Nagato

was a shinobi of Amegakure and descendant of the Uzumaki clan. Forming Akatsuki alongside his friends (and fellow war orphans) Yahiko and Konan, Nagato dreamed of bringing peace to the violent shinobi world. However, following Yahiko's death, Nagato adopted the alias of and, along with Konan, began leading a new Akatsuki — one that would force the world into peace using any means necessary.

Background
Nagato lived with his parents: Fusō and Ise on the outskirts of Amegakure. When he was very young, Madara Uchiha secretly transplanted his Rinnegan into Nagato without his or his parents' knowledge. Sometime later, during the Second Shinobi World War, Nagato and his parents took shelter in their home to avoid the fighting going on around them. One day, two Konoha shinobi broke into their home looking for food and Nagato and his parents tried to sneak out unnoticed. When they were discovered, his parents attacked the shinobi so that Nagato could escape. The Konoha ninja killed his parents in self-defence and, upon realising they were only civilians, tried apologising to Nagato. Overcome with grief, Nagato used Madara's Rinnegan for the first time to kill them and avenge his parents.

After burying his parents, Nagato, now an orphan, was forced to leave home and begin wandering in search of food and shelter. With resources scarce due to the ongoing war, no one he met would help him until Nagato, who had collapsed from hunger, was found by Konan and Yahiko, orphans like himself. They banded together, acquired food to survive through any means, and shared dreams of a future where they were in charge and could use their power to eliminate war. Yahiko was particularly passionate about this point, which inspired Nagato to adopt the same goal. In order to accomplish this, the three would need to become ninja. With few options to choose from, they approached Konoha's Legendary Sannin and asked to be taught ninjutsu. Orochimaru offered to kill them in order to end their suffering, but Jiraiya, guilty over his participation in the war, offered to teach them how to look out for themselves.

Jiraiya found a place for them to live and taught them how to fish, but he would not teach them ninjutsu. While the orphans were out one day, they were found and assaulted by an Iwagakure chūnin. Fearing for his friends' lives, Nagato used his Rinnegan to kill the Iwa-nin. When Jiraiya arrived on the scene to help them, he noticed Nagato's eyes for the first time and was reminded of the legends of the Sage of the Six Paths, the original possessor of the Rinnegan. Because of this, Jiraiya changed his mind and began teaching them ninjutsu. Nagato was remorseful for killing the Iwa-nin, but Jiraiya convinced him that sometimes violence and personal pain was necessary to protect others. In time he even shared his belief that Nagato was the Sage of Six Paths' reincarnation and that, like the original Sage, Nagato would use his Rinnegan to usher in a world of peace.

Jiraiya trained the orphans for three years. Because of his Rinnegan, Nagato easily mastered everything he was taught. Once they were able to defeat one of his shadow clones in a fight, Jiraiya decided they were ready to forge out on their own and he returned to Konoha, confident they would bring reform to the country. The three formed an organisation they called Akatsuki, with Yahiko as its leader, and began advocating an end to war. Their message proved popular and they gathered many followers; even Jiraiya would sometimes hear news of their exploits. During the Third Shinobi World War, they were approached by a disguised Obito Uchiha. Introducing himself as Madara Uchiha, he offered to help them in their pursuits and show Nagato how to unlock the full potential of his Rinnegan. Yahiko refused the offer, suspecting Tobi only meant to use them.

Throughout their quest for peace, Akatsuki's ranks swelled and became known throughout Amegakure, so much so that Hanzō of the Salamander, the village's leader, began to feel Akatsuki threatened his rule. He approached Akatsuki, offering to work together with them to help negotiate with the other warring villages. The next day, at a meeting to finalise the arrangement, Yahiko and Nagato were ambushed by Hanzō and his men, with support from Konoha's Danzō Shimura. Using Konan as a hostage, Hanzō threatened to kill her if Nagato did not kill Yahiko. Unwilling to let Nagato have that on his conscience, Yahiko impaled himself on Nagato's kunai, using his dying breath to state his faith that Nagato would change the world. Enraged by Yahiko's death, Nagato took Konan back from Hanzō, though his legs were badly damaged in the process. He then summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and, upon linking with it, used it to slaughter Hanzō's men, though Hanzō himself escaped. Afterwards, Nagato severed his ties with Amegakure by slashing the village's symbol on his forehead protector, no longer wishing to be affiliated with Hanzō's village.

