Tobirama Senju, one of Konoha’s founders and a renowned Senju clan member, didn’t have many family members. Further, there is no proof of his relationship with Jiraiya in the canon Naruto: Shippuden manga.
Meanwhile, the manga series Naruto and Naruto Shippuden never mentioned details about Jiraiya’s family, apart from occasional hints that his parents weren’t anything special in the ninja universe.
What is Jiraiya’s clan? He looks like tobirama’s descendant to me. Any thoughts?
by inBoruto
However, the Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi light novel, which details Jiraiya’s life, mentions Light Musubi as his father, who died during the end of the first ninja world war after internal conflicts in Konoha.
Regardless, Jiraiya’s father never appeared in the canon story, confusing fans about his family and ties with the Senju clan. Another theory argues that if Tobirama was actually his father, Jiraiya would be a lot older than Tsunade, but the characters are the same age.
So, it is safe to say that the Second Hokage isn’t related to Jiraiya, as he died early in the story without having a wife or children.
Jiraiya’s relationship with Tsunade would be questionable if he was related to Tobirama Senju!
Throughout the story, Jiraiya often confesses his admiration and feelings towards his friend Tsunade, the grandniece of Tobirama.
If the father-son theories of Tobirama and Jiraiya were to be true and legit, Tsunade would be the first cousin once removed of Jiraiya, complicating the existing plotline.
Apart from their shared physical features, Jiraiya and Tobirama don’t have much in common regarding their abilities, fighting styles, and power.
As people of the same clan share familiar jutsu, it was quite unusual for the second Hokage not to pass on his techniques to his apparent descendant.
Moreover, Jiraiya specialized in using toads to utilize the energies of fire, earth, water, wind, and Ying and Yang, whereas the Senju clan leader used teleportation techniques throughout his life.
With the series running for more than a decade, readers naturally created theories to justify the author’s lack of information on several characters.
However, Jiraiya plays a huge role in the story, acting as a mentor and a father figure for Naruto and filling the gap left by his parents, who died during the sealing of the Nine-Tails.
Further, this proves that only physical features don’t make one family, as the series often focused on the concept of found family and bonds made along the way to becoming a better version of oneself.
Additional Information
- Jiraiya was one of Konohagakure’s Sannin who traveled the world in search of knowledge. This experience helped him develop his techniques and write various novels that he published throughout the story.
- The ninja was an extremely powerful shinobi, considered one of the greatest of his generation, who gained recognition during the Second Shinobi World War.
- After his death, Jiraiya’s legacy was passed onto the new generation, including Boruto, Sarada, and the Konoha 11 members, as it encouraged them to share goodness in their lives.
