Naruto/Characters/Akatsuki

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The Akatsuki ("sunrise" or "daybreak" ) is a criminal organization consisting of no more than ten S-ranked criminal ninja. (Orochimaru was once a member, but defected before the series started. He was never replaced, so the organization has nine members for the series proper.) They all seem to have their own agendas, but the primary group's goal is to Take Over the World by seeking the nine Tailed Beasts Or is it? Turns out the true purpose of collecting the Tailed Beasts is so that Pain can make a Fantastic Nuke...Or is it? Turns out that the REALLY true purpose of collecting the Tailed Beasts is so that Madara can use a genjutsu on the entire world. They work in pairs, with each partner's abilities and temperment complementing the other's. Their signature costume is a dark robe adorned with stylized red clouds, as well as broad-brimmed hats that they discard when discovered. They also wear their original shinobi headbands, but with a deep scratch across the emblem.

They mostly appear in Shippuden—only Itachi, Kisame, and Zetsu appeared in the original series, and in Zetsu's case it was merely a cameo. They become more active in the second series as their plan to capture and seal the Tailed Beasts begins to move forward in earnest.

In General

The organization as a whole provide examples of:

• Badass Longcoat: Their standard uniform.
  • Black Cloak: With Red Clouds.
  • High Collar of Doom
• Battle Strip: Once any of them come to their fight's climax, they remove their robe, willfully or from Clothing Damage. Every single Akatsuki member to do so has died, save for Konan, who died without stripping (for some odd reason).
• Bigger Bad: Of Part I. They were mentioned several times and their presence was felt. They were also partially responsible for Part I's Big Bad's actions. Stepped down to Big Bad status in Part II, with a definite Big Bad for the series included.
• Degraded Boss /LoweredMonsterDifficulty: Deidara, Sasori and kakuzu
• Evil Is Cool: Both the organization as a whole and most of their individual members.
• Nice Hat: They are worn during travel.
• Order vs. Chaos: The Order to Orochimaru & The Hidden Sound Village's Chaos.
• Private Military Contractors: Subverted- this is what they tell the new guys the plan is. The higher ups have conflicting other ideas about what the organization is planning.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: The uniform is a black cloak with red clouds on it, and of course the organization is evil.
• Ring of Power: Each member has one, its implied they are required to be able to seal the Tailed Beast's into the King Of Hell Statue.
• Standard Evil Organization Squad
  • Evil Duo: They operate in them.
  • Oddly Small Organization
  • Quirky Miniboss Squad: Some members.
  • Omniscient Council of Vagueness: They were introduced as this. This was one of there first appearances [1]

Orochimaru

Former member. See The Legendary Sannin

Itachi Uchiha

"Your hate is not strong enough."

Voiced by: Hideo Ishikawa (JP), Skip Stellrecht (EN, original), Crispin Freeman (EN, current), Roberto Cuenca Rodríguez Jr. (Spain)

Sasuke's Aloof Big Brother is the Akatsuki member with the most screen time to date. He killed his closest friend in order to gain the Mangekyo Sharingan, a more advanced form of the Sharingan with several unique abilities. He then proceeded to kill the entire Uchiha clan save Sasuke for reasons of his own, then abandoned the village to join Akatsuki.

On screen, he rarely moves and rarely speaks, but he's too good a fighter for even high-level ninja to take on. He was a prodigy as a child and has only gotten stronger in the meantime. He is an expert at genjutsu, is a master of the Uchihas' Fire-Style jutsus, and knows most of Konoha's signature jutsu, such as the Shadow Clone Jutsu. (Itachi, uniquely, has demonstrated the ability to detonate his clones as an offensive technique when he no longer needs them.) In addition, the Mangekyo Sharingan gives Itachi three extremely powerful but draining jutsu with which to fight: Amaterasu, a black flame hotter than the sun which can burn anything, even other flames; Tsukiyomi, a genjutsu which can bring its target to complete mental and physical collapse by tormenting them for what seems like days in just a few seconds; and Susanoo, which summons a massive ethereal warrior which can attack and defend on Itachi's behalf. The new abilities that come with the Mangekyo come with a price, however; extended uses can cause the user's eyesight to fade, eventually causing blindness. The only way to combat this is to create a permanent Mangekyo Sharingan with the user's brother's eyes.

His only appearance in the original series was directly after the Chunin Exam arc, when he appeared in Konoha with his partner Kisame to capture Naruto. He and Kisame easily defeated Kurenai, Asuma and Kakashi, but retreated rather than become involved in a general melee. When Sasuke heard his brother was in the area, he immediately rushed out to challenge him, but Itachi easily beat him and Mind Raped him in the process, further feeding Sasuke's inferiority complex. After Jiraiya chased the Akatsuki off, Itachi was ordered not to attempt to capture Naruto again until after the Time Skip.

In Shippuden, Pain creates a clone of Itachi to serve as a delaying action during the Rescue Gaara arc. Team 7 beats it, and Itachi doesn't appear again until directly prior to his fight with Sasuke, where he claims that he left Sasuke alive because he wanted to take Sasuke's eyes for himself. However, Itachi dies before he can kill Sasuke. After the fight, though, Madara Uchiha explains to Sasuke that Itachi was ordered to kill the clan by Konoha's top brass, but that he couldn't bring himself to kill Sasuke, deciding instead to become a Stealth Mentor to his younger brother, motivating him to grow stronger so that he would eventually be able to destroy the clan's enemies. Upon learning that Itachi sacrificed everything that was important to him for him, Sasuke begins to hate Konoha and swears revenge against it.

Kabuto later resurrects him with Edo Tensei. Luckily, the power he implanted in Naruto to use on Sasuke breaks him free in a lucky coincidence. He proceeds to track down Kabuto, apparently having a plan to stop the Edo Tensei. Along the way, he bumps into Sasuke, who pulls a Heel Face Turn and joins him in fighting Kabuto in exchange for Itachi explaining himself.

