Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I haven't looked to see if anyone's done this idea, though. I claim this idea unless I get proof someone beat me to it.

11/10/08

The Six Paths of Pain... Six paths I have travelled... Six paths I have conquered... Six Paths I now command.

Human Realm... The path of my former self. The path of the innocent child I had once been. The path that I wish I could return to once the dream has been realized.

Hungry Ghost Realm... The path myself and two others were on before we met Sensei. We were nothing more than starved children then. In the constant rain, there was no sunlight to tan our pale skin. We ran, ignored for the most part as we searched for food. The only times our lives were acknowledged were when we met the occassional ninja that thought our deaths would be a mercy sending or bring some profit. This path continued until we met Sensei.

Animal Realm... The path forced upon us once Sensei left. Hunted... That was what became of myself and the other two. We became the animals meant for slaughter. We were their prey. The prey of those ninja. However, what they did not expect was for us to have grown claws and fangs. Predator fought cornered prey. The predator underestimated our desire for survival and future predators would later become the prey.

Hell Realm... The path where disaster struck myself and the two with me. The time when my hand was forced and I last felt loss.

God Realm... The path of ascension. Merely the ascension of my abilities. No more, no less.

Demon Realm... The path in which I gave up my heart and my innocence. Gone forever is the young girl I once was. Replacing her is the one who will do anything to achieve what she wants. A cold, hard, callous individual willing to sacrifice many without a sliver of sympathy, only changing her plans if it goes against her goals and her dream.

This chapter is actually thanks to wolf's paradise. I had intended to just keep it as a oneshot but when I was replying to her review, a thought struck me about the title of Six Paths (11/10/08). Needless to say, my mind could not let it go. I know it's vague and it's supposed to be. (I also know I didn't address the representative bodies but I have no idea how to bring that up.) So if Konan does turn out to be Pein and the Six Paths title actually has a meaning...

Well, thank you wolf's paradise. Without you asking for possible proof of this Konan / Pein thing, I doubt I would have come up with this chapter.

As for anyone else wanting to know how the heck this could be a possibility, I'm copying and pasting what I told wolf's paradise. Sorry if you wanted to keep it to yourself. Truthfully, it was really just the piercing thing that registered in my mind and the rest of the stuff was added on later.

*copy/paste*

First, there is a lack of history on Konan and Pein. It is presumed Nagato and Yahiko make up some of Pein, so one has to wonder what spared Konan their probable fate.

As for the Rin'negan, we don't know if it could have an on-off switch like the Byakugan and Sharingan.

Before we found out about the Pein's piercings being chakra receivers, I just thought, "Hey, look. Konan has her lip pierced. Does that have some small significance?" Probably not. Still, some part of my mind thought that was significant enough to hint at her being the actual Pein for some reason. Just another thing to think about once those chakra receivers came into play. The lip piercing might just be a piercing or it could whatever send stuff to the receivers.

There also happens to be less information on Konan. A lack of information on anyone can lead to all sorts of crazy ideas. Konan seems to only take orders from Pein but we don't know if she has a manipulation factor like I put in. She never did answer Jiraiya if she believed herself an angel, so we also don't know if she truly believes Pein to be a god. It just seems doubtful, seeing as she's supposedly spent all this time with Pein.

A recent thought is that it is called the Six Paths... Six paths but no mention of a traveller to traverse them. It might just be some title to sound cool or it could be of significance. The unmentioned traveller could be the opponent forced to traverse the paths (as Jiraiya, Kakashi, and others have done / are doing) or the one having traversed and overcome the six paths (in this madness being Konan, who would then command the six bodies of Pein).

This is obviously all just crazy thinking (that really meshes together in my mind) but, given how some things turned out in the manga, it could actually happen.