Naruto: Six Paths of Pain Explained

Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto is full of wonderful concepts, ideas, and characters. For years, the franchise has been an inspiration to fans, and Kishimoto was, indeed, able to craft a world that amazed us in more ways than one. This article will be dedicated to one of the most important and significant moments from the whole series, as we are going to explain the Six Paths of Pain. These are six distinct powers that Nagato used through bodies that he controlled remotely using chakra receivers. These six bodies were, therefore, extensions of Nagato, and each possessed one of the powers of the Rinnegan. In this article, we are going to explain the Six Paths in Naruto and give you all the details you need to know about them.

What are the Six Paths of Pain in Naruto?

Of the seven talents that the Rinnegan bestows upon its users, the Outer Path is the most notable. The Rinnegan user gains power over six different bodies in addition to their own. Every one of these has two Rinnegan in their own eyes and can employ one of the Jutsu’s skills, the Six Paths. Visual information is shared between each “path” and the original body. Each body has chakra receptors drilled through it for control, allowing the original body to send chakra directly to each of the bodies. Chakra chains can also be employed as a more potent bond to subdue bodies.

The ability to undo the summoning and send the summoned souls back is available to the user. It should be mentioned that Hagoromo can liberate the souls of individuals raised via Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation by using this path. By utilizing chakra cords to keep the Tailed Beasts under their control, Obito Uchiha elevated the Six Paths of Pain to a new level. These chains have a power considerably more potent than that of Nagato’s Outer Path, binding everything they come into contact with.

What are the Six Paths’ abilities?

As the name suggests, there are six individual Paths of this technique, and they are:

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

In this section, we are going to explain each of them to you in separate sections.

Deva Path

The Deva Path (Tendō) gives the practitioner control over both repulsive and attracting forces, enabling them to fly and move objects and people. The amount of time needed to recharge after using these gravity manipulation techniques varies based on their scale, with a minimum of five seconds. However, these techniques cannot be executed quickly one after the other. Chibaku Tensei, another power bestowed by the Deva Path, enables the practitioner to conjure up a natural satellite by means of a gravitational core, be it a human or a dark sphere.

Asura Path

The user can generate two more faces, up to four additional arms, and a hinged ring of serrated blades around their waist by using the Asura Path (Shuradō). The body and these complimentary appendages are enhanced with a range of mechanical weapons that they can access whenever they choose. The user has the ability to unveil and launch a variety of targeted missiles with their forearms, or they can fire long-range projectiles with them. They can also quickly drive themselves forward and shoot chakra out of their feet. They can also project a set of flexible drills and blades or mechanical tentacles. A potent chakra blast can also be released by the user.

Human Path

By placing a hand on the head or the chest of their target and tearing the soul out of their bodies, a Rinnegan user with the Human Path (Ningendō) can read the thoughts of any target. When gaining closely held secrets, it divulges information, however, the process always ends with the target’s death.

Animal Path

A Rinnegan practitioner of the Animal Path (Chikushōdō) can call upon a variety of animals and monsters to help him in combat. These creatures were murdered and then resurrected, giving the impression that they are immortal. It should be noted that neither blood sacrifice nor hand seals are necessary for calling forth monsters via the Animal Path. As with the Paths of Nagato and Konan, the Animal Path can also call forth other bodies, however this calls for hand seals. When using clever strategies, the Animal Path’s main objective in combat appears to be to overwhelm several adversaries with a torrent of summons.

Preta Path

By using the Block Seal Absorption Technique, the Preta Path (Gakidō) enables the user to absorb any kind of chakra. Pain passed through a Kusagakure shinobi’s corpse and channeled the Preta Path. This was mainly a defense ability because it could absorb techniques based on Ninjutsu and neutralize their effects. The user can also employ this method to create a barrier that encloses their whole body, shielding them from strikes coming from all sides. Furthermore, through direct physical touch, the Preta Path can absorb a person’s chakra.

Naraka Path

Two primary skills granted by the Naraka Path (Jigokudō) are questioning and restoration through the employment of the King of Hell. A priest’s body served as a conduit for the Naraka Path’s power through pain. The King of Hell is heavily utilized in the Naraka Path talent. The King of Hell is a massive head with purple flames surrounding it that rises out of the earth. In addition to the other summons, he also has the Rinnegan and shares the field of vision like the others.

Why do the Six Paths of Pain have piercings?

If you’ve seen the Six Paths of Pain, Nagato’s at least, you’ll have noticed that their bodies are filled with specific piercings. Now, the exact reason behind this design (in-universe, at least) was never revealed, so it might just be Kishimoto’s wish to make these characters look cooler. There have been speculations that there might be some visual aids that made them look more threatening, but we assume that they are simply the rods that pierced into the chakra systems of the revived corpses, allowing Nagato to control them. Their design is specific, but we don’t think that there is anything more than that behind the story.

What is the 7th Path of Pain?

The Outer Path, sometimes referred to as the 7th Path of Pain or Gedō, bestows the power to control life and death, or the capacity to bring the dead back to life. By using this method, one can even control living things or deceased individuals by sending chakra to their receptors. The most notable of the seven talents bestowed upon Rinnegan users is the Outer Path, which allows the user to control six bodies other than their own. Though it is the 7th Path of Pain in theory, it is never included in the Six Paths hierarchy and is regarded as a distinct method.

What is the difference between Nagato’s and Obito’s Six Paths?

You might remember that there were two groups of Paths in the Naruto franchise. One of them was the original group, created by Nagato (Pain), while the other one was formed later by Obito Uchiha (Tobi). In this section, we are just going to explain the differences between the groups in a couple of short paragraphs.

After the death of his friend Yahiko, Nagato connected to the Gedō Mazō via metal stakes that stuck into his back and rendered him incapacitated for combat. To overcome this handicap, he created the Six Bodies of Pain from corpses and assigned each of them a different Rinnegan power. Nagato manipulates them from a distance thanks to the chakra waves he emits and the receivers of which the six bodies are stuck.

Tobi obtained his own Pain bodies from the six resurrected jinchūriki via Kabuto Yakushi’s Reincarnation of Souls. The six hosts all had a Sharingan in their right eye and a Rinnegan in their left like Tobi. The Sharingan was used to analyze and counter opposing techniques and the Rinnegan to manage their position thanks to the shared vision. However, with perfect control of hosts being extremely chakra-intensive (especially when they transform into tailed beasts), Tobi couldn’t use Rinnegan spells.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!