

**Potential Spoilers for the events Season 6-8 of Naruto Shippuden**  

In the Jiraiya vs Pain fight we get the following information.

> Konan is a former student of Jiraiya, who is also the Angel of Amegkure and
> Pain who has the Rinnegan is the leader who defeated Hanzo. During the fight
> we learn of the six Paths of Pain, each who uses a different unique
> abilities while sharing their field of vision. Jiraiya was confused how
> could six people have the Rinnegan when only Nagato had it.

This is the setup for the sequence of the events leading into the next season.

> Jiraiya recognises Yahiko, and then the body of pain that he pulls into the
> toad. He then decides to go back out and realises that **ALL the paths of
> pain are Ninjas he'd seen/met before**. And then the realization **"The real
> one is not among them."** This confuses me since we know Nagato can make any
> dead person a path of pain (the new Animal Path), Why would he chose those
> particular individuals that Jiraiya knows? Infact how did he know Jiraiya
> knows them?

And thus the question, **How/Why did Nagato choose the "Paths" of Pain?**

**Additional Info** : He chooses the following paths of pain

> the 5 shinobi that Jiraiya encountered during his journey: The Puppeteer,
> The Waterfall shinobi, The Fuma clan shinobi, The Grass Shinobi, The Priest.
> The sixth path i.e. Yahiko seems obvious due to their connection. But again
> using the other 5 seems very coincidental.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-12-03T18:59:07.727
37647
2019-09-20T17:07:14.347
2016-12-12T08:41:04.907
6368
6368
question
naruto
How did Nagato choose the paths of Pain?


**It's only a theory, because even the wiki (or any SBS) gave no explanation
why he chose these specific people, except that Jiraiya knew them. So I will
try to make some connections between what we know for these characters (very
few) and their path's meaning.**

So, except from Yahiko, here is what I think for the other 5 paths:

  * [Nakara Path](http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Naraka_Path): The man that wields it was [a priest](http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Naraka_Path_\(character\)), so it only makes sense because of that that he would bring people back to life or take their life. This also comes from the religion perception:

> Yama is the lord of Justice, the King of Hell, he puts living beings after
> death for appropriate punishment, for example, in boiling oil, if you lie to
> him, he will rip out your tongue. After the period of punishment is
> complete, they are reborn on earth in human or animal bodies.

  * [Preta Path](http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Preta_Path): [This person](http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Preta_Path_\(character\)) had failed to cultivate the land for his family due to his participation in war. And as it is mentioned below in the wiki:

> In Buddhism, the Preta realm (also known as the Hungry Ghost realm) is a
> reincarnation based on strong possessiveness and desire which were
> cultivated in a previous life or lives.

So it only makes sense for him to be that path.

  * [Human path](http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Human_Path): [This shinobi](http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Human_Path_\(character\)) believed that all he could do to try and achieve peace was to teach the next generation to survive the battles with other ninja until it came.

> In Buddhism, the Human realm it is widely believed that is the form of
> rebirth most likely to attain enlightenment, due to both the availability of
> information and teachers, and the ability to reason without falling victim
> to the obsessive aggression or carnal delights inherited by the higher
> planes.

So that's how it makes sense, because he wanted to teach.

  * [Animal Path](http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Animal_Path): The [first](http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/First_Animal_Path_\(character\)), I think, was one of the Six Paths of Pain because he fought Jiraiya at some point. Also, there is only one connection to this path:

> Buddhists believe that animals inhabit a different dimension separated from
> humans not spatially but mentally; an unhappy plane of rebirth which
> revolves around fear, instinct and **survival of the fittest** , suffered by
> those animals that work for humans and, above all, by those ignorant to what
> is happening to them.

But I don't know if it counts. [The second Animal
Path](http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Ajisai) was after Jiraiya's death and she
didn't meet him.

  * [Asura Path](http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Asura_Path): Last but not least, this [man](http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Asura_Path_\(character\)) is the only one that I cannot make even one connection. He was shown to be a wandering puppeteer with insight to the world and

> In Buddhism, the Asura realm is the plane of semi-divine warring demons
> which people are reincarnated in due to actions based on jealousy, struggle,
> combat or rationalisation in a previous life, and though powerful, live in
> constant violence and conflict to which there is no resolution nor peace.
> Following a common depiction of Asura, this ability allows the user to
> possess six arms and three faces, each of which display a different emotion.
> They are featured in Hinduism as the lowest tier of divine beings, and are
> known to live a life pursuing power, while indulgent and representative of
> materialistic and carnal pleasures.

Maybe there is a connection through rationalisation.

Hope it helps!

Note: if someone wants to edit and put more, feel free to do so!


CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-12-13T02:17:24.803
37840
2017-01-26T09:42:37.477
2017-01-26T09:42:37.477
8486
13795
37647
answer


It is possible Jiraya shared stories of his past travels/battles with his 3
pupils while he was training them.

Jiraya also left a copy of his first novel "tales of gutsy ninja" for Nagato.

Minato mentioned that Jiraya's first novel read like an autobiography of
Jiraya's life as a ninja. So it's possible that inspired Nagato to pick out
past ninjas from Jiraya's past as his bodies.

This is speculation as its never really addressed. Jiraya had briefly
discovered the connection with the bodies to his past, but was killed moments
later and it was never expanded by the Plot. So its still a mystery.


CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-20T10:44:32.647
55348
2019-09-20T10:44:32.647
50015
37647
answer


Nagato had a bit of a God complex. The six paths of pain that are

Animal Path Human Path Naraka Path Asura Path Preta Path Deva Path are
actually the six paths of reincarnations from Buddhism. In Buddhism it is
believed that every being reincarnates 5 times as different ‘paths’ until
finally he ascends to the Deva Path and becomes a god or at least goes to
heaven and ascends properly.

Having just one or two of those paths would not be a proper nod at his god
complex. Also some Jutsu’s are complex and need a proper setting. None of the
paths could use the other paths abilities despite them all being Nagato’s
abilities. Maybe that is why he had to make a minimum amount of paths to get
his abilities working. Even Tobi had to make 6 paths.


CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-20T17:07:14.347
55351
2019-09-20T17:07:14.347
50020
37647
answer