Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-44455926-20191119200613/@comment-43403813-20191124023335

I wouldn't say that Naruto faced a stronger Pain than Jiraiya, I think they experienced a similar level of difficulty, but made up of different factors.

Jiraiya faced off against a full-power Pain with a field disadvantage and zero intel, whilst Naruto fought against a slightly fatigued Pain in an open field, with all intel. The chaotic shinra tensei not only removed Deva's powers for a while, but it also dulled the reaction speeds of all of the Paths of Pain, meaning that Naruto would have had an easier time bypassing all of the taijutsu shared vision attacks than Jiraiya did. Pain was in much better shape against Jiraiya than he was against Naruto.

Deva was pretty much non-existent in both fights for a chunk of them. He wasn't even there till the last moment with Jiraiya, and the Deva Path's powers were compromised for the first half of Naruto's fight. Honestly, I'd even argue that the only reason Naruto was able to break past the amazing defensive core that Pain has is because of the absence of the Deva Path's abilities.