Akatsuki is a small organization by most standards; at any given point, the group has at most ten members and an uncertain number of agents. Though they seem to have a decent network of agents in various villages, these individuals are usually under some form of mind-control. A notable exception is Tobi, who acted as subordinate to Zetsu before being promoted. The members of Akatsuki are all S-class criminals, the most wanted and dangerous individuals in the Naruto universe.
The exact criteria for admission into the group are unknown, but extraordinary fighting ability and 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 Uchiha 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 Haruno that "[he] hadn't had this much difficulty since joining Akatsuki." Itachi was responsible for murdering his whole clan (with the exception of his little brother, Sasuke) around the time he is believed to have entered, but it is not certain that the two events are linked. At least in Deidara's case, the leader seems to locate potential candidates for membership and has them forcibly recruited by the current members.[1]
[edit] Organization
Akatsuki doesn't seem to have any strict organizational structure, though its members do maintain several unique practices. They rarely seem to meet in person, instead communicating through telepathy and astral projection when necessary. When their entire group is introduced at the end of the first part of the series, meeting in an unspecified location through astral projection, one member notes that it had been seven years since they had all been together in such a fashion. Their meetings are much more frequent in the second part of the series due to their increased activity. The members of Akatsuki seem to have little consistency in their individual goals. They only group together because Akatsuki's overall goal in some way benefits the individual goals of its members. Akatsuki members don't particularly value the lives of their comrades, either; a member's death in itself will not bother the other members, but rather the fact that someone was able to kill that member.
[edit] Goal
Akatsuki's overall goal is domination over the Naruto world.[2] To achieve that goal, the leader has set up a three-step process to work their way to it. First, they plan to obtain a large amount of money to support their organization.[3] Second, they plan to set up a mercenary group loyal only to Akatsuki.[4] To build their reputation, they plan to accept any mission below the usual cost, which is covered by the excess amount of 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, thus cornering the market in shinobi labor.[5] Without any business, the other shinobi villages will collapse due to a lack of funds. Finally, after Akatsuki is the only major force of shinobi in existence, they can easily conquer the other countries.
As a large part of their plan, they actively hunt the tailed beasts and their hosts. Once a tailed beast or its host is captured, they seal them in a large statue for use at a later time. Akatsuki possesses seven tailed beasts: the one-tailed Shukaku, the two-tailed demon cat, the three-tailed demon, the four-tailed demon, and three other unknown demons.[6]
However, Tobi, the mastermind behind Akatsuki, has hinted at an ulterior motive behind all this involving the Sharingan regaining its true power.[7]
[edit] Teams
Akatsuki members usually work in teams of two. Teams are built to complement each other's abilities and talents to create a formidable duo. For example, Kakuzu uses Hidan's immortality to their advantage by using large-scale attacks on those Hidan has pinned down; being immortal, Hidan survives what is normally fatal to his opponent. Due to Orochimaru's defection their numbers became uneven, and as such Zetsu began functioning without a teammate. Tobi has since lost his partner in battle, resulting in an even number of members once again, though he has yet to be paired with another member. Each member thus far has shown at least a working loyalty to each other and their leader, and they have excellent working relationships. On a personal level, however, some of the team members exhibit outright animosity towards one another, though they do not let it get in the way of their missions.
