Ame Orphans

The Ame Orphans were three children who lost their parents because of Amegakure's involvement in the Second Shinobi World War. They looked after themselves until they were found by Jiraiya. Jiraiya gave them food, shelter and taught them how to use ninjutsu so that they could defend themselves. After three years of training, Jiraiya was happy enough with their development that he returned to Konoha, leaving them to forge their own future. The three quickly gained a reputation to the point that news of their deeds even reached Konoha. Any group that opposed them would "wind up dead". Their group recruited new members, and with Yahiko as the leader, they planned to bring peace to Amegakure and the rest of the world. This group would be known as the original Akatsuki, the creation of which was encouraged by Tobi.

The orphans' dreams of peace made Hanzō of Amegakure nervous that Yahiko might usurp his rule. During the Third Shinobi World War, Hanzō teamed up with Danzō Shimura in order to defeat the three of them, taking Konan hostage and ordering Nagato to kill Yahiko or forfeit Konan. Yahiko jumped on the kunai Nagato was holding so that Nagato wouldn't need to make the choice, resulting in his death. Hanzō and his men then tried to kill Nagato. Nagato easily deflected their attacks with Shinra Tensei. He rescued Konan at the cost of his legs, which had been burnt by Hanzō's explosive tags. Nagato resorted to the Summoning: Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to kill all of Hanzō's men. Hanzō himself managed to escape the attack. The side effect of the technique impaled several chakra rods on Nagato's back, which he would later use to his advantage while controlling the Six Paths of Pain.

After Yahiko's death, Nagato took over and the group's goal of bringing peace continued. At some point news reached Jiraiya that they had all died, though this was only true of Yahiko. As time grew, more and more members died, eventually leaving only Nagato and Konan. Yahiko's corpse was incorporated into Nagato's Six Paths of Pain, and became the most powerful and cherished one of the six, the Deva Path. After the invasion of Pain, Konan became the last surviving member of the Ame Orphans, and succeeded Nagato as village leader in Amegakure. Konan later fell in battle against Tobi when the latter came to Ame to take the Rinnegan.