Akatsuki (Naruto)

File:Akatsukispread.jpg

The cover of chapter 317 of the Naruto manga, illustrating the current roster of Akatsuki.

This article covers a fictional organization. For other uses, see Akatsuki.

Akatsuki (暁, meaning "Dawn" or "Daybreak") is a fictional criminal organization in the anime and manga series Naruto. It is first introduced midway into the first arc, and its members gain significance as the main antagonists during the second arc. The organization is composed of some of the most powerful criminals in existence.

Template:Spoiler Despite being comprised of only ten members, each member of Akatsuki is an S-Class criminal and feared for their tremendous powers and ruthless nature. Together, they form what is arguably the most powerful organization in the Naruto universe.

The exact criteria for admission to the group are unknown, but extraordinary fighting ability and deadly ruthlessness seem to be prerequisites. Unique traits (genetic or otherwise) also seem to be a common factor among its members. Two of the more prominent members so far, Itachi and Sasori, both undertook some sort of challenging task at the time of their entering the group. Sasori mentions, during his fight with Chiyo and Sakura, that "[he] hadn't had this much difficulty since joining Akatsuki." Itachi was responsible for murdering his whole clan (save for his little brother, Sasuke) around the time he is believed to have entered, though it cannot be said for certain that the two events were linked.

Akatsuki's motives are still obscure, and one of the more interesting unresolved questions Naruto poses; they show great interest in the powers of the bijū (tailed beasts) and the leader has obliquely referred to their ultimate goal as "obtaining the Kyūbi... and everything else." It is unknown what they intend to do with them once they attain all nine.

Akatsuki has confirmed that they possess at least three bijū, one being Shukaku and the other two unknown. They have also kidnapped Yugito, the Jinchūriki of Nekomata, but they have not extracted her bijū at this time. Recently, Deidara and Tobi have captured the Sanbi.

Organization

Clothing and appearance

Akatsuki members dress in similar clothing; a long, dark cloak bearing red clouds and a red interior. It is implied that the cloak helps conceal their actions, especially hand-seals, giving them an edge in battle. All members wear purple nail polish on their fingernails. Some Akatsuki have featured large straw hats, with small spike like bells hanging from the hats, in their first appearance. This seems to be an optional piece of the Akatsuki outfit, likely to disguise their identities.

Forehead protectors

The members of Akatsuki continue to wear forehead protectors from their former home villages, but scratch a line across the symbol of their village. This is done to indicate that their ties to the village have been severed and they no longer give any allegiance to their former homes.

Rings

File:Akatsukihand.jpg

A diagram of each Akatsuki ring position.

Each Akatsuki member wears a single ring on a particular finger and no member wears a ring on the same finger as any other member. The rings seem to have some significance in the process of joining; Orochimaru kept his ring upon his defection and has never been replaced, and Tobi became a member after taking Sasori's ring. Deidara reinforces the significance of the rings after losing both his arms. Rather than showing any concern for his missing limbs, he instead expresses the importance of finding the ring that he lost along with one of his arms. Each ring bears a unique color and symbol. In total, there are ten rings, but Akatsuki only possesses nine; the tenth was kept by Orochimaru after he defected from the organization. Each member wears his ring on the same finger as the spot he occupies on the giant statue.

The various rings are:

• 零, Rei/zero - zero/nothing/overflow: worn by the Akatsuki leader.
• 青龍 - せいりゅう, Seiryū - Green/blue Dragon - God of East and Spring: worn by Deidara.
• 白虎 - びゃっこ, Byakko - White Tiger - God of West and Autumn: worn by the unknown member.
• 朱雀 - すざく, Suzaku - Hōō (literally "Red Sparrow") - God of South and Summer: worn by Itachi.
• 玄武 - げんぶ, Genbu - Tortoise (literally "Mysterious Warrior") - God of North and Winter: worn by Zetsu. Zetsu's ring actually has the kanji 亥 (Kai, boar). The two kanji are somewhat similar in appearance though, which suggests an error by either the artist or the reader/translator.
• 空陳 - くうちん, Kūchin - The Void: formerly worn by Orochimaru and is still in his possession.
• 南斗 - なんじゅ, Nanju - Southern Star: worn by Kisame.
• 北斗 - ほくと, Hokuto - Northern Star: worn by Kakuzu.
• 三台 - さんたい, Santai - The Three Levels: worn by Hidan.
• 玉女 - ぎょくにょ, Gyokunyo - The Virgin: currently worn by Tobi, formerly worn by Sasori.

