Nagato

, or more commonly known as, is the recognized leader of the Akatsuki and Amegakure, and is a major antagonist in the series. Referred to as "Leader" by all Akatsuki members except for Konan, who refers to him by his name, he directs the actions of the others and maintains authority over them although he takes orders from Tobi, who is actually Madara Uchiha, the benefactor of Akatsuki. In addition to acting as Akatsuki's leader, Pain was the leader of the winning faction in the Land of Rain's latest civil war.

Background
The original body of Pain is a man 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 were 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 night at dinner, Nagato cried because eating together reminded him of his family, and later that night he ran away with Yahiko.

The two were attacked by a Rock chunin, who injured Yahiko. Seeing this, Nagato activated his Rinnegan, and killed the ninja, a feat that is normally impossible for someone who has never trained as a ninja or never had any military 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 would see them again when they grow into adults. Jiraiya believed Nagato to have died with the others under unexplained circumstances, but has told Konan that whenever their names were mentioned outside their village, it was always about someone being killed when they opposed them.

Pain has since led one side of the Amegakure civil-war and took over the village, he has become a greatly respected leader in that village. The members of Pain's faction wear their Amegakure forehead protectors with a scratch through it the way the full members of Akatsuki do, despite the fact that none of them are rogue ninja any more, as the scratch symbolizes, because they won the civil war.

Personality
Nagato was a sensitive but kind boy, prone to crying, and was traumatized by the idea he had killed another man, even to save his friend Yahiko. Scared and unsure of his place in the world, he desired to help those he cared about, but never knew how. Nonetheless, he became a talented and gifted student, mastering every technique Jiraiya taught him.

As Pain, his personality is very different having become a calm, serious, aloof, and detached man. Apparently believing his childhood trauma had enlightened him to the true meaning of pain and suffering, he now considers himself a deity and evolved beyond a mere human. He now seeks to show the world the meaning of suffering by using an ultimate weapon to deter future wars by means similar to "mutually assured destruction". He shows no moral qualms about his actions. He is willing to kill his own teacher in cold blood and brutally execute all of Hanzō's friends and family to ensure the Amegakure's compliance to his takeover. He even goes so far as to proclaim himself a "god of peace" come to guide the world to maturity through pain. He also feels that no one can understand peace unless they understand "true" pain, something his childhood friend Yahiko believed.

He also seems to dislike Akatsuki members insulting each other, as seen when he reprimands Kisame for calling Hidan and Kakuzu the "Zombie Brothers."

Nonetheless, he can be quite respectful, particularly to the fallen. Given Akatsuki members' frequent bickering, he often restrains them and encourages better relations between the other members, even suggesting they mourn Deidara after his passing. After his battle with Jiraiya, he holds a moment of silence for his former teacher out of respect for his power.

Pain is also very respectful and kind to his childhood friend, Konan, who has been declared his "angel". He was shown protecting her without request or hesitation from Jiraiya before his battle with his former teacher. Apparently, she is the only member of the Akatsuki that addresses him by his name, Nagato, and only Madara and herself refer to him as Pain. Their friendship may have a romantic background, but there still isn't any incontrovertible proof as of it.

Meeting
Although not seen physically, he appeared as a hologram. He stated that they couldn't afford to make any mistakes in completing their goals.

Akatsuki's Goal
For the most part, Pain 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, Pain was ordered by Tobi that it is his mission to now capture the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox (this for as-of-then unknown reasons drew an emotional response from him). 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, Pain sent Konan to deal with it while he changed bodies. When Jiraiya fought Konan, Pain appeared with murderous intent, his eyes set on Jiraiya.

