Nagato

, is the recognized leader of Akatsuki and a missing-nin from Amegakure. He is referred to as "leader" by all Akatsuki members except for Konan, who refers to him by his name. Although he directs the actions of the other members and maintains authority over them, Pein takes orders from Tobi, who is actually Madara Uchiha. In addition to acting as Akatsuki's leader, Pein was the leader of the winning faction in the Land of Rain's latest civil war.

Background
He is at first believed to be a boy named Nagato, who, like Konan, and Yahiko were orphans from Amegakure, forcing them to fend for themselves. The three eventually encountered the Sannin, who at first where less than willing to help them. Orochimaru even suggested to kill them as they were orphans of war and as such would only live their lives full of misery. Jiraiya however decided he would care for the three and took them in. One day for dinner, Nagato cried because eating dinner together reminding him of his family and later that night he ran away with Yahiko.

The two where attacked by a Rock shinobi, who injured Yahiko. Seeing this, Nagato activated his Rin'negan, and killed the Rock Chunin, a feat that is normally impossible for someone who has never trained as a ninja or never had any military training or martial arts training. Jiraiya decided then and there he would train them in ninjutsu. Nagato was very emotional about killing the shinobi, and asked Jiraiya for help so he can protect Konan and Yahiko, where Jiraiya said he must grow up. After three years, Jiraiya felt they were strong enough to fend for themselves and told the three he will see them again when they grow into adults. Jiraiya believed Nagato to have died with the others under unexplained circumstances, but has told Konan whenever their names were mentioned outside their village, it was always about someone being killed when they opposed them.

Pein has since led one side of Amegakure to taking over the village and has become a sort of god in that village. When Madara Uchiha founded Akatsuki is unknown but Pein is situated within Amegakure. The members of Pein's faction wear their Amegakure forehead protectors with a scratch through it the way the full members of Akatsuki do.

Akatsuki's Goal
For the most part, Pein has kept away from active Akatsuki business, only revealing himself whenever they have captured a tailed beast and even then he only appears as a shadowy illusion. However after Deidara's suicide, Pein was ordered by Tobi that it is his mission to now capture the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Before the mission could begin however, Jiraiya infiltrated the village to try to get more information on the Akatsuki. After feeling this threat because it disturbed his rain, Pein sent Konan to deal with it while he changed bodies. When Jiraiya fought Konan, Pein appeared with murderous intent, his eyes set on Jiraiya.

During the first half of his battle with Jiraiya, Pein fought the Sannin off with unique summons. It wasn't until Jiraiya activated Sage Mode and summoned two toads to help him fight did Pein reveal two more of his bodies and quickly began to fight Jiraiya back. Jiraiya attempted to bring down all three of the bodies using the toad elders to preform a genjutsu, then pierced each body through the heart with a giant sword. When Jiraiya prepared to go back to Konoha, Pein reappeared and attacked him, cutting off his left arm. When Jiraiya looked back up, he looked at the Six Paths of Pain, and all six bodies attacked. Not long after, Jiraiya managed to kill the long haired body of Pein, only to have his throat impaled by the other five. As Jiraiya died, he sent the message of Pein's identity. Though the toad escaped, Pein called for Zetsu to come out and filled him in on his order to hunt the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.

Personality
Nagato possessed a kind, yet confused personality. He desired to help those he cared about, but never knew how. This is nothing like Pein's personality. Like many Akatsuki, Pein has a calm, serious, and cold personality. He also possesses a great deal of arrogance, believing himself to be a god and the only person who understands the world around him. His main belief is that pain is the only way to understand the world, and anyone who doesn't can't grow. According to him, if pain is felt by all, the world will stop their conflicts.

Abilities
Although he has not been seen in battle until his battle with Jiraiya, Konan states that Pein has never lost a fight. He later proves a powerful shinobi in his fight with Jiraiya. The only named ability he is seen using, the Shapeshifting Technique, allows him to clone his subordinates using human sacrifices that they control and can use to engage enemies without risking their own lives. The clones formed are perfect copies of the original, possessing any unique genetic traits or weapons they may possess. The clone's abilities are proportionate to the amount of chakra, given to the clone. Pein has also displayed the ability to detect the movements and chakra levels of people traveling within rain, as well as the ability to control rain, such as stopping it or keeping it going for long periods of time. Pein has several bodies, apparently for different purposes, that he has stored away. He can apparently switch these bodies at will, as he switches to one body solely to kill an intruder. In all Pein has six bodies ready for use, and of the six bodies he has been seen in, the only consistent physical characteristics are a large number of piercings and his Rin'negan eyes. When he was first trained by Jiraiya, he learned. At some point, Pein learns the Summoning Technique, and appears to have made several contracts as he summons a giant crustacean, an armored chameleon, a cerberus-like creature, a large bird and probably more.

His most important technique in regards to the Akatsuki is the Illusionary Dragon Nine Consuming Seals. When used with the aid of all surviving Akatsuki members, they begin the three day trial to forcibly extract the tailed beasts from its host and forces it into a statue. There seems to be a limit on which tailed beast they can seal at once however as they are unable to seal the demon fox without sealing the other beasts as it would destroy the statue, possibly freeing all the captured beasts.

It should be noted several of Pein's body's bare resemblances to other characters. When a series of manga scans went on the internet as spoiler scans, a large number of fans mistook the summoner body for Deidara, as they have similar, yer mirrored hairstyles. The body of Yahiko which was seen as the astral projection form gave fans the impression that Minato Namikaze was the leader of Akatsuki. One of the bodies (second from the left) hs hair in a similar style to Kisame Hoshigaki and the body shown second from the right has some physical resemblances to Orochimaru (albiet mild ones) When all six bodies are together he calls it. Each one of Pein's bodies appear to have a special ability, one being able to absorb ninjutsu, another capable of using many summons, and a third body is able to use his arm as a missle-like attack, all of which with the Rin'negan. In addition, each body also wields a long sword-like weapon that can disrupt chakra. The body he uses most of the time when not in battle has been recognized as Yahiko's body by Jiraiya, even though Pein insists that Yahiko is dead. One of Pein's body's interestingly enough, is often shown with his eyes closed (shown at second from the right), which is due to a jutsu done by Jiraiya to block out his eyes.

Jiraiya also remembers fighting the summoner Pein before who was once a Fuma clan member. All of Pein's bodies have been recognized as shinobi Jiraiya has encountered before, shortly after the Great Toad Sage's prophecy.