Yahiko's death ultimately convinced Nagato that his philosophies about achieving peace were foolish; the world would never willingly end the cycle of death and hatred it had operated on for so long. Only through direct experience of war and all the losses and agonies it brought could anyone truly desire peace. Intending to personally bring that level of despair to the world, Nagato took on the name of "Pain". As the damage he'd received from Hanzō's attack and the link with the Demonic Statue left him frail and immobile, Nagato created the Six Paths of Pain out of corpses that he controlled remotely. For the Deva Path he used Yahiko's body — still wanting him to lead the organisation in spirit — and for the other five he used the corpses of other miscellaneous shinobi that, without his knowing it, had met Jiraiya when they were alive. Pain began leading Akatsuki in a new direction, secretly accepting Obito's earlier offer of support. Akatsuki composed itself with S-rank missing-nin and started offering its services as a mercenary group to ninja villages, earning the money necessary to fund its long-term plans.

Years later and still loyal to his own version of Amegakure, Pain and Konan began a civil war in the village to overthrow Hanzō. Much of the village rallied behind Pain, believing him to be a god because of his immense power. The Six Paths of Pain eventually cornered and killed Hanzō, earning control of the village, but not before expressing his disgust with how Hanzō had fallen from the man he admired and the fact he cannot even understand how, in his self-preservation, his skill and conviction have diminished. In order to prevent anyone from challenging him, Pain proceeded to eliminate everyone even remotely connected to Hanzō, from members of his family to distant acquaintances. Because of Amegakure's already secretive nature, news of Hanzō's death never made it outside of Amegakure and the village was believed to still be divided by the civil war. Pain embraced the villagers' idea of his being God and single-handedly crushing remnants loyal to Hanzō whenever they surfaced. Every Sunday, Pain would make it rain within Amegakure or if he had to be away.

Personality
Nagato was a sensitive child, prone to crying over the sufferings of himself and others. When he met Yahiko he tried to break this habit by following Yahiko's philosophy that crying wouldn't change anything, but the attempt was unsuccessful. Jiraiya later pointed out to him that his sensitivity was actually a strength, as it allowed him to understand pain better and, in turn, be kinder to others. This view resonated with Nagato and caused him to realise that he wanted to take on all of his friends' pain so that they wouldn't have to. It also finally succeeded in ending his crying; when Jiraiya left their group it was Yahiko who cried to see him go, while Nagato only thanked him for all the guidance he'd provided.

In one form or another, Nagato spent his entire life placing the needs of others before his own: his main motivation for becoming a ninja in the first place was so that he could protect Yahiko and Konan; he viewed his role in the original Akatsuki as a powerful tool meant to help Yahiko bring peace to their country; as leader of his own version of Akatsuki, he felt it was his responsibility to save the world from itself, inflicting pains of such magnitude that nobody would ever harm anyone else ever again. While this indicates a growing self-importance Nagato regarded himself with, it was encouraged by the similarly growing esteem others regarded him with due to his Rinnegan: Jiraiya believed he was the reincarnation of the Sage of the Six Paths; Yahiko and the rest of Akatsuki believed he was the "Saviour of the World"; the villagers of Amegakure believed in him as if he were a "God".

As a child that grew up in the middle of other countries' wars, Nagato did not like killing and was horrified by his early acts of violence against those who had harmed his friends and family. He supported Yahiko's Akatsuki because it wanted to end the wars and deaths that he hated so much. After Yahiko's death, Nagato compromised his aversion to killing to a large extent, believing the deaths of specific individuals or even hundreds at a time could be justified if it served a greater and/or long-term purpose. But Nagato remains very clear in this distinction, as he shows mercy to those willing to cooperate with him and discourages others from defying him because it will only force him to strike them down. Minato Namikaze believes that, at some point along the way, Nagato's views were corrupted and subsequently manipulated by Tobi.

As leader of Akatsuki, Nagato projected a great charisma through his public mask of the Deva Path so that even Akatsuki held him in great awe. Despite his power and self-appointed divinity, Nagato was incredibly patient with defiance from the group, likening Hidan's open threats against him to those of a child who needed guidance. Utterly confident in his own abilities, Nagato showed no hesitation in fighting even the strongest opponents, nor in asserting himself against powerful Akatsuki members when need be. When speaking of Akatsuki's goals, Nagato demonstrated a contemplative side as to the nature of war and peace, matching his belief that war was the inevitable result of the nature of humanity. While he declared his godhood to his enemies, Nagato would privately admit that he was never anything more than an ordinary man who was seeking peace through the best means he knew how. When encountering enemies who disagreed with his philosophy, Nagato would often request their own solution to the problems of the world before almost inevitably being dissatisfied with the response due to his low opinion of human beings as a whole. Despite this, Nagato is stated to have gone as far as kill anyone from Amegakure who even questioned his ideals and even went as far as to kill infants of people who were even remotely associated to Hanzō.

