Board Thread:Theories and Speculation/@comment-30355627-20161218164138/@comment-734582-20161218193150

Elveonora wrote: Well, I think it was Kishi's mistake to call it a Rinnegan since he uses both Sharingan and Rinnegan powers in one eye at the same time. It has closer to Rinne Sharingan. True. Though looking on the Rinnegan page and the mistakes while depicting it, i think Kishimoto couldn't quite make up his mind regarding what the eye ought to look like. IE there's cases where Pain's Rinnegan has sharingan tomoe. I guess it was to hide the fact that there's a connection with the Sharigan, but he also uses the Tomoe in many other cases completely non-sharingan related so...mixed bag i guess?

I agree that as far as the eye goes it's beyond either Sharingan and Rinnegan, and i agree it's closer to an actual Rinne Sharingan. But that said, i think the scene in Naruto Gaiden makes it clear that the Rinnegan part of it is permanent (and he has to close his Rinnegan eye when low on chakra), whereas his Sharingan is a manifestation of power that can fade from his eyes. So i think the scene clearly establishes them as different Dojutsu.