The book.
The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi (ド根性忍伝, Dokonjō Ninden, English TV: Tales of A Gutsy Ninja) was Jiraiya's first book, written while training the Ame Orphans.[1] It sold poorly; and nobody attended Jiraiya's book signing. Minato Namikaze enjoyed it, however, enough to name his then-unborn son after the main character, in the hopes that his son would grow up to be just like the protagonist.[2] After Jiraiya's death, a copy of the book is placed at a memorial stone made for him.[3]
The story follows the adventures of a ninja named Naruto, a name Jiraiya came up with while eating ramen. Minato notes that Naruto's personality and exploits are very similar to Jiraiya's, thus making it a sort of autobiography.[2] Naruto never gives up and vows to break the "curse", which represents the cycles of war, conflict, and hatred that occupies the ninja world.[4] As this is an idea Jiraiya first heard spoken of by Nagato, the novel is dedicated to him.[1]
During the only scene depicted in the manga and anime, Naruto is hiding from an enemy ninja. He uses smoke bombs so that he can launch a surprise attack, only for the enemy ninja to seemingly repel his attack and overpower him. When the enemy ninja tries to kill him, it's discovered to be a shadow clone instead, at which point the real Naruto appears and neutralizes the enemy ninja. The enemy ninja, moved by Naruto's hope for peace, asks his name, prompting Naruto to introduce himself.[4][1]
Trivia[]
- Naruto's final clash with Nagato's Deva Path mirrors the scene between the book's Naruto and the enemy ninja: Nagato says, "Give up," to which Naruto replies, "Give up trying to make me give up."[5]
- In the anime, Jiraiya's fight with the first Animal Path may have been the inspiration for the scene between Naruto and the enemy ninja.[citation needed]