Yahiko

was a shinobi from Amegakure and founder of the original Akatsuki. His body acted as the Deva Path of Nagato's Six Paths of Pain.

Background
Yahiko was orphaned during the Second Shinobi World War.

Personality
Yahiko's personality was similar to Naruto's. His dream was to be a leader of his village, and he never gave up no matter what. When he was alive, Yahiko had a strong "eye for an eye" philosophy. He hated the way Amegakure was looked at by the rest of the world, and hated what it had become. He was defensive of the village, saying that it was his dream to stop the endless rain, which he compared to tears, and protect the nation's citizens. Yahiko wanted to become the ruler of the world so there wouldn't be any more wars. Many of these traits were adopted by Nagato after Yahiko's death.

Among the three Ame Orphans, Yahiko seemed to act as the leader of the group. It was Yahiko who first approached the Sannin to ask for food, and was the first to ask Jiraiya to teach them ninjutsu. With Jiraiya's influence on them Yahiko even seemingly started to adopt some of Jiraiya's mannerisms such as his boastful facial expressions. He also seemed to act as an older brother for Nagato and Konan, reminding Nagato to not cry and to act more manly (although Yahiko was the one who cried when Jiraiya left them). He also wished to become stronger so as to protect Nagato and Konan. He had faith in Nagato, when he got older. Yahiko was willing to commit suicide rather than endanger Konan's life, displaying a very high level of loyalty to those he cared for. He also had romantic feelings for Konan which were mutual between the two.

Appearance
Yahiko had short spiky orange hair and blue eyes (depicted as brown in the anime). Under Jiraiya's tutelage, he wore a short black shirt robe with green trimmings, dark pants, a black and white belt that he tied in front with mesh armour underneath. As an original member of Akatsuki, he wore a long black robe with a red line running down the centre along with a armour that covered only his mid-section with a pouch attached to it. He also carried a relatively large sword during this time. It was also shown that Yahiko had inherited his master's perverted smile something that ironically enough, embarrassed Jiraiya.

Abilities
Yahiko had the ability to use water-based techniques, although the only example of this shown in the series was Water Release: Wild Water Wave, in which he was able to shoot a jet of water from his mouth. The Deva Path also had the ability to control rain, presumably Nagato fulfilling Yahiko's desire of "stopping the endless tears". The fact that he was seen carrying a large sword in the flashbacks implied that he was skilled in kenjutsu.

He also had good leadership skills, was respected by all the Akatsuki members of his time, and although he viewed Nagato as the bridge of peace, everyone else viewed him to be the person who would lead them to true peace.

Legacy
Nagato, using his Rinnegan and chakra receivers, incorporated Yahiko's corpse into his Six Paths of Pain technique. As the Deva Path, Yahiko's body had acted as Pain's main body, it being the one he most commonly used and spoke through. The Deva Path was held in higher regard during combat, some of the other bodies being sacrificed to ensure its survival. It has a wide variety of ninjutsu, the most prominent being able to attract and repel objects by manipulating gravity. Following Nagato's death, Konan took both of their bodies back to Amegakure.

After the Deva Path's defeat and Nagato's death, Konan takes their bodies to Amegakure and creates a shrine for them, placing their bodies on a bed of paper flowers. It was however later desecrated by Tobi who took Nagato's body. Yahiko's corpse is currently the only one that is lying in repose there.

Trivia

 * Yahiko shared his birthday and blood type with his former team-mate, Konan.
 * Yahiko's eyes are shown to be a light blue in the manga. In the anime, his eyes are depicted as brown.
 * When split into its separate kanji, means increasing, while  means boy.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * His hobby was fishing.

Quotes

 * (To Jiraiya) "If we're gonna "understand" each other, first we gotta make 'em suffer like we're sufferin'! Like when they stop a fight because someone got injured! But I know that'll never happen… that's why there'll always be war. It always rains here and I hate it. It's like this whole country is a big crybaby. I'm going to change it… and protect everyone!"
 * (To Nagato) "I'm gonna rule the world!!"
 * (Thinking out-loud) "If war is going to continue - I will become the god of the world!!"
 * (To Konan) "Our country's still crying… still enduring all this pain. I used to hate it so much… but now I want to save it from the bottom of my heart. Its a big crybaby, like I used to be… I can't just leave it."
 * (To Nagato) "Nagato… If you just keep crying nothing will happen… Just like the rain!"
 * (Last words to Nagato) "You and Konan… you've gotta stay alive somehow… You're… the saviour of… the world… You… can… bring… real--"