Konan

was a kunoichi from Amegakure and a founding member of the original Akatsuki. After Yahiko's death, she was partnered with Nagato, who had since taken control of Akatsuki, and was the only member to call him by his name. After Nagato's death, Konan defected from Akatsuki and became the de facto village head of Amegakure.

Background
When she was young, Konan's family was killed during the Second Shinobi World War, and she was left to fend for herself. Some time 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 rescued him and brought him back to their hideout. Gradually the three became best friends. They eventually encountered the Sannin, who gave them some food. Konan impressed them by making an elaborate flower out of the paper wrappers left behind as a sign of gratitude. When Orochimaru suggested to kill them so they would not have to suffer the horrors of war, Jiraiya instead opted to stay and teach the three how to look after themselves.

During their time with Jiraiya, he made a defence system composed of four planks, each with one red and one white side, attached to a part of a wall of the hideout they shared at the time with a string and a nail, each one above one of their names, which he called "Hop-In" planks. The purpose of the planks were that when they were in the hideout, they turn their planks to the red side and they leave, they flip their plank to the white side, so when a plank's on the red side and the person's not in the hideout, it means they could have been captured by the enemy and when a plank's on the white side and it appears that the person's in the hideout, it could mean that an enemy has transformed into said person and has infiltrated the hideout, along with a trapdoor hidden among the floorboards leading to a hidden room and emergency escape route he left just in case. After Jiraiya was confident they could take care of themselves, he told Konan that she will be very beautiful when she grows up and to come see him when she turns eighteen. With that said, he left for Konoha and the three continued to bring peace to their land.

Over time, the three formed Akatsuki and became renowned for their strength and effectiveness, with news of their actions even reaching Konoha. When their group became too big, they were forced to find another hideout, and leave their current one. When they were about to leave, two Iwa ninja attacked the hideout but Yahiko noticed in time and they used the escape route to escape. Through out their time together, Konan became close with Yahiko. During the Third Shinobi World War, their group was approached by a man calling himself "Madara Uchiha". He offered to help them in their pursuits but Yahiko refused the offer, suspecting he only meant to use them.

Through out their quest for peace, Akatsuki's ranks grew and became known throughout of Amegakure, so much so that Hanzō began to feel that Akatsuki threatened his rule so he approached the group and offered that they work together. The next day while on patrol, Konan was abducted by Hanzō's men and was brought to the meeting where he 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. Nagato was paralysed in shock by the order but Yahiko stabbed himself with the kunai in Nagato's hand and in a fit a rage, Nagato saved Konan by slaughtering the Anbu and Hanzō's subordinates.

Accepting Tobi's earlier offer of support, Nagato and Konan began recruiting S-rank missing-nin into Akatsuki and started offering its services as a mercenary group to ninja villages, earning the money necessary to fund its long-term plans. Some time later, Nagato under the alias of Pain, began a civil war within Amegakure, and as his messenger, Konan promised to the villagers that he would bring change to their village and other nations. Nagato eventually killed Hanzō and Konan assumed his identity to make it appear to the world that he was still alive and in control of Amegakure. In the anime, Konan aided in recruiting Hidan into the organisation.

Personality
Konan was smart, 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 traumatic events since then have led her to become a very serious person, and she never spoke during Akatsuki meetings. Nevertheless, she has always placed the safety of her team-mates above her own. Konan had romantic feelings towards Yahiko, which were reciprocated.

She did seem to be more empathetic than most other Akatsuki members, as she appeared sad whenever she was reminded of her past. She also expressed a great deal of loyalty and courtesy to Pain, doing his bidding without question, looking out for his well-being and always having complete faith in his abilities. She acted as an intermediary between Pain and Ame, the villagers having given her the title "God's Angel", because with her paper wings activated, she resembles one.

She had 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 Tobi 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.

After Nagato's sacrifice, Konan becomes fiercely adamant to protect Naruto Uzumaki, the person Nagato entrusted his mission of world peace to, even going as far as to proclaim all of Ame's loyalty to him. She was equally fierce in defending Nagato's remains from Tobi going as far as to prepare herself for suicidal attacks against him if it meant protecting Nagato and Naruto from him.

In the anime, Konan was shown to be more of a realist than Nagato, as Tobi stated he did not expect Naruto's arguments alone would be enough to turn her against Akatsuki, which she further elaborated when she compared Naruto to Tobi and realised Naruto is light personified while Tobi was darkness personified. Like Nagato, also she also regained her high regard for Jiraiya because prior to her fight with Tobi, she reminisced about her time with Jiraiya.