---

• The Ace: Let's be honest: Even if you took how people keep talking about how awesome he is out of the equation, Itachi would still be one of the best ninjas the Leaf has ever produced. He was the third strongest shinobi in the Akatsuki Organization (right under Nagato and Tobi). His abilities include all the regular Sharingan abilities, such as being able to copy various techniques he sees, predict another person's movements, and trapping people in illusions. Beyond this, however, his Mangekyou Sharingan granted him access to Amaterasu, which casts eternal black flames of intense heat, Tsukuyomi, an illusion that manipulates a person's perception of time, and Susano-o, a chakra avatar that defends his entire body, while also being able to attack opponents as well; Itachi's particular version also holds a nigh unbreakable mirror that could adjust to all of the different Chakra natures and a blade that could seal anyone it stabbed away in an illusion. Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi are both hailed as some of the most powerful ninjutsu and genjutsu in existence and, when combined with his Susano-o, were enough for Black Zetsu to claim that Itachi was invincible. He also understands the essence of what it means to be a true shinobi. Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third God of Shinobi, even claimed he had the mindset of a Hokage when he was just seven years old.
• Affably Evil: Always polite, offers his opponents the chance to escape (unless they are his target) and never uses more power than to disable, without lasting harm if possible. He is also an unrepentant mass murderer with history of mentally torturing several protagonists of the series, especially his little brother (who was 7 years old the first time, 13 the second).
  • Subverted in that he's not actually evil and is completely torn up by guilt. It is revealed (albeit by an Unreliable Narrator) that the reason he went back to Konoha was to check on Sasuke to make sure he was alright after Sarutobi's death. It just turned out that he had to actually harm Sasuke in the process, though mind-raping him wasn't really necessary.
• Aloof Big Brother: One of the Anime poster boys for this trope. Even before his family's death, he was always detached. His father remarked that Itachi just wasn't good with people.
• Always Someone Better: To Sasuke.
• And I Must Scream: Tsukuyomi is essentially And I Must Scream no Jutsu.
• Animal Motifs:
  • Ravens and Crows: Itachi will often dissolve into a murder of crows which Sasuke remarked was his favorite jutsu.
  • Wicked Weasel: His first name is a homonym of the Japanese word for "weasel."
• Anti-Villain: What he truly was all along.
  • Anti-Hero: Type IV
• Arc Words: "Your hate is not strong enough".
• The Atoner
• Awesomeness By Analysis
• Back from the Dead
• Badass: Kills an entire clan of elite ninja and Becomes an S-rank missing-nin at age 13, while blackmailing Danzo. Wins every fight we've seen him in without breaking a sweat, including "battles" against Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke and Orochimaru, until he meets Sasuke in Part II. Beats Sasuke while terminally ill, literally dying in front of him.
  • Now he was resurrected under Kabuto's control, but promptly breaks free by using Shisui's eye.
    • He's still an Edo Tensei zombie, so on top of how broken he was before, he's now immortal...
  • Badass Boast: His answer for Kabuto's supposedly perfect Edo Tensei technique: "This jutsu's weak point and risk... Are me!"
• Bash Brothers: He and Kisame make an excellent team, even when they aren't actually fighting alongside each other.
  • He and Sasuke become an official pair of literal bash brothers at the end of chapter 578.
• Big Brother Mentor: Seems to be this way to Naruto.
• Big Damn Heroes: When he rescues Naruto and Killer Bee from certain death at the hands of edo Nagato after Nagato defeated the two Jinchuriki in a Curb Stomp Battle.
  • As if this was not enough, he proceeds to find out Chibaku Tensei's weakness and destroys it, assisted by Naruto and Bee. And tops this off by perma-sealing Nagato with the Totsuka sword.
• Big Brother Instinct: The reason he didn't kill Sasuke and didn't kill him during their final fight.
  • Zigzagged later His plan was to make Sasuke a thrall for the rest of his life if he faced Naruto. Sasuke would still be aware of what happened after this.
• Bloodbath Villain Origin
• Blue and Orange Morality: His acts with his goals and his desires are in such contradiction with each other that he not only skirt, but happily jumps to this category.
• Broken Ace
• Characterization Marches On: Complete Monster in his first apparition, then we can see fragments of his past, then we learn that everything he did was for the sake of Konoha and Sasuke.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: While he is renowned for his Genjutsu and Ninjutsu skills, he is extremely talented in Taijitsu and strong enough to throw enemies flying through walls with a kick.
• The Chessmaster
• Chewing the Scenery: YOU, SASUKE! YOU WILL BECOME MY NEW LIGHT!
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Itachi mentally tortures his foes with genjutsu, among his victims are Kakashi, Naruto, and especially Sasuke. He does it as a standard fighting technique, apparently without wrath or pleasure.
• Crazy Prepared: The number of steps he's taken to protect Sasuke either directly or indirectly definitely qualifies him. He even had a backup plan in case Madara survived his trap and won Sasuke over.
  • Subverted in that most of his plans, while fairly thought out, simply didn't work like he wanted and in some cases backfired. In particular, Sasuke ends up doing the EXACT opposite of what he'd wanted, the trap he set for Tobi failed, and the failsafe he left Naruto ended up being used on himself (long story) instead of Sasuke. At this point he's down to his last backup plan which is basically "trust Naruto to fix this somehow".
• Creepy Monotone
• Cryptic Conversation: Pretty much everything Itachi EVER said.
• Curb Stomp Battle: Seems very fond of this. Till date he has curb-stomped Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma (three of them together), Orochimaru (twice), Deidara, and Sasuke (multiple times).
  • Itachi faced Sasuke while terminally ill and intending to lose and still ends up schooling Sasuke!
  • Itachi has also literally one shotted Naruto twice with his genjutsu though none of the incidents resulted in a true defeat for Naruto because Itachi never really intended to capture him for Akatsuki.
• Cursed with Awesome: His Susanoo possesses the Yata Mirror, an indestructible shield and the Sword of Totsuka, the mightiest genjutsu forged weapon in history. The drawback is that it pretty much destroyed his eyes and put severe strain in his body.
• Deadpan Snarker: Especially after his resurrection.
  • Justified in that he doesn't have to pretend to be evil anymore, so his real personality is more apparent.
• Didn't Think This Through: ZigZagged. He certainly thought through much of his Gambit Pileup, but a posteriori one can say his methods to implement it were contradictory with his goals.
• Dirty Business: He's constructed around this trope.
• Disc One Final Boss: For Sasuke.
• Driving Question: The technique he used to escape Jiraya teased fans for years before he revealed Amaterasu in his fight with Sasuke.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Not actually his defeating of both Sasuke and Orochimaru back to back, but his using his last seconds of life to put a defense against Madara in Sasuke.
• Easily Forgiven: By Sasuke who went from loathing him to protecting his legacy (albeit in a completely opposite way of what Itachi wished) in the matter of a night. Ditto with the Fandom. It helps that he was popular before The Reveal.
• Evil Eye: The Sharingan and then later the Magenkyou Sharingan. They grant the following abilities:
  • Aura Vision
  • Combat Clairvoyance
  • Groundhog Day Loop: Izanami.
  • Guardian Entity: His Susanoo which wields all 3 of Japan's Three Sacred Treasures the Totsuka Sword (Another name of the Kusanagi) which here is an Laser Blade with sealing abilities, the Yata Mirror which functions as a shield and the Yasaka Magatama which is a large shuriken.
  • Hellfire: Amaterasu
  • Hypnotic Eyes: Itachi's preferred method of confrontation is through his Sharingan's illusions and Mind Rape.
  • Mega Manning: Averted. The Sharingan gives him this, but we never saw him using this ability, though we don't honestly know if some of his heightened abilities stem from using this power at one point or another.
  • Reality Warper: Mangekyo Sharingan, and the Izanagi.
• Evil Genius: He's a genius. He's evil. Pretty self-explanatory. May also play this role within Akatsuki, given his Master of Illusion powers.
  • Subverted later on, when we learn he just pretending to be evil. He was certainly willing to Shoot the Dog though.
• Excuse Me While I Multitask: He was capable of doing Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijitsu and Shurikenjutsu simultaneously against a level S opponent without any strain.
• Exotic Eye Designs: His Mangekyo Sharingan.
• Fallen Hero: He was the pride and joy of the Uchiha clan and the idol of Sasuke before the massacre.
  • Fake Defector
• Feather Motif: His Genjutsus almost always include a shower of Crow Feathers.
• Gone Horribly Right: He deliberately made Sasuke full of hate and power-obsessed in order to have him strong enough to kill him and redeem the Uchiha clan. The first part worked beyond any expectation, the second...not so much.
• The Gift: Obviously. He graduates from the Academy at age 7, masters the Sharingan at 8, becomes Chuunin at 10, joins the ANBU at 13, besides already being an S-ranked criminal and one of the strongest members of Akatsuki, who thinks this guy is normal?
• Glass Cannon: Very powerful, but suffers from an extreme lack of stamina and defensive power.
• Go Out with a Smile: "Sorry, Sasuke. There won't be a next time" .
• Good All Along
• Good Is Not Nice
• Groundhog Day Loop: He uses the genjutsu Izanami to place Kabuto in one.
• Hannibal Lecture: Master of this.
• Happiness in Slavery: The ultimate fate he prepared for Sasuke though he couldn't implement it. He had to use Shisui's eye in himself after Kabuto Edo tensei.
• Heel Face Turn: A variant in that he was an Anti-Villain all along. He was definitely still wrong, though, and admits it to Naruto later.
• Hero-Killer
• Hero with an F In Good: Between his Mind Rapes of Sasuke and Kakashi, general brutality, and a pretty serious lack of social skills, Itachi sucks at being the good guy.
  • His grade is slowly rising now that he's resurrected and able to actually openly be a good guy. We've seen him do nothing but give Naruto encouragement and advice, take down Nagato with Naruto and Bee's help, possibly put an end to Sasuke's crazy plans, (presumably, as of 586) defeat Kabuto, and crack a few surprisingly hilarious jokes.
• Hidden Agenda Villain: Since the first act it has been confusing which are his goals or if indeed he has any beyond messing with Sasuke's life. We learn of them... by a third party after his death..
• I Did What I Had to Do: And he hated it.
• I Let You Win
• Ill Boy
  • Incurable Cough of Death: What finally killed him.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Defense: Counter Shuriken Rain
• Instant Armor: Susanoo
• Japanese Mythology: All his special abilities (and most of the Uchihas) are named after Japanese Gods.
• Jerkass Facade
• Kick the Dog: His mental torture of Sasuke and Kakashi.
• Knight in Sour Armor: If his comments after Kabuto resurrects him are anything to go by.
• Leitmotif: "Many Nights". It's very fitting... somehow.
• Master of Illusion: The best genjutsu master we've seen so far.
• Mental World: Tsukuyomi.
• Mind Rape: Tsukuyomi
• Morality Chain: Itachi's existence notably keeps Sasuke's sanity anchored to this world. Back when Itachi was alive, Sasuke may have been angsty, but not insane. After he killed Itachi was when he began to lose it, but, now that Itachi is..."alive" again, Sasuke is acting far more sane than he has in 100 chapters.
  • And now that he realizes that Itachi is about to go back to being dead (as a result of ending the technique that revived him), he's right back to talking about destroying Konoha...
• My Country, Right or Wrong: "The village does have its dark side and inconsistencies. But I'm still the Leaf's Itachi Uchiha."
• Necessarily Evil: YMMV of how much "necessary" his evil acts where. He certainly viewed himself this way, though, and hated himself for it. Then, after his resurrection, he realizes how horribly wrong he was.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: All of his actions seemed to have been aimed at making Sasuke realize that the village is more important than his family's pride. He couldn't have failed more if he had done it on purpose. He at least accepted the possibility of failure and left Naruto, Shisui's other eye, as a safeguard, only for that to fail, too..
• Oh Crap: His reaction to Kirin during his final fight with Sasuke and to Sage Mode Dragon Kabuto.
• Omniscient Morality License: Hey, listen, I have an IDEA! I'll join an international criminal organization, inflict a tremendous amount of trauma on the person I love the most in the world and murder lots and lots of people. Hey, why the face? It's all for the greater good He pretty much gets it revoked later, and admits his attempts to do everything himself created a gigantic mess.
• Only Sane Man: He and Kisame together make up this as part of the Akatsuki.
• Playing with Fire
  • Fireballs: As big as a house and strong enough to let a trail in the ground.
• Power Degeneration: Mangekyô Sharingan.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy:Deconstructed. He annihilates the entire Uchiha Clan when they were about to go forward with their betrayal, antagonises and tortures his pre-teen little brother into hating him, casts himself as the vile traitor so that one day his brother will be led to kill him, all to tie up everything and making everybody believe that the Uchiha Clan save him were a proud and noble clan devout to Konoha, when he knew full well that he was the only one left in the clan that was actually like that.
• Quick Draw: Shuriken flavor. Capable of throwing dozens of thousands of Shuriken with perfect accuracy in milliseconds without any effort.
• Sanity Slippage: Implemented a really fake one during his fight against Sasuke.
• Self-Made Orphan
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: After the Third Ninja War. At four years old.
  • Although he is said to have witnessed it, not taken part in it. It's already horrible enough.
• Sibling Team: He and Sasuke against Kabuto. Hopefully it will stick.
• Spanner in the Works: Itachi has foiled or complicated the plans of pretty much every single organization or chessmaster he's encountered in the series. Short list: the Uchiha clan, Danzo, Orochimaru, Team 7's attempts to rehabilitate Sasuke, Tobi, and Kabuto. Sadly, this includes a few of his own plans too -- needlessly pushing an already vengeance-minded Sasuke over the edge and accidentally triggering his own failsafe in Naruto on himself. He further complicates Kabuto's plans by intending to force him to end the Edo Tensei, and seemingly puts a cork in Sasuke's Kill Konoha plan by promising to finally explain his motivations in exchange for his help in stopping Kabuto.
• Stealth Mentor:
• The Stoic
  • Not So Stoic: During his final fight with Sasuke. Subverted in that it was actually fake.
• The Strategist: So good that all his fights degraded into well oiled choreographs eventually.
• Suicide by Cop: Subverted. He kept himself alive despite being eaten up with disease so that 1)Sasuke could kill him, become a hero for Konoha and redeem their clan and 2)to punish Itachi for his sins. Ultimately, he died from by a combination of his disease and fighting Sasuke.
• Super Reflexes: So fast with his hand seals that the two other Ninjas with Super Reflexes can barely see a blur.
• Super Speed
• Tall, Dark and Handsome
• Tall, Dark and Snarky: Along with Bleach's Ulquiorra is the anime poster boy of this trope.
• Teach Him Anger And Hate: Twice to Sasuke with a heavy dosis of powerhungry obsession so the latter could become a well adjusted human being, a loyal Shinobi of Konoha and redeemer of the Uchiha clan... yeah.
• Technical Pacifist: After the third war, he became a Pacifist above all else. His slaughter of the Uchiha clan was to prevent them from throwing Konoha into chaos and starting another war. He's one of the least violent fighters, only ever using enough power to accomplish his ultimate goals, of which just victory is a rare one...
• Teen Genius
• Thanatos Gambit:He had an emergency plan to stop Madara (Amaterasu) from manipulating Sasuke. It failed. However, Itachi had a backup plan since he knew there would inevitably be a confrontation between his brother and Naruto. His plan was to brainwash permanently Sasuke to be loyal to Konoha forever with Shisui's Eye that implanted in Naruto with the crow, which would activate during their fight. However, the one thing he did not count on was being resurrected and turned into a thrall by Kabuto. He then decides to use the power he gave Naruto on himself, which allows him to break Kabuto geis with another. His Plan C appears to be "trust Naruto."
• Theme Naming: His Mangekyô Sharingan powers are named after Japanese gods. Of note is that these are the exact same gods who slew Orochimaru of the legendary Sannin of Konoha.
• The Comically Serious: Despite his traumatic past and the lifetime of guilt that accompanies it, he has a sense of humor, believe it or not.
  • Two words: Dr. Snakes.
• Those Two Bad Guys: With Kisame, early on. Par for the course for Akatsuki, who generally go about their grim business in pairs. Later on he strikes up quite the rapport with Nagato, whom he helps about the battlefield as they involuntarily serve Kabuto.
• The Unfettered: He will do anything to protect Sasuke and the Land of Fire.
  • Subverted later. Not with the Land of Fire but he deemed Sasuke free will as an acceptable sacrifice.
• War Is Hell: His real motivation for killing off his clan. They were on the verge of starting a civil war (that would likely lead to a world war) and he was unable to convince them to call it off.
• Was It All a Lie?: Yes and no, depending on which "it" is being referred to. The insane, unrepentant murderer we first meet? Yeah, that's a huge lie. As for the loving (if extreme) brother Sasuke remembers? No, it wasn't.
• What the Hell, Hero?: In chapter 576 Sasuke tries to do this to him, trying to understand why his brother left him alive. Due to Itachi both being in a hurry to stop Kabuto and feeling he's messed Sasuke up too much already, Itachi keeps shutting Sasuke down with curt yet vauge replies. He does at least confess that he wanted Sasuke to kill him so he could find redemption for the clan, but massive miscommunication still seems to be these two's standard.
• Worf Had the Flu: Subverted. He couldn't fight Sasuke at full force for two reasons: 1) he didn't want to ; 2) he was terminally ill. And still, even Kirin couldn't give Sasuke the upper hand in the fight.
• You Are What You Hate: Vividly believed this at one point in his life, but then accepted himself for who he was and acknowledged his mistakes in death.
• Not Now, Kiddo He does this to Sasuke after his reunion.
• Hurt a child: he tortures Sasuke twice and kills the rest of the uchiha children, accepting Danzo's word, that these children could be a problem in the future and that they should die.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Probably the biggest of the whole manga. His fans even believe he deserves a statue for massacring an entire clan and torture his brother and kakashi.

