The organization as a whole provide examples of...

• Anti-Villain: Their motives vary, but some of them qualify as this one way or another.
• Badass Crew: Everyone except Zetsu is Badass to the bone.
• Badass Longcoat: Their standard uniform is a coat with red clouds.
• Black Cloak: With Red Clouds.
• Battle Strip: Once any of them come to their fight's climax, they remove their robe, willfully or from Clothing Damage. Every single Akatsuki member to do so has died, save for Konan, who died without stripping.
• Back from the Dead : The revived Akatsuki members, brought back by Kabuto to fight in the war: Deidara, Sasori, Kakuzu, Itachi, and Nagato/Pain.
• Big Bad: They are the main antagonistic force of the entire series.
• Bigger Bad: In Part I, they mostly waited in the shadows as Orochimaru rampaged in the Leaf, but their presence and the danger they pose became evident when Itachi and Kisame first appeared.

• Evil Duo: They operate in teams of two, usually complimenting each other's skills and personalities. Itachi (stoic, fire-user, illusionist) and Kisame (talkative, water-user, tears people up with his BFS) set the trend.
• High Collar of Doom: Their cloaks reach right above their chins, looking rather ominous.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: Just about all of them reveal at least one new ability or special attack.
• Knight of Cerebus: Their appearance was when the series took a darker turn.
• Meaningful Name: If you read the name as Red Moon, referring to Madara's Infinite Tsukuyomi plan, which would turn the moon into a giant Sharingan able to hypnotize the entire world.
• Nice Hat: Elaborate straw hats covering their faces during travel. They work for reconaissance.
• Oddly Small Organization: For one of the most terrifying terrorist organizations in the world, there are never more than ten official members at a time. Quality beats quantity, as each member is capable of fighting an army, as their performance during the Fourth Shinobi World War indicates.
• Order Vs Chaos: The Order to Orochimaru's Chaos.
• Private Military Contractors: Subverted - this is what they tell the new guys the plan is. The higher ups have conflicting ideas about what the organization is actually planning.
• Ring of Power: Each member has a ring used to activate the statue which absorbs the Tailed-Beasts from their hosts.
• Standard Evil Organization Squad
• Villain Forgot To Level Grind: Upon being reanimated via Edo Tensei, Sasori, Deidara, and Kakuzu are all just as powerful as they were when alive. Key words being "Just as". They remained at the level they were at while the good guys had continued to advance, and thanks to that the three Akatsuki members were taken down by the combined efforts of the Ninja Alliance.

"Your hate is not strong enough."

