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Nagato Uzumaki is one of the most famous fictional characters in the fan-favorite manga and its anime adaptation, Naruto and Naruto Shippuden, written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto.
Disclaimer: This article will contain detailed information about Nagato Uzumaki and his role in the series. Readers are advised to read at their own discretion as this article will contain spoilers.
Nagato was a shinobi belonging to the Hidden Rain Village and leader of the criminal organization, the Akatsuki. He was one of the students of Jiraiya, a legendary Sannin of the Hidden Leaf Village. Nagato was a member of the Uzumaki clan. He also possessed the legendary Dojutsu, Rinnegan, and was considered to be the reincarnation of the Sage of Six Paths at times.
In the Second Great Ninja War, Nagato lost his parents and had to live the life of an orphan. When he was wandering on the streets with an empty stomach, he ran into Yahiko and Konan and started to live with them.
The three orphans set out to learn Ninjutsu and to become strong enough to stop all the war and establish peace under Yahiko’s leadership. After a long and complicated journey, they found Jiraiya, who took them under his care and taught them the ways of a shinobi. After Jiraiya left, the three orphans founded Akatsuki to pursue their goal of world peace.
At some point, Nagato lost Yahiko in an ambush orchestrated by Hanzo of the Salamander. That incident changed his perspective of the world. With his visual prowess, he assumed the identity of the Six Paths of Pain and used Yahiko’s corpse as Tendo Pain, the Deva Path, who played the role of the leader of the Akatsuki.
He killed Hanzo and all his blood relatives and became the leader of the Hidden Rain Village. Nagato’s alter ego, Pain, and Konan were referred to as the God of the Hidden Rain Village and Lady Angel by the residents of the Hidden Rain Village.
In the Pain Assualt Arc, Nagato shared his story with Naruto Uzumaki and evaluated his perspective. After he had realized that he shouldn’t have abandoned his master’s teachings and that there was still hope, he entrusted his goal to Naruto. He used the forbidden jutsu, Rinne-Rebirth Jutsu, to revive everyone who died in his attack, and succumbed to his demise, a cost he had to pay for such powerful jutsu.
| Name | Nagato Uzumaki |
| Alias | God |
| Child of Prophecy | |
| Saviour of this World | |
| Third Sage of Six Paths | |
| First Appearance in Anime | Naruto Shippuden Episode 128: Tales of a Gutsy Ninja - Jiraiya Ninja Scroll Part 2 |
| Japanese Voice Actor | Junpei Morita |
| Kenyu Horiuchi (Pain) | |
| Tomoaki Maeno (Child) | |
| Shiho Hisajima (Female Pain) | |
| English Voice Actor | Vic Mignogna |
| Troy Baker (Pain) | |
| Matthew Mercer (Pain Shippuden Episode 454+) | |
| Dave Wittenberg (Pain Shippuden Episode 135) | |
| Stephanie Sheh (Female Pain) | |
| Birthdate | September 19 |
| Sex | Male |
| Status | Deceased |
| Affiliation | Hidden Rain Village |
| Akatsuki | |
| Team | Hidden Rain Orphans |
| Clan | Uzumaki |
Nagato was the son of Fuso and Ise, born into the renowned Uzumaki clan. He lived with his parents on the outskirts of the Hidden Rain Village. Madara Uchiha, also known as the Ghost of the Uchiha, sneaked in and transplanted his Rinnegan into Nagato when he was very young, without his parents ever noticing.
Madara chose Nagato because he was an Uzumaki who were famous for their huge chakra reserves, and Madara believed that he would be able to master his Rinnegan. Madara transplanted his eye to Nagato in hopes that Nagato would use the Rinne-Rebirth jutsu to revive him in the future.
In the Second Great Ninja War, two Hidden Leaf shinobi broke into Nagato’s home in search of food and water, as they believed the house was abandoned. Afraid of the shinobi, Nagato’s parents tried to sneak out with him, but unfortunately were exposed.