Fight with Jiraiya
During the first half of his battle with Jiraiya, Pain fought the Sannin off with unique summons. It wasn't until Jiraiya activated Hermit Mode and summoned two toads to help him fight did Pain reveal two more of his bodies and quickly began to fight Jiraiya back personally. Jiraiya attempted to use the Super Great Ball Rasengan but was absorbed. Jiraiya attempted to bring down all three of the bodies using the toad elders to perform a Genjutsu, then pierced each body through the heart with a giant sword. When Jiraiya prepared to go back to Konoha, Pain 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 Animal Path, only to have his throat crushed by one and then be impaled by all five. As Jiraiya died, he sent the message of Pain's identity. Though the toad escaped, Pain called for Zetsu to come out and filled him in on his order to hunt the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.

Invasion of Pain
After the fight, Madara returns to inform Pain of Sasuke and Team Hawk going after the Eight-Tailed Beast (something Pain being doubtful that they could accomplish), and orders Pain to go after Naruto Uzumaki fast because Konoha knows he killed Jiraiya and it makes it harder to get to Naruto. When Madara leaves, Pain prepares to set out to Konoha and reveals a new body, once again completing the Six paths of Pain. When the six bodies and Konan are about to leave, Pain's Deva Path tells Konan to spare no one. After dispatching a Konaha patrol, Pain stats his plan was to use the Asura Path and Animal Path as diversions, and the Deva, Human, and Naraka Path for find Naruto. Pain used his Animal Path to fool the Konoha Barrier Team into believing there was only one invader, and summoned the other six bodies into the village and began to attack in multiple directions.

The Preta Path of Pain later enters the autopsy room where the previous Animal Path body was being examined. While he was removing the chakra receivers, he is attacked by Kiba Inuzuka, Akamaru, Tsume Inuzuka and Kuromaru. However, Preta path uses the previous Animal Path body as a shield and escapes.

Still elsewhere in the village, Pain's Human and Animal Path bodies attacked Inoichi Yamanaka, his daughter Ino, and several of Inoichi's intelligence comrades as they interrogated one of Pain's henchmen and examined his defeated body from the fight with Jiraiya. The Yamanakas and others escaped, however, when Pain's bodies were engaged by Ibiki Morino. Meanwhile, the Deva Path has found Tsunade and engages, demanding the location of Naruto. While Pain and Tsunade argue about each others ideals, the Naraka path is challenged and seemingly defeated by Konohamaru's Rasengan. Also elsewhere, Ino, Inoichi, and Shizune have deduced the secret behind Pain's six bodies. But before they could relay their theory to Tsunade, Human Path ambushes them and takes Shizune hostage, during which he discovers Naruto's location at Myobokuzan by reading Shizune's mind and transmits it to the Deva path.

Without a single hesitation, Human Path yanked Shizune's soul out while Deva path flew to the sky and form a single jutsu. It was to be noted that the jutsu was so dangerous that it would shorten Nagato's life span but in return, its power was devastating enough to destroy most of Konohagakure. As he fell to the ground, he noticed something big appear in a poof of smoke, which turned out to be Naruto along with Fukasaku, Gamakichi, Gamabunta, Gamaken, and Gamahiro. Deva Pain then prepares to confront Naruto, saying he was saved the trouble of looking for him.

Meanwhile, in the forest outside of Konoha, Naraka path restores the Asura path, who then projects the Animal path back to the ruins of Konoha, where she summoned the other four bodies together. When Tsunade, who used most of her chakra to protect the villagers, challenged him, she was attacked by the Asura Path to finish her. It failed when Naruto destroyed the Asura Path with a Rasengan.

As the fight begun, Animal Path sent the rhino, yak, and canine at Naruto, but he easily hurled them in the air and had the toads defeat them. He then got into a fist fight with Preta path but even though Naruto missed, the level of natural energy around his fist incapacitated Preta path to Pain's surprise. Finally realizing the truth, Pain deduces that Naruto is using the same Hermit Mode power Jiraiya used. He reveals to Naruto that he too was once a student of Jiraiya, further infuriating Naruto. Naruto then succeeds to take down Human path with his perfected Wind Release: Rasenshuriken. Then with the assistance of Gamabunta, Naruto also defeats Animal path. Though he lost Hermit Mode, Pain quickly tried to dispatch him but was prevented by Fukasaku who reversed summoned one of Naruto's shadow clone to reenter Hermit Mode, but failed with another Rasenshuriken due to the Preta path.

