Nagato

"We are but men, drawn to act in the name of revenge we deem to be "justice". But when we call our vengeance "justice", it only breeds more revenge ... forging the first link in the chains of hatred."

- Nagato (Pain) "If you kill someone, someone else will kill you... this hatred binds us together."

- Nagato (Pain) "I am Pain, I am God."

- Nagato's quote as Pain when introducing himself

Nagato, better known as Pain, is the apparent leader of Akatsuki and the lord of Amegakure (the Hidden Village of the Rain), who served as a major antagonist in the Naruto series. While he seemed to control the organization, he was in fact Tobi's second-in-command & pawn. He is a member of the scattered Uzumaki Clan, making him a distant relative of the series' primary protagonist Naruto Uzumaki.

Background
Nagato was born in a village near Amegakure, living a difficult life during the Second Shinobi War. By that time, Nagato found by Madara Uchiha who transplanted his eyes into the boy without him realizing it. One day, two Hidden Leaf Ninjas broke into their home looking for food, unaware that the place was still inhabited. Nagato's parents, believing them to be enemies, got themselves killed attacking the two so their son can escape. This event, memorized as the first of his three greatest pains, causes Nagato's Rinnegan to manifest as he unknowingly killed the assailants. Soon after, accompanied by a dog named Chibi, Nagato wanted the country while begging for food.

Eventually, Nagato was found by Konan as she and Yahiko accepted him into their group. Soon after, hearing Yahiko's dream to conquer the world and make it better, Nagato is inspired to make it a reality. The day Chibi died in the crossfire from the fight between Amegakure's dictator Hanzo against the three Hidden Leaf ninja he christened the Sannin, Nagato and his friends came apprentices until one of the three ninja: Jiraiya. Witnessing Nagato's Rinnegan killing a ninja from Iwagakure in self-defense, Jiraiya resolved to help Nagato master his powers so he can achieve world peace. Three years later, Jiraiya returned to his homeland while the orphans became full-fledged Amegakure ninja. However, Nagato and his friends encounter a strange man calling himself "Madara" and his traveling companion. Though the unconvinced Yahiko took Nagato and Konan away from him, the former curious by the stranger's knowledge of the Rinnegan, the figure promised to wait for Nagato until he and friends understand his way of thinking.

In time, Yahiko gathered followers who shared their philosophies for peace to create the Akatsuki. However, Hanzo viewed the organization and it's three leading ninja as a threat to him. With aid from Danzo Shimura, Hanzo lured Nagato and his friends into an ambush with Konan held captive and the only way she would be saved is if Nagato murders Yahiko. Not wanting Nagato to make a choice, Yahiko impaled himself on his friend's kunai while believing he can save the world like Jiraiya believed him to do.

With the death of his friend memorized as his second greatest pain, Nagato snaps as his Rinnegan fully manifest while he subconsciously summons the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Becoming frail and emaciated as the staute attaches chakra rods on his back, Nagato slaughters Hanzo's men and the accompanying ROOT agents before Hanzo escapes using a paper bomb that crippled his enraged pursuer from the waist down. Though his rage subsided, Nagato came to the realization that the only way the world can be at peace is for it to suffer. Soon after, he becomes the new leader of the Akatsuki under the name of Pain.

However, due to his condition requiring him to be in a walker, Nagato devised a means to transfer a sixth of his power into a corpse which he can control remotely as an extension of himself. That corpse was Yahiko, through which the powers of the Deva Path are used through. With a mobile body, Pain causes a civil war that ended with him killing Hanzo and taking over Amegakure while solidifying his rule by systematically killing anyone who had ties to the former lord. Soon after, Nagato added five more corpses to serve as his remaining vessels to use the power of his other Paths through. Nagato later meets the figure once more, now going by the alias Tobi as he manipulates Nagato to serve under him as a figurehead of the reorganized Akatsuki.

Plot
Using Yahiko as his usual vessel before the other Akatsuki members, Nagato oversaw the organization's agendas as Pain with only Konan and Tobi aware of his true body. Shortly after Deidara's death, Tobi instructed Pain to capture Naruto Uzumaki to obtain Kurama the Nine-Tails. However, Pain detected Jiraiya infiltrating the village before he could depart. Sending Konan to distract Jiraiya before he arrived in his Animal Path body, Pain confronts their old master while revealing his intentions with the Tailed Beasts to create a weapon of mass destruction to force all nations to unconditionally surrender. When Jiraiya activated his Sage Mode, Pain eventually uses all of his Path vessels to battle Jiraiya.

