Akatsuki

Akatsuki (暁; Literally meaning "Dawn" or "Daybreak") is a criminal organization of S-Class Criminals and Missing-nin and is the most wanted group in all of shinobi world. Their main goal is to collect all of the Tailed Beasts for their plan of world domination. As such, Akatsuki, despite initially having a minor role during Part I, have become the primary antagonists in Part II.

Akatsuki at any given time is composed of no more than ten primary members, all of whom were S-Class criminals of their own respective villages. Members always work in teams of two with the exception of Zetsu, who functions as the organization's spy, and make use of their unique skills to the team's advantage. Team members must function very well or at least to accomplish their task even though they have a mutual problems with each other. The organization is rarely fully assembled, as seen in the end of Part I, when one member said it was the first time in seven years when they were all together.

Akatsuki is widespread, spanning several countries with agents in various places. When one team finds a tailed beast and has to begin the job of sealing the beast, they have hidden hideouts with many traps ready, to do the three-day long jutsu.

Goal
Although some members joined Akatsuki to further their own goals, all are united in Akatsuki's ultimate goal of gaining world domination. Their leader has mentioned 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 couldn'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 would 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. Without any business, the other shinobi villages would collapse due to the lack of funds. Finally, after Akatsuki is the only major force of shinobi in existence, they can easily conquer the other countries. Members do not automatically learn of the plan upon joining; Hidan didn't find out about it until he had been a member for quite some time.

The Tailed Beasts, nine gigantic demons of immense power, are the main focus of much of Akatsuki's efforts and screen time within the series. Each member is assigned to capture one of the nine beasts alive or, in most cases, the person that beast has been sealed into. Akatsuki has sealed seven of the nine beasts before the start of the Fourth Great Shinobi World War.

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Madara's Goal

 * Main article: Moon's Eye Plan

Since the early years of Konohagakure, Madara Uchiha has shown great interest in destroying it for the betrayal of his own Uchiha Clan and the defeat by Hashirama Senju. He has also stated that he wants people to acknowledge the Uchiha clan and plans to use Sasuke to do so. Another one of Madara's goals is to become "complete" by collecting the tailed beasts. All of this seem to be part of his "Moon's Eye Plan" (月の眼計画, Tsuki no Me Keikaku). His plan is to gather all of the tailed beasts so he can fuse them and bring forth the Ten-Tailed Beast and become his Jinchūriki, then cast an Infinite Tsukuyomi from the moon to control the world. Currently the body of the Ten-Tailed Beast is sealed in the moon due to Sage of the Six Paths using Chibaku Tensei. To this end, Madara declared a world war to succeed in his goal.

Pain's Goal
Pain later goes into further detail on the tailed beasts' role in his plans. The beasts would be used to create a deadly Kinjutsu technique that could wipe out one of the five great nations in an instant, so if countries go to war and do not have ninja villages to fight for them, they would turn to Akatsuki and their "weapons." Whichever side makes Pain use the technique first would wipe out the opposing country, which would scare them into never using their weapon again, and scare the other countries to never start a war or they would be wiped out too. Through the mutual fear, war would cease to exist and the world would know peace, until the people forget that fear and use the weapon again. Thus the cycle would repeat, creating small periods of peace in an endless chain of hatred.

Apparently, Pain and Konan were the only Akatsuki members aware of this.

Itachi's Goal
After the Uchiha Massacre and leaving Konoha, Itachi Uchiha, instead of using the tailed beasts for his own self-interest, continued to protect the village by joining Akatsuki and keeping an eye on them, especially Sasuke Uchiha, from the outside. During his time in the group, Itachi would delay his own attempts to capture the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, indirectly leaked information about the organization to Konoha, and attempted to kill Madara through Sasuke. Before his death, Itachi gave Naruto Uzamaki some of his "power," telling him to continue protecting Konoha and Sasuke, should the event occur that Sasuke would plan for their village's destruction. The "power" that Itachi gave to Naruto was a crow that contained Shisui's Kotoamatsukami that would be triggered when an Uchiha threatened Konoha.

Wardrobe
Akatsuki members have a similar way of dress, which could give them away if a village is alerted of their presence. Members wear long, dark cloaks with red clouds, a red interior, and a chin-high collar (although at one point, Madara wears one with a hood and no sleeves). All members wear nail polish of varying colors on their finger and toenails, and may wear a conical straw hat with small spike-like balls hanging down to cover their faces. The hats may be used to move around in the general population unnoticed, or for when the weather requires one. Some members tend to wear their village headband with a scar through the middle to show their defection, while others cease wearing them for several reasons. Everyone also wears a ring with a kanji on different fingers depending on who the member is.

Akatsuki Rings and Ring Positions
What seems to be most important, however, are their rings. In total, there are ten rings given to each of the ten main members of Akatsuki. The rings apparently signify one's membership and ring position, since when Orochimaru defected, he took his ring with him and as such wasn't replaced. The rings' exact purpose have not been revealed.

The various rings are:
 * Right thumb: ; worn by Pain,
 * Right index finger: ; worn by Deidara.
 * Right middle finger: ; worn by Konan.
 * Right ring finger: ; worn by Itachi Uchiha.
 * Right little finger: ; worn by Zetsu.
 * Left little finger: ; worn by Orochimaru.
 * Left ring finger: ; worn by Kisame Hoshigaki.
 * Left middle finger: ; worn by Kakuzu.
 * Left index finger: ; worn by Hidan.
 * Left thumb: ; worn by Sasori and later by Tobi.

Taka aligns themselves with Akatsuki. They wear Akatsuki cloaks, but they seem to have hoods instead of high collars. None of them wear headbands, nail polishes, nor the rings, which signify them being unofficial members. Their inter-group relationship is also fragile, as Sasuke claimed that he is only using Akatsuki, and once severed connections with them when they thought Killer Bee was captured. In turn, Madara threatens to kill them for any attempts of betrayal.

Members
Akatsuki members are S-Class Criminals, therefore becoming missing-nin, who have fled from their village of origin for various reasons. It should be noted however that Pain and Konan are not missing-nin as they run their own village that is recognized by the shinobi world. It was also mentioned that Kakuzu had a bad habit of violently killing his partners in the past, though none have been shown before Hidan. Currently, Madara Uchiha and Zetsu are the only two remaining members.

List of Members

 * Deidara (Deceased; Not replaced)
 * Hidan (Incapacitated; Not replaced)
 * Kisame Hoshigaki (Deceased; Not replaced)
 * Kakuzu (Deceased; Not replaced)
 * Konan (Founder; Defected; Not replaced)
 * Orochimaru (Defected; Not replaced
 * Pain (Akatsuki public leader and Founder; Deceased; Not replaced)
 * Sasori (Deceased; Replaced by Tobi (Obito Uchiha))
 * Madara Uchiha, (Akatsuki "true leader", responsible for Eye of the Moon Plan)
 * Itachi Uchiha (Deceased; Not replaced)
 * Zetsu

Associates

 * Amegakure (Village run by Pain, association ended following Pain's death and Konan's defection)
 * Kabuto Yakushi (Sasori's underling, defected to Orochimaru)
 * Yura (Sasori's underling, deceased)
 * Mukade (Sasori's underling, deceased)
 * Ginji (Kakuzu's banker, status unknown)
 * Zangei (Bounty collector, captured)
 * Taka (Affiliated group)