Noticing the Naraka path was alive, Naruto used a smokescreen and a Rasenshuriken to trick Pain into thinking Naruto was doing a frontal attack, when in truth he had prepared himself to crush the Naraka path with a Rasenrengan. Pain by this time has regained power and was able to repel the toads and Naruto with great ease. By using Banshō Ten'in, he forced Naruto towards himself, where the Preta path grabbed him and tried to absorb his chakra to capture him. However, due to the nature of natural chakra, he only succeeded in turning the Preta path into a toad statue.



With the Deva path the only path remaining, Pain quickly pulled and killed Fukasaku before him and Shima could finish their genjutsu. He then pulls Naruto and pins him to the ground with his Chakra Disruption Blades. Where he revealed his plans and his vision of peace. To Pain the world can never know true peace as the people in it hate each other. In the end, he will use the power of the Tailed beasts to create a weapon so powerful it would wipe out a country and people would be so frightened by it they won't start wars, until the pain of the weapon his forgotten and they use the weapon again. Pain's true body Nagato is shown, revealed to be an emaciated, sickly, and extremely weakened individual. He is seen in some sort of walker-like machine with six legs. Black poles sprout out of his back, likely related to Pain's piercings, and black cords connect his restrained arms to a beam on the wall behind him. He is together with Konan in a sort of cave. There he coughs up blood, something that makes Konan express her worries of Nagato using too much chakra, only for Nagato to proclaim that he can "see peace."

When he finished speaking, Pain stabbed Naruto with more blades, rendering him immobile to carry him back to their headquarters. Before he could however, Hinata Hyuga attacked Pain to protect Naruto, proclaiming she did because she loved him. In the end, she was quickly overpowered and stabbed in front of Naruto. Enraged, Naruto exploded into his six-tailed transformation, allowing the demon fox to attack Pain with full force. The demon fox's power was so great that it repelled Pain's Shinra Tensei causing Pain to retreat closer to his true body, Nagato. Once close enough, Pain used Chibaku Tensei to create a giant sphere of earth to capture the demon fox inside. However, inside Naruto's concisousness, the seal distorts further allowing the eight-tailed transformation form and break through the sphere. When Naruto regains control of his body, the weakened Pain could no longer keep the sphere together and it crumbles.

His resolve renewed, Naruto demanded to be taken to Nagato to speak with him himself. Pain however states that though Naruto now understands true pain, he claims that they could never understand each other, as in the end they are just to different. As Pain attacks, Naruto takes one of his blades and locates Nagato by following the chakra afer he stabbed himself in the shoulder. Naruto then battles the Deva path by throwing two Rasenshurikens in a shadow shuriken method, though Pain dodged both of them, using Shinra Tensei for the first and jumping over the second. In his five second window before he could use Shinra Tensei again, Naruto attacked him with dozens of Shadow Clones but before they could reach him, Pain was able to use Shinra Tensei again. This time however, Naruto used his multitude of clones to brace himself from it's force while making a Rasengan, and charges at Pain, smashing him in the chest.

Abilities
As the leader of Akatsuki and one of the two sides of the Amegakure Civil War, Pain is an extraordinarily powerful ninja that can easily be considered Kage-level, his partner Konan has stated that he has never lost a single fight. He was able to single-handedly defeat and overthrow the former Amegakure leader, Hanzō, and made short work of Jiraiya after unveiling all six of his bodies (though Pain admitted that killing Jiraiya would have been very unlikely had Jiraiya known prior knowledge of his six separate bodies).The black body piercings on each of his bodies is how he controls each body. This is supported by the Preta path when it removes the body piercings from the dead Animal path.

