Every Member of the Akatsuki in Naruto Ranked from Strong to Strongest

Unless you are the Greatest Hokage or have a terrifying Kekki Genkai up your sleeve, you definitely wouldn’t want to meet the Akatsuki in a dark alley. These people are tough. Far and wide, they’re isn’t anyone in the Naruto universe that’s tougher to beat.

To join them, one must be brutal and resilient. Just one of these baddies is enough to take on a Kage—maybe even the whole village with all of its Shinobi.

But who amongst these Kage-level dudes is the strongest? We know all of them are strong, but for the fun of it, let’s rank all of the Akatsuki members from strong to strongest.

12. Zetsu

Zetsu is at the bottom of this list, but that doesn’t make him any less of a threat. He is incredibly powerful thanks to the genetic abilities he possesses, though he is somewhat ineffective in battle compared to the other super-powerful characters on this list. Even so, Zetsu is the reason the Akatsuki is able to create and send out a legion of clones that can use the almost mythical wooden-style release.

Thanks to his ability to move through solid structures, Zetsu is most frequently utilized for reconnaissance missions.

11. Hidan

Hidan is a resilient ninja for sure. But as an Akatsuki, Hidan doesn’t have a lot of tricks up his sleeve. He can endure blows thanks to his immortality and harm adversaries with his curse-type ability, making him a two-trick magician. Ultimately, Shikamaru’s superior intelligence allows him to best Hidan. Nonetheless, a testament to his might was when he captured the two Tails and also delivered one of the most emotional deaths in the entire production when he murdered Asuma-Sensei.

10. Sasori

One of the first Akatsuki Member reveals was that of Sasori, who definitely proved himself to be a worthy opponent. He was a powerful puppeteer—the most powerful in Naruto—and, like many other Akatsuki members, he had switched between bodies in an effort to attain immortality. A former sand ninja, he remained undefeated until Sakura took him out with help from Lady Chiyo.

9. Konan

Konan, with her paper manipulation Jutsu, definitely proved herself to be an Akatsuki Member. Primarily in her battle with Obito where she, for the most part, held her own and delivered some devastating blows. Her ability to turn her own body into paper is pretty cool. Regrettably, she doesn’t get much screen time and primarily serves as Pain’s right-hand lady, performing in a more advising capacity. Konan had a lot of unrealized potential, and we wish she had been given some additional character development.

8. Deidara

Deidara is one of Akatsuki’s more resilient members. He faced off against Sasuke and came close to winning. This is mostly because of his tactical prowess and penchant for conflict. Along with his partner Sasori, he is extremely challenging to defeat in hand-to-hand combat. While Deidara, is #8 on our list, he outperforms the ninjas further down this ranking in terms of sheer strength.

7. Kakuzu

Kakuzu is able to make excellent use of each element, much like Kakashi. However, in contrast to The Copy Ninja, he can quickly revive his strength by stealing it from fighters around him. Because of this, Kakuzu is extremely difficult to defeat—it takes exceptional teamwork. We saw this when Naruto used an exceptionally powerful Rasenshuriken to take Kakuzu out.

6. Kisame

A number of chakras lay dormant inside Kisame, waiting to be unleashed. He concedes, though, that he is not as good as the finest Akatsuki members and that he cannot defeat Itachi.

In addition to having an extraordinary amount of chakra from birth, Kisame has the ability to steal chakra and seal it away from other people using his sword.

5. Kabuto

Kabuto is a shady one. For the majority of the show, we have no real idea of his identity or what he does. But when it comes to prowess, he’s a hardcore ninja. Kabuto transformed himself and used the abilities he acquired from Orochimaru to achieve a state that resembled eternality. But in the end, Itachi easily whooped his ass in battle. An appropriate conclusion for this unusual yet powerful Akatsuki Member.

4. Orochimaru

Orochimaru still wears the ring and has a long history with the Akatsuki. He used to be an active member, but he hasn’t been one in a while. The reason for this is that he wasn’t drawn to the idealistic objectives of the group—he had some egocentric ones of his own. Without question, Orochimaru is one of the all-time greatest ninjas, and no other Shinobi has ever come close to matching his role in the creation of new Jutsu. But in the end, his own student triumphs over him because of his selfishness.

3. Pain

Pain is far more powerful than he is generally given credit for. He was wholly committed to the Akatsuki cause. In fact, he was so strong that his Rinnegan almost subdued the entire Hidden Leaf Village. Ultimately, he was defeated by Naruto during his attack on the village.

Naruto, with his Talk-No-Jutsu, managed to change Nagato’s beliefs, allowing him to think more rationally. Being the “leader” of the Akatsuki, he definitely left his mark on the show. This arc also marked the conclusion of Naruto’s journey from village idiot to hero in many different ways.

2. Itachi

Itachi was unquestionably one of the Akatsuki organization’s most formidable ninjas. With his superior strength and marvelous tactics, he was able to control entire organizations from the inside. Villainized for the majority of the show, Itachi’s main objective was to save the Hidden Leaf Village and protect his brother.

We never got to witness his true might during his battles with our heroes, but this only goes to show just how overpowered he truly was.

1. Obito

For the majority of the show, The Akatsuki’s leader was believed to be Nagato/Pain. And despite Itachi’s clandestine efforts to keep things hidden, we eventually found out that it was Obito Uchiha all along. He was the real boss of the group.

Obito is a powerful ninja in general, as well as a powerful member of the Uchiha clan. Only Madara Uchiha and possibly Itachi Uchiha (if he hadn’t fallen ill and died) could have had a chance at besting this mighty warrior. But like every other great foe, he fell at the hands of Naruto’s Talk-No-Jutsu.

Conclusion

The Akatsuki was Naruto’s most feared villainous organization. Yahiko founded it, but following his death, it evolved into a criminal group. The feared Akatsuki was comprised of only the most powerful and rebellious ninjas from various villages.

Each member of the group was extremely powerful and possessed unique abilities. This group had multiple Kekkei Genkai users and definitely proved to be one hell of a challenge for the heroes. It is thanks to these great enemies that we witnessed some of the most brilliant victories and emotional defeats.