Recognizing his opponents as ninja he met before, Jiraiya is fatally wounded when the Paths all lunged at him and impaling him multiple times just as he realized Nagato's method of controlling the corpses. However, with the last of strength so the Hidden Leaf learn of his finding, Jiraiya sent a coded message and an unconscious Animal Path to Konoha. After Jiraiya sank into the depths of the sea, Pain held a moment of silence in respect for his former teacher. Soon after obtaining a replacement for the Animal Path, as shown in the anime, Pain captures the Six Tails Jinchuriki Utakata before he and Konan are deployed to capture Naruto.

While Nagato hid away, he sent his Paths and Konan into the Hidden Leaf, where they slaughtered various ninja including Kakashi Hatake. Using his Deva Path, Path confronts Tsunade and attempts to force her into revealing Naruto's locations. But when Tsunade refuses and calls him a terrorist, Pain decides to educate the Hidden Leaf in suffering by using a Shinra Tensei to obliterate the village as Konan and the other Paths withdrew while Tsunade overexerted herself to exhaustion to minimize the damage by the time Naruto arrived.

Though having gained Sage Mode, destroying the other Paths, Naruto finds himself outmatched by Pain and his Deva Path abilities before Hinata Hyuga attempted to fight Pain and got herself killed as Naruto, learning of her true feelings for him, was consumed in Kurama's power to the point the Nine Tails almost broke free. This forces Nagato to get Yahiko's corpse closer to him so Pain can have a better chance of winning. Fortunately, a failsafe of the seal in the form of Naruto's, the fabled Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze, took effect. Reflecting on the earlier lecture, after defeating Pain, Naruto tracks Nagato and finds him as he attempted to take control of his body. Despite hating Nagato, Naruto held his ground and asked how a former student of Jiraiya could have strayed so far from their master's teachings. Hoping that Naruto would come to agree with his solution for peace, Nagato told him of the tragic past he shared with his childhood friends.

Although Naruto agreed with Nagato's conclusion, he rejected it for differing with Jiraiya's ideals. Believing that peace would come by "breaking the cycle of hatred", he decided not to kill Nagato, as that would only lead Konan to seek revenge, and in turn, lead others to seek revenge. Amazed by Naruto's resolve and remembering Jiraiya's teachings, Nagato decided to put his faith in Naruto's method and sacrifices his own life to revive all the Konoha citizens he killed during his invasion.

In the aftermath, Konan encased Nagato and Yahiko's bodies in paper and took them back to Amegakure for burial. She leaved Akatsuki and pledged Amegakure's allegiance to Naruto and Konoha on behalf of Nagato, giving him a bouquet of origami flowers as a memento. However, while brought back to life by Kabuto Yakushi using the Reanimation Jutsu, Tobi ransacked the memorial in Amegakure to take Nagato's Rinnegan eyes and implant one into himself.

The Fourth Great Ninja War
As the Fourth Great Ninja War commences, still unable to walk, Nagato is paired with Itachi as they discussed the the fact is that they are both pawns who are valued for their eyes. Shortly after, they engaged a fight against Naruto and Killer Bee, while he was pleased to see the former again. Due to immobility, Nagato uses his Animal Path powers to summon mounts to fight.

During the fight, Nagato manages to absorb Gyuki's chakra to rejuvenate his body back to its peak condition and fight at his full power. However, Itachi manages to free himself from Kabuto's control and help the Jinchuriki in defeating Nagato by sealing Nagato with his Susanoo. Before Nagato's undead corpse crumbled to dust, he bade farewell to Naruto and hopes for him to win.