When leading the Akatsuki, Nagato could also be possessed of a cold, wrathful side. He showed no hesitation in attempting to kill his former teacher Jiraiya, stating that all love for Jiraiya had long since died. When he attacked Konoha, Nagato demonstrated cold fury at Tsunade for defying his proclamations as to the justice of his attack on the Leaf. Believing that the only way humans could understand one another was through shared pain, Nagato showed no hesitation in obliterating the Leaf village or attempting to kill Hinata Hyūga when she came to Naruto's defence in order to demonstrate a lesson on pain and the inability of human beings to understand one another. His hatred for Hanzō for causing him and his friends such pain was such that completely obliterated not just Hanzō, but anyone even remotely associated with him, and in the anime, did not give the Hanzo's remains a proper burial as a sign of further contempt. Despite this, he had a high value in comrades as he chastised Kisame for speaking ill of Hidan and Kakuzu.

One further constant in Nagato's life was the esteem he placed in his childhood friends. Nagato viewed himself as having inherited Yahiko's will to change the world and kept Yahiko's corpse as his most treasured and powerful Path of Pain. Konan, his partner and childhood friend, remained his most ardent supporter. Nagato likewise demonstrated equal esteem and concern for her, with Konan as one of the few who could sway or influence his decisions to the extent that Tobi confided in Zetsu a fear of what Nagato might do without Konan's calming influence on him.

Despite the number of personal changes Nagato went through during his life, he always remained fundamentally kind and respectful. With his fellow members of Akatsuki, he mourns those who die in the pursuit of Akatsuki's goals and disapproves of name-calling amongst peers. He extends similar courtesies to his opponents, being honoured to meet one so strong as Kakashi Hatake, despite also being determined to kill Kakashi because that very same strength would inevitably interfere with Akatsuki's plans. For all his kindness, Nagato has a certain prejudice against Konoha because its ninja have played a role in a number of his life's tragedies. He tried to change this opinion because of Jiraiya's positive influence, but ultimately decided that Konoha's successes were predicated on the misfortunes of others.

Despite his conviction in Akatsuki's goals, Nagato is re-convinced of his former pacifism by Naruto Uzumaki, who believes the struggle for peace is worth any personal cost to the point of sacrificing his life to atone for his actions. Recognising the person he once was, Nagato decides to believe in Naruto's answer for peace, also regaining his faith in Jiraiya. Upon his revival, Nagato demonstrates a far friendlier side, joking with and praising Naruto. Before he is sealed away, Nagato reveals that he has gone from viewing himself as a god to viewing himself as the failed middle volume of a trilogy started by Jiraiya and ended with Naruto. He also regains his high regard for Jiraiya as he referred to Jiraiya was the "perfect first volume".

Appearance
Nagato had pale white skin with straight red hair, a sign of his Uzumaki heritage. When he was very young, his eyes were covered by his hair, preventing his Rinnegan from being visible. When he started training to be a ninja he parted his hair so that only his right eye was covered. Linking with the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path left a number of black receivers embedded in his back and caused his body to become very emaciated, limiting his mobility. For this reason he spent most of his adult life in a mechanical walker from which he controlled the Six Paths of Pain. He likewise did not personally wear any of the typical Akatsuki clothing, having his Paths wear it instead.

After he performs Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique his hair turns white as a side-effect of the jutsu, and it remains that colour after Nagato is reincarnated, during which he is donned with a maroon long sleeved cloak. From absorbing some of the Eight-Tails' chakra, his hair became red again, as well as his frail body reverting to his fit self.

Abilities
Nagato's position as the leader of Akatsuki was well-deserved, being regarded as its most powerful member. Despite his fragile state and damaged legs, Kabuto Yakushi regarded Nagato as a powerful reincarnated shinobi. Upon restoring and rejuvenating his body using the Tailed Beast chakra he absorbed from B, he simultaneously overwhelmed and immobilised the Eight and Nine-Tails jinchūriki with ease although his legs remained weakened. Despite his effectiveness being reduced due to Kabuto Yakushi's direct control, it still required a combined effort of Naruto, Killer B, and Itachi Uchiha to defeat and seal him. As Pain, he was regarded as unbeatable by various individuals,   and his strength allowed him to defeat and kill Hanzō, though Hanzō's skills had long since diminished. He was also able to defeat Jiraiya, his former teacher, though he notes that he may have lost if Jiraiya knew his true identity. Not only that, he could face the entire village of Konohagakure and destroy it single-handedly, only losing one of his Paths in the various battles with Konoha ninja. Before he faced Naruto, Nagato had never lost a single battle, still pushing Naruto to employ the most powerful abilities he had at his disposal.

Chakra and Physical Prowess
As a descendant of the Uzumaki clan, Nagato's chakra was naturally resilient. His actual chakra reserves were unusually vast, enough that he could perform various, chakra-taxing techniques all in the same day. Upon exerting his chakra in the form of a shockwave, one of the Fifth Hokage's Anbu bodyguards suspected that his already powerful chakra was enhanced by his Rinnegan. Nagato also had remarkable control over his chakra and could alter its frequency constantly, negating the possibility of a sensor pinpointing his location when he controls the Six Paths of Pain unless they stab themselves with one of his chakra rods.