• The Ace: Itachi is one of the best ninjas the Leaf has ever produced. He is one of Akatsuki's elite, which is saying a lot. He also understands the essense of what it means to be a true shinobi. Many characters have noted this, and even The First Hokage, who carries the title "God of Shinobi" calls Itachi a better shinobi than he ever was, though he did seem to be half-joking at the time.
  • Broken Ace: And yet, while he's never lost a fight onscreen, we also see that he's sacrificed his family, his happiness, and his honor all for the sake of serving the village. In addition to this, after his death, almost all of his plans backfire horribly in his face, as Sasuke goes completely insane and decides to destroy Konoha. Tobi also heavily implies that the only reason he is so strong and wise is because he was so traumatized by war when he was four years old that he had no choice but to grow up quickly. Of course, this doesn't stop other characters from constantly praising him, even when by all rights, they should have had some serious problems with what he did, but still...
• Affably Evil: Always polite, offers his opponents the chance to escape (unless they are his target) and never uses more power than needed to disable, without lasting harm if possible. He is also an unrepentant mass murderer with history of mentally torturing several protagonists of the series, especially his little brother (who was 7 years old the first time, 13 the second).
• Aloof Big Brother: One of the Anime poster boys for this trope. Even before his family's death, he was always detached. His father remarked that Itachi wasn't good with people.
• Always Someone Better: Sasuke develops a massive inferiority complex because Itachi is always leagues ahead of him.
• And I Must Scream: As a genjutsu expert, he's more than capable of pulling this off, particularly with Tsukuyomi.
• Animal-Eared Headband: Anime only, a flashback shows him wearing cat ears so he could talk to Nekomata. No, seriously.◊
• Animal Motifs: Itachi will often dissolve into a murder of crows which Sasuke remarked was his favorite jutsu.
• Anti-Hero: He killed his entire clan, including his family, in order to avoid civil war. While his goals for peace are ultimately noble, his methods, which include torturing his little brother in order to strengthen him, are questionable.
• Arc Words: "Your hate is not strong enough".
• The Atoner: After he's revived by Kabuto, he fights in order to help the Allied Shinobi Forces and save Sasuke.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Among all his other abilities, Itachi is excellent at analysing his opponents' skills.
• Back from the Dead: Kabuto revives him to fight in the war. He manages to undo the technique with Sasuke's help.
• Badass: Kills an entire clan of elite ninja and Becomes an S-rank missing-nin at age 13, while blackmailing Danzo. Wins every fight we've seen him in without breaking a sweat, including "battles" against Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke and Orochimaru, until he meets Sasuke in Part II. Beats Sasuke while terminally ill, literally dying in front of him.
  • When resurrected under Kabuto's control, he promptly breaks free by using Shisui's eye and with Naruto and Bee's help defeats Nagato, then goes off to take on Kabuto with some help from Sasuke.
  • Badass Boast: "Every jutsu has a weakness. That jutsu's weakness...is me."
  • Badass Longcoat: As per usual for Akatsuki.

• Heartbroken Badass: He actually doesn't want to do the things he does, mostly he's just following orders and trying to atone for it all.
• Badass Baritone: Especially in the English version.

• Bash Brothers: He and Kisame make an excellent team, even when they aren't actually fighting alongside each other.
  • He and Sasuke become an official pair of literal bash brothers at the end of chapter 578.
• Beneath the Mask: During his fight with Sasuke, he briefly lets his stoic personality slip and psychotically gives a speech about stealing Sasuke's eyes, and claims that this unhinged persona is his true self. It's subverted when you learn that Itachi was merely faking it and never intended to take Sasuke's eyes. However, post-mortem it's revealed that the aloof personality he maintained was indeed an act. What was underneath was a young man torn up by guilt. After he's revived by Kabuto, we get to see how Itachi really is, and he turns out to be a virtuous, wise, and even humorous individual.
• Big Brother Mentor: Seems to be this way to Naruto.
• Big Brother Instinct: The reason he didn't kill Sasuke and didn't kill him during their final fight.
  • Zigzagged later. His plan was to make Sasuke a thrall for the rest of his life if he faced Naruto. Sasuke would still be aware of what happened after this.
• Big Damn Heroes: When he rescues Naruto and Killer Bee from certain death at the hands of edo Nagato after Nagato defeated the two Jinchuriki in a Curb-Stomp Battle.

• Bloodbath Villain Origin: He started on his path to villainy by killing his entire family except for Sasuke. Turns out it was a sham and he actually killed them to prevent them from staging a coup.
• Blue and Orange Morality: His acts, goals, and desires are in such contradiction with each other that he not only skirts, but happily jumps to this category.

• Break the Cutie: He witnessed and was traumatized by the Third Shinobi World War at just four years old.

