Who are all of the akatsuki characters?
* Partner: Formerly Tobi, Sasori * Seiyu:Katsuhiko Kawamoto * Voice actor:: Quinton Flynn (Naruto Episode 135) Deidara (デイダラ, Deidara?) is a missing-nin from Iwagakure. Before joining Akatsuki, Deidara was as a terrorist bomber for hire, where his work attracted the attention of Pain.[10] Pain sent Itachi Uchiha to forcefully make Deidara join the organization.[10] Deidara maintained a deep loathing for Itachi from that point further and became determined to defeat him, even training one of his eyes to overcome Itachi's signature ability: genjutsu.[11] Deidara was partnered with Sasori upon joining the organization, whose artistic ability and insight Deidara admired.[12] After Sasori's death Deidara is paired with Tobi whom he treats as a disciple. Despite Tobi's habit of accidentally angering Deidara, Deidara takes great care to keep Tobi out of harm's way and even dedicates his final moments to apologizing to him.[13] In battle, Deidara uses special mouths in the palm of each hand to create Exploding Clay (起爆粘土, Kibaku Nendo?), chakra-infused clay that explodes on command. He commonly uses the command "Katsu" (喝, "scold"?) to detonate it.[14] His creations are assigned a designation between "C1" and "C4", determined by the strength of its blast and the complexity of the creation.[15] His clay can take on any size or form, ranging from microscopic in size to copies of himself as tall as a skyscraper. Deidara refers to his creations as art, believing the most beautiful thing about them to be their detonation.[16] His admiration for his art is such that he believes it can't be defeated, leading to overconfidence in battle. For his final act, Deidara has a mouth on his chest that, once provided with clay, turns him into a living bomb that destroys everything in a 10 kilometer radius.[17] Deidara uses this as a last resort during his battle with Sasuke Uchiha, Itachi's younger brother, in an effort to prove his art is supreme.* Partner: Formerly Kakuzu Hidan (飛段, Hidan?) is the foul-mouthed partner of Kakuzu and is the second newest member of Akatsuki at the time of his expulsion.[4] Hidan belongs to the Jashin ("evil god") religion, a religion that worships a deity of the same name and where anything less than utter destruction is considered a sin.[19] Before battles start, Hidan prays to Jashin and asks for nothing short of a kill or, when he is not allowed to kill his opponents, for forgiveness.[20] In addition to his religion Hidan has been gifted with immortality, and as such he is able to survive fatal injuries such as decapitation. Despite this, Hidan needs to be connected to his body in order to control it. Kakuzu assists him in these instances by reattaching his limbs, allowing the wounds to heal with time. Hidan's inability to die is also used to Kakuzu's advantage, as he can attack Hidan all he wants without worrying about finding a new partner afterwards. Although the two dislike working together, this advantage makes them the ideal team. During battle Hidan makes every attempt to acquire an opponent's blood where, upon consuming it, he draws a symbol on the ground that "links" him with his opponent. Once this link is created Hidan takes on a grim reaper-like appearance and becomes what is essentially a voodoo doll for his opponent; any damage that is done to Hidan is also done to them. Hidan first uses this ability to give himself nonfatal injuries that bring him pleasure due to the pain it causes to him and the opponent. Once he is done toying with opponents in this way he stabs himself in the heart, killing them. Links can be broken prematurely if Hidan is removed from the safety of his symbol, though it can easily be reestablished by simply reentering its borders. After Hidan uses this ability to kill Asuma Sarutobi, Shikamaru Nara faces him in an attempt to gain revenge. During the battle he is able to capture Hidan and subsequently blow him up, after which he buries Hidan's still-speaking remains. While his actual status is currently unknown, Akatsuki no longer considers him a member.[21]* Age: 17[22]-18[23] in Part I * Partner: Formerly Kisame Hoshigaki * Seiyu: Hideo Ishikawa[24] * Voice actor: Crispin Freeman[25], Skip Stellrecht (NarutoEpisodes 29-30)[26] Itachi Uchiha (うちは イタチ, Uchiha Itachi?) is a missing-nin from Konohagakure and is partnered with Kisame Hoshigaki. During his time in Konoha, Itachi's prodigious talents and rapid development into a skilled ninja earned great attention from his family, the Uchiha clan.[27] He eventually began to train under Madara Uchiha in secret, murdering his best friend to gain the Mangekyo Sharingan.[28] He soon joined forces with Madara in the massacre of the Uchiha clan, sparing only his younger brother, Sasuke Uchiha. Knowing that the blindness brought on by possessing the Mangekyo Sharingan could only be cured by taking the eyes of one's sibling, Itachi spared Sasuke so he could someday take his brother's eyes.