All this debate will ever be is hypotheticals. You debate is faulty because you're saying they weren't scared of Jiraiya and were more than willing to take him on. We've seen numerous times in this series where inferior ninja were more than willing to take on stronger opponents. Just using my favorite character as an example: Kakashi vs Orochimaru, Kakashi vs Pain. While yes, after Oro left he considered himself to be stupid, he still more than stood his ground when Oro was there.
Against Pain he even said something to the effect of "Lord Jiraiya took on 6 of these?". He knew he was inferior to Pain, even just fighting 2 paths, but that didn't change anything. No ninja will show fear(well, at least, no good ninja) when trying to complete a mission or protect their village, regardless of the opponent. The best example of that may even be Konohamaru jumping in and fighting a path of Pain.
The Jiraiya is superior side has holes as well, obviously. Things have been said in this manga that were 100% wrong later on. All people are going off is what a character said, and that's obviously not a whole lot given what this manga has shown in the past.
Also, I feel people often take Jiraiya stating he could kill them both right there the wrong way. He could kill them both right then and there because it was in the perfect situation for him. They're in an enclosed space and if it wasn't for amaterasu, it(the toad belly) does kill them. I don't think he would say the same if they were out in the open and he couldn't enclose them so easily.
Against Pain he even said something to the effect of "Lord Jiraiya took on 6 of these?". He knew he was inferior to Pain, even just fighting 2 paths, but that didn't change anything. No ninja will show fear(well, at least, no good ninja) when trying to complete a mission or protect their village, regardless of the opponent. The best example of that may even be Konohamaru jumping in and fighting a path of Pain.
The Jiraiya is superior side has holes as well, obviously. Things have been said in this manga that were 100% wrong later on. All people are going off is what a character said, and that's obviously not a whole lot given what this manga has shown in the past.
Also, I feel people often take Jiraiya stating he could kill them both right there the wrong way. He could kill them both right then and there because it was in the perfect situation for him. They're in an enclosed space and if it wasn't for amaterasu, it(the toad belly) does kill them. I don't think he would say the same if they were out in the open and he couldn't enclose them so easily.