Nagato’s father attacked the shinobi to allow Nagato to run and was killed by the Hidden Leaf shinobi in self-defense. After the shinobi realized that they were civilians, they tried apologizing to Nagato for the sin they had committed. Filled with grief and rage, Nagato unleased the prowess of Madara’s Rinnegan and killed the two shinobi unknowingly.
After burying his parents, Nagato left his home in search of food and shelter. As a consequence of the war, the food supply was limited and no one was willing to help this young, poor soul. On his journey wandering on the streets of a war-inflicted nation, Nagato found a dog, named Chibi in the anime.
Once Nagato fell to the ground, unconscious, due to starvation and exhaustion. He was saved when Yahiko and Konan found him and offered him some food and shelter. Yahiko and Konan were also orphans, victims of the war. The three orphans joined forced and acquired food and resources through any means to survive in these uncertain times. Yahiko had a strong personality.
He would often share his dream of becoming strong and eliminating all war and bringing peace. Nagato was inspired by Yahiko and adopted the same goal as him. The three orphans set out on a journey to find the Legendary Sannins of the Hidden Leaf to train under them and become strong shinobi.
The journey to find them was hard. Chibi died after they were attacked by a stray kunai with a paper bomb on it. They finally made it and Jiraiya took them under their care and decided to train them.
For a while, Nagato and his companions stayed with Jiraiya. On an unfaithful night, while Jiraiya was away, the orphans were attacked by a Hidden Rock Village Chunin. Fearing for the lives of his friends, Nagato again used his Rinnegan and ended up killing the attacker.
When Jiraiya returned and became aware of the incident, he noticed his Rinnegan for the first time. Jiraiya was reminded of the Sage of Six Paths, the original wielder of the Rinnegan. Jiraiya started believing that Nagato was the Child of Prophecy he was looking for. Jiraiya trained the orphans for three years.
All of them became skilled shinobi. Nagato was able to master any jutsu he ever tried because of his Rinnegan. When Jiraiya was satisfied with their abilities, he left and returned to the Hidden Leaf Village.
After Jiraiya left, those three formed the Akatsuki with Yahiko as its leader. Their goal was to gain followers and grow as an organization, ultimately ending the war. They believed that only after they know each other's pain, they can understand each other and started spreading their message and advocating for the end of the war.
Their ideology became popular and they gained recognition. At some point, Obito Uchiha, representing himself as Madara Uchiha, approached the orphans and offered to help in their goal and help Nagato in unlocking the full potential of his Dojutsu. Yahiko refused his offer as he suspected that he just wanted to exploit Nagato and his powers.
As they gained popularity and influence, the Akatsuki was approached by Hanzo of the Salamander, the leader of the Hidden Rain Village at the time. Hanzo proposed to join forces with them. As it turned out, it was a trap to ambush Yahiko and Hanzo feared that he would lose his position and was threatened by Yahiko’s influence.
He teamed up with Danzo Shimura of the Hidden Leaf and ambushed them with an army of his subordinates. Hanzo took Konan hostage and threatened to kill her if Nagato did not kill Yahiko. To save Nagato from the pain of killing his friend, Yahiko ran into Nagato’s kunai and killed himself. In his ending moments, Yahiko stated that he believed in Nagato and that he would change the world.
Filled with rage and grief, Nagato used his prowess and saved Konan, but his legs were burned in the attempt. He then summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, also known as the Gedo Statue, with his Rinnegan and used it to slaughter Hanzo’s men but Hanzo managed to escape.
Upon Yahiko’s death, Nagato realized that their philosophy was flawed. People will never end the cycle of hatred willingly. He came up with the ideology that the only way he could attain peace was by using the fear of war and pain.
As a consequence of linking with the Gedo Statue and having his legs burned by Hanzo’s attack, Nagato was left with a fragile body unable to move. Nagato later created the Six Paths of Pain. He used Yahiko’s corpse of Yahiko for Deva Pain, still wanting Yahiko to be the leader of the Akatsuki in essence.
