Akatsuki (Naruto)

Akatsuki is an organization that features in Naruto.

History

Akatsuki (暁, meaning "Dawn" or "Daybreak") was a secret organization of shinobi that existed outside the village system that resided on Earth. Their origins were actually traced the millennia long manipulations of Black Zetsu who intended to revive his mother Kaguya Otsutsuki but he arranged events to make it appear that Madara Uchiha came up with the idea. Originally, they were founded during the Third Shinobi World War by Yahiko who alongside his childhood friends Nagato and Konan. The three had been close friends after being orphaned by the Second Shinobi World War and decided to form a group that would brought about peace in their home country of Amegakure that was often trapped in the many global conflicts. During this time, they were approached Tobi who claimed he was Madara Uchiha himself and claimed that Nagato was a reincarnation of the Sage of the Six Paths. He offered to teach Nagato to better control the powers of his Rinnegan eyes but Yahiko distrusted the stranger leading to his friend turning down his offer. Despite this being the case, it was said that this 'Madara Uchiha' had encouraged Yahiko to form the Akatsuki with this being something not known to Konan.

Years later, one of Orichimaru's former experiments left his care and took the name Shin Uchiha after admiring Itachi Uchiha's exploits. Shin took with him an army of clones of himself where he became obsessed with a philosophy of the strong dominating the weak under the basis of genetics. He intended to expand this view to the rest of the world where he intended to accomplish this by reviving the Akatsuki organization. Part of his goals saw him targeting Sasuke Uchiha and claiming his Sharingan eyes with this attracting the attention of the Seventh Hokage Naruto Uzumaki. Alongside their allies, they succeeded in thwarting the actions of Shin Uchiha who was ultimately killed by his younger clones after they deemed him a failure. In the aftermath, the clones were deemed to had simply been victims of the older Shin's machinations and were taken to the Hidden Leaf village's Konoha Orphanage in order for them to be raised properly and allow for them to be reintroduced into society.

Overview

Akatsuki, at any given point in time, is composed of no more than ten primary members. All known members have betrayed their villages they grew up in and are the most wanted and dangerous individuals in the series.

Members of Akatsuki usually work in teams of two. Teams are built to complement each other's abilities and talents to create a formidable duo. Members whose partners have died also operate by themselves until a replacement can be found. At the very least, members maintain a functioning working relationship with their partner, with some form of loyalty to one another being present in most cases. In other instances a member will only work with their teammate so long as it furthers Akatsuki's goals, with all other matters being a source of dispute between the two. In general, Akatsuki members are unconcerned with the fate of their other comrades, their only point of interest concerning someone's death being who was strong enough to kill them.[2]

Akatsuki is a widespread organization, with its members constantly traveling between countries and its agents operating out of various villages throughout the Naruto world. Because the various members are often so far apart, making a meeting in person impractical, they can communicate through a form of telepathy. If there is a need for the group to have more of an interaction with each other, members can use a form of astral projection to meet at one of Akatsuki's many secret lairs.[3] Their meetings are much more frequent in the second part of the series due to their increased activity.

Akatsuki members dress in similar clothing: a long, dark cloak bearing red clouds and a red interior with a chin-high collar. All members also wear nail polish of varying colors on their fingernails and toenails. When starting a mission they wear large conical straw hats with small spike-like bells hanging from them to block their faces, but the hats are discarded once they have been discovered. In addition to this more standard wardrobe, some members continue to wear forehead protectors from their former home villages, but scratch a line across their village's symbol. This is done to indicate that their ties to the village have been severed and they no longer give allegiance to their former homes. Each Akatsuki member also wears a single, unique ring, and no two members wear a ring on the same finger. In total, there are ten rings, and each seems to have some special significance. Each ring bears a unique symbol, the first kanji of its name.

