Why did Pain carve gashes in his headbands?

Floydical

Active member
Veteran
Joined
Sep 15, 2010
Messages
4,030
Kin
5💸
Kumi
0💴
Trait Points
0⚔️
I was watching the Naruto vs. Pain fight again and began to wonder, why did pain put scratches on all his Rain Village headbands? We know that this is the mark of a Missing-nin or rogue ninja, someone who has left their village and essentially disowned or abandoned it. But in Nagato's case, his home base was also his village. And its not as if he was a criminal within the village, he ruled his village and protected it with everything he had. Clearly he was not a rogue ninja, so why carve a gash in his headband?

Nagato wasn't like the typical Akatsuki member who spent all his time either traveling, hunting Jins, or camping in Akatsuki bases. Rather, he spent all his time in the Rain overseeing it and leading the Akasuki from the shadows. Every other Akatsuki had reasons to leave their village, many of them were criminals and terrorists who turned on allied shinobi and abandoned their respective villages, hence why they all marked their headbands. Pain clearly does not fall into this category.

I have to wonder why Nagato decided to carve his headbands and essentially proclaim himself a Missing-nin. Did he do it to form an image for himself? Did the other Akatsuki not know his true allegiance and perhaps he wanted to keep them all in the dark? But is it logical for none of the Akatsuki to know that Pain ruled the Rain? Did Nagato really isolate the Rain that much as to not even allow his fellow Akatsuki to know it was his base of operation? I mean did really none of the Akatsuki know Nagato's love for his village? Did Nagato really carve his headbands simply to establish himself a hardened Missing-nin to match his subordinates? If so, it does seem to go along with his fanatical views on piece, essentially forsaking his pride as a Rain shinobi for the benefit of his ideal world view.

Come to think of it, we all know that Zabuza is essentially the go-to Missing-nin right? Why was it that he never put a scratch on his own headband? On the wiki, Zabuza is the poster child for Missing-nin, yet he never carved his own headband. Did Zabuza still harbor love for his village? Did he not consider himself a Missing-nin? I find both of these cases strange and feel Pain had little reason to mark himself a Missing-nin other than establishing an image for himself while Zabuza had every reason to do so, notably the slaughter of several dozen of his classmates. Thoughts, comments, concerns, suggestions?
 

Floydical

Active member
Veteran
Joined
Sep 15, 2010
Messages
4,030
Kin
5💸
Kumi
0💴
Trait Points
0⚔️
He did it to show that he cut off all ties with Ame under Hanzo's rule or something, idk
Awww this is actually a very logical explanation. I did not consider the fact that Nagato did actually kill his fellow Rain shinobi, but that was only when they were trying to kill him and when they were aligned with the leaf. So while Nagato clearly loves the Rain village, he despised Hanzo and the village that Hanzo represented. For those reasons, it makes logical sense that he gashed his headbands in order to show his separation from that old regime. Great observation.
 

Filo

Active member
Elite
Joined
Sep 12, 2010
Messages
5,145
Kin
0💸
Kumi
0💴
Trait Points
0⚔️
Awards
Interesting topic you bring up but yeah I really think it was just to go with the flow of Akatsuki no real thought on Kishi's part behind this one
 

The Western Wheel

Active member
Veteran
Joined
Jul 3, 2012
Messages
2,445
Kin
0💸
Kumi
0💴
Trait Points
0⚔️
Hanzo set the stage so Yahiko was killed... with Yahiko killed, that ideal disappeared, along with Hanzo's, which was fals(force)... Only then Nagato created PAIN, becuase he felt only those who share each others pain can truly understand each other.

The headband scratch is to reject Hanzo's idea of a village. As a matter of fact, even though Nagaot/pain was in control of Ame, I don't think they/he supported the idea of a village at all...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Meowazziel

7PathSage

Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2012
Messages
289
Kin
0💸
Kumi
0💴
Trait Points
0⚔️
Maybe the Rain let him stay because they had no one else to protect it? Its also possible that there was some form of corruption within the government and they were allowed to stay for political reasons too.
 

Floydical

Active member
Veteran
Joined
Sep 15, 2010
Messages
4,030
Kin
5💸
Kumi
0💴
Trait Points
0⚔️
Hanzo set the stage so Yahiko was killed... with Yahiko killed, that ideal disappeared, along with Hanzo's, which was fals(force)... Only then Nagato created PAIN, becuase he felt only those who share each others pain can truly understand each other.

The headband scratch is to reject Hanzo's idea of a village. As a matter of fact, even though Nagaot/pain was in control of Ame, I don't think they/he supported the idea of a village at all...
Awww, another great point! I agree now that it was most likely a way of rejecting Hanzo's corrupted rule of the village, but I think its clear that Nagato still harbors love for his village, see here:

You must be registered for see images

"You're peace results in violence for us." That means he still considers himself a Rain villager, since he and Yahiko were always so concerned that the 5 great nation's wars were being fought in his village. So again, I agree that he marked his headbands to reject Hanzo's way of ruling, but he in no way abandoned his love for his village in the process.
 

The Western Wheel

Active member
Veteran
Joined
Jul 3, 2012
Messages
2,445
Kin
0💸
Kumi
0💴
Trait Points
0⚔️
Awww, another great point! I agree now that it was most likely a way of rejecting Hanzo's corrupted rule of the village, but I think its clear that Nagato still harbors love for his village, see here:

You must be registered for see images

"You're peace results in violence for us." That means he still considers himself a Rain villager, since he and Yahiko were always so concerned that the 5 great nation's wars were being fought in his village. So again, I agree that he marked his headbands to reject Hanzo's way of ruling, but he in no way abandoned his love for his village in the process.
I am not saying he stopped caring. But then again, the enemy is under the impression that they are fighting shonobi from the rain, and why would you deny that? From Nagato's point of view nothing really matters. His idea of peace is warped and he wanted to go to extremes.

He just made a point to explain that one's peace results in violence towards another.

And it would be better in a strategy to let Yahiko, even though he's dead, speak in fashion as if he was still alive.

Last point, I don't think Nagato actually looked after the Rain anymore. When Jiraya infiltrated, it was in a pretty poor state. No Kage, just a "God". He elevated himself while only thinking of the bigger picture, not necessarily the Rain alone.

Just my two cents.
 

boshans

Active member
Regular
Joined
Jan 24, 2012
Messages
808
Kin
0💸
Kumi
0💴
Trait Points
0⚔️
Awww this is actually a very logical explanation. I did not consider the fact that Nagato did actually kill his fellow Rain shinobi, but that was only when they were trying to kill him and when they were aligned with the leaf. So while Nagato clearly loves the Rain village, he despised Hanzo and the village that Hanzo represented. For those reasons, it makes logical sense that he gashed his headbands in order to show his separation from that old regime. Great observation.
I know the anime is not technically canon and all...but they had a few episodes a few weeks ago that show a more fleshed out story of how Nagato and Yahiko formed the Akatsuki, and what transpired in the Rain village. Basically Danzo coming in and being an *******, and turning Hanzo against Nagato and them. My guess is after the whole part where Yahiko died and everything is when he scratched it. Then he proceeded to hunt down Hanzo and became leader after that, and never changed his headband. Or something like that.
 

Sarahmint

Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2011
Messages
447
Kin
0💸
Kumi
0💴
Trait Points
0⚔️
It means they are anti what the village stands for. Put your national flag upside down or slash a black X on it. Same thing. It means "I am a traitor to my village", but really it is against the village governments.
 
Top