Akatsuki Organization
A criminal organization led by highly dangerous S-ranked or higher level ninja. The top of Akatsuki is usually dominated by ten of the most powerful ninjas in the organization. There are also numerous suboordinates working for Akatsuki as well as sleeper agents inside various ninja villages. Akatsuki's goal is to force all the ninja villages into submission and achieve world domination. For that they need to accumlate large sums of money, mostly through underground criminal activities. The money will be used to field a vast army of mercenary ninja that will take on any mission at lower costs compared to all the ninja villages. This will force the hidden villages to crumble due to lack of funding, and all the countries will have to depend on Akatsuki. Akatsuki is also in the process of collecting the nine tailed beasts and sealing them. The purpose is to harness the beasts' powers and use them to start wars in countries. The symbol for Akatsuki is a red cloud over a black background.
UNIQUE ABILITIES / WEAPONS
Orochimaru: only person capable of using Living Corpse Reincarnation and various self-created techniques, wielding the Kusanagi Sword.
Itachi Uchiha: few surviving users of the Sharingan and Mangekyo Sharingan, only wielder of the Totsuka Sword.
Kisame Hoshigaki: only wielder of the Samehada Sword.
Zetsu: dual personality.
Sasori: only person capable of creating Human Puppets.
Deidara: only person capable of using Exploding Clay.
Madara Uchiha/Tobi: few surviving users of the Sharingan and Mangekyo Sharingan, only wielder of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
Kakuzu: only user of the Earth Grudge Fear technique.
Hidan: wields a triple bladed scythe and immortality.
Pain: only user of the Rinnegan, six bodies and affinity of all six elemental chakra.
Konan: only user of a paper-style ninjutsu.

CHARACTER BIOGRAPHY

Uchiha Madara a.k.a. Tobi
Age : ?
Origin : Konohagakure
Ring : Gyoku (jewel) taken from Gyokunyo (virgin)
Ring position : Left thumb
First Manga Appearance: Ch. 280
First Anime Teaser Appearance: Shippuuden Ep. 32
Hidden Village: Leaf

surprisingly the least significant member of Akatsuki is actually the real leader. yet no one knows about this but Pain, Konan, Itachi, Kisame and Zetsu. finally Tobi admitted that he known formerly as Uchiha Madara, the founder of Uchiha clan whom people believed had died long time ago. Tobi told the truth to Sasuke about Konoha's top secret which involves his blood brother, Itachi. Sasuke was once hard to believe it, yet he decided to join Akatsuki with his team mates as Taka (Hawk). Tobi seems to have a secret mission about Sasuke.


Uchiha Itachi
Age : 21 (Jun 9) (deceased)
Origin : Konohagakure
Ring : Shu (scarlet) taken from Suzaku (red phoenix)
Ring position : Right ring finger
First Manga Appearance: Ch. 139
First Anime Appearance: Ep. 80
Hidden Village: Leaf

the big brother of Sasuke who has incredible records i.e. graduated from ninja academy at age 7, awakened the sharingan at age 8, passed chuunin exam at age 10, and led the ANBU at age 13. Itachi was the man who slaughtered his own clan in just one night, thus he's listed in Bingo book. however it was all set up by Konoha elders to prevent Uchiha's rebellion. Itachi took the guilty part to keep Konoha in peace, then he ran and lived as missing-nin. Itachi joined with Akatsuki to make sure that no one will lay hands on his lil bro, Sasuke. he even threatened Danzou that if he dares to hurt Sasuke, he will tell anything about Konoha to other hostile nations. Itachi indeed planned every details perfectly, how he planted hatred in Sasuke in order to make him strong enough to get the new power from him. how he put Sasuke in the end of line so that Orochimaru arose and he could kill him to release Sasuke from Orochimaru's seal. nevertheless, all his efforts to keep the peace on earth didn't go well since Sasuke decided to revenge Konoha for what they had done to his clan and his blood brother, by joining with Akatsuki.

Akasuna no Sasori (Sasori of The Red Sand)
Age : 35 (Nov 8) (deceased)
Origin : Sunagakure
Ring : Gyoku (jewel) taken from Gyokunyo (virgin)
Ring position : Left thumb
First Manga Appearance: Ch. 247
First Anime Appearance: Shippuuden Ep. 2
Hidden Village: Sand

Sasori means Scorpion. he was known as the puppet army's genius model creator from the red sand and also the creator of Kankurou's puppets. he left his village over 20 years ago. his parents were killed by Konoha's White Fang (Kakashi's father) and Sasori attempted to revive them as puppets, but failed. Sasori used a puppet named Hiruko to disguise himself at first. he abducted and assassinated the 3rd Kazekage and turned him into his most deadly weapon. yet the most shocking fact is that he has turned his own body into puppet. after a long, exhausting, bloodshed fight with Sakura, assisted by Chiyo-baa, Sasori eventually died. but before he died he left a message to Sakura to meet his underling who've been spying on Orochimaru in Kusagakure.

