Akatsuki: all members, powers and history
With their black cloaks adorned with red clouds, the members of Akatsuki are among the most iconic antagonists in Naruto and Naruto Shippuden. But behind this criminal organization lies a story far more complex than a simple desire for conquest.
Originally created in the hope of bringing peace to the ninja world, Akatsuki gradually evolved into an organization made up of fearsome rogue ninja. Pain, Itachi, Kisame, Sasori, Deidara and Obito all possess techniques, motivations and personal stories that have left a lasting mark on the Naruto universe.
What is Akatsuki in Naruto?
Akatsuki, whose Japanese name 暁 means “dawn” or “daybreak,” is a shinobi organization that operates outside the traditional hidden village system.
Although it is best known in Naruto Shippuden for its extremely dangerous members and its hunt for the Tailed Beasts, its original goal was very different. The organization was founded in Ame by Yahiko, together with his two friends Nagato and Konan. All three were orphans who grew up amid the wars ravaging the Land of Rain.
Their dream was simple: to prevent other children from suffering the consequences of conflicts between the major ninja nations.
After Yahiko’s tragic death, Nagato gradually takes control of the organization. His vision of peace becomes far more radical. Under the name Pain, he transforms Akatsuki into an organization capable of recruiting some of the most dangerous rogue ninja in the world.
Throughout Naruto Shippuden, Akatsuki notably includes Pain, Konan, Itachi Uchiha, Kisame Hoshigaki, Sasori, Deidara, Hidan, Kakuzu, Zetsu and Tobi. Other characters, such as Yahiko and Orochimaru, also played an important role in its history.
The history of Akatsuki: from peace to war
The birth of the organization
The story of Akatsuki begins in the Land of Rain, a small nation repeatedly turned into a battlefield by conflicts between the major ninja powers. Yahiko, Nagato and Konan grow up there as war orphans.
Jiraiya’s training
After being trained for a time by Jiraiya, the three friends decide to create an organization capable of changing their country without repeating the violent methods of the major nations.
Yahiko’s dream
Under Yahiko’s leadership, this first Akatsuki seeks above all to establish peace. The group begins to gain influence, drawing the attention of Hanzō of the Salamander.
Yahiko’s death
Fearing that the organization could threaten his power, Hanzō sets a trap with Danzō’s help. Konan is taken hostage and Nagato is forced into an impossible choice. Yahiko then chooses to sacrifice himself.
The birth of Pain
This event destroys Nagato’s idealistic worldview. Convinced that human beings can only understand peace after experiencing enough suffering, he adopts a far more radical approach.
The hunt for the Tailed Beasts
From the shadows, Obito Uchiha gradually influences the organization’s goals. Akatsuki then begins capturing the nine Tailed Beasts, with its members working mainly in pairs.
Akatsuki members at a glance
Quickly find the ten iconic members of Akatsuki. Click a name to jump directly to their profile.
All Akatsuki members: powers and history
Each Akatsuki member possesses abilities capable of rivaling the finest shinobi from the five great nations. Here is their story and a look at their main techniques.
Pain / Nagato
Rinnegan and Six Paths of Pain
Nagato is one of Akatsuki’s original founders alongside Yahiko and Konan. After Yahiko’s death, he gradually becomes the organization’s true leader and adopts the identity of Pain.
His powers
Nagato wields the Rinnegan, one of the most powerful dōjutsu in the Naruto universe. Thanks to it, he can use an extremely wide range of techniques.
His most famous ability is the Six Paths of Pain. Nagato remotely controls six different bodies, each specialized in a particular type of power.
The Deva Path, created from Yahiko’s body, can manipulate attractive and repulsive forces using techniques such as Shinra Tensei and Banshō Ten’in.
Nagato can also summon the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and possesses an enormous amount of chakra.
His story
Nagato grows up in the Land of Rain amid war. After the death of his parents, he meets Yahiko and Konan. The three children are later trained by Jiraiya.
At first, Nagato shares Yahiko’s pacifist dream. Yahiko’s death, however, profoundly changes his view of the world.
He becomes convinced that humans can only understand peace after experiencing enough shared suffering. This philosophy leads Pain to attack Konoha and gives rise to one of the most important confrontations in Naruto Shippuden.
Konan
Paper ninjutsu
Konan is one of the three founders of the original Akatsuki. She is also one of the people closest to Nagato.
Her powers
Konan uses a highly unusual form of ninjutsu that allows her to transform her body and chakra into thousands of sheets of paper.
She can create wings, projectiles, clones and, above all, explosive tags. Her ability to disperse her body into sheets of paper also makes her movements and attacks difficult to predict.
