Nagato

, or more commonly known as, is the recognized leader of Akatsuki and Amegakure, and is a major antagonist in the series. Referred to as "Leader" by all Akatsuki members except for Konan, who refers to him by his name, he directs the actions of the others and maintains authority over them. He takes orders from Tobi, who is actually Madara Uchiha, the benefactor of Akatsuki.

Background
Nagato, like Konan and Yahiko, was an orphan from Amegakure, forcing them to fend for themselves. The three eventually encountered the Sannin, who at first were 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 were attacked by an Iwagakure Chunin, who injured Yahiko. Seeing this, Nagato awakened his Rinnegan and killed the ninja. Jiraiya then decided he would train them in ninjutsu. Nagato was very emotional about killing the shinobi, and asked Jiraiya for help so he could 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 later 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.

Upon becoming Pain, Nagato led one side of the Amegakure civil-war and took over the village as its leader by killing Hanzo. The members of Pain's faction wear their Amegakure forehead protectors with a scratch through it the way the full members of Akatsuki do, despite the fact that none of them are rogue ninja any more, as the scratch symbolizes, because they won the civil war.

Personality
Nagato was a sensitive but kind boy, prone to crying, and was traumatized 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 Pain, his personality is very different, having become a calm, serious, aloof, and detached man. Apparently believing his childhood trauma had enlightened him to the true meaning of pain and suffering, he now considers himself a deity and evolved beyond a mere human. 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. He is willing to kill his own teacher in cold blood and brutally execute all of Hanzo's friends and family to ensure the Amegakure'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. He also feels that no one can understand peace unless they understand "true" pain, something his childhood friend Yahiko believed. Minato Namikaze believes Madara Uchiha to be using this philosophy in his favor in order to manipulate Nagato.

Nonetheless, 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 moment of silence for his former teacher out of respect for his power. He also seems to dislike Akatsuki members insulting each other, as seen when he reprimands Kisame for calling Hidan and Kakuzu the "Zombie Brothers."

Pain is also very respectful and kind to his childhood friend, Konan, who has been declared his "angel". He was shown protecting her without request or hesitation from Jiraiya before his battle with his former teacher. Apparently, she is the only member of the Akatsuki that addresses him by his name, Nagato, and only Madara and herself refer to him as Pain.

Part II
Pain initially appears only as a shadowy outline who regulates the actions of other Akatsuki members. As Part II progresses portions of his face are shown, until he makes his debut alongside Konan when receiving orders from Madara Uchiha. Madara assigns him to catch Naruto Uzumaki, the container of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.

Fight with Jiraiya
Before he can set out to find Naruto, Jiraiya infiltrates Amegakure. Pain switches to his Animal path in order to deal with the intruder, and then goes to kill Jiraiya. During the first half of his battle with Jiraiya, Pain fought the Sannin off with unique summons. It wasn't until Jiraiya activated Hermit Mode and summoned two toads to help him fight that Pain reveal two more of his bodies and quickly began to fight Jiraiya back personally. Jiraiya attempted to bring down all three of the bodies using the toad elders to perform a genjutsu, then pierced each body through the heart with a giant sword.

When Jiraiya prepared to go back to Konoha, Pain 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 Animal path and send it to Konoha. In trying to learn more information about Pain he is attacked by all five and his throat is crushed. He dies, but not before giving a message about Pain's identity to one of his toads, which manages to escape.

Invasion of Pain
After finding a replacement for the Animal path, Pain and Konan set out for Konoha. They eliminate the border guards upon arrival, infiltrate the village, and disperse, each of the six paths having a specific task: the Asura, Preta, and Animal paths as diversions, and the Deva, Human, and Naraka path to find Naruto. While combing the village, the Deva path is confronted by Kakashi Hatake and a group of Konoha ninja. The Asura path comes to its aid and is destroyed during the battle, but Kakashi and the others are all defeated.

