Six Paths of Pain

The Six Paths of Pain was a jutsu used by Nagato, and served as his representation in Akatsuki. It allowed Nagato to control six separate bodies as though they were his own. Each of these bodies were reanimated corpses which were both kept mobile by, and made use of, Nagato's chakra. While controlling them, Nagato used the alias "Pain", yet still regarded them as separate from himself. All the Six Paths were eventually destroyed by Naruto Uzumaki during the invasion of Pain.

Use
In order to use the technique, Nagato remained in a large, chair-like machine that moved with six relatively short mechanical legs, and used several large chakra rods protruding from his back to transmit chakra. From there, his chakra was picked up by the numerous body piercings that each body possessed, which acted as chakra receivers. However, to control them, Nagato had to be close by, and ideally at the highest point possible so that he could have the best range possible. Nagato's machine could also shoot chakra rods from a hole in front of it for controlling enemies.

Paths
As the name suggested, there were six bodies, or "paths", which comprised the jutsu. The only common feature shared by these bodies was their bright orange hair and Rinnegan eyes. Each path had a number of body and facial piercings of various shapes, sizes, and patterns. Also, each body seemed to serve a specific purpose in battle, such as summoning, repair, and defense, rendering them open in other areas. This did not hold true for the Deva Path, however, which was imbued with several capabilities. Each path, with the possible exception of the second Animal path, was in some way affiliated with Jiraiya when they were alive.

When the paths were active together in battle, Nagato was able to see through their eyes, thus registering six separate fields of vision at the same time. Essentialy working as shared vision for the Paths, this allowed Nagato to coordinate their attacks and to provide defense for them without a blind spot. All of the paths demonstrated incredible speed and strength and carried Chakra Disruption Blades concealed in their Akatsuki cloaks which were be used to incapacitate opponents. The paths were strongest when together, using combinations and the element of surprise to defeat their enemies; both Jiraiya and Kakashi fell victim to this technique. However, his technique, although powerful, had a flaw: each of the paths had a primary function or ability. With prior knowledge about the technique and each paths' abilities, one stood a better chance of defeating them, as witnessed in Pain's battle against Naruto.

Just before Nagato used the Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique, Konan explained the technique to Naruto Uzumaki, mentioning a seventh Pain. Referring to it as the, it is not entirely clear whether she meant Nagato or the King of Hell used in the technique.

Influences
Based upon the six Buddhist paths of Reincarnation, each body was named after one of the different "paths": Deva, Asura, Human, Animal, Preta, and Naraka. Each of these paths, or "plains," represent one of the realms a being is reborn into after death, determined by the accumulated karma of their past lives. While the two lower paths, Preta and Naraka, are hellish, and the two higher paths, Deva and Asura, are heavenly, all six are considered to be paths of suffering because they perpetuate the cycle of Reincarnation; the only way to break it and ascend to a higher state of existence is to attain enlightenment.

Trivia

 * Among the six paths, the only one whose hair color has not been altered is Yahiko's body, the Deva path. The other five originally have different hair colors while alive, but were changed to orange when they became Nagato's possession, the same as Yahiko.