The various rings are:

• Right thumb: 零 rei, "zero"; worn by Pain.
• Right index finger: 青龍 Seiryū, the Azure Dragon; formerly worn by Deidara.
• Right middle finger: 白虎 Byakko, the White Tiger; worn by Konan.
• Right ring finger: 朱雀 Suzaku, the Vermilion Bird; formerly worn by Itachi Uchiha.
• Right little finger: 玄武 Genbu, the Black Tortoise; worn by Zetsu.
• Left little finger: 空陳 Kūchin, the Void; formerly worn by Orochimaru.
• Left ring finger: 南斗 Nanju, Sagittarius (lit. Southern Star); worn by Kisame Hoshigaki.
• Left middle finger: 北斗 Hokuto, the Big Dipper (lit. Northern Star); formerly worn by Kakuzu.
• Left index finger: 三台 santai, "three levels"; formerly worn by Hidan.
• Left thumb: 玉女 gyokunyo, the Virgin; currently worn by Tobi, formerly worn by Sasori.

Akatsuki was created by Madara Uchiha, initially dealing in assassinations and espionage that draw little attention. Some members use their time with Akatsuki to further their own goals; Kakuzu, for example, joined because it makes it easier for him to collect bounties. Soon after the start of the series, however, Akatsuki becomes increasingly more active as its members start to carry out the tasks needed to achieve their ultimate goal: domination over the Naruto world. The leader, Pain, has created a three-step process to work their way towards this goal. First, they plan to obtain a large amount of money to support their organization. Second, they plan to set up a mercenary group loyal only to Akatsuki. To build their reputation, they plan to accept any mission below the usual cost and operate off of the excess funds earned in the first part of their plan. Because there haven't been any wars in some time, the established shinobi villages can't afford to charge such low prices, leading the smaller countries to hire Akatsuki over the more expensive shinobi villages. By using the tailed beasts, Akatsuki can start wars and then immediately quell them, solidifying their reputation and convincing every country to depend on them. Without any business, the other shinobi villages would collapse due to a lack of funds. Finally, after Akatsuki is the only major shinobi force in existence, they could easily conquer the other countries. Despite the severity of this plan, members do not automatically learn of it upon joining; Hidan did not find out about it until asking.

The tailed beasts, nine gigantic demons of immense power, are the focus of much of Akatsuki's effort and screen time within the series. Each Akatsuki member is assigned to capture alive one of the nine beasts or, in most cases, the person that beast has been sealed into. Akatsuki has so far obtained seven of the nine.

Once one of the demons has been captured it is taken to the nearest Akatsuki lair where the remaining members then assemble through astral projection. Pain summons a giant statue of a humanoid monster while the beast or its host is placed before it. The members then take their place on the finger of the statue that corresponds to their respective ring, and the group prepares to seal the beast into the statue. For the sealing, nine dragon-like effigies pour from the statue's mouth to surround the captured host, forcefully remove the tailed beast from them, and seal it into the statue. In the case of an unsealed tailed beast, the same thing happens to the beast itself. The sealing process takes three days to complete. Kisame Hoshigaki notes that the demons must be sealed in a specific order, as he states that sealing the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox before the other eight beasts would destroy the statue. Tobi, the character shown giving Pain orders, hints that the tailed beasts have a purpose beyond global conquest, implying that acquiring all nine would allow his Sharingan to return to full power. Pain, however, has different plans on using the tailed beasts, wishing to use them to create a weapon of mass destruction that will force the world to learn the pointlessness of fighting and try to achieve a sense of world peace.

Members

• Deidara :
• Hidan :
• Itachi Uchiha :
• Kakuzu :
• Kisame Hoshigaki :
• Konan :
• Orochimaru :
• Pain :
• Sasori :
• Tobi :
• Zetsu :
• Shin Uchiha :

Notes

• The Akatsuki were created by Masashi Kishimoto where they featured as antagonists in Naruto.

Appearances

• Naruto:
• Boruto: Naruto Next Generations:

External Links

• Naruto Wiki Entry

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