Pain has been seen using many highly advanced techniques like the Shapeshifting Technique, which allows him to clone Akatsuki members using human sacrifices that they control and can use to engage enemies in place of themselves. 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.

His most important technique, in regards to Akatsuki operations, is the Illusionary Dragon Nine Consuming Seals. With the other members of Akatsuki, this technique begins a three day trial to forcibly extract the Tailed Beast from its host and forces it into a giant statue. There seems to be an order on which Tailed Beast they can seal at once as they are unable to seal the Nine-Tailed Fox without sealing the other beasts as it would destroy the statue, possibly freeing all the captured beasts. Pain's most powerful technique seen so far is the Chibaku Tensei It summons a black ball similar to a black hole, which attracts all forms of mass to it, this was used against Naruto when he was in the sixth tail form of the nine tails. Pain reveals that his usage of the technique is not as good as the Sage of the Six Paths, whose prowess with the jutsu was powerful enough to create the Moon. However, an attack that he most often uses is the Shinra Tensei a technique which manipulates gravity at the users will. His mastery of this technique is so great, that it allowed him to devastate half of Konohagakure with just a single repulsion wave. However, it must also be noted that this massive repulsion wave causes a significant drain of Pain's chakra. To sustain this technique, his 5 bodies had to first give up all of their chakra, coupled with some of Nagato's own life force.



Rinnegan

 * Main Arcticle: Rinnegan

Pain's incredible power stems mainly from his Kekkei Genkai, the Rinnegan. This form of Dojutsu is regarded as a god of creation when the world was racked with chaos and as a weapon of destruction which could return everything to nothing. This 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 are largely unknown, but it does allow the user to use all types of elemental chakra and it has been speculated that Pain can use any jutsu in the world, including secret techniques like the Yamanaka clan jutsu. It also enhances his vision of chakra in a similar manner to the Hyuga clan's Byakugan and Uchiha Clan's Sharingan, allowing him to see the chakra of barrier techniques around Konoha and the chakra gathered at the feet of Tsunade.

Six Paths of Pain
The most prominent fact about Pain is that he uses six individual bodies all acting together with one mind and will. He calls this the based after the 6 Buddhist paths of Reincarnation. Each path named after the Six Paths of Reincarnation, Deva, Preta, Animal, Human, Naraka, and Asura. Pain is not complete without six bodies in total, so he keeps other bodies stored in a sealed room within a strange machine, in case any of the bodies are killed. The only common feature shared by these bodies is their bright orange hair and Rinnegan eyes. Each also has a vast number of body and facial piercings of various shapes, sizes, and patterns. Each individual body has also shown able to easily defeat multiple ninjas with ease, such as "Copy Ninja" Kakashi Hatake who was a highly skilled ninja of Konoha, as Deva Path demonstrated. Each also has been seen to possess incredible speed and strength. Pain's real body, that of Nagato, is kept in a machine that moves with six relatively small mechanical legs, and has large chakra spikes on its back to transmit the signals. Nagato's body appears highly emaciated, suggesting that Pain typically does not use it.

With the exception of the Deva path, each body has a single special ability and a defined purpose. For example, the Naraka path has no real combat abilities besides basic Taijutsu but has an ability to kill liars and heal the other paths, while the Asura path is has so many body modifications that it's sole purpose is to attack. In total, Pain has seven fields of vision, counting Nagato, the Rinnegan allows him to see through the eyes of each path and with their single mind, coordinate very quickly.

Thanks to Jiraiya's dying message and successfully capturing one of Pain's bodies, Konoha discovered that each path was is a corpse reanimated by Nagato's chakra receivers. To control them, Nagato has to be close by, and ideally at the highest point possible so he can have the best range possible.

