Character 35 of 48 · Naruto

Pain / Nagato

Q: What role does Pain / Nagato play in Naruto?

Pain / Nagato is a Antagonist in Naruto. Originally known as Nagato, a shinobi from the hidden rain village, Pain rose to prominence after experiencing profound loss during the Second and Third Great Wars. Encountering Jiraiya, Nagato mastered chakra control and awakened the Rinnegan eye — a technique not seen since the Sage of Six Paths.

Q: Which arcs does Pain / Nagato appear in?

Pain / Nagato appears in the following arcs of Naruto: invasion-of-pain.

Q: How many characters does Naruto have?

Naruto has 48 major characters profiled on Mangaka.online. View all Naruto characters →

Antagonist

The Akatsuki's enigmatic leader who controls six distinct bodies through the legendary Rinnegan eye, Pain wages war against the entire shinobi world to establish peace through overwhelming power and fear. His destruction of Konoha and subsequent defeat by Naruto marks the series' philosophical turning point about the nature of peace and understanding.

Biography & Character Analysis

Originally known as Nagato, a shinobi from the hidden rain village, Pain rose to prominence after experiencing profound loss during the Second and Third Great Wars. Encountering Jiraiya, Nagato mastered chakra control and awakened the Rinnegan eye — a technique not seen since the Sage of Six Paths. Building the Akatsuki as a tool for his vision, Nagato created six bodies — each representing a different path to power and justice. He orchestrated the invasion of Konoha that devastated the village and nearly killed Naruto, seeking to demonstrate that peace could only be achieved through overwhelming strength. Yet his confrontation with Naruto, the student of his former teacher Jiraiya, forced him to reconsider his philosophy. Moved by Naruto's unwavering belief in understanding over vengeance, and seeing in Naruto the same dream he once held before tragedy corrupted it, Nagato sacrificed his life to resurrect all of Konoha's fallen citizens. His redemption represents the series' ultimate message — that even those pursuing darkness can be saved through genuine compassion.

The Rinnegan orphan of Ame

Nagato is a war orphan of Amegakure and a distant Uzumaki, born with the legendary Rinnegan — the eyes of the Sage of Six Paths — implanted in him as a child by Madara’s design. Trauma defines him: he watched his parents die in a border war and grew up believing the world only understands pain.

The Akatsuki’s god

With his friends Yahiko and Konan, and briefly under the tutelage of Jiraiya, Nagato dreamed of ending war. Yahiko’s death shattered that dream. Crippled and hidden, Nagato reanimates corpses — most famously Yahiko’s — as the Six Paths of Pain, and leads Akatsuki behind the godlike persona of “Pain,” preaching that only shared suffering can force peace.

The Six Paths of Pain

Each Path carries one facet of the Rinnegan’s power — the Deva Path’s gravity manipulation, the others handling souls, machinery, summons, absorption, and interrogation. Hunting the Nine-Tails, Pain invades Konoha, kills Jiraiya, and levels the entire village with a single Shinra Tensei, the story’s most devastating attack to that point.

Naruto’s answer

Naruto confronts Pain not with a stronger jutsu but with a better answer to the same question that broke Nagato. Moved by Naruto’s refusal to answer pain with pain, Nagato sacrifices the last of his life force with Rinne Rebirth, reviving everyone he had just killed in Konoha — dying as the disciple who finally chose Jiraiya’s hope over his own despair.

Affiliations & Groups (1)

Akatsuki

Organization

The Akatsuki represents the most formidable criminal organization in the Naruto series, functioning as a shadow force opposing the five great shinobi villages and pursuing an agenda of global domination and chakra manipulation. Founded officially by Pain, also known as Nagato, with the administrative and philosophical

Members: Konan Itachi Uchiha Kisame Hoshigaki Deidara Sasori Hidan Kakuzu Zetsu Obito Uchiha Madara Uchiha