Monday, January 24, 2011

Characters: Naruto part 5

Characters: Naruto-Akatsuki

The Akatsuki ("sunrise" or "daybreak") is a criminal organization consisting of no more than ten S-ranked criminal ninja. (Orochimaru was once a member, but defected before the series started. He was never replaced, so the organization has nine members for the series proper.) They all seem to have their own agendas, but the primary group's goal is toTake Over The World by seeking the nine Tailed Beasts Or Is It? Turns out the true purpose of collecting the Tailed Beasts is so that Pain can make a Fantastic Nuke...Or Is It? Turns out that the REALLY true purpose of collecting the Tailed Beasts is so that Madara can use a genjutsu on the entire world. They work in pairs, with each partner's abilities and temperment complementing the other's. Their signature costume is a dark robe adorned with stylized red clouds, as well as broad-brimmed hats that they discard when discovered. They also wear their original shinobi headbands, but with a deep scratch across the emblem.
They mostly appear in Shippuden — only Itachi, Kisame, and Zetsu appeared in the original series, and in Zetsu's case it was merely a cameo. They become more active in the second series as their plan to capture and seal the Tailed Beasts begins to move forward in earnest. According to at least some fans every member simultaneously embodies both Evil Is Sexy and High Octane Nightmare Fuel.
Here be spoilers. Any thing that has not been aired on the free version  * of Crunchyroll should be spoiler-tagged.
In order of appearance, their members are:

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    Itachi Uchiha 
Voiced by: Hideo Ishikawa (JP), Skip Stellrecht (EN, original), Crispin Freeman (EN, current)

Sasuke's Aloof Big Brother is the Akatsuki member with the most screen time to date. He killed his closest friend in order to gain the Mangekyo Sharingan, a more advanced form of the Sharingan with several unique abilities. He then proceeded to kill the entire Uchiha clan save Sasuke for reasons of his own, then abandoned the village to join Akatsuki.
On screen, he rarely moves and rarely speaks, but he's too good a fighter for even high-level ninja to take on. He was a prodigy as a child and has only gotten stronger in the meantime. He is an expert at genjutsu, is a master of the Uchihas' Fire-Style jutsus, and knows most of Konoha's signature jutsu, such as the Shadow Clone Jutsu. (Itachi, uniquely, has demonstrated the ability to detonate his clones as an offensive technique when he no longer needs them.) In addition, the Mangekyo Sharingan gives Itachi three extremely powerful but draining jutsu with which to fight: Amaterasu, a black flame hotter than the sun which can burn anything, even other flames; Tsukiyomi, a genjutsu which can bring its target to complete mental and physical collapse by tormenting them for what seems like days in just a few seconds; and Susanoo, which summons a massive ethereal warrior which can attack and defend on Itachi's behalf. The new abilities that come with the Mangekyo come with a price, however; extended uses can cause the user's eyesight to fade, eventually causing blindness. The only way to combat this is to create a permanent Mangekyo Sharingan with the user's brother's eyes.
His only appearance in the original series was directly after the Chunin Exam arc, when he appeared in Konoha with his partner Kisame to capture Naruto. He and Kisame easily defeated Kurenai, Asuma and Kakashi, but retreated rather than become involved in a general melee. When Sasuke heard his brother was in the area, he immediately rushed out to challenge him, but Itachi easily beat him and Mind Raped him in the process, further feeding Sasuke's inferiority complex. After Jiraiya chased the Akatsuki off, Itachi was ordered not to attempt to capture Naruto again until after the Time Skip.
In Shippuden, Pain creates a clone of Itachi to serve as a delaying action during the Rescue Gaara arc. Team 7 beats it, and Itachi doesn't appear again until directly prior to his fight with Sasuke, where he claims that he left Sasuke alive because he wanted to take Sasuke's eyes for himself. However, Itachi dies before he can kill Sasuke. After the fight, though, Madara Uchiha explains to Sasuke that Itachi was ordered to kill the clan by Konoha's top brass, but that he couldn't bring himself to kill Sasuke, deciding instead to become a Stealth Mentor to his younger brother, motivating him to grow stronger so that he would eventually be able to destroy the clan's enemies. Upon learning that Itachi sacrificed everything that was important to him for him, Sasuke begins to hate Konoha and swears revenge against it.
Kabuto later resurrects him with Edo Tensei.

