Very few anime are capable of becoming a global hit like Naruto. Fans followed the young knuckleheaded ninja’s story for over a decade because it was a decent story that managed to blend comedy, drama, and action fairly well. Fans especially loved the characters, including Pain, who is widely considered to be the series’ best villain.
Pain’s parents were killed during war, and conflict ultimately caused his best friend’s death as well. He formed the Akatsuki and vowed to bring peace to the ninja world through pain. With the Rinnegan, he was basically a God, and he split that power between six bodies, also known as the Six Paths of Pain, who shared a field of vision. Very few ninjas are skilled enough and powerful enough to beat Pain, but there are a few who can.
10 Jiraiya
Jiraiya is one of Naruto‘s most popular characters, which is understandable since he was a light-hearted pervert who enjoyed joking around. He was one of the strongest ninjas that the Leaf Village has ever produced, and he developed a father-like relationship with Naruto.
Jiraiya was offered the Hokage position several times but turned it down because he believed his personality made him unqualified. He died in the Rain Village while fighting Pain, but it only happened because he was surprised by Pain’s six bodies. Pain himself admitted that he would have lost if Jiraiya had learned his secret earlier.
9 Hashirama Senju
The argument can be made that Hashirama is the strongest Hokage in history, and many still consider him to be a literal ninja God. He possessed immense chakra reserves, he could heal without using hand signs, and he could use Sage Mode, which counters aspects of the Rinnegan.
Wood Release was Hashirama’s biggest weapon, as it allowed him to subdue most of the Tailed Beasts by restraining them and absorbing their chakra. Even Pain would eventually succumb to this chakra absorption, and with Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees, he could knock all of Pain’s bodies unconscious.
8 Deidara
Deidara was recruited by the Akatsuki to become the organization’s explosives expert, which was the right move since he possessed the Explosion Release kekkei genkai. He would mold his explosive chakra into clay, and under normal circumstances, Pain would be able to counter his bombs with the Deva and Preta Paths.
With C4 Garuda, however, Deidara creates a massive clone of himself. When he detonates it, the clone produces thousands of microscopic bombs that are designed to enter the bloodstream of anyone who inhales them. If the Six Paths of Pain or Nagato breathes them in, they will be disintegrated at a cellular level once the bombs are detonated.
7 Minato Namikaze
Minato served as the Leaf’s 4th Hokage, and he was feared by other nations, who ordered their ninjas to flee if they encountered him on the battlefield. Minato had a variety of jutsu at his disposal, but the Flying Thunder God Technique was his forte.
Minato would place the jutsu formula on specialized kunai and disperse them across the battlefield. He would be able to instantly teleport between these kunai, and if he is able to place the formula on Pain, he could teleport to him at any time. This means Minato can avoid the attacks from all of Pain’s bodies and that he can easily attack the Deva Path in the five-second jutsu interval.
6 Might Guy
It is true that Might Guy is not much of a ninjutsu or genjutsu user, but he is a master when it comes to taijutsu. Under normal circumstances, Guy would not be able to beat Pain because the Deva Path can simply repel him with Almighty Push. Still, even the Rinnegan’s pinnacle ability cannot withstand the Eight Inner Gates.
By opening all Eight Gates, Guy gains power greater than the Five Kage for a short time. While in this state, the speed and force of Guy’s attacks almost killed Madara Uchiha when he was the Ten-Tails’ Jinchuriki, so none of Pain’s bodies would be able to survive a direct attack.
5 Obito Uchiha
Obito awakened his Mangekyo Sharingan when he witnessed Rin’s death; with it, he gained Kamui. This space-time ninjutsu gave him access to a special dimension, and he could send segments of his body there, thus granting him a form of intangibility.
This intangibility makes virtually all of Pain’s attacks useless, and Obito could transport and trap some of Pain’s bodies in the Kamui dimension to reduce Pain’s battle strength. If that were not enough, Obito was trained by Madara to be a Kage-level ninja.
4 Kabuto Yakushi
Kabuto is an extremely skilled medical ninja who could go toe-to-toe with Tsunade. That being said, he is considerably weaker than Pain, but he would be able to last a fair bit in battle since he can use Sage Mode and some of Orochimaru’s snake-based techniques.
Pain may be powerful, but even he does not possess infinite chakra, and his bodies can be injured and taken down. As long as Kabuto is in a secure location, he could use Edo Tensei to create an army of powerful reanimated ninjas to fight Pain for him. These ninjas would have unlimited chakra, and they would regenerate any injuries.
3 The 3rd Raikage
The 3rd Raikage is considered the strongest ninja that the Cloud Village has ever produced. His physical prowess and durability were near superhuman levels, and he utilized Lightning Release Chakra Mode, which covered his body in Lightning chakra.
This mode enhanced the 3rd Raikage’s abilities, and it allowed him to take on an army of 10,000 enemy ninjas for several days. He was able to fight the 8-Tails alone, and the only serious injury he sustained was self-inflicted. The Raikage’s superhuman speed would be too much for Pain to keep up with, even with the shared field of vision.
2 Itachi Uchiha
Even by Uchiha standards, Itachi was regarded as a prodigy, and he was so skilled that even Obito refused a direct confrontation with him. During the fight with Jiraiya, it was clear that Pain could be affected by genjutsu, and Itachi was a genjutsu master who could trap Pain in his Tsukuyomi.
With Amaterasu, Itachi can burn all of Pain’s bodies, except for the Preta Path, which can absorb ninjutsu. At the end of the day, Itachi’s Susanoo is the deciding factor since it is considered unbeatable. It wields the Yata mirror, which can block any attack, and the Totsuka Blade, which can pierce anything and seal it within an endless dream world.
1 Madara Uchiha
For many, Madara is the strongest Uchiha to ever live, and fans witnessed his immense power during the 4th Great Ninja War. It was revealed that Pain’s Rinnegan originally belonged to Madara, which means that the legendary Uchiha already knew all of the Rinnegan’s secrets and how to counter them effectively.
Madara also awakened a perfect Susanoo, which was equipped with a sword that could alter entire landscapes with a single slash. Even with all of the Rinnegan’s abilities, Pain would not be able to withstand an attack from Madara’s Susanoo.