In other locations across the village, the other paths are drawn into battle as well. The Preta path, while trying to dispose of the captured animal path, is attacked by Kiba Inuzuka, Akamaru, Tsume Inuzuka and Kuromaru. The Naraka path is challenged and seemingly defeated by Konohamaru's Rasengan. The Animal path assaults an ANBU building where a captured Rain ninja is being interrogated. Most of the Konoha ninja that are present escape, but the Human path manages to capture Shizune.

Elsewhere, the Deva path meets with Tsunade, the Hokage. Tsunade refuses to tell him where Naruto is and rejects his philosophy of pain. When the Human path is able to extract Naruto's location from Shizune, the Deva path destroys the village to teach Tsunade a lesson while the other bodies and Konan evacuate. The Naraka path restores the Asura path and they meet with the Deva path at the center of the destroyed village. There, they find Naruto and his toad allies, having been summoned during the village's destruction to help in its defense.

When Tsunade arrives to seek revenge, the Asura path attacks her, only to be quickly destroyed by Naruto's Rasengan. He sends Tsunade away and instructs the rest of the villagers not to interfere, engaging Pain's remaining bodies on his own. The Animal path summons its ram, rhino, and dog to attack him, but he parries all with the benefits of his Hermit Mode and leaves their defeat to his toad allies. He neutralizes the Preta path and destroys the Human path with his perfected Wind Release: Rasenshuriken. Gamabunta then catches the Animal path in his mouth, where Naruto is able to finish it off without interference.

Naruto tries to defeat the Deva and Naraka paths with another Rasenshuriken, only for the Preta path to appear and absorb the attack. Noticing that the Naraka path must have restored it, Naruto focuses his efforts on getting rid of it. Although he succeeds the Deva path, it being left temporarily powerless after destroying Konoha, regain its powers and captures Naruto. It gives him to the Preta path which absorbs his senjutsu chakra, but turns to a stone toad because it is unable to handle the natural energy. Naruto breaks free only to be captured again by the Deva path, who restrains him with its Chakra Disruption Blades.

With Naruto no longer able to fight back, his allies come to help him. Pain kills Fukasaku and is then drawn into battle with Hinata Hyuga, who he quickly strikes down. The defeat of the latter prompts Naruto to enter a six-tailed transformation, which the Deva path is unable to compete with in its current condition. It retreats to a location closer to Nagato, who controls the bodies of Pain from nearby, in order to strengthen the flow of chakra to it. This allows it to use Chibaku Tensei to capture the six-tailed Naruto, a short-lived victory when he progresses to an eight-tailed state. The sphere of rubble created by Chibaku Tensei crumbles and Naruto, having receded the demon fox's transformation, emerges.

His resolve renewed, Naruto demanded to be taken to Nagato to speak with him himself. Pain however states that though Naruto now understands true pain, he claims that they could never understand each other, as in the end they are just too different. As Pain attacks, Naruto takes one of his chakra blades and locates Nagato by following the chakra after he stabbed himself in the shoulder. Naruto then battles the Deva path by throwing two Rasenshuriken in a shadow shuriken method, though Pain dodged both of them. In the ensuing chaos Naruto is able to amass enough shadow clones to resist Pain's Shinra Tensei, and strikes it with his Rasengan.

Sensing that the last of his bodies have been defeated, Nagato knows that Naruto will soon appear. Upon so, Nagato tells Konan to stand aside and let Naruto in. He then simply states that peace has arrived.

Abilities
As the leader of Akatsuki and one of the two sides of the Amegakure Civil War, Pain is an extraordinarily powerful ninja that can easily be considered Kage-level. His partner, Konan, has stated that he has never lost a single fight. He was able to single-handedly defeat and overthrow the former Amegakure leader, Hanzō, and made short work of Jiraiya after unveiling all six of his bodies (though Pain admitted that killing Jiraiya would have been very unlikely had Jiraiya had prior knowledge of his six separate bodies). It is not until his fight with Naruto that he encounters an opponent that poses a challenge to him.

