Nagato

To be done later

PLAYER

Name: Skeren
Journal Username: skeren
E-mail: mickeofas@gmail.com
AIM/PLURK: Aim: Horneddesire, Plurk: Skeren
Current Characters at Luceti: None


CHARACTER

Name: Nagato
Canon: Naruto
Gender: Male
Age: Due to lack of canon age, the closest approximation is likely 35 when timeline events are taken into account, so I'll be using that here.
Wing Color: Bright Crimson.

Canon Point: Chapter 551
Canon Point Explanation: This is the chapter he is last featured in.
History: Wiki

Personality:
Nagato had wanted peace ever since he was a small child. He saw terrible things that no child should see, and his first kill came at a very young age as he was overwhelmed with the grief and rage of seeing his parents die right in front of him. Things didn't really get better for him after that point, as he was, for a span of time thereafter, alone while he wandered Ame, his health declining as he took in the war torn landscape of his country, which only became more dangerous with each passing day.

Such sights weren't enough to destroy his soft heart though, and even while his own health was faltering, he still found the generosity to take in a dog, Chibi, who he fed more than half the portion of any food he got, because the idea of being alone again was too much. This, in turn, led to him being found by the one person who would stay with him for the rest of his life, Konan, who rescued him from starving to death and brought him to Yahiko. Yahiko, who was his in turn his greatest inspiration for the majority of his life. How quickly he claimed these two as family says a lot about how great his capacity for love was, and how deep his loneliness, though adults would not get such an unwary reception, and events, specifically the death of the dog that had so sustained him, made him close himself to this small circle for much of his life.

Jiriaya, a man he first learned from as a sensei, and later killed in the name of misguided ideals, taught him some of the greatest lessons of his life, many of which he held close to his chest in all the wrong ways. He learned from this man that how one grows up is dependent on their experiences, and that for there to be peace there must first be understanding. Sadly, his interpretation of this concept became twisted, turned into a philosophy of making others feel his pain after Yahiko, someone he had sworn to follow and support, killed himself using Nagato's hands.

It was during this part of his life that he took on the very name of Pain, his grief and anger at Konoha, the source of almost every loss in his life, driving him to turn against every nation surrounding his beloved and war torn Ame. He became a revered and unseen god to his country, taking care of them, watching over them, and making sure that none would pass his borders without permission. He cared for his Akatsuki members with the same diligence, and while he had jutsu that would use dead bodies, he was never anything less than respectful in his approach to the dead. He still loved, even while being smothered under unrelenting grief and an icy, dispassionate rage, and it wasn't until the day of his death, while being faced with Naruto mirroring morals of the one he had once sworn himself to, that he was finally released from the twisting spiral that his life had become.

Yahiko had created Akatsuki in the name of peace, to protect those in his country and to spread the good will among his fellows. Yes, they would bring down their enemies, but this was not the reason. It was just a consequence of doing what needed doing. When Yahiko died, this was twisted and the reason, while the same, was approached the exact opposite way of anything that Yahiko would have ever wanted. Nagato realized this, on the day of his death, because Naruto, who looked him in the eye and shared his story, reminded him of the ideals that he'd let be subsumed under a life that could have been better lived.

He killed himself with a jutsu so that he could revive the dozens, if not hundreds, that he'd killed that day, and while he didn't get long to rest, it is very easy to say that dying had been good for him. His revival under the Edo Tensai is a prime example of this, as the loving, sweet version of himself that had long been hidden came raging back to the front. That could never have happened before the day he died. After his revival, however, while not in control of his physical body, he was very eager to speak with and help Naruto until he could be forced to rest once more. His apology before he was consigned back to death was sincere, being filled with a lifetime of regrets that he would never be able to fix, and thus he left it in Naruto's hands to do so.

Strengths

Physical:
In the wake of the Edo Tensai, Nagato is once more back to being youthful and strong instead of the emaciated figure he'd been before his initial death. He reached this point by physically pulling the chakra from someone else so that he could restore himself. This ability is one of many that he is shown to have, which shall be listed individually as not to make reading this unwieldy.

