in a fight between itachi and pain, pain would win

I will begin by thanking my opponent for the debate and the viewers for their time. I am especially thankful for this particular resolution, as I have long wanted to debate this topic. ----- I will now define the location of the battle and the states of the characters, as my opponent has not done so. The battle takes place on a beach of infinite length and 20 meters in width, with an infinite forest bordering it on one side and an infinite ocean bordering it on the other. The weather is sunny, with no clouds in the sky. The tide is low. There is no wildlife present excepting those created and/or summoned through the use of jutsu. The fighters are situated 15 meters away from each other, with the ocean to one side and the beach to their other. Itachi has the forest to his left and the ocean to his right; Nagato has the opposite location. Nagato himself and his bodies are arranged in a straight line perpendicular to Itachi. Nagato is not concealed. Uchiha Itachi is in his chronological state as described in the cited debate. [1] Nagato is in his chronological state immediately preceding the attack on Konohagakure, with all six Pain bodies intact. ----- I will now respond to my opponent's statement. For starters, my opponent has not cited the time in the manga when this supposed conversation occurred. Regardless, even if this statement was made by Madara, Madara has no way of actually being certain of its accuracy, as Itachi never displayed his full strength throughout the series [2]; consequentially, any statement from Madara on the subject is conjecture at best. While the Rinnegan is very powerful, it affords the user no enhanced speed, mimicry, or predictive abilities [3], powers the Sharingan does grant the user [4]. I will later show how these abilities allow Itachi to defeat Pain. ----- I will now present my own argument. ARG1: Itachi's great speed combined with his Sharingan's abilities would allow him to avoid damage from Pain and enact strategies too quickly for Pain to counter. First, I must explain Itachi's speed. While Itachi's speed is only ranked as 5/5 in the third databook [5], I showed in the cited debate [1] that Itachi's speed actually merits a ranking of 9/5, if not more. Viewers and my opponent can find my reasoning for this statement in the cited debate. Kakashi displayed speed roughly on par with Pain during the Invasion of Pain[6]. Kakashi's speed is only 4.5, meaning Pain's speed is roughly 4.5-5, or perhaps 5.5. I have shown Itachi to merit a speed ranking of at least 9, meaning his speed far exceeds Pain's speed. Itachi's great speed will allow him to easily evade Pain's attacks. The Sharingan allows Itachi to predict Nagato's attacks [4], which, combined with Itachi's speed, will allow him to avoid all of Pain's attacks and counter them. The Sharingan also allows Itachi to see chakra, meaning he will easily be able to deduce the nature of the Six Paths of Pain technique [7] and counter it. Uzumaki Naruto did the same with Sage Mode and one of Pain's chakra receptors [8], and, as I proved in the cited debate [1], Itachi's intellect dwarfs Naruto's. Consequentially, Itachi will easily be able to deduce the workings of Six Paths of Pain and counter the jutsu. One possible strategy Itachi could use is to, at the battle's outset, use his Katon: Gouenkyuu technique [9]. Itachi could angle the blast so that it hits the forest 10 meters to Pain's right, preventing Pain from blocking the attack while still detonating the massive attack. Itachi's speed would allow him to weave the seals and fire the technique before Pain has a chance to initiate any tactics. The massive scale of this technique and the size of the blast it creates would give Itachi time to create two shadow clones. The clones cannot be distinguished from the original [10], and the size of the Gouenkyuu would prevent Nagato from seeing which is the original Itachi and which are the clones. Itachi could create the clones such that they are both on one side of him to prevent Pain from deducing which clone is the original by location. Itachi and his clones could rush Pain in the wake of the Gouenkyuu blast, while Nagato is recovering from the size of the blast. Itachi or one of his clones could fire off a burst of Hosenka fireballs with shuriken hidden within them [11] to test Pain's defenses as Itachi approaches. This would allow Itachi to see Preta Path use Fujutsu Kyuin [12], thus informing him of the technique. Furthermore, this would likely injure Preta Path, as Fujutsu Kyuin would only absorb the fireballs, not the shuriken inside. If Pain were to deflect the shuriken with Shinra Tensei, Itachi would then have five seconds to attack unhindered by Shinra Tensei [13]. By the time this occurs, Itachi has already crossed so much of the distance between the fighters that the remaining distance can be crossed unhindered. As Itachi approaches, at least one of the Pain bodies will be watching each clone. This allows Itachi and his clones to activate Ephemeral [14] or some other motion-activated Genjutsu. Pain would have no way to avoid being placed under the illusion, as he does not know of this technique of Itachi's and would naturally be looking at Itachi and his clones as they approach. Thus, at least one Pain body would witness the motion that activates the illusion. Since the Pain bodies are all controlled by one mind [7], by successfully activating a Genjutsu, Itachi immobilizes all of the bodies. While the bodies are occupied by the Genjutsu, Itachi could send his clones to use Bunshin Bakuha [15] on the Pain bodies while he hits Nagato himself with Pupil Technique: Destiny Threat [16]. This attack would occur too quickly for Pain to counter due to Itachi's great speed. Nagato is killed by the Amaterasu flames of Destiny Threat and the bodies are destroyed by the exploding clones. To summarize the attack plan: Itachi begins by using Gouenkyuu on the edge of the nearby forest to prevent the attack from being intercepted and to ensure detonation. As the blast goes off, distracting Pain, Itachi creates two clones, arranging them so that it is not clear who the original is. As Nagato recovers from the blast, Itachi and clones rush Pain with their great speed, firing off Housenka fireballs with shuriken hidden within to test Pain's defenses. As Pain counters, Itachi closes the distance, and he and his clones activate motion-based Genjutsu to immobilize Pain. While Pain is immobilized, Itachi uses Destiny Threat to kill Nagato while the clones use Bunshin Bakuha to destroy the Pain bodies. In summary, Itachi's great speed allows him to enact strategies such as the one described above without Nagato ever having a chance to counter, as I have proven Nagato's speed to be inferior. There is no way for Nagato to counter this strategy due to Itachi's speed and predictive abilities. ----- I will end by thanking my opponent for this debate and the viewers for their time. ----- SOURCES: [1] http://www.debate.org... [2] http://naruto.wikia.com... [3] http://naruto.wikia.com... [4] http://naruto.wikia.com... [5] http://naruto.wikia.com... [6] http://naruto.wikia.com... [7] http://naruto.wikia.com... [8] http://naruto.wikia.com... [9] http://www.youtube.com... The first technique in the above video. [10] http://naruto.wikia.com... [11] http://naruto.wikia.com... [12] http://naruto.wikia.com... [13] http://naruto.wikia.com... [14] http://naruto.wikia.com... [15] http://naruto.wikia.com... [16] http://naruto.wikia.com...