Rock Lee & his Ninja Pals
Although Nagato himself doesn't appear in the spin-off in person, he appeared most likely in his Deva Path appearance, still using his Pain persona & is still portrayed as Akatsuki's leader. He first appeared in the ending credits after Lee unintentionally fell into their hideout, which annoys him & then orders his teammates to attack Lee but is saved by Konoha 11. Later, Pain debuted in Episode 38 wherein he arrived at his hideout alongside with Konan. Tenten was shocked by his arrival. Much like his other teammates, he also mistook Lee as a new recruit. After Konan gives her welcome gift, Pain steps by to introduce himself but accidently trips from a small rock. He stands up and introduces himself and says he is a god, wherein Lee & Tenten thinks he's nuts while Hidan starts to make fun of him, whom he gives a Shinra Tensei. Later Pain explains to the group that he gathered them all here to have a meeting but then decided to see Lee's abilities, wherein Hidan mistook this for a Jashin ritual, whom he gives another Shinra Tensei. He decided to make anybody to volunteer to fight him, Deidara steps up and volunteers to "fight" him, actually to secretly help them escape, but was interrupted by a disguised Guy and Neji. While the two are "fighting" using their same-styled attack, Deidara was hit by the "fight" which starts a fight among the group, Kakuzu tries to payback Sasori for unintentionally dragging him but accidently hits Pain, alongside with Hidan, much to his anger & fights his teammates, thus destroying their hideout. Later after Tobi & Zetsu arrived and Sasori blames him for "recruiting" Lee & Guy, Tobi admits the truth about them. Upon hearing this, he angrily ask Tobi why didn't he told them in the first place. The good boy explains that Deidara bribed him. Upon learning the truth, he alongside with the rest of Akatsuki beats up Deidara for not telling Lee was a spy.

In Episode 51, Sasuke teams up with Akatsuki to destroy Konoha. Pain is seen with Konan and Kakuzu fighting Team Asuma. Konan and Kakuzu are shown to be defeated but his fate is not shown.

Personality
"If you don't share someone's pain, you can never understand them. But just because you understand them doesn't mean you can come to an agreement."

- Nagato (to Naruto)

Nagato used to be a kind, emotional and sensitive boy, who was prone to crying and could not stand the idea of killing others, even to save his friends. He regarded his friends and his master as examples and worked hard to emulate them, displaying a strong dedication in his training. He admired Yahiko's strong-will and determination, and he called Konan his "angel". Due to their lifelong friendship, Konan became his right-hand woman and was the only Akatsuki member that addressed him by his name or his alias.

As Pain, his personality was very different, having become dead-serious, calm, aloof, stolid, melancholic and detached. He believed that the traumas he experienced had enlightened him to the true meaning of suffering, and made him evolve beyond his human condition, as he considered himself a deity. (He proclaimed himself a "God of Peace" who must guide the world through pain.) He destroyed all opposition and murdered anyone whom he regarded as an obstacle, showing no moral qualms about his actions. (To the point of willingly killing Jiraiya, who no longer meant anything for him.) Finally, he felt that no-one could understand true peace unless they understood "true" pain, something Yahiko believed, and took this philosophy to an extreme, making sure that anyone he spoke to would see what they hold dear destroyed before their very eyes. He seemed extremely sensitive when it came to talk about pain and violently reacted whenever someone claimed to know about it, or criticized his ideology.

Because Konoha was partly responsible for the tragedies in his life, he held some form of animosity for the village. Although Jiraiya's influence improved his opinion of the village during their time together, he eventually came to believe that Konoha profited from the tragedies of others and grew to fully hate it. He was especially irked by their patronizing discourses about peace, considering it a permanent agression.

Nonetheless, "Pain" was quite respectful, particularly to the fallen and the dead. He often restrained the frequent bickering in Akatsuki's ranks and encouraged better relations among its members. He even suggested that they mourn for their fallen comrades, reprimanding those who made fun of their memories.

After redeeming himself, Nagato turned back to his childhood dreams. His respect for Jiraiya returned tenfold and he embraced Naruto's ideals of breaking the chain of hatred. He also developped a melacholic side, contemplating the errors of his ways and going as far as calling himself a "failure".

Powers and Abilities
Nagato was an extraordinarily powerful shinobi, even above the five Kage. (The lords of the five greatest Ninja Nations, known as the most powerful ninjas in the world.) He was not only one of the mightiest ninjas of the series, but the one with the largest array of abilites, making him versatile and unpredictable. His powers were so great that he could effortlessly kill Hanzō and Jiraiya, two exceptionally powerful ninjas feared worldwide. (Although he stated he might have lost if Jiraiya knew the secret of his power.) It has also been noted at several points in time that Nagato possessed an unusually large amount of exceptionally strong chakra.