    Kisame Hoshigaki 

The weak are meat, the strong eat.

Voiced by: Tomoyuki Dan (JP), Kirk Thornton (EN)

One of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Polite, but a savage warrior who loves to fight. Good friends with Itachi. Owns a sentient sword called Samehada ("Sharkskin" in the dub and as a rough translation) which can absorb chakra from anything it shreds shaves. Possesses an enormous amount of chakra that is compared to the level of a tailed beast.
In Shippuden, a clone of his is beaten by Guy, then he doesn't do too much but hang around Itachi. He later gets assigned to go after the Eight-Tailed Ox and seemingly gets killed for his troubles. It is later revealed that was just a clone and Kisame manages to infiltrate Kumogakure by hiding in his sword. His cover ends up blown and he fights Guy again, but rather than give up the information upon losing he commits suicide by having his own shark summons eat him.
  • Affably Evil: Very polite and soft-spoken. And a bastard. Even after getting decapitated, he uses his apparent last words to cheerfully compliment his opponent's speed... though it turns out he survived.
  • Alas Poor Villain: He died not knowing what was real in his world, or if he would be considered a loyal shinobi. Turns out he was. His death is so sad that Samehadacries.
  • Bad Ass
  • BFS: If you can really count that thing as a sword.
  • Blood Knight
  • The Brute: Serves this role in the Akatsuki up until Pain's death (see the Five Bad Band page)
  • Co Dragons: Zetsu and Kisame are Madara's right and left-hand man, having been working with him much longer than the others and been in on his real identity and plans from the get-go.
  • Empathic Weapon: Samehada's hilt will sprout spikes if anyone other than Kisame picks it up. It can also return to his hand.
    • It eventually betrays him because it decides it likes Killer Bee's chakra better than his.
      • Turns out it was a ruse.
  • Energy Absorption: His sword lets him absorb the chakra of anyone it touches, or of any technique that launch into the air.
  • Everything Is Even Worse With Sharks
  • Genius Bruiser: Rarely seen, but he is very quick to pick up on weaknesses and has shown a decided knack for quick yet highly successful plans.
  • High Octane Nightmare Fuel: Quite recently, his BFS.
    • It gets worse. Kisame fuses with his BFS and turns into a hideous two-legged shark hybrid.
  • Lovecraftian Superpower: Samehada's released form.
  • Making A Splash: Kisame specializes in flashy water jutsu.
  • Meaningful Name: "Same" means shark in Japanese
  • Older Sidekick: To Itachi
  • Only Sane Man: Between several Knights Templar; a bloodthirsty, sadistic Combat Sadomasochist; a miserly, psychotically violent fountain of Body Horror; an explosion-obsessed former mercenary; a man who loves turning corpses into puppets so much that he turned himself into one; and a cannibalistic Venus flytrap-man, he generally comes off as this.
  • One Winged Angel: Can fuse with Samehada.
  • Squick: Suggesting they cut Naruto's legs off so it would be harder for him to get away, and almost does this to Killer Bee before he grabs the pencil he threw at the start of the fight.
  • Thanatos Gambit / Taking You With Me: The scroll he stole back and made Guy fight so hard for... was booby trapped. As soon as it was opened it sealed everyone within range with the Water Prison Technique, complete with shark summonings in each individual prison, while one of the summonings takes the scroll to Madara.
  • Unknown Rival: Guy has a hard time remembering just who Kisame is for Kisame's whole life.
  • Worthy Opponent: To Guy.