Her battle against Obito shows just how far she can push this specialty: Konan prepares a massive trap made from an extraordinary number of explosive tags in an attempt to counter Kamui.
Her story
Like Yahiko and Nagato, Konan loses her parents during the wars that devastate the Land of Rain. She then grows up alongside her two friends before meeting Jiraiya.
After Yahiko’s death, she remains loyal to Nagato even as his ideal of peace becomes far more radical.
After Naruto’s confrontation with Nagato, Konan ultimately chooses to believe in the dream of peace that Naruto promises to carry forward.
Itachi Uchiha
Mangekyō Sharingan
Itachi Uchiha is probably one of Akatsuki’s most famous members. A prodigy from Konoha, he possesses exceptional intelligence and combat skill.
His powers
Itachi has complete mastery of the Sharingan and its evolution, the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Among his most dangerous techniques is Tsukuyomi, a genjutsu capable of trapping the target’s mind in an extremely intense illusion.
He can also use Amaterasu, black flames that are extremely difficult to extinguish, as well as Susanoo.
His Susanoo notably wields the Totsuka Blade and the Yata Mirror, two weapons that greatly enhance his offensive and defensive abilities.
His story
For much of Naruto, Itachi is portrayed as the man responsible for the Uchiha clan massacre and as the person Sasuke is determined to kill at any cost.
The truth about his past is far more complex. Caught between tensions within the Uchiha clan and Konoha’s leadership, Itachi accepts a mission whose consequences shape the rest of his life.
He later joins Akatsuki, where he forms a particularly effective duo with Kisame. His true motivations are only revealed much later in the story.
Kisame Hoshigaki
Samehada and Water Release techniques
With his shark-like appearance and enormous amount of chakra, Kisame Hoshigaki is one of Akatsuki’s most impressive fighters.
His powers
Kisame is an exceptional specialist in Water Release techniques. He can produce enormous amounts of water and transform the battlefield into an aquatic environment.
His weapon, Samehada, is a living sword capable of absorbing his opponents’ chakra.
Kisame can also fuse with Samehada, transforming his body and greatly enhancing his abilities underwater.
His immense chakra reserves earn him the nickname “Tailless Tailed Beast”.
His story
Originally from Kiri, Kisame grows up in an environment where secrecy and missions take priority over human relationships.
He eventually loses all faith in the ninja system and joins Akatsuki. His partnership with Itachi works surprisingly well despite their very different personalities.
Extremely loyal to the organization, Kisame remains committed to his mission until the end, even refusing to reveal the information he possesses to his enemies.
Sasori
Human puppets and poison
Known as Sasori of the Red Sand, this former Suna ninja is one of the greatest puppet masters in the Naruto universe.
His powers
Sasori has mastered the art of puppetry to an exceptional degree. Unlike ordinary puppet masters, he develops a technique that allows him to turn human bodies into puppets.
These puppets retain some of the abilities they possessed while alive. His most famous creation is the Third Kazekage.
Sasori also uses extremely powerful poisons. A single wound inflicted by one of his weapons can be enough to doom an opponent.
He even gradually transformed his own body into a puppet, keeping only an organic core essential to his survival.
His story
Sasori loses his parents while still a child. His grandmother Chiyo then teaches him the art of puppetry.
To fill the void left by their absence, he creates puppets representing his parents. This childhood helps explain his later obsession with the idea of eternal art.
This view directly opposes that of his partner Deidara, who believes art should instead be fleeting and explosive.
Deidara
Explosive clay
Explosive in both the literal and figurative sense, Deidara sees his techniques as a true form of art.
His powers
Deidara has several mouths embedded in his hands and body. They allow him to mix his chakra with special clay to create explosive sculptures.
He can create birds, spiders, dragons and many other forms. Some of them even allow him to fly.
His creations are grouped into different categories such as C1, C2, C3 and C4. Each level corresponds to different applications and levels of power.
His ultimate technique, C0, turns his own body into a massive explosion.
His story
A former Iwa ninja, Deidara develops an obsessive fascination with explosions at a young age. He leaves his village and becomes a rogue ninja.
Akatsuki later comes to recruit him. After being defeated by Itachi, Deidara agrees to join the organization.
This defeat gives rise to a deep obsession with the Uchiha and the Sharingan, which later plays an important role in his battle against Sasuke.
Hidan
Immortality and Jashin ritual
Violent, provocative and deeply religious, Hidan is probably one of Akatsuki’s most unusual members.