[edit] Tailed beast extraction
The sealing statue, and the members performing the sealing ritualWhenever an Akatsuki member captures a tailed beast or its host, it is taken to their lair. Once there, Pein summons a giant statue of a humanoid monster. Pein doesn't need to be present to summon the statue, nor do Akatsuki members need to be physically present for the statue to activate. Any Akatsuki members unable to reach the statue can use astral projection to appear at the statue. The statue itself seems to symbolize restriction or sealing; the creature's hands are handcuffed, its eyes are blindfolded, and a bit is in its mouth, which falls out when the Akatsuki members are sealing a tailed beast. On the creature's blindfold are nine closed eyes (eight eyes in two rows of four with the larger ninth eye in the center), each corresponding to one of the nine tailed beasts. The eyes don't appear to be in any specific order, as the eye representing the one-tailed Shukaku is the second on the upper row[8] while the eye representing the three-tailed beast is the third on the lower row,[9] and the four-tailed beast is the fourth on the lower row.[10]
After the summoning, the host or tailed beast (depending on if it is sealed in a person or not) is placed in front of the statue while each Akatsuki member stands on the finger that corresponds to their specific ring. The members then perform Sealing Technique: Illusionary Dragon Nine Consuming Seals (封印術・幻龍九封尽, Fūin Jutsu: Genryū Kyū Fūjin?) to draw the spirit of the beast (or the beast itself) into the statue. Nine dragon-like effigies then pour from the statue's mouth, surround the captured host, and forcefully remove the tailed beast from them. In the case of an unsealed tailed beast, the same thing happens to the beast itself. Once the beast is sealed, all the eyes open, and the pupil of the eye that corresponds to the beast appears, indicating that it has been successfully sealed. The jutsu takes three days to complete. Kisame Hoshigaki commented that the jutsu takes longer without Orochimaru present, though whether this means that Orochimaru created the jutsu, or that the presence of all ten Akatsuki members is necessary for the greatest efficiency is unknown.
Because of the large amount of time it takes to complete a sealing, Akatsuki members use Five Seal Barrier (五封結界, Gofū Kekkai?) to prevent interruption. The seal consists of placing five other seals: one to prevent entry to the lair, and four others to prevent the first from being removed. The five seals are spread across a wide area and must all be removed simultaneously, requiring an average team to split up to bring down the barrier. Once the seals are removed clones of those that removed them are created, capable of using all attacks in the original's arsenal and weapons in the original's possession.
It's unknown if the statue serves any other purpose than to contain the captured tailed beasts. The statue apparently requires that the power sealed within it be balanced, as Kisame notes that sealing the nine-tailed fox before sealing the other eight tailed beasts would destroy the statue.[11]
[edit] Rings
Itachi's ring.Each Akatsuki member wears a single, unique ring, and no two members wear a ring on the same finger. Each member wears their ring on the same finger as the spot they occupy on the giant statue. In total, there are ten rings, but Akatsuki only possesses seven; Orochimaru kept his after defecting, and those worn by Hidan and Kakuzu have yet to be retrieved. The rings seem to have some special significance; Tobi believed that he could become a member after finding Sasori's ring, and although Zetsu claims it's not as easy as that, Tobi does indeed become a member. Deidara reinforces the significance of the rings after losing both his arms by expressing more concern for finding the arm with his ring, rather than finding the arm itself. Each ring bears a unique symbol, the first kanji of its name.
A diagram showing every member's ring positionThe various rings are:[12]
零 rei, "zero": worn by Pein.
青龍 Seiryū, the Azure Dragon: worn by Deidara.
白虎 Byakko, the White Tiger: worn by the Unnamed member.
朱雀 Suzaku, the Vermilion Bird: worn by Itachi Uchiha.
玄武 Genbu, the Black Tortoise: worn by Zetsu. Zetsu's ring actually has the kanji 亥 (kai, boar) instead of 玄 (gen, mysteriousness). The two kanji are somewhat similar in appearance, which suggests an error by either the artist or the translator.
空陳 Kūchin, the Void: formerly worn by Orochimaru.
南斗 Nanju, Sagittarius (lit. Southern Star): worn by Kisame.
北斗 Hokuto, the Big Dipper (lit. Northern Star): worn by Kakuzu.
三台 santai, "three levels": worn by Hidan.
玉女 gyokunyo, the Virgin: currently worn by Tobi, formerly worn by Sasori.
