typically sociable and overly spirited for his age, jiraiya greatly values humour and mirth. he has a bit of an ego in that he will often boast of his accomplishments and come off as self-satisfied and vain, but largely that is just a front to get a reaction out of people. he loves to press people's buttons and get a good laugh out of it, even if it comes at his own expense in the end. he takes every opportunity to be eccentric and attention-grabbing, even during battle. he does everything to the extreme, and the same can be said for his loyalty to his village. despite being away from konoha for the vast majority of the time, he won't hesitate the threaten pain of death should anyone, even a close friend, attempt to betray or harm the village. even so, in spite of his numerous credits as a competent shinobi and undying loyalty, he doesn't believe himself fit to become hokage, readily detailing his own flaws as a person and his past failures as reasons why.

credits aside, jiraiya is an unabashed pervert. he takes no shame in spying on bathing women, and even boasts openly of his skill in not getting caught. in spite of his own self-proclamations, jiraiya dislikes it when others (namely naruto) "tarnish his name" by calling him things like "pervy sage" in front of others. he does have a reputation to uphold, thank you very much. he would sooner refer to his spying on women as "research" for his adult novel series icha icha. they depict comical renditions of his own, personal experiences in romance (and cold, harsh rejection). it's a widely popular series amoung lonely, lovestruck individuals that has settled jiraiya with a notable income. alas, as they say, the first rule of money is never to use your own; he isn't averse to suckering others out of their own money to avoid paying expenses.

underneath his various hamartias lies a sad, troubled soul. he, himself, states that to be happy is not his fate, although whether or not he fully believes his own words is up for debate. he longs to discover a way to change the world from violence to peace. however, he has yet to do so and, in light of the prophecy he was given about one of his pupils, he puts his faith into the next generation to carry on his wish for a better world.

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(40-54) sometime between orochimaru's defection and his final battle with pein. jiraiya is still merrily conducting "research" for his novels, all the while on a perpetual search for his destiny and what he can do to change the world, along with finding that snake bastard, of course.

(< 30) jiraiya is still on a team with orochimaru and tsunade, be it as genin, chunin, or jonin. he is just beginning to take an interest in writing novels and often insists on dragging orochimaru along on his, as of now, poorly planned peeping escapades (some of which may or may not involve tsunade). he is a bona fide trouble maker in every regard, although under the tutelage of hiruzen, he is growing into a fine shinobi.

(40+) after the initial formation of the akatsuki, the amegakure orphans jiraiya trained for some time recruited him into their organization. this verse is flexible in whether or not orochimaru also joined the akatsuki. if not, instead of trying to convince them to return to konoha, jiraiya tries to recruit them into the akatsuki with him under the pretense of learning the secrets of immortality that he's seen with hidan and kakuzu. if they did join initially, then jiraiya and orochimaru would be partners on their missions. (i'm unsure if naruto or sasuke would be his student in this verse so i'm open to suggestions.)

(any age) jiraiya is neither a pro hero nor a villain, but rather a vigilante of sorts who mostly keeps to himself apart from occasions when his assistance is required. he has a transformation-type quirk called amphibian, which lets him take on the characteristics of toads. namely, his eyes gain horizontally slitted pupils, wart-like growths appear on his skin, his hands and feet become webbed, and his tongue becomes sticky and can extend outward several feet. additionally, he can jump and leap great distances and he also has the capacity to produce poison from his cheek glands and spit it at his opponents. he prefers to lead a non-confrontational life, sticking to the outskirts of society until he is called upon or stumbles across a situation with no one else around to handle it. secretly, he's set out to travel the world in hopes of finding his long lost friend-turned-rival-turned-enemy who disappeared after embracing a villainous life.

(54) not much is known of jiraiya’s past other than that, as far as those in pewter city know, he’s always been the hermit who lives in the mountains. residents know him as the “mountain man” or, better yet, “that guy with the frogs”. the frog part comes from the fact that the only pokemon he has are those that look like frogs. no one knows why he likes frogs so much. hell, most don’t even know his name or where he came from, so that’s the least of their worries. in truth, jiraiya was simply an orphan who got lost in the mountains as a child because he strayed too far from the hiking path. the venusaur currently in his team was the one who found him cold and unconscious and carried him back to an abandoned cottage. he befriended the other frog-like pokemon that came to him out of curiosity and they helped him clean up the house so that he could live there. since then, jiraiya has been around to see the evolution of each pokemon in his team, not through battling, but through natural occurrences as they went about their lives. he’s a bit of an oddball when it comes to interacting with other people, but anyone who spends any length of time with him would be able to see how deeply he cares for all pokemon, not just those on his team.