Akatsuki is a S-ranked criminal organization in the anime series" Naruto".Despite consisting of only around 10 members it is shown to be the most powerful organization due to the presence of exceptionally talent and powerful missing-Ninjas.Each and every member of this organization is a exceptional ninja who somehow left their village and are named in the bingo-book.However their talent are beyond the ordinary ninjas that is why they are the main villain in this series.
It is shown that to be the member of this organization one has to be exceptional in his power and some members were tested before they were granted the membership.The members of this organization has individual motives but however to fulfill their individual motive quickly,they joined this force.The members of this organization even don't care if someone of their partners or members dies, when any member dies they just wonder "how could they die out there" and "who was such powerful to kill their member".
1.
Organizational structure
Akatsuki does not have a fancy structure like any organization neither are there any hard and fast rules and regulations.The members of this organization even don't meet frequently and even if they meet or sit down for any discussion or job they do it via astral projections and telepathy.The organization was less active in first part of the series. however in second part (Naruto shipudden) they are seen frequently active.Somehow this organization has some unique identity and working behavior .
2.
Motive
Akatsuki has the only motive of ruling the world. However there are still many unknown facts about their motives . But up to now they have been working to collect the "Bijjus" meaning tailed-beasts whish are sealed within many ninjas of different countries called jinchurrikis of that beast.They despite of the power a jinchurriki possess are successful in capturing them . Out of total nine-tailed beasts in the series they have already captured seven-beasts even extracting one from Gaara.The remaining only "Naruto" himself and "killer-B".They assemble via astral projection when any team complete the task of defeating the jinchurriki to extract the bijjus and seal them using their own method unknown and styles.Tailed beasts have enormous which cannot be handled properly by human but however akatsuki are collecting them and sealing them somewhere. The power of the sealed beasts has not been used by the akatsuki up to now and is in mystery.
3.
Beast extraction process
Normally there are around 5 teams inside the Akatsuki Organization.Each team comprises of two members however few of them have their own freedom. Each team is assigned the task of capturing a tailed beast, namely jinchurriki which is decided by the leader of the organization. After the successful capturing of the jinchuuriki then it is taken to some weird place or any place where the leader summons one statue humanoid monster. It is not necessary that the leader should be present or any member should be present for the extraction process, those members who are far away from that place can participate via astral projections to occupy their positions. The humanoid statue is large and every members sit on their respective positions in the fingers of that statue.There are 9 eyes of that statue and when extraction process begins the spirit and chakra(energy) of the tailed beast inside the jinchurrki gets sucked up in its mouth via tongue like structure. The jinchuuriki dies after the extraction is complete and the eye among the 9 is opened when the extraction is completed.It is shown that it requires considerable amount of energy and time to extract those beasts so when the number of the organization decrease the remaining members take more time and feels much exhausted after sealing the remaining beasts.
4.
The unique rings
One of the unique features among the akatsuki members is the ring they wear.Each akatsuki member wears one ring and most importantly each ring is different and is worn on different fingers.That means no two akatsuki members wear rings on same fingers.The importance of the rings haven't been yet specified but in sealing process it is seen to have great importance from the talking's of the members about its importance.The ring in their finger corresponds the position on which finger of the demon statue they sit during the beast extraction process.Of the total 10 rings one ring was taken by orochimaru when he was defeated by itachi while trying to attack from his back.
5.
Forehead protectors and clothing appearance
Each akatsuki member wears a long, dark cloak with red clouds pattern stamps and a red interior with a chin-high collar.Sometime they wear conical hats made from straws with little bells hanging in them,Mostly they prefer hat to hide their identity but they do not wear that hat frequently.Their forehead is similar as their own country's forehead protector where they used to live before joining akatsuki.But there is a long scratch in the middle of the logo of their country in the protector meaning they had broken their relations with their former country.However some of the members do not have any forehead protectors hiding their origin in the series.It is also shown that they also paint their nails.