• Cain and Abel: With Sasuke.
• Characterization Marches On: Particularly sadistic in his first appearance (torturing Kakashi, breaking several bones of Sasuke and mind-raping him, not objecting Kisame's idea of cutting Naruto's legs off). We later can see fragments of his past, then we learn that everything he did was for the sake of Konoha and Sasuke.
• Character Shilling: Everybody loves to point out how much of a saint he was.
  • This gets especially ridiculous when the First Hokage, of all people, says that Itachi's a better shinobi than him, after simply hearing a brief description of his history. Even though Hashirama wasn't serious, Hiruzen seemed serious that Itachi had 'Hokage-level reasoning skills/wisdom' at age seven. The annoying part is everyone lines up to praise him. The fact he was a pure prodigy who could be praised by the village and his family? Great. One of Akatsuki's strongest ninja? Great. It gets way too much when everyone begins discussing what a perfect human being he was, how wise, honorable, kind and selfless he was...even his enemies, or people who should by all rights have serious critiques of how he handled things.
    • From Sasuke's point of view, what Itachi did was no different than was Hashirama did: killing his brother, family or friend to protect Konoha. Hashirama did kill Madara (or so he thought), who was attempting to destroy Konoha, and Itachi killed his family, who were about to attempt a coup. Hashirama and Tobirama seems to agree with him. They all have this I Did What I Had to Do mindset.
    • This is more or less another divergence between Japanese and American culture, as Itachi followed Japanese credo perfectly. Sacrificing one's self and those around him for the greater good, holding to one's duty above all else and seeking atonement for one's crimes (even when committed in the course of said duty) are all valued creeds within Japanese culture, and were especially followed upon by real world ninja clans. From that perspective, Itachi was praised for good reason, even if his long-term plans ended up failing, at least momentarily.
• The Chessmaster: Played his own game inside Akatsuki for years. Manipulated Sasuke just the same.
• Chewing the Scenery: Made even more awesome by Crispin Freeman in the dub.

  SASUKE! YOU ARE THE ONE WHO WILL BECOME MY NEW LIGHT!

• Cold-Blooded Torture: Itachi mentally tortures his foes with genjutsu, among his victims are Kakashi, Naruto, and especially Sasuke. He does it as a standard fighting technique, apparently without wrath or pleasure.
• Combat Pragmatist: Itachi tries to end fights as quickly as he can and certainly doesn't shirk away from dirty tactics.
• The Comically Serious: Despite his traumatic past and the lifetime of guilt that accompanies it, he has a sense of humor, believe it or not. Pretty much the only person never thrown off by Itachi's joking is Sasuke, implying that Itachi used to be like this before the massacre (or possibly that nothing Itachi does throws him off anymore). He even joins in at one point!
  Itachi and Sasuke have just successfully double-teamed Kabuto, using an upgraded version of a move that Sasuke messed up on when he and Itachi took on a giant boar as children
  Itachi: "You could easily kill that pig now!"
  Sasuke: "Rather than the pig, I think this snake is the more pressing priority."
• Crazy-Prepared: The number of steps he's taken to protect Sasuke either directly or indirectly definitely qualifies him. He even had a backup plan in case Tobi survived his trap and won Sasuke over.
  • Subverted in that all of his plans, while fairly thought out, simply didn't work like he wanted and in some cases backfired. In particular, Sasuke ends up doing the EXACT opposite of what he'd wanted, the trap he set for Tobi failed, and the failsafe he left Naruto ended up being used on himself (long story) instead of Sasuke. At this point he's down to his last backup plan which is basically "trust Naruto to fix this somehow".
• Creepy Child: When he was younger.
• Creepy Monotone: The whole damn time, save for one instance (see Chewing the Scenery above).
• Cry Cute: He broke down into near-hysterics as he killed his parents.
• Cryptic Conversation: Pretty much everything Itachi has EVER said.
  • After being revived as a zombie and teaming up with Sasuke to defeat Kabuto and undo the jutsu, he finally decides he's done trying to manipulate Sasuke and tells him how he really feels.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Pretty much every fight that he was actually present for, including fights that he had no interest in winning. The only exceptions are Nagato and Kabuto to a lesser extent.
  • Some of the examples are: Orochimaru (twice), Deidara, Kurenai, Asuma and Kakashi together, Naruto (twice).
• Cursed with Awesome: His Susanoo possesses the Yata Mirror, an indestructible shield and the Sword of Totsuka, the mightiest genjutsu forged weapon in history. The drawback is that it pretty much destroyed his eyes and put severe strain in his body.
  • After killing off the clan, all he wanted was to die by Sasuke's hands to atone...but he's so damn strong, it took a massive fight with him holding back and being terminally ill to actually get that done. The man is too good for his own good.
• Deadpan Snarker: Especially after his resurrection.
  • Justified in that he doesn't have to pretend to be evil anymore, so his real personality is more apparent.
• Defector from Decadence: In the Valley-of-the-end flashback, he expresses his disgust at how his fellow clansmen are obsessed with the Uchiha's glory and utterly full of themselves, losing sight of their actual capacities. He then proceeds to throw a kunai into the nearest Uchiha crest, and the rest is history... We later learn that he turned against them because they were planning a coup d'etat that would've plunged the entire continent into a senseless war.