Following his first fight with Hanzō, Nagato's legs were badly damaged and his body was left frail. This limited his mobility for the rest of his life and rendered his original body largely defenceless. He regained some of his former mobility after being reincarnated and restoring his body and legs with some of the Eight-Tails' chakra. When not handicapped, Nagato could rapidly move around a battlefield, closing the gap between himself and his opponents fast enough to force them to retreat.

Ninjutsu
During his training with Jiraiya, Nagato mastered every technique he was taught, covering numerous styles, all of the basic nature transformations, and Yang Release, accomplishments extremely rare even for adults, let alone ten year-olds. Many of the miscellaneous techniques he was seen performing were used to facilitate Akatsuki's meetings, such as allowing members to meet astrally across great distances, protecting the site of their meetings, and distracting opposing forces. Adept with the Shadow Clone Technique, he was even capable of cloning his summoned creatures. One of his more noteworthy techniques was the Rain Tiger at Will Technique, which allowed him to create perpetual rainfall to monitor everyone moving within Amegakure.

Nagato was also an adept sensor, able to pinpoint the location of others across great distances, even penetrating beyond barriers erected for the express purpose of blocking detection.

Rinnegan
Nagato's skill in so many types of ninjutsu was due in large part to his Rinnegan. Though he was not the eyes' original owner, being an Uzumaki allowed Nagato to wield both eyes without drawbacks even while still an untrained child, whereas Obito could barely handle a single eye despite his various modifications and in-depth knowledge of the dōjutsu. Ultimately, Nagato's skill was great enough to earn recognition as the ; a title which he inherited after Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki and Madara Uchiha.

The greatest advantage of the Rinnegan was that it gave Nagato access to all of the Six Paths Techniques: the gravitational powers of the Deva Path; the menagerie of summons available to the Animal Path; the limitless energy absorption of the Preta Path; the control over souls with the Human Path; the various mechanisations in the Asura Path; access to the King of Hell through the Naraka Path. Because of the limitations of his real body, Nagato had few chances to use any of these abilities directly. When the opportunity arose, though, he could shift between the different Paths seamlessly and instantly, performing the many abilities on a level he wasn't capable of when using them through others.

The one branch of Six Paths Techniques that Nagato reserved for himself was that of the Outer Path. As the Outer Path, Nagato could summon and control the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, produce black receivers into which he can channel his chakra, and use the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique to revive the dead.

Six Paths of Pain
With the Outer Path, Nagato could form what he calls his "Six Paths of Pain". By embedding black receivers throughout the bodies of six corpses – arranged to resemble body piercings – Nagato was able to control all of them remotely as though they were his own. He could control the Paths across great distances, but for more chakra-demanding techniques, it was necessary for the Path to first be brought closer to his position. An alternative to this was cutting off control of five of the Paths and focusing all of his chakra into one. The Paths can be used to react to threats in mere seconds and, because they are corpses, the bodies are unfazed by all but the most debilitating types of damage.

In theory, each of the Six Paths of Pain could be used to perform any technique that Nagato himself was capable of. In practice, however, he limited each body to one branch of the Six Paths Techniques, the exception being the Deva Path through which he performed a number of miscellaneous jutsu. Each Path served a specific purpose, be it offensive, defensive, reconnaissance or repair. None of the Paths specifically specialised in taijutsu, but all were able to keep pace during hand-to-hand combat with even the most practised opponent. Though he considered all six Paths to be part of the Pain identity he gave himself, Nagato still regarded them as separate entities from himself, referring to them by whichever Path they embody.

Although the Six Paths were individually strong, they were at their most formidable when used together, with the simultaneous use of all six being the primary reason for Pain's infamous invincibility. This was because the six Paths, as well as the Animal Path's summons and the King of Hell, let Nagato share their vision, allowing him to coordinate their movements with maximum efficiency. They could attack from multiple angles and dodge attacks they couldn't have seen but that occurred within another Path's field of vision. During his attack on Konoha, when the Six Paths were dispersed throughout the village to act strategically, they managed to wreak devastation and kill many powerful shinobi, effectively allowing Nagato to almost singlehandedly overpower the village. Each of the Paths had its own importance in a fight – the Naraka Path's ability to restore all the other Paths, making it the most valuable – and therefore, Nagato would sacrifice other Paths to protect those further up the hierarchy.

Despite the advantages the six bodies granted him in a fight, Nagato tried to limit his usage to as few bodies as possible to reduce the likelihood of anyone discovering the secret of how the Six Paths of Pain work. When Konoha began to understand the idiosyncrasies of the ability, he destroyed the village in an effort to kill anyone who might know that none of the six Paths were the real one.

