Akatsuku



Akatsuki (暁 ?, lit. "Dawn" or "Daybreak") is an organization of criminal ninja that serves as the primary antagonistic force of the Naruto series. Led by | Tobi, though he acts through the group's figurehead  leader | Pain , the Akatsuki's goal is world domination by using the power of the nine  tailed beasts .| ch. 239 The members of Akatsuki are ninja who have abandoned their villages, and are considered by their former homes to be S-class criminals, the most powerful and wanted ninja in the Naruto universe. At any given time, Akatsuki is composed of ten members, who operate in two-man teams. They share similar clothing, most notably a long, dark cloak bearing red clouds and a chin-high collar. Aside from an attempt by two Akatsuki members, Itachi Uchiha  and | Kisame Hoshigaki, to capture | Kurama  (the nine-tailed fox sealed within Naruto Uzumaki) Akatsuki is not prominently featured in Part I.| ch. 143 In Part II, they take a more active role, capturing Gaara  and extracting the one-tailed tanuki, Shukaku, from his body, as well as working towards capturing the remaining tailed beasts.| ch. 261

Itachi Uchiha
Main article: Itachi Uchiha Itachi Uchiha (うちは イタチ, Uchiha Itachi ?) is a former ninja of  Konohagakure  and the partner of Kisame Hoshigaki. Though having spent his early youth as the child prodigy of the Uchiha clan, Itachi is treated as a villain for much of the series. He is initially portrayed as being solely responsible for the killing of his entire clan and family, sparing only his brother, Sasuke Uchiha, with the explanation that he was testing his abilities.| ch. 224 Around the time of his death his villainous role is downplayed; not only is he revealed to have had help from Madara Uchiha in killing the clan, but he performed the massacre under the orders of Konoha's leadership so as to prevent an Uchiha coup d'état .| ch. 400 In the Japanese anime, Itachi's seiyū is Hideo Ishikawa. His first voice actor in the English anime was Skip Stellrecht, who voiced Itachi in episodes 29 and 30, but in all following appearances, he has been voiced by  Crispin Freeman.

Kisame Hoshigaki
Kisame Hoshigaki (干柿 鬼鮫, Hoshigaki Kisame ?) is a former ninja of Kirigakure  and partnered to Itachi Uchiha, having a unique appearance with pale blue skin, a gill-like facial structure, and sharp triangular teeth. While he was still loyal to Kirigakure, Kisame was one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, a group of violent ninja that use particularly large swords in battle. His sword, Samehada (鮫肌, "Sharkskin" in Shippuden ?), is a living weapon covered in scales that can absorb untold amounts of an opponent's chakra. Only allowing those it sees as worthy to wield it, Samehada can provide the user with the chakra it holds, ensuring him an infinite amount of stamina. Kisame himself has massive amounts of chakra, comparable to a tailed beast, enough so that a clone created by the Akatsuki that held only 30% of his power contained an amount of chakra comparable to Naruto when using the Nine-Tails' chakra.| ch. 142 By fusing Samehada into him, Kisame can assume a more shark-like form that increases his abilities. In battle, he frequently shapes water into the forms of sharks to damage opponents.| ch. 258 After discarding Samehada when it chose Killer Bee over him, Kisame is decapitated by Bee and the Raikage. It is later revealed that was just a shapeshifting technique performed by Zetsu; the real Kisame having hidden inside Samehada.| ch. 487 He attempts to flee from the ninjas but is defeated by Guy and captured. Kisame committes suicide by summoning sharks and allowing them to eat him, but not before using one of them to steal back the information he had compiled and send it to the Akatsuki.| ch. 508 His seiyū in the Japanese anime is Tomoyuki Dan, and his English voice actor is  Kirk Thornton.

