The six paths of Pein

Six Paths of Pain

 

Six Paths of Pain
Name
Kanji	ペイン六道
Rōmaji	Pein Rikudō
Literal English	Six Paths of Pain
Debut
Manga	Chapter #379
Anime	Naruto Shippūden Episode #132
Video Game	Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3
Appears in	Anime, Manga and Game
Data
Classification	Kekkei Genkai, Fighting Style, Ninjutsu, Dōjutsu
Class	Offensive, Defensive, Supplementary
Range	All ranges
Other jutsu
Parent jutsu	Outer Path
Derived jutsu Animal Path Asura Path Chakra Explosion Chakra Propulsion Flaming Arrow Missiles Flaming Arrow of Amazing Ability Deva Path Banshō Ten'in Chibaku Tensei Shinra Tensei Human Path Soul Removal Naraka Path Preta Path Blocking Technique Absorption Seal
Users Nagato Tobi (Manga only)

The Six Paths of Pain is a technique used by Nagato, and served as his representation in Akatsuki. It allowed Nagato to control six separate bodies as though they were his own. Each of these bodies were reanimated corpses which were both kept mobile by, and made use of, Nagato's chakra. While controlling them, Nagato used the alias "Pain", yet still regarded them as separate from himself. All six Paths were eventually destroyed by Naruto Uzumaki during the Invasion of Pain. Tobi would later create his own Six Paths of Pain during the Fourth Shinobi World War.

Contents

Use 

Nagato transmitting his chakra to the Six Paths of Pain.

Nagato had several large chakra receivers protruding from his back to transmit chakra to the corpses. From there, his chakra was picked up by the numerous body piercings that each body possessed, which acted as chakra receivers. However, to control them, Nagato had to be ideally at the highest and closest point possible so that he could have the best range possible. Inoichi Yamanaka compared the ability to the Yamanaka clan's unique Mind Body Switch Technique, albeit on a greater scale.

Nagato's Paths

Nagato's Six Paths of Pain (with a new Animal Path).

Because of the fact that he was crippled, Nagato channelled the ability of the Six Paths into six different bodies (one ability per body). The only common feature shared by these bodies was their bright orange hair and Rinnegan. Each Path had a number of body and facial piercings of various shapes, sizes, and patterns. Also, each body seemed to serve a specific purpose in battle, such as summoning, repair, and defence, rendering them open in other areas. This did not hold true for the Deva Path, however, which was imbued with several capabilities. Each Path, with the possible exception of the second Animal Path, was in some way affiliated with Jiraiya when they were alive.

Pain's Rinnegan, a common characteristic of all six Pains.

When the Paths were active together in battle, Nagato was able to see through their eyes, thus registering six separate fields of vision at the same time. Essentially working as shared vision for the Paths, this allowed Nagato to coordinate their attacks and to provide defence for them without a blind spot. All of the Paths demonstrated incredible speed, strength and the ability to create Chakra Disruption Blades which were used to incapacitate opponents. The Paths were strongest when together, using combination tactics and the element of surprise to defeat their enemies; both Jiraiya and Kakashi fell victim to this technique. In the anime, it was shown that the Paths do not feel pain and have cold skin. When the Paths were lined up in formation the Deva Path was always in the centre, while the Naraka Path stayed in the back. This was to protect it, so it could revive the others who had fallen. However, his technique, although powerful, had a flaw: each of the Paths had a primary function or ability. With prior knowledge about the technique and each Paths' abilities, one stood a better chance of defeating them, as witnessed in Pain's battle against Naruto.

The room where the bodies are kept.

When not in use, the bodies were stored in a hidden chamber within Amegakure's tallest tower. Within the room are six "pods" on which the bodies rest; each pod is connected to the wall via pipes or wires, and has a sliding cover that appears to feature the symbol of Amegakure, which conceals the faces of the inactive body. The pods are also numbered from one through six using daiji characters, and are ordered counter-clockwise around the room with a numbering scheme that corresponds with the ordering of the six Buddhist Paths of Reincarnation:

• 壱 (1) - Deva Path.
• 弐 (2) - Asura Path.
• 参 (3) - Human Path.
• 四 (4) - Animal Path.
• 五 (5) - Preta Path.
• 六 (6) - Naraka Path.

Deva Path

Pain's Deva Path.

Main article: Deva Path
The Deva Path (天道, Tendō) grants the user the ability to manipulate attractive and repulsive forces. This power was channelled into one of Nagato's Six Paths of Pain.

Asura Path

Pain's Asura Path.

Main article: Asura Path
The Asura Path (修羅道, Shuradō) grants the user the ability to summon mechanised armor, augmenting their body with extra limbs and various robotic weaponry. This power was channelled into one of Nagato's Six Paths of Pain.

Human Path

Pain's Human Path.