[edit] Clothing and appearance
Common Akatsuki clothingAkatsuki members dress in similar clothing: a long, dark cloak bearing red clouds and a red interior with a chin-high collar another notable feature included is a hood which was seen to be worn by Tobi. All members also wear purple or black nail polish on their fingernails and toenails. Large conical straw hats with small spike-like bells hanging from them also seem to be part of their outfit, but they discard them after being discovered. This seems to be an optional piece of the Akatsuki outfit, likely to further disguise their identities.
[edit] 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 allegiance to their former homes. Currently, Tobi, Zetsu, and the unnamed member have not been shown wearing forehead protectors, so it is unknown where they are originally from, although Tobi, being part of the Uchiha clan, can be assumed to be from Konohagakure. Additionally, Hidan's forehead protector, while clearly visible, features a symbol not corresponding with any known village, so his place of origin is a mystery, as well.
[edit] Members
Main article: List of Akatsuki members
Akatsuki originally had ten members, but they are currently at six following the defection of Orochimaru and the deaths of three members - Sasori, Deidara, and Kakuzu. Hidan is still alive, but permanently incapacitated and is considered dead in the eyes of the leader. Tobi, a former subordinate of the group, has taken Sasori's place. Orochimaru, however, has yet to be replaced, despite having left the group several years before its initial introduction; this is likely because Orochimaru took his Akatsuki ring with him when he left.
Though all of the members have been shown to some degree, one has yet to be named. She has had little dialogue and is attributed to being Pein's partner, but other than that, her identity remains a mystery.
View User's Journal
The Sharingan (写輪眼, Sharingan? literally "Copy Wheel Eye," Viz "Mirror Wheel Eye" wink is a special type of pupil condition that naturally occurs in all members of the Uchiha clan, though not all of them gain the ability to use it. Itachi hints at some dark ultimate purpose behind the Sharingan, which both he and Sasuke apparently know, but the series has yet to reveal exactly what that purpose is. The Sharingan is thought to be descended from the Byakugan, but grants the user different abilities and a different insight.
The Sharingan's first and most well known ability is to memorize any technique that it witnesses. It can memorize ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu with perfect accuracy, allowing the user to use the techniques as his own. In order to reproduce copied jutsu, however, one must have the necessary skill or ability to perform them. A prime example is Rock Lee's Strong Fist taijutsu. While Sasuke was able to copy some of Lee's moves, they put a much more significant strain on him since he hasn't trained nearly as hard as Lee has. In addition to physical skill, the Sharingan cannot allow the user to reproduce other kekkei genkai since the Sharingan user doesn't possess the same genetic trait. Additionally, Sharingan users cannot summon a creature which they have not made a contract with.
The Sharingan also grants the user incredible clarity of perception, allowing them to track fast-moving objects with ease and even predict the subsequent movements of those objects. The ability to track and predict movement is largely based on individual skill, as unskilled users have much more trouble tracking fast-moving objects. A fully-evolved Sharingan eye can track all but the quickest opponents, even if the user can't move at the same speed. This perception is also great enough to see through genjutsu, depending upon the skill of the user, and the ability to observe the movement and flow of chakra, but not to the same extent or clarity as the Byakugan. Additionally, the Sharingan grants the user exceptional analytical powers, allowing them to instinctively pick up on various visual clues with little difficulty. In one instance, Kakashi had to shut his eyes to avoid accidentally reading Naruto's lip movements while he was spoiling the ending of one of Kakashi's Icha Icha books. Sasuke was also able to reproduce answers on another person's test by watching their pencil movements during the Chunin Exam.
Finally, the Sharingan is capable of a unique brand of hypnosis that involves suggesting actions and thoughts to the opponent. When used in conjunction with the aforementioned aspects of the Sharingan, this allows the user to perfectly mimic every move their opponent makes, even before they do, making it appear as if the user can see the future. It also allows for other forms of hypnotism, such as putting an opponent to sleep or relaying memories to someone else.