Teams

Akatsuki members appear to always work in teams of two. Due to Orochimaru's defection their numbers are now uneven, so one or more members appear to be working alone. Currently, Zetsu, the leader, and the last unknown member are not known to be on any team; it is unknown which of these three form the last team, if they all work alone, or if they form a team of three.

Teams are built to complement each other's abilities and talents to create a formidable duo. Each member thus far has shown complete loyalty to the other and to their mysterious leader, but nothing has been shown to indicate that they consider each other comrades. For example, Sasori's death by itself does not seem to bother them, but rather the fact that someone was able to kill him. Additionally, while Hidan and Kakuzu make a good team, they clearly are not fond of one another.

Members

Akatsuki originally had ten members, but following the defection of Orochimaru they are currently at nine. Only one member, Sasori, has died, and his position was quickly assumed by Tobi, a former subordinate of the group. Orochimaru, however, has yet to be replaced, despite his departure several years before the initial introduction of the group; this is either because Orochimaru took his supposedly irreplaceable Akatsuki ring with him when he left or they haven't found a worthy replacement. Given that Tobi was worthy enough to be accepted almost immediately after Sasori's death, the former would seem to be the case.

Though all of the members have been shown, two have yet to be named. The first has had some dialogue and been attributed to being the leader, while the identity of the other remains a complete mystery. In the anime, only Kisame and Itachi have been named, though Zetsu made an appearance at the end of the battle between Naruto and Sasuke.

Akatsuki leader

File:Akaleader.jpg

The Akatsuki leader in the manga

• Age: ?
• Status: Active
• Eye color: ?
• Hair color: Ginger (brownish orange)
• Height: ?
• Weight: ?
• Birthday: ?
• Blood type: ?
• Ring: 零 (Rei/zero, zero/nothing/overflow)
• Position: Right thumb
• Partner: None or not yet introduced
• Debut: Chapter 238 (unnamed silhouette); Episode 135 (unnamed silhouette)
• Unique abilities: Fūin Jutsu: Genryū Kyū Fūjin (Sealing Technique: Illusionary Dragon Nine Consuming Seals), Shōten no Jutsu (Shapeshifting Technique)

Not much is known about this person except that he acts like the leader of Akatsuki; he is the only one to have given orders to other members and none have ever challenged him. He is also the one to initiate and supervise the jutsu that forcibly brings a bijū out of a captured Jinchūriki.

Trivia

• A mistake by the scanlation group Inane led readers of the Naruto manga to believe the Akatsuki leader possessed the Sharingan. However, high quality versions of the manga revealed that what was thought to be the Sharingan was simply image distortion. Though his eyes do resemble the Sharingan, they have no tomoe.

Deidara

File:Deidaracoloured.jpg

Deidara

• Age: ?
• Status: Active
• Eye color: Greenish blue
• Hair color: Blond
• Height: ?
• Weight: ?
• Birthday: ?
• Blood type: ?
• Ring: 青 (Sei, blue/green)
• Position: Right index finger
• Partner: Tobi, formerly Sasori
• Debut: Chapter 247; Episode 135 (unnamed silhouette)
• Unique traits: Specialist in clay based jutsu, clay manipulation, mouths in palms of hands, artistic preference in fleeting works, scope in left eye socket

A missing-nin from Iwagakure, Deidara (デイダラ) is one half of the Akatsuki duo that comes to Sunagakure to kidnap Gaara. A fancy and skillful fighter, with special mouths in the palm of each hand, he is able to manipulate clay into many shapes, including a flight-capable clay bird that can support him and a huge bomb capable of leveling a village without the use of exploding tags. He uses a scope on his left eye to zoom in on objects when he is high in the air on his clay bird. Deidara is teamed with Sasori, whom Deidara refers to as Master Sasori (サソリの旦那, "Sasori no Danna"). This is probably because Deidara has a lot of respect for his fellow artist because Sasori is, as Deidara himself admits, a lot stronger. Despite that, Deidara still argues a lot with Sasori. They often argue about what art is, Deidara holding that art is something that is transient, departing quickly, whereas Sasori believed that good art is immortal, a thing that lasts a long time. This reflects their individual natures (Deidara makes clay sculptures that explode, Sasori makes long-lasting puppets out of humans). Deidara outwardly seems to respect Sasori's beliefs, but couldn't resist getting a final jab in after Sasori's death: "Like anything that is left for the future as a thing of eternal beauty... He got killed straight off!".