Deidara
Deidara (デイダラ ?) is a former ninja of Iwagakure. He was also a terrorist bomber-for-hire before Itachi Uchiha forced him to join Akatsuki. Though he came to embrace the organization, Deidara holds a grudge against Itachi and all Uchiha throughout the series, as he feels their Sharingan  eyes look down on his abilities.| ch. 359 Upon joining the Akatsuki, he is partnered with | Sasori, and is replaced by Tobi after his death. Though he abuses Tobi when he annoys him, Deidara becomes more like a teacher to Tobi, and adopts a genuine care for his well-being.| ch. 366 Each of Deidara's hands have mouths on them that, by infusing clay or other fine-grained minerals with chakra, create "sculptures" that are actually bombs that explode with varying intensities. Deidara's bombs can take any form he chooses, and from the time of their creation to their detonation, he can animate and control them remotely.| ch. 248 Sasuke Uchiha, Itachi's younger brother, is able to systematically nullify his bombs in combat, and so Deidara transforms himself into a living bomb  in an effort to kill Sasuke and to prove the supremacy of his art, but fails in the attempt, literally "going out with a bang" as his fellow Akatsuki members put it.| ch. 363 He is later resurrected by Kabuto.| ch. 520 His seiyū in the Japanese anime is Katsuhiko Kawamoto.| [18] In his cameo appearance in episode 135 of the English adaptation, he is voiced by  Quinton Flynn, and in the anime of Shippuden by  Roger Craig Smith.

Sasori
Sasori (サソリ ?) is a former ninja of Sunagakure  and known as "Sasori of the Red Sand" (赤砂のサソリ, Akasuna no Sasori ?). His parents were killed by Sakumo Hatake, leaving him in the care of his grandmother, | Chiyo who taught Sasori the art of  puppetry, which he refined to fit his needs over the years. Lacking the love of parents, Sasori left Sunagakure when he got older and joined Akatsuki where he is initially partnered with Orochimaru.| ch. 267 After Orochimaru's defection Sasori teamed with | Deidara, who looks to him and his artistic knowledge with reverence.| ch. 248 In due time he devised a way to convert the corpses of humans into puppets, allowing him to use any of the ninja abilities  they possessed during their life for himself.| ch. 263 In time he even converted his own body into a puppet, which essentially gives him eternal life and allows him to control hundreds of puppets at once.| ch. 271 Sakura Haruno and Chiyo eventually destroy his heart, the only part of his humanity he kept when converting himself to a puppet, resulting in his death, but not before telling Sakura about his rendezvous with one of Orochimaru's henchmen who had been working for him as a spy.| ch. 464 After being resurrected by Kabuto, Sasori fights Kankuro, but is defeated and released from Kabuto's jutsu after being captured. In the Japanese anime, Sasori is voiced by Akiko Yajima  as a child; and in the English version he is voiced by  Kari Wahlgren  and as an adult, he is voiced by  Takahiro Sakurai  and the English version by  Johnny Yong Bosch. His scorpion-like puppet body, Hiruko, is voiced by Yutaka Aoyama  in the Japanese version and in the English version by  J. B. Blanc .| [18]

Zetsu
Zetsu (ゼツ ?) is the only member of Akatsuki to regularly act without a partner. This is in part a result of his ability to merge with any object and quickly travel to a new location, something that few other ninja are capable of. Because of this Zetsu serves a variety of different positions in Akatsuki, such as a spy that observes and reports on battles of interest.| ch. 255 He is cannibalistic, and is often sent to dispose of bodies Akatsuki does not want found.| ch. 261 Zetsu's body is split into two different colors, his right side being black and his left being white. Similarly, the two sides have their own personalities and knowledge bases, frequently leading to discussions and arguments between the two. If necessary, the two halves can split apart and act independently with the white half able to create perfect clones of himself or whoever he touches along with using spores in his attacks.| ch. 289 Using the DNA of the First Hokage and chakra from the tailed beasts, Madara created numerous clones of Zetsu's white half to use as soldiers in the Fourth Ninja World War.| ch. 512 As Kishimoto originally planned Akatsuki to be a group of individuals with close to no human characteristics, he decided to make Zetsu half black and half white to emphasize his split personality .| [19]  In the Japanese anime, Zetsu's seiyū is  Nobuo Tobita ,. In his cameo appearance in episode 134 of the English adaptation, Zetsu has two voice actors: the black half is voiced by Michael Sorich  and the white half is voiced by  Brian Beacock, and in the English Shippuden anime he is voiced by  Travis Willingham.

