Nobody joins the Akatsuki without first proving themselves to be a superior, badass ninja. But who is the strongest of the strong? In this list, we’re going to rank each member of the super secret, super powerful organization, the Akatsuki, from strong to strongest.

Warning: spoilers ahead.

Every Akatsuki Members Ranked by Strength

Every single member of the Akatsuki (bar Nagato and Konan) are outlaws from their homelands, and all possess Kage level skills and powers – capable of subduing even tailed beasts. For that reason, this list is a “whose the best of the best list” because just getting into this very elite group already places you at the pinnacle of ninja power, and on par with the Kages.

14. Yahiko

It’s easy to forget about Yahiko as we got himself killed well before the events of Naruto and Naruto Shippuden took place. However, Yahiko played a vital role in the creation of the Akatsuki. In fact, it was his charisma and dedication to Nagato’s path to peace that enabled the Akatsuki to eventually rise into the phenomenally powerful organization that it would one day become.

Besides his leadership skills and ambition, however, he’s not got a lot going for him, and he gets killed off pretty easy.

Strengths: leadership and inspiration
Weaknesses: low power threshold.

13. White Zetsu

In reality, White Zetsu is pretty powerful thanks to his genes, but he’s also pretty useless in battle compared to the other super strong characters on this list. That being said, it’s thanks to White Zetsu that the Akatsuki are able to raise an army of clones capable of wielding the almost legendary wood style release.

Mostly, Zetsu is used for reconnaissance missions thanks to his ability pass through solid objects.

Unique cells carrying the the First Hokage’s DNA.
Not very useful in a fight.

12. Hidan

Hidan is one tanky ninja. However, his abilities are not so incredible – he’s sort of a two trick pony, capable of withstanding attacks, and transfering damage onto his opponents. Shikumaru is able to conquer Hidan thanks to his superior intellect. However, Hidan is responsible for dealing out one of the most touching deaths of the entire show when he kills Asuma.

Like the other Akatsuki members revealed early on in Shippuuden, Hidan’s power is limited by the fact the powers of the main heroes hadn’t crept up enough to require stronger villains. That being said, Hidan is one of the stronger Ninja we’ve seen at that point int he story.

Strengths: Terrifying body control ability, immortality.
Weakness: Limited range for main ability.

11. Sasori

Sasori is one of the first Akatsuki members we meet. And he’s actually pretty tough. He’s a strong puppet master (the strongest in all of Naruto) and like many other members of the Akatsuki, has altered his body in search of immortality. Sasoroi has actually become a puppet himself, making him invulnerable to many attacks.

While he’s not nearly as strong as other characters to come later, he plays an important role in the story and sets up the theme for the tragedy that is each and every Akatsuki member.

10. Konan

Konan has a pretty cool jutsu – she’s able to manipulate paper, and she is even able to transform her entire body into paper. One impressive feat that we see her pull off is to actually do some pretty severe damage to Obito.

To be fair, however, she had a lot of time to prepare. Still, Konan is an impressive ninja, and we probably would’ve seen more of her if she weren’t so interested in supporting Nagato as opposed to doing badass ninja things.

Strengths: flight, dazzingly strong and deadly paper bomb jutsu.
Weakness: unremarkable taijutsu, strongest jutsu requires a lot of planning.

9. Deidara

Deidara is a pretty tough member of the Akatsuki. He’s able to go toe-to-toe with Sasuke and almost best him. This is largely thanks to his strategic ability and love for the performance of battle, however, with his main weakness (much like his partner Sasori) being difficulty handling hand to hand combat. In terms of raw power, Deidara is outclassed by the ninja further down this list.

Strengths: Phenomenal range fighter and explosive power.
Weaknesses: Low chakra reserves and high reliance on clay.

8. Kakuzu

Like Kakashi, Kakuzu can leverage every element to great effect. Unlike Kakashi, however, he can instantly replenish his power by stealing it from someone else. This makes Kakuzu really tough to beat – in fact, it takes an entire team effort to take him down, including Naruto shooting a really powerful Rasenshuriken at him.

Strengths: limited immortality, strong in ninjutus and taijutusu.
Weaknesses: weakness to lightning leads to his downfall.

7. Kisami

Kisami is known for his enormous chakra reserves. However, he is not on the level of the top Akatsuki members, even acknowledging his inability to beat Itachi.

Not only does Kisami have an incredible amount of chakra natively, his sword is also capable of stealing and sealing away chakra from others.

Strengths: Nearly unparalleled chakra reserves, ability to absorb chakra from others.
Weaknesses: his strengths are largely countered by taijutsu users.

