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."

"If you kill someone, someone else will kill you... this hatred binds us together."

"I want you to feel pain, to think about pain, to accept pain, to know pain.""

- ~Nagato (Pain)

Nagato, better known as Pain, was the recognized leader of Akatsuki and Amegakure (the Hidden Village of the Rain) and a major antagonist in the Naruto series. While he maintained authority over the organization, he in fact followed Madara Uchiha's orders. Although his last name was never revealed, he was stated to be a descendant of the Uzumaki Clan, making him a distant relative of the serie's primary protagonist Naruto Uzumaki.

Background
Nagato was born in a village near Amegakure. He and his parents lived a difficult life in a country devastated by war, as the neighbouring Ninja Nations used it as the battlefield for the Second Great Ninja War. One day, two ninjas from Konohagakure (the Hidden Village of the Leaf) broke into their home looking for food, unaware that the place was still inhabited. Nagato's parents attacked the two so that Nagato could escape, only to be mistaken for enemies and slain. In his grief, Nagato awakened the Rinnegan, and unknowingly killed the assailants. He would come to consider his parents' death the first great pain of his life.

Nagato wandered the country, going from house to house asking for food. In time, he met a stray dog whom he named Chibi, and later Konan and Yahiko, two orphans who soon became his best friends. The three often spoke about their hopes, Nagato being inspired by Yahiko's dream of conquering the world to make it better. One day, Chibi got killed in the crossfire from the fight between Hanzō (the extremely powerful lord of Amegakure) and Tsunade, Jiraiya and Orochimaru. (Three powerful ninjas from Konoha, who would from then on be remebered as the Sannin or "Legendary Ninjas".) Soon after the end of the war, the three orphans ran into the Sannin and asked them to teach them ninjutsu. Jiraiya then decided to teach the three how to look after themselves.

Jiraiya began living with the orphans but was reluctant to turn them into warriors, until the day when Nagato and Yahiko were attacked by a ninja from Iwagakure. (the Hidden Village of Rocks.) Nagato once again activated his Rinnegan and killed the Ninja in self-defence. When Jiraiya found out about this, he decided to train them for good, but Nagato was very emotional about killing the ninja, and asked Jiraiya for advices. In response, Jiraiya told him to never loose sigtht of what is important to him and to use his eyes to find the peace that they both desired for the world. Three years later the orphans had become competent ninjas, so Jiraiya returned home.

Over the years, Nagato, Konan and Yahiko became full-fledged Amegakure Ninjas and began a quest to find peace. News of their exploits would reach Jiraiya, until he heard that they had all died. They gathered followers who shared their philosophies of an end to war, leading to the creation of Akatsuki. (Though Madara Uchiha claims that he influenced the group's creation.) Hanzō, viewed the group as a threat to his rule over Amegakure and schemed to destroy it. He lured them in an ambush and captured Konan, forcing Nagato to either kill Yahiko or watch her die. Not wanting Nagato to make a choice, Yahiko impaled himself on his friend's kunai. With his dying breath, Yahiko told Nagato to survive, because he believed in Jiraiya's words that Nagato would become the world's saviour. This would become the second great pain of Nagato's life.

Hanzō then used an explosive spell that crippled Nagato's legs, and ordered his men to slaughter the group. Devastated, Nagato retrieved Konan and summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to kill all but Hanzō, at the price of becoming frail and emaciated, with numerous Chakra Rods embedded in his back. Yahiko's body would later be incorporated into the Six Paths of Pain as the Deva Path.

Nagato then took command of Akatsuki and defected from Amegakure, rumours spreading about the three's death. Upon adopting the alias "Pain", he led the rebelling forces in the Amegakure civil war, and took control of the village by murdering Hanzō in revenge. He then solidified his rule by systematically killing anyone who had ties to the former lord. At some point he met Madara Uchiha, who manipulated his hatred to make him his subordinate and to turn Akatsuki into a mercenary group made of very powerful S Rank criminals, using Amegakure as his base of operations. From then on, Nagato posed as a God and made the villagers rever him as such.