Kisame Hoshigaki

"The weak are meat, the strong eat."

Voiced by: Tomoyuki Dan (JP), Kirk Thornton (EN), Pedro Tena (Spain)

One of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Polite, but a savage warrior who loves to fight. Good friends with Itachi. Owns a sentient sword called Samehada ("Sharkskin" in the dub and as a rough translation) which can absorb chakra from anything it shreds shaves. Possesses an enormous amount of chakra that is compared to the level of a tailed beast.

In Shippuden, a clone of his is beaten by Guy, then he doesn't do too much but hang around Itachi. He later gets assigned to go after the Eight-Tailed Ox and seemingly gets killed for his troubles. It is later revealed that was just a clone and Kisame manages to infiltrate Kumogakure by hiding in his sword. His cover ends up blown and he fights Guy again, but rather than give up the information upon losing he commits suicide by having his own shark summons eat him.

---

• Actually a Doombot: Happens twice.
• Affably Evil: Very polite and soft-spoken. And a bastard. Even after getting decapitated, he uses his apparent last words to cheerfully compliment his opponent's speed... though it turns out he survived.
• Anti-Villain
• Badass
• Become Your Weapon: With Samehada, in a very Arrancar-esque way.
• BFS: If you can really count that thing as a sword. It is known as the Samehada ("sharkskin").
• Blood Knight
• The Brute: Serves this role in the Akatsuki up until Pain dies (see the Five-Bad Band page)
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Inverted. He is loyal enough to his partner Itachi and Akatsuki, and fanatically devoted to what he thinks is Madara. However, while he was a Mist-nin he had a severe case of this, slaughtering his allies at the drop of a hat and murdering his superior to get a hold of Samehanda.
• Cyanide Pill: Instead of getting captured, he opted for suicide so as to not give any information he may hold to the enemy.
• Empathic Weapon: Samehada's hilt will sprout spikes if anyone other than Kisame picks it up. It can also return to his hand. it turns out to be a living, sentient sword with a toothy mouth.
  • Living Weapon.
  • Loyal Phlebotinum: Doubly subverted.
  • Shapeshifter Weapon
• Energy Absorption: His sword lets him absorb the chakra of anyone it touches, or of any technique that launch into the air.
• Everything's Even Worse with Sharks: His face, attacks and more.
• Exact Words: He was ordered to protect an Intel squad carrying important codes, and above all to prevent those codes from falling into enemy hands. At the first sign of trouble, he massacres the squad, so they can't tell anyone the codes they are protecting. His attitude at the time suggests he was actually hoping they would be attacked just so he could do this, which would mean he did it For the Evulz.
• Faking the Dead: After his original seeming death by decapitation, it was revealed several months later that what actually died was a clone created by Zetsu.
• Fusion Dance: With his sword.
• Genius Bruiser: Rarely seen, but he is very quick to pick up on weaknesses and has shown a decided knack for quick yet highly successful plans.
• Gradual Grinder : His preferred method of taking down powerful foes.
• Lightning Bruiser: Terrifyingly fast, and strong enough to trade blows with Guy without any real difficulty.
• Loners Are Freaks: His backstory has elements of this, such as refusing to have lunch with the Intel group he was protecting, and slaughtering them at the first sign of trouble to prevent their info falling into enemy hands.
• Lovecraftian Superpower: Samehada's released form.
• Making a Splash: Kisame specializes in flashy water jutsu.
  • Giant Wall of Watery Doom / Kill It with Water: His preferred finishing moves.
• Meaningful Name: "Same" means shark in Japanese.
  • The "ki" part of his name is written with a kanji character meaning ogre or demon. Therefore, his given name is "demon shark."
• Names to Run Away From Very Fast: Kisame means "demon shark".
• Nietzsche Wannabe: He believes the world is based on nothing but lies, so he has no particular reason to trust or be loyal to anyone. He only follows Madara because the latter agrees, and because he appears to validate his opinions for example, by the revelation that he was controlling the 4th Mizukage, thus showing that the Mist was based on a lie and not run by the man everyone was following, because Kisame believes him when he says he can change all that.
• Not-So-Small Role: For a long time he was just considered as The Brute and Itachi's sidekick. In the end, he was the last member of Akatsuki (except for Zetsu) to be taken down, dying after Itachi and even Nagato and Konan. He also turned out to be just as close to Tobi as Itachi was before he left Konoha, apparently.
• Off with His Head: When the clone of Kisame goes up against the Raikage and Killer B, he gets struck with the manliest move ever used in the Naruto universe. His head flies off like a champagne cork.

Kisame: Water Release: Super Shark Bo--(sickening thud) A and Killer B: DOUBLE LARIATOOOOOO! (screen flashes white) Kisame's disembodied head: Well...you guys are just too fast for me.

• Older Sidekick: To Itachi
• One-Winged Angel: Can fuse with Samehada.
• Only Sane Man: With Itachi and Konan, among the Akatsuki.
• Thanatos Gambit / Taking You with Me: The scroll he stole back and made Guy fight so hard for... was booby trapped. As soon as it was opened it sealed everyone within range with the Water Prison Technique, complete with shark summonings in each individual prison, while one of the summonings takes the scroll to Madara.
• Shark Man
• Unknown Rival: Guy has a hard time remembering just who Kisame is for Kisame's whole life.
• Worthy Opponent: To Guy.

Zetsu

"Seems palatable..."

Voiced by: Nobuo Tobita (JP), Michael Sorich and Brian Beacock (EN, original), Travis Willingham (EN, current)

Split personalities that talk to each other. Spy and lookout. Only Akatsuki member who is never shown with a partner, because he can be his own partner. Can perfectly blend into the background (sometimes by use of a Venus flytrap thing). Cannibal. Observed both Naruto and Sasuke's fight at the Valley of the End and Sasuke and Itachi's final battle.

Knows Tobi's identity and status as the true leader, and thus works closely with him. Showed ability to split his two sides apart which he used to have his white side lead Sasuke to the Kage summit while the black side stayed behind with Tobi. The white half interrupted meeting and revealed that Sasuke was in the building, after which the Raikage strangled him until he lost consciousness.

White Zetsu managed to escape the summit and heals the wounds Sasuke has been receiving in his battles with Danzo, Kakashi and Naruto. Both halves appear to be looking for Kisame's dead body, only to reveal that the body was just a White Zetsu clone, which was created so Kisame could infiltrate Kumogakure. During the Fourth Great Shinobi World War, Zetsu is the main source of Tobi's army. It is eventually discovered by Sakura that White Zetsu was created using the 1st Hokage's DNA.

---

• Blatant Lies: "Tobi is a good boy!"
• The Dragon: To Tobi. He appears to have been working with Tobi much longer than most of Akatsuki. Ironic, given Tobi's first appearance made him look like Zetsu's underling.
• Enigmatic Minion: Nobody really knows what his deal is, but from what we've seen, he may be one of the few that knows the truth about Tobi.
• Exotic Eye Designs: Looks like plant seeds.
• Green Thumb
• Hive Mind: The White Zetsu all seem to share one mind.
  • Though they express shock when it turned out the original was dead. So it appears it's only between the clones.
• Humanoid Abomination: A cannibalistic Man-Eating Plant who can move seamlessly within grass and trees and black and white halves which differ in personality, which can split from each other physically, with the white half capable of making clones of himself in a process akin to a fungal parasite. Word of God implies he's probably not even human.
• I'm a Humanitarian Man-Eating Plant: Disposes of corpses by eating them. His favorite food is even listed as chewy people.
• Me's a Crowd: Tobi apparently has an army of 100,000 white Zetsu clones.
• Mysterious Watcher: Subverted. Nobody knew who he was or what he wanted the first time he showed up in the series but it soon beame clear he belonged to Akatsuki.
• Non-Action Guy: So far, other than his clones he hasn't fought once.
• Off-Model: In early anime episodes (and some in later ones, it seems to vary by who does animation) black half has orifices besides eyes. In the manga, black half never has had any of those.
• Plant Person
• Split Personality: Has black and white halves.
• Inner Dialogue
• Those Two Bad Guys: In one body. Sorta.

Deidara

"Art is a blast!"

