The Naruto franchise features multiple groups of villainous shinobi with their sights set on the Hidden Leaf Village. The Seven Deadly Swordsman, the Kara, the Taka, and the Sound Five are but a few of these organizations. However, none are as powerful as the Akatsuki.
The Akatsuki group was founded by Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan to protect the Village Hidden in the Rain. After Yahiko's death, the second order of the group was assembled under Nagato's command to carry out Madara Uchiha's plan for world domination. Despite its many setbacks, the Akatsuki group survived across the years, most recently because of Shin Uchiha's actions in Boruto. From one incarnation to another, the Akatsuki gang has featured some of the shinobi world's mightiest warriors, capable of jutsu no one else could even dream of.
Updated on October 2nd, 2023 by Louis Kemner: The many Akatsuki members in Naruto can be ranked according to their sheer power and deadliness in shinobi combat, and this list has been updated to more accurately reflect what the strongest Akatsuki members were capable of.
16 Daibutsu
Daibutsu was one of the original Akatsuki members, though very little is known about him aside from some basic details. He wore the standard Akatsuki uniform of the time and lacked a headband, and he also had Buddha-like facial features, including his large ears.
As for his combat skills, Daibutsu felt like a low-tier chunin, making him the weakest known Akatsuki member with confirmed combat abilities. Daibutsu used a bo and a large club in combat, but basic weapons like those were insufficient against Obito Uchiha/Tobi, who killed him in battle.
15 Kyusuke
Kyusuke was a founding member of the Akatsuki along with Diabutsu, and he had impressive speed to give him the edge in combat. He also had some skill with a sword, but all that won't compare well to what much stronger Akatsuki members like Deidara, Kakuzu, and Itachi can do.
Kyusuke played a major role in the Akatsuki's early days as a messenger and intelligence gatherer, which led to Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan meeting Hanzo. Kyusuke also fought alongside Daibutsu to take on Tobi, but Kyusuke's sacrificial move in that fight was in vain. He had no proper response for Tobi's Kamui abilities.
14 Juzo Biwa
Given Juzo Biwa's status as an anime-only character, it is unsurprising that he was the weakest member of the Akatsuki. Biwa originally hails from the Village Hidden In The Mist, and he harbored an intense hatred for his former home.
Despite his hatred for his former village, he held a position of high esteem in his home as one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen Of The Mist. His prowess with a blade mde him a legend before he ever joined up with the Akatsuki and became Itachi Uchiha’s partner. Juzo’s skill actually made him a potential contender to become the leader of his village before he left it, so it’s only fitting that he lost his life to the actual Mizukage while working for the Akatsuki.
13 Hidan
Most fans remember Hidan because of the emotional role he played in Shikamaru Nara and Asuma Sarutobi’s storyline. However, his powers of immortality made him one of the most unique — and complicated — Akatsuki member, even if he was not exactly the strongest of them.
Because of his immortality, Hidan didn’t actually have to be the best fighter to win a battle — he just needed to outlast his opponent. Shikamaru was forced to perform a lot of planning and utilize some inventive techniques to bring Hidan’s reign of terror to an end, and even then, all Shikamaru did was bury him.
12 Sasori
Sasori was a ninja from the Hidden Sand Village who worked as both a puppet maker and an assassin before joining the Akatsuki. His most impressive assassination was his killing of the Third Kazekage, whom Sasori turned into a puppet shortly afterward. He has transformed many people into puppets over the years, including his own parents and even himself.
Because Sasori turned himself into a puppet when he was young, he still had the appearance of a young boy. He skillfully expanded the parameters of his chakra control beyond that of any regular ninja, and he was capable of wielding a hundred puppets at a time. On top of that, Sasori could imbue his weapons with poison and attack with millions of microscopic homing projectiles at the same time.
11 Kakuzu
Kakuzu joined the Akatsuki in hopes of expanding his fortune, and he was known to be one of the greediest people in the Shinobi World. He defeated multiple Jinchuriki, including Fuu and Yugito, and has slain entire villages alone without any help from Hidan.
Kakuzu effectively made himself immortal by keeping five hearts spread throughout his body, each of which is represented on his body as a mask that uses different chakra natures. He was so durable that even Matatabi and Kakashi were incapable of damaging him under normal circumstances.
10 Deidara
Deidara's skillset was pretty strange, even for a shinobi from the Naruto franchise. He possessed one mouth on each of his hands, and when he fed them clay, those mouths could form an array of devastating explosive tools.
Deidara was incredibly stealthy, and thanks to his clay weapons, he was able to go toe-to-toe with some of the strongest characters in the entire series. He fought Gaara and Sasuke on equal footing, defeating the former with ease and almost taking out the latter before his own demise.
9 Konan
Konan is one of only two Akatsuki members to survive the first iteration of the team. She also ranks incredibly high in the organization, even if the members like to think they are all equal in their pursuits. She is, after all, an advisor to both Yahiko and Nagato during their time as leader of the group.
Konan's ability to channel her chakra through paper, as well as transform into those pieces of paper, is incredibly unique for the series. Enemies might have misjudged her, but as evidenced by her fight with Obitio Uchiha, she is a threat against almost anybody when she has the time to prepare.