During his fight with Gaara, his left arm was mangled by Gaara's Sabaku Kyū (The Coffin of Crushing Sand), but he still managed to defeat the new Kazekage when he threatened Sunagakure itself. Deidara remarked after winning that it was typical of a Kage to save their village over their own life.

Deidara lost his right arm to Hatake Kakashi when Kakashi used his Mangekyō Sharingan against him. As a last resort (and in keeping with his favorite art form), Deidara blew up one of his clones in an attempt to kill everyone else around him after absorbing some of his clay though his mouth. However, his clone was teleported away from the scene by Kakashi. Deidara later returned after burrowing away from the scene and looked for his right arm and Akatsuki ring which he lost due to Kakashi's attack. Zetsu and Tobi both expressed surprise that Deidara was still alive when they found him after discovering that Sasori was killed.

Deidara later returns with his right arm re-attached, and Tobi as his new partner. After they capture the Sanbi he lectures Tobi about being too overconfident. He becomes greatly annoyed when he discovers that Tobi has fallen asleep and proceeds to "wake him up" by blasting Tobi with his exploding clay.

Trivia

• Due to the Japanese language's sparse use of third person pronouns, translators have to use their own ideas of Deidara's gender to make sentences flow smoothly. This has caused a lot of confusion, since both "he" and "she" are used to refer to Deidara. However, Deidara speaks of himself using male pronouns.
• Deidara seems to end most of his sentences with "un", often translated as "yeah" or "hmm" in scanlations.
• Deidara came third in the sixth Naruto Character Popularity Contest (taken in Japan), placing even higher than Uzumaki Naruto.
• Deidara's design is possibly influenced by Okamoto Taro; a phrase he says while fighting Gaara, "Art is a Bang," is actually a famous phrase of Okamoto. The clay sculpture's hole-like eyes are also a famous characteristic of Okamoto's work. Lastly, one of Deidara's clay bombs greatly resembles Okamoto's famous work, the "Sun Pagoda".

Hidan

File:Hidancoloured.jpg

Hidan

• Age: ?
• Status: Active
• Eye color: Violet
• Hair color: Silver
• Height: ?
• Weight: ?
• Birthday: ?
• Blood Type: ?
• Ring: 三 (San, three)
• Position: Left index finger
• Partner: Kakuzu
• Debut: Chapter 312; Episode 135 (unnamed silhouette)
• Unique traits: Strict follower of his religion (Jashin), believes only in total destruction, easy to anger, desire to be killed, wields a three-bladed scythe

Hidan (飛段), the self-proclaimed slowest-attacking member of Akatsuki, wields a three-bladed scythe that he can use as a throwing weapon while retaining control of it with a thick rope wrapped around his wrist. He is partnered with Kakuzu. An overtly religious individual, he refused to fight the Nibi without praying beforehand. He belongs to the Jashin ("Evil God" or "Evil Heart") religion, which commends slaughter, and where anything less than total destruction is considered a sin. Because of this, having to capture the Nibi alive was not something he was happy about, especially after the battle began. Before a battle, Hidan prays to his chain of prayer beads, wishing for nothing less than a kill. After a battle, he does a prayer ceremony where he lays down on a seal and sticks a pike through his chest, during which his skin changes color for an unknown reason; this lasts for thirty minutes. Hidan owns a charm with an upside down triangle inscribed inside a circle that he carries on chain of beads, which he used to help him pray; the same symbol is used in his pike ritual.

On their last assignment Hidan and Kakuzu successfully captured the Nibi, though Hidan was not happy about leaving her alive (having pinned her hands to a wall with kunai). Zetsu eventually came to retrieve her while Hidan and Kakuzu left towards the Land of Fire. They invaded a temple in the Land of Fire to see if their next target was there. When they arrived, Hidan was already thinking about how it may be bad to invade a temple and kill monks, as it might be blasphemous and send him to hell. They didn't find their target, so they are continuing into the Land of Fire, bickering all the while.