The Rinnegan
Nagato's incredible might stemmed mainly from the legendary Rinnegan, a originally possessed by the Sage of the Six Paths, though his eyes were given to him in secret by Madara. The Rinnegan's abilities enable Nagato to physically see chakra, to use the five elemental natures of chakra and to master any normal technique he came across. More importantly, the Rinnegan granted him six fearsome special powers created by the Sage of the Six Paths. Nagato could alternate between each of these powers and even use two of them simultaneously. It also allows him to summon the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.

The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path
This titanic, otherworldly statue is the first and foremost summon available to the one who wields the Rinnegan.

The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was first seen serving as a motionless container, used to extract the Tailed Demons from their Jinchurikis (human hosts) and to store them within it. It could also be summoned for warring purposes. Its was first seen unleashing many dragon-like spirits that rips out the soul of anyone they touch and absorb it, killing the victim. The Statue also recently displayed the abilities to fight like a humanoid warrior with astonishing strength, to unleash devastating, blasting shockwaves or huge bolts of energy that rain down on its targets.However it was reavled that the Demonic Statue is actually the vessal for the Ten-Tails.

Six Paths of Pain
Nagato's most dangerous and most used technique was the Six Paths of Pain. It allowed him to divide his consciousness between six separate corpses, which he animated and remotely controlled through the numerous chakra receivers, modeled as body piercings of various size and shape on each corpse. Each of these Six Paths were impervious to physical pain and wielded one of Nagato's special powers, which gave it its name. In order to use this technique, Nagato needed to be close by, and ideally at the highest possible point, so he could have the best possible range to transmit his chakra to the corpses.

While controlling them, Nagato used the alias "Pain", yet still regarded them as separate entities from himself. The Elder Toad Fukasaku stated the best way of fighting Pain was to take out the paths one at a time as they were most formidable when fighting together in combos. Indeed, they could simultaneously use and combine Nagato's powers to increase their efficiency. Nagato was even able to see through their six pairs of eyes simultaneously, rendering them unable to be caught by surprise as long as they fought in formation.

Each body was named after one of the six paths of Reincarnation from the Buddhist mythology: Deva, Asura, Human, Animal, Preta, and Naraka. The only common feature shared by these bodies was their bright orange hair and their Rinnegan. They also had a vast number of body and facial piercings of various shapes, sizes, and patterns.As Stated By Konan Nagato can use all the Six Bodies powers as they were orginally his this was demostrated when he was revived by kabuto he used all the rinnegan abilities against Naruto and Bee it was also on a higher level than the corpses use.

Deva Path (Tendo)
The Deva Path of Pain (God's Realm - Realm of Bliss) was Nagato's most used and most treasured Path, which was created from the dead body of none other than Yahiko, Nagato's and Konan's best friend. Nagato used this Path on a daily basis, practically living through it. Because of this, this Path was the only one seen using other spells and techniques than the special power it was granted, and likely the only one able to do so.

The Deva Path was by far the mightiest of all six in terms of strength, chakra level and fighting skills. It wielded Nagato's special power to control gravity, which enabled it to perform telekynesis and to levitate at will, and was the source of his three major spells:


 * Banshô Ten'in (Universal Pull) This jutsu pulls anything towards the Deva Path with variable intensity. It was mostly used to attract the target at close range to deliver an unavoidable fatal strike, but it served also to attract something towards the target or different targets at the same time to make them collide violently.
 * Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push) This jutsu blows anything away from the Deva Path with variable strength; either as a shockwave all around the Deva Path or as a frontal blast. It could be used for defence, to deflect every kind of attack, or offence, to blow up everything in its field of action. When Nagato gathered all the chakra from his other Paths into the Deva Path, it could use Shinra Tensei to its maximum scale and obliterate everything within an immense area, though it cost a great deal of Nagato's energy.
 * Chibaku Tensei (Planetary Devastation) Nagato's most powerful jutsu. It hurls a black orb of energy into the sky, where it attracts everything around from all directions (landscape included) at a very fast rate; compressing it together to form an immense sphere in which anyone gets crushed to dust, and leaving an equally big crater behind. The Deva Path could only use this spell near the real Nagato's location and put a heavy strain on him.