He used the corpses of notorious shinobi from the past and controlled them remotely with his chakra using black chakra rods, thanks to the prowess of his Rinnegan. He then accepted Obito’s offer of support and led the Akatsuki in a different direction. He recruited S-rank rouge shinobi from various villages and started offering its services as a mercenary group to collect the funds required to fulfill its goal of world domination.
At some point, Nagato and Konan initiated a civil war against Hanzo in the Hidden Rain Village. Most of the citizens followed Pain as they believed him to be God because of his immense power and strength. He won the war against Hanzo and eliminated everyone even remotely related to Hanzo. Because of Hidden Rain’s secretive nature, the news of the death of Hanzo and the change in Hidden Rain’s leadership did not leave the village.
Once the organization was stable enough, Akatsuki members started capturing Jinchurikis to extract the Tailed Beast from them. He planned to revive the Ten-Tails and use it as a weapon to initiate war and use the destruction and fear caused by it as a catalyst for peace. He theorized that once people witnessed the horrors of war as he and his companions had, they would unite and live in peace.
Pain and Konan confronted their master, Jiraiya when he infiltrated the Hidden Rain Village. Pain mentioned that he was grateful for his teachings but needed to eliminate him as he was a threat to their goal. Jiraiya uncovered the mystery behind Hidden Rain’s leadership and the real identity of Pain. Jiraiya managed to pass on the information to the Hidden Leaf Village in an encoded message but lost his life at the hands of his beloved pupil.
In the Pain Assault Arc, Nagato explained his theory of the Cycle of Hatred which resonated with Naruto as well as the viewers. After defeating the Six Paths of Pain, Naruto confronted Nagato and stated that he would like to the reasoning behind his cruel actions. Nagato agreed and stated that he would base his next course of action on Naruto’s response.
Naruto stated that he sympathizes with him but he still believed in his master’s teachings. Nagato was awestruck by Naruto’s response and decided to believe in him and entrusted his will to Naruto. Nagato then performed the Rinne-Rebirth Jutsu to revive everyone who had been a victim of his assault on the Hidden Leaf and died, a cost he had to pay for performing such powerful forbidden jutsu.
In the Fourth Great Ninja War, Kabuto Yakushi reincarnated Nagato using Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu, along with other reincarnated shinobi to fight in the war. Nagato and Itachi were tasked to confront Naruto and Killer B and capture them.
Although Nagato did not wish to follow Kabuto’s instructions, he was bound by the forbidden jutsu. Nagato and Itachi started attacking Naruto and Killer B and posed a threat to their wellbeing. Itachi managed to free himself from Kabuto’s control, thanks to Kotoamatsukami, the unique ability of Shisui’s Mangekyo Sharingan which he stored in Naruto prior to his death.
Nagato proved himself to be an unstoppable force. As he was not using the Six Paths of Pain, he was able to use all his abilities without any restrictions. Killer B and Naruto were about to be captured by him but were saved by Itachi’s interference. Itachi used his Sword of Totsuka to seal Nagato.
As he was getting sealed away, Nagato was freed from Kabuto’s control. He apologized to Naruto for all his evil doings when he was alive and for fighting him even after death. Nagato stated that his story was not worthy of following Jiraiya’s. Nagato stated that he believed it all started with Jiraiya and with Naruto’s story will conclude the tale.
He hoped that Naruto’s story would end spectacularly and will cast a shadow on his shortcomings and people will forget about the disappointment he was. Nagato bid his farewell and got sealed away.
Nagato was a sensitive child and he cared about his close ones and would often end up crying if he saw them suffering. He saw this as a weakness but Jiraiya stated that it was one of his greatest strengths. Jiraiya stated that his ability to understand the pain of others made him kinder to others.
Nagato would often put others' needs ahead of himself. He became a shinobi to protect his friends, Yahiko and Konan. Nagato always admired Yahiko and looked up to him. He never considered his abilities and Rinnegan made him superior to anyone. As a part of the Akatsuki, he considered himself to be a tool and devoted himself to helping Yahiko in his goal to bring peace to the world.
