Missing-nin

are ninja who left their village, often because they have committed criminal acts. The ninja village that they are from will often try to track them down and eliminate them. Kirigakure has a special hunter-nin taskforce whose only objective is killing traitorous ninja. The ninja organization Akatsuki is composed of ten S-class missing-nin, except for Nagato and Konan, who are the leaders of Amegakure. Most of the missing-nin throughout the series are antagonists.

Depending on the village leader's decisions, the missing-nins in question may be given leniency. The most prominent example is Sasuke Uchiha, who is not marked for death by the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, as a favor to Naruto Uzumaki. and is instead to be brought back as a comrade.

Sasuke Uchiha, who has infiltrated Kumogakure and abducted their Jinchūriki, Killer Bee, then attacked the Kage summit, is branded as an international criminal, meaning that he is a missing-nin wanted on a global-scale level.