These jutsu rendered the Deva Path close to invicible but it had a weak point: after using his chakra over gravity, the Deva Path was unable to use it again for a length of time determined by the amount of chakra used (the minimum being five seconds) leaving it open for an attack. The Deva Path was by no mean defenceless though, as it could still use its incredible fighting skills and was usually protected by the other Paths. In the anime, the Deva Path was also seen using Water-based techniques, (a violent gush of water and a huge tidal wave erupting from the ground) likely stemming from Yahiko's elemental affinity as he was a Water Style user.

Asura Path (Shurado)
The Asura Path of Pain (Divine War-Demon Realm) was once a puppeteer that Jiraya encounter wielded Nagato's special power to duplicate its body parts and to transform them into mechanical ones, filled with chakra-powered weapons. When fully transformed, it ressembled a three-faced, six-armed humanoid. Its power made the Asura Path the physically strongest and the most resilient of all six, able to toss someone dozens of meters in the air and to still function when half destroyed. It was arguably the second most powerful and dangerous Path of Pain, and without a doubt the most versatile, being able to:


 * Focus its chakra on its feet to propel himself forward in a rection plane-fashion.
 * Project a massive, long-lasting, laser-like blast of chakra that causes a devastating explosion on its wake, from a cannon hidden inside its head.
 * Unfold a large, tail-like, serrated sash from around its waist.
 * Release several long, flexible, serrated blades from its arms.
 * Release a drill from its hands.
 * Fire off its left forearms like a rocket.
 * Turn one of its arms into a cannon, similar to the one in its head, only bigger and possibly even more powerful.
 * Separate on of its arms (still linked by a bone-like pole) to reveal many fast-moving, mechanical tentacles.
 * Pull out one of its arms to fire a barrage of guided missiles of great destructive power. It could also fire these missiles to a much larger extent from all parts of its body at once.
 * Fire a single, bigger and more destructive homing missile from its back.

Human Path (Ningendo)
The Human Path of Pain was once a teacher and ninja of the waterfull village wielded Nagato's special power of Soul Removal. By grabbing its victims' head, it could read their minds and memories, transfering the knowledge gained to Nagato. By doing so, it always ended up ripping its victims' soul out of their bodies, instantly killing them. Even worse, it could extract the soul from every body part it grabbed. That is to say: anyone it caught was already as good as dead.

Moreover, the Human Path was the fastest of all six, to the point that even sensor ninjas could not immediately detect when it was coming close.

Animal Path (Shikushodo)
The Animal Path of Pain are two people one was a fuma clan ninja and the other was a young girl wielded Nagato's special power of Summonning, being able to summon many giant monsters, as well as any other Path of Pain and anyone related to Nagato, as evidenced when it summoned Konan. The summoned monsters have piercings similars to the Six Paths, implying that Nagato controlled them like he did with the Six Paths, and the Rinnegan, enabling Nagato to see through their eyes. The summoned monsters are:


 * A gigantic Hummingbird with a spear-like beak, that could move at high speed and serve as Pain's mount, attacking with dives and drill-like charges. The anime also depicts it firing explosive eggs that could be used as remote mines, and flapping its wings at high speed to produce huge lightning-filled clouds of dust behind it as it flew.


 * A gigantic Centipede (three in the anime) that could travel underground.


 * A gigantic Crustacean with enormous pincers, able to spit powerful waves of foam and watery bubbles as both a mean of attack and a smokescreen, among other Water-based attacks.


 * A gigantic Chameleon with a snake instead of its tail and a tentacle protruding from the back of its head, which it could use to bind people. Pain could hide in its mouth to be protected from his enemies. When he did this, the Chameleon turned invisible for a stealthy, near-perfect offence and defence combo, only opening its mouth when Pain unlashed an attack. The Chameleon could also fight on its own, using its invisibility to catch its targets offguard.


 * A gigantic Rhinoceros that charged forward and devastated all that stood in its path. Pain was also seen hiding in its mouth.


 * A gigantic yack-like Ram who served the same purpse as the Rhinoceros; though it was possibly faster, more precise in its charges and slightly less destructive.