6. Kabuto

Kabuto is a slippery son of a gun. For the majority of the show, we don’t really know who he is or what he’s about. As it turns out, however, he’s a pretty tough ninja.

Kabuto leverages the powers he learned from Orochimaru and (shocker) also modified his body to attain something akin to immortality. In the end, however, he gets his butt kicked by Itachi. A fitting end for this rather odd yet powerful Akatsuki member.

5. Orochimaru

For a time, Orochimaru was intimately invovled with the Akatsuki and even continues to wear the ring. However, he’s not been an active member for some time, as he was not drawn to the idealistic aims of the group but instead towards more selfish one.

Orochimaru is quite simply one of the strongest ninja of all time, and his contribution to the realm of inventing new jutsu is unmatched by virtually any other shinobi. However, his selfishness is ultimately his undoing, and he is defeated by his own student.

Strengths: Nearly unparalleled intelligence and creativity to create jutsu,
Weaknesses: Rapdily decaying body and power overtime.

4. Black Zetsu

While White Zetsu might not make anyone fear for their lives, Black Zetsu is the stuff of nightmares.

Ever heard of a double agent? Well, how about a triple agent? Black Zetsu seems to be working for Obito at first, only for us to find out he’s actually the personfication of Madara’s will. Psyche! He’s actually been working for Kaguya all along since the dawn of Shinobi.

He’s got some pretty insane powers that make him incredibly deadly, and is pretty much immortal, so he’s got that going for him, as well.

3. Pain (Nagato)

Pain is supremely dedicated to the cause of the Akatsuki, and much more powerful than he is often given credit for. He is so strong, in fact, that he virtually buries the entire Hidden Leaf Village under the power of his Rasengan. It takes Naruto at the height of his power (pre shinobi war where they sort of messed power rankings up) to conquer him.

Ultimately, Pain/Negato is a sensitive being who is brought over to the right way of thinking, thanks to Naruto. His arc is also one of the best in the entire show. In many ways, the story of Naruto, and his reversal from village idiot to savior, concludes in this arc.

Strengths: Six Paths of Pain makes him nearly invincible.
Weaknesses: Nagato must control the six paths from a remote location, making him very vulnerable to a back door attack.

2. Itachi Uchiha

Itachi is, without a doubt, one most powerful ninja of the entire Akatuki organization. In fact, he is so powerful that he is able to manipulate the entire organization from within. All along, his secret goal was to save the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and protect his little brother. In a way, all those years that the Old Man Hokage was running things, it was really Itachi who was keeping his home village safe.

However, in a way this hampers his abilities. In fact, we never really see the full extent of Itachi’s powers, as he’s always battling one of our heroes when he’s around, meaning he’s not leveraging the full extent of his power.

Except for that one moment when Orochimaru shows up during his fight with Sasuke and he claps him.

Strengths: Unpralleled genjutsu, Susanoo.
Weaknesses: Rare disease and encroaching blindness weaken Itachi to the point of death.

1. Obito

For a while, it seems as though Pain/Negato is the leader of the Akatsuki. However, as we find out, much as how Itachi is secretly trying to run things from the shadows, the true leader of the organization is none other than Obito Uchiha.

Obito is one of the strongest Uchiha members of all time, as well as one of the strongest ninja in general, only being bested by the likes of Madara and, arguably, Itachi (if Itachi hadn’t been sick/killed, and barring Obito’s Six Paths state).

Who Are the Akatsuki?

In some ways, it’s hard to pin down exactly what the Akatsuki organization is, and what its aims are. To call it a criminal organization (as it first appears to be in the show) seems like an understatement given their massive role in the Naruto ninja world. But the Akatsuki is an organization made up of mostly S Ranked ninja who are outlaws from their respective lands. These outlaw ninja (Missing-nins) work in pairs of two to achieve the aims of the Akatsuki, and are each incredibly powerful.

What Are the Akatsuki’s Goals?

Although Obito claims ultimate creation of the Akatsuki, in reality the organization was formed by Yahiko originally, and then led by Nagato after Yahiko’s death. The original trio – Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan –aimed to bring about world peace through extraordinarily violent means.

Obito, however, turns out to be the true, secret leader of the Akatsuki, and his vision for what world peace would look like is something perhaps even worse than what “Pain” was looking to achieve.

Where Does the Akatsuki Symbol Come From?

The red cloud that you see on the cloaks of the Akatsuki is actually a symbol for the rain of blood that fell over the Village Hidden in the Rain (Amegakure). Konan reveals this fun fact during her encounter with Toby (Obito), and it points to the founding of the Akatsuki by her, Yahiko, and Nagato (Pain).

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