Trivia

• The first character in Hidan's name (飛) stands for hisha, the rook in shogi. Similarly, the first character in Kakuzu's name (角) stands for kakugyō, a bishop in shogi.

Kisame Hoshigaki

File:Hoshigaki Kisame.jpg

Kisame Hoshigaki

• Age: 29 in Part I, 31 in Part II
• Status: Active
• Eye color: Green
• Hair color: Dark Blue
• Height: 195 cm²
• Weight: 83.1 kg²
• Birthday: March 18
• Blood type: AB
• Ring: 南 (Nan, south)
• Position: Left ring finger
• Partner: Itachi Uchiha
• Seiyu: Tomoyuki Dan
• Debut: Chapter 139; Episode 80
• Unique traits: Shark-like appearance, commonly uses water-based jutsu, large chakra supply, high physical strength, Samehada (sentient, chakra-absorbing sword)

Kisame Hoshigaki (干柿鬼鮫, "Hoshigaki Kisame"), along with Itachi Uchiha, attempted to kidnap Naruto Uzumaki in the first arc, but were thwarted by Jiraiya. Itachi later explained that it wasn't the proper time to kidnap Naruto yet. Kisame is quite shark-like in appearance, complete with blue skin and sharp teeth.

Kisame comes from Kirigakure. He is known as the Mysterious Person of the Hidden Mist (霧隠れの怪人, "Kirigakure no Kaijin"). He is also one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist (霧の忍刀七人衆, "Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū"), seven powerful ninja who utilize large and unique swords. Zabuza Momochi and Raiga Kurosuki were also members.

Kisame's main weapon is Samehada (鮫肌, "Shark skin"), which is a sword of comparable size to Zabuza Momochi's zanbatō. Unlike a regular sword, however, Samehada is covered in scales that carve instead of cut, much like a shark's skin (hence the name). Additionally, it has the ability to absorb any chakra around it, allowing Kisame to literally cut through his enemy's chakra. The amount that it can absorb is unclear. Finally, Samehada is a sentient weapon, and only allows Kisame to wield it. When Might Guy attempted to hold Samehada and use it against Kisame, it responded with a flurry of needles from its hilt and ultimately found its way back to Kisame.

The amount of chakra Kisame possesses is apparently considered very large, even by Akatsuki's standards. Their leader commented on his amount of chakra; a Kisame body-double at 30% power, made with the leader's Shapeshifting Technique, had as much chakra as Naruto Uzumaki possessed while drawing on Kyūbi's chakra when he fought Neji during the Chūnin exams, an observation also made by Neji Hyuga when he observed Kisame's body-double with his Byakugan.

Kisame has displayed astonishing speed comparable to that of Might Guy, and incredible physical strength toppled only by the chakra-augmented strength of Tsunade. Like everyone seen from the Kirigakure, Kisame uses water-based jutsu in combination with his powerful physical attacks.

Trivia

• Kisame (鬼鮫) means demon shark, an obvious reference to his overall shark-like appearance.
• Hoshigaki (干柿) means dried persimmon.
• Kisame is the only other person to use Suiton Ninjutsu without a water source besides the Second Hokage.
• Samehada is the name of the creature that attaches itself to the three-tailed shark (Isonade) in Japanese mythology.

Kakuzu

File:AkatsukiKakuzu.png

Kakuzu

• Age: ?
• Status: Active
• Eye color: White iris, Black sclera
• Hair color: ?
• Height: ?
• Weight: ?
• Birthday: ?
• Blood Type: ?
• Ring: 北 (Hoku, north)
• Position: Left middle finger
• Partner: Hidan
• Debut: Chapter 312; Episode 135 (unnamed silhouette)
• Unique traits: High physical strength, obsessed with money

Kakuzu (角都) is Hidan's partner and a missing-nin from Takigakure, though he doesn't seem all that happy about the former position. He does not like Hidan's religion at all, and finds the rituals associated with it to be a useless waste of time. The only reason he deals with it is because it can bring him money. Kakuzu is incredibly greed-driven. He'll do anything to obtain money and it's the most important thing to him. He even refers to himself as the Treasurer of Akatsuki. He is shown to have a great amount of physical strength, the use of which is somehow associated with a change in his skin color.

