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 Jiraiya, 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 night at dinner, Nagato cried because eating together reminded 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 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.

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
As a child Nagato was a kind but sensitive boy, prone to crying, and was traumatised 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 Pein, his personality is very different having become a calm, serious, aloof, and detached man; best described as a God Complex. Apparently believing his childhood trauma's had enlightened him to the true meaning of pain and suffering, he now believes himself a deity and evolved beyond a mere human, a fact that cannot quite be disputed given his incredible and unusual powers. 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, being quite willing to kill his own teacher in cold blood and brutally execute all of Hanzo's friends and family to ensure the Hidden Rain'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.

None the less, 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 respectful silence for his former teacher out of respect for his power.

Ironically, his wish to protect his freinds, his position as a village leader, and goal of world peace, make him very similar to Naruto his arch-nemisis.

Powers and Abilities
As the leader of Akatsuki and having apparently ended the Hidden Rain's civil war single-handed, Pein is a very powerful ninja. His partner and childhood companion Konan states that he has never lost a fight, a claim later confirmed when he proved more than a match for Jiraiya, even in his Sage Mode form.

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. This could be how the Six Paths were formed, with "chakra clones" of the shinobi's bodies. His most important technique in regards to Akatsuki operations 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.

When Pein--(called Nagato at the time)-- was first trained by Jiraiya he proved to be a very capable student, apparently possessing all 6 types of elemental chakra (a supposedly impossible ability) and mastered all basic techniques at a very rapid rate. This talent is apparently related to his Rin'negan eyes. This powerful eye technique was possessed by the Sage of Six Paths, the founder of modern Ninjutsu.



As an adult and leader of Akatsuki, Pein's abilities have drastically altered, but he remains a force to be reckoned with. The most prominent change being that he is no longer a single entity, in fact he is six individual bodies all acting together with one mind and will. He calls this the. Normally he operates out of a single body and keeps the others stored in sealed room within a strange machine. The only common feature shared by these bodies is their bright orange hair and Rin'negan eyes (how they all acquired this is unknown). Each also has a vast number of body piercings of various shapes, sizes, and patterns.

Each one of Pein's bodies appear to have a single special ability and defined purpose, and he coordinates his multiple selves together via their eyes. Each body can see and sense everything that the other bodies can, giving him a maximum of six fields of view, allowing him to co-ordinate powerful multi-directional offense and defense with incredible speed and precision. They also all carry strange black spear-like weapons that can disrupt a targets chakra on contact. Most disturbing, the bodies can apparently recover from even fatal injuries proving several other bodies survive. During battle Jiraiya realizes that all the bodies are in fact those of other shinobi that he encountered on his travels although how they came to be part of Pein is still unknown.

Pein's first observed body is that of his childhood companion Yahiko, possessing medium length spiky hair and and small bridge piercings. This body is apparently his preferred form for interacting with others since it has participated in all sealing rituals and was seen in several flashbacks by Rain village members. This body has the ability to 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 the Hidden Rain village by stealth.

His second body, distinguished by a long ponytail and large bridge piercings, is a more battle orientated form. 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 Rin'negan eyes and various piercings suggesting that they too are under his control. This body is later recognized as being originally a man from the Fuuma clan who had ambushed Jiraiya and had been scarred across the forehead, his body is eventually captured by Jiraiya and sent back to Konoha for study.

The third body is a fat, bulky man with many conical piercings. He is a defensive body, somehow capable of absorbing any ninjutsu related technique, even an over-sized Rasengan and a combination elemental attack with no sign of injury. Originally this body was from the Hidden Grass village.

Another is a tall slender man with very long loose hair and a diagonal bar though his nose. Apart from some hand to hand combat this body's abilities remain obscure, largely because Jiraiya damaged his eyes early on in the fight. This body was originally a Hidden Waterfall ninja.

Yet another is 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 on his nose and an enormous stud on his chin. He can somehow detach and fire his left arm like a missile for long range attacks, capable of shattering stone on impact. This body is also implied to have torn off Jiraiya's arm when he ambushed him.

His last body is a stocky muscular man with a spiky mop of hair, triple bar ear piercings and a row of large studs down each cheek. This body's abilities and origin remain a mystery although it may have something to do with the resurrection of Pein's fatally injured bodies.