Akatsuki's individual Member profile
Pain(nagato)
pain is the leader of the the Akatsuki organization and possess the most legendary power in the history of the ninja. he possess the "Rinnegan" which is believed to be possessed by the father of the ninja,The sage of six paths who invented each and every ninja techniques. Pain was the victim of the third great ninja war. Due to that war he lost his parents as well.He even changed his name to pain from nagato in this sense that he knew and understood true pain due to much sufferings mainly from many wars of which he and his friends were victims.Pain first appeared in the series in episode 135.His ring is zero(rei) and his position in the bijju extraction process is Right thumb of the statue.He is the one who summons the weird statue for the bijju extraction process.The main unique identity of pain is his legendary ripple patterned eyes,the rinegaan and six piercings in his nose and ear both.Since he was a former citizen of hidden village in rain,he hated wars and his only motive was to make everyone fear of war so that they would stop the war resulting permanent peace. During the third great ninja war he was saved by yahiko and konan when he was dying from hunger. Then he thought to protect them forever but later when yahiko was killed he swore to stop wars in every cost no matter which path he had to choose. He even killed the legendary Hanzo of hidden rain and ruled hidden rain by himself.
Pain has abilities like of the father of ninja. He can act separately from six bodies manipulating them through chakra receivers. He named them as six path of pain. Each of the pain can only use one ability and can see through each other's eyes.In the Akatsuki organization he has konan with her but later it becomes clear that even he was under the orders of another mysterious member called Tobi who calls himself as the legendary Madara of the konoha.
Uchicha Itachi
Uchicha itachi is a former shinobi of the hidden village in the leaves. But however despite being one of the most talented shinobi in the village (country), he wiped his entire clan leaving only his younger. The true reason for the massacre of his clan from his own hands is still not truly verified however he shortly joins Akatsuki after that. in the organization he is partnered with kisame,although they greeted in harsh manner at first meet but later on unlike other team they were good among each other meaning they respected each other and worked together pretty well in teir team.Itachi has scarlet or bloody (shu) ring in his hand and he sits on the right ring finger of the statue during beast extraction process. His first manga appearance was in chapter 139 and in anime in episode 80. Itachi is not so active in Akatsuki missions however his team was once assigned the task of capturing naruto but due to interference of Jiraiya , Kakashi and others they didn't succeed.Itachi is a master of the sharingan and mangekiyo sharingan . He was the best user of the "Amatersu" as mentioned in the series. His personality was cool in nature and he was a wise Shinobi as well. However his only motive seemed to be get killed by his younger brother and he did met the same fate as m desired.During the first days of Akatsuki his first partner was orochimaru from his same village, however orochimaru wanted his body to take away the sharingan and to replace himself within itachi's body. When he attacked itachi from back he was already caught in itachi's genjustu. Itachi broke one of his hand as punishment and then orochimaru left the organization.
Hoshigaki Kisame
Hoshigaki Kisame is the former shinobi of the hidden village of mist. He is also known as Tailless beast because of the extremely more energy and stamina he possess. He is perfect in water based techniques and during intense batter he turns in shark like creature. One more special thing he has ishis unique sword which is weird. That sword named samehada sucks energy or chakra out of anyone it likes. However that sword survives using kisame's chakra or energy at the first place. Uchicha itachi is his partner.His first manga appearance was in chapter 139 and anime episode 80.He wears south (minami) ring and his position during sealing of bijjuu is left ring finger of the statue. He and itachi has already attempted to capture naruto: The jinchurriki of the nine tails but failed to do so.
Tobi
Tobi is the most mysterious character not only within the akatsuki organization but in the whole naruto series.He wears the jewel ring which is the king in the shogi game . His ring position after being formal member of akatsuki is left thumb of the statue.His partner was Deidara and his first appearance in manga was in chapter 280 and in episode shipudden 32 in anime. His most unique outfit is Orange mask with single eye-hole covered in a swirl pattern concentrated towards the right eye.He appears out of nowhere in akatsuki and tries to be it's formal member however later it is known that even the leader of the organization is under his suggestions. Later on in the series he reveals his identity as the legendary uchicha madara of the hidden village in leaves. uchicha madara is among the two who founded hidden village in the leaves. Madara was legemdary because he was the first to awaken the Mangekiyo sharingan among the uchichas. He was the only master who knew the most use of the sharingan.Although he and Hashirama senju founded the village in the hidden leaves they fought among themselves for the title of the leader "Hokage".He was believed to be defeated and dead but still tobi calls himself madara making the truth confusing.It is also believed that madara summoned the 9-tailed beast to attack konoha to take his revenge on it.However that too was denied by the fourth hokage"Minato" who sealed the nine tails within his own new born son.As the series goes on and secreats starts being revealed it is known that pain "the leader of akatsuki" is also under his command. His motive is to capture all the tailed beasts and to summon ten- tails to be the jinchurikki of the ten tail and caste infinite tsukyonami.However slowly it is shown that Tobi is not true madara when kabuto resurrect true madara using Impure World Resurrection Technique. Kabuto even blackmails him showing sample of madara's resurrected body.