Tobi
Tobi (トビ ?) is one of the primary antagonists of the Naruto series and an Akatsuki masked member who replaces Sasori after the latter's death as Deidara's partner. He initially acts carefree and goofy often resulting on him being attacked by Deidara.| ch. 317 In battle, he is capable of making his body intangible as well as teleport  over great distances at will including to a pocket dimension inside him.| ch. 395 After Deidara dies in a bid to kill Sasuke Uchiha with him, Tobi takes the name of Madara Uchiha (うちは マダラ<span class="t_nihongo_comma" style="display: none;">, Uchiha Madara<span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="font: bold 80%/normal sans-serif; padding: 0px 0.1em; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> ?), one of the founders of Konohagakure and the Uchiha clan, who came into direct conflict with the First Hokage and was thought to be dead.| ch. 385 Now behaving more seriously, he starts taking a special interest in Sasuke's development up to Itachi Uchiha's death while leading Akatsuki.| ch. 364 He also reveals having the Sharingan, which allows him to use the Uchiha's techniques.| ch. 310 Taking Sasuke under his wing, Tobi discloses the truth behind Itachi's secret life to him to have him on his side in destroying Konoha.| ch. 400 It is also revealed that Tobi is responsible for unsealing | Kurama, the nine-tailed fox, from within its previous host , Kushina Uzumaki, to attack Konoha before the series' start resulting in the sacrifice from the Fourth Hokage, | Minato Namikaze , who re-sealed Kurama.| ch. 501

After Pain's death, Tobi announces to the five Kage his objective: he intends to recreate the Ten-Tails using the nine tailed beasts to become its host and cast an eternal illusion called the Infinite Tsukuyomi (無限月読<span class="t_nihongo_comma" style="display: none;">, Mugen Tsukuyomi<span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="font: bold 80%/normal sans-serif; padding: 0px 0.1em; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> ?), bringing all life-forms under his command. After the Kage refuse to surrender to him, Tobi declares the Fourth Shinobi World War.| ch. 467 Tobi is blackmailed by | Kabuto Yakushi to form a reluctant alliance with him when presented with the real Madara's corpse.| ch. 490 To prepare for the war, Tobi takes Nagato's body to retrieve his Rinnegan. Replacing his left Sharingan with a Rinnegan, Tobi becomes able to replicate Pain's manipulation of six corpses.| ch. 510, | 544 During the ensuing war, the original Madara is revived to aid Akatsuki exposing Tobi as an impersonator.

Kishimoto found him to be his favorite Akatsuki character at the time to draw, noting his mask to be easy to make.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-shonenissue11_19-0">| [20] In the Japanese anime, Tobi's seiyu is  Wataru Takagi  and since taking the name of Madara, he is voiced by  Naoya Uchida .<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-cast_20-0">| [21]  In the English anime, his first persona is voiced by  Michael Yurchak  and the Madara one by  Nolan North.

Hidan
Hidan (飛段<span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="font: bold 80%/normal sans-serif; padding: 0px 0.1em; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> ?) is the immortal, foul-mouthed, and sadomasochistic partner of | Kakuzu and a former ninja of Yugakure, the Village Hidden in Boiling Water.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-21">| [22]  He is a member of the Jashin (ジャシン<span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="font: bold 80%/normal sans-serif; padding: 0px 0.1em; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> ?, lit. "evil god") religion, a religion that worships a deity of the same name and where wreaking anything less than death and utter destruction in battle is considered a sin.| ch. 313 His religion's experimentations have led to the creation of his unique abilities; by consuming an opponent's blood and then drawing Jashin's triangular-design on the ground, Hidan can create a voodoo doll -like link with his opponent. Once this link is created, any damage done to Hidan's body is reflected on his opponent, allowing him to kill them by giving himself fatal injuries. Because he is immortal, Hidan is not impaired while doing this, instead finding pleasure in the pain it causes him.| ch. 325 After Hidan uses this ability to kill | Asuma Sarutobi, Shikamaru Nara  fights him to avenge his teacher. Their battle culminates in Hidan being blown up, and Shikamaru burying his still-speaking remains in a place Akatsuki will never be able to reach.| ch. 339 As such, Hidan is no longer considered a member by the rest of Akatsuki.| ch. 353 In the Japanese version of the anime, Hidan's seiyū is Masaki Terasoma. In the English version, he is voiced by Chris Edgerly  and in  Naruto Shippūden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3  by  Wally Wingert.