• Deus ex Machina: Multiple times he has pulled plot-developing jutsus or items right out of nowhere to advance the plot. Izanami, Shisui´s once-every-10-years jutsu: Kotoamatsukami, his sickness and even his backstory seems to come straight out of nowhere.
  • It seems it's the regular way of Uchiha gaining power ups through traumatic events. The more traumatic the event, the stronger they get.
• Didn't Think This Through: Zigzagged. He certainly thought through much of his Gambit Pileup, but in hindsight his methods to implement it were contradictory with his goals.
• Dirty Business: He's constructed around this trope.
• Disc One Final Boss: For Sasuke.
• The Dragon/ The Starscream: For Nagato as one of the Akatsuki zombies, and the both of them as Co-Dragons for Kabuto, but Itachi later escapes the latter's control.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Not actually his defeating of both Sasuke and Orochimaru back to back, but his using his last seconds of life to put a defense against Madara in Sasuke.
• Easily Forgiven/Karma Houdini: By Sasuke who went from loathing him to protecting his legacy (albeit in a way completely opposite to what Itachi wished) in the matter of a night. Ditto with some of the fandom. It helps that he was popular before The Reveal.
  • Also by Naruto even though Itachi can be directly responsible for what happened with Sasuke, Naruto doesn't give him any crap.
• Evil Eye: The Sharingan and then later the Mangekyou Sharingan. They grant the following abilities:
  • Aura Vision
  • Combat Clairvoyance
  • Groundhog Day Loop: Izanami.
  • Instant Armor: His Susano'o, which wields all 3 of Japan's Three Sacred Treasures: the Totsuka Sword (Evidently another version of the Kusanagi) which here is an Laser Blade with sealing abilities, the Yata Mirror which functions as a shield and the Yasaka Magatama which is a giant shuriken.
  • Hellfire: Amaterasu
  • Hypnotic Eyes: Itachi's preferred method of confrontation is through his Sharingan's illusions and Mind Rape.
  • Mega Manning: Averted. The Sharingan gives him this, but we never saw him using this ability, though we don't honestly know if some of his heightened abilities stem from using this power at one point or another. The water technique he uses against Kakashi was more than likely learned this way.
  • Reality Warper: Mangekyo Sharingan in general, and the Izanami.
• Evil Genius: He's a genius. He's evil. Pretty self-explanatory. May also play this role within Akatsuki, given his Master of Illusion powers.
  • Subverted later on, when we learn he just pretending to be evil. He was certainly willing to Shoot the Dog though.
• Excuse Me While I Multitask: He was capable of doing ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijitsu, and/or shurikenjutsu simultaneously against a S-ranked opponent without any strain.
• Exotic Eye Designs: The Mangekyo Sharingan, of which his was the first revealed.

• Fallen Hero: He was the pride and joy of the Uchiha clan and Sasuke's idol before the massacre.
  • Fake Defector
• Feather Motif: His genjutsu often include a shower of crow feathers.
• For the Evulz: He pretty much confessed to Sasuke that the only reason he killed off the clan was to see if he could. Subverted later, when it turns out he was ordered to do it.

