Naruto Series: Jiraiya (ENFP)

Ne:

“Listen up! The toad sage is only my cover! Allow me to reveal my true identity. From the north to the south, and the east to the west, not even the spirits can defeat this Sannin. The white maned toad charmer! A red hot ninja who strikes fear in the hearts of men! Master Jiraiya! Yes! I’m speaking of none other than myself!”

“Well, I have news for you kid. I’m not really human anymore either. These tears of blood, overflowing with rage. I went from sannin to sage. The hermit sage of Mount Myōboku. I am Master Jiraiya”

“But against the hermit sage of the Mount Myōboku toads, you are nothing at all but a small snack!”

“What happened was destined to happen. Dismiss him from your mind and move on.”

While one may argue that Jiraiya is a sensor due to his perverted tendencies, I would argue that these tendencies are not exclusive to Se users, and that Jiraiya demonstrates signs of a high Ne user. First off, before getting into the nitty gritty, Jiraiya is a clear extraverted perceiver. He is a floater, traveling wherever he wants, whenever he wants. Not only does he spend a lot of time wandering around after the war, he also leaves his team in the middle of a war to take care of some random children for a few years. In addition, he is shown to be highly distractible. He is quick to abandon Naruto and his training on the slightest whim, and is shown almost walking out of Tsunade’s office with Naruto before she’d even had a chance to bring up the reason they had been called in. He also refuses to claim the position of Hokage, stating that “I’m not cut out for that sort of thing. I like being free and unfettered.”

Moving beyond that, Jiraiya is poetic and has a flare for the dramatic, in the performing sense. He is shown putting together rhymes in the middle of combat (final battle with Nagato), and spouting long, dramatic introductions. He’s also an effortless liar. When infiltrating the Hidden Rain Village, he spouts several different stories without hesitating in the slightest. One moment he’s claiming to be a food author because a lady working at a food stand appears useful, and then a little while later he’s claiming to be a traveling mercenary. Jiraiya also focuses on the abstract. He is generally quick to believe in or consider something, whether it’s curses, destiny, legends,or etc. As a kid, he believes in the legend of the Onbaa, and even goes off on a hunt for one, in spite of ridicule from his teammates. He also spends a large portion of his life searching for his destiny, and unabashedly proclaiming this to people that he meets along the way. Of course, this is all because of a prophecy that a toad had shared with him.

In addition, Jiraiya has a vast arsenal of jutsu that he pulls from when in battle. Sure, the guy is old so he’s expected to be powerful, but that’s not exactly what I’m saying. Jiraiya, rather than fine tuning select jutsu, instead chooses to learn many different styles of jutsu. He can use Fire, Earth, Wind, and Water style jutsu. He knows sage jutsu, toad summoning, several toad-based techniques, sealing jutsu, jutsu that manipulates his hair, barrier ninjutsu, the rasengan, shadow clones, and etc. One of his toad-based jutsu allows him to hide in a shadow, allowing for infiltration. He works with several different toads, depending on the situation, and seems to have a jutsu for any given scenario. He also doesn’t appear to have a lot of physical attacks, which suggests anti-Se since he’s primarily staying physically disengaged from combat. (As opposed to say, Naruto, who creates a million clones and then rushes in.)

Fi:

“People really should talk to other people everyday, even if it’s just small talk. Otherwise, their hearts grow dark and sullen. Talking to others builds bonds of friendship and camaraderie. It broadens the mind, and it makes you feel grateful to be alive. That’s the kind of creatures we humans are. “

“What a sentimental fool you are, Jiraiya. You always were blind to reality. You couldn’t see, couldn’t imagine what I was really doing all along.” – Orochimaru

“A Shinobi always endures. Those who would use the Jutsu they worked so hard to master for something as base as thievery aren’t worthy to be called ninja.”

Jiraiya is people-focused and highly idealistic. He has clear ideals and beliefs, which he shares with Naruto on multiple occasions. As referenced in the quote above, he believes that people should talk to each other every day to build bonds of friendship. He also believes Shinobi shouldn’t participate in behavior such as stealing, and that “you can’t call yourself a real man unless you can laugh off all the bad stuff that happens to you”. The list could go on. However, going even beyond that, Jiraiya deeply yearns for peace in the shinobi world and believes that there is a way to obtain it, although he is unable to figure out how. He shares this deeply held belief with Naruto, and challenges him to find a way. He also specifically tells Naruto that he wants to change the world with his books, which supports Ne-Fi: wanting to change the world with one’s thoughts and ideas.

Jiraiya is also very empathetic. He is the first to help out the children (Nagato, et. al) when they reveal themselves to him and his team. He is even willing to temporarily leave the battlefield to take care of them and train them.

Lastly, Jiraiya is confident in himself. As mentioned briefly in the Ne section, he has no issue proclaiming to people that he is searching for his destiny, or proclaiming any other deeply held belief. He also never appears embarrassed due to his wild antics.

Te:

Young Jiraiya struggled to find purpose or a goal, which is standard for a low Te user. He is shown being generally lazy, rarely training, up until his sensei gives him a goal to work toward. In addition, Jiraiya is frequently shown thinking or speculating out loud, which is another Te tendency. As a more mature Te user, Jiraiya has good use of it. It helps keep him grounded in reality, and drives him to never give up. In spite of being close friends with Tsunade, he (in all seriousness) threatens to kill her if she were to side with Orochimaru. He also somewhat bluntly tells Naruto to forget about Sasuke, believing that it would be best for the boy. Lastly, Te always goes hand-in-hand with Fi, resulting in the absolute value statements that Jiraiya decides to share with others on occasion.

Si:

“I’ve lived my life always believing that the lessons I learned are what honed me. I swore I’d accomplish a deed so great that it would obliterate all of my failures. I’d die a splendid shinobi. At least, that’s how it was supposed to go.”

Jiraiya was plagued by his own failures, which is an example of Fi-Si. Fi frequently has high self-standards, and combining that with Si can easily cause one to focus on every moment that they failed to fulfill their own standards. In addition, the quote above demonstrates a typical Si mentality, believing that one is a culmination of their experiences or life lessons. Also, his attempt to make Naruto forget Sasuke can easily be viewed as Fi-Si, since he didn’t want Naruto to go through the same pain that he went through with Orochimaru. Finally, his final thought before death was on one, small mundane detail: what to name a chapter in his next novel.