Preta Path

The Preta Path (餓鬼道, Gakidō) grants its user the ability to absorb chakra of any kind. Pain channelled the Preta Path's power through the corpse of a Kusagakure shinobi.

By nature this ability is primarily defensive: it can drain a person's chakra through physical contact. Beyond that, the Preta Path can absorb and thereby neutralise pure chakra or chakra-based ninjutsu techniques. It does not absorb physical attacks such as Gaara's sand, but it can drain the sand's chakra. This is done by forming a barrier around the user's entire body, so that attacks from every direction can be absorbed.

Although this ability can also absorb senjutsu chakra, the user still runs the risk of turning into a stone statue when absorbing too much of it.

During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Nagato used the Preta Path to absorb Killer B's chakra while B was in his Version 2 form. He is then seen using that chakra to restore his body to its state before it was weakened by the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. This also returned his hair colour from white to red and repaired the damage to his legs — though, likely due to lost muscle memory, he could not use his legs fully.

This ability can be neutralised by certain techniques capable of suppressing the opposing user's movements or chakra.

Influences

In Buddhism, the Preta realm (also known as the Hungry Ghost realm) is a form of rebirth rooted in strong possessiveness and desire nurtured in a previous life or lives. Pretas are humanoid creatures that are perpetually hungry and thirsty yet can never be sated, living like hopeless addicts trying to quiet an insatiable craving. In appearance, Pretas are corpse-pale, exhausted figures — unlike the bulky build of Pain's Preta Path. In Hinduism, Preta can also mean ghost, which relates to the ability the technique employs.