Missing-nin

are ninja who left their village, often because they have committed criminal acts. The ninja village that they are from 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. Most of the missing-nin throughout the series are antagonists, with a notable exception being Itachi Uchiha.