Appearance
Konan had short, straight blue hair with a bun, grey eyes (amber in the anime) with lavender eye shadow, and a white (black in the anime) labret piercing. Konan's eyelashes are shown to be a diagonal line at the bottom corner of her eyes, but in the anime, they are shown to be distinctive lines. She has worn a large light blue paper flower clipped on her bun since she was a child. Her facial expression was usually neutral, though usually protested or looked worried when Nagato performed a technique that would debilitate him. She wore the Akatsuki cloak and her Akatsuki ring on her right middle finger, the kanji on it meaning. She also wore orange nail polish. Although she never removed her Akatsuki mantle, it was revealed that underneath it she wore a revealing navy blue robe, with a large hemline on the front, and exposed her arms, her back, the lateral part of her breast and her belly, with her navel being surrounded by four more piercings. It was also revealed that her headband is on her right hip; instead of the standard sandals and leg-warmers, she wore a pair of blue pants that also functioned as her shoes, with white high heels, inverting the organisation's standard colour scheme.

As a child, Konan was seen wearing an array of simple clothing. When living with Jiraiya, she was seen wearing a karate top and skirt bottom, with a pouch she wore at the front of her outfit to carry her paper. When Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato began to make Akatsuki, Konan wore a black cloak with purple stockings and high heels, as well as a midsection guard, and an Ame forehead protector, that being the only time period Konan's been seen wearing one.

Abilities
As an S-rank criminal who grew up in war-torn times and being personally trained under Jiraiya, one of the three legendary Sannin, Konan was undoubtedly a very powerful kunoichi. Her skills were held in high regard by her partner Pain, and has been highly praised by her former teacher, Jiraiya. She was also able to nearly kill Obito, with the latter only surviving due to using the kinjutsu Izanagi, something she did not anticipate in her countless simulations of their battle.

Ninjutsu
Konan's nature transformations included Wind, Water, Earth, and Yang Release. In the anime, she was also revealed to be a sensor type shinobi.

Paper Ninjutsu
As a child, Konan has had a natural talent for origami. She would go on to develop it into her fighting style, leading to the creation of the Dance of the Shikigami. This technique transforms her entire body and clothing into numerous sheets of paper that she can control, shape and change the colour of at will. She could create butterflies in order to gather information or travel long distances. She could harden her paper with chakra to make weapons such as spears, shuriken and chakram-like weapons. She could restrain opponents by blanketing them in paper, and asphyxiate them if she wanted. She could make paper clones to fight in her place, and even hide explosive tags within them to catch an enemy off guard. Befitting her title as, she was able to form paper wings on her back. This allowed her to fly (though she was able to hover without them), as well as fire paper from the wings.

Despite being made of paper, Jiraiya's Fire Release: Flame Bullet barely damaged her when hit by it. She could even overpower the same technique with her paper. Her paper seemed unaffected by water, as seen during her fight against Tobi in the rain.

Konan was also able to produce and fold enough paper to mimic environmental surroundings, such as a giant tree that she used for Nagato's base of operations. She was also able to disguise her paper as the lake of Amegakure, which when opened, sends her opponent falling into an abyss with six hundred billion explosive tags detonating for a full ten minutes. This technique forced Tobi to use the Izanagi to survive since his intangibility would only last for five minutes.

Intelligence
Konan had a very keen intellect as she was able to quickly understand the process and reason behind the hop in, hop out system Jiraiya had created for them. In later years, she studied Tobi's space-time technique, accurately deciphering how it worked and then did countless simulations in order to find the perfect way to kill him. Even Tobi expressed surprise that he was forced to rely on the forbidden Izanagi to survive her final assault at the cost of his left eye.

Sasuke Recovery Mission
The Akatsuki gathered and discussed Orochimaru's retrieval of Sasuke Uchiha, as well as the capturing of the Nine-Tails and the furthering of their plans.

In Naruto's Footsteps: The Friends' Paths
In the anime, two years after Akatsuki's last known meeting, Kakashi Hatake came to her village to present an invitation to an early Chūnin Exams hosted by Konohagakure and Sunagakure, with the assumption that Hanzō is still the leader and alive. To keep this facade up, Konan disguised herself as Hanzō, retrieving the invitation and sending Kakashi off. Afterwards, she approached Pain to ask what their next move would be. Deciding it was too early to make any serious moves, Pain told Konan to accept the offer and send some genin teams to the exams to keep up the cover. As Konan assigned several genin as teams for the exams, she also informed them to keep quiet of Hanzō's demise. In addition, she assigned three kunoichi to use the Chūnin Exams to gather intel on other ninja, particularly look for shinobi with immense chakra levels in the possibility they are jinchūriki.