The Sharingan does not automatically appear from birth in a user; instead, it will usually appear when the user is in a life-threatening situation, where the power of the Sharingan could save the user. After this first appearance, the user can then call up the Sharingan any time he or she pleases. (Due to its unique nature, Kakashi's Sharingan cannot be deactivated, and thus he usually covers it to conserve chakra.) The power of the Sharingan is judged through the number of tomoe in the eye, known as the "tomoe seal". It is not unheard of for a Sharingan user to have different amounts of tomoe in each eye. For example, Sasuke's Sharingan initially had two tomoe in one eye and one in the other. Upon his first regular activation of it, it had evolved to two tomoe in each eye. He evolved it to three in each eye during his battle with Naruto at the Valley of the End. A fully-matured Sharingan has three tomoe in each eye.
It is possible to transplant Sharingan eyes from one person to another, as occurred with Kakashi and his deceased comrade Obito Uchiha. However, transplanted eyes do not work as well in a non-Uchiha body, causing more strain on the user, as is the case with Kakashi – extended use of his Sharingan will cause him to collapse. Uchiha clan members are not burdened with this weakness; while activation of the Sharingan does consume chakra, the drain is so small as to be almost insignificant. Itachi in particular seems to have no trouble keeping his Sharingan activated near-constantly.
The characters who currently possess the Sharingan include Sasuke Uchiha, Itachi Uchiha, Kakashi Hatake, and Tobi. Kakashi's eye was given to him by Obito Uchiha, one of his teammates in his original three-man ninja team. Obito developed it in a battle against a camouflaging Rock shinobi. During this battle, Kakashi lost his left eye when he was attacked, hence his scar. Near the end of the battle, the right side of Obito's body was crushed under a giant rock, and as his last act Obito had Rin, a medical ninja, remove his left eye and implant it in Kakashi's empty eye socket, thus allowing Kakashi to use the Sharingan even though he does not have Uchiha blood. This is also why only his left eye is a Sharingan eye.
[edit] Mangekyo Sharingan
The Mangekyo Sharingan (万華鏡写輪眼, Mangekyō Sharingan?, literally "Kaleidoscope Copy Wheel Eye" wink is a heightened form of Sharingan. The Mangekyo Sharingan is distinguished from a normal Sharingan through its appearance, which changes the form of the tomoe seal. However, unlike the Sharingan, it may have a different appearance between the users, as Kakashi's version is significantly different from Itachi's. Those who have the potential to obtain it must make a great sacrifice in order to obtain it—according to Itachi, they must kill their closest friend. Itachi does in fact do this to obtain his version, but Kakashi has noted that everyone he cared about had died long before the start of the series, so how he developed his own variant is unknown. It has also been implied that use of the Mangekyo Sharingan may deteriorate the user's normal eyesight.
In the long history of the Uchiha clan, only a few have been able to obtain the Mangekyo Sharingan. At present, there are only two people who are known to possess the Mangekyo Sharingan, Itachi being one and Kakashi being the other. At the time of the Uchiha massacre, Itachi told his younger brother Sasuke that, if he was to obtain the Mangekyo Sharingan, there would be three people capable of using it.
[edit] Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan
Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan.Itachi Uchiha gained the Mangekyo Sharingan by killing his best friend, Shisui Uchiha. With the Mangekyo Sharingan, Itachi is able to use the two most powerful jutsu of the Uchiha clan. The first is Tsukuyomi (月読, Tsukuyomi? literally "Moon Reader" wink , named after the Shinto moon god, Tsukuyomi. Upon making eye contact with an opponent, Itachi can use Tsukuyomi to transport them to an illusionary world where days amount to mere seconds in the real world. Because Itachi is in control of this world, he can torture an opponent in any way imaginable, leaving them crippled and in a state of mental collapse. The second jutsu is Amaterasu (天照, Amaterasu? literally "Shining Heaven" wink , named for the Shinto sun goddess, Amaterasu. While the jutsu has only been performed offscreen, it is shown to be capable of burning through the strongest of materials by creating a jet-black flame said to be as hot as the sun and capable of burning for seven days and seven nights.