    Zetsu 
Voiced by: Nobuo Tobita (JP), Michael Sorich and Brian Beacock (EN, original), Travis Willingham (EN, current)

Split personalities that talk to each other. Spy and lookout. Only Akatsuki member who is never shown with a partner, because he can be his own partner. Can perfectly blend into the background (sometimes by use of a Venus flytrap thing). Cannibal. Observed both Naruto and Sasuke's fight at the Valley of the End and Sasuke and Itachi's final battle.
Knows Madara's identity and status as the true leader, and thus works closely with him. Showed ability to split his two sides apart which he used to have his white side lead Sasuke to the Kage summit while the black side stayed behind with Madara. The white half interrupted meeting and revealed that Sasuke was in the building, after which the Raikage strangled him until he lost consciousness.

    Deidara 

Art is a blast!

Voiced by: Katsuhiko Kawamoto (JP), Quinton Flynn (EN, original), Roger Craig Smith (EN, current)

Mad Artist and Mad Bomber. Likes Stuff Blowing Up. Former student of the Third Tsuchikage. Has mouths in his palms, which shape explosive clay. Forcibly recruited into Akatsuki by Itachi, and hates him and the Sharingan for it. Admires Sasori, and feels responsible for Tobi. Captures Gaara. Has one arm crushed by in the process and another sent to another dimension by Kakashi. Manages to successfully fight against the entirety of Team Guy with no arms. Beats the Three-Tailed Beast. After a pitched battle with Sasuke, tries to kill his opponent by using his own body combined with his clay as a mini-nuke. He fails in killing Sasuke but succeeds in killing himself.
Later revived by Kabuto's Edo Tensei, joining Kabuto in finding Killer Bee and Naruto. Retains at least some of his original personality. Believes he killed Sasuke with his final attack.

    Sasori 

Fine art is something wonderful that's left long into the future ... eternal beauty.

Child Voice: Akiko Yajima (JP), Kari Wahlgren (EN)
Adult Voice: Takahiro Sakurai (JP), Johnny Yong Bosch (EN)

Deidara's partner. Mad Artist and Marionette Master. Impatient. Chiyo's grandson. Mind was permanently shattered by the death of his parents. Developed a technique to convert living humans into puppets, thus creating puppets who could use jutsu. Kidnapped the Third Kazekage and converted him into one of these puppets. Convertedhimself into a puppet. Beaten and killed by Sakura and Chiyo in his first major fight, when he is stabbed by puppets of his own parents.
His body serves as Kankuro's newest puppet, but Kabuto has used Edo Tensei to revive his spirit as well. In the first fight of the Fourth Ninja War, Kankuro defeats Sasori, telling him how he should not be a puppet to Kabuto. Sasori, moved by this speech, dissolves from his temporary body, telling Kankuro to take care of his puppets.
  • Bishonen
  • Cyborg: kinda.
  • Badass Boast: "Since I don't like waiting or making other people wait... I'll end this quickly.". Coupled with No Holds Barred Beatdown.
  • Draco In Leather Pants: His human puppet form is quite attractive, but some forget he's killed hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people.
  • Evil Redheads
  • Evil Is Sexy: Is it ever!
  • Freudian Excuse: Suggested to some degree that the death of his parents and his attempting to replace them with puppets caused him to turn evil, but Chiyo suggests that the Sand Village teachings caused it.
  • High Octane Nightmare Fuel: His puppets are made out of people he's killed. He describes the process of preserving them in great detail. (See his personal Squick entry below)
  • Ho Yay: With Deidara.
  • Older Than He Looks: He's 35 years old but his puppet body, which he created 20 years ago, looks like a teenager.
  • Immortality Immorality: Believes that by becoming a puppet one can attain eternal life, and has some fairly twisted views on human life.
  • In Series Nickname / Awesome Mc Coolname: Akasuna no Sasori (Sasori of the Red Sand/Scorpion of the Red Sand).
  • Irony: He hates waiting, but because of his puppet body he technically has all the time in the world.
    • He claims that emotion is a form of weakness despite having a heart but no brain.
    • He's now used as a puppet by Kankuro, whom Sasori had easily defeated way earlier.
    • And now he's a puppet for Kabuto.
  • Mad Artist: Believes that art lasts forever.
  • Marionette Master
  • People Puppets: Indulges in this after being revived by Kabuto's Edo Tensei due to a lack of usable puppets at his disposal. He combines this with Deidara's explosive clay to turn an incapacitated ninja from Konoha into a suicide bomber.
  • Meaningful Name: "Sasori" (サソリ) means "scorpion". Sasori's Hiruko armor runs on all four and has a bladed tail, Sasori uses Poisoned Weapons, and he uses a a scorpion as his symbol on the puppets he created before his defection.
  • Missed Moment Of Awesome: For this troper specifically, it was when he revealled his 100 human puppets, whom he constructed in such a way that they retained all their humans abilities including Kekkei Genaki, and with with which he managed to conquer an entire nation. So with all that hype, when it comes time for the actual on-screen fight— What does he have them do? Dive-bomb themselves in rush at our heroes, brandishing some generic bladed weaponry. It was painful.
  • One Man Army: Literally.
  • Poisoned Weapons: His weapons (and his puppets' weapons).
  • Puppet Armor: The armor even has a name (Hiruko).
  • Squick: Coupled with Nightmare Fuel.
    Sasori: Do you know how I add to my collection? First I tear out the organs. Once I've washed it clean, I drain out all of the blood. After I've made sure it won't decay, I fill it with weapons and traps, and add it to the collection. As gramdma said, Hiruko is part of my collection. With you and Chiyo, I will have exactly 300 puppets in my collection! This is my art!