His powers
Hidan possesses a form of immortality linked to his religion, the worship of Jashin. He can survive injuries that would instantly kill an ordinary human.
His most dangerous technique is based on a ritual. After obtaining his opponent’s blood, Hidan consumes it and then stands inside a symbol drawn on the ground.
His appearance changes and a connection is established between him and his target. Any injury Hidan inflicts on himself is also felt by his opponent.
His story
Hidan comes from Yugakure. He embraces the cult of Jashin and develops a worldview centered on murder and sacrifice.
His immortality makes him especially compatible with Kakuzu, who had a tendency to kill previous partners when they annoyed him.
The Hidan-Kakuzu duo therefore becomes one of Akatsuki’s most dangerous teams, until their confrontation with Asuma and Shikamaru’s team.
Kakuzu
Five hearts and elemental mastery
Obsessed with money and bounties, Kakuzu is one of Akatsuki’s oldest and most experienced members.
His powers
Kakuzu uses a technique called Jiongu, which transforms part of his body into a network of black threads.
With them, he can steal the hearts of other shinobi and incorporate them into his own body. He can possess several hearts at once, making him extremely difficult to kill.
The hearts can also be placed inside masked creatures capable of using different elemental transformations.
Kakuzu can therefore combine several chakra natures and unleash particularly destructive attacks.
His story
Kakuzu was once a ninja from Taki. His village assigns him an extremely dangerous mission: assassinate Hashirama Senju.
After failing, he is punished despite the almost impossible difficulty of the mission. Furious, Kakuzu turns against his village.
He later develops an obsession with money and becomes a bounty hunter before joining Akatsuki.
Zetsu
Espionage, infiltration and concealment
At first glance, Zetsu seems to serve mainly as support for Akatsuki. Yet his role in Naruto’s story is far more important than it initially appears.
His powers
Zetsu can merge with his surroundings and move discreetly through the ground and vegetation.
He primarily serves as a spy and intermediary for Akatsuki, observing battles and passing information on to the other members.
White Zetsu also has abilities that are particularly useful for infiltration and can create doubles capable of imitating other people.
Black Zetsu, meanwhile, has a completely different origin and set of motivations whose importance only becomes clear near the end of Naruto Shippuden.
His story
For much of the story, Zetsu appears to be simply a loyal servant of Akatsuki’s leaders.
The final revelation completely changes that perception: Black Zetsu is actually pursuing a far older goal linked to Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
He manipulates various events throughout ninja history in order to bring about Kaguya’s return, making him one of the characters who exerted the greatest influence from the shadows.
Tobi / Obito Uchiha
Sharingan and Kamui
When he first appears, Tobi seems like a clumsy, comic character. Yet he is hiding one of the most important identities in Naruto Shippuden.
His powers
Obito possesses the Mangekyō Sharingan and an exceptional space-time technique called Kamui.
It allows him to transfer all or part of his body into a parallel dimension, creating the impression that attacks pass straight through him.
He can also use Kamui to teleport himself or transport other people into this dimension.
Because his body was partially reconstructed using Hashirama’s cells, Obito also benefits from unusual physical and regenerative abilities.
His story
Obito was once a young Konoha ninja on Minato Namikaze’s team alongside Kakashi and Rin.
Presumed dead after being crushed beneath rocks, he survives and is taken in by Madara. Rin’s death then completely changes his view of the world.
Obito eventually embraces the Eye of the Moon Plan, which aims to plunge humanity into a worldwide illusion through the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
He operates in the shadows of Akatsuki for a long time before gradually revealing his true role.
Yahiko and Orochimaru: other important Akatsuki members
To understand Akatsuki’s full history, two other characters must also be mentioned: its founder Yahiko and former member Orochimaru.
Yahiko
Yahiko is the founder of Akatsuki. An orphan from the Land of Rain, he grows up with Nagato and Konan before being trained by Jiraiya.
Charismatic and deeply idealistic, Yahiko dreams of creating a world in which the people of smaller nations would no longer have to suffer through wars caused by the great powers.
His powers
Yahiko is a ninja from Ame who can notably use Water Release techniques. His true strengths, however, lie as much in his charisma as in his combat abilities.
His story
When Konan is taken hostage, Yahiko chooses to sacrifice himself so Nagato will not have to choose between his two friends.
His death becomes the major turning point in the organization’s history. Nagato later transforms Yahiko’s body into the Deva Path of Pain.
Orochimaru
Before the main events of Naruto, Orochimaru is also a member of Akatsuki.
His powers
Orochimaru is one of the three Legendary Sannin. He masters an impressive number of techniques and devotes much of his life to the pursuit of immortality.