Ultimately, the Chūnin Exams were ended early before starting the finals due to controversy happening in the second exam. It was also decided that report on each participant's performance would be sent to their respective village leader for them to decide if they would be promoted. From this, Konan chose to promote all three kunoichi, and assigned them an S-ranked mission.

Kazekage Rescue Mission
Upon Deidara capturing the One-Tail Jinchūriki, Konan assisted in sealing the Tailed Beast from within Gaara.

Akatsuki Suppression Mission
Konan later assisted in sealing the Two-Tails from Yugito after Hidan captured her.

Itachi Pursuit Mission
Konan is present when the Akatsuki prepares to seal the Four-Tails, and listens silently as Pain informs the other members of the deaths of Hidan and Kakuzu, as well as news that Sasuke Uchiha has killed Orochimaru. Shortly after the Four-Tails is sealed, Zetsu reports the deaths of Deidara and Tobi in a fight with Sasuke. Pain expresses no love lost over Tobi, but encourages the remaining members of Akatsuki to mourn Deidara. Konan later informs Pain that their leader Tobi had arrived in Amegakure for a meeting with them. After Tobi left, she knew that something that the latter said had upset Nagato.

Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant
When Jiraiya infiltrated Amegakure, Pain stopped the rain and had Konan scour the village in search of him by splitting into numerous paper butterflies. After locating the intruder, she informed Pain who told her to try to kill him if she could. She engaged Jiraiya in battle until Pain could arrive, attacking Ryūsui who was being controlled by the latter, restraining him in a swarm of paper and created a spear, but the Sannin noticed the attack and deflected it in time using Fire Release: Flame Bullet, driving Konan back. Jiraiya recognised Konan and complimented her on her power and beauty, commenting that she had become "one hell of a woman". In the anime, Konan's Paper Drizzle was able to overwhelm his fire technique, however, Jiraiya was able to avoid it in time to use the Toad Oil Bullet, rendering her unable to manipulate her paper. She is then immobilised by his elongated hair, but is saved by Pain's Giant Crustacean that washed the oil off. She left the battle as instructed by Pain and regrouped with him after he had killed Jiraiya.

Six-Tails Unleashed
After Utakata was captured, Konan, along with the other Akatsuki members extracted the Six-Tails from him.

Pain's Assault
Konan later accompanied Pain during his attack on Konoha. When they arrived, they swiftly eliminated a patrol of Konoha-nin, with Pain giving Konan orders to spare no-one. She was shown asking the Konoha shinobi if they knew the whereabouts of Naruto Uzumaki as they were trapped in her paper. The shinobi were saved by the Aburame clan's kikaichū.

In the anime, she engaged in a short battle against Shino, his father, and two other Aburame. Shino begins by sending his bugs to attack Konan, only to be a paper clone. Upon looking up, the Aburame see several more paper clones on the rooftops. Unbeknownst to the Aburame, Konan's paper clones were secretly equipped with explosive tags. After the Aburame narrowly escape a bombardment of Konan's paper clones exploding, the real Konan walks through the fire, doused in water. As a result, Shino's father commented on her power and quick thinking, and warned Shino to be careful.

Later, Konan was called back, only to discover Pain had decided to use one of his most dangerous techniques. Concerned for his health, she begged him to stop using the technique, to no avail. Pain 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 technique, she was shown departing, stating she would look after him from now on. She then dispersed her Paper Clone and remained with Nagato for the rest of the invasion, constantly warning him to not overexert himself. When Naruto later found their location, she attempted to keep him from Nagato, but Nagato told her to step aside. She did as he asked, and listened to their conversation, but remained concerned about Nagato's condition. When Naruto led Nagato to having a change of heart and he decided to revive the people of Konoha, Konan realised that doing so would cost him his life. Knowing she couldn't stop him, however, she only marvelled at Naruto's ability to change others.

When all of the Konoha ninja were revived, Konan, like Nagato, entrusted the task of finding peace to Naruto. She wrapped Nagato and the Deva Path dead bodies in her paper to take them with her to Amegakure. When asked by Naruto if she would return to Akatsuki, she said that she was through with the organisation, as Nagato and Yahiko had meant everything to her, and now she and her village would help Naruto accomplish their dream of bringing peace to the world. She gave him a bouquet of paper flowers to symbolise a truce and wished that they would become "flowers of hope that never die" for him.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Countdown
Tobi infiltrates Amegakure and is immediately confronted by Konan. He asks her where to find Nagato's corpse so that he can take his Rinnegan. She refuses to tell him, instead informing him that she has been waiting for him and intends to personally stop him. Before they begin fighting, Tobi asks why she and Nagato would betray Akatsuki. Konan replied that Naruto was the embodiment of light that gave everyone the flower of hope.