Sasuke Recovery Mission
Pain gathers the members of Akatsuki to discuss Sasuke Uchiha's recent alliance with Orochimaru, as well as the anticipated completion of their plans three years hence.

In Naruto's Footsteps: The Friends' Paths
In the anime, two years after the Akatsuki meeting, Amegakure is invited to participate in the Chūnin Exams being held jointly by Konohagakure and Sunagakure. Not ready to take Akatsuki public yet, Pain accepts the invitation and sends several teams of genin to keep up appearances. The messenger, Kakashi Hatake, later sneaks back into the village to investigate the rumours surrounding it. Pain immediately detects Kakashi and sends guards to capture him, forcing him to retreat.

Kazekage Rescue Mission
After Gaara is captured by Deidara and Sasori, Pain convenes Akatsuki to begin extracting the One-Tail from Gaara's body. Konoha ninja start to convene on their location during the three day process, so Pain uses the Shapeshifting Technique to send copies of Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha to distract them. The copies are defeated, but they buy the necessary time and the One-Tail is sealed. As the rest of Akatsuki disperses, Pain instructs Deidara and Sasori to deal with the Konoha ninja that have arrived outside their lair.

Akatsuki Suppression Mission
Following the captures of the Two-Tails and Three-Tails (the Three-Tails is captured later in the anime), Pain once again gathers Akatsuki to seal them. Because Pain's summons interrupted a fight he was in the middle of, Hidan, the second-newest member, demands an explanation of Akatsuki's ultimate goal. Pain obliges him, remarking on the state of the world and how Akatsuki plans to capitalise on that to take control.

Itachi Pursuit Mission
Before Akatsuki prepares to seal the Four-Tails, Pain informs its members of the deaths of Hidan and Kakuzu, as well as news that Sasuke Uchiha has killed Orochimaru. Shortly after the Four-Tails is sealed, Zetsu reports the deaths of Deidara and Tobi in a fight with Sasuke. Pain expresses no love lost over Tobi, but encourages the remaining members of Akatsuki to mourn Deidara. As soon as they adjourn, Pain and Konan meet with Tobi in Amegakure. Tobi instructs him to go after Naruto Uzumaki, the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails.

Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant
Before he can set out in search of Naruto, Pain senses an intruder arriving in Amegakure. He cannot identify who it is, but from their chakra signature he can tell they are powerful. He sends Konan to track down whoever it is while he deploys the Animal Path. A short while later, Konan sends a report that the intruder is Jiraiya. Surprised, Pain bids her to kill him if she can while he moves the Animal Path to intercept. On arrival, he frees Konan from the restraints Jiraiya has placed her under and sends her away. Although Jiraiya does not recognise the body, Jiraiya assumes that Pain is Nagato because of his Rinnegan. Jiraiya expresses his disappointment that Nagato has turned away from his once-righteous path towards peace by leading a criminal organisation like Akatsuki. Pain asserts that, as a god, his plan to liberate the world through destruction is the definition of righteousness.

In response to all of the Animal Path's summons, Jiraiya summons Gamaken to hold them off while he prepares himself. From the safety of his chameleon, Pain sends a multi-headed dog, drill-beaked bird, and giant ox at them, but Jiraiya is able to successfully enter Sage Mode with the help of Shima and Fukasaku. Shima locates and neutralises the chameleon, forcing Pain to summon the Preta Path and Human Path to the fray. Jiraiya quickly blinds the Human Path then attacks with Sage Art: Goemon, which the Preta Path absorbs. He makes separate attempts to attack the Human Path and Animal Path from behind, but both block him. Suspecting their shared vision, Jiraiya withdraws.

The three Paths pursue Jiraiya. They eventually hear the signing of Shima and Fukasaku as they ready a genjutsu. The Paths track them down and try to stop them, but Jiraiya is ready for them. After confirming that they do indeed share vision, Jiraiya distracts the Preta Path and immobilises the Human Path, allowing him to fight the Animal Path one-on-one long enough for Shima and Fukasaku to cast Toad Confrontation Singing. While the Paths are caught, Jiraiya stabs them with Stone Swords and believes they, and by extension Nagato, are dead. As he leaves, the Asura Path attacks him from behind, severing his arm. The full Six Paths of Pain – with the three he defeated restored by the Naraka Path – face Jiraiya. He recognises the Deva Path as Yahiko, causing him to question his assumption that Pain is Nagato.