On their last assignment, he and Hidan successfully captured the Nibi. Afterwards, while looking at a map with various places marked off, Kakuzu mentions that the Land of Fire will be their next assignment. They invaded a temple in the Land of Fire to see if their next target was there. Kakuzu also took advantage of the fact that a monk with a bounty of three million ryō on his head was at the temple. When they arrived, Kakuzu was already thinking about cashing in the monk. They didn't find their target, so they are continuing into the Land of Fire.

Trivia

• The first character in Kakuzu's name (角) stands for kakugyō, a bishop in shogi. Similarly, the first character in Hidan's name (飛) stands for hisha, the rook in shogi.

Tobi

File:Tobi in color.JPG

Tobi

• Age: ?
• Status: Active
• Eye color: ?
• Hair color: Black
• Height: ?
• Weight: ?
• Birthday: ?
• Blood type: ?
• Ring: 玉 (Gyoku, jewel/ball/jade)
• Position: Left thumb
• Partner: Deidara
• Debut: Chapter 280
• Unique traits: Orange mask with single eye-hole covered in a swirl pattern. Also has what appears to be a unique armor to the series, having very large screws in the side of the arm and torso.

Tobi (トビ), formerly Zetsu's subordinate, became a full Akatsuki member after Sasori's demise. He now wears the same ring as Sasori, having recovered it after Sasori's death, and took his place as Deidara's partner. The two have recently defeated the Sanbi, which is a giant, three-tailed turtle. Unlike the majority of ninja thus far, Tobi has not been shown wearing a visible forehead protector, so his place of origin is unknown.

Tobi has a very formal and correct manner of speech. He respects Deidara, referring to him as Deidara-senpai. In contrast, however, Tobi seems to have an odd personality in comparison with other Akatsuki members. While most of the members are serious, if not somewhat argumentative when alone, Tobi is is more carefree and goofy, much like Naruto. Though he respects Deidara, he also seems to easily annoy Deidara by taking credit for the capture of Sanbi. He claims that he beat it with a "one-hit KO jutsu", even though Deidara's exploding fish seems to be the main reason for their victory and Deidara himself says that Tobi did nothing. He also falls asleep while Deidara is speaking to him, resulting in Deidara giving him a stern "wake up call" in the form of his exploding clay.

Itachi Uchiha

File:UchihaItachi.jpg

Itachi Uchiha

• Age: 18 in Part I, 20 in Part II
• Status: Active
• Eye color: Black, Red/Black with Sharingan
• Hair color: Black
• Height: 175.2 cm²
• Weight: 57.1 kg²
• Birthday: June 9
• Blood type: AB
• Registration #: 012110
• Ring: 朱 (Shu, scarlet/bloody)
• Position: Right ring finger
• Partner: Kisame Hoshigaki
• Seiyu: Hideo Ishikawa
• Voice actor: Skip Stellrecht (flashbacks in episodes 29 and 30 only)
• Debut: Chapter 139; Episode 80
• Unique traits: Master of the Sharingan, Mangekyō Sharingan

Noted even within the Bingo Book (a list of powerful ninja who have been marked for assassination for various reasons), Itachi Uchiha (うちはイタチ) is an S-Class criminal and a Konohagakure missing-nin. He is currently partnered with Kisame to capture Naruto.

He graduated at the top of his Academy class at age 7, had mastered the Sharingan by age 8, became a Chūnin at 10 and was previously an ANBU squad leader at the age of 13.

He left Konoha about five years prior to the setting of Naruto, after slaying his whole clan with the exception of Sasuke Uchiha, his little brother. At 11, he was feared by even Orochimaru. He is now currently associated with Akatsuki. Orochimaru had planned to use Itachi's body as a new container for his soul, but Itachi's power had grown to such a frightening extent that Orochimaru dared not carry out his plan, and decided to leave Akatsuki and try his luck with the younger Sasuke instead.

