Gack. So emotional D8 **SPOILERS**
...This is going to make me sound utterly heartless and I'm kicking myself for it, but I'm kind of... relieved? That Jiraiya is gone. Okay not so much that he specifically is gone, I mean Jiraiya's a great character, but that the bad guys finally have a win. I know Naruto's the kind of manga where the good guys always win in the end, but it gets so repetetive if the good guys win 100% of the time right off the bat. Plus they're always playing up how absolutely POWERFUL akatsuki are but yet they pretty much always lose, if Pain, who's the freaking leader lost that easily I'd be severely disappointed I guess?

Agh I sound so heartless. I'm way too much of an Akatsukitard at heart

I can't believe you're relieved, cool. Not because it makes you sound heartless (it doesn't; your reasons are valid) but because ever since the heart-to-heart with Tsunade the Manga has all but screamed 'this is it for the J-man'. There was no way The Toad Sage was coming back from this one.
I was surprised that even though I've been fully expecting this for weeks, when the moment finally came I still got teary-eyed.

I'm more in suspense right now about Naruto finding out his mentor died than about the true identity of Pain-whoever-he-is.


Random note Anime wise - I want Sai's magic scroll of rats. That boy shouldn't talk, he should just draw.

Okay...this just isn't right...Jiraaaaaaaaiyaaaaaaaaa! Sorry....*sniff* but I love Jiraiya...though Cool's right, it's a change of pace for the bad guys to win

I cried too!! Jiraiya was my favorite pervert in all of anime, and I really, REALLY hate perverts but I LOVED Jiraiya.

Seriously, Deidara's dead, Jiraiya's dead, kunoichi's still suck, the manga is loosing it's appeal to me.

And what really sucks... I read this and afterwards watched The Western Air Temple. I won't give away any spoilers, but a frog appeared in the episode and... It was jus too soon!!

*Hugs everybody*
Yeah... I think I understand, coollop. And as Beruthiel said, the manga was practically screaming that this was Jiraiya's swan (or toad?) song. Still... he will be missed.

@Freakish: I think characters are dying off because Naruto is in its final stages. It just feels like things are coming together now instread of expanding-- the new stuff we learn is slowly filling in all the missing pieces of info and everything is converging, and the focus is more and more on Naruto himself.