Deva Path
The, Pain's first observed body, is the body of Yahiko, and possesses medium length spiky hair, six piercings and a metal bar through each ear, three studs through the side of his upper nose and one spike stud on each end of his bottom lip. Three piercings under each other in each wrist, at least one on his upper wrist and some just under his neck. He also wears a beaded necklace. Unlike the other bodies, this body seems to have access to multiple forms of ninjutsu, demonstrated from all the defenses put up to stop intruders from interfering with the sealing of a demon. It also seems to have retained Yahiko's affinity for water-chakra though this could come from the Rinnegan shown from its ability to summon and control rain, and can conjure and stop it at will, even maintain it for long periods of time. This is apparently tied into his mood. In addition he can detect the movements and chakra levels of people traveling within the rain, making it difficult to infiltrate Amegakure by stealth.
 * Incapacitated

It is later revealed that his primary combat abilities are "Shinra Tensei" and "Bansho Ten'in". These abilities allow him to repel or attract objects and ninjutsu, respectively. However, he cannot preform it in rapid succession, leaving him vulnerable for a short period of time after its use. This period of time between usages may vary from five seconds to several minutes, depending upon the force of the repulsion or attraction.

This body is apparently Nagato's preferred form for interacting with others since he has participated in all sealing rituals and has been seen in several flashbacks by Amegakure members. Pain readily sacrifice his Asura path to protect this body. This may or may not be a consequence of Nagato and Yahiko's former friendship and emotional attachment to this body, which is a possibility, since Pain is capable of recreating paths with spare corpses (as seen in case of the Animal path). This could also simply be because this body is his most powerful form than his other bodies and therefore is the most important in battle.


 * Jutsu
 * Divine Force
 * Banshō Ten'in
 * Chibaku Tensei
 * Shinra Tensei
 * Chakra Disruption Blades
 * Fierce Raining at Will
 * Five Seals Barrier
 * Illusionary Dragon Nine Consuming Seals
 * Magic Lantern Body Technique
 * Mirrored Sudden Attacker
 * Shapeshifting Technique
 * Water Release: Violent Water Wave

Former Animal Path
Deceased - Replaced Pain's second body, distinguished by a long ponytail and a large bridge piercing through his upper nose and attaching on each cheek, one on his upper nose, and six rimming around the bottom of his face. After being killed and examined, this body was shown to have multiple piercings on his chest as well. The appearance of this body, when first seen, was compared to that of fellow Akatsuki member Deidara. Prior to Jiraiya's encounter with Pain, one of his subordinates noted that some believe Pain to have been from the Fūma clan. This is because this body was originally a man from the Fūma clan, recognized by Jiraiya as a man who had ambushed him, ending up scarred across the forehead in the process.

This body is a powerful summoner, capable of conjuring a massive variety of different animal summons for various different purposes, and most significantly the other bodies of Pain. Each animal summon also shares his Rinnegan eyes and various piercings suggesting that they too are under his control.

The former Animal Path was instrumental to Konoha's study of Pain and her discovery of Nagato working behind the scenes. Pain appears to have abandoned it as not only did he replace it with the female Animal path, he had the Preta path use it as a shield against Kiba and Tsume.


 * Jutsu
 * Summoning Technique (Multiple)
 * Giant Drill-Beaked Bird
 * Giant Multi-Headed Dog
 * Giant Panda
 * Giant Ram (incapacitated)
 * Giant Rhino (incapacitated)
 * Giant Crustacean (Deceased)
 * Giant Centipede (Deceased)
 * Giant Snake-Tailed Chameleon (Deceased)
 * The Other Pain Bodies


 * Summoning abilities
 * Violent Bubble Wave (Crustacean Summon)
 * Amplification Summoning Technique (Dog Summon)
 * Panda Iron Wall (Panda Summon)
 * Chameleon Camouflage (Chameleon Summon)

Preta Path
Incapacitated The  is the body of a fat, bulky man with six spike stud piercings covering his entire bottom lip, two studs vertical on the front of his nose, two spike studs one on each cheek, a metal bar going through each ear, and a stud on his shoulder one on each side close to his neck. Originally this body was from Kusagakure.