Deidara
Deidara is a former shinobi of hidden village in the rocks. He has a kekkei genkai for explosive abilities.He has a mouth in his hand and in chest as well.He lets carries clay with him and let the mouth in his hand chew that to create explosives .Deidara joined the akatsuki at young age then other members. The members of the akatsuki somehow knew about his talent and unique abilities so went to him to offer a membership of akatsuki. However it was only when itachi defeated him that he joined the organization as a payback .Deidara was partnered with sasori and later to tobi after sasori's death..Deidara and Sasori were both touched with "art" so they frequently discuss and argue about each other's definitions of art.After tricked by the sharingan at first time which led to his defeat with itachi,he started hating the sharingan users and that eye as well so he even trained his eyes to counteract sharingan.Dedara was the former student of third Tsuchikage,and was a favourite student as well. However due to his craziness to improve his techniques he stole the forbidden explosion techniques and ran from the village.He has the special ability to manipulate clay, design them into desired structures and control them to explode wherever he wants.He was even able to defeat Gaara singly. He is short-tempered but a clever and tricky member and is good in making a pre planned route to defeat his opponent. However later on he is killed by sasuke,rather he explodes himself to kill sasuke and himself exampling himself as fine art but sasuke somehow escapes .
In the organization he wears the blue-green ring.His position during sealing of the bijju is right index finger of the statue. Deidara first appearance was in chapter 247 in manga and shipudden episode 2 in anime series.
Konan
Konan is one of the sufferer of the third great ninja war and only female akatsuki member. She was also like nagato, saved by yahiko. The three of them met in the very harsh situations where there was very low options of living . However yahiko kept them alive by teaching them to get what they want by force.He even stole food from others to fed them.All of them were somehow trained by jiraiya. During the war when they met the Third sannis, jiraiya stayed with them and taught them ninja skills,But however later in the series jiraiya is killed by Nagato. Konan has a beautiful outlook and a natural talent in origami,so she use paper techniques and mostly paper clones. She can design the paper structure as she wish and when they rule hidden village in rain she is called lady angel because she could even form paper wings to fly and uses her papers butterfly to send or get any message from the village in pain's(nagato) orders.Konan had just joined akatsuki because nagato was there. Both of them were great friends from the third great ninja war so later when nagato dies she leaves the akatsuki.
In the organization she wears white ring.Her position during bijju extraction is on the right middle finger and her partner is pain.She appeared for the first time in chapter 366 in manga series and in naruto episode 238.She always puts a flower origami in her head.
Kakuzu
Kakuzu is a former shinobi of the hidden village in the waterfall(takigakure).He is a near-Immortal member of the Akatsuki meaning he has lived for the longest life span of all. He was the shinobi of the ages of the first hokage of the hidden village in leaves.He has unique eyes of green colour. He has a special ability of collecting hearts of the strongest shinobi and merging them into his own body making him able to use all the techniques that the heart owner could use.In the series he is shown to have possessed five hearts and that is the reason why the shinobi of the hidden leaves get surprised when he did not die even when kakashi hit his main heart with chidori. However they somehow manage to destroy his all five hearts with the help of naruto's rasenshuriken and other efforts.
Kakuzu is parterned with hidan , however hidan has weird style of performing his own rituals while killing his opponent so sometimes kakuzu mock him also but he keeps patience with hidan's spiritual ritual as well.Kakuzu's main motive to join the organization is shown to be more rich and powerful, however his partner hidan doesnot cares about money.In the organization he wears north ring and his position during extracting bijjuu is left middle finger of the statue.