The reason Itachi killed his clan, and the reason he left only his brother Sasuke alive, still remains unclear. When questioned by Sasuke, he replied "To test my 'utsuwa'." In Japanese, 'utsuwa' (器) can mean "vessel," or "container," but it can also mean "ability," or "tool." Orochimaru uses this word to refer to the bodies he takes over with his Living Corpse Reincarnation. In this respect, Itachi's words can mean anything from him having a past connection with Orochimaru, to him simply wanting to test his own power, or to his plans to join Akatsuki and forsake past relations. To make matters even more ambiguous, the first person pronoun Itachi used can also be used as a vulgar second person pronoun, so he could also have meant that he wanted to test Sasuke's 'utsuwa,' although this is unlikely, given his previous remarks about his 'utsuwa'.

He was, until recently, the only known living person who possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan as revealed in the manga. Itachi has told Sasuke that if Sasuke were to obtain the Mangekyō Sharingan, the people able to use it will total three.

Despite being the murderer of his entire clan, as well as his closest friend, Itachi does not appear to kill simply for the sake of it, but instead seems to use just enough force to achieve his goals. When Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yuhi stood between him and the way to his goal (Naruto Uzumaki), he did not kill Kurenai when given the chance. Likewise, he could have easily killed Kakashi and Sasuke, but instead chose to torture them with his Mangekyō Sharingan so that they would witness his power.

Trivia

• The name "Itachi" means "Weasel". In Japanese mythology, weasels are a bad omen, signifying bad luck and death.
• His favorite food appears to be green and red colored dango (Japanese dumplings) on a stick.
• It is at one point suggested that overuse of the Mangekyō Sharingan has damaged his eyesight somehow. It is unknown if this has had or will have any effect on his fighting ability.

Zetsu

File:Zetsucoloured.jpg

Zetsu

• Age: ?
• Status: Active
• Eye color: Yellow
• Hair color: Green
• Height: ?
• Weight: ?
• Birthday: ?
• Blood type: ?
• Ring: 亥 (Kai, boar)
• Position: Right little finger
• Partner: None or not yet introduced
• Debut: Chapter 234; Episode 134
• Unique traits: Venus-flytrap like extensions around body, dual personality, skin color split into white and black halves, cannibal

The mysterious Zetsu (ゼツ) is a missing-nin from Kusagakure. Not much is known about him, other than his allegiance to Akatsuki and his function as a spy. His head appears to be enveloped in a large venus flytrap. The right side of his face, and likely his body, is black in color while his left side is white in color. His pupil-less eyes and superior vision suggest that he may harbor something similar to the Byakugan or Ranmaru's kekkei genkai. He also has the ability to merge with the ground, trees, and other plants, allowing him to travel long distances fairly quickly. Akatsuki members have so far generally seemed to report to Zetsu as if he was a superior, though perhaps only because he is often acting directly on the instructions of the leader.

He seems to have a split personality, as the white half of his face speaks only in Katakana (which could indicate a robotic voice) while the black side uses Kanji and Kana. The two halves also seem to converse with each other. He has cannibalistic tendencies, which are first displayed when he devours Kisame's body substitute used for the Shapeshifting Technique, a feature that fits with his "venus flytrap" theme.

Zetsu's first appearance was after the fight between Naruto and Sasuke at the end of the first arc, which he observed in secret. He was also responsible for warning Akatsuki of the positions of the approaching Team Kakashi and Team Guy during their extraction of Gaara's bijū.

The leader dispatched Zetsu to recover Sasori and Deidara's Akatsuki rings since they were both expected to be killed. This highlights some significance in the rings, since Tobi takes Sasori's ring and asks Zetsu if he can join Akatsuki in Sasori's place. One half of Zetsu scoffs at the idea, but the other seems intrigued. Given that Tobi is now a member, it would seem the latter half won out.

Some time later, Zetsu appears before Hidan and Kakuzu after they have successfully defeated Yugito. He lets the pair head off on their next assignment, his parting words being, "I will take care of the Nibi."

Trivia

• Zetsu's ring has the kanji 亥 (Kai, boar) while the list of Akatsuki rings suggests he should have the kanji 玄 (Gen, mysteriousness). The two kanji are somewhat similar in appearance though, which suggests an error by either the artist or the reader/translator.

Unnamed member

File:Akatsukimember.jpg

Unnamed Akatsuki member, seen from behind in the manga.