  • The Stoic
    • Not So Stoic: After he reveals his puppet body, he becomes consideribly less calm.

  • Zerg Rush: His trump card, "Performance of 100 Puppets."


    Tobi 

Tobi is a good boy!

Voiced by: Wataru Takagi (JP), Michael Yurchak (EN)
Madara voiced by: Naoya Uchida (JP), Nolan North (EN)

Deidara's second partner. Comic relief. Nigh invulnerable. Wears a mask. Used to work for Zetsu. Gets beaten upby Deidara a lot.
He is actually Madara Uchiha, one of the original founders of Konoha. Also founder and chief planner for Akatsuki (His Tobi persona is likely Obfuscating Stupidity.). Diabolical Mastermind. He took his brother's eyes to create a unique Mangekyo Sharingan variant. He helped the First Hokage found Konoha and establish its dominance, but feuded with him over how to run the village and was cast out. He tamed the Nine-Tailed Fox; Jiraiya believes he is the one who loosed it on the village prior to the series, but Madara denies this (he's lying). He is somehow immortal. He also controlled the Fourth Mizukage at one point, but not anymore. Entered and built upon Akatsuki to mask his movements. He trained Itachi, and helped him with the Uchiha massacre. He told Sasuke the truth regarding Itachi and Konoha, and now has Sasuke under his thumb.
While Madara/Tobi isn't the most trustworthy person in the series, his ultimate plan seems to be to capture all nine tailed beasts and use their power to project an illusion on the moon, allowing him to control everyone on Earth. He is close to this goal; not only does he have seven tailed beasts (the two he doesn't have are incidentally the most powerful), but he also now has one of Pain's Rinnegan in his left eye.
  • Alien Blood: We've seen blood in this series. Whatever it is that comes out when he cuts off his arm, it's not human blood.
  • Appendage Assimilation: It seems Madara can swap out arms (and it's implied eyes as well) as needed.
  • Assimilation Plot
  • Big Bad: The definitive one of the series.
  • Complete Monster: Masterminded genocides of bloodline users during his stint as Kirigakure's puppet master, uses and controls everyone with sickening glee, assisted in the destruction of his own clan for spite and laughs, and admits that he is a monster to Naruto's face. Then he basically sells Sasuke to Kabuto (who will implicitly kill Sasuke, experiment on him, or both) in exchange for Kabuto not revealing some sort of secret.
    • And, against all odds, he manages to top himself in chapter 500, where he threatens to kill baby Naruto, literally within a minute of his birth, unless Minato stops trying to reseal the Nine-Tails. Even worse, he did this precisely to exploit Minato's Papa Wolf mindset, apparently because he never could have succeeded otherwise. And when it does work? Madara already attached exploding tags to Naruto's blanket.
  • Deadpan Snarker: He has a tendency to make blunt, rude, and disrespectul comments to everyone around him.
  • Eldritch Location: The dimension that he can open rifts to is comprised of random right angles and bizarre geometric formations
  • Even Evil Has Standards: As BAD as Madara is even HE is cautious around Kabuto.
  • Evil Costume Switch: Subverted in that he originally kept the same outfit after being revealed as the Big Bad. Played straight now that he has replaced his old mask with one that resembles the Ten-Tailed Beast's single eye. Also, he now wears robes as opposed to his old Akatsuki uniform.
  • Evil Old Folks
  • The Faceless: We've seen what Madara looked like before he created Akatsuki, but he currently wears an orange mask that covers his entire face (save for one of his eyes). We've only been able to see a small part of his right eye and there are numerous wrinkles around it; given that he's now almost 100 years old, he probably does look very aged. Then, when we finally got a good look at the top half of his face, he went and got a new mask.