 * A gigantic Panda with an extremely hard and sturdy skin that made it a very convenient shield.


 * A gigantic Multi-Headed Hound. Undoubtedly Pain's strongest and most fearsome summon, it could split itself between as many hounds as it had heads and fuse back together, gaining more heads everytime it did so and thus becoming more dangerous. This dividing power was activated whenever the Hound was attacked, meaning that it was virtually invincible and had to be destroyed entirely.

Preta Path (Gakido)
The Preta Path of Pain (Hungry Ghost Realm) was large, overweight and was once a ninja from the grass village he was also one of people that Jiraya had encountered,he wielded Nagato's special power of Energy Absorption. It was able to absorb people's chakra through physical contact, replenishing Nagato's own strength. It most often caught its targets and drained their energy until they died. Even worse, it could absorb and nullify any ninjustsu technique and attack spell within seconds, making it a very useful defence for the other Paths of Pain. By creating a barrier spell around its body, the Preta Path could absorb all chakra-based attacks from all sides.

Naraka Path (Jigokudo)
The Naraka Path of Pain (Hell Realm) was tall, bulky and very physically strong.He was once a priest that lectured about peace and one of the people Jiraya ecountered, It wielded Nagato's special power to control Life and Death through the summoning of a demon known as the King of Hell or the Outer Path. The King of Hell could only be seen by its victims, or those with special perception. It had Rinnegan, enabling Nagato to see through its eyes. The King of Hell could devour people's very life, but also restore bodies and release dead souls. Whenever the Naraka Path caught someone, the King of Hell appeared and grabbed the prisoners with tendrils from its mouth, enabling the Naraka Path to question them. Should they lie or refuse to talk, the King of Hell devoured their lives. Should they tell the truth, it released them unscathed though exhausted. Given that the King of Hell could rejuvenate all Paths of Pain that it swallowed, Nagato avoided to use in battle and always kept the Naraka Path protected by the other five.

The King of Hell can also be summoned to perform the Samsara of Heavenly Life spell; used to resurrect all the people who got killed shortly before its use, though Nagato himself is the only one able to perform this technique and the more people were resurrected, the heavier strain it put on its caster.

Jutsu
Nagato was seen casting numerous jutsu and special ninjutsu techniques that he was the only one able to use. These spells include:
 * To cause rain at will and infuse it with his own chakra, enabling him to sense the chakra of anyone and anything inside the rainy perimeter. This spell was used to watch over the entire village of Amegakure, creating a god-like omniscience and detecting stealthy infiltrations.
 * To shape-shift human sacrifices into exact doubles of a determined person, with the exact same powers and techniques. It is activated by pouring the chakra of the duplicated one into the sacrifice, determining the double's level of power by the amount of chakra used. The duplicated ones were then to remotely control their doubles, but they could do nothing but controlling the double as long as the spell worked, otherwise the spell would break.


 * To cast an astral projection of himself, and anyone who channelled their thoughts and chakra to him, in a determined place, enabling said people to interact somewhere where they were not physically present. Those using this spell must sit down and do nothing but channelling their chakra into their astral projection to maintain it.
 * To communicate telepathically with the other Akatsuki members.
 * To erect powerful psychic shields in the mind of his followers, preventing enemies from reading in their minds or hypnotising them to pry informations.


 * To create an impenetrable forcefield that prevented anyone from entering a determined place, neither by stealth nor by brute strength. This spell was activated through several paper tags set around the protected area. Taking them off usually triggerred a trap.


 * To create a perfect Doppelganger of someone, with the exact same strength, techniques, powers and weaknesses, and control it. It was usually used as a trap to fight evenly the foe who triggered it.

Chakra Disruption Blades
Each Path of Pain had at least one of these long spear-like blades with it and wielded it with immense proficiency. Even Nagato's wakling machine could shoot them like javelins. These blades were apparently created from the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and are made with the same material as the chakra recievers that covered each Path of Pain.

Nagato could infuse the body of anyone stabbed by these blades with his chakra, disrupting the victims' own chakra and hindering the use of their techniques. At close distance, he was able to overwhelm his victims with his chakra and to remotely contol their bodies as if they were another Path. The victim needed to have a chakra stronger that Nagato's to overcome this.