This body's ability "Energy Absorption" is primarily defensive, since he is capable of absorbing any Ninjutsu related technique, such as Jiraiya's Super Great Ball Rasengan and Hermit's Art: Goemon, nullifying them and sucking them into his torso. This technique can also take the form of a large bubble around his body, allowing to absorb attacks from any direction. In addition to its defensive properties, this body's ability has also shown offensive capabilities, sucking all the chakra out of any target unfortunate enough to be grabbed by him. However, this body seems to be weak against physical attacks, as one punch to the face (albeit imbued with natural energy) is enough to kill it. The force from the punch most likely snapped the body's neck. This body is later incapacitated by Naruto when he transferred too much natural energy into it and turned into a statue of a toad.

Jutsu
 * Energy Absorption
 * Chakra Absorption Technique
 * Blocking Technique Absorption Seal

Human Path
Incapacitated The  is the body of a tall slender man with very long loose hair, a diagonal bar though his nose, two studs vertically on each cheek, two studs horizontal from each other on his upper chin, and a stud on his shoulders near his neck. This body was originally from Takigakure.

While in the process of saving the Animal Path, this body's abilities are largely obscure since Jiraiya damaged this path's eyes early on in his battle but it showed immense physical prowess, being able to block Hermit Mode Jiraiya's punch and not even flinch (at all circumstances, an impressive feat). More recently however he has shown the ability "Mind Tampering", allowing him to affect minds similar to the Yamanaka clan by touching another being's head in order to extract information. He's capable of reading the person's mind in seconds and without need of additional equipment. The Human path then proceeded to rip out the ninja's consciousness, most likely killing the victim. The Human Path was incapacitated when most of it's body was disintegrated by Naruto's Wind Release: Rasenshuriken


 * Jutsu
 * Mental Manipulation
 * Mind Reading
 * Soul Removal

Asura Path
Incapacitated The  is the body of a tall bald man with a very unusual body shape, possessing a very thick neck, a big square shaped jaw, with a large ring piercing vertically on his nose, six spike studs all around his head, three studs on the top and bottom of each of his arms, an enormous spike stud on his chin and two vertical spikes on each upper cheek. This body's face is strangely set in a permanent smile.

His ability is based on "Body Alterations", allowing him to modify himself with artificial mechanical body parts. Under his cloak the body is revealed to have completely robotic inner workings and a completely inhuman appearance, possessing six arms, three faces each with a different emotion: happy, neutral, and angry (thus resembling the mythical Asura from Buddhist mythology) and a folded serrated blade-like tail. He can fire one of his left forearms off as a long range projectile, pull out one of his right arms to reveal a cluster of segmented cluster missiles, quickly propel itself forward with a burst of chakra from its boots, protract multiple blades and a drill from one of his arms, open up the crown of his head to release a titanic shockwave, and wrapped around his waist is a long and flexible saw-like blade that can be used to slice a target. All of these abilities befit the "warring demon" name that the Asura Path holds, while giving it a considerably higher degree of versatility than the other paths have.

The Asura Path was defeated twice, first due to the injuries it sustained fighting Kakashi, Choji, and Choza, and after being rebuilt by the Naraka Path it was destroyed again buy Naruto almost moments after his return.


 * Jutsu
 * Body Alterations
 * Three Faces
 * Six Arms
 * Enhanced Strength
 * Flaming Arrow of Amazing Ability
 * Flaming Arrow Missiles
 * Laser Explosion
 * Chakra Propulsion Boots
 * Hidden Drill Hands
 * Saw-Blade Sash

Naraka Path
Incapacitated The  is the body of a very tall stocky muscular man with a spiky mop of hair (similar in style to Kisame Hoshigaki), with triple bar ear piercings, a stud on his upper nose, a stud on his shoulders near his neck, and a row of studs diagonally down each cheek.