[edit] Kakashi's Mangekyo Sharingan
Kakashi's Mangekyo Sharingan.Kakashi Hatake developed his own version of the Mangekyo Sharingan during the timeskip. Kakashi uses his to create a localized interdimensional space-time warp, allowing him to target any object and send it to another dimension. The attack requires considerable effort to aim precisely and appears to leave Kakashi's chakra significantly drained; he collapses after using the technique three times in a single day (compared to his other original move, Lightning Blade, which he can use four times a day).
The appearance of the pupil and tomoe in Kakashi's Mangekyo Sharingan differ from that of Itachi's; Kakashi's looks more like a pinwheel. Before this was shown, it was thought that one had to kill their best friend to acquire the Mangekyo Sharingan. Given that Kakashi is unlikely to do this, due in part to his own admittance that everyone close to him is already dead, the means behind its development and the actual meaning of the "requirement" are currently unknown.
The Sharingan's first and most well known ability is to memorize any technique that it witnesses. It can memorize ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu with perfect accuracy, allowing the user to use the techniques as his own. In order to reproduce copied jutsu, however, one must have the necessary skill or ability to perform them. A prime example is Rock Lee's Strong Fist taijutsu. While Sasuke was able to copy some of Lee's moves, they put a much more significant strain on him since he hasn't trained nearly as hard as Lee has. In addition to physical skill, the Sharingan cannot allow the user to reproduce other kekkei genkai since the Sharingan user doesn't possess the same genetic trait. Additionally, Sharingan users cannot summon a creature which they have not made a contract with.
The Sharingan also grants the user incredible clarity of perception, allowing them to track fast-moving objects with ease and even predict the subsequent movements of those objects. The ability to track and predict movement is largely based on individual skill, as unskilled users have much more trouble tracking fast-moving objects. A fully-evolved Sharingan eye can track all but the quickest opponents, even if the user can't move at the same speed. This perception is also great enough to see through genjutsu, depending upon the skill of the user, and the ability to observe the movement and flow of chakra, but not to the same extent or clarity as the Byakugan. Additionally, the Sharingan grants the user exceptional analytical powers, allowing them to instinctively pick up on various visual clues with little difficulty. In one instance, Kakashi had to shut his eyes to avoid accidentally reading Naruto's lip movements while he was spoiling the ending of one of Kakashi's Icha Icha books. Sasuke was also able to reproduce answers on another person's test by watching their pencil movements during the Chunin Exam.
Finally, the Sharingan is capable of a unique brand of hypnosis that involves suggesting actions and thoughts to the opponent. When used in conjunction with the aforementioned aspects of the Sharingan, this allows the user to perfectly mimic every move their opponent makes, even before they do, making it appear as if the user can see the future. It also allows for other forms of hypnotism, such as putting an opponent to sleep or relaying memories to someone else.
The Sharingan does not automatically appear from birth in a user; instead, it will usually appear when the user is in a life-threatening situation, where the power of the Sharingan could save the user. After this first appearance, the user can then call up the Sharingan any time he or she pleases. (Due to its unique nature, Kakashi's Sharingan cannot be deactivated, and thus he usually covers it to conserve chakra.) The power of the Sharingan is judged through the number of tomoe in the eye, known as the "tomoe seal". It is not unheard of for a Sharingan user to have different amounts of tomoe in each eye. For example, Sasuke's Sharingan initially had two tomoe in one eye and one in the other. Upon his first regular activation of it, it had evolved to two tomoe in each eye. He evolved it to three in each eye during his battle with Naruto at the Valley of the End. A fully-matured Sharingan has three tomoe in each eye.
It is possible to transplant Sharingan eyes from one person to another, as occurred with Kakashi and his deceased comrade Obito Uchiha. However, transplanted eyes do not work as well in a non-Uchiha body, causing more strain on the user, as is the case with Kakashi – extended use of his Sharingan will cause him to collapse. Uchiha clan members are not burdened with this weakness; while activation of the Sharingan does consume chakra, the drain is so small as to be almost insignificant. Itachi in particular seems to have no trouble keeping his Sharingan activated near-constantly.