Kakuzu
Kakuzu (角都<span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="font: bold 80%/normal sans-serif; padding: 0px 0.1em; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> ?) is the partner of | Hidan and a former ninja of Takigakure, the Village Hidden in the Waterfalls. Kakuzu is motivated by greed and joins the Akatsuki to seek out valuable bounties. However, his extreme temperament led Kakuzu to dislike having a partner and eventually killing whomever he is partnered with in a fit of rage, being paired up with the immortal Hidan as a result.| ch. 322 Kakuzu's body is composed of large amounts of black threads, allowing him to reattach any bodypart, his or another, back onto its owner. The threads are also capable of piercing flesh, which Kakuzu uses to remove the still-beating hearts of his opponents for his personal use while executing a jutsu called Jiongu (地怨虞<span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="font: bold 80%/normal sans-serif; padding: 0px 0.1em; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> ?) to integrate their hearts into his body to cheat death and extend his life indefinitely.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-22">| [23] Kakuzu can store up to four spare hearts in animal masks that are sewn to his back. The masks can be detached during combat situations to shoot elemental blasts at his opponents, and can quickly be recalled to his body if he needs a replacement heart.| ch. 336 Kakuzu's hearts are systematically destroyed soon after his introduction by a group of Konohagakure  ninja. After Naruto Uzumaki  leaves his final heart on the brink of failure, Kakuzu is easily finished off by  Kakashi .| ch. 342 After being resurrected by Kabuto, he is sent out to participate in the war until being sealed. In the Japanese anime, Kakuzu's seiyū is Takaya Hashi  and in the English version he is voiced by  Fred Tatasciore.

Pain
EnlargeThe Six Paths of Pain, from left to right: Animal,  Naraka ,  Asura ,  Deva ,  Human ,  Preta .Pain (ペイン<span class="t_nihongo_comma" style="display: none;">, Pein<span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="font: bold 80%/normal sans-serif; padding: 0px 0.1em; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> ?) is one of the major antagonists of the Naruto series, the leader of Akatsuki, partnered to | Konan  and the principal figure in the tailed beast sealing ceremony thanks to his ability to manipulate souls. The first Pain appearing in the series is actually Deva Pain, one of six different bodies collectively known as The Six Paths of Pain (ペイン六道<span class="t_nihongo_comma" style="display: none;">, Pein Rikudō<span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="font: bold 80%/normal sans-serif; padding: 0px 0.1em; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> ?). Controlled by a single conscious mind, each of the six bodies are individually named after one of the six Buddhist paths of reincarnation .| ch. 378, | 419 All but one of the bodies have orange hair and a number of body piercings that, from a design standpoint, give Pain a "more dangerous" appearance and relate the pain of their installation to the character's name.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-data3889_18-1">| [19] Each also has a Rinnegan (輪廻眼<span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="font: bold 80%/normal sans-serif; padding: 0px 0.1em; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> ?, lit. " Saṃsāra  Eye"), the unique eye technique possessed by the Sage of the Six Paths. As a result, the six Paths use the Rinnegan to share visual information and coordinate attacks.| ch. 378

The Paths of Pain are controlled by Nagato (長門<span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="font: bold 80%/normal sans-serif; padding: 0px 0.1em; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> ?) who, like Konan, was an Amegakure  orphan trained by  Jiraiya  alongside Yahiko (弥彦<span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="font: bold 80%/normal sans-serif; padding: 0px 0.1em; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> ?) before he became Deva Pain. Awakening his Rinnegan secretly provided by Madara, Nagato's desires peace for the world .| ch. 373, | 509 After Yahiko's death as a result of a trap by Hanzo years later, Nagato came to the realization that peace could only be attained by teaching the world the pain caused by war. To that end he adopted the name "Pain" to conquer Amegakure before killing Hanzo, becoming a "god" in the eyes of Amegakure's citizens.| ch. 369

All six bodies are eventually defeated by Naruto. Naruto is able to renew Nagato's faith in his late master and in the possibility of peace, prompting Nagato to sacrifice his life in order to revive the people he killed in Konoha.| ch. 449 Nagato is later resurrected by Kabuto and sent alongside Itachi to battle Naruto and Killer Bee, but after Itachi escapes Kabuto's control he is sealed by Itachi. In the Japanese anime, Pain's seiyū is Ken'yū Horiuchi, while Nagato's seiyū is  Junpei Morita. In his cameo appearance  in episode 135 of the English adaptation, he is voiced by  Dave Wittenberg, and in the Shippuden anime he is voiced by  Troy Baker , while Nagato is voiced by  Vic Mignogna.