After a prolonged battle, Jiraiya retreats into his Barrier: Toad Gourd Prison. The Animal Path follows him, but ends up getting captured; as its last act it stabs him with a black receiver. Jiraiya contemplates returning to Konoha with what he's learned, but decides this is his only chance to discover the secret of Pain. He returns to the battlefield with Fukasaku and draws the remaining Paths' attention, and in doing so figures it out. The Asura Path crushes his throat before he can tell Fukasaku what he's learned and the other Paths stab him. Believing him dead they start to leave, but Jiraiya uses the last of his energy to etch a coded message into Fukasaku's back. The Paths try to stop him, but Fukasaku escapes and Jiraiya's body sinks into the sea. Pain holds a moment of silence for his passing.

Six-Tails Unleashed
Pain replaces the Animal Path Jiraiya captured with a new body in preparation for finally going after Naruto. In the anime, he is first sent to Kirigakure to capture the Six-Tails. The new Animal Path summons the multi-headed dog to scout the area where the Six-Tails' jinchūriki, Utakata, was last seen. When it comes across a group of hunter-nin led by Tsurugi, it slaughters them all. Utakata eventually comes looking for Tsurugi, but instead finds Pain, who quickly captures him. The Six-Tails is later extracted from Utakata's body.

Pain's Assault
The Six Paths of Pain and Konan arrive on the outskirts of Konoha and eliminate all the border guards. Pain explains the plan of attack: the Asura, Animal, and Preta Paths will destroy the village's infrastructure and draw the attention of its ninja while Konan and the Deva, Human, and Naraka Paths try to find information on Naruto's location. The Animal Path infiltrates the village by itself so that Konoha's sensors will think there's only one intruder, and once inside it summons Konan and the others. They scatter immediately afterwards and begin fulfilling their assigned roles.

Early in the Deva Path's search it is found by Kakashi Hatake, who has guessed the misdirection Pain is employing. Knowing by reputation that Kakashi poses a threat to Akatsuki's plans, the Asura Path arrives to help the Deva Path fight him. The two nearly defeat Kakashi, but Konoha reinforcements arrive in time. Kakashi has already discovered the recharge time the Deva Path needs between attacks and coordinates Konoha's forces to create a window for him to strike. The Asura Path uses itself as a shield to take the attack, creating an opportunity for the Deva Path to level everything and everyone in the area. The Deva Path leaves, victorious. After it's gone, a badly-injured Kakashi sends Chōji Akimichi to the Fifth Hokage to tell her what they've learned about the Deva Path. The still-functioning Asura Path attempts to stop Chōji, but Kakashi intercepts it with Kamui in time, dying from exhaustion in the process.

Across the village, the remaining Paths continue their tasks: the Preta Path locates the Animal Path that Jiraiya captured and collects its black receivers; the Deva Path locates the Hokage and encourages her to surrender Naruto; the Animal Path assaults the building where a prisoner Jiraiya captured is being interrogated, killing him in the process; the Human Path discovers Shizune and, from reading her mind, finally learns that Naruto is at Mount Myōboku. Though their mission is complete, Pain is frustrated by the Hokage's refusal to cooperate. Combined with the numerous examples that Konoha's ninja are starting to understand how the Six Paths of Pain work, Pain decides to destroy the village and show it true pain. He has the Animal Path summon Konan and all but the Deva Path to a safe distance while the Deva Path performs a large-scale Shinra Tensei.

As the smoke clears, the Deva Path finds Naruto has arrived in the village with several toad allies. After the Naraka Path restores the Asura Path, the other Paths join the Deva Path; Konan withdraws to attend to Nagato. When the Hokage angrily confronts Pain for destroying the village, the Asura Path moves to kill her, but is destroyed by Naruto before it can land a blow. The remaining Paths take formation around the Deva Path during its prolonged recharge. The Animal Path sends its summons to attack Naruto, but the toads confront them instead. Using Sage Mode, Naruto quickly neutralises the Preta Path, the Human Path is destroyed getting the Animal Path out of the way of Naruto's Rasenshuriken, and the Animal Path is shortly afterwards trapped within Gamabunta's mouth and defeated with Spiralling Serial Spheres.

Naruto begins focusing on the Deva Path. He nearly succeeds in hitting it with another Rasenshuriken, but a restored Preta Path absorbs it. Seeing what the Naraka Path can do, Naruto prioritises it, distracting the Deva and Preta Paths while he hits it with another Spiralling Serial Spheres. Although the Naraka Path is gone, the Deva Path's powers are restored. It expels the larger toads from the village and helps the Preta Path capture Naruto. As the Preta Path absorbs his senjutsu chakra to immobilise him, it finds itself unable to balance the natural energy and turns to stone. Shima and Fukasaku, meanwhile, prepare to cast a genjutsu like they did before. The Deva Path kills Fukasaku and, in the same motion, pins Naruto down with black receivers.