The characters who currently possess the Sharingan include Sasuke Uchiha, Itachi Uchiha, Kakashi Hatake, and Tobi. Kakashi's eye was given to him by Obito Uchiha, one of his teammates in his original three-man ninja team. Obito developed it in a battle against a camouflaging Rock shinobi. During this battle, Kakashi lost his left eye when he was attacked, hence his scar. Near the end of the battle, the right side of Obito's body was crushed under a giant rock, and as his last act Obito had Rin, a medical ninja, remove his left eye and implant it in Kakashi's empty eye socket, thus allowing Kakashi to use the Sharingan even though he does not have Uchiha blood. This is also why only his left eye is a Sharingan eye.
[edit] Mangekyo Sharingan
The Mangekyo Sharingan (万華鏡写輪眼, Mangekyō Sharingan?, literally "Kaleidoscope Copy Wheel Eye" wink is a heightened form of Sharingan. The Mangekyo Sharingan is distinguished from a normal Sharingan through its appearance, which changes the form of the tomoe seal. However, unlike the Sharingan, it may have a different appearance between the users, as Kakashi's version is significantly different from Itachi's. Those who have the potential to obtain it must make a great sacrifice in order to obtain it—according to Itachi, they must kill their closest friend. Itachi does in fact do this to obtain his version, but Kakashi has noted that everyone he cared about had died long before the start of the series, so how he developed his own variant is unknown. It has also been implied that use of the Mangekyo Sharingan may deteriorate the user's normal eyesight.
In the long history of the Uchiha clan, only a few have been able to obtain the Mangekyo Sharingan. At present, there are only two people who are known to possess the Mangekyo Sharingan, Itachi being one and Kakashi being the other. At the time of the Uchiha massacre, Itachi told his younger brother Sasuke that, if he was to obtain the Mangekyo Sharingan, there would be three people capable of using it.
[edit] Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan
Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan.Itachi Uchiha gained the Mangekyo Sharingan by killing his best friend, Shisui Uchiha. With the Mangekyo Sharingan, Itachi is able to use the two most powerful jutsu of the Uchiha clan. The first is Tsukuyomi (月読, Tsukuyomi? literally "Moon Reader" wink , named after the Shinto moon god, Tsukuyomi. Upon making eye contact with an opponent, Itachi can use Tsukuyomi to transport them to an illusionary world where days amount to mere seconds in the real world. Because Itachi is in control of this world, he can torture an opponent in any way imaginable, leaving them crippled and in a state of mental collapse. The second jutsu is Amaterasu (天照, Amaterasu? literally "Shining Heaven" wink , named for the Shinto sun goddess, Amaterasu. While the jutsu has only been performed offscreen, it is shown to be capable of burning through the strongest of materials by creating a jet-black flame said to be as hot as the sun and capable of burning for seven days and seven nights.
[edit] Kakashi's Mangekyo Sharingan
Kakashi's Mangekyo Sharingan.Kakashi Hatake developed his own version of the Mangekyo Sharingan during the timeskip. Kakashi uses his to create a localized interdimensional space-time warp, allowing him to target any object and send it to another dimension. The attack requires considerable effort to aim precisely and appears to leave Kakashi's chakra significantly drained; he collapses after using the technique three times in a single day (compared to his other original move, Lightning Blade, which he can use four times a day).
The appearance of the pupil and tomoe in Kakashi's Mangekyo Sharingan differ from that of Itachi's; Kakashi's looks more like a pinwheel. Before this was shown, it was thought that one had to kill their best friend to acquire the Mangekyo Sharingan. Given that Kakashi is unlikely to do this, due in part to his own admittance that everyone close to him is already dead, the means behind its development and the actual meaning of the "requirement" are currently unknown.
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