[29] Hoping that Sasuke might obtain his own Mangekyo Sharingan by then, Itachi encouraged his younger brother to live hating him and striving to avenge the clan. [30] Despite his status as a wanted criminal and murderer, Itachi does not display any open enjoyment in violence or combat. Itachi instead prefers to avoid battle or, if that is not possible, end it quickly while exerting as little effort as he can.[31] When he does fight Itachi remains stationary, attacking only in defense and to otherwise avoid damage. He also studies an opponent's movements with his Sharingan eyes, using them to properly assess an opponent's actions and respond accordingly. Itachi is very adept with standard genjutsu, and can trap others within an illusion by merely pointing or looking at them.[32]. He is also noted to be extremely fast with his techniques and movements, extending to his hand signs and weaponry as well. [33] Additionally, with his Mangekyo Sharingan, Itachi can utilize three specialized eye-techniques. With the first, Tsukuyomi (月読, Tsukuyomi?), Itachi is able to torture opponents for what seems like days in a matter of moments. Amaterasu (天照, Amaterasu?), the second, generates black flames at Itachi's focal point that will continue to burn until the target is reduced to ash. His final and strongest ability, Susanoo (須佐能乎, Susanoo?), creates a massive ethereal warrior that will fight on Itachi's behalf, and otherwise shields him from all attacks. Each ability is progressively more taxing for him to use, such that after performing Amaterasu his eyes begin to bleed. Itachi uses all three techniques during his battle with Sasuke, though dies of unknown causes soon afterward.* Partner: Formerly Hidan Kakuzu (角都, Kakuzu?) is a missing-nin from Takigakure and Hidan's partner. He is a greedy individual, prioritizing things in terms of how much they are worth and finding money to be the only thing that he can depend on.[34] Kakuzu's favorite source of income is collecting bounties, and he has even memorized the worth and information on some of the more dangerous targets. Despite finding Akatsuki to be a good source of income, Kakuzu greatly dislikes the fact that he needs a teammate, due in part to his habit of killing anyone near him (partners included) when enraged.[35] Having killed all of his previous partners as a result of this, Kakuzu was partnered with Hidan. Although neither enjoys being paired together, Hidan's inability to die makes him the ideal teammate for Kakuzu. Kakuzu's body is composed of a great deal of thick black threads that he can use to detach his limbs for long-range assaults. The threads themselves are also capable of piercing flesh, which Kakuzu uses to remove the still-beating hearts from his enemies. By integrating these younger, healthier hearts into his body, Kakuzu can theoretically extend his life indefinitely.[36] He keeps up to four spare hearts stored within animal masks sewn to his back, each of which can separate from his body and attack independently. Once removed from his body, the masks can shoot powerful elemental blasts at opponents. If the heart in Kakuzu's body is destroyed, one of the masks can remerge with him so that he can take use of its heart, causing the mask to crumble away.[37] Kakuzu's masks are slowly destroyed at the hands of a group of Konohagakure ninja; Naruto Uzumaki is able to destroy two of his hearts simultaneously and bring a third to the brink of failure. Although Kakuzu survives Naruto's attack, he is left unable to move, allowing him to easily be finished off by Kakashi Hatake.* Age: 29[23] in Part I * Partner: None, formerly Itachi Uchiha * Seiyu: Tomoyuki Dan[38] * Voice actor: Kirk Thornton[39] Kisame Hoshigaki (干柿 鬼鮫, Hoshigaki Kisame?) is a missing-nin from Kirigakure and is partnered with Itachi Uchiha. He gets along considerably better with Itachi than most Akatsuki members do with their own partners, immediately doing as Itachi asks of him and always looking out for Itachi's well-being. His former country, the Land of Water, now seeks him out for plotting to overthrow its government and being involved in numerous assassinations.[40] When he was still loyal to Kirigakure, he was one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, a group of ninja that wield particularly large weapons in battle.[41] Kisame's weapon is called Samehada (鮫肌, "shark skin"), a scale-covered sword that shaves off skin instead of cutting and is capable of absorbing untold amounts of chakra. Samehada only allows Kisame to wield it; if anyone else tries to pick it up, spikes protrude from its handle and it returns to Kisame's side.[42] Like other characters who have trained to be one of the Seven Swordsmen, Kisame enjoys mutilating his opponents, as seen when he suggests cutting off Naruto Uzumaki's legs to make him easier to carry.[43] Kisame has a distinctive shark-like appearance, complete with pale blue skin, small white eyes, gill-like facial structures, and sharp triangular teeth. Even his name, Kisame (鬼鮫), means "demon shark". His shark-like qualities carry over to the type of techniques he uses in battle, as he often shapes bodies of water into the forms of sharks that proceed to attack opponents.