With Naruto no longer able to offer resistance, Pain lectures him on the cycle of hatred the world suffers under and the endless conflict that produces. His plans to gather the tailed beasts will be used to cause overwhelming destruction and achieve peace through fear. Because peace is what Jiraiya, who both of them trained under, always wanted, Pain asks if Naruto has a better solution, but Naruto does not respond. As they talk, Pain is attacked by Hinata Hyūga, who makes a desperate attempt to save Naruto. The Deva Path deals with her easily and apparently kills her. Her seeming death enrages Naruto, causing him to enter a version 2 state. Unprepared to fight Naruto in this state, the Deva Path leads Naruto closer to Nagato's location so that it can use Chibaku Tensei. Naruto enters a nearly full Tailed Beast Mode and escapes its confines, forcing Pain to let the Chibaku Tensei dissolve.

Having regained his senses, Naruto attacks the Deva Path. He takes one of its black receivers and briefly interfaces with it in order to trace Nagato's location. As his attack continues, he has numerous disguised shadow clones emerge from the rubble of Chibaku Tensei and attack during the Deva Path's short cooldown, but they don't make it in time and it repels them. With so many clones, however, the Narutos are able to resist the Shinra Tensei, enabling Naruto to strike with a Rasengan. Now that all of his Six Paths are defeated, Nagato permits Naruto to come meet with him. He shoots Naruto with a black receiver as soon as he arrives and tries to control his body, but Naruto successfully resists him.

Naruto has been thinking about the question he was asked earlier, about how he would accomplish peace. He thinks he has an answer finally, but first wants to hear more about Nagato, especially since they both trained under Jiraiya yet turned out very differently. Curious, Nagato indulges him and tells him about the tragedies he experienced in his life and how they drove him to seek peace through pain. Naruto understands Nagato's logic and even sees some merit to his conclusion, but rejects it. His method to achieve peace is to no longer continue the cycle of revenge that fuels the shinobi world. Although he is angry with Nagato for killing Jiraiya and destroying Konoha, Naruto will not harm him, as that would only cause others to seek revenge against him and repeat the cycle.

Nagato is amazed by Naruto's answer, and is reminded of not only Jiraiya but himself when he was younger. He does not know if Naruto's solution can succeed, but Nagato decides that he will place his faith in it. As a sign of this faith, Nagato uses Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique over Konan's protests to revive everyone that died during his attack. As his life fades from performing the technique, Nagato cautions Naruto over the challenges he will face on the path he has chosen, but wishes him all possible luck. Nagato dies with a smile on his face, wondering if perhaps all the circumstances that led him to this end were the work of a real god.

Power
In the anime, Kabuto Yakushi reincarnates Nagato to be used against Team 7. The summon fails almost immediately afterwards, causing Kabuto to wonder if the Impure World Reincarnation was still incomplete.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Countdown
When the Fourth Shinobi World War looms, Kabuto approaches Tobi offering to join forces. To that end he reincarnates Nagato and four other dead members of Akatsuki as offerings for Tobi's war plans.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Confrontation
When the Fourth Shinobi World War begins, Nagato is mobilised with the rest of Kabuto's collection of reincarnated ninja. Still unable to move even in his reincarnated state, Nagato is carried by Itachi Uchiha. They discuss Akatsuki and how little they, particularly Nagato, actually knew about the organisation; both were only pawns kept by Tobi because of their dōjutsu, and now they've been revived so Kabuto can use them for the same reason. Nagato is at least able to sense where Kabuto is controlling them from, which he communicates to Itachi.

Nagato and Itachi are found by Naruto and Killer B. Nagato is glad to see Naruto has finally gained control of the Nine-Tails, but is not actually surprised since they both trained under Jiraiya. Kabuto forces Nagato and Itachi to attack them, with Nagato summoning various animals to help him move around. Because their personalities are intact, Nagato gives Naruto and B advice about how to counter his summons and jutsu and warns them about Itachi's own. Itachi is able to implement a fail-safe he left on Naruto before his death, which frees him from Kabuto's control. Fearful that Nagato may also break his control, Kabuto suppresses his personality and sends him into battle against the trio.

Itachi joins forces with Naruto and B against Nagato. Nagato hides within his chameleon so he can move around undetected and attacks B with Shinra Tensei. B immediately counters with a version 2 Lariat, resulting in Nagato absorbing B's version 2 chakra. The Eight-Tails' chakra he absorbs has a rejuvenating effect on him, restoring his mobility. He begins removing Naruto's soul, prepares to kill B, and readies the King of Hell to restore them to life when Kabuto is ready for them. Itachi interrupts him with Susanoo, releasing Naruto and B.