• The Gift: Obviously. He graduates from the Academy at age 7, masters the Sharingan at 8, becomes Chuunin at 10, joins the ANBU at 13, the defects to become an S-ranked criminal and one of the strongest members of Akatsuki. Who thinks this guy is normal?
• Glass Cannon: Very skilled and powerful, but suffers from a lack of stamina, physical strength, and defensive jutsu that don't require him to nearly die to execute.
• Gone Horribly Right: He deliberately made Sasuke full of hate and power-obsessed in order to have him strong enough to kill him and redeem the Uchiha clan. The first part worked beyond any expectation, the second...not so much.

• Go Out with a Smile: "Sorry, Sasuke. There won't be a next time."
  • Twice, actually, thanks to being revived through Edo Tensei.
  "You never have to forgive me... No matter what happens to you (Sasuke) from here on out, I will always love you."
• Groundhog Day Loop: He uses the genjutsu Izanami to place Kabuto in one.
• Happiness in Slavery: The ultimate fate he prepared for Sasuke though failed to actually implement it. He had to use Shisui's eye on himself instead after Kabuto Edo tensei.
  • It is to be mentioned that this was meant as an ultimate last resort in case all his other backup plans failed, and that he is later shown to feel somewhat guilty about it. He outright tells Naruto "I hope you never have to use it." He just didn't want a genocide to happen because of his personal wish to let his little brother live.
• Heel Face Turn: A variant in that he was an Anti-Villain all along. He was definitely still wrong, though, and admits it to Naruto later.
• Hero with an F in Good: Between his Mind Rapes of Sasuke and Kakashi, general brutality, and a pretty serious lack of social skills, Itachi sucks at being the good guy.

• Hidden Agenda Villain: Since the first act it has been confusing which are his goals or if indeed he has any beyond messing with Sasuke's life. We learn of them... by a third party after his death..
• I Did What I Had to Do: And he hated it.
• I Let You Win: What he was intending to do in his last battle with Sasuke.
• Ill Boy: Some combination of Incurable Cough of Death and Soap Opera Disease.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Defense: Counter Shuriken Rain.
• Innocent Prodigy: During Kurama's attack on Kononha, Itachi (then five) calmly comforted the crying Sasuke (who was only a few months old) and assured him that he would keep him safe no matter what. His inner-monologue, however, reveals a rather frightened child wishing their parents would hurry and get home.
  • He was so advanced during his time in the academy that one teacher mentions having to do very little work with him. He still put off doing his homework in favor of playing games with Sasuke, even with their mother wanting him to study.
• Instant Armor: Susano'o.
• It's All About Me: While he doesn't display this trope nearly to the extent that other members of his clan might this was basically the reason he let Sasuke live. He mind raped Sasuke by forcing him to repeatedly relive the apparently quite gruesome deaths of their parents, forcing him to grow up into a bitter obsessive lunatic all so that Itachi could die on his own terms: At the hands of said brother (which he didn't in the end, making all of his efforts totally meaningless). Subverted through his secondary and tertiary motives, which were to make Sasuke a hero for killing him (ensuring his permanent protection against Danzo) and to keep Tobi from manipulating him. Of course, both of these backfired amazingly.
• Japanese Mythology: All of his special abilities, like many of the Uchiha Clan's techniques, are named after Japanese gods.

