WARNING: Contains spoilers for recent manga chapters, especially chapter 376.
Revolution
Jiraiya kept his eyes on Pain's human summons, but his thoughts drifted towards the prophecy once again.
The moment after he supposed that prophecy was about to be fulfilled, it occurred to Jiraiya that just maybe the Great Toad Sage hadn't been talking about Pain. After all, if he was honest with himself, this wasn't the first time that prophecy had crossed his mind in connection with one of his students. No, though at the moment Pain presented a likely solution to the puzzling words the Sage had uttered. However, as other solutions presented themselves, Jiraiya could not ignore them. He remembered that when Naruto had almost killed him while they were training, he had first thought the prophecy was about Naruto. Seeing Naruto covered in his own blood and the destruction he had still been able to cause had certainly shown that Naruto might have the power to completely destroy the world locked inside of him. But he hadn't wanted to think of Naruto that way, hadn't wanted to think about what kind of mysterious choice he might have to make about Naruto, so he had tried to dismiss the thought as quickly as it had come. And when Naruto had finally regained consciousness and hadn't remembered a single thing about the incident, Jiraiya knew from the confusion on Naruto's face that this boy would never willingly destroy the world. Now, though, he couldn't stop himself from thinking that he had had it right after all, but he might have misinterpreted it.
And now that he was thinking about it again, he supposed Naruto had already shown he was a revolutionary. The kid even refused to act as most shinobi did, instead following what he called his "ninja way." And didn't the kid have a knack for affecting people in the strangest way? The list of people Naruto had changed for the better was getting longer, and it had started when Naruto was only twelve. Yes, Naruto could revolutionize the shinobi world from one of suspicion, war, and fractured families to one of trust, hope, and unbreakable bonds. He was already doing that, one ninja at a time.
Why hadn't he seen it before? Jiraiya laughed at himself with derision: he hadn't meant to equate revolution with destruction and degeneration, but he had all the same. He supposed the world he had grown up in hadn't taught him that revolution could mean a better world, and not a worse one.
Still, what of the choice the Sage had spoken of? It seemed that he was clearly going to have to make a choice about Pain. In fact, he already had. Pain would die, or Jiraiya would. He had known that when he left Konoha after talking with Tsunade. Maybe now all that was left was to recognize the significance of that choice. If Naruto was meant to revolutionize the shinobi world, maybe Jiraiya's choice was more about helping clear the way for Naruto, even if that meant being responsible for the death of the child he had taken under his wing so long ago. He wasn't an idiot. He knew that if he didn't kill Pain, Naruto would have to. Jiraiya shuddered to think of god clashing with demon, and so he strengthened his resolve. To give Naruto the chance to effect positive changes, he decided to give himself.
He regretted that he would not be able to tell Naruto this, that he had not told Naruto who exactly had sealed that great evil inside of him, that he wouldn't be the one who helped Naruto control that great evil. But he did not doubt that Naruto would learn, that he would become Hokage, that he would change the world. That he had not realized this before, he did not care. After all, wasn't that what revolution was for? Fixing past mistakes and starting over?
Jiraiya smiled grimly at his former pupil. No, Jiraiya decided, Pain was not the Destined Child, but he needed to be defeated all the same.
Putting thoughts of revolution away, Jiraiya moved forward to give his life for it.