[44][45] If there is no water source where he happens to be fighting, Kisame can quickly create a lake's worth of water to be used for attacks.[46] Kisame is also noted to have a particularly large reserve of chakra; even when he fights at 30% power in one instance his chakra supply is compared to that of a Nine-Tailed Demon Fox-enhanced Naruto Uzumaki.[47]* Partner: Pain * Konan (小南, Konan?) is the only female ninja in Akatsuki. She is also the only member to call her partner and the Akatsuki leader, Pain, by his name. When she was younger, Konan, Nagato, and Yahiko were left orphaned by one of Amegakure's many wars, forcing them to fend for themselves. The three eventually encountered Jiraiya, who looked after them and taught them basic ninjutsu. Jiraiya had believed Konan to have died with Nagato and Yahiko some time later. Konan has a natural talent for origami, as seen with the paper flower she keeps in her hair. This talent extends to her type of jutsu, as she can divide her body into countless numbers of paper sheets. These sheets can be controlled individually and formed into various shapes for a number of purposes, such as butterflies for scouting or generic weapons for attack. Konan can even form wings that mirror her title as "God's Angel" amongst the villagers of Amegakure, as she often carries out Pain's will.[48] Her abilities are constrained while wet, as paper clings to itself and loses its stiffness.[49]: Main article: Orochimaru * Partner: Formerly Sasori * Orochimaru is a missing-nin from Konohagakure. After he defects from Konoha he joins Akatsuki and is paired with Sasori.[50] Once Itachi Uchiha does the same, Orochimaru attempts to use one of his abilities to forcefully take control of Itachi's body.[51] Itachi repels his effort and severs his hand as punishment, forcing Orochimaru to flee the organization in defeat. Upon leaving he takes his severed hand and the ring he wore on it with him. Because of this, as well as the fact that he had intimate knowledge of Akatsuki's secrets and plans, the members of Akatsuki began making every effort possible to find and eliminate him.The Six Paths of Pain* Partner: Konan * Voice actor: Dave Wittenberg (Naruto Episode 135) Pain (ペイン, Pein?) is the leader of Akatsuki. He exists as six different bodies which share the same mind, known collectively as The Six Paths of Pain (ペイン六道, Pein Rikudō?).[52][53] The only common physical characteristics amongst them are their orange hair color, a number of piercings that differ between bodies, and the Rinnegan (輪廻眼, Rinnegan? literally "Samsara Eye"). The Rinnegan, first possessed by the founder of the ninja world and characterized by a number of concentric circles around the pupil, allows the wielder to perform any jutsu and use all six types of chakra-nature manipulation.[54] It also allows the six bodies to share visual information seamlessly, giving him the ability to coordinate offense and defense of all six as if they were a single entity. Each of the six entities that are Pain were ninja that Jiraiya encountered as he wandered the world. The first body that is seen (third from the right) is that of Yahiko, and is able to control rain and can detect the movements and chakra levels of people traveling within it.[55] The body with a large ponytail (pictured on the far left) can summon a wide array of creatures as well as the other five Pains. The obese body (far right) is able to absorb ninjutsu as a form of defense.[56] The bald body (third from the left) has displayed the ability to fire his left arm like a missile.[57] The first possessor of the Rinnegan that Jiraiya met was Nagato (長門, Nagato?), who, like Yahiko and Konan, was left orphaned by one of Amegakure's many wars. Once meeting the three, Jiraiya looked after them and taught them basic jutsu before leaving to continue his exploration of the world. It is unknown what happened after this, but the Pain entity soon appeared in Amegakure and began a civil war with the government of the time, determined to show the world the meaninglessness of fighting.[58] Pain singlehandedly defeated the former government and killed all of its sympathizers that remained in the village, elevating himself to god-like status amongst the townspeople.[59] Pain now uses the village as his base of operations for Akatsuki, where he is partnered with Konan. Although he directs the actions of the other members and maintains authority over them, Pain takes orders from Tobi.[60]* Partner: Formerly Deidara, Orochimaru * Seiyu:Takahiro Sakurai, Yutaka Aoyama (Hiruko), Akiko Yajima (as a child) * Sasori (サソリ, Sasori?) is a missing-nin from Sunagakure. After the death of his parents, Sasori was left in the care of his grandmother, Chiyo, who taught him all she knew about using puppets in battle.[61] With his newfound knowledge he created puppets in his parents' likeness so that he could feel their love. Since they were only emotionless puppets, his attempt failed, and he left them behind upon leaving the village. Once joining Akatsuki he was paired with Orochimaru,[50] and after Orochimaru's betrayal Sasori took it upon himself to track his movements and plot his destruction. Sasori would come to form a better working relationship with Deidara, as seen by Deidara's admiration of Sasori's abilities.