How Did Nagato Get the Rinnegan?
Nagato, or Pain as he was commonly known by fans, was known for having the Rinnegan. Most of his abilities lie on the Rinnegan. When fans first saw him, they all thought that Nagato is the real owner of the Rinnegan. However, as the series progressed, it was further explained that he is not the original owner of the Rinnegan that he was very famous of.
Nagato got the Rinnegan without his knowledge when Uchiha Madara implanted his Rinnegan into him at a young age. This was done without the knowledge of his parents during that time as well. This article will discuss how it was implanted, as well as how the Rinnegan was created before implanting it to Nagato.
In this article, I will explain not just the reason why Madara wanted Nagato to be the holder of his eyes during his temporary death. I will also provide information on how Madara was able to unlock the Rinnegan through his Sharingan to prove that it is the only means to attain it in the Ninja World, aside from being an Otsutsuki.
Was Nagato Born With Rinnegan?
Nagato was not born with the Rinnegan, as the only way for the Rinnegan to be obtained is by being an Uchiha first. But interestingly, Nagato has a lineage that fans are all familiar with, and are amazed by this very fact. Nagato has the blood of an Uzumaki, Naruto’s clan, and many fans did not notice that in the beginning despite having red hair – the signature hair color of the Uzumaki clan.
To give you a recap, the Uzumaki clan was a powerful clan that was allied with, and are distant relatives of, the Senju clan. The Uzumaki clan are known for their sealing techniques, as well as their very long lifespan and huge chakra reserves. The amazingly strong vitality of the Uzumaki clan, as well as their large chakra reserves, is also present in Nagato.
Nagato’s natural abilities as an Uzumaki enabled him to control the Demonic Statue Of The Outer Path, and survive getting several chakra rods embedded on his back. Though it caused Nagato’s body to become emaciated, it still granted him access to a lot of abilities that most consider Godlike. What made it more interesting is that his large chakra reserves enabled him to use the Rinnegan to its full potential.
How Did Nagato Get the Rinnegan?
Nagato acquired the Rinnegan through Uchiha Madara himself. Madara implanted the Rinnegan to Nagato at a very young age, and without the knowledge of his parents as well.
Though it was never mentioned in the series, there are different possibilities made by fans on how Madara was able to implant the Rinnegan to Nagato. The most popular theory is since Madara is an Uchiha, and possesses an evolved version of it, he can just cast a powerful genjutsu on Nagato’s parents for him to work on the operation. After all, Madara is a very smart and cunning villain who has a lot of plans in his mind.
How Did Nagato Get Two Rinnegan
The reason why Nagato got two Rinnegan is because of how Madara was able to develop the eye itself. As said earlier, there is no way for a member of the Uzumaki clan to gain the Rinnegan and its abilities, as they specialize in a different aspect of ninjutsu. However, the innate ability of the Uzumaki clan augmented his usage of the Rinnegan. But how was this created?
It all began when Madara was plotting to achieve the Infinite Tsukiyomi, a genjutsu that will cast an illusion to the moon for all people in the world to fall into a dream world of their desire. To achieve that, he needs to have the Ten-Tails in him, as well as two Rinnegan, which can be evolved from a Sharingan.
To make that possible, he needs to have the DNA of a Senju for his eyes to evolve. His longtime friend and rival, Hashirama happen to be the perfect source of the DNA, as his cells are known to have awesome abilities as well. During their battle, he gained a part of Hashirama’s flesh. Madara was defeated by Hashirama. However, Madara had a backup plan where he time-delayed Izanagi to himself to rewrite his death.
When he was hiding in secrecy after leaving a shadow clone on his grave, he applied the Hashirama cells to himself. He even cultivated the cells to grant him more power, as well as nourishment due to the rich vitality of the cells. After several years of waiting, his Sharingan eventually evolved into the Rinnegan. But with his old age, he had to make a backup plan where he must let someone “keep” it.
As a result, he implanted his eyes into Nagato, and will just retrieve them at a certain point in the future. And to make sure that he will be able to get it back, he manipulated Obito Uchiha and gave him an order to find Nagato in the future. Obito was successful in recruiting him after events where Nagato’s friend Yahiko died because of the conflict they got into.
Why Did Madara Give Nagato The Rinnegan?
Madara knew well that Nagato has a lot of potential in keeping the Rinnegan due to his lineage as an Uzumaki. Madara knew well that Nagato will be able to handle the Godlike powers of the Rinnegan, which consumes a lot of chakra. This was proven true when Nagato was able to skillfully use all of Rinnegan’s abilities, and even create the Six Paths of Pain by controlling corpses with chakra receivers.
Madara actually played this right because Nagato is also in a place that’s filled with conflict because of Hanzo the Salamander’s rule in the Hidden Rain Village. Obito was able to make good use of the conflict to manipulate Nagato to make sure that his Rinnegan will never go away.
The other reason was for Madara and Obito to use Nagato as a sacrifice to revive Madara upon completing the goal of Akatsuki to obtain all nine tailed beasts to create the Ten-Tails once more. This will result in Nagato using the Samsara of Heavenly Life technique on Madara to revive him completely. That way, Madara can become the Ten-Tails Jinchuuriki and cast Infinite Tsukiyomi to complete his ultimate goal for peace.
But in my opinion, knowing how Nagato wanted peace differently, he might rebel against Madara and Obito had he known the truth about his Rinnegan. It’s just that Nagato does not seem like the person who would just blindly follow Madara, as he has his different ideal of peace. And for sure, Nagato would not go with the Eye of the Moon Plan, since it will require him to become a sacrifice, which will then hinder him from seeing the peace that he wants to achieve.