Voiced by: Katsuhiko Kawamoto (JP), Quinton Flynn (EN, original), Roger Craig Smith (EN, current), Sergio García Marín (Spain), Jesus Barrero (Mexico)

Mad Artist and Mad Bomber. Likes Stuff Blowing Up. Former student of the Third Tsuchikage. Deidara has mouths in his palms, which shape explosive clay, along with a stitched mouth on his chest. He defected from his village of Iwagakure and worked for various anti-government terrorist groups because they readily supplied him with chances to show off his "art". He was forcibly recruited into Akatsuki by Itachi, and hates him and the Sharingan for his dismal defeat. His former partner was Sasori, and then Tobi. Sasori and him frequently argued about what "true art" was (Sasori vouching for 'eternal' art in the form of puppets, and Deidara siding with 'fleeting' art in the form of his bombs). Single-handedly captured Gaara during the first arc of Shippuden. Has one arm crushed by in the process and another sent to another dimension when confronted by Kakashi and Naruto. Manages to successfully fight against the entirety of Team Guy with no arms. Beats the Three-Tailed Beast (along with Tobi). After a pitched battle with Sasuke, Deidara tries to defeat him by using his own body combined with his clay as a mini-nuke. He fails; Sasuke survived by summoning the giant snake Manda to block the explosion. Later revived by Kabuto's Edo Tensei, joining Kabuto in finding Killer Bee and Naruto. Retains at least some of his original personality. Believes he killed Sasuke with his final attack.

---

• Art Attacker
  • Art Initiates Life
• Ax Crazy
• Badass: He didn't come to Akatsuki. Akatsuki came to HIM.
• Bishounen
• Blond Guys Are Evil
• Brilliant but Lazy: Despite his power being instantaneous, he likes to takes things slow.
• Catch Phrase: "Art is a blast!" Doubles as his Famous Last Words.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: If everyone didn't keep saying "he", Deidara would be considered the second female member of the Akatsuki. Hell, he could pass off as Ino's evil twin.
• Evil Laugh: Not as often as Hidan, but still frequently.
• Faux Affably Evil: He's far from a sympathetic character, but he's often entertaining to watch.
• For the Evulz: Before being forcefully recruited into Akatsuki, he worked for various anti-government factions for no reason but the oppurtunity to blow things up, and Pain said his reason for fighting is "just because".
• Having a Blast: A lot of the time, and half of it comprises his Catch Phrase.
• Horse of a Different Color: Will perch himself on clay birds while he rains hell on his opponents.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: He gets pretty unhinged when he realizes that Itachi's Sharingan is more artful than his bombs.
• Large Ham
• Mad Artist: Of the belief that true art fades in an instant.
• Mad Bomber: His specialty, even before he joined Akatsuki.
• Pet the Dog: Right before pulling his Taking You with Me, he mentally apologizes to Tobi.
• Power Perversion Potential: He has hands with autonomous mouths (fully decked with teeth and tongue) in his palms, and another in his chest. Freud Was Right.
• Psycho for Hire: Of the Terrorist Without a Cause variety.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Felt this way about Orochimaru, partly because his departure resulted in him being forced to join Akatsuki.
  • He also wanted to use his most powerful techniques on Itachi and Sasuke, only because he hated the Sharingan.
• Screaming Warrior
• Shout-Out: To Japanese artist Tarô Okamoto. Deidara's Catch Phrase is a quote, while his ultimate explosion has the shape of Okamoto's Tower of the Sun.
• Sophisticated As Hell: Does occasionally happen.
• Taking You with Me: Attempted on Sasuke, but it didn't work.
• Terrorist Without a Cause: Pain says his reason is "Just Because".
• The Sociopath
• Too Many Mouths: Has mouths on his palms. And one over his heart for his Suicide Attack.
• Verbal Tic: Adds "hm" to the end of every other sentence, hm.
• "Wake-Up Call" Boss: He's the first really challenging opponent for Sasuke in Part II.

Sasori

"Fine art is something wonderful that's left long into the future ... eternal beauty."

Child Voice: Akiko Yajima (JP), Kari Wahlgren (EN), Jesús Barreda (Spain Adult Voice: Takahiro Sakurai (JP), Johnny Yong Bosch (EN), Jorge García Insúa (Spain) Hiruko Voice: Yutaka Aoyama (JP) J.B. Blanc (EN)

A Mad Artist and Marionette Master notable for being very impatient. Before being destroyed by Sakura Haruno, Sasori was usually found maneuvering inside a large, hollow puppet called Hiruko as a means of transportation. It crawled on the ground and featured a scorpion tail that—like most of his weapons—was doused in poinson. His grandmother was Chiyo, who taught him how to master puppets in order to divert his attention away from his absent mother and father (who were killed by The White Fang of Konoha.. Sasori did not know this. He was told by Chiyo that they were on another long mission). Developed a technique to convert living humans into puppets, thus creating puppets who could use jutsu. Kidnapped the Third Kazekage and converted him into one of these puppets, somewhere along the way connverted himself into a puppet, and then fled the village to subsequently join the Akatsuki. There he was partnered with Orochimaru, where he admits that they worked well together before he defected. After his partner's betrayel of the organization, Sasori sent Kabuto as a spy to infiltrate Orochimaru's ranks and retrieve information. He was then paired up with Deidara, a fellow art enthusiast. The downside was that they had conflicting views on art, Sasori for "eternal" and Deidara for "fleeting". They frequently argued over this concept, even amidst confrontation with the Leaf ninja sent to retrieve Gaara. Sasori fought his grandmother Chiyo and Sakura, eventually using his own puppet body in battle. He was killed by being pierced in the heart by the first two puppets he ever created: replicas of his Mother and Father. His body serves as Kankuro's newest puppet, but Kabuto has used Edo Tensei to revive his spirit as well. In the first fight of the Fourth Ninja War, Kankuro defeats Sasori, telling him how he should not be a puppet to Kabuto. Sasori, moved by this speech, dissolves from his temporary body, telling Kankuro to take care of his puppets.

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• Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Happens, mixed with Pulling Themselves Together, when he reattaches his head to his body. In the anime it also happens to his hands when he uses the Water Scroll.
• Anatomy Arsenal: See below.
• The Ageless: Due to being a puppet.
• Animal Motifs: Scorpions of course.
• Awesome but Impractical: His bladed shoulder blades allow him to fly via the propeller motion they make and can function as swords or a giant powersaw but because they're attached to his hips it's hard to fight with them properly due to the angle they're situated at.
• Bishonen
• Badass: Being in Akatsuki automatically qualifies for this, and he could've defeated Sakura and Chiyo, but chose to die at the hands of his puppets.
• Badass Boast: "Since I don't like waiting or making other people wait... I'll end this quickly."
• Beware My Stinger Tail: Both his Hiruko puppet and his body have a scorpion like tail
• Cyborg: Kinda.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: After the death of his parents.
• Evil Redhead
• Freudian Excuse: Suggested to some degree that the death of his parents and his attempting to replace them with puppets caused him to turn evil, but Chiyo suggests that the Sand Village teachings caused it.
• Go Out with a Smile: After his defeat by Kankuro
• Immortality Immorality: Believes that by becoming a puppet one can attain eternal life, and has some fairly twisted views on human life.
• In-Series Nickname / Awesome McCoolname: Akasuna no Sasori (Sasori of the Red Sand/Scorpion of the Red Sand).
• Irony: He hates waiting, but because of his puppet body he technically has all the time in the world.
  • He claims that emotion is a form of weakness despite having a heart but no brain.
  • Yet thanks to them, Kankuro could set him free of Kabuto´s control.
  • His body is now used as a puppet by Kankuro, whom Sasori had easily defeated way earlier.
  • And now his soul is a puppet for Kabuto, who was once under his control as a spy.
• Leitmotif: "Shitsui" Translates as 'Despair'. Hm. I wonder why?
• Mad Artist: Believes that art lasts forever.
• Making a Splash/Playing with Fire: Thanks to fire and water sealed into scrolls, he's able to use the guns in his puppet body's hands for at least those two elemental attacks. First flamethrowers hot enough to melt rock, then water streams intense enough to cut or smash through it (this one is Anime only).
• Marionette Master
• Master Poisoner: His poisons where nigh incurable to the best of the Sand's medical corps.
  • Poisoned Weapons: His weapons (and his puppets' weapons).
    • Deadly Gas
• Meaningful Name: "Sasori" means "scorpion". Sasori's Hiruko armor runs on all four and has a bladed tail, Sasori uses Poisoned Weapons, and he uses a a scorpion as his symbol on the puppets he created before his defection.
• Older Than He Looks: He's 35 years old but his puppet body, which he created 20 years ago, looks like a teenager.
• One-Man Army: Literally.
• Passing the Torch: To Kankuro
• People Puppets: Indulges in this after being revived by Kabuto's Edo Tensei due to a lack of usable puppets at his disposal. He combines this with Deidara's explosive clay to turn an incapacitated ninja from Konoha into a suicide bomber.
• Puppet Armor: The armor even has a name (Hiruko).
  • Anime provides an explanation for that. Hiruko is a human puppet. In the manga, it's just an ordinary puppet.
• Pulling Themselves Together: After Sakura seemingly destroys his puppet body.
• The Stoic
  • Not So Stoic: After he reveals his puppet body, he becomes consideribly less calm.
• Zerg Rush: His trump card, "Performance of 100 Puppets."

Tobi

"Tobi is a good boy!" (Zetsu)

Voiced by: Wataru Takagi (JP, goofy Tobi), Naoya Uchida (JP, serious Tobi), Michael Yurchak (EN, goofy Tobi), Neil Kaplan (EN, serious Tobi), Alex Saudinós (Spain), Nolan North (EN, serious Tobi, Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2)

Deidara's gotten him for a second partner. Comic relief. Nigh invulnerable. Wears a mask. Used to work for Zetsu. Gets beaten up by Deidara a lot. Disappears from the group after Itachi's killed, because he decided to drop his goofy facade. Claims to have been Madara Uchiha; half of Akatsuki seem to be in the know-how of that. He unleashed the Nine-Tailed Fox on Konoha, indirectly caused the deaths of Minato and Kushina, controlled the tyrannical Yagura of the Mist Village, pushed for Yahiko to form Akatsuki, claims to have given the Rinnegan to Nagato, and met with Danzo prior to the Uchiha Clan Massacre.

Present-time, Tobi revealed Itachi's true motives to Sasuke, enlisted Taka as Akatsuki associates, revealed the existence of the Sage of the Six Paths to Naruto, created an army of White Zetsus, used Hashirama's DNA to create his version of Izanagi, reluctantly allied himself with Kabuto, killed Konan in a fight, stole the Rinnegan and revived the Jinchuriki to serve as his Six Paths of Pain. At present, he's currently in a fight between Bee and Naruto.