Main article: Human Path
The Human Path (人間道, Ningendō) grants the user the ability to remove the soul of any target they touched as well as read their mind. This power was channelled into one of Nagato's Six Paths of Pain.

Animal Path

Pain's first Animal Path.

Main article: Animal Path
The Animal Path (畜生道, Chikushōdō) grants the user the ability to summon various creatures. This power was channelled into one of Nagato's Six Paths of Pain.

Preta Path

Pain's Preta Path.

Main article: Preta Path
The Preta Path (餓鬼道, Gakidō) grants the user the ability to absorb an infinite amount of chakra in any form using the Blocking Technique Absorption Seal. This power was channelled into one of Nagato's Six Paths of Pain.

Naraka Path

Pain's Naraka Path.

Main article: Naraka Path
The Naraka Path (地獄道, Jigokudō) grants the user two main abilities: interrogation and restoration, by using the King of Hell. This power was channelled into one of Nagato's Six Paths of Pain.

Outer Path

Main article: Outer Path
The Outer Path (外道, Gedō) is the ability granted to the wielder of the Rinnegan to revive the dead. This ability was used by Nagato through the King of Hell. Additionally, the Outer Path technique granted the user a shared field of vision with their Six Paths of Pain, summoned creatures and entities.

Tobi's Paths

Tobi's Six Paths of Pain.

During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Tobi created his own version of this technique, utilising the six resurrected jinchūriki. He customised them to fit his own taste, giving them each a Rinnegan and Sharingan in place of their left and right eyes respectively, mirroring those of his own. Unlike Nagato, Tobi controlled his Six Paths using just a single chakra receiver embedded into the left side of each of their chests, which were hidden from view.
Each of the resurrected jinchūriki could use the abilities they had during their life, such as Rōshi's Lava Release and Utakata's Soap Bubble Ninjutsu. However, thanks to Tobi's additions, their skills were increased to beyond what they ordinarily were.With the Sharingan they could now see through the most minute details of enemy movements, allowing for more precise attacks, and using the shared field of vision granted by the Outer Path of the Rinnegan, the user could coordinate these enhanced attacks in the most effective way possible.
The jinchūriki also had their respective tailed beasts temporarily sealed within them using the chakra receivers, while the beasts' chakra still remained under Tobi's control through the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.Although Tobi could force the jinchūriki to transform into their full tailed beasts, a large amount of chakra was required to fully control the beasts, significantly increasing the risk of them subverting his commands. As a consequence of this, coupled with the fact that the abilities and their weaknesses were already known to his opponents, Tobi did not have his Paths use the traditional abilities of the Six Paths of Pain.

Original Use

The powers of the Rinnegan's Six Paths originally stemmed from just one body, with Nagato only using corpses as mediums for these abilities to compensate for the fact that his legs were badly injured during a battle with Hanzō and his resulting atrophy from syncing with the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.After being resurrected and consuming a significant amount of chakra, which together helped to address some of his previous physical limitations, he aptly demonstrated these skills being able to use several of them simultaneously. While focusing these powers through his real body, Naruto stated that the strength and speed of his techniques surpassed that of when they were used by the individual bodies.However, this did come at the cost of diminishing the increased field of vision and the relative safety granted to the user by the corpses, who essentially replaced any need for the user to confront an opponent directly.

Deva Path.

Asura Path.

Human Path.

Animal Path.

Preta Path.

Naraka Path.

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Influences

Based upon the six Buddhist Paths of Reincarnation, each body was named after one of the different "Paths": Deva, Asura, Human, Animal, Preta, and Naraka. Each of these Paths, or realms, represents one of the realms a being is reborn into after death, determined by the accumulated karma of their past lives. While the two lower Paths, Preta and Naraka, are hellish, and the two higher Paths, Deva and Asura, are heavenly, all six are considered to be Paths of suffering because they perpetuate the cycle of Reincarnation; the only way to break it and ascend to a higher state of existence is to attain enlightenment.

See Also

• Dead Soul Technique

Trivia

• All of Nagato's Six Paths of Pain have the same hair colour as Yahiko, except the Asura Path which is bald.
• Three of Nagato's Six Paths of Pain are playable in Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3, while the other three will appear as support characters. All six are able to appear simultaneously in three-versus-one match-ups. The playable ones are Deva, Asura and Animal, the ones whose primary function is battle, rather than support.
• All of Nagato's Six Paths of Pain except the second Animal Path had interacted with Jiraiya during his journey, while they were still alive.
• As noted by Konan in the chapter 430, Nagato's technique output is considerably more powerful when he focuses on the Deva Path, however this is considerably risky as the other Pains are slow to recover.
• All of Nagato's original Six Paths share the same voice actor.
• Although the Six Paths of Pain are not supposed to feel pain, the Deva Path screams in pain when Naruto defeats him with his Rasengan, though this could just be from shock that Deva Path was defeated or from the loss of Yahiko's body.