Konan

was the only female ninja in Akatsuki and the only member to call her partner, Nagato, by his name. She is now the current leader of Amegakure

Background
When she was younger, Konan's family was killed during the Second Great Shinobi World War and she was left to fend for herself. Sometime later, Yahiko found her and the two worked together to survive. Not long after that, Konan went for a walk and found a young dying Nagato and his dog, Chibi. She then rescued Nagato and brought him back to Yahiko's hideout, hence becoming close friends. The three eventually encountered the three Sannin, who gave them some food. Konan impressed them by making an elaborate flower out of the paper wrappers left behind (she also wears one in her hair). Jiraiya taught them ninjutsu and, once confident they could take care of themselves, left them on their own.

Over time the three formed a larger group and became renowned for the strength and effectiveness, news of their actions even reaching Jiraiya. Hanzō, leader of Amegakure, feared that they would overthrow him. As such, he and Konoha's Danzo deceived the group into an allegiance for peace. When Nagato and Yahiko went to meet with them, they kidnapped Konan and ordered Nagato to kill Yahiko in exchange for her life. Konan cried out for them to flee without her, but they refused to leave her behind. Although Nagato was paralyzed by the order, Yahiko impaled himself on a kunai in Nagato's hand. Nagato saved her and would thereafter accompany him wherever he went.

Personality
Konan is stoic, calm, and level-headed (much like her partner, Nagato). As a child, she was bright, compassionate, and relatively cheerful in comparison to Yahiko's tough attitude and Nagato's sensitivity. However, the trauma of events since then have led her to become a very serious person and she rarely spoke during Akatsuki meetings. Nevertheless, she has always placed the safety of her teammates above her own.

She does seem to be more empathic than most other Akatsuki members, as she appears sad whenever she has been reminded of her past. She also expresses a great deal of loyalty and courtesy to Pain (which he always returns), doing his bidding without question, looking out for his well-being and always having complete faith in his abilities. She seems to act as an intermediary between Pain and Amegakure, the villagers having given her the title "God's Angel" for this reason, and for the reason that with her paper wings activated she looks like an angel.

She has the ability to read Pain's emotions without him facially expressing them, presumably as a result of having known him for so long. As soon as Madara Uchiha ordered Pain to capture the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, she could tell right away that there was something about the order that very much upset her emotionally-deadened partner.

Infiltration of Amegakure
When Jiraiya infiltrates Amegakure, Pain has Konan scour the village in search of him by splitting into numerous paper butterflies. When she finds him she informs Pain and then engages him in battle until Pain can get there. She attacks Jiraiya with paper spears, but he sees it coming and uses his Toad Fire Technique to stop the spears. Jiraiya remembers her, complimenting her on her power and beauty, commenting that she had become "one hell of a woman". Jiraiya immobilizes her with oil, but she is saved when Pain appears to wash the oil away. She regroups with him after he kills Jiraiya.

Invasion of Pain arc
Konan later accompanies Pain during his attack on Konoha. When they arrived, they swiftly eliminated a patrol of Leaf ninja, with Pain giving Konan orders to spare no one. She is seen asking the Konoha shinobi if they know the whereabouts of Naruto as they are trapped in her paper. The shinobi were saved by the Aburame Clan's insects. Konan retreats shortly after she starts to face them, only to discover Pain was deciding to use one of his most dangerous jutsu. Concerned for his health, she begged him to stop the jutsu, even calling him by his real name, "Nagato." Pain however, clearly had his mind made up and continued to use the technique, on a massive scale.

After consulting with Pain about the use of his jutsu she is seen departing, stating she will look after him from now on. She then dispersed her Paper Clone and remained with Nagato for the rest of the invasion, constantly asking that he not overexert himself. When Naruto finds their location she attempts to keep him from Nagato, but Nagato tells her to step aside. She does as he asks and listens to their conversation, but remains concerned about Nagato's condition. When Naruto leads Nagato to having a change of heart and he decides to revive the people of Konoha, Konan realizes that doing so will cost him his life. Knowing she couldn't stop him, she only marveled at Naruto's ability to change others.

When all of the Konoha ninja are revived, Konan, like Nagato, entrusts the task of finding peace to Naruto. She wraps Nagato and the Deva path (Yahiko's) dead bodies with her paper to take them with her to Amegakure. When asked by Naruto if she would return to Akatsuki, she said that she is through with the organization as Nagato and Yahiko meant everything to her, and now, she would help Naruto accomplish their dream of bringing peace to the world.

Abilities
Konan is a kunoichi of great ability, and her skills are held in high regard by her partner Pain. Jiraiya held her off with relative ease, but with his capabilities it was to be expected somewhat. She has an amazing natural talent for origami, as seen with the paper flower she keeps in her hair. As a child, after training with Jiraiya, she was able to form paper weapons infused with her chakra.

As an adult and member of Akatsuki, her abilities have grown considerably. She has created a unique transformation technique called Dance of the Shikigami which can turn her entire body and clothing into thousands of sheets of paper, which she can control at will and form into any shape. To travel long distances, she can mold them into butterflies or planes for powered flight, and to attack, the sheets can form arrows, shuriken, or kunai. She can also restrain opponents by blanketing them in sheets restricting their movement. Befitting (and likely inspiring) her title as, the papers can also form large wings for flight or further weaponry. Konan is susceptible to oil-based attacks which stick to her and keep her paper form from unfolding, although she is not hampered to the same extent by water, as seen when Pain had his summon use Water Release: Violent Bubble Wave on her to wash the oil off, as well as when she is seen fighting in the rain during flashbacks. Her paper, however, is also vulnerable to fire jutsu.

Konan has been shown to be able to fold paper to mimic environmental surroundings, allowing her and those of her choosing to hide in places one normally wouldn't be able to.

Creation
In Naruto Hiden: Sha no Sho Character Official Data Book, Kishimoto reveals that he'd always planned for Konan to be the only female member of Akatsuki, and for that reason, gave her quite a revealing design. He jokingly comments that, "she's obscene, but she still wears clothes, though her Akatsuki mantle covers it up, and she turns into paper right away." In the concept artwork, her navel is also shown to be pierced.

Trivia

 * Even though she is an Akatsuki member, Konan (like Pain) has not been a missing-nin since their faction achieved victory in the Amegakure civil wars.
 * She is the only Akatsuki member who has yet to be heard talking in the anime.
 * Her name means "Little South".
 * According to the databook, Konan's hobbies are origami and flower pressing.
 * Konan's eyes are shown to be a light greyish-blue with golden hints in the manga. In the anime, her eyes are depicted as a deep shade of amber.
 * Konan shares her birthday and blood type with her former teammate, Yahiko.
 * Nagato states that her reason for joining Akatsuki is "Love".
 * Konan is the second member to have defected from Akatsuki, the first being Orochimaru.

Quotes

 * (To Naruto) "Nagato believed in you, so I believe in you, too"
 * (To Nagato) "You don't have to go that far! You're in no shape--"
 * (To Jiraiya) "You have no idea what happened to us after you left, sensei."
 * (To Jiraiya) "I must kill you. That is the will of God."
 * (After hearing of Naruto's strength) "Spare us your words of fear and warning. They are wasted on us. Pain has never yet lost a battle."