The greatness of a hero is defined by the greatest villains. And the Naruto series has a lot of incredible, memorable villains. The series made sure to incorporate villains of all types in the show. This is what keeps the series so good and engaging. There have been villains that turned good, antagonists that wanted peace by any means necessary and bad guys that were powerful and evil to the bitter end.
It is because of this diverse group of antagonists that characters like Zabuza, Madara, Gaara, Sasuke, Kabuto, and a few others will never be forgotten. Two of the greatest Naruto villains are Pain and Kaguya. Here are 10 reasons that suggest that they're the best.
10 Kaguya: Extremely Powerful
As every Naruto fan should know after watching Naruto: Shippuden, Kaguya is no joke when it comes to powers and abilities. Kaguya possesses an incredible amount of chakra and can utilize all five nature transformations. Her hair can harden and shoot out needles that can even break through the Susanoo.
She wields the Byakugan and her third eye has the Rinne Sharingan that allows her to instantaneously teleport. Her All-Killing Ash Bones can turn living targets to ash. And the Expansive Truth-Seeking Ball can be used to reshape the world. They're definitely not a villain to be underestimated.
9 Pain: Unique Ability
Nagato, better known as Pain, has arguably one of the most unique abilities in the Naruto series. With the power of his borrowed Rinnegan eyes, Pain can use the power of the Six Paths Technique. The most incredible ability is The Outer Path which allows Pain to distribute his chakra to six corpses and control them. Pain then uses each body to perform a specific path.
The Deva Path uses gravitational powers. The Animal Path allows a variety of creatures to be summoned. The Preta Path has an unlimited absorption ability. The Asura Path can augment the body into different weaponry while the Naraka Path summons the King of Hell. Lastly, the Human Path controls victims' souls. And with the Rinnegan eyes shared between each controlled corpse, their eyesight can virtually see anything from all angles. There definitely isn't any other villain in the series quite like Pain when it comes to ability.
8 Kaguya: Reunited Team 7
In the Naruto series, the formation of ninja teams starts off with three genin ninjas and their mentor. Team 7 of the Hidden Leaf Village consists of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura along with their sensei, Kakashi. The show starts off with audiences watching the ninja world open up throughout the eyes of Team 7.
However, many obstacles and antagonists caused the team to slowly break apart as each member followed their own path. Team 7 comes together multiple times throughout the show, but it wasn't until the battle against Kaguya where all four members fought on the same side once again. A villain is definitely great when they cause heroes that may not see eye to eye to come together and fight on the same side.
7 Pain: Connection to Protagonist
Some of the best villains are ones that have a strong connection or relationship with the hero. Naruto learned a lot of skills and life lessons from his mentor, Jiraiya. He even followed Jiraiya's path and became a Toad Sage. So the emotional impact of Naruto and Pain's fight is even greater knowing that Pain killed Jiraiya.
However, the pain doesn't stop there, the battle between the two also comes after Pain kills Kakashi and destroys the Leaf Village. Naruto has to fight and defeat someone that took his sensei, master, and village from him. To add insult to injury, Pain wasn't just some passing adversary, he was also the student of Jiraiya in the past. The fight between Naruto and Pain is so epic because it is a conflict between sibling students.
6 Kaguya: New Opportunity
The thing about Kaguya's appearance is that it opens a door for so much to come next. Kaguya's past tells audiences that she is not only a celestial being but just one member of an entire group, the Otsutsuki Clan. A good villain shows that the hero still has room to grow.
With Kaguya being incredibly powerful and being only one member of an entire clan that is yet to come, this shows that Naruto and his allies still have potential to unlock and there is still other problems and story to explore. Even though Kaguya is a final boss, she was also the beginning of a new chapter.
5 Pain: Great Build-Up
Where Kaguya's presence shows people what is to come, Pain's appearance is what fans have been waiting for. Akatsuki is a name that has been spoken since the first part of the Naruto series.
During the Sasuke Recovery Mission Arc, Naruto and his friends return to the Hidden Leaf Village while the Akatsuki have a meeting with each member shrouded in darkness. This is the first glimpse of the Akatsuki members. From this point on, fans have been anticipating the full-on reveal of every member especially their leader and the reveal is worth the wait.
4 Kaguya: Original Sin
There were mixed thoughts among fans when Madara was cut down early for the revival of Kaguya. Many thought that Team 7's fight would be against the powerful Uchiha. It was truly shocking when Zetsu back-stabbed Madara in order to finally bring Kaguya back to life.
Kaguya, after eating the fruit of the God Tree, obtained the power of chakra. Kaguya then passed down some of her chakra to her two sons ultimately giving birth to the ninja world.
3 Pain: Tragic Background
A villain that is relatable is a villain that is hard not to root for. Pain embodies that concept extremely well. Pain has done a lot of horrible things but didn't start out as a horrible person. Pain first comes across as purely evil trying to obtain power. However, his true goal is to obtain peace by any means necessary.
Pain lived in a small village that served as a battlefield for great nations. After his parents died by a Leaf Village ninja, Pain became an orphan with his only friends being Konan and Yahiko. After the death of Yahiko, Nagato took the name Pain and decided to achieve peace by force.
2 Kaguya: Reclaiming Her Reign
As the mother of chakra, Kaguya introduced power to the ninja world. With the overwhelming power that she possessed, Kaguya was able to bring peace. However, it is believed that the power she wielded slowly started to change and corrupt her.
This lead to her sons having to stop and seal her away. After being resurrected in the present-day, Kaguya sought to reclaim all chakra to keep for herself. She is a powerful entity that felt she was betrayed by her sons and the rest of the world.
1 Pain: Well-Balanced
There are many villains that can be so powerful that it can sometimes break the power scaling of a story and take fans out of their immersion. However, Pain is a different story. Pain, after using a big attack to destroy the Leaf Village, had to wait for some time before he was able to do a big attack like that again.
It makes for a greater villain – and better villain – when they're limited just like the hero. Even though Pain is a powerful villain, he is unique because even he has limitations that he has to learn to work around.