[12] Although the two have exact opposite views of art (Deidara preferring works that depart quickly and Sasori favoring long-lasting pieces),[62] Deidara considers Sasori to be his master until the very end, even though Sasori never appreciated his ideals. Sasori specializes in creating puppets out of the dead bodies of humans, which is done by removing its entrails and preserving it to prevent decomposition.[63] Sasori is commonly seen with Hiruko (ヒルコ), a large puppet he wears like a suit so often that many characters can only recognize him while he is wearing it.[64] His most versatile puppet, however, is himself, as he has long since converted his body into one. In addition to giving him an unnaturally young appearance, Sasori's puppet body allows him to control hundreds of puppets at once. Since he needs part of his original body to control puppets Sasori has preserved his heart in a cylinder-shaped device that he wears upon his chest. Sasori is able to survive any kind of attack so long as his heart remains undamaged, and he can even use it to switch to new bodies by simply placing the cylinder onto a new puppet. Every weapon that his puppets wield is laced with a poison of Sasori's own design; the poison instantly numbs the body and kills the target after three days.[65] Despite his large arsenal of weapons, Sasori is defeated and killed after a prolonged battle with his grandmother and Sakura Haruno.* Partner: None, formerly Deidara * Seiyu: Wataru Takagi Tobi (トビ, Tobi?) joins Akatsuki after Sasori's death, taking his ring, position, and partner (Deidara). Tobi's personality is at odds with the standard amongst Akatsuki members; while most are dedicated and serious, Tobi is more carefree and goofy. These personality traits tend to irritate Deidara, who often attacks Tobi in a comical fashion whenever Tobi unintentionally annoys him.[66] Kisame Hoshigaki, on the other hand, appreciates Tobi's ability to brighten up their "gloomy organization".[67] After Tobi's encounter with Sasuke Uchiha, he is shown giving orders to Pain, until then the ostensible leader of Akatsuki. During their conversation, he refers to himself as Madara Uchiha.[9] Madara created Akatsuki as a means to hide himself from the world, using their activities to disguise his own plans. As Madara, Tobi's personality and speech become completely different, with much less formal diction and a more typically 'villainous' arrogance. It seems, however, that he still has some vested interest in maintaining the illusion of himself as the carefree Tobi, as he reverts to this personality upon encountering a group of Konoha ninja. Tobi's actual appearance remains a complete mystery, with the exception of his hair and a portion of his hace which he showed to Sasuke Uchiha. He wears an odd mask that covers his entire face save for his right eye, which like other Uchiha has a Sharingan. He also has several bolts or pins present on the arms of his uniform, now obscured by his Akatsuki cloak. Furthermore, Tobi does not wear a visible headband, though Madara Uchiha is known to originate from Konohagakure. Tobi has the unique ability to make his body intangible, leaving him visible but otherwise impervious to most forms of damage. He can also teleport without the use of any visible seals, allowing him to avoid the few kinds of damage that can slip through his intangibility.* Partner: None * Seiyu: Nobuo Tobita * Voice actor: Brian Beacock (white side), Michael Sorich (black side) Zetsu (ゼツ, Zetsu?) functions as a spy for Akatsuki, a role made easier by his ability to merge with anything and instantly travel to a new location.[68] He has been shown able to move his body and take part in the tailed beast sealing ritual simultaneously, which allows him to act as a lookout while the sealing takes place.[7] Because of the role he plays, Zetsu is the only member of Akatsuki to act without a partner on a regular basis. Despite this, Zetsu serves as a sort of superior to other members, as they often report directly to him instead of the actual leader, Pain. Zetsu's head appears to be enveloped in a large venus flytrap, which can also envelop the rest of his body. Zetsu is cannibalistic, sent to devour the bodies Akatsuki does not want found.[69] This, in addition to his other roles, gives him the function as Akatsuki's hunter-nin, something that is further exercised when he is sent to retrieve the rings of dead Akatsuki members.[70] The right side of Zetsu's body and face is black in color while his left side is white. To go with this, Zetsu seems to have a split personality, as the black half of his face speaks in a deep voice (written in Katakana) while the white side in a lighter voice (Kanji and Kana). The two halves frequently converse with each other (both through speech and thought), occasionally differ in opinion, and even seem to have separate knowledge-bases. * Partner: Formerly Tobi, Sasori * Seiyu: Katsuhiko Kawamoto * Voice actor:: Quinton Flynn (NarutoEpisode 135) Deidara (デイダラ, Deidara?) is a missing-nin from Iwagakure. Before joining Akatsuki, Deidara was as a terrorist bomber for hire, where his work attracted the attention of Pain.