Board Thread:Versus Debates/@comment-36351381-20180802192015/@comment-5085906-20180806230341

Nightguy76 wrote: That's because I can't see Pain winning. ^ Make me see that Pain can win, and maybe then i'll have a change of heart. I mean, I can try, but this fandom can never seem to agree on what Itachi is definitely capable of doing and what is out of his reach. Best I can do is share my own take on this battle based on manga stats (and databook stats, if manga doesn't give a clear answer and if said stats are not too absurd and stick to the canon).

Let me review Itachi's main feats - I'm talking his Mangekyo specialties - Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi and Susanoo, the jutsu that may actually play a significant role in this fight. If we can agree that Itachi's reserves are below average, then I'll show you why Itachi can't win this one in most instances.

Amaterasu: Provided Itachi doesn't use any other of his jutsu and assuming his other MS jutsu waste the same amount of chakra, he can probably stretch Amaterasu usage up to five times in one battle before he's completely dry, though that's a big assumption. Even if true though, while it seems convenient in theory, it would be practically impossible to spam Amaterasu on the Six Paths since as I mentioned earlier, they don't just sit around waiting to get their shit kicked in. Even if Nagato is not as intelligent as Itachi, he's still incredibly smart and adept - he can arrange the Paths in a way that allows him to save his more important pieces and sacrifice the lesser ones, kinda like what he did in his fight against Naruto. Not to mention the Preta Path can absorb it and the Deva Path can push it away, so he has two pieces that can counter Amaterasu. The Naraka Path can restore any of the fallen Paths to full health, if any of them get hit by that jutsu before Nagato has the chance to learn of Itachi's abilities. Yes, you could say that Amaterasu travels too fast for any of the Paths to be able to intercept it, but even if it hits the technique doesn't burn that fast, as shown during the Kage Summit where Kankuro removed a samurai's armor before the technique burned him. So, Preta or Deva Path have plenty of time to take care of that technique before it does significant damage. Bottom line is - Amaterasu is barely effective.

Tsukuyomi: This one is a tad trickier. Personally, I believe Rinnegan can counter Tsukuyomi. If we go with that, then Tsukuyomi's irrelevance in this fight is a no brainer. But if we are to humor other perspectives, then I'd say Nagato would be extra careful not to look in Itachi's eyes. I know the rules said that he doesn't know about Tsukuyomi. Regardless, his MS alone would be enough to make Nagato take a cautionary stance and avoid looking at his eyes, as just the risk of getting hit by a normal genjutsu is bad enough. I mentioned before that Might Guy had devised a way to fight while avoiding the Sharingan, as he stated himself when Itachi infiltrated Konoha. If a dumbass like him can do that, then Nagato with his Paths (which share a linked vision), can easily keep track of him without succumbing to his visual prowess. Moreover, the Animal Path summons can not only overwhelm Itachi, but they also serve as extensions of Nagato and can be used to track him too. So, Tsukuyomi is either not a factor or a 50/50 threat, depending on which view you subscribe too.

Susanoo (Totsuka Blade/Yata Mirror/Yasaka Magatama): Again, it's a matter of chakra reserves. Sasuke, whose chakra reserves are far from mediocre, felt intense pain when summoning Susanoo. The longest we've seen Itachi maintain this jutsu is after he was resurrected, but we know Edo chakra replenishes so his reserves were not an issue due to that. He can maybe use Totsuka to seal one of the Pains or any of the summons at a time, but that is it. He'll either a)use it once or twice and run out of chakra, b)have his avatar (which is made out of chakra) absorbed by Preta or c)get trapped in a Chibaku Tensei. He can avoid the first two options, but there's literally no escape from option c. We saw how Itachi handled the Chibaku Tensei during the War, but as I'm about to parrot for the third time now, he had the help of two Jinchuuriki and moreover was fighting against a zombified Nagato who was a shell of his former self. Had he been alone, he would have been sealed right then and there. His Yata Mirror is perfect against nature release attacks, but unfortunately the fight is not gonna hinge on those and so it's sorta useless in this scenario. Honestly, the only technique that can pose a threat to Nagato is Yasaka Magatama, but while he may lose some of his pieces to it, it has been shown against Jiraiya that thanks to their linked vision, the Paths have a fast reaction time and can avoid getting efficiently hit by it.

Fact is Nagato, an Uzumaki, has chakra reserves that dwarf those of Itachi, even with two transplated Rinnegan. There would be no reason for him not to use Chibaku Tensei as he could still use Deva Path abilities after attempting to seal Kurama. And I see that people are using the fact that Naruto outmaneuvered Nagato as means to diminish Nagato's intellect, but let me remind you Naruto had five toads helping him, intel on most of the Six Paths while the Deva Path was unable to use his ability after a large scale Shinra Tensei. Soon as Deva Path regained his ability, Naruto got decimated and so did his summons.

The strongest path (Deva) is at least low-tier Kage, while the weakest one (Human) is most likely mid-tier Jonin level. I can't even wrap my head around how would Itachi overcome them and with such relative ease, as you stated earlier.