  • Hey Its That Voice: Tobi is voiced by Jet the Hawk.
  • Ho Yay: With Deidara, but it's just an act.
  • Intangible Man: Of the Made Of Air variety.
  • Jossed: Being the subject of numerous WMG and Epileptic Trees, this was bound to happen.
  • Keet: Until we learn who he really is.
  • Made Of Iron: After Minato both shreds him with a Rasengan and stabs him in the gut, Madara is still standing, and even casually chats for a bit.
  • Magnificent Bastard: The rare combination of this and Complete Monster, considering he's the biggest asshole of the series but also freaking effective at what he does.
  • Man Behind The Man: To Nagato.
  • Mask Power: He's had quite a few masks, usually with a single eye-hole. His latest one is stylized like a big Sharingan.
  • Memetic Molester: The infamous SURPRISE BUTTSECKS panel before Sasuke fights Danzo.
  • Memetic Mutation: "Tobi is a good boy!", and later "Tobi is a BAD boy!"
  • More Than Mind Control: A master of this.
  • Motive Decay: Initially wanted to protect the Uchiha clan, but eventually grew bitter after his clan ostracized him, and wanted to (and helped to) destroy them along with the rest of Konoha.
  • Mismatched Eyes: After his battle with Konan, he has a Sharingan and a Rinnegan.
  • Nietzsche Wannabe: He wants to enslave the entire world because "there is no such thing as hope".
  • Nigh Invulnerability: Apart from being intangible, he can easily replace body parts lost in battle.
  • Not So Harmless: Initially seems like a somewhat goofy member of Akatsuki, but fans knew something was up when a sword slash pass right through him and he survives a massive explosion. Then it's revealed that he manipulated the Ame orphans and tried to destroy Konoha twice... including orchestrating the Nine-Tailed Beast's attack.
  • Not So Small Role: See above.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity
  • Paper Fan Of Doom: Of the more serious variety. He carried a rather large, and apparently quite heavy, fan back when we could actually see his face. He just recently started using it again, and fans are waiting to see what the thing actually does.
  • Reality Warper: He can use the jutsu Izanagi. Apparently, his is a more complete variant than Danzo's.
  • Sempai Kohai: Considers himself the kohai of Deidara and Kisame. Even though he's really the sempai.
  • Shout Out: His newest mask is similar to Friend's from TwentiethCenturyBoys.
  • Squick: You know those amusing scenes that painted Tobi as a complete goofball? Rewatch those with the knowledge that he's an evil, creepy old man and try not to be a little disturbed.
  • Super Strength: He snapped an arm off of its shoulder with just the grip of his fingers, and blocked a giant ass sword with his forearm.
  • Teleportation: He can teleport himself anywhere he wants, and can teleport others into an alternate dimension that seems to exist within his Sharingan.
  • The Man Behind The Man: Was not only Akatsuki's true leader, but the guy who was mind-controlling the 4th Mizukage.
  • The Worf Effect: Defeated by the First Hokage and thwarted by the Fourth Hokage. On the flip side he manages to outwit everyone in the present, and both of those defeats were against people who possessed Story Breaker Powers, and he's likely learned more than a few tricks while he was recovering.
    • And in the Fourth Hokage's case, he may have retreated due to being unable to destroy Konoha without the Nine-Tailed Fox, so there was no reason for him to stick around.