Rinnegan


Pain's incredible power stems mainly from his Kekkei Genkai, the Rinnegan. This was originally possessed by the Sage of the Six Paths, the world's first ninja and the founder of modern ninjutsu. The Rinnegan's abilities are largely unknown, but it does allow the user to use all types of elemental chakra and allowed Nagato to master every technique Jiraiya taught him. It also enhances his vision of chakra in a similar manner to the Hyuga clan's Byakugan and Uchiha Clan's Sharingan, allowing him to see the chakra of barrier techniques around Konoha and the chakra gathered at the feet of Tsunade.

Six Paths of Pain
By far, Nagato's most powerful and most-used technique is the. This technique allows Nagato to control six separate bodies as though they were his own. Each of these bodies are reanimated corpses that are both kept mobile by, and make use of Nagato's chakra. While controlling them, Nagato uses the alias "Pain", yet still regards them as separate from himself.

In order to use the technique, Nagato remains in a machine that moves with six relatively small mechanical legs, and use several large chakra rods on his back to transmit chakra. From there, the chakra is picked up by the numerous receivers on each body. To control them, Nagato has to be close by, and ideally at the highest point possible so he can have the best range possible.

Based after the six Buddhist paths of Reincarnation, each body is named after the one of the six Buddhist paths of reincarnation: Deva, Preta, Animal, Human, Naraka, and Asura. The only common feature shared by these bodies is their bright orange hair and Rinnegan eyes. Each also has a vast number of body and facial piercings of various shapes, sizes, and patterns. Each body seems to serve a specific purpose in battle, such as summoning, repair, and defense.

Deva path
The, Pain's first observed body, is the body of Yahiko, and possesses medium length spiky hair, six piercings and a metal bar through each ear, three studs through the side of his upper nose and one spike stud on each end of his bottom lip. Three piercings under each other in each wrist, at least one on his upper wrist and some just under his neck. He also wears a beaded necklace.
 * Incapacitated

The Deva path's main abilities revolve around manipulating gravity, allowing him to repel or attract objects. However, he cannot perform it in rapid succession, leaving him vulnerable for a short period of time after its use. This period of time between usages may vary from five seconds to several minutes, depending upon the force of the repulsion or attraction. When performing a large scale attack, Nagato must first severe his connection with the other bodies.

In addition to its main ability the body can use a number of other miscellaneous jutsu, something none of the other bodies have been seen doing. It can use the Shapeshifting Technique to make body doubles of other with human sacrifices. It can also control rain, a possible throwback to Yahiko (who wanted to be able to stop the rain in Amegakure), which allows him to sense the chakra of everyone in Amegakure.

Chief among its unique abilities is the Illusionary Dragon Nine Consuming Seals that Akatsuki uses to seal the tailed beasts. The members convene to forcibly extract the beast from its host's body over a three day period and store it in a giant statue. The Deva path has been the only body to be seen interacting with other Akatsuki members. When all six bodies are in active use Nagato tends to speak only through the Deva path, even sacrificing other bodies to keep it safe. This suggests that Nagato has some partiality to the body or that it is merely the most valuable.


 * Jutsu
 * Divine Force
 * Banshō Ten'in
 * Chibaku Tensei
 * Shinra Tensei
 * Fierce Raining at Will
 * Five Seals Barrier
 * Illusionary Dragon Nine Consuming Seals
 * Magic Lantern Body Technique
 * Mirrored Sudden Attacker
 * Shapeshifting Technique

Former Animal path
Pain's second body, distinguished by a long ponytail and a large bridge piercing through his upper nose and attaching on each cheek, one on his upper nose, and six rimming around the bottom of his face. After being killed and examined, this body was shown to have multiple piercings on his chest as well. This body is a 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 Rinnegan eyes and various piercings suggesting that they too are under his control.
 * Deceased - Replaced

Prior to Jiraiya's encounter with Pain, one of his subordinates noted that some believe Pain to have been from the Fūma clan. This is because this body was originally a man from the Fūma clan, recognized by Jiraiya as a man who had ambushed him, ending up scarred across the forehead in the process. Jiraiya catches this body and sends it to Konoha, where it proves instrumental in discovering the secret behind Pain.