Appearance
Nagato was a pale-skinned man with chin-length dark red hair whose most noticeable trait was his Rinnegan eyes. As a child, his hair would regularly hang off his face blocking the view of his eyes. Nagato grew into a tall and well-built man, but summoning the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path reduced him into a withered version of his former self with chakra receivers implanted into his back and smaller ones in his forearms. Nagato used a six-legged mechanical walker for mobility, which also enabled him to transmit his chakra (ki) toward long distances.

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. That's the truth." - 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 serious, aloof, 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 his eye power, the legendary Rinnegan. (Samsara Eye) This power was originally possessed by the Sage of the Six Paths, the world's first ninja and the founder of modern ninjutsu. The Rinnegan's abilities enable Nagato to physically see the 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.

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.

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.

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 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 (Celestial Attraction) This spell 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 (Celestial Repulsion) This spell 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 (Celestial Plantetary Devastation) Nagato's most powerful spell 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 spells rendered the Deva Path close to invicible but it had a weak point: after using his power over gravity, the Deva Path was unable to use it again for a length of time determined by the amount of energy 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.

Asura Path (Shurado)
The Asura Path of Pain (Divine War-Demon Realm) 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 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 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 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. 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.

Spells
Nagato was seen casting numerous spells 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.

In Naruto
Nagato first appeared under his "Pain" persona as the faceless, yet-unammed leader of Akatsuki. He was seen as an astral projection when convening the Akatsuki members whenever they sealed a Taild Demon. He often disciplined his subordinate and explained them the organization's goals of dominating the war business to weaken the Ninja Villages and take over the world. As the story went on, portions of his face were shown before culminating in his full debut.

Hunt for Itachi Arc
Shortly after Deidara's death, Madara Uchiha instructed Pain to capture Naruto Uzumaki, the series' primary protagonist and jinchūriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. However, Pain detected Jiraiya infiltrating the village before he could depart.

He sent Konan to distract Jiraiya while he switched to his Animal Path, before confronting his old master. During the battle, he revealed his goal to use the nine Tailed Demons to create a spell as destructive as a nuclear bomb, which he would give to every nation. The sheer desolation caused by this spell would then scare the world away from war, at least for a few decades.

It wasn't until Jiraiya activated his Sage Mode and summoned the Elder Toads Shima and Fukasaku to his aid that Pain revealed two more of his bodies: the Preta Path and the Human Path, forcing Jiraya to flee within some tunnels. The Elders then trapped the Paths of Pain in a powerful illusion, before Jiraiya pierced them through the heart with a giant sword.

As Jiraiya prepared to head back to Konoha, the Asura Path attacked him from behind, severing his left arm. He then witnessed the Six Paths of Pain attacking him together. He did manage to incapacitate the Animal Path and sent it to Konoha through a toad, also recognizing all the six Paths as ninjas he had met before. Pain eventually killed his former master by crushing his throat and impaling him multiples times, but Jiraiya, who had understood the secret behind the Six Paths, used his last strenghts to leave a coded message on Fukasaku's back. Fukasaku managed to escape from Pain and reach Konoha as Jiraiya's corpse sank into the watery depths of the battlefield. Afterwards, Pain held a moment of silence in respect for his former teacher.

Six-Tailed Beast Filler-Arc
In the anime, after getting a replacement for the Animal Path, Pain was shown to have been assigned to capture the Six-Tailed Demon Slug, which was sealed within Utakata, a desertor from Kirigakure. (the Hidden Village of the Mist.) The Animal Path had his Multi-Headed Hound scout the area, where it found and killed a group of Kirigakure ninjas. After finding him, the Asura Path then fired its missiles at Utakata, trapping the young man beneath a rock slide and allowing the Deva Path to capture him.

This is quite inconsistent towards the manga, in which Akatsuki already already had all the Tailed Demons but the last two at that point.

Invasion of Pain Arc
Pain and Konan set out for Konoha, eliminating the border guards upon their arrival. The Asura Path launched the Animal Path inside the village, so that the wards would notice only one intruder, to summon the rest of them inside. The Asura, Preta, and Animal Paths served as diversions, while Konan and the Deva, Human, and Naraka Paths looked for Naruto. The Deva Path was eventually confronted by Kakashi Hatake. (Naruto's teacher.) The Asura Path came to its aid and together they overwhelmed Kakashi's team at the cost of the Asura Path's destruction, forcing Kakashi to sacrifice his life to protect one of his allies.