• Age: ?
• Status: Active
• Eye color: ?
• Hair color: Blue
• Height: ?
• Weight: ?
• Birthday: ?
• Blood type: ?
• Ring: 白 (Byakko, White Tiger)
• Position: Right middle finger
• Partner: None or not yet introduced
• Debut: Chapter 238 (unnamed silhouette), Episode 135 (unnamed silhouette)

This member wears what appears to be a miniature umbrella (previously mistaken as a flower. If you look closely, it is far too angular and geometric to be a flower.) in his/her hair. Nothing else is known about this member yet.

Former members

Orochimaru

File:Orochimaru in the manga.jpg

Orochimaru

Main article: Orochimaru (Naruto)

• Status: Defected
• Ring: 空 (Kū, sky)
• Position: Left little finger
• Partner: Formerly Sasori

Orochimaru was formerly a member of Akatsuki, where he worked as Sasori's partner. The circumstances behind his eventual defection from Akatsuki remain unclear. Orochimaru did state that he left because Itachi was stronger than he was, but why Itachi's superiority would bring him to this decision is unclear. Upon leaving, he kept his Akatsuki ring, which is currently still on the hand of his original body. The apparent special nature of his ring, his knowledge of their plans, and bad blood have led to him being the target of a number of Akatsuki plots, one of which involved a member of his retinue being a (eventually double) sleeper agent. Orochimaru intends to eliminate Akatsuki, as well; however, he is currently content to let Konoha deal with the threat Akatsuki poses. This is in the hope that they kill some of the remaining members for him.

Whatever their remaining connections are, Orochimaru and Akatsuki also seem to be working off similar timetables, as the three years it takes Orochimaru to prepare to take over Sasuke's body seem to coincide with Akatsuki's plans for capturing more bijū.

Sasori

File:Sasori31.jpg

Sasori

• Age: ?
• Status: Deceased
• Eye color: Red
• Hair color: Red
• Height: ?
• Weight: ?
• Birthday: ?
• Blood type: ?
• Ring: 玉 (Gyoku, jewel/ball/jade)
• Position: Left thumb
• Partner: Formerly Deidara, Orochimaru before that
• Debut: Chapter 247; Episode 135 (unnamed silhouette)
• Unique traits: Specialist in ninja puppetry, artificial puppet body, ability to turn living people into puppets, artistic preference of long-lasting works.

File:Hiruko.JPEG

Sasori inside his puppet, Hiruko

Sasori, Deidara's former partner, is a missing-nin from Sunagakure. In first appearance, he is a hideous hunchbacked figure with a poisoned, scorpion-like, puppet tail attached. He is known as Sasori of the Red Sand (赤砂のサソリ, "Akasuna no Sasori", literally "Scorpion of the Red Sand"). He created Kankurō's puppets, among others, and is a genius puppeteer in his own right. His first appearance is during a mission to Sunagakure where Deidara is to capture Gaara. After Gaara's capture, Kankurō attempts to stop the Akatsuki duo, but to no avail. Sasori battled the enraged brother, nearly killing him and easily destroying Kankurō's puppets in the process. In the end, Sasori was killed by his grandmother, Chiyo, and Sakura Haruno, whom Chiyo controlled with chakra strings like a puppet.

It is revealed that he left the village 20 years before, but the background on his crimes is unknown at this point. Flashbacks seem to indicate that his descent into darkness started when his parents died, and he attempted to simulate being with them by turning their corpses into puppets (the first puppets he ever created). After hearing news of her grandson's return, Chiyo decides to join Team Kakashi in search of the duo and to rescue Gaara.

Sasori and Deidara have quite different views of what art is. Sasori believes art is something that should last forever, while Deidara believes art is fleeting. Although Deidara respects Sasori's view, Sasori doesn't seem to respect Deidara's.

During combat, Sasori "wears" a few of his puppets and controls them from inside, thus eliminating the puppeteer's weakness of being a separate and exposed target. His favorite puppet is named 'Hiruko' (ヒルコ), according to Chiyo. Hiruko has a mechanical tail extending from the mouth of what appears to be a mask on his back, the left arm is something that appears to be a large studded projectile capable of firing shrapnel, and the clearly artificial mouth opens to reveal a projectile-firing device. What makes him even more frightening, however, was the fact that Sasori makes his puppets out of human bodies, as he stated in the quote. So far, he has a collection of 298 hitokugutsu, (人傀儡, "person puppets") made out of human bodies. And to show this, after he was forced to abandon Hiruko, he summoned a hitokugutsu of the Third Kazekage. This puppet was made from the living body of the Kazekage, and thus is able to retain some traits and jutsu of the Kazekage while he was alive.