 * Jutsu
 * Summoning Technique
 * Giant Drill-Beaked Bird
 * Giant Multi-Headed Dog
 * Giant Panda
 * Giant Ram (incapacitated)
 * Giant Rhino (incapacitated)
 * Giant Crustacean (Deceased)
 * Giant Centipede (Deceased)
 * Giant Snake-Tailed Chameleon (Deceased)
 * The Other Pain Bodies
 * Konan


 * Summoning abilities
 * Violent Bubble Wave (Crustacean Summon)
 * Amplification Summoning Technique (Dog Summon)
 * Chameleon Camouflage (Chameleon Summon)

Preta path
The is the body of a fat, bulky man with six spike stud piercings covering his entire bottom lip, two studs vertical on the front of his nose, two spike studs one on each cheek, a metal bar going through each ear, and a stud on his shoulder one on each side close to his neck. Originally this body was from Kusagakure.
 * Incapacitated

This body's "Energy Absorption" ability is primarily defensive, since he is capable of absorbing any ninjutsu-related technique, thereby nullifying its effect. This technique can also take the form of a large bubble around his body, allowing it to absorb attacks from any direction. In addition to its defensive properties, this body's ability has also shown offensive capabilities, sucking all the chakra out of any target unfortunate enough to be grabbed by him. However, this body seems to be weak against physical attacks, as one punch to the face (albeit imbued with natural energy) is enough to kill it. The force from the punch most likely snapped the body's neck. This body is later incapacitated by Naruto when he transferred too much natural energy into it and turned into a statue of a toad.


 * Jutsu
 * Energy Absorption
 * Chakra Absorption Technique
 * Blocking Technique Absorption Seal

Human path
The is the body of a tall slender man with very long loose hair, a diagonal bar though his nose, two studs vertically on each cheek, two studs horizontal from each other on his upper chin, and a stud on his shoulders near his neck. This body was originally from Takigakure.
 * Incapacitated

During the battle with Jiraiya this body's eyes are damaged, leaving it unable to see. Because of this it only uses physical attacks during the battle. It is later shown to have "Mind Tampering" capabilities, allowing him to affect minds similar to the Yamanaka clan by touching another being's head in order to extract information. He's capable of reading the person's mind in seconds and without need of additional equipment. The Human path then proceeded to rip out the ninja's consciousness, killing the victim. When fighting against Naruto the Human path is disintegrated by the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, it being unable to escape because it was getting the Animal path to safety.


 * Jutsu
 * Mental Manipulation
 * Mind Reading
 * Soul Removal

Asura path
The is the body of 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 vertically on his nose, six spike studs all around his head, three studs on the top and bottom of each of his arms, an enormous spike stud on his chin and two vertical spikes on each upper cheek. This body has a number of different faces that it switches to depending on its mood: happy, neutral, and angry.
 * Incapacitated

This body has received a number of body alterations; under his cloak the body is revealed to have completely robotic inner workings, possessing six arms and a folded serrated blade-like tail. He can fire one of his left forearms off as a long-range projectile, pull out one of his right arms to reveal a cluster of segmented cluster missiles, quickly propel itself forward with a burst of chakra from its boots, protract multiple blades and a drill from one of his arms, open up the crown of his head to release a titanic shockwave, and wrapped around his waist is a long and flexible saw-like blade that can be used to slice a target. All of these abilities befit the "warring demon" name that the Asura path holds, while giving it a considerably higher degree of versatility than the other paths have.

The Asura path is used as a shield to protect the Deva path from Kakashi Hatake. It survives Kakashi's attack but is later destroyed by Choza and Choji Akimichi. The Naraka path restores it, only for it to be destroyed again by Naruto moments after his return.