[10] Pain sent Itachi Uchiha to forcefully make Deidara join the organization.[10] Deidara maintained a deep loathing for Itachi from that point further and became determined to defeat him, even training one of his eyes to overcome Itachi's signature ability: genjutsu.[11] Deidara was partnered with Sasori upon joining the organization, whose artistic ability and insight Deidara admired.[12] After Sasori's death Deidara is paired with Tobi whom he treats as a disciple. Despite Tobi's habit of accidentally angering Deidara, Deidara takes great care to keep Tobi out of harm's way and even dedicates his final moments to apologizing to him.[13] In battle, Deidara uses special mouths in the palm of each hand to create Exploding Clay (起爆粘土, Kibaku Nendo?), chakra-infused clay that explodes on command. He commonly uses the command "Katsu" (喝, "scold"?) to detonate it.[14] His creations are assigned a designation between "C1" and "C4", determined by the strength of its blast and the complexity of the creation.[15] His clay can take on any size or form, ranging from microscopic in size to copies of himself as tall as a skyscraper. Deidara refers to his creations as art, believing the most beautiful thing about them to be their detonation.[16] His admiration for his art is such that he believes it can't be defeated, leading to overconfidence in battle. For his final act, Deidara has a mouth on his chest that, once provided with clay, turns him into a living bomb that destroys everything in a 10 kilometer radius.[17] Deidara uses this as a last resort during his battle with Sasuke Uchiha, Itachi's younger brother, in an effort to prove his art is supreme.* Partner: Formerly Kakuzu Hidan (飛段, Hidan?) is the foul-mouthed partner of Kakuzu and is the second newest member of Akatsuki at the time of his expulsion.[4] Hidan belongs to the Jashin ("evil god") religion, a religion that worships a deity of the same name and where anything less than utter destruction is considered a sin.[19] Before battles start, Hidan prays to Jashin and asks for nothing short of a kill or, when he is not allowed to kill his opponents, for forgiveness.[20] In addition to his religion Hidan has been gifted with immortality, and as such he is able to survive fatal injuries such as decapitation. Despite this, Hidan needs to be connected to his body in order to control it. Kakuzu assists him in these instances by reattaching his limbs, allowing the wounds to heal with time. Hidan's inability to die is also used to Kakuzu's advantage, as he can attack Hidan all he wants without worrying about finding a new partner afterwards. Although the two dislike working together, this advantage makes them the ideal team. During battle Hidan makes every attempt to acquire an opponent's blood where, upon consuming it, he draws a symbol on the ground that "links" him with his opponent. Once this link is created Hidan takes on a grim reaper-like appearance and becomes what is essentially a voodoo doll for his opponent; any damage that is done to Hidan is also done to them. Hidan first uses this ability to give himself nonfatal injuries that bring him pleasure due to the pain it causes to him and the opponent. Once he is done toying with opponents in this way he stabs himself in the heart, killing them. Links can be broken prematurely if Hidan is removed from the safety of his symbol, though it can easily be reestablished by simply reentering its borders. After Hidan uses this ability to kill Asuma Sarutobi, Shikamaru Nara faces him in an attempt to gain revenge. During the battle he is able to capture Hidan and subsequently blow him up, after which he buries Hidan's still-speaking remains. While his actual status is currently unknown, Akatsuki no longer considers him a member.[21]* Age: 17[22]-18[23] in Part I * Partner: Formerly Kisame Hoshigaki * Seiyu: Hideo Ishikawa[24] * Voice actor: Crispin Freeman[25], Skip Stellrecht (NarutoEpisodes 29-30)[26] Itachi Uchiha (うちは イタチ, Uchiha Itachi?) is a missing-nin from Konohagakure and is partnered with Kisame Hoshigaki. During his time in Konoha, Itachi's prodigious talents and rapid development into a skilled ninja earned great attention from his family, the Uchiha clan.[27] He eventually began to train under Madara Uchiha in secret, murdering his best friend to gain the Mangekyo Sharingan.[28] He soon joined forces with Madara in the massacre of the Uchiha clan, sparing only his younger brother, Sasuke Uchiha. Knowing that the blindness brought on by possessing the Mangekyo Sharingan could only be cured by taking the eyes of one's sibling, Itachi spared Sasuke so he could someday take his brother's eyes.