He notably possesses snake-related techniques and can transfer his spirit into new bodies.
Why did Orochimaru leave Akatsuki?
Orochimaru tries to take over Itachi’s body in order to obtain his Sharingan. Itachi neutralizes him with genjutsu.
After this failure, Orochimaru leaves Akatsuki and continues his own experiments.
Akatsuki teams and pairs
Akatsuki generally operates with two-member teams. This structure allows fighters with complementary abilities to work together.
Itachi & Kisame
Itachi’s Sharingan and genjutsu complement Kisame’s physical strength, Samehada and Water Release techniques.
Sasori & Deidara
Sasori believes art should be eternal, while Deidara argues that art should instead be brief and explosive.
Hidan & Kakuzu
Hidan survives fatal injuries, while Kakuzu possesses several hearts.
Pain & Konan
Friends since childhood and founders of the original Akatsuki alongside Yahiko, they later rule Amegakure together.
What is Akatsuki’s true objective?
Akatsuki’s objective changes considerably depending on the period and the people leading it.
Yahiko: end the wars
Under Yahiko, the organization seeks to end the conflicts destroying the Land of Rain.
Nagato: enforce peace through fear
Nagato wants to harness the power of the Tailed Beasts to create a threat capable of deterring nations from going to war.
Obito: the Eye of the Moon Plan
Obito wants to gather the Tailed Beasts in order to use the Infinite Tsukuyomi and plunge humanity into a permanent illusion.
Who is the strongest Akatsuki member?
Comparing Akatsuki members is difficult because their fighting styles are extremely different.
Nagato nevertheless possesses one of the most impressive arsenals thanks to the Rinnegan and the Six Paths of Pain.
Obito also becomes extremely powerful thanks to Kamui and the different abilities he acquires throughout the story.
Itachi, despite his illness, displays an exceptional level of skill in genjutsu, ninjutsu and the use of the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Kisame has enormous chakra reserves, Sasori commands an army of puppets, Hidan is immortal, and Kakuzu can survive as long as several of his hearts remain intact.
Akatsuki FAQ
What does Akatsuki mean?
Akatsuki (暁) means “dawn” or “daybreak” in Japanese. The name reflects Yahiko’s original idea of creating a new era of peace.
Who created Akatsuki?
Akatsuki was founded in the Land of Rain by Yahiko, together with Nagato and Konan.
Who is the leader of Akatsuki?
Yahiko is its first leader. After his death, Nagato leads the organization under the identity of Pain.
How many members are there in Akatsuki?
The ten iconic members are Pain, Konan, Itachi, Kisame, Sasori, Deidara, Hidan, Kakuzu, Zetsu and Tobi. Yahiko and Orochimaru also play an important role in its history.
Why does Akatsuki capture the Tailed Beasts?
Nagato wants to use their power to enforce peace through fear. Obito, meanwhile, wants to carry out the Eye of the Moon Plan.
Why did Itachi join Akatsuki?
After the Uchiha clan massacre, Itachi officially becomes a rogue ninja. His true motivations nevertheless remain connected to Konoha and Sasuke.
Why did Orochimaru leave Akatsuki?
Orochimaru tries to take over Itachi’s body in order to obtain his Sharingan. After failing, he leaves the organization.
Why do the members wear cloaks with red clouds?
The black cloak decorated with red clouds became the organization’s symbol and notably recalls the bloody conflicts that marked the Land of Rain.
Which Akatsuki members are immortal?
Hidan possesses a genuine form of immortality. Kakuzu is not immortal in the strict sense, but his multiple hearts allow him to survive many otherwise fatal injuries.
Who is the strongest Akatsuki member?
Nagato, Obito and Itachi are among the organization’s most formidable members. Because their abilities are so different, direct comparisons remain difficult.
Akatsuki, far more than a simple criminal organization
Akatsuki remains one of the most iconic organizations in the entire Naruto universe.
Pain embodies a vision of peace born from suffering, Konan loyalty to an ideal, Itachi sacrifice, Kisame disillusionment with the ninja world, Sasori the pursuit of eternity, Deidara artistic obsession, Hidan fanaticism, Kakuzu greed, Zetsu manipulation, and Obito the refusal to accept a painful reality.
But Akatsuki’s story is above all the story of an ideal that changes. The organization Yahiko created to end wars gradually becomes one of the greatest threats to the ninja world.
It is this combination of charismatic characters, unique powers, tragic stories and complex motivations that explains why the members of Akatsuki remain among the most popular characters in Naruto and Naruto Shippuden.