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Sasori's true form

The truly frightening aspect of Sasori was that his real body was still as young as Chiyo remembered it from when Sasori left his village, 20 years ago. The secret of his youth is revealed after the Kazekage puppet is destroyed: he had made himself into a puppet. His stomach is now hollow, allowing a thick cable to be coiled and stored inside; the cable can act both as a stinger and a support for his body. On his back, a pair of arms, equipped with five large claws, is mounted, and on top of the spine is a scroll holder holding four scrolls, used to summon the puppets for his Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets and firing the flamethrowers mounted in each of his hands. His right chest contains a hidden compartment, which can spin unknown numbers of chakra strings to control one hundred or more puppets. Over his heart is a large talisman that has the kanji 蠍 (Sasori, "Scorpion"). His puppet body can string itself together after being splintered into multiple pieces; this is because the only part of him which is still truly "alive" (and thus able to control chakra) is his heart, located under the talisman. He can also easily transfer the talisman, and by extension himself, between puppets. How he transfers his face/facial features, as depicted in the manga, is not explained.

The talisman also proved to be his only weakness, as Chiyo used his mother's and father's puppets to stab him through this location in a manner similar to the hug that he subconsciously desired. Interestingly, Chiyo seemed to believe that in the end Sasori had allowed himself to be killed - he saw the attack coming and chose not to react, and he died in a way similar to how his parent puppets used to embrace him. At the end of the battle, Chiyo, Sasori, and Sakura are all fatally wounded, but Chiyo uses a jutsu she originally developed for Sasori, "to give life to a lifeless puppet," to save Sakura's life. The jutsu takes the life of the user if performed on an inanimate object, but did not kill Chiyo since Sakura was still alive. Later, Chiyo uses the life jutsu again on Gaara, trading her life to revive the dead Kazekage.

Sasori's last words (as a reward to Sakura for defeating him) were that he has a spy in Orochimaru's ranks, with whom he was supposed to meet in Kusagakure in ten days. This spy is revealed to be Kabuto Yakushi. However, Orochimaru had long ago undone the jutsu on Kabuto that kept him loyal to Akatsuki, and Kabuto remained loyal to Orochimaru.

At the time of his death, Sasori had not yet captured his Jinchūriki. A short dialogue between himself and Deidara suggests that Sasori did not even know what Jinchūriki he had been assigned to target. After his death, Tobi was the one to take his place and ring.

Agents

Kabuto Yakushi

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Kabuto Yakushi

Main article: Kabuto Yakushi

• Status: Defected

Kabuto Yakushi was a former spy for Sasori, under a form of mind-control. Kabuto was used by Sasori to infiltrate Orochimaru's group, but Orochimaru removed the mind control on Kabuto shortly after he joined. Kabuto then betrayed Sasori and Akatsuki in favor of Orochimaru.

Yūra

Yūra

• Age: ?
• Status: Deceased
• Height: ?
• Weight: ?
• Birthday: ?
• Blood type: ?
• Rank: Jōnin²
• Registration #: ?
• Debut: Chapter 247

Yūra (由良) served as a trusted member of the Kazekage advisory council of Sunagakure for four years. In reality, he was a sleeper agent for Akatsuki and a subordinate of Sasori. He was used as a replacement for the Akatsuki leader's Shapeshifting Technique, taking on the shape of Itachi Uchiha. He was eventually killed by Naruto's Great Ball Rasengan when in the form of Itachi.

Trivia

• Yūra means "beginning" in Japanese.

Sources

1. First Official Data Book (秘伝・臨の書キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK, Hiden: Rin no Sho Character Official Data Book)
2. Second Official Data Book (秘伝・闘の書キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK, Hiden: Tō no Sho Character Official Data Book)
3. Jump's 2nd Great Hero Book's Mini Data Book (秘伝・翔の書オフィシャルキャラクターデータBOOK mini, Hiden: Shō no Sho Official Character Data Book mini)
4. Taken directly from the Naruto manga chapters and anime episodes
5. Based on character's ability and status