[29] Hoping that Sasuke might obtain his own Mangekyo Sharingan by then, Itachi encouraged his younger brother to live hating him and striving to avenge the clan. [30] Despite his status as a wanted criminal and murderer, Itachi does not display any open enjoyment in violence or combat. Itachi instead prefers to avoid battle or, if that is not possible, end it quickly while exerting as little effort as he can.[31] When he does fight Itachi remains stationary, attacking only in defense and to otherwise avoid damage. He also studies an opponent's movements with his Sharingan eyes, using them to properly assess an opponent's actions and respond accordingly. Itachi is very adept with standard genjutsu, and can trap others within an illusion by merely pointing or looking at them.[32]. He is also noted to be extremely fast with his techniques and movements, extending to his hand signs and weaponry as well. [33] Additionally, with his Mangekyo Sharingan, Itachi can utilize three specialized eye-techniques. With the first, Tsukuyomi (月読, Tsukuyomi?), Itachi is able to torture opponents for what seems like days in a matter of moments. Amaterasu (天照, Amaterasu?), the second, generates black flames at Itachi's focal point that will continue to burn until the target is reduced to ash. His final and strongest ability, Susanoo (須佐能乎, Susanoo?), creates a massive ethereal warrior that will fight on Itachi's behalf, and otherwise shields him from all attacks. Each ability is progressively more taxing for him to use, such that after performing Amaterasu his eyes begin to bleed. Itachi uses all three techniques during his battle with Sasuke, though dies of unknown causes soon afterward.* Partner: Formerly Hidan Kakuzu (角都, Kakuzu?) is a missing-nin from Takigakure and Hidan's partner. He is a greedy individual, prioritizing things in terms of how much they are worth and finding money to be the only thing that he can depend on.[34] Kakuzu's favorite source of income is collecting bounties, and he has even memorized the worth and information on some of the more dangerous targets. Despite finding Akatsuki to be a good source of income, Kakuzu greatly dislikes the fact that he needs a teammate, due in part to his habit of killing anyone near him (partners included) when enraged.[35] Having killed all of his previous partners as a result of this, Kakuzu was partnered with Hidan. Although neither enjoys being paired together, Hidan's inability to die makes him the ideal teammate for Kakuzu. Kakuzu's body is composed of a great deal of thick black threads that he can use to detach his limbs for long-range assaults. The threads themselves are also capable of piercing flesh, which Kakuzu uses to remove the still-beating hearts from his enemies. By integrating these younger, healthier hearts into his body, Kakuzu can theoretically extend his life indefinitely.[36] He keeps up to four spare hearts stored within animal masks sewn to his back, each of which can separate from his body and attack independently. Once removed from his body, the masks can shoot powerful elemental blasts at opponents. If the heart in Kakuzu's body is destroyed, one of the masks can remerge with him so that he can take use of its heart, causing the mask to crumble away.[37] Kakuzu's masks are slowly destroyed at the hands of a group of Konohagakure ninja; Naruto Uzumaki is able to destroy two of his hearts simultaneously and bring a third to the brink of failure. Although Kakuzu survives Naruto's attack, he is left unable to move, allowing him to easily be finished off by Kakashi Hatake.* Age: 29[23] in Part I * Partner: None, formerly Itachi Uchiha * Seiyu: Tomoyuki Dan[38] * Voice actor: Kirk Thornton[39] Kisame Hoshigaki (干柿 鬼鮫, Hoshigaki Kisame?) is a missing-nin from Kirigakure and is partnered with Itachi Uchiha. He gets along considerably better with Itachi than most Akatsuki members do with their own partners, immediately doing as Itachi asks of him and always looking out for Itachi's well-being. His former country, the Land of Water, now seeks him out for plotting to overthrow its government and being involved in numerous assassinations.[40] When he was still loyal to Kirigakure, he was one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, a group of ninja that wield particularly large weapons in battle.[41] Kisame's weapon is called Samehada (鮫肌, "shark skin"), a scale-covered sword that shaves off skin instead of cutting and is capable of absorbing untold amounts of chakra. Samehada only allows Kisame to wield it; if anyone else tries to pick it up, spikes protrude from its handle and it returns to Kisame's side.[42] Like other characters who have trained to be one of the Seven Swordsmen, Kisame enjoys mutilating his opponents, as seen when he suggests cutting off Naruto Uzumaki's legs to make him easier to carry.[43] Kisame has a distinctive shark-like appearance, complete with pale blue skin, small white eyes, gill-like facial structures, and sharp triangular teeth. Even his name, Kisame (鬼鮫), means "demon shark". His shark-like qualities carry over to the type of techniques he uses in battle, as he often shapes bodies of water into the forms of sharks that proceed to attack opponents.