The Naruto franchise has been popular for well over a decade, and it features plenty of impressive ninja battles. The first half of the series introduced the core group of characters, and it focused on establishing the goals of both Naruto and Sasuke. In the second half of the series, Naruto and his friends mainly saw themselves going up against a group of rogue ninja known as the Akatsuki.
With the exception of Zetsu, every single member of the Akatsuki was a highly skilled and powerful ninja, and many of them possessed unique and frightening abilities. They started off as a mercenary group, but their true goal was to collect all of the Tailed Beasts. The organization was extremely successful, but they also failed in certain aspects.
9 They Failed To Capture The Eight-Tails Twice
Killer B is one of the most likable characters in Shippuden, and he was targeted by the Akatsuki multiple times because he is the Eight-Tails’ Jinchuriki. The organization first tried to capture him by sending Sasuke and his team after him.
It appeared as though B had been captured, but when the Akatsuki began extracting the Eight-Tails, it was revealed that B had used a very convincing decoy to escape. The second attempt involved Kisame going after him alone, and he ended up failing because his sword, Samehada, betrayed him. The appearance of the Fourth Raikage also contributed to this failure.
8 No One Bothered Rescuing Hidan
Hidan may have been one of the Akatsuki’s more immature members, but his ability made him a valuable part of the organization. Thanks to his forbidden jutsu, Hidan gained a form of immortality, and he was able to turn himself into a human voodoo doll. This ability allowed him to take down a fully transformed Jinchuriki.
After killing Asuma, Hidan and Kakuzu were hunted down, and when Shikamaru finally landed his Shadow Possession Jutsu on Hidan, he lured him away and blew his body to pieces. Hidan was still very much alive, but he was sealed within a pit. The pit may be guarded, but Zetsu and Obito could have retrieved him at any time, and Pain could have theoretically healed his injuries with the Naraka Path.
7 They Allowed Orochimaru To Roam Free
There are certainly anime villains who are worse than Orochimaru, but that fact doesn’t lessen the impact of his heinous acts. He joined the Akatsuki shortly after becoming a rogue ninja, but he left the group after he tried to steal Itachi’s Sharingan.
The Akatsuki wanted Orochimaru dead because he knew things about the organization, and Sasori and Deidara were tasked with killing him. Orochimaru was allowed to roam free for years though, which was odd seeing how Kabuto was once Sasori’s spy. If Sasori had contacted Kabuto earlier, Orochimaru could have been killed, especially if more Akatsuki members were present to ensure the mission’s success.
6 No One Stopped Deidara From Going After Sasuke
When Deidara learned that Sasuke killed Orochimaru before he could, he decided to go after the young Uchiha instead. Sasuke overestimated his power quite a few times, but he was in full control during his fight with Deidara, which was why the young Akatsuki resorted to blowing himself up.
Deidara was the Akatsuki’s explosives expert, which means that he was actually one of the group’s most useful members, and they allowed him to go on a pointless vendetta. Pain himself admitted that Deidara’s loss was a significant blow to the organization could have easily been avoided with a simple order.
5 They Didn’t Have Spies In Every Village
When Sasori and Deidara attacked the Sand Village, they used one of Sasori’s spies to eliminate the village’s outer security. This proved to be quite helpful, as it allowed Deidara to enter the village virtually undetected. It also allowed him to take on Gaara without any other Sand ninja getting involved.
Spies can be very useful, especially if they are high-ranking individuals who can provide information regarding a Jinchuriki’s habits and location. If the Akatsuki had a spy in the Cloud Village, B might’ve actually been captured. It was true that Zetsu did a lot of spying, but he couldn’t be everywhere at once.
4 They Didn’t Have Any Back-Up Members On Standby
One of the harsh realities of the Akatsuki is the fact that every member is a wanted criminal, but when the group is at full strength, all the members have some level of protection. In this case, full strength meant ten members in total, but that number proved to be a tad problematic.
It’s extremely manageable to have only ten members to keep track of, but when one member leaves or dies, the group loses a large chunk of its manpower. By the time Pain attacked the Leaf Village, the organization had lost half of its total manpower, and only one member had been replaced. If the organization had a roster of potential members scouted out beforehand, they could have refilled their ranks without much difficulty.
3 They Didn’t Capture Multiple Tailed Beasts At Once
The Akatsuki’s goal was to capture the Tailed Beasts, and it took them a long time to collect the first seven because they needed to collect them in a specific order. For the most part, each Tailed Beast and Jinchuriki was defeated by a single Akatsuki member, which meant that they could’ve easily collected more than one at a time.
If they had collected multiple Jinchuriki at once, they could have simply extracted each Tailed Beast in order while the other Jinchuriki were immobilized. Doing this would have put the ninja villages more on edge because they would’ve all lost their greatest weapons simultaneously. This method would’ve allowed multiple members to then go after Naruto and the Nine-Tails.
2 They Failed To Capture The Nine-Tails
The Nine-Tails was the strongest Tailed Beast, which was why Pain decided to capture it personally. Pain assaulted the village with all six of his bodies, and Konan helped to interrogate some Leaf ninja as well. When Pain learned Naruto’s location, he destroyed most of the village in order for the inhabitants to understand true pain.
Naruto ended up returning, and he eventually defeated Pain. When the fight was over, Naruto met with Nagato, and after a heartfelt conversation, he decided to entrust Naruto with bringing peace to the ninja world. Nagato died shortly after, and Konan decided to leave the organization at the same time.
1 The Organization Was Manipulated By Several People
The Akatsuki was a villainous group that no normal person would want to be a part of, and that was because the entire group was manipulated by several individuals. The goal of Nagato’s Akatsuki was to collect the Tailed Beasts in order to take over the world and establish true peace, but Obito and Black Zetsu had other ideas.
Obito wanted the Tailed Beasts in order to create the Ten-Tails and cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi on the entire planet. Black Zetsu had manipulated both Obito and Madara, as he needed a perfect Ten-Tails Jinchuriki in order to resurrect Kaguya Otsutsuki.
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