Pain leads Akatsuki alongside his partner Konan, while Tobi secretly bankrolls the whole operation. He's the driving force behind their massive tailed beast capture project—basically the entire reason the organization exists.
What makes Pain stand out is his philosophy. He genuinely believes his plan to create a weapon of mass destruction will somehow bring about world peace through fear and suffering. Most fans see this as pretty twisted logic, but it's what drives him. He's not some mindless villain—he's convinced he's the only one who understands how to actually end conflict.
His Rinnegan is basically the ace card of the series. The power set it gives him is absurd, and by the time he actually shows up to fight, he's already become something of a legend. Konan trusts him completely, and even Tobi defers to him as the public face of Akatsuki, which says something about his reputation.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
