Yahiko was a shinobi from the Hidden Rain Village (Amegakure). Considered one of the most important and memorable characters in history, Yahiko is with Nagato and Konan, one of the founding members of the secret organization Akatsuki, which he will create and lead in order to lead the world to peace through suffering. Upon his death, his body was used by Nagato to create one of the six ways of Pain (Tendo) which he used for his public appearances as leader of Akatsuki.
Yahiko Appearance
Yahiko was a young boy of 15 (the age at his death) with short, spiky red hair. With a height of around 1m76, he weighed 57.2 kg. Although in the manga Yahiko is a blue-eyed young man, in the anime he is depicted with brown eyes.
When leading Akatsuki, Yahiko was most often dressed in a long black coat with a red line running the length of it. The central part of its body was covered in armor with a pouch attached to it.
Most of the time, he wore a perverse smile similar to that of his master Jiraiya.
Yahiko as Pain Tendô (after his death)
After his transformation into Pain Tendô by Nagato, his facial features were mostly retained, like his orange hair. However, he has paler skin, and instead of eyes Nagato's Rinnegan.
Like the other bodies transformed into Pain by Nagato, he has chakra receptors implanted in all parts of his body. He wears six rings as well as a metal bar in each of his ears. Its nose is crossed on either side by three metal bars.
Yahiko also wore it on the lower part of his lips, on his wrists as well as on his neck. His right thumb is decorated with a purplish-gray Akatsuki ring on which the kanji “Rei” (Zero) is written, and his nails are painted red. He also wears a metal collar around his neck somewhat resembling that of the Sage of Six Paths.
Unlike Yahiko's normal appearance when he was still alive, his face as Pain Tendô bears no expression, giving him the appearance of the living dead. In addition, he gives the impression of being a young man in his twenties even though he was only 15 when he died.
Yahiko's personality
Yahiko's personality is in many ways similar to that of Naruto Uzumaki, although many differences can be pointed out. Indeed, just like Naruto, Yahiko was a very jovial person with a deep sense of justice and honor which prevented him from remaining insensitive in the face of injustice.
He was a very tenacious boy, and willing to sacrifice himself for those he loves and for his ideals, and like the host of Kyubi, he desired to one day rule his village and bring it to peace , with the ultimate desire of peace among all ninjas. With a strength of character similar to that of Naruto, he did not hesitate despite his young age to say loud and clear what he thought.
However, unlike Naruto, Yahiko did not hesitate to apply the law of retaliation when he was convinced that an injustice had been committed. More than anything, he wanted to protect his village and its inhabitants, and stop the rain that continually fell there, comparing it to tears. He aspired to rule the world in order to eradicate all wars and all injustices. This ambition will give rise to the desire to become a “god” capable of dominating the world and imposing peace and justice.
Yahiko's personality was heavily influenced by his meeting with Jiraiya and the time he spent with him. Jiraiya's influence on him was such that he had even begun to adopt some of the hermit's mannerisms such as his evil gaze and expression.
He also seemed to consider himself a big brother to his two companions Nagato and Konan, not even hesitating to put his life on the line rather than endanger Konan. One of his goals was to become stronger in order to be able to protect Konan and Nagato. He was also in love with Konan, and these were, it seems, mutual.
Yahiko knew how to be quick-witted when necessary. Among other things, he had noticed Madara's deception, ruse and shenanigans quite early on. To this end, he had warned his two companions whom he considered family to be wary and to stay away from Madara.
Abilities
Yahiko was not a particularly powerful individual. He possessed Suiton type chakra, and essentially used techniques from the same element. One of his favorite techniques was “The Path of Chaos” of which he used several variations.
With this basic Suiton technique, he could make a waterfall spring from his mouth capable of carrying the opponent away, or pillars of water to protect himself from attacks. The technique could be freely controlled depending on the amount of chakra released. In addition to the Suiton element, Yahiko sometimes used Futon and Katon techniques. He is also seen holding a sword in flashbacks, suggesting that he was also skilled at kenjutsu.
However, beyond his fighting skills, what made Yahiko stand out was undoubtedly his charisma and exceptional leadership skills. Thanks to his exceptional leadership, he was respected by all members of Akatsuki and considered the one who would bring true peace.
Tendô's abilities
As a Tendô, Yahiko proves to be extremely powerful with phenomenal destructive potential. He was also considered the most powerful of the Pains. His techniques as Tendô were essentially based on attraction and repulsion. His Celestial Repulsion technique allowed him to repel any type of attack, while Celestial Attraction conversely allowed him to attract objects towards him.