• Kick the Dog: His mental torture of Sasuke and Kakashi.
• Kissing Cousins: Said to have killed a "lover" during the Uchiha Massacre; since only the Uchiha clan was killed, the "lover" in question was likely a cousin, perhaps a girl that he was arranged to marry.
• Knight in Sour Armor: If his comments after Kabuto resurrects him are anything to go by.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: Had decided on his own what was best for Sasuke. Sasuke will become a great warrior. Sasuke will avenge the Uchiha. Sasuke will become a hero, and putting him through horrible torture, forcing him to walk the path of rage and hate, and making him a criminal is just a small price to pay. And left Shisui's eye to Mind Rape Sasuke should he try to destroy Konoha. However, subverted in that Itachi realizes he was beyond wrong in his methods and reasoning and unbelievably selfish. He realizes he should have believed in Sasuke and trusted him instead of trying to decide his destiny.
• Leitmotif: "Many Nights". It's very fitting... somehow.
• Lock and Load Montage: An anime-only scene of him getting ready to slaughter the Uchiha clan can certainly be viewed this way.

• Manly Tears: As he left his home behind forever.◊
• Master of Illusion: The best genjutsu master we've seen so far. The only exceptions are Shisui and possibly the Second Mizukage.
• Master Swordsman: We only see him using a sword a few times (deflecting kunai thrown by Sasuke and cutting off Kabuto's horn) but it's clear he's incredibly skilled with the blade, as expected of an ANBU member. It also seems that he used his sword extensively when he killed off the Uchiha Clan. After relinquishing his ANBU gear, his skills carry over to his usage of kunai in close proximity combat. He also gets to wield Sasuke's sword during the brothers' fight against Kabuto, utilizing it to great effect.
• Meaningful Echo: Throughout their childhood, when Sasuke would ask Itachi to train with him, Itachi would poke his forehead and say something along the lines of "Sorry, Sasuke, next time." The last thing he does before dying is to poke Sasuke's forehead and say "Sorry, Sasuke, there won't be a next time." It's heart wrenching.
  • Then, as he is released by Edo Tensei, he seems poised to poke Sasuke's forehead again...and then he reaches back towards his neck, and their foreheads meet.
  Itachi:"You never have to forgive me. No matter what happens to you from here on out, I will always love you."
• Mental World: Tsukuyomi.

• Mind Rape: Tsukuyomi. Also, for far too long, his solution to anything involving Sasuke.
• Morality Chain: Itachi's existence notably keeps Sasuke's sanity anchored to this world. Back when Itachi was alive, Sasuke may have been angsty, but not insane. After he killed Itachi was when he began to lose it, but, now that Itachi is..."alive" again, Sasuke is acting far more sane than he has in 100 chapters.
  • And now that he realizes that Itachi is about to go back to being dead (as a result of ending the technique that revived him), he's right back to talking about destroying Konoha...
• My Country, Right or Wrong: "The village does have its dark side and inconsistencies. But I'm still the Leaf's Itachi Uchiha."
• Necessarily Evil: He certainly viewed himself this way, though, and hated himself for it. Then, after his resurrection, he realizes how horribly wrong he was.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: See Deus ex Machina above.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: All of his actions seemed to have been aimed at making Sasuke realize that the village is more important than his family's pride. He couldn't have failed more if he had done it on purpose. He at least accepted the possibility of failure and left Naruto, Shisui's other eye, as a safeguard, only for that to fail, too..
  • Forcing Kabuto to release Edo Tenseď has become this, since it enabled Madara to completely break out of the technique's control while keeping the insane regeneration and unlimited chakra. In his hurry to dispel the technique, he failed to realize that the technique might have some actual weaknesses and drawbacks.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Using Tsukuyomi on Sasuke the night of the massacre ultimately made him able to resist Orochimaru's "killing intent" during the Chuunin Exams just enough to break free from the paralysis by stabbing himself.
• No Social Skills Possibly a subversion, as after he's resurrected, he turns out to be good with advice and actually pretty funny. His lack of social skills may have just been a part of his act.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Before leaving the village he managed to blackmail Danzo.
  • A filler episode taking place in part one has team 7 go through hell fighting their way through a city of ninja cats, then against their leader Nekomata in order to get his pawprint. At the end of the episode it's revealed that Itachi, when he was about six years old, decimated the entire ninja-cat army and Nekomata himself with apparently no difficulty whatsoever.
  • Once the truth is learned, the entire Uchiha massacre could be seen this way given that we're only shown tiny bits of it.
• Oh Crap: His (fake) reaction to Kirin during his final fight with Sasuke and to Sage Mode Dragon Kabuto.
• Only Sane Man: He and Kisame together make up this as part of the Akatsuki. That says a lot.
• Playing With Fireballs: As big as a house and strong enough to plow a furrow in the ground.
• Power Degeneration: The Mangekyo Sharingan.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: Deconstructed. He annihilates the entire Uchiha Clan, his own family, apparently For the Evulz. His actual reason was because they were about to go forward with their betrayal of Konoha. He also antagonises and tortures his pre-teen little brother into hating him, casts himself as the vile traitor so that one day his brother will be led to kill him, all to tie up everything and making everybody believe that the Uchiha Clan save him were a proud and noble clan devout to Konoha, when he knew full well that he was the only one left in the clan that was actually like that.
• Quick Draw: Shuriken flavor. Capable of throwing dozens of shuriken with perfect accuracy in milliseconds without any effort.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: The usual flavor of Uchiha.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: His Sharingan, which he almost always has activated.
• Sanity Slippage: Implemented a really fake one during his fight against Sasuke.
• Secretly Dying: He was "plagued" by an unnamed terminal illness for an unspecified amount of time before it finally killed him, meaning he may have been slowly dying since before the series even started.