This body's ability (referred to as the "King of Hell") seem to be a spiritual entity similar to the Death God, although he is physically strong enough to hold a fully grown man in each hand off the ground with no apparent effort. The entity takes the form of a giant demonic head, which protrudes from the ground close too him while shrouded in black flames. When he asks a question, and after an answer is given, the giant's mouth opens, releasing tendril like arms that force a stream of energy (possibly the person's life force or soul) from the victim. If the person was telling a lie or refused to answer the question, their life force is completely removed and eaten, and they are seemingly killed. If they were telling the truth, they remain alive, though left extremely exhausted. Outsiders are unable to see the demon, although Naruto in Sage mode apparently can.

Another of this body's powers, most likely its main purpose, is to resurrect or "heal" other Paths. By summoning the King of Hell, Pain engulfs the body he wants to heal in it and the body comes out completely repaired. This is possibly done by "transferring" the life energy that he's collected from victims into his deceased bodies, allowing them to become functional again (similar to the technique Chiyo used on Gaara).

Both times that Pain's bodies were shown in a combat formation, the Naraka Path has taken the rear with the others protecting him (even behind the Deva path while its power was still recharging), implying that, like the Deva path, this body is one of Pain's most important bodies. This could be due to three possible factors. First, the ability to heal and repair any other body almost instantly would make this one of Pain's most important and vital assets in a battle. Second, like with the Deva Path's Shinra Tensei, the King of Hell might need time to recharge after repairing one of Pain's bodies. Third, compared to the other five paths this body has not shown much combat ability, given that Konohamaru managed to avoid its attacks and strike it with a Rasengan. However, this is uncertain, as he had earlier beaten at least three chunin and Ebisu, a Jonin, using only hand-to-hand combat.

Jutsu
 * King of Hell

Animal Path
Replacement - Incapacitated The , Pain's newest body is the replacement of the body lost in the fight against Jiraiya. This body has a very young appearance and, unlike all the other bodies, was originally female, with its hair tied together in a sort of onion like bun at the top of the head and spikes of hair protruding out of it. It has one stud above the nose, studs on either side of the neck, a row of studs vertically down each cheek, a stud below each stud on the neck and two studs on each forearm. When Inoichi is searching through the mind of a man from Amegakure he saw that a man and his friend brought this body, dead and without its piercings, to the tower where Pain resides.

This body can be seen as a replacement for Pain's second body, as both bodies were used primarily for "Multiple Summonings". It is seen calling forth a giant centipede, the multi headed splitting abilitied giant dog, a rhino, a bull and the other Pains. This Animal Path was incapacitated after being hit in the chest with Naruto's Rasenrengan, presumably destroying its internal organs by the force of the jutsu.


 * Jutsu
 * Summoning Technique (Multiple)
 * Giant Drill-Beaked Bird
 * Giant Multi-Headed Dog
 * Giant Panda
 * Giant Ram (incapacitated)
 * Giant Rhino (incapacitated)
 * Giant Crustacean (Deceased)
 * Giant Centipede (Deceased)
 * Giant Snake-Tailed Chameleon (Deceased)
 * The Other Pain Bodies


 * Summoning abilities
 * Violent Bubble Wave (Crustacean Summon)
 * Amplification Summoning Technique (Dog Summon)
 * Panda Iron Wall (Panda Summon)
 * Chameleon Camouflage (Chameleon Summon)

Creation
In Naruto Hiden: Sha no Sho Character Official Data Book, Kishimoto briefly explains the philosophy behind Pain's design, stating, "He's Akatsuki's leader, so he has to look fairly cool, but I still wanted him to look dangerous. Since his name is "Pain", I decided to add some piercings to his body, like he's the kind of guy who would inflict pain upon himself." Notable among the few unused concept designs is a small sketch in which he appears to wear a partial face mask and feather or horn-like accessories fitted to his forehead protector.