These techniques are extremely powerful, with Heavenly Repulsion being the technique he used to completely destroy the hidden village of Konoha. Celestial Repulsion, for its part, could, when used at full power, create a moon. However, each of these techniques required a recast time of five seconds. This cooldown could, however, vary depending on the power of the attack, with a more powerful attack implying a longer cooldown time. In the anime, he was also able to use Suiton-type techniques in addition to these techniques.
As for chakra, he received it directly from Nagato through the chakra receptors implanted in his body.
Biography of Yahiko
Yahiko is one of the many children who lost their parents during the Second Great Ninja War in which his country, the Land of Rain, participated. Because of this, he was essentially left to fend for himself for much of his childhood, finding himself forced to steal food to survive. Due to the suffering he endured, Yahiko's heart was filled with hatred towards the other ninja countries that the country of water was fighting against.
From the depths of his heart, he wanted to make them feel the same pain that he suffered in accordance with the Law of Talion (An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth) of which he was a fervent follower. He had an extreme dislike for the weakness of his country and found it difficult to bear the rain which continually fell there and which he compared to the tears of a weak and vulnerable people. For this reason, he promised himself that he would one day become strong and powerful enough to defend his people, stop this endless rain and end all wars. He also claimed that he would become a “god” in order to put an end to conflicts.
The Yahiko-Konan-Nagato trio
He teamed up with another war orphan named Konan who quickly became his friend. The two children will quickly become very close, and together they will try as best they can to survive and will even end up finding a place that they will now consider their home. One day, Konan meets young Nagato, another war orphan who had suffered the same fate as them and had the same difficulties in daily survival, and his dog Chibi.
She decides to integrate him into the group, but Yahiko is reluctant and does not hesitate to express his disagreement with this. He is in fact very suspicious of this new arrival about whom he knows nothing and sees his arrival in the group as one more person to feed, and this was far from making him happy. However, he ends up accepting Nagato into the group, and later even becomes very close to the latter to the point of even considering him his brother.
Meeting with Jiraiya
Shortly after Chibi's death, the trio still had difficulty feeding. In order to cope with the increasingly scarce means of subsistence, Yahiko decided to ask for help from three Konoha Sannin returning from the war, and on a mission to the village of Amegakure. If Orochimaru initially offers to kill them in order to end their suffering, Yahiko succeeds in convincing Jiraiya to help them and he decides to help them survive. He undertook to stop for a few months to watch over them and teach them to defend themselves in order to survive and get by in this cruel world. During his stay, the hermit trained them in ninjutsu techniques and Yahiko quickly showed himself to be very promising, acquiring an excellent level. One day, when he was attacked by an Iwagakure chūnin and the latter was about to kill him, he was saved by Nagato. He then made a promise to himself to acquire enough strength and power to now be able to protect the people he cares about, namely, Konan and Nagato, as well as the inhabitants of the hidden village of Amegakure.
Yahiko's meeting with Jiraiya and the time he spent with the hermit had a great impact on the person he would become as well as his personality. He is also surprised to adopt mannerisms similar to those of the hermit, including his saucy and perverse smile. This stage of his life will be decisive for him as well as for the other two members of the trio and the decisions they will make later. During the time they spent with Jiraiya, Yahiko developed a defense system. His goal was to ensure that he could defend himself in case an enemy found their lair and decided to attack them, whether they were a ninja or not. The mechanism consisted of four boards, each with a red side and a white side on which appeared an image of a frog.
These boards were hung on a wall of their lair, with their names below in the following order: on the left board was Nagato's name, in the middle that of Yahiko, and on the right that of Konan. Jiraiya's board was hung on another wall different from that of the three friends. The operation of the defense mechanism was simple: when one of them was present in the lair, he had to turn his board to the red side; when he decided to leave the lair, the board would have to be turned over onto its white side. Thus, if it happened that one of the boards was turned over on its white side while the person whose name was written below the board was present, this would then mean that an enemy had taken on the appearance of the latter. and had infiltrated the lair. In addition to this mechanism, Jiraiya had installed a trapdoor in the lair that led to a hidden chamber and was to provide them with an escape route in the event of an emergency or danger.
The creation of Akatsuki
When Jiraiya returned to continue his journey, the three friends had already become accomplished ninjas. Very quickly, they built a great reputation in the village of Amegakure. Always eager to bring peace to the world, the three companions decided to become ninjas of Amegakure in their own right.
