Who is Jiraiya?

There are just so many mysteries surrounding this character "Jiraiya" from the Naruto series, starting from what's his last name which covers his clan, who are his parents? which led to many unexplained proof of Tobirama being Jiraiya's grandfather or Sakumo Hatake is Jiraiya's brother but how true are all these theories? well we will look into it gradually.

Who is Jiraiya?

Jiraiya is one of the strongeset shinobi in the narutoverse with ninja skills and one of the member of the legendary sannin, plus a student of Sarutobi Hiruzen the third hokage.  He is skilled at the transformation jutsu to morph into a toad and learnt the imperfect sage mode, the second best user of the famous rasengan, actually he developed it after observing it done accidentally by Minato, this man travels the planet in search of data to assist out his friends and to expire what he had learned, to his student, Naruto.

Jiraiya, so many times have been chosen to become the hokage but he declined due to his own personal desires which might deprive him from fulfilling his hokage duties, of course he matched up all the requirements but our guy simply said No! Additionally he is ranked among the simplest mentors, not only in Naruto but within the whole anime-verse. All anime fans will agree once we say he deserves recognition for giving this ninja world some very strong and powerful characters, like Naruto, Minato Namikaze, Yahiko, Konan, Partially Kakashi and Nagato.  

Where's jiraiya from

His clan is not mentioned in the series, so anyone can say that jiraiya is indeed "clanless". But honestly we are curios to know where this legend came from, below is the Japanese folklore on Jiraiya...

"    Jiraiya (“Young Thunder”) is the toad-riding character of the Japanese folklore Jiraiya Gōketsu Monogatari(The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya). The story, first recorded in 1806, was adapted into a mid-19th-century serialized novel (43 installments, 1839-1868) and a kabuki drama, based on the first 10 installments, by Kawatake Mokuami, in 1852. In the 20th-century, the story was adapted in several films, in video games, and in a manga.

Jiraiya is a ninja who uses shapeshifting magic to morph into a gigantic toad. Heir of the Ogata clan, Jiraiya fell in love with Tsunade, a beautiful young maiden who has mastered slug magic. His arch-enemy was his one-time follower Yashagorō, also known as Orochimaru, a master of serpent magic.  " 

unfortunatelythis has nothing to do with the anime, which is all we care about. to wrap it all up, Jiraiya clan remains unknown.

IS TOBIRAMA JIRAIYA'S GRANDFATHER?

There are some features one might posses for them to be regarded as a clan member, it includes the hair color, the eye prowess, kekkei genkai and so on. To judge this fact I'm not going to be making use of those features, we all know that Tobirama never married or at least it wasnt mentioned both in the manga and in the anime so how could he have a grandson? I mean yeah they both have a striking similarities talking about the hair color, the red mark on their faces but this doesn't show any valid proof that Tobirama is Jiraiya's grandfather, it also answers whether Jiraiya is a senju.

IS JIRAIYA SAKUMO'S BROTHER?

Most probably Jiraiya and Kakashi are related. there's a theory which states that Jiraiya is Saukumo’s brother and Kakashi’s uncle. 

It are often clearly seen that they need some obvious similarities right from the white hair to similar messy hairstyles and features. Jiraiya and Kakashi are both ninja warriors and have excelled in their skills and their tactics. it's clear throughout the series that they both have a special bond and Kakashi looks up to Jiraiya. 

Being clansmen they both fought side by side and were highly proficient and versatile with varied ninjitsu. Kakashi was also very keen on Naruto, he helped him train and have become more of a fatherlike figure towards him. Still this theory is not regarded aside from the hair color nothing else shows the connection between Jiraiya and Sakumo.

IS JIRAIYA STILL ALIVE?

We cannot deny the fact that jiraiya had one of the most painful death, the show had our hopes on when the reamination episodes started but sadly jiraiya wasnt there, according to Kabuto...

But the good news is Jiraiya is alive but only as a clone (Kashin kojin) Naruto’s Next Generations, the question which remained unanswered at the moment is "How is it possible?"  but will still be answered as the series progresses, Boruto series is getting better and better and there's so many info will be getting from Kashin Koji.