She attacked Tobi with Paper Shuriken but they passed right through his intangible body. She then enveloped him in her dissipated paper form mixed with explosive tags, planning to kill them both. Tobi saves them by warping most of the explosion away, at the cost of his right arm and having a part of his mask broken. Tobi applauds her determination, to which Konan responds by vowing to destroy him, the "darkness" where flowers can do nothing but wilt and die. Konan then divides the lake, revealing an abyss of paper and as Tobi helplessly falls into it, she detonates the six hundred billion explosive tags that she had placed there that would last over a period of ten minutes, longer than the five-minute period that Tobi can remain intangible for.

When the explosions ceased, Konan collapsed, exhausted, but believed the battle won. At the same time, some of the paper flowers at Nagato and Yahiko's shrine fall apart. Tobi, however, quickly appeared behind her and stabbed her with a pipe, revealing that he had survived her assault with Izanagi at the cost of his left eye. Konan freed herself, and prepared to attack again, but before she did so, the endless rains over Ame stopped for the first time, surprising both Konan and Tobi. Seeing this as a sign of Nagato's will, Konan proclaimed that she would be a support that held up the bridge that lead to peace.

Taking up the mantle of "darkness" that crushes the light, Tobi grabbed her by the throat, dispelling an attack she had been preparing and places her under a genjutsu to force her to reveal Nagato's location. He added that she will die when the illusion ends. In the anime, Konan was able to attack Tobi just before he grabbed her by the throat. Her attack, however, was unable to stop him. Konan's body was left floating in the water. One of her blood-soaked sheets of paper is blown to the Ame Orphans' old hideout and came to rest on her "Hop-In" card, signifying a promise that the three had made to return there one day before leaving.

Creation and Conception
In Naruto Hiden: Sha no Sho Character Official Data Book, Masashi Kishimoto revealed 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, although 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

 * The name "Konan" means.
 * Even though she was an Akatsuki member, Konan (like Nagato) was never a missing-nin, since their faction achieved victory in the Amegakure civil wars.
 * Konan shares her birthday and blood type with Yahiko.
 * Studio Pierrot's Settei sheets of Konan shows that she was 160 cm when Jiraiya left Amegakure.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * Konan's hobbies were origami and flower pressing.
 * Konan's favourite food was flame-broiled fish, while she disliked karaage.
 * She would fight anyone who opposes "God".
 * Konan's favourite word was.
 * Konan had completed 341 official missions in total: 0 D-rank, 65 C-rank, 161 B-rank, 85 A-rank and 30 S-rank.

Quotes

 * (To Yahiko and Nagato) "Yahiko and Nagato… I will be the support that holds both our bridges up!"
 * (To Jiraiya) "You have no idea what happened to us after you left, sensei."
 * (To Jiraiya) "I have received the will of god and I must kill you."
 * (To Jiraiya) "That time, you should have listened to what Orochimaru said, but you saved us instead. Now, it's too late as we act to make his plans a reality."
 * (To Naruto) "Nagato believed in you, so I believe in you, too."
 * (To Naruto) "This time… I hope for you these will be flowers of hope that never die."
 * (To Tobi) "I knew you'd come find me eventually. I've been waiting for my chance to destroy you."
 * (To Tobi about Naruto) "He is light personified. That's why everyone he meets… carries the flower called hope!"
 * (To Tobi) "Yahiko founded the Akatsuki. The red clouds on these robes we wear… represent the wars that rained blood upon Amegakure. You merely jumped in our bandwagon. These robes are our legacy, not yours. The Rinnegan is something that Amegakure shinobi Nagato awakened on his own, and it does not belong to you! His eyes are this nation and village's greatest treasure!!"
 * (To Tobi) "One question… Madara. Do you understand why we betrayed you? Because you are darkness, a world without light where flowers can only wither and die!"
 * (To Tobi) "Yahiko and Nagato did what they wanted to do. They were never your pawns! No matter what happened to them, they both fought for their own ideals! And that's why their will has been passed down! I won't let you ruin it!"
 * (To Tobi) "Yahiko and Nagato's will hasn't vanished from this world! I believe in Naruto too! He… He will become the bridge that leads us to peace and I will be a support holding the bridge up!"