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Jiraiya’s death is widely acknowledged as one of the most emotionally impactful moments in the Naruto series, and for good reason. The godparent of the franchise’s main character Naruto Uzumaki, Jiraiya taught the latter what would become his signature jutsu, the Rasengan, and passed on to him his beliefs about what it meant to be a shinobi.
In an attempt to uncover the identity of the mysterious Akatsuki leader, Jiraiya died in battle against Pain, who turned out to be a creation of his former student Nagato. After the death of his comrade Yahiko, Nagato realized how corrupt and violent the shinobi world was, and decided to force it into peace.
Aiming to seize the Nine Tails, Nagato sent the Six Paths of Pain to attack the Leaf Village. Guided by Jiraiya’s beliefs and spirit, Naruto suppressed his anger, and decided not to retaliate against Nagato. This wise choice moved Nagato, who used his Rinnegan to resurrect all the people who had died in the recent battle. Even though he had been killed by Nagato not long before, Jiraiya wasn’t among those brought back to life.
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Nagato not resurrecting Jiraiya remains an unsolved question in the Naruto series
How the Rinnegan can control life and death
Also known as Gedo Art of Rinne Rebirth, the Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique (called Gedo Rinne Tensei no Jutsu in the original Japanese) is a special ninjutsu that only Rinnegan users can perform. In exchange for his own life, the user can resurrect the dead.
To cast the technique, the user summons the King of Hell, a deity who rules over life and death. The King of Hell releases the souls of the deceased and returns them to their bodies, which are then rejuvenated and revived. This jutsu has been used only twice throughout the entire series, first by Nagato and subsequently by Obito.
Nagato sent the Six Paths of Pain to storm the Leaf Village, giving rise to a tremendous battle that led to countless casualties. Meanwhile, Nagato, emaciated and physically weakened, was hiding on a high mountain near the village. As the fight unfolded, Pain overpowered Naruto and pinned him to the ground.
Through Pain, Nagato told Naruto that the shinobi world was hopelessly filled with hate, and thus the only way to create peace was by overwhelming force. As the future Seventh Hokage expressed his disappointment, Nagato challenged him to find an alternative solution, which he believed did not exist.
Eventually, Naruto managed to turn the tide of the battle. He beat Deva Path, the last and strongest body of Pain, and used his chakra receivers to track down Nagato. The latter asked Naruto if he had found an answer to his earlier question, to which the Leaf ninja replied that he would hear his story first.
As such, Nagato told Naruto about his life experience and how it influenced his beliefs. Naruto sympathized with him, but rejected his conclusion, proposing a different method to achieve peace. His idea was to break the cycle of revenge, the true cause of the never-ending hatred between ninjas.
For that reason, even though he was angry with Nagato for what he did, Naruto would not take revenge against the former. Astonished by this answer, Nagato decided to take a step in the same direction. He thus used the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique to revive everyone who died during Pain’s invasion of the Leaf.
Among them was Kakashi Hatake, who lost his life by consuming the last of his chakra to protect Choji. As Nagato performed his jutsu, Kakashi’s soul, which had met the one of his father Sakumo, was sent back to the living plane, like everybody else’s.
After Nagato completed the technique, his life faded. Smiling for the last time, he bode farewell to Naruto. However, according to Madara’s plan, which would later become Obito’s plan, things should have been different.
Nagato’s Rinnegan wasn’t his own, but Madara’s. When Nagato was still a child, Madara transplanted his eyes into him, an event that the child remained always unaware of. Madara then captivated Obito, and instructed him to manipulate Nagato’s life to make him instrumental to the realization of the “Eye of the Moon Plan”.
Ultimately, Nagato was meant to use the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique to resurrect Madara. As Nagato died before doing so, Obito implanted himself with one of the two Rinnegan eyes. Following the events of the Fourth Ninja War, Madara was resurrected by Kabuto’s Impure World Reincarnation.
However, Madara was still unable to complete his plan, as only a fully living person could become the Ten Tails jinchuriki. Therefore, Madara had Black Zetsu take control of Obito’s body and use the Rinnegan to revive Madara for real.
A suicidal technique whose limitations are unclear
Using the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique seems to inherently cause the caster’s death. Obito could survive after performing it only because Black Zetsu was attached to his body. Later, Naruto stabilized Obito’s life force, but only temporarily, as it was made clear that the latter would still die.
While the Impure World Reincarnation uses a living body as the vessel for a dead soul, creating an animated corpse, the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique completely revives people, giving them a real body with flesh and blood.
The exact limitations of this jutsu are unknown, which makes it difficult to understand why Nagato didn’t resurrect Jiraiya. When Nagato performed the technique, he made it sound like he could revive only those who had recently died. At least, that’s what can be deduced from his words:
"I’m still in time... to bring back the people who died since I arrived in the Hidden Leaf."
With this in mind, the reason why Jiraiya couldn’t be revived is that too much time had passed since his death. However, this theory is evidently contradicted by facts, as Madara Uchiha planned for himself to be resurrected through this Rinnegan jutsu tens of years after his death.
Indeed, the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique was used to revive Madara, and it perfectly worked. Needless to say, if Madara, who died years before, could be resurrected, time shouldn’t have been an issue for Jiraiya.
This Rinnegan jutsu works by returning the souls of the dead ones to their corpses, reanimating the bodies exactly where they are. In Madara’s case, things went differently, as his Edo Tensei body was turned into a real body, but that was because his soul was already there.
Jiraiya’s corpse sank underwater, meaning that his body might have rotted. Still, this also shouldn’t have been a problem, as most of the people that Nagato resurrected died violently due to grievous injuries. Hence, when Nagato performed the jutsu to call their souls back to life, their bodies were magically repaired.
There’s also the assumption that Nagato didn’t revive Jiraiya because he knew that the latter would just die again on the spot. Jiraiya’s body had sunk very deep in the water around the Rain Village, and the Rinnegan would resurrect him there, meaning that even if he returned to life he would drown to death.
However, this objection is also easily disproved, as Jiraiya could have easily survived drowning thanks to the Reverse Summoning Technique. With this jutsu, an animal can summon to its location a ninja that has signed a summoning contract with its species.
Even if Jiraiya had drowned underwater, his toads could have summoned him back to safety, like they did to transport Naruto between Mount Myoboku and the Hidden Leaf Village.
While the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique doesn’t have a time limit, it may have a maximum range of effect. This could explain why Nagato, who performed the technique near the Leaf Village, couldn’t resurrect Jiraiya, whose body was far away from there.
At the time, Nagato was already exhausted and nearly out of chakra. To use the jutsu, he had to overexert himself, to the point where his hair turned white. With this in mind, it’s possible that Nagato’s Rinnegan technique couldn’t revive Jiraiya because his body was out of range.
Ultimately, there’s also a narrative reason why Jiraiya couldn’t be revived, regardless of the circumstances. His death was a major turning point in Naruto’s life, as it allowed the main character to fully understand Sasuke’s pain for losing his family.
Up to that point, the future Seventh Hokage couldn’t really relate to Sasuke because he had never experienced the excruciating pain of losing a loved one. After Jiraiya’s death, Naruto matured as a human and shinobi. While it is unfortunate, his character development would likely have been undermined, had Jiraiya come back to life.
Keep up with all anime, manga, and live-action news as 2024 progresses. Check out our other Naruto articles here:
9 characters who went from zero to hero || What if Naruto was never born? || Naruto's greatest lesson || Did Naruto forgive Obito?