[44][45] If there is no water source where he happens to be fighting, Kisame can quickly create a lake's worth of water to be used for attacks.[46] Kisame is also noted to have a particularly large reserve of chakra; even when he fights at 30% power in one instance his chakra supply is compared to that of a Nine-Tailed Demon Fox-enhanced Naruto Uzumaki.[47]* Partner: Pain * Konan (小南, Konan?) is the only female ninja in Akatsuki. She is also the only member to call her partner and the Akatsuki leader, Pain, by his name. When she was younger, Konan, Nagato, and Yahiko were left orphaned by one of Amegakure's many wars, forcing them to fend for themselves. The three eventually encountered Jiraiya, who looked after them and taught them basic ninjutsu. Jiraiya had believed Konan to have died with Nagato and Yahiko some time later. Konan has a natural talent for origami, as seen with the paper flower she keeps in her hair. This talent extends to her type of jutsu, as she can divide her body into countless numbers of paper sheets. These sheets can be controlled individually and formed into various shapes for a number of purposes, such as butterflies for scouting or generic weapons for attack. Konan can even form wings that mirror her title as "God's Angel" amongst the villagers of Amegakure, as she often carries out Pain's will.[48] Her abilities are constrained while wet, as paper clings to itself and loses its stiffness.[49]: Main article: Orochimaru * Partner: Formerly Sasori * Orochimaru is a missing-nin from Konohagakure. After he defects from Konoha he joins Akatsuki and is paired with Sasori.[50] Once Itachi Uchiha does the same, Orochimaru attempts to use one of his abilities to forcefully take control of Itachi's body.[51] Itachi repels his effort and severs his hand as punishment, forcing Orochimaru to flee the organization in defeat. Upon leaving he takes his severed hand and the ring he wore on it with him. Because of this, as well as the fact that he had intimate knowledge of Akatsuki's secrets and plans, the members of Akatsuki began making every effort possible to find and eliminate him.The Six Paths of Pain* Partner: Konan * Voice actor: Dave Wittenberg (Naruto Episode 135) Pain (ペイン, Pein?) is the leader of Akatsuki. He exists as six different bodies which share the same mind, known collectively as The Six Paths of Pain (ペイン六道, Pein Rikudō?).[52][53] The only common physical characteristics amongst them are their orange hair color, a number of piercings that differ between bodies, and the Rinnegan (輪廻眼, Rinnegan? literally "Samsara Eye"). The Rinnegan, first possessed by the founder of the ninja world and characterized by a number of concentric circles around the pupil, allows the wielder to perform any jutsu and use all six types of chakra-nature manipulation.[54] It also allows the six bodies to share visual information seamlessly, giving him the ability to coordinate offense and defense of all six as if they were a single entity. Each of the six entities that are Pain were ninja that Jiraiya encountered as he wandered the world. The first body that is seen (third from the right) is that of Yahiko, and is able to control rain and can detect the movements and chakra levels of people traveling within it.[55] The body with a large ponytail (pictured on the far left) can summon a wide array of creatures as well as the other five Pains. The obese body (far right) is able to absorb ninjutsu as a form of defense.[56] The bald body (third from the left) has displayed the ability to fire his left arm like a missile.[57] The first possessor of the Rinnegan that Jiraiya met was Nagato (長門, Nagato?), who, like Yahiko and Konan, was left orphaned by one of Amegakure's many wars. Once meeting the three, Jiraiya looked after them and taught them basic jutsu before leaving to continue his exploration of the world. It is unknown what happened after this, but the Pain entity soon appeared in Amegakure and began a civil war with the government of the time, determined to show the world the meaninglessness of fighting.[58] Pain singlehandedly defeated the former government and killed all of its sympathizers that remained in the village, elevating himself to god-like status amongst the townspeople.[59] Pain now uses the village as his base of operations for Akatsuki, where he is partnered with Konan. Although he directs the actions of the other members and maintains authority over them, Pain takes orders from Tobi.[60]* Partner: Formerly Deidara, Orochimaru * Seiyu:Takahiro Sakurai, Yutaka Aoyama (Hiruko), Akiko Yajima (as a child) * Sasori (サソリ, Sasori?) is a missing-nin from Sunagakure. After the death of his parents, Sasori was left in the care of his grandmother, Chiyo, who taught him all she knew about using puppets in battle.[61] With his newfound knowledge he created puppets in his parents' likeness so that he could feel their love. Since they were only emotionless puppets, his attempt failed, and he left them behind upon leaving the village. Once joining Akatsuki he was paired with Orochimaru,[50] and after Orochimaru's betrayal Sasori took it upon himself to track his movements and plot his destruction. Sasori would come to form a better working relationship with Deidara, as seen by Deidara's admiration of Sasori's abilities.