Sasori
Sasori was a former shinobi of hidden village in the sand.He was a true genius and a master of puppet technique.Sasori lost his mother and father at a young age so he was looked after by his grandmother chiyo. She was also a genius who taught him that puppet technique to relieve his loneliness.Sasori grew up to be a true genius and invented many puppets. These techniques were used successfully in the third great ninja war where these puppets soaked the sand with blood, hence he was also name as "sasori of the red sand" but eventually he left the village and joined akatsuki.In akatsuki he was partnered with orochimaru bit later when orochimaru left akatsuki he was partnered with deidara.It is shown that he returned to his village and even killed the strongest kazekage of the sand,the third kazekage and made him his master card puppet.
When in akatsuki sasori always covered his original body inside his favourite puppet hiruko. He only shows his true face when he dies in a battle with his own grandmother and sakura, but his grandmother was surprised as full that even after many years his face and body was still as the time he was small and he hasn't aged a bit.
In the Akatsuki organization sasori wore the jewel ring and his position during bijju extraction process was on the left thumb of the status.Being a puppet master he always used puppet to attack as well as defend himself from the enemy. Besides puppet he was a lethal poison user as well plus his puppet were special in the sense that he created puppets from real humans which gave his puppets the same abilities that the human shinobi once had and that puppet could even use the advantage of kekkei genkai if someone who has been used as a puppet has possessed it in his life time.Sasori was active in spying many places keeping his personal spies such as kabuto and yuura.
Orochimaru
Orochimaru is one of the great legendary sannin from the hidden leaves and childhood friend of jiraiya and tsunade. However due to his obsession with forbidden techniques and his weird tests and research he was defected from the village in pursuit of his own self-seeking desires. He wanted to learn each and every techniques includinng forbidden and kinjustu as well.He joined akatsuki for no specified reason but shortly is forced to leave by itachi.Itachi defeats him and punish by breaking his one hand for trying to takr control over his body which leaves no option but to leave akatsuki to orochimaru.When in organization he wore the sky ring and his position during bijju sealing was the left little finger. His partner was sasori and he had unique powers related with snakes . He was the only living shinobi that could use impure world resurrection technique in which a dead can be brought back to life.After leaving akatsuki also he starts to conducts various weird research hiding in unknown places and changing hideouts frequently.He even develops his own curse mark that can deliver strong power to those who are cursed by him.Out of several curesd mark receiver, Uchicha sauke is aslo the one. However later on in ths series he is killed by uchicha sasuke.
Hidan
Hidan is a member of akatsuki from an unknown village and is a new member second to tobi.He wears the "three" ring and his position during bijju sealing process is left index finger of the statue. His partner is kakuzu and his main features are that he was immortal and performed weird rituals during combat with enemy. He always carries large three-bladed scythe and when he somehow gets a drop of blood from his enemy then he could control his enemy's body making multiple-suffering, that means if he hit himself with a sword then the other one also gets the same fate. His style of killing his opponent was quite different and lengthy but however his partner kakuzu always waits for him .Hidan does not seem to give any respect to Akatsuki's leader or the organization so he frequently talks nonsense about akatsuki. In his team kakuzu is seen to have craze for money but he is shown just opposite.He and kakuzu manage to kill a talented jonin, asuma of hidden leaves but however team 7, team of asuma take revenge of that.Shikamaru the best student of asuma manages to kill hidan using very smart pre planned ways.
Zetsu
Zetsu is one of the unique member in the Akatsuki.He wears the boar ring.In akatsuki his position during sealing of bijju after becoming a formal member is right little finger of the statue.He doesnot have any partners. However he has direct connections with tobi.His first manga appearance was in chapter 234 and 134 in naruto episode.He has a unique outlook of Venus-flytrap like extensions and body divided into black and white part.The black and the white parts are respectively called black zetsu and white zetsu.It is said that white zetsu was created from hashirama senju's cell however the black one is mysterious.zetsu can merge himself with ground and trees so he is a perfect member for spying plus he can cover a large distance in a short period of time merging with the soil or plants.He can create 100,1000 individuals from himself using his sporulation and budding technique.His eyes does not have pupils either.In akatsuki he has never played a vital role in direct combat but somehow assists on spying and delivering direct messages from tobi.
