Quote Originally Posted by XanBcoo
You're right. I had forgotten about Nagato's original body. I guess he could be out there acting as a puppet master somehow. At the very least, the bodies we saw before showed signs of having his memories. I wonder if the "identity" is any more complex than that. I hope it is.
This was discussed quite a bit before you started reading the manga. My theory is that Pein's Rinnegan is a genjutsu eye that allows each to send what he sees into the others, P2P style. Pein is 6 (or 7) master shinobi, with one mind and will, and so perfect teamwork.
Each of the bodies is probably a different elemental type. There is no puppet-master, exactly. Pein will live on, even if Nagato dies.