wtf? pain would've crushed Naruto way before that point if it weren't for plot
The intels: plot
Deva path neutralized: plot
Not killing him when Preta path cached him : plot
Ma having summoned so many people to help him fight : plot
Pain not killing Naruto when he was pinned down : plot
Hinata's intervention that led to the Kyubi's release : plot
Thanks to Jiraiya
His fault for using a giant ST
He was trying to capure, not kill
Strategy because Nagato is a beast
Again. trying to capture him
Protecting one of her own, crazy with love
Everything about Naruto is plot. Nagato wanting to capture all of the tailed beasts is plot. Nagato gaining Rinnegan is plot. One could argue that if the plot didn't give Nagato Rinnegan then he would be fodder, but you know what? He did. Everything in Naruto is plot. When you read a fictional work like this, you're supposed to see it as another world; a real thing happening. What is the point of blaming everything you don't like on plot? I don't like everything that happens in this series or any other fictional story I have read or seen, but I accept it as what happened.