- How so? In combat, Nagato is capable of using multiple paths at simultaneously. Consider, during his fight with Naruto, Bee and Itachi, why did he not simply extend Asura Path's abilities to his feet, why did he not use his chakra propulsion boots and take to the sky? Two reasons actually; Kishimoto nerfing his abilities and Kabuto, by his own admission, being a noob controlling him (which also extends to Kishimoto nerfing his abilities, he couldn't even give Nagato full mobility or
any sort of control over his body even in the very end. Even Itachi got the chance). It's because Nagato is Madara-lite, and you can't have more than one of this kind of power running loose.
- To be fair, I actually have Nagato down for losing to Naruto, although I think, currently, he could defeat Hashirama. In turn, I think Shodaime would beat Naruto, so they actually share a Hashirama > Naruto > Nagato > Hashirama relationship in my eyes. All three of them are very much on the same level and are comparable. I was referring to a complete Nagato, but ok;
- SM Naruto had info on Pain's abilities
- Pain exhausted chakra destroying a village
- Pain fought other members of Konoha before hand
- Pain was fighting to capture Naruto, not kill him
- Pain didn't summon his strongest summon (Gedo Mazo), which actually had 7 Bijuu inside
- Pain destroyed the entire village, effortlessly, with one jutsu
All of which were done by Nagato while he was crippled. Think about that. It still remains that under normal conditions Pain will stomp practically all the characters we've seen thus far, with Madara, Tobi, Naruto, Hashirama being some of the notable exceptions. Nagato himself, is Madara-lite and his abilities are unfairly downplayed. For what reason, I do not know. Do you not believe he could've simply seeked out Orochimaru and demanded Hashirama's DNA? Hell, he could've even gone around absorbing the chakra from random fodders or from the inside of trees, it was that ridiculous. The amount of chakra in Bee's V2 chakra cloak was easily accessible to Nagato, plot simply restricted him. I don't even believe Itachi could've extended to the higher dojutsus, it wasn't in his character to do so. I mean, to take other people's eyes, to going DNA hunting, it simply didn't suit his personality; Kishimoto designed him as a pacifist. Uchiha's take a dark road in their pursuit of power, do you honestly believe Itachi was the kind to go down that route? Hardly. It's all ifs and buts, which can be applied to
any character.
- Madara still takes it, rather handily too. Meteors end it. Mokuton suppresses chakra and ends it. Banshou Tenin effortlessly pulls him out of Susanoo, or even strips his Susanoo of their legendary items. Preta Path absorbs Susanoo and forces it to destabilize. Itachi's ninjutsu is fodderized by Preta Path. He couldn't hope to outlast Edo Madara interms of chakra or stamina. And one of his major techniques, Tsukuyomi, is completely and utterly useless in the face of another Uchiha.
The point is, Nagato could've
easily overcome his problems, easily. Sure Itachi was restriceted, but so were many other characters, none of them can be singled out. Itachi would've needed to take Sasuke's eyes if he wanted to increase his power, but it was simply out of his character to do so.