[12] Although the two have exact opposite views of art (Deidara preferring works that depart quickly and Sasori favoring long-lasting pieces),[62] Deidara considers Sasori to be his master until the very end, even though Sasori never appreciated his ideals. Sasori specializes in creating puppets out of the dead bodies of humans, which is done by removing its entrails and preserving it to prevent decomposition.[63] Sasori is commonly seen with Hiruko (ヒルコ), a large puppet he wears like a suit so often that many characters can only recognize him while he is wearing it.[64] His most versatile puppet, however, is himself, as he has long since converted his body into one. In addition to giving him an unnaturally young appearance, Sasori's puppet body allows him to control hundreds of puppets at once. Since he needs part of his original body to control puppets Sasori has preserved his heart in a cylinder-shaped device that he wears upon his chest. Sasori is able to survive any kind of attack so long as his heart remains undamaged, and he can even use it to switch to new bodies by simply placing the cylinder onto a new puppet. Every weapon that his puppets wield is laced with a poison of Sasori's own design; the poison instantly numbs the body and kills the target after three days.[65] Despite his large arsenal of weapons, Sasori is defeated and killed after a prolonged battle with his grandmother and Sakura Haruno.* Partner: None, formerly Deidara * Seiyu: Wataru Takagi Tobi (トビ, Tobi?) joins Akatsuki after Sasori's death, taking his ring, position, and partner (Deidara). Tobi's personality is at odds with the standard amongst Akatsuki members; while most are dedicated and serious, Tobi is more carefree and goofy. These personality traits tend to irritate Deidara, who often attacks Tobi in a comical fashion whenever Tobi unintentionally annoys him.[66] Kisame Hoshigaki, on the other hand, appreciates Tobi's ability to brighten up their "gloomy organization".[67] After Tobi's encounter with Sasuke Uchiha, he is shown giving orders to Pain, until then the ostensible leader of Akatsuki. During their conversation, he refers to himself as Madara Uchiha.[9] Madara created Akatsuki as a means to hide himself from the world, using their activities to disguise his own plans. As Madara, Tobi's personality and speech become completely different, with much less formal diction and a more typically 'villainous' arrogance. It seems, however, that he still has some vested interest in maintaining the illusion of himself as the carefree Tobi, as he reverts to this personality upon encountering a group of Konoha ninja. Tobi's actual appearance remains a complete mystery, with the exception of his hair and a portion of his hace which he showed to Sasuke Uchiha. He wears an odd mask that covers his entire face save for his right eye, which like other Uchiha has a Sharingan. He also has several bolts or pins present on the arms of his uniform, now obscured by his Akatsuki cloak. Furthermore, Tobi does not wear a visible headband, though Madara Uchiha is known to originate from Konohagakure. Tobi has the unique ability to make his body intangible, leaving him visible but otherwise impervious to most forms of damage. He can also teleport without the use of any visible seals, allowing him to avoid the few kinds of damage that can slip through his intangibility.* Partner: None * Seiyu: Nobuo Tobita * Voice actor: Brian Beacock (white side), Michael Sorich (black side) Zetsu (ゼツ, Zetsu?) functions as a spy for Akatsuki, a role made easier by his ability to merge with anything and instantly travel to a new location.[68] He has been shown able to move his body and take part in the tailed beast sealing ritual simultaneously, which allows him to act as a lookout while the sealing takes place.[7] Because of the role he plays, Zetsu is the only member of Akatsuki to act without a partner on a regular basis. Despite this, Zetsu serves as a sort of superior to other members, as they often report directly to him instead of the actual leader, Pain. Zetsu's head appears to be enveloped in a large venus flytrap, which can also envelop the rest of his body. Zetsu is cannibalistic, sent to devour the bodies Akatsuki does not want found.[69] This, in addition to his other roles, gives him the function as Akatsuki's hunter-nin, something that is further exercised when he is sent to retrieve the rings of dead Akatsuki members.[70] The right side of Zetsu's body and face is black in color while his left side is white. To go with this, Zetsu seems to have a split personality, as the black half of his face speaks in a deep voice (written in Katakana) while the white side in a lighter voice (Kanji and Kana). The two halves frequently converse with each other (both through speech and thought), occasionally differ in opinion, and even seem to have separate knowledge-bases.