Needing to deal with all three at once, Kabuto has Nagato use Chibaku Tensei. Itachi, Naruto, and B simultaneously use their strongest long-range attacks to destroy the growing planetoid. As Kabuto's attentions are distracted by its destruction, Itachi stabs him with Susanoo's Sword of Totsuka, which also restores his consciousness to him. Nagato apologises to Naruto for not only this fight after death, but his actions during life, believing his story was unworthy of following Jiraiya's. He expresses his hope that Naruto's story will conclude so spectacularly that nobody will remember the disappointment of his own. He bids farewell as his body is sealed.

Legacy
Tobi feels personally betrayed when he learns that Nagato gave his life to revive the villagers of Konoha, believing the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique should have been reserved exclusively for his Eye of the Moon Plan. He is also confused, believing Nagato to have been very firm in his convictions and thus not likely to give up so willingly. He tracks down Naruto not long after Nagato's death and asks him what he could have said to sway Nagato, but is unmoved by Naruto's claim that Nagato truly did desire peace. With Nagato gone, Tobi is forced to seek out his corpse and take his Rinnegan to fulfil his ultimate plans. When he finds Nagato smiling at him, he interprets it as if Nagato is continuing to mock him even in death.

Konan followed through with Nagato's change of heart, vowing hers and Amegakure's cooperation with Naruto in his future pursuits of peace. She takes Nagato's and Yahiko's bodies back to Amegakure and creates a secret shrine for them, laying their bodies on beds of flowers. She breaks away from the Akatsuki that Tobi has corrupted, trying to fight for the ideals that the organisation originally represented. She tries to kill Tobi when he comes looking for Nagato's Rinnegan, only to die herself after being forced to reveal the location of Nagato's body.

Naruto is deeply affected by his encounter with Nagato and is compelled to start trying to achieve peace and end the ongoing desires for revenge between ninja. He forgives Nagato for all the missteps he took during his life, thinking of him with as high a regard as he thinks of Jiraiya.

Video Games
In almost all of the above-listed games, it is one or more of the Six Paths of Pain that is playable. Typically it is only the Deva Path that is playable, with the other Paths appearing as part of its moveset. The games that Nagato himself is actually playable in are Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution, and Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, where his reincarnated, restored vitality form is available.

Creation and Conception
In Sha no Sho, 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 Pain appears to wear a partial mask and feather, or horn-like accessories fitted to his forehead protector.

Trivia

 * The name "Nagato" means . He may be named after the famous ninja Fujibayashi Nagato who, in the 16th century, was considered to be one of three greatest Iga jōnin. The other two were Hattori Hanzō (Hanzō's supposed namesake) and Momochi Sandayū (Zabuza Momochi's supposed namesake). In line with his parents, Nagato is also named after a World War II Japanese battleship.
 * Studio Pierrot's Settei sheets of Nagato show that he was 149 cm around the time he killed the Iwa chūnin to protect Yahiko, and 163 cm when Jiraiya left Amegakure.
 * During Kazekage Rescue Mission, Nagato's Rinnegan were depicted with wrong colours due to the Rinnegan not having been illustrated with colours in the manga yet.
 * In keeping with his "God" theme, his theme-song is "Girei" — a haunting theme that consists of holy chanting.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * His hobby was practising ninjutsu.
 * His desired opponent was anyone in order to protect his friends.
 * His favourite food was grilled fish and stew.
 * Nagato's favourite phrase was . As a child, it was "Growing up".
 * As Pain, he wished to fight Naruto Uzumaki (or more specifically the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox).

Quotes

 * (To Jiraiya) "Peace… I don't know how to get there… but… but someday I'll break the curse. If there's such a thing as peace, I will find it!"
 * (To Akatsuki) "We're both of the same breed, after all… motives for war are of no concern. Religion, ideology, resources, land, grudges, love, or just because… No matter how pathetic the reason, it's enough to start a war. War will never cease to exist… Reasons can be thought up after the fact. Human nature pursues strife."
 * (To Jiraiya) "Even a foolish child can grow up in a right way, when he learns what pain is. Knowing pain controls ones thoughts and decisions."
 * (To Tsunade) "You think you're the only ones who matter. You think you can put off death. But that peace made you foolish and thoughtless. If you kill someone, someone else will kill you… this hatred binds us together. I want you to feel pain, to think about pain, to accept pain, to know pain."
 * (To Naruto) "We are both ordinary men, driven to seek vengeance in the name of justice. However, if there is justice in vengeance, then justice will breed only more vengeance. And trigger a cycle of hatred."
 * (To Naruto) "To create short these periods of peace through pain that interrupt the endless cycle of hatred… that is my dream."
 * (Last words to Naruto before dying) "Dying like trash… never ending hatred… pain that never heals… that is war… Naruto… this… is what you must face… The book… and you… It's like… someone… set this all up… Or… maybe… this… is… the hand of the real God… My role is over now… Naruto… you… can really—"
 * (Last words to Naruto before being sealed)