Konan
Konan (小南<span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="font: bold 80%/normal sans-serif; padding: 0px 0.1em; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> ?) is the only female ninja  in Akatsuki. As such, Kishimoto originally wanted her to have an obscene appearance showing more of her bust .<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-data3889_18-2">| [19]  Being a partner of Nagato, Konan was also a pupil under Jiraiya after she was orphaned as a child by one of  Amegakure's  many wars and forced to fend for herself. Because she serves under Pain, she is referred to by villagers of Amegakure as "God's angel". While under Jiraiya, Konan learned to take advantage of her natural talent with origami, using it as a key component in her battle style.| ch. 373 Konan can divide her body into countless sheets of paper, which she controls and reshapes remotely to scout out an area, form weapons for attack, or create wings that mirror her title. While Konan's abilities are restricted when the paper is wet; since paper will cling to itself and lose its stiffness, she is able to use this weakness to her advantage as she implements explosive tags into her paper clones. After Nagato's death, Konan withdraws her position in Akatsuki and leaves the organization.| ch. 372 Later, she is confronted by Madara over the location of Nagato's Rinnegan eyes. She fights him, but is killed after being forced to reveal Nagato's resting place.| ch. 510 In the Japanese anime, Konan's seiyū is Atsuko Tanaka  and in the English anime, her voice actor is  Dorothy Elias-Fahn.

Taka
Taka (鷹<span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="font: bold 80%/normal sans-serif; padding: 0px 0.1em; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> ?, "Hawk") is a group formed by Sasuke Uchiha  that consists of  Orochimaru's  former subordinates. When first formed it goes by the name "Hebi" (蛇<span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="font: bold 80%/normal sans-serif; padding: 0px 0.1em; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> ?, "Snake"), with its mission being to find and kill Sasuke's brother, Itachi Uchiha , to avenge the latter's slaughter of the Uchiha clan.| ch. 352 Its first recruited member is Suigetsu Hozuki (鬼灯 水月<span class="t_nihongo_comma" style="display: none;">, Hōzuki Suigetsu<span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="font: bold 80%/normal sans-serif; padding: 0px 0.1em; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> ?), a former test subject of Orochimaru able to turn his body to liquid form, who wishes to restore the Kirigakure's Seven Swordsmen by taking their swords.| ch. 352, | 523 The second member is Karin (香燐<span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="font: bold 80%/normal sans-serif; padding: 0px 0.1em; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> ?), a former assistant to Orochimaru who specializes in track specific individuals through chakra  over long distances,| ch. 365 and is highly flirtatious when she is alone with Sasuke.| ch. 348 The third and last member is the prisoner Jugo (重吾<span class="t_nihongo_comma" style="display: none;">, Jūgo<span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="font: bold 80%/normal sans-serif; padding: 0px 0.1em; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> ?) ,who was used to create Orochimaru's cursed seals  thanks to his enzymes that cause him to be mentally unstable, and sees Sasuke as the living legacy from his late friend Kimimaro.| ch. 351

After Itachi's death and Sasuke's discovery that the Uchiha were wiped out under the orders of Konohagakure, Sasuke renames their group "Taka" and changes its mission to the destruction of Konoha. Prior to carrying out this intent, Sasuke agrees to work with | Akatsuki to help them capture the  eight-tailed beast .| ch. 403 After Sasuke's failed infiltration of the Kage Summit in the Land of Iron, Taka splits as Jugo and Suigetsu are captured by the samurai of the Land of Iron, and Karin is abandoned by Sasuke during the ensuing fight with Danzō Shimura