When first appearing in the anime and other media, Pain's eyes were depicted with an incorrect color scheme; the two center rings of the Rinnegan were colored separate shades of gray while the outermost ring was flesh-colored, and the ring in between was white. Following his appearance in chapter 377 of the manga, which featured the first official color illustration of his face, the color scheme was corrected.

While the Six Paths are depicted with a standard, pinkish skin tone in official color illustrations by Kishimoto, the anime depicts them with deathly pale skin, likely as a visual cue that the bodies are in fact deceased.

Past Speculations
Before chapter 363 when the face of Pain has actually been fully shown, there was a theory highly popular in fandom that stated the Akatsuki Leader is the Fourth Hokage. This speculation has been recently resolved as incorrect, however even in the light, Pain's Yahiko body resembles Minato Namikaze in ways. Some fans still believe Pain is the Fourth Hokage in disguise as not to have people know who he is since Pain has multiple bodies, but this has already been disproved. Another speculation is that the multiple bodies of Pain are a variant of his Shapeshifting Technique, used to split his chakra and abilities into multiple bodies, which has already been proven false, as his bodies are chakra-controlled corpses.

It is unknown why has Nagato ever come up with the idea to operate out of his Six Paths, since he is (or used to be) a highly talented ninja in his own right. As he is shown very weak and emaciated, it can be speculated that he created paths to overcome his physical incapability (e.g. a crippling disease), but that has yet to be revealed. It could also be the other way around - Nagato could simply have wanted to keep his identity secret, and years of the chakra-taxing operation of the paths has left him extremely weakened. Either way, Nagato seems to have colossal reserves of chakra at his avail, most likely due to the Rinnegan.

It can also be speculated that Nagato is seen in such a weakened state solely because of the immense amount of chakra and life shortening costs needed to preform the Shinra Tensei technique to destroy Konoha (at least, it's almost certainly due to this Shinra Tensei that Nagato is shown bleeding out of his mouth).

Since Pain seems to have experience with other tailed beasts and has showed a tranquil and cool attitude; it is possible to think that Pain is powerful enough to handle the six tailed transformation of Naruto and even defeat him.

In the manga and anime debut of the first quote below, Pain actually mentions and insinuates each member of Akatsuki's reasons for being in the organization (except for Tobi/Madara, who was not present in this scene, and Sasori, who was dead). He mentions the motives for war are of no concern, and in the anime scene, each motive mentioned focuses in on an Akatsuki member: Religion (Hidan), Ideology (Itachi), Resources (Kakuzu), Land (Zetsu), Spite (Kisame), Love (Konan), or just because (Deidara). He does not mention his own motive for peace at that instant, as it is revealed later in the series.

Quotes

 * "We're both of the same breed, after all... motives for war are of no concern. Religion, Ideology, Resources, Land, Spite, Love, or just because... no matter how pathetic the reason, it's enough to start war."
 * "We are Pain! We are God!"
 * "Those who do not understand true pain can never understand true peace."
 * "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.""
 * "Peace is right before my eyes."

Trivia

 * As Pain's six shinobi bodies are reanimated corpes, it can be assumed that Animal Path's various summoning are corpses as well as they all have Rinnegan eyes and multiple piercings.
 * It is interesting to point out that in the prophecy Jiraiya heard, Pain (Nagato) seems to be viewed as his student who would "destroy the world" while Naruto seems to be viewed as his student who would "save the world".
 * Out of all the ninja who have fought with Pain, Naruto is the only person to defeat five of his six bodies, one of which he even defeated twice.
 * Madara has stated that Akatsuki didn't have the power to destroy Konoha. However, Pain has been able to destroy most of the village, both buildings and personnel alike, meaning that Madara has yet to know of Pain's true strength.
 * Ironically, Pain believes that he and Naruto should be able to understand each other very well since they were both trained by Jiraiya.
 * Minato Namikaze claimed that Pain is being used by Madara.
 * Pain appears to have a habit of not checking to see if people he defeat are dead.