Taka


 * Name:, formerly named
 * Leader: Sasuke Uchiha
 * Members: Suigetsu Hōzuki, Karin, Jūgo
 * Affiliation: Akatsuki
 * Status: Inactive, Jūgo and Suigetsu captured, Karin incapacitated and group abandoned by Sasuke

Following his defection from Orochimaru, Sasuke collects former subordinates of Orochimaru into a team to help him find and kill his brother, Itachi Uchiha. Once Suigetsu, Karin, and Jūgo are recruited the group is named "Hebi" and they split up to look for Itachi's whereabouts. When they find it they go to the location and Hebi is left with Itachi's partner, Kisame, while Sasuke deals with Itachi.

After Itachi dies and Sasuke meets Madara Uchiha, he renames the team "Taka" and changes their objective to the destruction of the entire Konoha village (though Sasuke lied to his teammates that he only planned to kill the three elders who were responsible for the Uchiha Clan Massacre). In return for Akatsuki's help in this goal, Taka confronts Killer Bee, the host of the Eight-Tailed Beast. After a difficult battle they believe themselves to have captured him and deliver him to Madara.

After recuperating, Sasuke, thinking his business with Akatsuki is done, heads to Konoha with the rest of Taka. They are stopped by Madara, who informs them that the Killer Bee they captured was a fake. He also tells them that Konoha has already been destroyed by Pain. To reach a compromise, Madara sends Taka to the five Kage meeting to kill Danzō Shimura. In actuality, Madara hopes only for Sasuke to weaken the Kage enough to be taken prisoner, facilitating with the completion of his Moon's Eye Plan. The Kage's combined efforts are too much for Taka, and the whole affair does nothing but give Sasuke better control over his Mangekyō Sharingan.

While Suigetsu and Jūgo are surrounded by the Samurai and abandoned by the rest of the team, Madara teleports Sasuke and Karin to meet with Danzō, whom Sasuke engages in a battle with. After a brutal battle, Sasuke defeats Danzō, but heartlessly sacrificed Karin in the process, leaving her to her fate. Sasuke then declared his next target: Konoha.

Motives
In addition to Sasuke's goals of avenging the Uchiha clan (initially by killing Itachi Uchiha, then by destroying Konohagakure), each member indicates having their own motive for joining the team upon its formation:
 * Suigetsu: Take ownership of Kisame's Samehada.
 * Karin: Originally claimed to just be going in the same direction (although it was actually her infatuation with Sasuke), but as she has loyally stayed with the team through everything since her recruitment, it seems that this explanation no longer holds much water.
 * Jūgo: Considers Sasuke to be the only successor to Kimimaro, who was the only other person capable of calming his murderous intent.

Additionally, although they were somewhat indifferent to each other at first, they came to consider each other teammates and risked their lives to protect each other as time went on. However as Sasuke became more corrupt and focused in his revenge against Konoha, he abandoned Jūgo and Suigetsu in the Land of Iron to pursue Danzō, and Karin was critically wounded and abandoned by Sasuke himself once she became a burden to him.

Name
The name "Hawk" likely derives from the Japanese proverb. It normally means that an extraordinarily gifted child can be born from ordinary parents. However, here it gains an extra meaning, since Tobi (whose name means kite) was responsible for the reformation of Hebi into Taka.

Trivia

 * Three members of Taka have matching eye and hair colors: Sasuke Uchiha (black), Karin (red) and Jūgo (orange).
 * And the fourth member, Suigetsu Hozuki, while not having eyes that match his hair, has an eye color that matches the shirt he commonly wears (purple).
 * All of the members of Taka, when recruited by Sasuke, had an additional side story that only appeared in the anime. Through these, their abilities were shown earlier than in the manga.
 * Suigetsu had to retrieve his sword from Tenzen Daikoku. His Hydration Technique was shown.
 * Karin had a flashback of her helping Sasuke retrieve a group of escaped prisoners. Her Mind's Eye of the Kagura technique was shown.
 * Jūgo had a flashback of being recruited by Kimimaro to join Orochimaru. His Cursed Seal ability was briefly shown.