    Hidan 

As the other dies, their agony radiates through my body, and living through it is pure ecstasy!

Voiced by: Masaki Terasoma (JP), David Vincent (EN, original), Chris Edgerly (EN, current)

Immortal. Wields a Sinister Scythe. Ax Crazy who follows a Religion Of Evil. Foul-mouthed. Arrogant. Hates his partner, Kakuzu Hates everyone. Has voodoo-like powers that can transfer injuries to his enemies; being immortal, he survives even losing his head. Kills Asuma with this power. Shikamaru dismembers him and buries the still-speaking pieces alive. And it seems that he's still not dead: Kabuto is able to bring back to life every defeated member of Akatsuki EXCEPT him.

    Kakuzu 

Hidan, anyone with a brain would know that the world revolves around money!

Voiced by: Takaya Hashi (JP), Fred Tatasciore (EN)

Nigh Invulnerable and almost immortal. Bounty Hunter. Cares only about money. Once fought the First Hokage. Can make his body as hard as stone. Can incorporate other peoples' hearts into his body, extending his lifespan and allowing him to use their elements. Crippled by Naruto's newest Rasengan variant, and killed by Kakashi, but has recently been revived by Kabuto's Edo Tensei.

    Pain 

Those who do not understand true pain can never understand true peace.

Deva Path: Kenyuu Horiuchi (JP, Pain), Dave Wittenberg (EN, original), Troy Baker (EN, current)
Nagato: Junpei Morita (JP), Vic Mignogna (EN)

Leader of Akatsuki. Possesses the Rinnegan, the predecessor to the Sharingan and the Byakugan, which allows the user to use all six elements and learn any jutsu. Orphaned by the Land of Rain's civil war. Raised by Jiraiya, who believed him to be the prophecized Chosen One. Believed his suffering had caused him to become enlightened, and his power caused him to become a god. Wants to use the Tailed Beasts to create a weapon of mass destruction which can be used to put an end to war. Has six (actually seven) different bodies, each with different skills, and can't be defeated unless all of them are killed at once. The bodies are all ninja Jiraiya fought as he wandered the earth. His first physical appearance has him engaging his old master in battle in the Hidden Rain Village. Jiraiya killed one of his bodies and sent it back to Konoha (along with a toad bearing the message "The real one isn't there"), but he was eventually overwhelmed and killed.
He quickly replaced the missing body with a new one, and arrived in Konoha in the hopes of capturing Naruto. After his bodies engage - and in some cases, are defeated by - Konoha's villagers, he rounds them all up and uses Shinra Tensei, an ability which nukes the city. He fights the newly-empowered Naruto in a long drawn out battle that bumped the HSQ up a few notches. Finally, he is defeated and after accepting Naruto's ideals about peace, uses a jutsu to revive many of the Konoha ninja he killed, dying in the process; however, Kabuto resurrects him later with Edo Tensei. He is eventually revealed to be a descendant of the Uzumaki clan just like Naruto.

    Konan 

I have received the will of god and I must kill you.

Voiced by: Atsuko Tanaka (JP), Dorothy Elias Fahn (EN)

The only female in Akatsuki, and the last to be revealed. Uses origami-based powers. Unlucky Childhood Friend of Pain. Orphaned by the Land of Rain's civil war. Trained by Jiraiya. Sides with Naruto after Pain's death. Tries to protect Pain's corpse from ending up in Madara's hands, but dies in the process.

    Yahiko 

If war is going to continue - I will become the God of the world!


The founder and original leader of Akatsuki, until he sacrificed himself to save Konan from Hanzo. He beleved Nagato was the Chosen One, and so sacrificed himself to spare him from making a Sadistic Choice. His body was later used by Nagato and he became the Deva Path, the most powerful of the Six Paths.
Born into the war torn land of Ame, Yahiko was orphaned like so many others. Forced to fend for himself, he soon met Konan and Nagato. They were forced to work together to survive, but became close friends.
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