In addition, as Kabuto indirectly revealed, Tobi is not the real Madara.

Tobi is also the main antagonist of Naruto Shippuden Movie 6. Yep, no filler villain, the Big Bad gets his own movie!

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• Affably Evil: Polite, patient, easy going, pretty laid-back and an excellent boss to have, but never betray him or he will make you regret it.
• Alien Blood: We've seen blood in this series. Whatever it is that comes out when he cuts off his arm, it's not human blood.
• Appendage Assimilation: It seems Tobi can swap out arms (and it's implied eyes as well) as needed.
• Assimilation Plot: His main goal. Kishimoto may have got the idea from his brother.
• Badass Boast: "... If you want to see what's under my mask... You're gonna have to work for it. Eight-Tails... Nine-Tails... I will capture you both... And complete the Moon's Eye!"
• Beam Me Up, Scotty: He never actually said "Tobi is a good boy!". It was Zetsu who said it about him.
• Arch Enemy: to Naruto.
• Berserk Button: Betrayal. Tobi is general pretty easygoing and laid back, but he does NOT like being betrayed, as Konan can testify. He also has a very low opinion of Orochimaru (who defected from Akatsuki) and was dead serious when he warned Sasuke not to betray him.
• Big Bad: Tobi, as the secret leader of Akatsuki and the mastermind behind both the Nine Tails' Attack on Konoha and the Fourth World War, is the main antagonist of the series. His actions ruined Naruto's early life and robbed him of his parents and best friend, so he stands alone as Naruto's mortal enemy.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: Tobi and Kabuto form one during the Fourth World War. Kabuto forced Tobi into the alliance by blackmailing him with Madara Uchiha's body, but now that he's blown Tobi's cover he's lost his hold over him.
• Blatant Lies: "I didn't unleash the Nine-Tails on Konoha, it was a natural disaster."
  • Averted with him not actually being Madara. The lie was anything but blatant, with several characters, splash pages, and anime credits all calling him Madara, causing everyone, including most fans, to be more than baffled when they find out.
• Chain Pain:Used a pair of chains on his wrists in his fight with Minato which combined with his intangibility to be pretty deadly.
• The Chessmaster
• Complexity Addiction: Seriously, there has been 4 times already that he could have easily abducted Naruto (not to mention many others offscreen with his powers) and avoid the entire 4 World War thing in the first place. The only reason seems to be that it would go against the plan and would not be fair.
  • He claims however that he wants Naruto to fight Sasuke, that he even needs it. Quite a lot of his plan seems to be to set that ultimate battle up, for whatever mysterious end.
  • It makes sense if you remember that the Kyuubi has to be sealed last, or else the Gedo Mazen will break, releasing all the stored tailed beasts. Too many things could go wrong if he tries to secure Naruto without capturing Killer Bee first.
• The Corrupter
• Dead Person Impersonation: Whoever he is, he's NOT the original Madara Uchiha.
• Deadpan Snarker: He has a tendency to make blunt, rude, and disrespectful comments to everyone around him.
• Determinator: Even if he isn't Madara, you can't deny that he is extremely patient. He seems very old and to have been in the game for a very long time.
• Diabolical Mastermind: A nice contrast to Orochimaru.
• Diabolus Ex Machina: Had a second Sharingan eye that allowed him to be still be able to fight Konan after using Izanagi. The existence of it was never foreshadowed before and no reason was pointed out why he walked around wearing a mask with only one eye. Its existence only hinges on keep the Fourth World War Ninja Arc plot going instead of ending it prematurely only days after it started and before any battle even began.
• Discard and Draw: Sacrificed one Sharingan eye and replaced it with a much more powerful Rinnegan-eye.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Has been shown to have at least "Earth" for his chakra nature.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He is repulsed by Kabuto's Edo Tensei spell, though this may more or less be because a large part of his plan hinged on the world believing he was Madara Uchiha and immortal. Proving he was actually dead would have probably forced him into using a backup plan.
• Evil Costume Switch: Subverted in that he originally kept the same outfit after being revealed as the Big Bad. Played straight when he replaces his old mask with one that resembles the Ten-Tailed Beast's single eye. Also, he now wears the same robes and holds the same giant "fan" that Madara Uchiha wore in the latter flashbacks, as opposed to his old Akatsuki uniform.
• Evil Old Folks: The only Akatsuki older than him is Kakuzu, supposedly.
• The Faceless: We've only been able to see a small part of his right eye and there are numerous wrinkles around it. He probably does look very aged. Or tired.
• Foreshadowing: During the fight between Deidara and Sasuke, he acts all goofy as usual until he gets away from the fight and mentally explains Deidara's C4 technique in all its details for the readers. It's the first clear hint of his Obfuscating Stupidity.
  • There's also a case of foreshadowing by absence. He never uses the Mangekyo Sharingan, presumably because he doesn't have it, which in retrospect, was probably the strongest clue that he isn't actually Madara.
• Half Truth: A lot of what he has said has come as the complete, plain truth (or as Truth as Milenary old Feuds/Shinobi Politics can get). For other matters the fandom still waits to see, it's pretty obvious he's withholding more than he's claiming.
• Humanoid Abomination: Implied. Can warp people into a Pocket Dimension, has survived far too many things that would've killed anyone else, is abnormally old-aged, knows facts that others claim as myths, his creases look like scales, half of his face is blackened out like a silhouette, his blood is a mix of human flesh and plant matter, and he integrated entire bloodlines into his body like it was Lego.
• Immortality: Strongly implied to be a Type II.
• The Infiltration: A very odd inversion. He seems to have made up an alias (and alternate personality to boot) and infiltrated his own organization for, as far as we know, no particular reason.
• It Amused Me: We really have no other way to explain why he decided to impersonate Madara like that, along with his usual goofyness that's in a sharp contrast to his usual demeanour.
  • Which also explains the entire Tobi + Deidara partnership, where Tobi is provoking Deidara.
• It's All About Me: Seems to be leaning towards this as well.
• Japanese Pronouns: Used boku in his debut, but once he dropped the act and became a more serious villain he started to use ore. Both are masculine pronouns, but ore has the implications of sounding more "mature" and "manly" compared to the boyish boku.
• Just Between You and Me: It's like crack to him. Although apparently, explaining his plan to everyone was part of his plan...
• Keet: Usually whenever he's around Deidara. He later drops the act.
• Made of Diamond: After Minato both shreds him with a Rasengan and stabs him in the gut, Tobi is still standing, and even casually chats for a bit.
• The Man Behind the Man: He was the real leader of Akatsuki, and controlled the Fourth Mizukage for years.
• Manipulative Bastard: He may tell you the horrible truth, including his role in it, and still bend you to his will.
• Mask Power: He's had quite a few masks, usually with a single eye-hole. His latest one is stylized like a big Sharingan.
  • Malevolent Masked Man
  • White Mask of Doom: His latest.
• Mismatched Eyes: After his battle with Konan, he has a Sharingan and a Rinnegan.
• Mr. Exposition: HE IS AN ENDLESS BARREL OF EXPOSITION.
• More Than Mind Control: A master of this.

Tobi: To control people's heart, you have to use the darkness within them. Nagato was just too easily influenced.

• Nietzsche Wannabe: "This world is completely worthless...there is nothing left in it but misery."
• Nigh Invulnerability:
  • Intangible Man
  • Spare Body Parts: can easily replace body parts lost in battle.
• No One Should Survive That: Anywhere between Sasuke (unintentionally) setting him ablaze with Amaterasu which Itachi sealed inside him, Konan's attempt to kill him with 600 billion explosive tags, which technically worked, etc.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Initially seems like a somewhat goofy member of Akatsuki, but fans knew something was up when a sword slash passes right through him and he survives a massive explosion.
• Not-So-Small Role: Seemed like a comic relief type of guy and a Token Good Teammate in Akatsuki, but even then, there was something off about him from the start.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: It's unknown why he made himself act like a goofball if half of Akatsuki's already bought into his impersonation of Madara. He probably he simply enjoys playing silly.

Tobi: I ended up saving you too... I believe a "thank you" is in order. Konan: .......

• One-Man Army: See Power Parasite.
• Oh Crap: Inverted, and it's like meth to him. He seems to delight in messing with peoples mind in the most funny way possible just ask Konan
  • Still, he's susceptible to it himself. After all, apparently Kabuto has known all along that this Madara...isn't the real one. He finally reveals that to the world by summoning the original Madara to the battlefield with Edo Tensei. The mere existence of this knowledge scared Tobi into letting Kabuto join up.
• The Other Darrin: Even professional seiyuu cannot handle the discrepancy between his two characters apparently. Naoya Uchida had to replace Wataru Takagi when Tobi dropped his act in the anime. Serious!Tobi had three voice actors in English.
• Paper Fan of Doom: He carries a large and apparently quite heavy fan exactly like the one Madara used in his time.
• Power Parasite: Up to Eleven. Just by stealing the Rinnegan from Nagato, Tobi's gained the Six Paths of Pain (whom he's replaced with the six deceased Jinchuriki), controls the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and learned how to use Edo Tensei. Furthermore, in addition to acheiving his own Sharingan, he's obtained Uchiha and Senju DNA, allowing him access to Izanagi.
• Pragmatic Villainy: One of the few in the series. He's extremely good about avoiding pointless and/or unnecessarily risky fights. In addition he's fairly nice to his subordinates (as long as they don't betray him) and will help them out when they're in a jam. Not so much because he particularly cares about them, but because he values loyalty and there's simply no advantage in having your subordinates hate you. It's also notable that he seldom tries to force anyone to do anything and usually just talks people into doing what he wants. Doesn't prevent him from Complexity Addiction though.
  • Also quite ruthless and fond of taking hostages, threatening children, and Obfuscating Stupidity.
  • Although there wasn't really any reason for him to tell the Kages his Moon's Eye Plan or claim to be Madara- some of them might have decided to remain neutral if he hadn't.
• Reality Warper: He can use the jutsu Izanagi. Apparently, his is a more complete variant than Danzo's.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: To Konan, after she turns on him for Naruto and decides to kill him, fighting for the new hope.

Tobi: There is no peace! There can be no hope! Nagato only believed in Naruto to try to comfort his own pitiful existence! Tobi: You called me the Darkness, didn't you? Then I will make you wilt. I will take your little rainbow bridge and its seven colors and plunge it all into darkness!.