Deidara
Age : 19 (May 5) (deceased)
Origin : Iwagakure
Ring : Sei (blue) taken from Seiryu (blue dragon)
Ring position : Right index finger
First Manga Appearance: Ch. 247
First Anime Appearance: Shippuuden Ep. 2
Hidden Village: Rock

Deidara is a clay-craftsman and he has special mouths on the palm of each hands to manipulate clay. his skill is called Kibaku Nendo, he transforms clay into life animals (birds, spiders, etc) as vehicle and bombs. Deidara's fave frase is "Art is a Bang!", and he tends to end his sentence with "un" (as Naruto with his "dattebayo") Deidara and Sasori went to Sunagakure to abduct the 'one-tailed' Shukaku inside Gaara. eventually he defeated Gaara with a perfect cunning tactic and took him to Akatsuki's hideout. Naruto and Kakashi came to retrieve Gaara and Deidara ran from the battle after losing his right arm. however his destiny seems to be fated with Sasuke, he finally ended up his own life with self-destruct explosive.

Zetsu
Age : ?
Origin : Kusagakure
Ring : Kai (boar) taken from Genbu (black tortoise)
Ring position : Right pinky

not much information about this mysterious-looking character. indeed he had already appeared in the end of Naruto and Sasuke fight in Part 1. he seems to work as a spy for Akatsuki, especially with his unique ability to merge with surrounding objects and a penetrating-sight which similar with byakugan. a very significant feature of Zetsu is the Venus flytrap which envelopes his head. and as the nature of Venus flytrap itself, Zetsu is a cannibal.

Konan
Age : ?
Origin : Amegakure
Ring : Haku (white)
Ring position : Right mid finger
First Manga Appearance: Ch. 363
First Anime Teaser Appearance: Ep. 135
Hidden Village: Rain

one and only girl member in Akatsuki *woots definitely the most beautiful member (because Deidara was a guy ^,^). She has blue hair with a rose accessory on it. she seems to be paired with the Pain on her duty. for your information, she also has a piercing on her bottom lip. she has ability to transform herself into pieces of paper-fold like butterflies. Konan is actually one of Jiraiya's students from Amegakure along with Nagato and Yahiko. They were the survivors from the war between Konohagakure and Amegakure, but Jiraiya decided to teach them ninjutsu so that they can bring peace in the future. unfortunately Jiraya's hope was not fulfilled.

Hidan
Age : 22 (April 2) (deceased)
Origin : Yugakure (Hidden Village of Hot Springs)
Ring : San (three) taken from Santai (three level)
Ring position : Left index finger
First Manga Appearance: Ch. 312
First Anime Teaser: Ep. 135
Hidden Village: Hot Springs

Hidan is introduced together with Kakuzu when they hunt the Nekomata (2-tailed bijuu) jinchuuriki named Yugito from Kumogakure. this dandy looking, loud mouth guy is said to have the slowest speed in Akatsuki, yet he's not to be underestimated. Hidan is proved as an immortal, he could stay alive even when he got his head off. Hidan is a follower of a deviated Buddhist sect called Jashin (wicked heart). this jutsu enabled him to kill his opponents by suicide, but he has to taste his opponent's blood beforehand. Hidan was 'killed' by Shikamaru who blowed his body and burried him in the private forest belongs to Nara clan so that no one could dig it up.

Kakuzu
Age : 91 (Aug 15) (deceased)
Origin : Takigakure
Ring : Kita (north) taken from Hokutou (nothern star)
Ring position : Left middle finger
First Manga Appearance: Ch. 312
First Anime Teaser Appearance: Ep. 135
Hidden Village: Waterfall

another odd looking member ^ ^" a very impatient, short-tempered guy. Kakuzu is the treasurer of Akatsuki, this side job provides funds to support Akatsuki financially. Kakuzu places money on top of everything else, he would do anything worth to make money like killing a high priced most wanted ninja. Kakuzu's jutsu is known recently that he has 4 other hearts in his body which makes him got 5 lives in one body. these hearts belonged to each black creature which attached on his back. he took those hearts from his opponents while they're still alive. Kakuzu finaly killed by Naruto with his new jutsu, Rasen-Shuriken.

