Akatsuki (Akatsuki,meaning "Dawn" or "Daybreak" and literally "Red Moon") is a fictional criminal organization in the anime and manga series Naruto. It is first introduced midway into the first arc, and its members gain significance as the main antagonists during the second arc. The organization is composed of some of the most powerful criminals in existence.

Despite being comprised of only ten members, Akatsuki is arguably the most powerful organization in the Naruto universe. Each member of Akatsuki is an S-Class criminal and feared for their tremendous powers and ruthless nature.

The exact criteria for admission into the group are unknown, but extraordinary fighting ability and deadly 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 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, that "[he] hadn't had this much difficulty since joining Akatsuki." Itachi was responsible for murdering his whole clan (save for his little brother, Sasuke) around the time he is believed to have entered, though it cannot be said for certain that the two events were linked.

Akatsuki's motives are still obscure, and one of the more interesting unresolved questions Naruto poses; they show great interest in the powers of the tailed beasts and the leader has obliquely referred to their ultimate goal as "obtaining the demon fox... and everything else."[1] It is unknown what they intend to do with them once they attain all nine.

Akatsuki possesses at least five tailed beasts. Of those five, three have been confirmed to be sealed within their statue, one being Shukaku and the other two unknown. The other two, the two-tailed demon cat and the three-tailed demon, have been captured but have not been seen sealed.

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Organization
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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. Each member thus far has shown complete loyalty to the other and to their mysterious leader, and they have excellent working relationships. On a personal level, however, many of the team members exhibit outright animosity towards one another, though they do not let it get in the way of their missions. Akatsuki does not particularly value the lives of its individual members either; a member's death in itself will not bother the other members, but rather the fact that someone was able to kill them.

Due to Orochimaru's defection their numbers are now uneven, so one or more members appear to be working alone. Currently, Zetsu, the leader, and the unnamed member are not known to be on any team.

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Tailed beast extraction
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Whenever an Akatsuki member captures a host, it is taken to their lair. Once there, the Akatsuki leader summons a giant statue of a humanoid monster. The statue 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, each corresponding to one of the nine tailed beasts. After the summoning, the host 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 to draw the spirit of the tailed beast into the statue. Once the tailed beast's spirit is sealed, all the eyes open, and the pupil of the eye that corresponds to the tailed beast appears, indicating that it has been successfully sealed. It's unknown if the same process is used on an unsealed tailed beast, or if the statue serves any other purpose than to contain the captured tailed beasts.

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Rings
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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 nine; Orochimaru kept the tenth after he defected from the organization. It still rests on the little finger of his severed left hand from his original body. 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.

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The various rings are: