Naruto's journey to become the Hokage was not easy. He lost his parents during the Nine-Tails' attack and while growing up, was treated as a monster by the people living inside the Hidden Leaf. They cursed him for being responsible for the deaths of so many people, and that took a toll on him.
Throughout the entire Naruto series, he endured many hardships, but he stayed true to his beliefs and never strayed from his path. On his journey, Naruto met many new people— some of them became his friends while others were his enemies. Naruto's speeches helped numerous people to make peace with themselves. One of the many characters that Naruto influenced is Nagato Uzumaki.
Nagato's Worst Mistakes
Nagato Uzumaki was a kind child, who loved his parents, but he lost them during the Second Great Ninja War. He joined Yahiko and Konan, and together they roamed the battlefields until they finally met Jiraiya, who trained them. Then they decided to form Akatsuki, but due to Hanzo's demands, Yahiko had to kill himself and this caused a big change in Nagato's personality. He was filled with rage and used his Rinnegan's power to kill Hanzo, and then he took over Amegakure.
This started a whole new era of terror in Amegakure and soon the rest of the world would be engulfed in Nagato's ambition for peace. To achieve his goal, Nagato recruited new members, who were S-rank rogue ninjas. He needed their power to steal the tailed beasts from the villages and seal them inside the Demonic Statue. He needed the power of the nine tailed beasts in order to revive the Ten-Tails, which would allow him to create peace throughout the world.
Undoubtedly, Nagato's two worst transgressions were when he killed his master, Jiraiya, and then he destroyed almost the entire Hidden Leaf. It is extremely disturbing to think that Nagato was so focused on his goal that he did not feel bad for murdering his teacher in a gruesome manner. As for the Hidden Leaf, Nagato didn't care about a village that had been involved in so many wars in the past.
His Redemption
Like many Naruto villains, Nagato managed to redeem himself in the eyes of the fans, and Naruto Uzumaki played a major role in helping Nagato realize his mistakes. After defeating Tendo Pain, Naruto made his way towards Nagato's location, where he confronted his master's former pupil. It was difficult for Naruto to make Nagato understand that his way of doing things was wrong, but he didn't give up.
Naruto managed to make Nagato understand that his way of attaining world peace was wrong, and after Naruto's reassurance, Nagato decided to trust him and used his Rinnegan to revive the people that he had killed during his invasion. This brought an end to Nagato's life. Nagato also made Naruto realize the value of their master's goal. Before their confrontation, Naruto wasn't as focused on the dream of achieving world peace, but the meeting with Nagato made him understand its importance.
How He Compares to the Others?
Nagato's redemption wasn't the first one in the series nor was it the last one. There were other characters who managed to redeem themselves against all odds. The most popular redemption was that of Sasuke. Sasuke left the Hidden Leaf to gain more power from Orochimaru so that he could defeat Itachi. However, after defeating Itachi, Sasuke found out that Itachi was just a puppet who was used by the elders of the Hidden Leaf to do their dirty work.
With this revelation, Sasuke became focused on destroying the Hidden Leaf. Then his goal evolved into becoming the leader of the world and ruling over it with power alone. After Kaguya was sealed away, Sasuke attacked Naruto and was eventually defeated. The defeat made Sasuke realize his mistakes and he was ready to atone for them. While this was an incredible U-turn from Sasuke, the fans can't help but feel that it was forced.
In Nagato's case, he was only fixated on world peace, and he taught Naruto an incredibly important lesson. Sasuke was no doubt manipulated, but his crimes were far too heinous to have been forgiven so easily. Another villain, Orochimaru, who is currently living under surveillance also managed to be expiated by the Hidden Leaf. Orochimaru was granted forgiveness too easily. He committed multiple inhumane acts— experimenting on humans, killing people, etc., and he was given his vindication so easily that one might consider it laughable.
The only good thing that he did was when he helped Sasuke to meet the first four Hokage of the Hidden Leaf. Again, in comparison, Nagato's goals were not selfish, he wanted something for the entire world and not just for himself. Nagato revived the people that he killed, and he trusted Naruto to carry on their master's will. So, Naruto did an outstanding job of bringing Nagato back on track.