• Red Herring: There were theories and degrees of evidence that he was everyone from Danzou to Obito and several others. Eventually he was revealed to be Uchiha Madara, but even then about half the fandom argued that this was yet another ruse. They were right, but it's a testament to the writing that so many disagreed or couldn't decide either way. Tobi himself claims to be "no one" and that he doesn't care about his own identity, but he does seem to care about concealing his face...
  • That last part is an important (and possibly the only) clue to his identity. Behind his mask, he is clearly someone famous enough to be recognized almost instantly by Kisame when he first takes off his mask.
  • Kurama also seems to recognize him in Chapter 501, when he's about to take control of him.
• Sempai-Kohai: Considers himself the kohai of Deidara and Kisame. Even though he's really the sempai.
• Spanner in the Works: Its like cocaine to him. Massively screws up Itachi's postmortem plans for Sasuke by telling him things he was probably better off not knowing.
• Space Master
• Shout-Out: His newest mask is similar to Friend from 20th Century Boys.
• Super Strength: He snapped an arm off of its shoulder with just the grip of his fingers, and blocked a giant ass sword with his forearm.
• Teleportation: He can teleport himself anywhere he wants, and can teleport others into an alternate dimension that seems to exist within his Sharingan.
• Trickster Archetype: Likes to act like this.
• The Unfettered: Whatever his goals are, he will not back down from obtaining them.
• Unreliable Expositor: He delivers a lot of exposition, and quite a bit of it is suspect. Especially when it comes to himself and his motives, what with him not actually being Madara.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: Either played straight or Subverted. He claims at one point that this is his goal, but when Naruto accuses him of really just wanting power, he laughs and says that Naruto is probably right. So either he was laughing that Naruto caught him in a lie or was mocking Naruto's accusations. Only time will tell.
• Villains Never Lie: Played straight most of the time, the rest it depends in how the Manga evolves.
• Weak but Skilled: He was deemed by Itachi as a "shadow of his former self". He has been shown only to posses above average strength, intangibility and teletransportation that compared to the caliber of Akatsuki, Taka and the (past and present) Kages makes him a complete wimp. But he is also the man that used both Pain and Itachi like puppets and deemed so dangerous that the 5 Greatest Ninja Villages decided to unite for the first time in History to face him.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: If he is truthful about the plan.
• World's Strongest Man: Even beating out Pain for the title, though the real Madara's about to give both a run for their money.
• Xanatos Speed Chess /Gambit Roulette: While at first sight it would look like he planned everything that has happened in the series, he is in fact very accomplished in cutting his losses and creating new plans out of his ass as the situation demands. Hell, around 5% of the things happening now were in his plans and he is still at the top of the game.

Hidan

"As the other dies, their agony radiates through my body, and living through it is pure ecstasy!"

Voiced by: Masaki Terasoma (JP), Chris Edgerly (EN), Víctor Martínez (Spain)

Immortal. Wields a Sinister Scythe. Ax Crazy who follows a Religion of Evil. Foul-mouthed. Arrogant. Hates his partner, Kakuzu Hates everyone. Has voodoo-like powers that can transfer injuries to his enemies; being immortal, he survives even losing his head. Kills Asuma with this power. Shikamaru dismembers him and buries the still-speaking pieces alive. And it seems that he's still not dead: Kabuto is able to bring back to life every defeated member of Akatsuki EXCEPT him.

---

• Affably Evil: Initially, before he kills Asuma and then gloats about it to the latter's students.
• And I Must Scream: Buried alive while being kept living by his immortality.
• Another Man's Terror: Hidan experiences his victims' final moments. Though he doesn't exactly feel terror from the experience.
• Asshole Victim: His fate is absolutely horrific and would be a clear-cut Moral Event Horizon if it happened to a nicer person, but let's face it, Hidan was a total douchebag who was absolutely asking for it.
• Ax Crazy: The most openly deranged member of the group.
• Blade on a Stick: Carried a collapsible spike in order to inflict precise self injury.
• Blood Knight: Fighting is quite literally all he lives for, and the specific reason why he left his village in the first place.
• Blood Magic: Uses his opponent's blood to link his body with theirs, and typically uses his own to draw the circle.
• Bloodbath Villain Origin: Killed his fellow villagers because they made the village into a bathing resort...BECAUSE it meant no more violence.
• The Brute: He and Kakuzu fulfill this role for Akatsuki early on, although he's more of the traditional Dumb Muscle.
• Chew Toy: Official Title in Akatsuki. Kakuzu when enraged would kill his partners. Solution: Give him an immortal one. An obnoxious, swearing, religious nut one. A strange amalgamation of stress reliever/punishment apparently.
• Cluster F-Bomb: In some fan translations.
• Combat Sadomasochist: "Let me feel your pain!"
  • Orgasmic Combat: It's strongly implied that he jizzed himself when he impaled himself to finish off Asuma.

• Confusion Fu: He swings around his scythe on a long cord, making it fly around unpredictably, and thus making it tougher to block.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Well, subverted in that he cannot die, but being blown up to pieces and buried while alive certainly is cruel and unusual.
• Dumb Muscle: Played for laughs, though he really is stupid.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He doesn't condone blasphemy or attacking priests. Although he stil willingly does the latter when he thinks he can get a good fight out of it.
• Evil Albino
• Evil Gloating: Kakuzu is really irritated about that.
• Evil Laugh: A particular offender.
• Fate Worse Than Death: Word of God states that his head will rot before his immortality runs out.
• For the Evulz: His religion seems to be built around a sadistic god who encourages his followers to also murder For the Evulz.
• Go Out With A Smile: What, you think he went down begging for mercy? Nope! He cackles madly, telling Shikamaru that Jashin will punish him for his actions.
• Giggling Villain
• The Grim Reaper: What his ritual does as a type of One-Winged Angel.
• Hypocritical Humor: Once cracks a joke about his enemies attacking clergymen. Of course, his religious dogma is Thou Shalt Massacre Thy Neighbor.
• Immortality: Type 6.
  • Immortality Immorality: Type 1; Hidan needs to kill people to stay immortal.
• Irony: That fancy immortality of his? It's the only thing that's keeping him from being brought back with the other beaten Akatsuki by Kabuto, meaning that he's stuck where Shikamaru buried him until he dies from malnutrition.
• Jerkass: When he isn't killing something, he is arguably the biggest asshole in the series.
• Large Ham: He really hams it up once he starts his ritual, even Shikamaru calls him out for this.
• The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort: Thanks to his arrogance over being immortal.
• Leeroy Jenkins: He's the most impulsive member of the organization.
• Leitmotif: "Hidan"
• Licking the Blade: It's necessary for his ritual.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Whenever he is injured, though he does feel the pain. Justified, as he's immortal.
• Mr. Fanservice: Sort of, given he's an almost Walking Shirtless Scene.
• Obligatory Swearing: In many fanlations, less so in Viz translations, to convey his very rude way of talking.
  • Precision F-Strike: The above-mentioned Obligatory Swearing becomes this in the English dub.
• Psycho for Hire
• Psychopathic Manchild: Has a tendency to act like a teenager enjoying an adrenaline rush, complete with much smack talk and "woo-hoo"ing.
• Real After All: After his defeat, an investigation is launched on Jashinism. But nothing ever comes of it and everyone assumes Hidan was just a madman who used a phony religion to justify his actions. But, in Konoha Shinden Mirai, Kakashi, and Guy discover a group of Jashinists that they must defeat.
• Religion of Evil: Follows the religion of Jashin, which literally means "evil god", and requires killing his opponents.
• Religious Bruiser: Subverted. See Religion of Evil above.
• Sinister Scythe: Weapon of Choice, more for drawing blood than fatally injuring opponents. Has three blades.
• Smug Snake: Not only is he a loudmouthed psychopath, but he's also an arrogant dick who thinks that he's invincible.
• Synchronization: Once he uses his Blood Magic.
• Those Two Bad Guys: With Kakuzu.
• White-Haired Pretty Boy

Kakuzu

"Hidan, anyone with a brain would know that the world revolves around money!"

Voiced by: Takaya Hashi (JP), Fred Tatasciore (EN), Fernando Elegido (Spain)

Nigh Invulnerable and almost immortal. Bounty Hunter. Cares only about money. Once fought the First Hokage. Can make his body as hard as stone. Can incorporate other peoples' hearts into his body, extending his lifespan and allowing him to use their elements. Crippled by Naruto's newest Rasengan variant, and killed by Kakashi, but has recently been revived by Kabuto's Edo Tensei.

---

• All Your Powers Combined / You Will Be Assimilated : He can take his opponents' hearts and, at the same time, their elements. Therefore, he controls earth, fire, wind, water and lightning.
• Ambiguously Brown
• Anti-Villain: Type II.
• Appendage Assimilation: With human hearts.
• Ax Crazy: The reason that Hidan is his partner is because he killed his previous partners in fits of blind rage.
• Badass: One of Akatsuki's more impressive fighters.He mentions that he fought the 1st Hokage and lived (although Bonus Material reveals he was more dead than alive), a feat Madara Uchiha only barely pulled off.
  • Badass Grandpa
• Body Horror: What his body strings do, and create five large beasts that fire powerful elemental attacks from his back that contain one of his five hearts each. Oh and he has two One-Winged Angel modes by recombining with those beasts.
• The Brute: He and Hidan fullfill this role for Akatsuki during the early part of the series, although he's more of a Genius Bruiser.
• But for Me It Was Tuesday: After meeting up with Izumo and Kotetsu, the two ninja he held helpless while Hidan killed Asuma, Kakuzu merely remarks:

"Sorry, pal. I tend to forget about chump-change shinobi when I'm done with them.