8 Zetsu
Zetsu was undoubtedly one of the most intelligent characters in all of Naruto. As one of Kaguya Otsutsuki's "sons", he spent millennia plotting her return. He actually carved some of the prophecies on the Uchiha Stone, setting in motion the events that led to the second order of the Akatsuki.
In his White Zetsu form, Zetsu could create an army of clones that are capable of quickly overwhelming their enemies. Black Zetsu was capable of leeching onto powerful people, to the extent that Madara was defeated because Zetsu latched onto him and caught him off guard with a finishing blow.
7 Kisame Hoshigaki
Kisame Hoshigaki was a man who held many shark-like qualities, having been trained by one of the Seven Deadly Swordsman, the former wielder of the Samehada. After his master killed himself, Kisame took on the blade, eventually taming it and learning to merge with the blade at will.
Known as the "Tailless Tailed Beast", Kisame was noted to have both the chakra reserves and power of a Tailed Beast, securing his position as one of the strongest Akatsuki members of all time. He fought by draining the chakra of his opponents constantly during battle, and he briefly comes out victorious in combat against Killer B.
6 Orochimaru
Orochimaru traveled all over the Shinobi World, and he was perhaps the most knowledgeable ninja since Hagoromo — better known as the Sage of Six Paths — about the secrets of ninjutsu. He joined the Akatsuki to study their techniques, and in the long-term, his ultimate goal was to become truly immortal and master every possible jutsu.
One of Orochimaru's most fearsome techniques was Edo Tensei, which allowed him to summon mighty shinobi like the Hokage to fight against potential opponents. Orochimaru could also "shed" his skin to escape harm and continue the fight in a backup body, and he could summon Manda the giant snake to finish off any opponent.
5 Nagato
Pain was the animated corpse of the villainous Yahiko, the founder of the original Akatsuki, and he was controlled by the second leader of the Akatsuki — Nagato. Nagato's Rinnegan allowed him to control the Six Paths of Pain, and while controlling them, he not only killed Jiraiya but also destroyed the entire Hidden Leaf Village. He served as the leader of the second order of the Akatsuki, though he was actually being remotely controlled by Nagato Uzumaki.
Nagato had the power to control gravity using the Shinra Tensei and the Chibaku Tensei techniques, and he was capable of using the Six Paths, which allowed him to summon powerful animals, use the God of Death, pull out people's souls, turn his body cybernetic, and employ several other techniques. Were his body not failing him from decades of overuse, then even Sage Mode Naruto likely could not have defeated him.
4 Itachi Uchiha
Itachi Uchiha was Sasuke's older brother, and because of the Uchihas' plan to overthrow the Hokage, he was forced to assassinate his entire clan years before the events of Naruto. However, Itachi could not bring himself to kill his brother, so he spared Sasuke's life before defecting to the Akatsuki in order to spy on the organization from within.
Itachi possessed some of the most formidable ocular jutsu of the Akatsuki, and he was capable of using the Tsukuyomi, which created a genjutsu world in which Itachi could control all matter, space, and time. He could also use the Susano'o technique, the Izanagi, and the Izanami, speaking to his status as one of the Uchiha Clan's finest warriors.
3 Shin Uchiha
Shin Uchiha was an experiment created by Orochimaru during the events of the Boruto manga. He took inspiration from Danzo and imbued a single artificial life form with as many Sharingan as he could get his hands on. Shin eventually fully awakened his Sharingan, and then he cloned himself repeatedly until he recreated a bastardized version of the Uchiha Clan.
Shin iwasa threat to all the shinobi in the Hidden Leaf Village — even Naruto and Sasuke. As of the current story, even base Naruto and Sasuke can almost defeat every other shinobi in the world, so the fact that Shin pushes them to their limit is a testament to his incredible strength.
2 Obito Uchiha
Obito was the founder of the third order of the Akatsuki, having been a disciple of Minato, the Fourth Hokage. While he was once presumed to have died as a young shinobi, he is saved by Madara Uchiha and brainwashed into committing the legendary shinobi's bidding.
Obito Uchiha's genjutsu was even greater than the Kotoamatsukami, and he was capable of keeping Yagura under his control for many years without any other shinobi noticing. He inherited the Rinnegan, awakened his Mangekyo Sharingan, possessed Hashirama cells, and even briefly gained control of the Ten-Tails. Were it not for the combined efforts of the Allied Shinobi Forces, he would have almost certainly defeated every hero in the series.
1 Madara Uchiha
Madara Uchiha was the first notable person whom Zetsu involved in his plan to resurrect Kaguya Otsutsuki, and coincidentally, Madara was one of the few characters who may have been able to stand up to her overwhelming strength. Madara was capable of using the Infinite Tsukiyomi, the Izanagi, the Izanami, and a host of Rinnegan-related abilities.
Madara developed his Susano'o further than any character in the series, and by cloning this creation, he effortlessly wiped out the Five Kage. His power as the Ten-Tails jinchuriki rivaled even that of Hagoromo Otsutsuki, making the co-founder of the Hidden Leaf Village the most powerful member Akatsuki member, as well as arguably the strongest shinobi of all time.