Even after Yahiko’s death, he used Yahiko’s corpse for Deva Pain, the face of the leader of Akatsuki. As a leader of the Akatsuki, Nagato believed that it was his responsibility to end the war and save the world from destruction. After Yahiko’s death, his perspective of the world changed drastically. He started believing that the only way to acquire peace was by using the fear of war as a catalyst. He planned to initiate a war so great and destructive, that people would unite and avoid war at all costs.
As the leader of the Hidden Rain Village and the Akatsuki, Nagato had developed some sort of God complex which was reflected in Deva Pain’s personality. The residents of the Hidden Rain would ideologize him as a God.
Despite his godlike persona, Nagato was incredibly patient when it comes to defiance from within the ranks of Akatsuki. He would often ignore threats from Hidan or any other member of the organization. He never hesitated to engage in a battle against even the most formidable foes. He was always confident in his abilities.
Since Yahiko’s death, Nagato had lost all hope for humanity and developed a rather sadistic personality. He did not showcase a shred of affection towards Jiraiya, who he admired and respected. He stated Jiraiya to be a threat to his plans and eliminated him without a second thought.
Nagato also had very interesting philosophical viewpoints. Pain was introduced in the series as an antagonist in the series. Although he appeared and acted like an antagonist, his perspective and theories always caught the attention of viewers. One of the most popular philosophical viewpoints that Nagato pointed out was the Cycle of Hatred.
When Naruto stated he was going to kill him and avenge the death of Jiraiya, Pain stated Naruto’s motives to be noble. He mentioned that Naruto’s motive to take revenge for Jiraiya is noble, but why is it any different from what he was trying to do as he was also taking his revenge on the Hidden Leaf for destroying his village.
Although Nagato went through many alterations in his personality over the years, he always remained kind and respectful to others. He would mourn for the deaths of Akatsuki members who died in pursuit of their goal and would recognize his opponents where it's due like he showed his respect towards Kakashi Hatake.
Despite his respectful nature, he was still biased against the Hidden Leaf Village as Hidden Leaf shinobi were the reason why his parents died. He tried to change his opinion based on Jiraiya but with Danzo’s involvement in the death of Yahiko, he started believing that Hidden Leaf’s success and fortune came from the misfortune of others.
After meeting Naruto and hearing Naruto’s answer for peace, Nagato was reminded of his old self. Nagato recognized his answer and entrusted his dream of achieving world peace to Naruto. Nagato also regained his faith in his former master, Jiraiya. To atone for his sins, Nagato sacrificed his life to revive the victims of his assault on the Hidden Leaf Village.
Nagato had a pale complexion and long red hair, an indicator of his Uzumaki heritage. His long hair would often cover his face, covering his eyes completely. After training with Jiraiya, he parted his hair, making his right eye visible to others. Nagato wore a black cloak with a belt around his waist, paired with black sandals, a Hidden Rain Headband, and bandages wrapped around his ankles.
After Nagato linked with the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, he was left with black chakra rods in his back and a fragile body, which limited his mobility. When he was reincarnated by Kabuto in the Fourth Great Ninja War, Nagato was dressed in a red cloak, paired up with black pants. His hair had lost its red color, a side-effect of the Rinne-Rebirth Jutsu he performed prior to his death.
Nagato was a strong and formidable shinobi, and he was in a league of his own. His prowess was so great that he was considered a God in the Hidden Rain Village.
Nagato possessed great chakra reserves, a benefit of his Uzumaki heritage. It was because of the immense chakra reserves he possessed that he was able to withstand the huge chakra consumption of the Rinnegan. Obito Uchiha, a formidable shinobi, stated that despite his potent chakra and chakra control, he was only able to use a single Rinnegan eye as the use of both eyes would probably kill him due to exhaustion.