• Combat Tentacles: Can extend his stitches and arms as weapons.
• Deadpan Snarker: Asuma decapitates Hidan and when Hidan tries to talk Kakuzu into bringing him his body, Kakuzu instead takes his head by its hair and carries it over to the body, under loud protests from his partner, stating that Hidan's head "is lighter". He says this with a completely straight face after having just razed a building with his bare fists. Later, when Hidan gloats about having killed Asuma as if it was no big deal, Kakuzu points out that Asuma did cut his head off. Hidan is not pleased.
• Death in All Directions: Many of his attacks do this, which makes Hidan an ideal partner because he doesn't have to worry about accidentally hitting him.
• Elemental Powers: His multiple hearts let him use all of them.
• Evil Old Folks: He's 91 years old.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Especially in the Japanese.
• Exotic Eye Designs: Green iris. Maroon sclera.
• Freudian Excuse: Was once a very loyal shinobi, but after his village locked him away for years after a lifetime of loyal service for failing an impossible task, he stole a forbidden technique, killed some of the elders and left, deciding to believe only in money from now on.
• Genius Bruiser: Collectively, he and Hidan are more or less The Brute for the Akatsuki. This doesn't stop Kakuzu from being very bright, even outsmarting Shikamaru on occasion.
• Glasgow Grin : After his mask finally comes off, seen better much later in chapter 489.
• Greed
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Killed all of his partners this way, until he met Hidan.
• Leitmotif: "Kakuzu"
• Lightning Bruiser: Fast even for the series standards.
• Lovecraftian Superpower: His body strings tear his enemies' hearts so he can fuel his black elemental beasts that emerge from his back. Oh, and he has two very nice One-Winged Angel forms.
• Mask of Power: Has 5 stitched to his back which can split from him to attack or fuse with him to go One-Winged Angel.
• Made of Diamond:What his Earth heart does.
• Miser Advisor: His role in the organization.
• Money Fetish: Admits this, saying that it'll be useful even in hell.
• Nothing Personal: He doesn't seem to be particularly mad when he runs into Team 10 again after being revived, even playing along with Shikamaru's shogi metaphors.
• One-Winged Angel: He has two more powerful forms he uses after losing some of his masks.
• Only in It For the Money: His motivation.
• Only Sane Man: His intermittent fits of berserk rage notwithstanding, he's among the more realistic and collected members of Akatsuki.
• Really 700 Years Old: He's been around since the First Hokage, he's even older than Madara the true Big Bad before he died.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money: When Hidan warns him that killing a priest is a one-way ticket to hell, he simply replies with "Even hell runs on money, I'd be just fine."
• Shout-Out Theme Naming: All of his unique techniques are named (and pronounced very similarly in Japanese) after Mobile Suit Gundam mecha used by Zeon in the One Year War, with meaningful kanji replacing the phonetic characters. (e.g. MSN-02 Zeong -> Jiongu -> Earth Grudge Fear; this is Kakuzu's forbidden "body of threads" technique, and the Zeong was a mobile suit that could detach its arms on wires for ranged attacks.) Complete list: Jiongu, Domu, Zukokku, Atsugai, Gian = Zeong, Dom, Z'Gok, Acguy, Gyan
• Soul Jar: He can't die unless all of his collected hearts are destroyed.
• Super Strength: Even by Naruto standards.
• Those Two Bad Guys: With Hidan.

Pain / Nagato Uzumaki

"Those who do not understand true pain can never understand true peace."

(top picture, left to right: Animal Path Pain, Petra Path Pain, Deva Path Pain, Asura Path Pain, Human Path Pain, Animal Path Pain) (bottom picture: His real body)

Deva Path: Kenyuu Horiuchi (JP, Pain), Dave Wittenberg (EN, original), Troy Baker (EN, current) Nagato: Junpei Morita (JP), Vic Mignogna (EN)

Leader of Akatsuki. Possesses the Rinnegan, the predecessor to the Sharingan and the Byakugan, which allows the user to use all six elements and learn any jutsu. Orphaned by the Land of Rain's civil war. Raised by Jiraiya, who believed him to be the prophecized Chosen One. Believed his suffering had caused him to become enlightened, and his power caused him to become a god. Wants to use the Tailed Beasts to create a weapon of mass destruction which can be used to put an end to war. Has six (actually seven) different bodies, each with different skills, and can't be defeated unless all of them are killed at once. The bodies are all ninja Jiraiya fought as he wandered the earth. His first physical appearance has him engaging his old master in battle in the Hidden Rain Village. Jiraiya killed one of his bodies and sent it back to Konoha (along with a toad bearing the message "The real one isn't there"), but he was eventually overwhelmed and killed.

He quickly replaced the missing body with a new one, and arrived in Konoha in the hopes of capturing Naruto. After his bodies engage - and in some cases, are defeated by - Konoha's villagers, he rounds them all up and uses Shinra Tensei, an ability which nukes the city. He fights the newly-empowered Naruto in a long drawn out battle that bumped the HSQ up a few notches. Finally, he is defeated and after accepting Naruto's ideals about peace, uses a jutsu to revive many of the Konoha ninja he killed, dying in the process; however, Kabuto resurrects him later with Edo Tensei. Is aided in moving around by Itachi in his resurrected state and later on engages Naruto and Bee, where it is revealed that he can now use all of Pain's Jutsu without the bodies. Nearly kills the pair until a liberated Itachi intervened. Is sealed once more through Itachi's Susano'o. He is eventually revealed to be a descendant of the Uzumaki clan just like Naruto..

---

• A God Am I: And he has the power to back it up.
• Affably Evil
• All Your Powers Combined: Except, Nagato's palette is, for the most part, much more powerful than the originals, and then some! Let's count the ways!
  • Itachi: Utilizes a doujutsu inspired by an asian religion, but much more powerful and versatile than Itachi's. Human Path's mind reading ability also appears to cross over into Mind Rape territory.
  • Kisame: Nagato's chakra absorbtion is very much like Samehada's, only without an upper cap on how much can be taken at once.
  • Zetsu: The rainfall technique is a metrological version of Zetsu's ability to detect things through the land.
  • Deidara: The Asura Path is a blast!
    • Though Deidara's C3, C4, and C0 eclipse anything we have seen Asura Path unleash.
  • Sasori: Nagato's use of the Six Paths of Pain is like a superior puppetry technique, bonus points for the Asura Path which is made of weapons and can emerge from Nagato's body if needed.
  • Hidan: Naraka's ability meant fighting enemies that would not stay dead... And Then Nagato Was Brought Back As An Immortal Edo Tensei.
  • Kakuzu: The Rinnegan's bestows upon its weilder all elemental nature transformations and his Uzumaki inheritage would've given Nagato a very long life.
    • However Nagato himself has displayed elemental jutsu only once till date and that was a Wind elemental one.
• Ambition Is Evil: Surprisingly inverted: Him wanting to change the world is viewed in a very positive light. How he wanted to change it is where he gets into trouble.
• Anti-Villain: Vic Mignogna's performance manages to drive this home even further than the original seiyuu.
  • Dark Messiah
    • Utopia Justifies the Means
    • Visionary Villain
    • Well-Intentioned Extremist
  • Fallen Hero / Tragic Villain
  • He Who Fights Monsters
    • Angst/Break the Cutie: His entire backstory.
    • Cosmic Plaything: It's what ultimately broke him.
    • No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: This is a man who's only desire in life was a world of peace and compassion, and he struggled to make life better for everyone. Fate's response was to destroy everything he held dear in the cruelest possible way, thus causing his Start of Darkness.
    • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Until the world stomped on him and his dreams until there was nothing left.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The purpose of the Animal Path is to invoke this trope.
• Awesome but Impractical: Pain's interrogation methods. He uses two main abilities to try to find Naruto, one of which can instantly read the mind of those it touches. On it's own, this is perfectly practical. His other, however, can kill anybody who either lies to him or refuses to answer his question. Meaning anybody who actually knows ends up dead... This does spare him the trouble of having to look up misinformation, though.
  • His mind reading would be practical if it didn't rip out the person's soul, making it essential that the person had outlived his/her usefulness.
• Awesome Yet Practical: All of the Rinnegan's powers...
• Badass:

Konan: Pain has never lost a battle.