As Pain was spreading destruction all over the village, the Deva Path met with Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, who refused to reveal Naruto's location. When the Human Paths learnt Naruto's location, Pain declared that Konoha would learn the pain they had been so ignorant of, using Shinra Tensei to obliterate the village while Konan and the other Paths withdrew.

Shortly after, Naruto returned, having mastered the Senjutsu Arts and gained enough power to challenge Pain. He swiftly crushed the newly restored Asura Path, then the Animal Path's summons with the aid of his toads allies, before defeating the Preta Path. Soon afterwards, he eliminated the Human Path with his most powerful technique, the Rasenshuriken, and trapped the Animal Path inside the mouth of the Great Toad Gamabunta to destroy it.

With four of the Paths gone, the Deva Path attacked Naruto at close range while the Naraka Path restored the Preta Path to counter Naruto's Rasenshurikens. Naruto used a diversion to destroy the Naraka Path, but the Deva Path used his power so that the Preta Path could capture him. However, absorbing too much senjutsu chakra turned it to stone. Naruto escaped its clutches, but was seized once again by the Deva Path, who pinned him to the ground with fragments of a chakra disruption blade and killed Fukasaku to prevent him from using his spell of illusion.

Pain then lectured Naruto about the suffering and war that the ninja system brought to the world, and his plans to achieve peace. He asked if Naruto could think of a better solution, knowing that he could not. Before Pain could take Naruto away, Hinata Hyūga came to his defence. She confessed her love for Naruto and engaged the villain, but was quickly struck down. (In the anime, she knows that she stands no chance and instead attempts to free Naruto.)

Believing her to be dead, an enraged Naruto unleashed the Demon Fox's power up to his six-tailed form. Knowing that the Deva Path could not compete in his current condition, Nagato had it retreat closer to his real self's location. This allowed the Deva Path to use Chibaku Tensei, trapping Naruto in a massive sphere of debris. Yet, Naruto broke free when he turned into an unprecidented eight-tailed form. Naruto, who managed to repress the Demon Fox thanks to the spirit of his father, the fabled Fourth Hokage, emerged from the sphere.

Reflecting on the earlier lecture, Naruto demanded an opportunity to speak with Nagato, only for the Deva Path to attack him. By taking advantage of the five second gap between the Deva Path's ability, Naruto was able to defeat it once and for all and removed its chakra receivers. Using the incoming chakra transmission to track down Nagato, he then discovered his hiding place and confronted him and Konan.

Nagato pierced Naruto with a Chakra Disruption Blade, but Naruto was able to resist his chakra. 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 revived al the Konoha citizens he killed during his invasion. The strain of the technique cost Nagato his life, and with his final breath he wished for Naruto's dream of peace to come true.

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.

The Fourth Great Ninja War
Nagato was resurrected by Orochimaru's successor Kabuto Yakushi, alongside countless very powerful ninjas to serve Akatsuki in the war against the Ninja Alliance. He was paired with Itachi, who helped him walk and with whom he had a talk about how they were manipulated all their life, and afterlife, because of their immense power.

Shortly After, they engaged a fight against Naruto and Killer Bee, while he was pleased to see Naruto again. Since Nagato could not walk on his own, he used his summons as mounts to fight. After Itachi got freed from Kabuto's control, Nagato's consciousness was desactivated. He hid in his chameleon's mouth to land a powerful surprise attack and absorbed Killer Bee's Demon Ox's chakra, rejuvenating his body back to its peak condition. He then captured Naruto with his invisible chameleon and proceeded to remove his soul, to store it in the King of Hell, while easily subduing Killer Bee by growing two of the Asura Path's mechanical arms. After the two Jinchurikis were saved by Itachi, Nagato cast Chibaku Tensei, but the three managed to destroy the Black Orb before it was too late and Itachi sealed Nagato soul forever with the powers of his own Susanoo summon. Before Nagato's undead corpse crumbled to dust, he bade farewell to Naruto and wished him to triumph.