* He has perfect control of his chakra. He can change how it feels to others, and as an Uzumaki he seems to have the sort of endurance that few other family lines ever seem to achieve. He also has the above mentioned ability to absorb the chakra of others. Along these lines is also a very keen ability to sense the chakra of others, leaving him able to identify people long before they reach him.
* He is very sturdy, able to take considerable damage and keep going, while recovering very quickly. More than once it's shown where he takes minimal to no damage when anyone else would have been badly hurt.
* He's very hand to hand proficient. He has been shown to hold his own against some of the truly beastly characters in the series, being incredibly hard to take down when using either armed or unarmed combat. Part of this is likely due to his speed, which is impressive, but other parts factored into this are likely related to his durability.
* He has a proficiency with seals. Multiple elaborate seals, often with very impressive, and typically complicated, results are shown to have originated with him. One of these is the seal used to split up the team in the Gaara Rescue Arc, as he created replicas of the people he was guarding against with seals alone, though he didn't specifically cater it to those individuals. Another variant of this is one his Akatsuki members used to send copies of themselves out, with a portion of their chakra, in a living body that was not theirs, but would have superior usability than a normal clone jutsu due to having a living base.
* He has a mastered control over the summoning technique, in two variants. One, summoning animals in the way of summon creatures, and the other being able to summon specific people he knows to himself when he wishes.
* His vision is far better than normal, and if using a technique that gives him multiple bodies he can see using all of them at once.
* His skill with genjutsu is impressive, allowing him to go into the minds of others to build mental defenses for them, or to crash through them on his own as needed.
* He has the ability to get into the thoughts of others, though this is only shown in the most extreme of contexts, resulting in the death of the other party. It is implied, however, that the astro-projections are related to his mind reading skill.
* He can use any element as presented in his native series, be it fire, water, electricity, or even the ability to manipulate gravity in a radius around his person to attract or repel things to and from himself.
* He can change parts of his body into weapons at will, some of which could even be very elaborately put together in spite of having come out of his body.
* While no longer having the desire or ability to access it, his biggest ability was the one that allowed him to distribute his abilities among different bodies that they could each fight, under his split attention and control, using separate styles and skills. The method he chose, however, was one that involved technology, and thus all his abilities reside once more only within himself.
* He has minor control over the weather, in Ame at least, and can sense people using the raindrops as an extension of his senses.
* If willing to sacrifice most of his chakra, or possibly even his life, he can also revive the dead.

Mental/Emotional:
Nagato has a brilliant mind. In many ways, his having been trusted to retain Akatsuki's control, and to coordinate the notorious missing nin under his command, is a testament to how others viewed and accepted this even when supposedly commanding him. His battle tactics are often flawless, and his choice of who should do what is often well thought out with little room for error, and it is irrefutable fact that the success of most of the captures of Bijuu and Jinchuuriki could be directly attributed to him sending the right people to the right places, or planning it well in advance.

For much of his life, efficiency and doing things with no waste is a very large factor in his planning, and it shows in the way that Ame, once a ruin, finally prospered under his meticulous guidance. He would do many things to to reach his goals, and he will never be called someone who lacks determination because of it.

He learns things quickly, to the point where Jiraiya had been amazed at his sheer ability to quickly master things that hadn't been seen in use in generations, or at the very least, not in use by one person.

And finally, is Nagato's big heart. He loves people. Even when he's deep into grief it isn't driven by hate, but by pain, not a small part of which being fueled by his empathy with those around him, in a country that had been ravaged. It makes him strive to be better, more powerful, and he does his very best to never let those under his care suffer in any way that he can stop. People are never given duties beyond what he feels their abilities are, and he trusts them, showing that even in the worst stages of his life, he cannot let go of his wish to have faith in others.

Weaknesses

Physical:
His physical weaknesses are a woefully small list. Perhaps the one thing that readily comes to mind is how frail he was before his death. He worked himself to the brink of death, of falling apart at the seams, to use jutsu that he no longer had energy for, and it wrung him dry. He is no longer at this state, due to his time while trapped in the Edo Tensai, but it is not impossible that should he feel it's needed, he would promptly drive himself back to this same state of dangerous exhaustion and emaciation.

Mental:
Nagato is easily influenced by others he sees as sharing his vision. While this could be seen as a strength, due to his quick way of taking to positive ideals... it's far more of a weakness. It left him open to Madara's plans while Yahiko was still alive, putting the idea in his head. It meant that Jiraiya's words to him were remembered, if misused, years into the future. It meant that he could be easily swayed by one conversation with Naruto... though it's entirely possible that that final conversation had simply been an excuse to finally allow him to do something he wished to have a reason to do anyway.