• The Beast Master: Unlike everyone else in the series, who are limited to one contract with one species, the Animal Path can summon multiple different creatures:
  • Big Creepy-Crawlies: A Creepy Centipede.
  • Everything's Better with Cows: Actually, it's rather Everything's Worse With Giant Buffalos...
  • Everything's Worse with Bears: Well, more like a giant... panda... thing made of rock.
  • Feathered Fiend / Giant Flyer: And it is creepy as hell.
  • Giant Enemy Crayfish: It's purpose seems to be... blowing bubbles.
  • Hell Hounds: Yet another summon. Bonus for having Flunky Boss ability.
  • Invisible Monsters: A chimaera largely akin to a chameleon.
• Berserk Button: He does not like people questioning his ideals as Tsunade learned the hard way.
• Blood Knight: Despite of his ideas of peace, he really wanted to fight Naruto in his Nine-Tailed form according to the databooks, unfortunately it was too much for him.
  • This does explain why he pissed off Naruo once to do so, and complimenting him as a fellow student.
  • Fridge Brilliance: Edo Tensei gave him his wish- he got to fight Naruto again after Naruto had mastered the Nine Tails' Chakra. And it was epic.
• Cast From Lifespan: The Rinnegan's more powerful techniques.
• Catch Phrase: Let's just say that took a shot every time he said "pain", you'd die of alcohol poisoning.
• Combo-Platter Powers: The Rinnegan's powers are basically a mish-mash of various powers that are all Game Breakers in their own right.
  • Aura Vision: He can see chakra in a manner similar to the Byakugan.
  • Elemental Powers: He can use all five, but unlike Kakuzu it comes naturally.
  • Energy Absorption: Preta Path's power.
  • The Gift: It's been explicitly stated that he can master any jutsu he wants after seeing it just once. Jury's still out on whether this includes Kekkei Genkai techniques.
  • Gravity Master: Deva Path's power.
  • Hive Mind: The Six Paths of Pain are in constant communication, and it's justified in that they're being controlled and coordinated by one person.
  • Mind Reading: Human Path's power.
  • Necromancer: The only real one in the series. He brought the entire population of Konoha back to life after he killed them.
  • Power Nullifier: Preta Path's other power.
  • Religious and Mythological Theme Naming All of his abilities are named after Hinduism/Buddhism in some way.
  • Shapeshifter Weapon: The Ashura Path's power, includes standard Anatomy Arsenal transformations much like Jugo's but mechanical in nature. Included in the arsenal is the Arm Cannon, Beware My Stinger Tail, Multi-Armed and Dangerous, Rocket Boots and Rocket Punch.
  • Summon Magic: The Animal Path's power is summoning Bond Creatures and the other Paths. And Konan.
  • Truth Serum: Naraka Path.
  • Your Soul Is Mine: Human Path's other power.
• Completely Missing the Point: The portion of the fandom that thinks Naruto should have killed him.
• Cosmic Plaything: His entire backstory is him being this, ironically prior his death; he had enough power to make the entire shinobi world into a literal plaything.
• Curb Stomp Battle: Arguably, every battle Nagato/Pain has participated in to some extent.
  • vs. Jiraiya: Sure, he admitted that Jiraiya would've won if he had known about Nagato's secret, but the fight itself was nothing short of a dragged out execution.
  • vs. Konoha: Fighting an entire village and only temporarily losing one expendable Path puts the assault square into this category.
  • vs. Sage!Naruto: The first time ever that the Six Paths had faced a challenge, and that quickly disappeared after Deva Path's powers returned.
  • vs. 6Tail!Naruto: At first the only time that the Deva Path was shown struggling with an opponent... Then Chibaku Tensei was revealed...
  • vs. 9Tail!Naruto, Killer Bee & Edo!Itachi: Not so much a Curb Stomp Battle as a massacre until Itachi unleashed Susanoo and used the one thing that had a chance of beating him in that situation.
    • In most cases, and especially the last example, you can say that Nagato/Pain has only ever lost thanks to Divine Intervention.
• Cute Bruiser: The second Animal Path.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Nagato, or more specifically the Six Paths, had never encountered someone who could fight him on even grounds until Naruto. To be fair though, he did admit that Jiraiya would have kicked his ass if he had known the workings of his techniques.
  • Actually, Villain Sacrifice. Before Naruto came Pain fought and defeated the entire Hidden Village. And Nuked It. Naruto came with a Super Mode and the strongest warriors of the Frog village; and was defeated. He fought with the Nine-Tails all out and was technically defeated. Even the last Path needed all the juice Naruto had left to take. And when Nagato met with Naruto face-to-face he could use all the Paths' Powers, had Konan with him, and enough chakra to revive the entire Village.
    • Talking the Monster to Death: And all it took was a little sympathy and Jiraiya's terrific Literature.
• Deus Angst Machina: Pretty much Nagato's entire backstory.
• Deus Ex Machina: Pain pulls a case of Redemption Equals Death and revives everyone that he'd killed in the last thirty chapters or so. Bonus points to him for considering himself a god and sitting in a machine.
• Disc One Final Boss: Deva Path to Nagato, Nagato to The Masked Man.
• The Dragon: For quite a while, everyone thought this guy would be the Big Bad, but he was actually working as a figurehead for Madara Uchiha.
  • Co-Dragons: With Itachi for Kabuto.
  • Dragon-in-Chief
  • Dragon with an Agenda
  • The Starscream
• Evil Counterpart: Naruto's second one. He's even a fellow descendant of the Uzumaki clan.
• Evil Cripple: Nagato lost full use of his legs after saving Konan from Hanzo's fire attack.
• Evil Eye: The most powerful ones in the setting. It gives him the powers in the Superpower Lottery above although due to his immobility he is forced to divide his abilities between six puppets.
• Evil Redhead: Yahiko, and all of Pain's bodies (even the ones that weren't in life) except the bald Asura path, have orange hair, while Nagato has dark red hair.
• Exotic Eye Designs: Has the Rinnegan, after all.
• Fat Bastard: Preta Path.
• Five-Bad Band: A one-man version.
  • Big Bad: Deva Path
  • The Dragon: Animal Path
  • Evil Genius: Naraka Path
  • The Brute: Asura and Preta Paths
  • Dark Chick: Human Path.
• Freak-Out: Nagato after Yahiko's death
• Glass Cannon: For all the Rinnegan's powers, Pain is just as vulnerable as a normal human. Good luck actually hitting him though.
• Gonk: The Asura Path to the point of being barely human.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Nagato
• Hero-Killer: Killed Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Shizune, and nearly killed Hinata and Choza. Then he brought them all back to life, except for Jiraiya.
• Hollywood Cyborg: Asura Path.
• Ill Guy
• Implacable Man: Pain modus operandi until he faced Naruto.
• Kick the Dog: His nearly killing Hinata.
• Kick the Son of a Bitch: He's the one who killed Hanzo.
• Leitmotif: "Courtesy", which perfectly captures everything about his character.
• Lightning Bruiser: The Deva Path. When you can keep up with and beat up on the Four-Tailed manifestation of the Nine-Tailed Fox while simultaneously taking whatever it can dish out, you deserve the title.
  • Nagato himself shows just how broken the Rinnegan is after he gets brought back with Edo Tensei. He curb-stomps Naruto's new Super Mode, Killer Bee, and Itachi at his peak physical condition simultaneously. The only reason he lost is Itachi had what is quite possibly the one ability that could beat him.
    • And even then the only reason said ability even connected was that Nagato was both controlled by an outside influence and seemed to be too busy WTFing at the fact that someone actually broke out of Chibaku Tensei to dodge it
• Madness Mantra: "(Now) Do you understand pain?"
• The Man Behind the Man: Nagato to Deva Path.
• The Man Behind the Curtain: The Six Paths of Pain are insanely powerful, but they're just puppets. Nagato is extremely weak physically, extremely skinny, and has difficulties to walk unaided.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Asura Path.
• Must Make Amends: After being convinced by Naruto.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Well, duh!
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Naruto was down for the count and demoralized... until Pain almost killed Hinata, which resulted in the Nine-Tails coming within a hair's breadth of being completely unsealed.
• One-Man Army
• People Puppets: Uses the bodies of those he's slain as hosts/weapons.
• Person of Mass Destruction: In general, Pain is a one... er, six-man army who can level villages on his own. In particular, his Shinra Tensei technique.
  • It's been shown that he is perfectly capable of being a one-man army on his own, since he is the Six Paths, and can use the abilities better than through People Puppets.
• The Philosopher: Easily summed up as "Humans Are the Real Monsters" and "War Is Hell".
• Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "And now, this world will know pain..."
• Redemption Equals Death: Chapter 449.
• Shapeshifter Weapon: Can use any of the weapons that Asura Path used and have them sprout from his real body.
• Shrinking Violet: As a child.
• Squishy Wizard: For all the power the Rinnegan gives him, with his horribly mangled legs he's not going anywhere unaided.
• Start of Darkness: See No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.
• Story-Breaker Power: There's a reason fans accuse him of being a God Mode Sue: His Rinnegan gives him ridiculous amounts of chakra that rivals the Nine-Tails, a virtually unlimited number of summons, and the ability to use all five elements (in addition to another two), level entire cities, create miniature moons, read minds, rip souls from peoples' bodies, and revive the dead.
• Superpower Lottery: Of all the superpower lotteries in Naruto, Pain hit the absolute jackpot. ...Well Aside from Kaguya.
• Too Powerful to Live
• Ubermensch
• The Unfettered: A villainous example.
• The Unfought: Subverted. He's revived by Kabuto using Edo Tensei, allowing him to have a proper battle against Naruto.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Minus the walking part.

Konan

"I have received the will of God and I must kill you."

Voiced by: Atsuko Tanaka (JP), Dorothy Elias Fahn (EN)

The only female in Akatsuki, and the last to be revealed. Uses origami-based powers. Unlucky Childhood Friend of Pain. Orphaned by the Land of Rain's civil war. Trained by Jiraiya. Sides with Naruto after Pain's death. Tries to protect Pain's corpse from ending up in Tobi's hands, but dies in the process.

---

• Anti-Villain
• Awesomeness By Analysis: She's the first person to figure out Tobi's Made of Air powers.
• Broken Bird
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu
• Closer to Earth: By far the most level-headed and, well, sensible of the whole bunch.
• Dark Chick
• Dark Action Girl: Although her powers are not over all as strong as some, she still has some very deadly tricks up her sleeves.
• Determinator: In her last fight against Tobi.
• Emotionless Girl: Konan's more or less dead inside, except when it comes to Nagato.
• Evil Counterpart: Could be considered one to Sakura. She's basically what Sakura could have become had she chosen to follow Sasuke.
  • Could also be seen one to Hinata, should Naruto and her were to have chosen to follow the wrong path.
• Eyes of Gold: Though they're closer to amber.
• Fan Nickname: "Blue".
• Hair Decoration: A flower made of paper.
  • Flower in Her Hair: Subverted in that she's anything but childish and cute.
• Heel Face Turn: Subverted when examined closely enough. Konan was only allied with Akatsuki, which is very different from being on their side. She was only ever on Nagato's side and nobody else's. His Redemption Equals Death is a Heel Face Turn, but as far as Konan is concerned she never switched sides, since her "side" was Pain. Since Pain chose to throw his support to Naruto, she's supporting Naruto now.
• Lady of War: Konan finally has the chance to show Tobi just how much ass she can kick.
• Let's Get Dangerous / Not So Harmless: Granted, being in Akatsuki should have been the first clue. But not even Tobi realized how tough she could be when she wanted to. He still beat her, but he had to warp reality to SURVIVE.
• Neutral Female: Averted, subverted, then justified. During the invasion of Konoha, she definitely was doing her bit, but it got overshadowed by the proportions of the havoc wreaked by Pain. Later she didn't take part in the Naruto vs. Pain fight because she was actually with Nagato. Later again, Nagato explicitely tells her later not to interfere between him and Naruto.
• Only Sane Man: Along with Kisame, she is generally the only member who consistently acts in a rational manner.
• Paper Master
  • Elemental Shapeshifter: Can turn herself into paper.
  • Paper Talisman: All ninja use paper bombs but she gets a special mention for her Sacred Paper Emissary.
  • Power Gives You Wings: One of her powers is to create paper Angel's Wings.
    • Feather Flechettes
• Person of Mass Destruction: Thanks to billions of explosive tags.
• Punny Name: One of her techniques, kami no shisha no jutsu is a pun off of her "Angel" epithet. Phonetically, it could be reads as the "messenger of God technique," but the kanji instead reads "paper-person of God technique."
• Satellite Character: Take away Yahiko and Nagato's influence on her and what do you have left? A near-emotionless woman with paper powers who likes to do origami.
• The Smurfette Principle: Word of God says this was the original intention.
• Sugar and Ice Personality: Acts and looks very cold, but genuinely cares for Nagato.
• Survivor Guilt: Yahiko's death destroyed her emotionally.
• Token Good Teammate
• Undying Loyalty: To Nagato.
• Unholy Matrimony: Chapter 511 heavily implies that she and Yahiko were at least aware that they were attracted to each other.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: She was a very sweet little girl... then shit happened.
• Victorious Childhood Friend: To Yahiko if Chapter 511 is any indicator.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Her powers are nullified by oil.
• What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Her paper abilities.
  • Heart Is an Awesome Power: Her Crowning Moment of Awesome despite it being a failure.
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Known as "Blue" prior to actually being given a name. More like light purple in the anime.

Yahiko

"If war is going to continue - I will become the God of the world!"

Voiced By: Wataru Hatano (JP, child); Kenyuu Horiuchi (JP) Troy Baker (EN)

The founder and original leader of Akatsuki, until he sacrificed himself to save Konan from Hanzo. He beleved Nagato was the Chosen One, and so sacrificed himself to spare him from making a Sadistic Choice. His body was later used by Nagato and he became the Deva Path, the most powerful of the Six Paths.

Born into the war torn land of Ame, Yahiko was orphaned like so many others. Forced to fend for himself, he soon met Konan and Nagato. They were forced to work together to survive, but became close friends.

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• A God Am I: For a little while, but he grew out of it.
• Heroic Sacrifice: For Konan.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Hanzo promised to free Konan in exchange for his sacrifice. Needless to say, that was a lie.
• Making a Splash
• Messianic Archetype: He's like a mature Naruto.
• Posthumous Character: Everything we know of him comes from flashbacks.
• Power Trio: With Konan and Nagato.

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