Pain (Nagato)

Leader of the Akatsuki in name, Nagato directs six reanimated corpses known as the Six Paths of Pain from hiding. A war orphan taught by Jiraiya, he believes only shared pain can force the world into peace, and he destroys the Hidden Leaf to prove it. Naruto's refusal to answer hatred with hatred moves him to revive the village's dead at the cost of his own life.

The figure the world knows as Pain is usually the Deva Path, built from the body of Nagato's dead friend Yahiko: spiky orange hair, a gaunt face and numerous black receiver rods piercing the nose, ears and cheeks. All six bodies share the same purple ringed Rinnegan eyes and identical piercings, and all wear the black Akatsuki cloak with red clouds. Nagato himself is hidden away, skeletally thin with long red hair falling over his face, his legs withered, his body pinned to a mechanical throne by black rods that feed him to the machine.

Nagato speaks with detached, sermon-like certainty, presenting himself as a god who has transcended ordinary human feeling. His philosophy is built on the belief that only shared suffering can teach people peace, and that a weapon terrible enough to terrify the world would force it into quiet. He is genuinely thoughtful rather than sadistic, willing to debate his ideology at length, but utterly ruthless in applying it. Beneath the pose lies a traumatised orphan who never recovered from losing his parents, his teacher and his closest friends. When confronted with an alternative he cannot dismiss, he proves capable of remorse profound enough to overturn everything he has built.

Born in Amegakure, a small country repeatedly used as a battlefield by larger powers, Nagato awakened the Rinnegan as a child after killing the soldiers who murdered his parents. Orphaned and starving, he survived alongside Yahiko and Konan until Jiraiya found them and spent three years teaching them to fight and to think. The three founded a movement to end the fighting in their homeland, but Hanzo and Danzo trapped them, and Yahiko died by his own choice to save Konan. Devastated, Nagato used Yahiko's corpse as the first of his Paths, crushed Hanzo's regime, and rebuilt the organisation as the Akatsuki with an entirely different purpose.

1. Akatsuki tailed beast hunt

   Appearing mostly as a hologram at meetings, Pain directs the capture of the tailed beasts and oversees the multi-day sealing rituals with the Gedo Statue. He assigns missions, disciplines members who act independently, and is treated by the entire organisation as its undisputed leader.

2. Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant

   Jiraiya infiltrates Amegakure to identify the Akatsuki leader and finds his three former students at the centre of it. The battle that follows pits teacher against pupil, and although Jiraiya dies, he manages to send back a coded clue about the true nature of the Six Paths.

3. Pain's Assault

   Searching for Naruto, Pain enters Konoha with all six bodies, defeats Kakashi and the village's defenders, interrogates Shizune and Tsunade's staff, and then obliterates the entire village with a single massive technique, leaving a crater where the Hidden Leaf stood.

4. Confrontation with Naruto

   Naruto returns in sage mode and dismantles the Paths one by one before being immobilised. Rather than fight Nagato's real body, he chooses to argue with him about the cycle of revenge, citing Jiraiya's beliefs, and persuades him to abandon his plan entirely.

5. Fourth Shinobi World War

   Reanimated by Kabuto, Nagato is forced to attack Naruto and Killer B with his full Rinnegan power, tearing through them until Itachi frees himself and seals him with the Sword of Totsuka. His final words to Naruto concern the story he wants his life to become.

Konan

Lifelong companion

The last survivor of their childhood trio, Konan stays at his side through every stage of his transformation, protecting his hidden body and carrying out his orders without question while quietly grieving what he has become.

Yahiko

Best friend and founder of the original Akatsuki

Yahiko's idealism shaped Nagato's early life, and his death broke it. Nagato preserved his corpse as the Deva Path, so the face the world associates with Pain is in fact his dead friend's.

Jiraiya

Former teacher

Jiraiya taught the three orphans to survive and believed Nagato might be the prophesied child who would change the world. Facing him again as an enemy is the moment Nagato's certainty first shows a crack.

Naruto Uzumaki

Ideological successor

Naruto refuses to kill him and instead insists that the cycle of hatred can be broken. Nagato accepts the argument, entrusts him with the hope Jiraiya once placed in himself, and gives his life to undo his own atrocity.

Obito Uchiha (Tobi)

Hidden manipulator

The masked man gave Nagato his purpose and his organisation while posing as a subordinate. Nagato never fully controlled the Akatsuki's true agenda, and his change of heart is treated by Obito as a betrayal.

• He destroys the whole of Konohagakure with a single overwhelming technique.
• He defeats Jiraiya in Amegakure, though his old teacher escapes long enough to leave a message.
• Naruto talks him out of his entire philosophy without landing a decisive blow.
• He sacrifices his remaining life to revive the villagers killed in his attack.
• Reanimated during the war, he is sealed away by Itachi's Sword of Totsuka after a brief reunion with Naruto.

• Every Path shares identical ringed eyes and piercings, which is the clue that ultimately exposes how the technique works.
• The body most often seen as Pain belonged to his deceased childhood friend.
• He is a distant member of the Uzumaki clan, giving him unusually strong life force and chakra.
• He rarely appears in person, directing the Akatsuki through projections and remote-controlled bodies.
• His real body is kept immobile and hooked into the Gedo Statue throughout the series.

• Naruto Uzumaki
• Sasuke Uchiha
• Sakura Haruno
• Kakashi Hatake
• Sai
• Jiraiya

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