Pain
Age : ?
Origin : Amegakure
Ring : Rei (zero, empty) from Byakko (white tiger)
Ring position : Right thumb
First Manga Appearance: Ch. 363
First Anime Teaser Appearance: Ep. 135
Hidden Village: Rain

recently introduced in Chapter 363, finaly we got the look of whom we thought to be Akatsuki Leader. known as Pain, the guy with so many piercings on his face, is somehow not the real Akatsuki Leader. one of his abilities is that he can manipulate weather as he wish such as calling out rain. Pain is actually one of Jiraya's students from Amegakure. they are Nagato, Yahiko and Konan. Pain is either Yahiko or Nagato, because he has the hair of Yahiko with the Rin'negan eyes of Nagato. recently we found out that Pain has more than 6 different bodies. Jiraiya found out that the other fake bodies are all the ninja he defeated before. however Jiraiya died in the battle and could only left a death note for Konoha to discover who Pain really is.

Ex-Member : Orochimaru
Age : 56 (Oct 27, deceased)
Origin : Otogakure
Ring : Sora (sky) taken from Kuuchin (the void)
Ring position : Left pinky
First Manga Appearance: Ch. 49
First Anime Appearance: Ep. 27
Hidden Village: Sound

as evil as it could be which fitted with his name, he really has the look and character of a serpent. to fulfill his sordid ambition, he founded a hidden village, Otogakure, and collected deviate shinobi. Orochimaru is already a deviant since he was a youngster. secretly he abused Konoha shinobi as guinea pigs for his filthy experiment. then he ran from Konohagakure and joined Akatsuki. his true objection was to use Itachi as his next live-container, yet he found out Itachi is way too strong and frightening than he expects. thus he betrayed Akatsuki and chose a new object i.e. Itachi's lil brother, Sasuke.

The Gear
Ring and Manicure

Drawn from ancient Chinese and Japanese lore, the kanji on each ring have served in the past as representations of Gods, to help in concentration before battle and in protection from evil. Their ring placement on their finger corresponds to their position on the summoned statue, with each member wearing the ring on a different finger. The rings seem important to each member, as Deidara was set on finding his when it was lost. Orochimaru also took his when he left the group, which apparently denied the group the ability to replace him with someone new. With Sasori's death, Tobi was eager to get his ring and join, but he would need to go through their entrance requirements first.

The Akatsuki member also has manicured finger and toe nails, painted a light shade of purple.

Forehead Protector

Each member wears the traditional forehead protector of the hidden village from which they fled. The protector has been modified though to bear a large scratch through the symbol, showing they no longer hold the same ideals their village does.

Cloak

Each member wears a black cloak that bears red clouds. The inside of the cloak is red in color. The cloak is knee length and has a high collar. Underneath the cloak the ninja is seen to wear the more traditional clothing of their home village.

Hat

Members wear a traditional bamboo hat (kasa) to hide their appearance when traveling. The hat will be removed when the member enters battle.

The groups
Deidara and Sasori

Deidara and Sasori were known for being artists. Deidara uses clay to model his explosive animals and Sasori was a master puppet maker. Deidara acted as the junior in their partnership, deferring to Sasori as the stronger ninja. This did not stop them from getting into spats about the nature of art though. After Sasori's death, Tobi assumed his position and role as Deidara's partner. Deidara was assigned to capture the Ichibi and Tobi the Sanbi. Sasori did not know where his Jinchuuriki was. It is unknown if this was the Sanbi or some other individual.

Deidara and Tobi

Deidara and Tobi share a very strained relationship. Always eager to impress his new teammates, Tobi is prone to excitement. This often annoys Deidara who tries to do his best to show Tobi what it means to be an Akatsuki member. Tobi was assigned to capture the Sanbi. Though he boasts that he took out the beast himself, he was helped in his assignment by Deidara.

Hidan and Kakuzu

Hidan and Kakuzu work together and share a somewhat testy relationship. Hidan follows a very strict religion, which annoys Kakuzu with its long rituals. Hidan is very defensive of the religion, causing Kakuzu to often get tired of his partner's diatribes. Kakuzu on the other hand often makes side-trips to collect bounties, which annoys Hidan. Hidan was assigned to capture the Nibi. It is unknown what tailed beast Kakuzu was assigned.

Itachi and Kisame

Itachi and Kisame work together and form a rather strong partnership. Both men seem to respect each other and Kisame seems to act as the junior in the group, deferring to Itachi's decisions. Itachi was assigned to capture the Kyuubi and Kisame was assigned the Yonbi.

Pain and Konan

Pain and Konan work together, carrying out a partnership that has lasted since their youth in the Rain Country. Both report to Uchiha Madara, who operates in the guise of Tobi.