Akatsuki (meaning "Dawn," or "Daybreak") is a criminal organization in Naruto. They were first introduced in episode 80 of the Naruto anime and chapter 139 of the Naruto manga when Akatsuki members Itachi and Kisame entered the Hidden Leaf Village in pursuit of Naruto and the the Nine-Tailed Fox within him. Currently, Akatsuki consists of six elite S-class criminals. The exact criteria for admission to Akatsuki are unknown, but extraordinary fighting ability and deadly ruthlessness seem to be prerequisites as members of Akatsuki have cause death and destruction in their villages in their past.

The organization was created by Madara Uchiha, initially to hide himself from the world and carry out killings without drawing much attention. After the midway point in the Naruto series, however, Akatsuki's goal seems to change as it becomes increasingly more active with it's presence felt as its members start to carry out the tasks needed to achieve the ultimate goal - world domination. To achieve this goal, a three-step process has been put into place. Step 1 is to attain lots of money to support the organization. Step 2 is to set up a mercenary group loyal only to Akatsuki so that they can carry out missions and build their reputation. The key here is that they will charge less money than the established shinobi villages so people will go to Akatsuki instead of the established nations for help. Then, by using the tailed beasts, Akatsuki can start wars and then immediately put a stop to them, solidifying their reputation as the best and convincing every country to depend on them. With Akatsuki getting all the businesses, the established shinobi villages would collapse because they wouldn't have the money to operate. This would leave Akatsuki as the only major shinobi force in existence and they could easily conquer the other countries (step 3).

Akatsuki is inching closer and closer to their goal with the acquisitions of the tailed demons (also known as Bijuu). Currently, Akatsuki has seven of the nine bijuu including the One-Tailed Shukaku, the Two-Tailed Demon Cat, Three-Tailed Turtle, and the Four-Tail (the type of demon was not revealed). They are currently in pursuit of Naruto and the Nine-Tailed Fox and need another unrevealed numbered Bijuu as well. 

As with Gaara and the One-Tail, the demons are taken to the Akatsuki hideout to be extracted from the host (referred to as the Jinchuuriki). The members who captured the demon are physically present, while the rest are there in spirit. Pain in summons a giant statue of a monster while the Jinchuuriki or Bijuu. The members take their stance on the finger of the monster statue which corresponds to the finger they wear, and the Bijuu is extracted into the statue. For each Akatsuki member, a Dragon-like aura comes out statue's mouth and surrounds the Jinchuuriki, removing the Bijuu, and sealing it into the statue. The sealing process takes three days to complete, and according to Kisame must be done in a specific order. The Nine-Tailed Fox needs to be sealed last, otherwise the statue would collapse. 

 

Akatsuki Members
Below are the members of Akatsuki that we have some data on.

	Tobi / Madara Uchiha First Manga Appearance: 280 First Anime Appearance: Shippuuden 32 Ring: Gyoku (Jewel/Jade) on left thumb Originally From: Unknown Miscellaneous Information: Tobi was formally Zetsu's subordinate. He has a very formal and correct manner of speech and wanted to fill in Sasori's position in Akatsuki after he had died. To his luck, he was eventually let in Akatsuki. In chapter 362 Deidara blew himself up and it was believed Tobi died as well. In chapter 363, however, a surprising turn of events takes place - Tobi is seen giving orders to Pain! It is revealed that he is Madara Uchiha, the real leader of Akatsuki, and one of the founders of the Hidden Leaf Village. 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 a much less formal speech and a more typically villainous sway. Tobi's only known abilities are that he can let attacks pass through him easily, and that he has the power of the Sharingan.
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	Pain First Manga Appearance: 238 First Anime Appearance: 135 Ring: Rei (Zero) on right thumb Partner: Konan Originally From: Hidden Rain Village Miscellaneous Information: Pain is the assigned leader of Akatsuki, and is partners with Konan. He was told by Tobi/Madara to capture Naruto, and that because he is the leader, he cannot fail. Pain has shown us that he has as six different bodies which share the same mind, and are known collectively as The Six Paths of Pain. These bodies all have brown/orange hair color, piercing, and the Rinnegan doujutsu (which allows the user to perform any jutsu and manipulate all six types of chakra-nature manipulation). All six bodies are, in a sense, connected since they can share visual information seamlessly, giving Pain the ability to coordinate offense and defense of all six bodies 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. Some of the abilities we've seen Pain's bodies perform are detecting the movements and chakra levels of people traveling within the rain (that he has created), the summoning jutsu, ability to absorb ninjutsu as a form of defense and the ability to fire his left arm like a missile.  Pain's real name is Nagato, and he was left orphaned by one of the Hidden Rain Village's many wars in his childhood along with Konan (who is also a Akatsuki member), and a boy named Yahiko (who is presumed dead). After one of the wars, Jiraiya met the three kids, and became their teacher for a short time. Sometime after Jiraiya left, Nagato started to view himself as a god destined to teach the world the meaninglessness of fighting. Eventually 'Pain' came into existence and single-handedly killed the Hidden Rain Village's former leader, Hanzo and those affiliated with him, and became somebody the village's people worship.