JIRAIYA'S ABILITIES

JIRAIYA THE LEGENDARY SANIN'S ABILITIES-

Being one of the three Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya was an immensely powerful ninja, being
considered Kage-level and was initially chosen for the position of Fourth Hokage (by Hiruzen)
and Fifth (by the Konoha Council), though both times he turned it down. He stated that he had
only been brought to the verge of death twice in
his entire life, once when he was doing
"research" on Tsunade herself, (and being beaten to a pulp by her for doing so), and when he used
the toad key to weaken the Nine-Tails' seal on
Naruto's stomach and resulting in Naruto's four- tailed form.

His strength was so great that even powerful
members of Akatsuki either were easily subdued
like Konan while others like Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki, a master of the Sharingan and former member of the Seven Mist Swordsmen respectively, opted not to face him in battle,
fearing that the very best they could do together
against Jiraiya would end in a stalemate. Kisame
even said that he was no match for Jiraiya saying
he was "on a whole other level." Itachi stated
that even if they had reinforcements the result would be no different. Jiraiya was also able to
subdue Naruto Uzumaki's four-tailed form, and only received grievous injuries because he was
trying to reseal the demon chakra rather than
harm Naruto. Minato Namikaze also acknowledged his master's power, skills, and
mindset. Even Nagato, a former student of his, was nearly defeated despite outnumbering
Jiraiya, causing the younger opponent to marvel
Jiraiya's abilities, noting that Jiraiya would likely
have won against him if he had prior knowledge
of Pain's six separate bodies.

NINJUTSU-
Jiraiya was well-versed in a variety of ninjutsu types. He could grow and sharpen his hair for offensive and defensive purposes. Jiraiya was taught how to use the Rasengan by Minato, and had since developed larger variants. In terms of
element ninjutsu, Jiraiya had proficient
knowledge if not skill in multiple types. He could
use earth chakra to create deep swamps to immobilise his opponent and fire chakra to
unleash large blasts of fire. He was also at least knowledge able enough to teach others in wind and water chakra.

Jiraiya was often described as a perfectionist. He
had the ability to improvise or expand the limit of
a jutsu to the point where even an academic or E-
rank technique could make him an extremely
formidable opponent. The Transparent Escape Technique, created to help him spy on women, eventually proved to be very useful in espionage
and reconnaissance. By his own admission,
however, he wasn't adept at genjutsu but knew the dangers of it as well as how to break it,
which he taught to Naruto Uzumaki.

Apart from his fighting abilities, Jiraiya was very
proficient with barrier based techniques.
Examples would include Barrier: Dome Method Formation, which allowed him to detect all movements within a wide radius and block
attacks, and Barrier: Toad Gourd Prison, which allowed him to trap an enemy inside the belly of
a small toad-shaped gourd, the inside of which
contains a landscape with a lake of stomach acid.

Jiraiya was known as the "Toad Sage", due to his
natural affinity for toads, and his utilization of a
number of toad-related techniques. Many
typically dealt with summoning toads. He had
risen to a level of ability that allowed him to
summon Gamabunta. He could even summon the nearly indestructible œsophagus of a great, fire- breathing toad with Summoning: Toad Mouth Bind. Once the technique had been used to cover the area, Jiraiya could control it as he pleased, and
used it to trap most ninja. Due to his training with
toads, he even gained the ability to spit oil from his mouth.

For spying and infiltration, Jiraiya had the Toad Flat - Shadow Manipulation Technique, which allowed him to hide himself as a shadow, and
even attach to the shadow of another ninja to
control them. He also had the Hiding in a Toad Technique, where he hid in the belly of a small toad, which could enter most areas undetected.
Kakashi noted that Jiraiya was a specialist when
it comes to infiltration and espionage tactics.

TAIJUTSU-
While not being his preferred combat method,
Jiraiya was still very proficient with taijutsu, capable of killing some of the individual dogs that
split from the Giant Multi-Headed Dog with just some kicks. The Sage Mode enhanced his strength to the point of blinding the Human Path with just a kick to his face, while also sending
him several meters away. His natural strength,
while nowhere close to his female teammate
Tsunade, was very impressive. In the anime, one
such occasion where this is shown is when
Jiraiya intervened in a fight between a young Gamabunta (who was still bigger than Jiraiya)
and an unknown snake of equal size where
Jiraiya grabbed and tossed the snake a great
distance away with ease.

Like Naruto, Jiraiya naturally possessed
exceptionally large amounts and strong levels of
chakra and stamina. This allows him to use his
most powerful ability; to enter Sage Mode, a transformation that allowed him to use natural energy to greatly enhance all of his abilities . Before entering Sage Mode, Jiraiya will summon
the elder toad couple Shima and Fukasaku and have them fuse to his body. In addition to maintaining Jiraiya's natural energy while he
fought, they added their own abilities to help him
in battle. Sage Mode greatly increased Jiraiya's
physical power, as shown by his ability to send
Pain's summons flying and use the extremely
powerful collaboration ninjutsu Sage Art: Goemon. This form allowed Jiraiya to use stronger versions of his other jutsu. An example
would include the Super Great Ball Rasengan, a massive variant of Rasengan even larger than his
own body. As Jiraiya was not adept with genjutsu, he relied on Shima and Fukasaku to help him in that aspect. His speed in Sage Mode
was so great he could leap down from a high
vantage point, form an attack, and strike before
the target even has time to react.

Jiraiya didn't like Sage Mode because it gave him
a more toad-like appearance, with longer marks
along the sides of his face, a goatee, a larger nose
with warts, and webbed hands and feet, all of
which made him unappealing to girls. This is due
to Jiraiya not having complete mastery over the technique.

SEALING TECHNIQUES-
Jiraiya had been shown to be very
knowledgeable with Sealing Techniques, and had used a number of them throughout the series.
When first meeting Naruto, he quickly deduced
that the seal on Naruto's stomach, that kept the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox sealed within him, also allowed its chakra to mix with his own. Jiraiya
easily recognised the Five Elements Seal that Orochimaru had placed on top of Naruto's seal
and how it was distorting Naruto's chakra and
easily removed it with Five Elements Unseal.

He later created a method of suppressing the
Nine-Tails' influence over Naruto through the Chakra-Suppressing Seal, which activates by simply coming into contact with Naruto's body.
In addition, he could utilise the Fire Sealing Method to contain even Itachi's Amaterasu within a scroll for future study.