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. 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 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 their strength and effectiveness, with 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 meeting with them about 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 in shock by the order, Yahiko stabbed himself with the kunai in Nagato's hand. Nagato saved Konan afterwards, who would thereafter accompany him wherever he went.

Personality
Konan is stoic, calm, and level-headed (much like her partner, Nagato, was). 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 expressed a great deal of loyalty and courtesy to Pain (which he always returned), doing his bidding without question, looking out for his well-being and always having complete faith in his abilities. She seemed 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 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 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.

Part II
She was present alongside the other Akatsuki members during most of their meetings. However, she is a quiet person by nature, and didn't say a word during the meetings and sealing rituals.

Infiltration of Amegakure
When Jiraiya infiltrated Amegakure, Pain had Konan scour the village in search of him by splitting into numerous paper butterflies. When she found him, she informed Pain and then engaged him in battle until Pain could get there. She attacked Jiraiya with paper spears, but he saw it coming and used his Toad Fire Technique to stop the spears. Jiraiya recognized her and complimented her on her power and beauty, commenting that she had become "one hell of a woman". Jiraiya then immobilized her with oil, but she was saved when Pain appeared to wash the oil away. She regrouped with him after he killed Jiraiya.

Invasion of Pain arc
Konan later accompanied 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 was shown asking the Konoha shinobi if they knew the whereabouts of Naruto as they were trapped in her paper. The shinobi were saved by the Aburame Clan's insects. Konan retreated shortly after she started to battle them, only to discover Pain had decided to use one of his most dangerous jutsu. Concerned for his health, she begged him to stop using 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 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 asking that he not overexert himself. When Naruto 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 realized 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 (Yahiko's) 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 organization, as Nagato and Yahiko had meant everything to her, and, now, she would help Naruto accomplish their dream of bringing peace to the world giving him a bouquet of flowers to symbolize a truce.

Abilities
Konan is a kunoichi of great prowess, and her skills were held in high regard by her partner, Pain, although Jiraiya held her off with relative ease. 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 former 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 mould 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, thus 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 shown when Pain had his summon use Water Release: Violent Bubble Wave on her to wash the oil off, as well as when she was shown 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 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

 * Even though she was an Akatsuki member, Konan (like Pain) was never a missing-nin, since their faction achieved victory in the Amegakure civil wars.
 * 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'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 three distinctive lines.
 * Konan shares her birthday and blood type with her former teammate, Yahiko.
 * Nagato stated that her reason for joining Akatsuki was "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."