Akatsuki (Naruto)

Akatsuki is an organization that features in Naruto.

History

Akatsuki (Japanese: 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.

Upon teaching 10 members, it was finally decided that the group was to hunt down and captured the Tailed-Beasts that were spread across the world.

During this search for Orochimaru, the Sanin Jiraiya came to learn of the name of the Akatsuki organization but knew little else about them beyond the fact that they were after the Tailed-Beasts.

Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki were sent to Konogakure after it had endured a joint attack from the sand ninja and Orochimaru's forces. They arrived in the village with the goal of abducting Naruto Uzumaki and extracting the Nine-Tails from his body. Their arrival was detected by Kakashi Hatake but he and his fellow Jonin were unable to defeat the two Akatsuki members. Itachi and Kisame continued their search where they conducted an elaborate plan to separate Jiraiya from Naruto in order to abduct the Uzumakin boy. Despite their plans, Jiraiya managed to arrive at the scene and came to thwart their efforts thus forcing the two Akatsuki members to escape the scene. Afterwards, the Akatsuki gathered for the first time in 7 years since Orochimaru had left their ranks where they noted his plots against Konohagakure by trying to claim Sasuke Uchiha as a new host body. In addition, they were resolved in claiming Naruto Uzumaki for their purposes with them deciding to enact their scheme in the next 3 years. Jiraiya came to learn of this and decided to train Naruto in order to become a better ninja so that he could battle the mysterious organization. This would take two years as the Akatsuki were making their preparations to enact their plans.

Sasaori and Deidara were then dispatched to acquire the One-Tails who was residing in the jinchūriki host Gaara who contained Shukaku. his saw them travelling to the sand village of Sunagakure where they were easily allowed entry due to the sand ninja being betrayed by one of their own who was a subordinate of Sasori. After a battle with Deidara, Gaara came to be defeated and taken by the two Akatsuki members to the nearest secret lair of the organization. Once there, they summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path where they enacted the jutsu to extract the One-Tails from Gaara's body. Meanwhile, ninjas from Konohagakure were in pursuit of the Akatsuki in order to free their ally Gaara from the organization's clutches. The two allied teams of shinobi managed to kill Sasori whilst Deidara was defeated though he managed to survive their encounter. Meanwhile, Gaara himself was brought back to life through a forbidden technique though the Tailed-Beast within him had been extracted. Afterwards, another Akatsuki team that included Kakuzu and Hidan continued their own assignment in hunting down jinchuriki hosts where they succeeded in killing several of them and taking the beasts within them. Their movements took them to the Fire Temple where the two Akatsuki killed Chiriku of the Twelve Guardian Ninja. Their activities drew the attention of Konohagakure who prepared for the next encounter with the Akatsuki.

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

In appearance, the Akatsuki were a secret organization that operated in the ninja world in the aftermath of the Third Shinobi War. At any given point in time, it was composed of no more than ten primary members with the majority of them being S-class criminals. All known members had betrayed their villages they grew up in and had become the most wanted and dangerous individuals in the world. They all wore a common uniform that consisted of a long black-cloak that was decorated with numerous red clouds and a red interior with a chin-high collar. All members also wore nail polish of varying colors on their fingernails and toenails. When starting a mission, they wore large conical straw hats with small spike-like bells hanging from them to block their faces, but the hats were discarded once they had been discovered. Some members continued to wear forehead protectors from their former home villages, but scratch a line across their village's symbol with this being worn in addition to their standard uniform. This was done to indicate that their ties to the village have been severed and they no longer gave allegiance to their former homes. Each Akatsuki member also wore a single, unique ring, and no two members wore a ring on the same finger. In total, there were ten rings, and each seemed to have some special significance. Each ring bore a unique symbol with the the first kanji of its name.

The various rings were:

• 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.

Members of Akatsuki usually worked in teams of two. Teams were built to complement each other's abilities and talents to create a formidable duo. Members whose partners had died also operated by themselves until a replacement could be found. At the very least, members maintained 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 would only work with their teammate so long as it furthered the Akatsuki's goals, with all other matters being a source of dispute between the two. In general, Akatsuki members were 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.

As an organization, the Akatsuki was widespread with its members constantly traveling between countries and its agents operating out of various villages throughout the world. As their activities meant that they were far apart it meant that meetings in person tended to be impractical. Thus, to coordinate with one another, they came to use a jutsu that allowed for telepathic contact so that information could be exchanged among them. On matters of more importance, the Akatsuki could project their presence astrally at one of their many secret lairs that allowed for more interaction with one another.

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 : a blonde-haired male who was an S-rank missing-nin from Iwagakure who was formerly member from the Explosion Corps.
• Sasori : a red-haired male known as Sasori of the Red Sand (赤砂のサソリ, Akasuna no Sasori) who was a former member of Sunagakure's Puppet Brigade and said to be a puppeteering genius.
• Hidan :
• Itachi Uchiha : a dark haired male member of the Uchiha clan from Konogakure who massacred his clan and joined the Akatsuki where he made use of the power of the Mangekyo Sharingan in battle.
• Kakuzu : a male who was said to had taken the secret of immortality from the Hidden Rain and became an immortal where he served as a bounty hunter.
• Kisame Hoshigaki : a dark-haired male who was called the Monster of the Hidden Mist (霧隠れの怪人, Kirigakure no Kaijin) from Kirigakure's and a former member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist where he was an S-rank missing nin.
• Konan : a female who was a close friend and associate of Pain with her having the jutsu that manipulated paper.
• Orochimaru : one of the Legendary Sanin, he learnt of the Akatsuki and sought them out where he was reluctantly given a rank within their group though it as expected that he would betray them. He later left their ranks and was considered an enemy of the Akatsuki.
• Pain : the red-haired Nagato controlled six bodies that were collectively known as Pain and held as the Akatsuki's most powerful fighter with him being the seeming leader of the organization.
• 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
• Comicvine Entry

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