He makes snap judgments. While for many people, and in many situations, this would not be seen as a bad thing, Nagato's snap decisions have a way of turning around and beating him over the head years later in a manner that practically screams 'you made a horrific mistake'. His approach to Jiraiya's teachings was one such failing. His early insistence to not fight caused him to snap in uncontrolled berserker rages until he had it under control, something that him in no small amounts. There were many other, smaller, things that he would come to regret by the end of his life as well, but these are the most prominent in his memories.

He's stubborn. Once a choice is made, unless someone comes along who can speak to him a certain way, there really isn't any knocking him off his path. Most people simply do not have this skill. Jiraiya, once in possession of it, had fallen out of his good graces, and though his words were remembered from years past, they would not be better explained in the now, leaving the man wrong footed as Nagato continued forward with skewed perceptions. This, in turn, led to the destruction of Konoha as he simply refused to listen to anyone who might have wished to point out all that was wrong with that choice. So too did he ignore Konan when she tried to get him to not kill himself with his final jutsu, but because she didn't have that magical frequency, that too went ignored.

Emotional:
Nagato's attachments lead him easily into lifelong grief. He never lets go of anyone, or anything, he loses. He holds tightly to the memory of his parent's deaths, he still mourns the loss of his dog, and he sent the world to the brink of ruin over grief for his dearest friend. They were all the things, the pains, that fueled his persona named Pain. He let them consume him, reveled in them, because he thought that they were the only way that he would be able to come out the other side, dragging the world kicking and screaming behind him.

He ignored the one who stayed devoted at his side. Not her presence, or her use, but the way he was hurting her by forging forward on the slippery slope he had chosen. Much as he knew how to love, he had divorced himself from the parts of himself that was allowed to act on it, which is a dangerous thing for someone of his sheer destructive ability. Given the right incentive, it's far from impossible that this might happen again.

Anything else?: Due to the staggering list of abilities that Nagato has at his disposal, I fully intend to put him at the absolute lowest bar of chakra use on arrival, so that most of the ones he still can use here are pretty much untouchable for him.

SAMPLES

First Person:
I would like to do an IC Q&A for this part.
The Q&A

Third Person:
This place was serving as a very odd sort of afterlife. Clearly, he wasn't actually dead, though by rights he should have been twice over by this point, first by his own hand, then again through willingly releasing his soul from the jutsu that had reanimated him in a war he knew he'd had an unfortunately large part in creating. Instead, he was in a youthful body, wings on his back like the angel he had long heard Konan called, and finally able to enjoy many things he had long ago turned aside from for the sake of goals that had somehow never quite lived up to the hopes behind them.

Here, the people were nice, if in more than one case a bit odd to him, and he didn't even mind the fact that they all seemed to be in a glorified cage. He'd lived in one of those for years, hiding behind his wall of rain in Ame, and observing without leaving those confines. Thus, a cage of another color wasn't exactly going to phase him. That it wasn't of his own making rankled, it was true, but he had set aside the idea of calling himself a god, and he wouldn't take that up again here, so blustering about how he was no longer all powerful seemed rather silly. Instead, he would reach out to those he could, and form new bonds, finally, after the many years of shying away from that very thing.

He would use this place as an opportunity to make up to Konan all the mistakes he'd inflicted on her, and he would finally manage to pull Naruto aside and have a sit down talk with the blond now that they both seemed to have the time. Their brief encounters before made him want to better get to know the boy that was his brother-student under Jiraiya, that was named after lead character in the book written in dedication to him. After having been assured that the blond was not, in fact, dead, he was more than happy to take his time. He had amends to make to others here as well, but there was no hurry.

Instead he could sort out how everything worked with careful diligence... and perhaps track down a bookstore while he was at it. After the disaster that his last set of plans had been, after all, he knew that rushing forward would be a mistake of the highest order... and books had never steered him wrong. It was a silly pursuit, perhaps, but at the very least, he knew it was one that wouldn't hurt anyone else while he worked himself out. He could use a bit of that right about now, and frankly, he didn't doubt that pretty much everyone else from home would have felt the same had they been in his position.

So books, wings, and making amends... It was a good foot to start on, in his opinion, and he fully intended to keep walking along that path hereafter.