During the Third Ninja War, the three friends met Obito Uchiha. He was currently acting in complicity with Madara Uchiha and Zetsu. Having listened to what would follow from the "Plan of the Eye of the Moon", Yahiko will not be fooled by the masked man, and very quickly understands that he should not be trusted in any way. He will also not fail to warn his friends Konan and Nagato so that they be wary of the man and stay away from him as much as possible. Tobi indeed had his sights set on Nagato. Later, Yahiko and his companions will gather many sympathizers who share the same ideal as him, that is, to bring peace to the world of ninjas and fight against injustice. He will call the new group thus founded “Akatsuki” which means “dawn”. Akatsuki aimed to bring peace to the world while avoiding violence. Obito will claim to have played a role in the creation of Akatsuki.
Death of Yahiko
Over time, Akatsuki grew, spreading their ideals and registering more and more supporters. The leader of Amegakure, Hanzo, will then begin to perceive the organization and its ideals as a threat to his regime. Beginning to fear the rise of Akatsuki, Hanzo initially tried to eliminate the founding trio of the movement in their first lair, but the attempt ended in failure. He will then plot with Danzõ Shimura to trap and eliminate Yahiko, Nagato and Konan. Hanzo's plan worked as planned, and Konan was captured. He then gave Nagato the choice between killing Yahiko and seeing Konan die in front of them. However, against all odds, and in no way wanting to see Nagato in such a position and having to make such a macabre choice, Yahiko unhesitatingly undertook to commit suicide by throwing himself on the kunai that Nagato held in his hands so that Konan could be rescued. In his final moments, he will ask Nagato to continue their dream and perpetuate their ideals of world peace after his death.
Unfortunately, after his death, Akatsuki will be led in the shadows by Tobi who will manipulate Nagato as he pleases in order to achieve his ends.
Yahiko as Tendô Pain
After his death, Nagato incorporated Yahiko's body into his Six Paths of Pain technique using his Rinnegan and chakra receptors. Yahiko's body then becomes Pain's main body and the one he used the most during his appearances as Akatsuki leader. Indeed, although dead, Yahiko was still considered by Nagato and Konan as the true leader of Akatsuki, and the use of his body to preside over Akatsuki meetings was the symbol of this. As Tendô, Yahiko's body allowed Nagato, among other things, to defeat and kill Hanzo, and to fight and bring Jiraiya to his end during his infiltration of the hidden village of Amegakure.
In the anime, Tendô, accompanied by the other Pain, will invade the hidden village of Konoha in order to capture the nine-tailed fox demon Kyubi, of which Naruto is the host. Many fights will then follow. Tendô even came close to defeat while fighting against Kakashi, but was able to escape thanks to Shuradô who took Kakashi's slaying lightning in his place. He was then able to get out of the situation and discover Naruto's location through Nigendô. Before going to meet Naruto who was on Mount Myôboku, Tendô took care to completely destroy the village of Konoha with his celestial repulsion technique.
After that, he then began to fight with Naruto who had barely left Mount Myôboku. He will be forced to retreat in the face of Naruto having exploded with anger at the sight of Hinata whom he thought was dead and having transformed into a six-tailed demon. Despite using his Chibaku Tensei, Tendō was ultimately defeated by Naruto with a Whirling Orb when he was out of chakra. Naruto will then remove all the receptors from Tendô's body to ensure that he will no longer move.
After the defeat of Tendô and the death of Nagato, Konan will bring the bodies of Yahiko and Nagato back to Amegakure. She will create a shrine in their honor, resting the two bodies on a bed of flowers. Although Nagato's body would later be stolen by Tobi, Yahiko's body still lies in the shrine on the flower bed where Konan placed it.
Appearances of Yahiko in Naruto
Yahiko appears for the first time in chapter 372 of the manga and in episode 128 of the anime.
As Tendô and the main body of Pain, Yahiko is one of the main protagonists of the Pain Invasion Arc and plays a main role in it.
Yahiko will also appear in the film “Naruto Shippûden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2”.
Anecdotes about Yahiko
- His name is made up of the kanji “弥” (Ya) and “彦” (Hiko) which mean “growing” and “boy” respectively.
- Yahiko was born on the same day as Konan and has the same blood type as her.
- Yahiko is said to have a particular passion for fishing (Databook).
- Although considering Pain's bodies only as disposable tools, Nagato nevertheless remains strongly attached to that of Tendô, his feelings for Yahiko whose body was used to create Tendô still being very strong.
- Although originally a blue-eyed boy in the manga, Yahiko sports brown-colored eyes in the anime.
Conclusion
You now know everything about Yahiko, young ninja! Just like his two companions and friends Nagato and Konan, Yahiko is a character who has had a difficult and dark history. His tragic destiny contrasts with his more or less cheerful personality and his ideals of peace for the world.
And you, are you a fan of this character in Naruto? Tell us everything in the comments!