6. Naruto vs Pain

When Pain was assigned by Tobi to capture the Nine-Tails in Konoha, he headed to the village. However, after failing to find Naruto and with the Konoha shinobi refusing to reveal his whereabouts, Pain began attacking and rampaging throughout the village, causing many civilians to be injured and some Konoha shinobi to perish.

Upon discovering that Naruto was at Mount Myoboku, Pain ceased his assault and planned to leave Konoha. However, before departing, he unleashed a Shinra Tensei attack that devastated the village, reducing it to rubble.

Shortly after Konoha was destroyed, Naruto, in Sage Mode, arrived in the village with the Toad Brigade. From afar, Naruto saw Tsunade confronting the Six Paths of Pain. When the Asura Path attempted to attack Tsunade, Naruto appeared and struck with a Rasengan, defeating the Asura Path. Naruto then instructed Tsunade to rest, and she complied. She entrusted Katsuyu to Naruto, as Katsuyu had vital information about each of the Paths’ abilities that would help Naruto in battle.

Naruto then faced off against the Preta Path. He used Frog Kata to confuse Pain’s interconnected Rinnegan vision. Naruto’s attack successfully defeated the Preta Path. Next, Naruto hurled a Rasen Shuriken at the group of Pains. In an attempt to protect the Animal Path, the Human Path intercepted the attack, resulting in its death.

Naruto, aided by the Toad Brigade—Gamabunta, Gamahiro, and Gamaken—then fought the Animal Path’s summoned beasts. Thanks to their coordinated efforts, Shima was able to obscure the Rinnegan’s vision. Fukasaku then launched Gamabunta to assist Naruto. Gamabunta trapped Naruto and the Animal Path inside his mouth, allowing Naruto to finish off the Animal Path with dual Rasengans.

After realizing Naruto had exhausted his Sage Mode, the Deva Path quickly attacked to prevent him from gathering more Senjutsu chakra. However, Naruto had left two Sage Mode shadow clones at Mount Myoboku. He performed a summoning, bringing a Sage Mode clone to him, instantly re-entering Sage Mode.

Naruto then kicked the Deva Path, sending it flying, and followed up with a Rasen Shuriken. However, thanks to the Naraka Path’s revival ability, the Preta Path was restored and absorbed the Rasen Shuriken before it could hit the Deva Path.

Naruto created two shadow clones and concealed them in smoke. He launched another Rasen Shuriken at the gathered Pains. The Preta Path tried to absorb it, but the Rasen Shuriken was a transformation technique. Naruto’s shadow clone ambushed and incapacitated the Preta Path. Although the Deva Path destroyed the real Rasen Shuriken with Shinra Tensei, Naruto’s clone fell from above and struck the Naraka Path with two Rasengans, defeating it.

The Deva Path retaliated with Shinra Tensei, sending Naruto and his clone flying as they attempted to attack. The Toad Brigade attempted to gang up on the Deva and Preta Paths but was repelled by a powerful Shinra Tensei, sending Gamabunta, Gamaken, and Gamahiro flying far away.

Pain acknowledged Naruto’s strength, admitting he was the first to defeat so many of the Six Paths. Using Bansho Tenin, the Deva Path pulled Naruto toward it, and the Preta Path restrained Naruto, draining his Sage Mode chakra. However, after absorbing too much Senjutsu chakra, the Preta Path turned into a petrified toad statue.

As Fukasaku and Shima prepared to trap Pain in a Frog Song Genjutsu, Pain used Bansho Tenin to pull Fukasaku in and impaled him with a black rod, killing him. Pain then pulled Naruto to the ground and pinned his hands with black rods.

To immobilize Naruto further, Pain stabbed black rods all over his body. Hinata stepped in to protect Naruto and bravely challenged the Deva Path. She repeatedly tried to break the rods pinning Naruto but was repeatedly knocked back by Shinra Tensei. Frustrated by Hinata’s persistence, Pain flung her into the air, slammed her into the ground, and impaled her with a black rod.

Witnessing Pain’s brutal attack on Hinata, Naruto transformed into the Four-Tails form. The Four-Tails hurled debris at Pain, punched him, and smashed rocks onto his head, burying him in the ground. Naruto then transformed into his Six-Tails form and launched consecutive chakra blasts at Pain, even overpowering Shinra Tensei and sending Pain flying.

When the Six-Tails chased after the Deva Path, which was retreating toward Nagato’s location, Nagato activated Chibaku Tensei. A massive rock sphere formed in the sky, trapping the Six-Tails within it. Naruto then transformed into his Eight-Tails form and tried to escape by breathing fire.

Naruto nearly transformed into the Nine-Tails as the seal holding the beast weakened. However, Minato appeared in Naruto’s subconscious and stopped him, resealing the Nine-Tails within Naruto, allowing him to return to normal and break free from Chibaku Tensei.

With Katsuyu’s help, Naruto learned that after using Shinra Tensei, the Deva Path required a five-second cooldown before it could use the technique again. Naruto planned to use this interval to defeat the Deva Path.

Naruto, in Sage Mode, resumed his battle with the Deva Path. He kicked the Deva Path into the air and created a smoke screen to hide himself and his shadow clones. The Deva Path used Shinra Tensei to destroy Naruto’s Rasen Shuriken. However, Naruto attacked again with another Rasen Shuriken. While waiting for the five-second cooldown, the Deva Path leaped into the air to avoid the attack.

As the Deva Path landed on rubble, hundreds of Naruto’s shadow clones emerged, ready to overwhelm it. The Deva Path released another Shinra Tensei, scattering the clones.

Knowing the Deva Path couldn’t use Shinra Tensei again for five seconds, Naruto prepared a Rasengan. Two of his remaining clones threw Naruto toward the Deva Path. Naruto struck the Deva Path with a Rasengan, finally defeating it.

# Why Naruto Was Able to Defeat Pain

Although Naruto defeated Pain, Nagato had long suffered from a critical illness due to his first battle against Hanzo. Nagato’s legs were crippled by an explosion, and channeling chakra into the Gedo Mazo statue drained his chakra significantly, weakening his body for the rest of his life.

Additionally, the Deva Path had used an immense amount of power to destroy Konoha with Shinra Tensei. As a result, the Deva Path was initially unable to fight Naruto directly and needed the other Paths to protect it while it recovered.

Before facing Naruto, the Naraka Path had already used its resurrection ability twice to revive two fallen Paths after Kakashi and Konohamaru defeated them. During Naruto’s battle, the Naraka Path could only revive one more Path. This was different from the battle against Jiraiya, where the Naraka Path revived three fallen Paths.

Nagato was exhausted from fighting the Konoha shinobi and using Shinra Tensei to destroy the village. As a result, Nagato experienced severe internal bleeding, causing the Deva Path to malfunction briefly during its fight with Hinata, allowing her to land a punch. When Nagato used Chibaku Tensei to trap the Six-Tails, he suffered a nosebleed, further weakening him until the Chibaku Tensei disintegrated.