Akatsuki

The is a criminal organization of S-rank missing-nins. Their main goal is to collect all of the tailed beasts for their plan of world domination. As such, the Akatsuki, despite initially having a minor role during the first half of the series, became major antagonists in the Naruto universe.

The Akatsuki, prior to the execution of their plans, at any given time had ten primary members, all of whom are or were S-Class from their respective villages. The Akatsuki always work in teams of two with the exception of Zetsu, who functions as the organization's spy, and make use of their unique skills to the teams advantage. Team members at the very least have to have functional team work with their partner even if they don't like each other. Despite this, it appears the organization hardly ever has a full meeting with them all together, as when they first met at the end of Part I, one said it was the first time in seven years they were all together.

The Akatsuki is widespread, spanning several countries with many agents possibly in all the ninja villages at least once. When one team finds a tailed beasts and has to begin the job of sealing the demon, they have hidden hideouts with many traps ready, to begin the sealing with the leader's astral projection for a three day long jutsu.

Teams
The Akatsuki Teams are put together in teams of two to exploit combined strengths for the Organization's goals to be met. Each team is lead by a senior member of the Organization.

Itachi/Kisame A team that functioned well together and was unbelievably effective. Mission wise; the team completed almost every assignment Pein gave them with little trouble with the Nine-Tailed Fox being the only known exception. Personality wise; Itachi and Kisame were both on good terms with each other with little or no fighting between them. Kisame appeared to be the "Brawn" of the group while Itachi served as the "Brains". This team has since been dissolved with Itachi's death.
 * Status: Inactive
 * Senior: Itachi
 * Targets: Nine-Tailed Demon Fox (Failed) Four-Tailed beast (Captured)

Orochimaru/Sasori Sasori claimed that he and Orochimaru worked well together during their partnership. However, when Orochimaru defected from Akatsuki after his failed attempt on stealing Itachi's body, Sasori has developed a grudge against his partner.
 * Status: Inactive
 * Senior: Presumably Orochimaru
 * Target: Unknown

Sasori/Deidara Formed by the two artists of Akatsuki, Sasori and Deidara worked well for the most part but had conflicting ideas on art. Sasori thought all art was to be permanent, such as his puppets, while Deidara thought art was instantaneous and then gone forever, such as his exploding clay. Sasori, having many connections, was able to get a spy into Sunagakure for years before their arrival, to learn the villages defenses for their raid.
 * Status: Inactive
 * Senior: Sasori
 * Target: One-Tailed Shukaku (Captured)

Kakuzu/Hidan A very effective yet unruly team; usually doing unrelated jobs and always late. Pein decided to put these two together because of their unique abilities. Hidan for unknown reasons could not be killed, even by decapitation, and Kakuzu could easily go into a rage and kill anyone around him, including his partner. Therefore, with Hidan, Kakuzu can go into a rage and not worry about his partners' life afterwards. They have shown the most hostility towards each other due to a conflict of interest; Kakuzu sees the rituals and beliefs of Hidan's religion to be a waste of time, and Hidan sees Kakuzu's willingness to do blasphemous things and his greediness to be unbearable. Their team was assigned to capture the Two-Tailed Demon Cat, but later decided to also capture unknown target, because they happened to be close to the Land of Fire after capturing Yugito Nii; after the sealing of the Two and Three Tails, they decided to go after Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.
 * Status: Inactive
 * Senior: Kakuzu
 * Targets: Two-Tailed Demon Cat (Captured) Nine-Tailed Demon Fox (Failed) Unknown Target (Failed)

Deidara/Tobi Formed after the death of Sasori, Tobi was introduced as his easily found replacement. Despite Tobi's eagerness to please his "senpai", his childish attitude was seen as a annoyance to Deidara's expectations of the organization. Beyond this, the two worked well together, with Tobi planted Deidara's explosive clay underground during their fights. When Deidara was about to blow himself up to kill Sasuke Uchiha, he apologized to Tobi, saying that he too would be caught up in the blast.
 * Status: Inactive
 * Senior: Deidara
 * Target: Three-tailed beast (Captured)

Zetsu Not an actual team, but Zetsu has two personalities that converse and even disagree with each other. So in a sense, it's a team of two.
 * Status: Active
 * Target: Unknown

Pein/Konan A team that so far, functions very well with each other, evident that Konan is the only member to refer to Pein by name. As the leader of Akatsuki, Pein directs the rest of the organization to their respective goals, his most direct interaction with the organization is using the Illusionary Dragon Nine Consuming Seals. Pein is the leader of Amegakure, and has sense been referred to as a god there. Konan for doing her duties to Pein has been declared God's Angel.
 * Status: Active
 * Senior: Pein
 * Target: Nine-Tailed Demon Fox

Akatsuki/Team Hawk More of an alliance between factions than actual teams, they were created by Madara Uchiha for his final revenge against Konoha. Due to the loss of five members, the Akatsuki doesn't have the strength they used to have, so Madara enlisted the aid of Team Hawk, who also wish the destruction of Konoha. To complete their goals, Madara ordered Hawk to hunt the Eight-Tailed beast while Akatsuki hunts the demon fox.
 * Status: Active
 * Senior: Madara
 * Targets: Nine-Tailed Demon Fox (Akatsuki), Eight-Tails (Team Hawk)

Associates

 * Yura (Deceased)
 * Sasori Underling (Unnamed, Deceased)
 * Kabuto Yakushi (Defected)
 * Hawk