Quote Originally Posted by antiravage
It’s a coincidence alright but not bad writing, I’m pretty sure it’s part of the prophecy, the old toad told Jiraiya to travel the world and write a book so he could meet the people who would one day become Pain and recognize them so that he could unveil Pain’s secret and tell everyone about it through Pa.
That sounds believable.

I wonder what the "choice" Jiraiya had to make was? Was it giving his life to confirm his theory?

Which seems like a bad decision anyway. It's like, clearly he already had suspicions. Was it really worth him dying just to confirm it? Or could maybe he have just gone back with his suspicions, and still lived to fight later.