Nagato was capable of manipulating others with his chakra. He used this ability to control the Six Paths of Pain. This technique was similar to the Puppet Technique but exceeded in potency and range. He was also able to change the frequency of his chakra waves to disable a sensory ninja to pinpoint his location.
Nagato excelled in any jutsu he ever tried. He mastered all the ninjutsu he attempted, thanks to his Rinnegan. Nagato possessed all five basic chakra natures, Fire Release, Water Release, Earth Release, Wind Release, and Lightning Release. Due to this, Nagato was capable of mastering ninjutsu of every chakra release. Nagato also possessed Yang Release.
Not only that, Nagato possessed the legendary Dojutsu, the Rinnegan, which Madara implanted in him when he was a young kid. The Rinnegan gave him multiple diverse abilities along with magnifying the potency of the abilities Nagato already possessed. Although he was not the original owner of the Rinnegan, he was capable of wielding it without any drawbacks, thanks to his Uzumaki lineage.
With the prowess of the Rinnegan, he was able to use the Six Paths of Pain technique: The Deva Path's gravitational abilities; the Animal Path's variety of summons; the Preta Path's unbounded capacity for absorption; the Human Path's ability to exert influence over other people's souls; the Asura Path's various mechanization possibilities; and the Naraka Path's ability to get access to the King of Hell. Nagato had little opportunity to directly apply any of these skills due to the constraints of his real body. But when the time was right, he could switch between the various Paths with ease and speed, utilizing the many powers to a degree he couldn't while using them through others.
Nagato himself of the seventh path, the Outer Path. As the Outer Path, Nagato was capable of summoning the Gedo Statue and creating black chakra rodes to which he could channel his chakra and manipulate. He was also privy to the forbidden jutsu, Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique, also known as the Rinne-Rebirth Jutsu, capable of reviving the dead.
Here is a list of all the jutsu and techniques that Nagato possessed in his arsenal:
Other than the manga and its anime adaptation, Nagato appears in other forms of media as well. He also appears in Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie as his alter ego, Pain. Nagato made his debut as a playable character in Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3 and its later installments and other series-related games. When it comes to novels, Nagato made his debut in the novel category with Akatsuki Hiden: Evil Flowers in Full Bloom.
Here is a list of the games in which Nagato is a playable character:
| Game name | Japanese release | English release |
| Naruto Mobile | 2016 | 2016 |
| Naruto Shippūden: Shinobi Rumble | 22 April 2010 | 8 February 2011 |
| Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3 | 10 December 2009 | 11 May 2010 |
| Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Impact | 20 October 2011 | 18 October 2011 |
| Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 | 21 October 2010 | 19 October 2010 |
| Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 | 18 April 2013 | 5 March 2013 |
| Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 | 4 February 2016 | 9 February 2016 |
| Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations | 23 February 2012 | 13 March 2012 |
| Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution | 11 September 2014 | 16 September 2014 |
| Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker | 30 August 2018 | 31 August 2018 |
| Naruto x Boruto: Ninja Voltage | 22 November 2017 | 22 November 2017 |
| Naruto: Shinobi Collection | 2014 | |
| Naruto: Shinobi Collection Shippū Ranbu | 27 July 2015 | |
| Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Online | 14 April 2013 | 20 July 2016 |
In most of the games mentioned above, Nagato is a playable as one or more of the Six Paths of Pain. Deva Pain is typically the playable character with other Paths appearing as a part of the moveset. Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution, and Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 are the only 3 three games available with Nagato available as a playable character himself, in his reincarnated form with restored vitality and mobility.
A. Nagato did not unlock the Rinnegan. The Rinngan the Nagato possessed were in fact Madara Uchiha’s Rinnegan. At some point when Nagato was a young child, Madara implanted his Rinnegan into Nagato without his parents ever noticing.
A. Nagato died after he performed the Rinne-Rebirth Jutsu to revive the victims of his assault on the Hidden Leaf Village. Nagato paid with his life for performing such a potent jutsu. He was reincarnated in the Fourth Great Ninja War but was later sealed by Itachi Uchiha.
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