The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi

The was Jiraiya's first book, written while training the Ame Orphans. The story follows the adventures of a ninja named Naruto, a name Jiraiya came up with while eating ramen. Naruto never gives up and vows to break the "curse" that was mentioned in the story. The "curse" references the cycle of war that Nagato once spoke to Jiraiya about. Because of this, the book is dedicated to Nagato. Minato Namikaze notes that the Naruto in the story is very much like Jiraiya. For this reason he thought it was a very good book, though Jiraiya pointed out that it didn't sell very well.

Because he enjoyed the book so much, Minato chose to name his son after the story's Naruto in the hopes that he would grow up to be just like the protagonist. Even though Naruto was not aware of this until several years after his birth, he nevertheless is just like the protagonist. When he points this out to Nagato during the invasion of Pain, Naruto convinces him to abandon his goals of war and believe in breaking the curse like he once did.

Trivia

 * When Naruto, Nagato and Minato Namikaze (in the anime) read the book they imagined themselves as the Naruto in the book.