 * Jutsu
 * Body Alterations
 * Flaming Arrow of Amazing Ability
 * Flaming Arrow Missiles
 * Laser Explosion
 * Chakra Propulsion Boots

Naraka path
The is the body of a very tall stocky muscular man with a spiky mop of hair, with triple bar ear piercings, a stud on his upper nose, a stud on his shoulders near his neck, and a row of studs diagonally down each cheek.
 * Incapacitated

This body's ability (referred to as the "King of Hell") seem to be a spiritual entity similar to the Death God, although he is physically strong enough to hold a fully grown man in each hand off the ground with no apparent effort. The entity takes the form of a giant demonic head, which protrudes from the ground close too him while shrouded in black flames. When he asks a question, and after an answer is given, the giant's mouth opens, releasing tendril like arms that force a stream of energy from the victim. If the person was telling a lie or refused to answer the question, their life force is completely removed and eaten, and they are seemingly killed. If they were telling the truth, they remain alive, though left extremely exhausted. Outsiders are unable to see the head, although Naruto in Hermit Mode apparently can. Another of this body's powers, most likely its main purpose, is to resurrect or "heal" other paths. By summoning the King of Hell, Pain engulfs the body he wants to heal in it and the body comes out completely repaired.

Both times that Pain's bodies were shown in a combat formation, the Naraka path has taken the rear with the others protecting him (even behind the Deva path while its power was still recharging), implying that, like the Deva path, this body is one of Pain's most important bodies. It is capable of holding its own, as seen when it defeated three Chunin and Ebisu, a Jonin, using only hand-to-hand combat.


 * Jutsu
 * King of Hell

Animal path
The, Pain's newest body, is the replacement of the body lost in the fight against Jiraiya. This body has a very young appearance and, unlike all the other bodies, was originally female, with its hair tied together in a sort of onion like bun at the top of the head and spikes of hair protruding out of it. It has one stud above the nose, studs on either side of the neck, a row of studs vertically down each cheek, a stud below each stud on the neck and two studs on each forearm. When Inoichi is searching through the mind of a man from Amegakure he saw that the man and his friend brought this body, dead and without its piercings, to the tower where Pain resides. This Animal path was incapacitated after being hit in the chest with Naruto's Rasenrengan.
 * Replacement - Incapacitated


 * Jutsu
 * Summoning Technique
 * Giant Drill-Beaked Bird
 * Giant Multi-Headed Dog
 * Giant Panda
 * Giant Ram (incapacitated)
 * Giant Rhino (incapacitated)
 * Giant Crustacean (Deceased)
 * Giant Centipede (Deceased)
 * Giant Snake-Tailed Chameleon (Deceased)
 * The Other Pain Bodies
 * Konan


 * Summoning abilities
 * Violent Bubble Wave (Crustacean Summon)
 * Amplification Summoning Technique (Dog Summon)
 * Chameleon Camouflage (Chameleon Summon)

Creation
In Naruto Hiden: Sha no Sho Character Official Data Book, 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 he appears to wear a partial face mask and feather or horn-like accessories fitted to his forehead protector.

When first appearing in the anime and other media, Pain's eyes were depicted with an incorrect color scheme; the two center rings of the Rinnegan were colored separate shades of gray while the outermost ring was flesh-colored, and the ring in between was white. Following his appearance in chapter 377 of the manga, which featured the first official color illustration of his face, the color scheme was corrected.

While the Six paths are depicted with a standard, pinkish skin tone in official color illustrations by Kishimoto, the anime depicts them with deathly pale skin, likely as a visual cue that the bodies are in fact deceased.

Past Speculations
Before Pain (the Deva path specifically) was revealed, some speculated that Minato Namikaze was the leader of Akatsuki, because their silhouettes are similar and Pain has some knowledge of Konoha. This theory was propagated by a fan-made manga collage where the Akatsuki leader revealed himself as Minato.

Trivia

 * Pain appears to have a habit of not checking to see if people he defeat are dead.
 * Pain's original six bodies all belonged to ninja Jiraiya had met in the past.

Quotes

 * "We're both of the same breed, after all... motives for war are of no concern. Religion, ideology, resources, land, spite, love, or just because... no matter how pathetic the reason, it's enough to start war."
 * "We are Pain! We are God!"
 * "Those who do not understand true pain can never understand true peace."
 * "We are but men, drawn to act in the name of revenge we deem to be 'Justice.' But when we call our vengeance 'Justice,' it only breeds more revenge...forging the first link in the chains of hatred.""
 * "Peace is right before my eyes."