• Shell-Shocked Veteran: After the Third Ninja War. At four years old.
  • Although he is said to have witnessed it, not taken part in it. It's already horrible enough.
• Sibling Team: He and Sasuke against Kabuto.
• Sixth Ranger Traitor: was this in Akatsuki all along alongside Orochimaru.
• Spanner in the Works: Itachi has foiled or complicated the plans of pretty much every single organization or chessmaster he's encountered in the series. Short list: the Uchiha clan, Danzo, Orochimaru, Team 7's attempts to rehabilitate Sasuke, Tobi, and Kabuto. Sadly, this includes a few of his own plans too — needlessly pushing an already vengeance-minded Sasuke over the edge and accidentally triggering his own failsafe in Naruto on himself. He further complicates Kabuto's plans by intending to force him to end the Edo Tensei, and seemingly puts a cork in Sasuke's Kill Konoha plan by promising to finally explain his motivations in exchange for his help in stopping Kabuto.
• Springtime for Hitler: Subverted. Tried to lose to Sasuke, failed to lose, then dropped dead anyway.
• Stealth Mentor: Was this to Sasuke, before he died.
• Stepford Smiler: Type C, acting like a kind and gentle boy to hide his plan to murder his clan pretty much for the heck of it. Although his mask started to slip quite a bit after Shisui died. Later revealed to be a Type A, he was kind and gentle but smiled to hide his despair at knowing he had no choice but to kill the people he loved. His attitude changed after Shisui's death because he was legitimately mourning his best friend.
• The Stoic
  • Stoic Woobie
  • Not So Stoic: During his final fight with Sasuke. Subverted in that it was actually fake.
    • Turns out, he was crying hysterically when he killed their parents, so much so that they actually had to encourage him to go through with it.
• The Strategist: So good that all his fights degraded into well-oiled choreographs eventually.
• Suicide By Cop: Subverted. He kept himself alive despite being eaten up with disease so that 1) Sasuke could kill him, become a hero for Konoha and redeem their clan and 2) to punish himself for his sins. Ultimately, he died from by a combination of his disease and fighting Sasuke.
• Super Reflexes: So fast with his hand seals that the two other ninja with Super Reflexes can barely see a blur.

• Tall, Dark and Snarky: Along with Bleach's Ulquiorra is the anime poster boy of this trope.
• Tantrum Throwing: When his father and three other policemen start to lecture him about the importance of the clan (immediately after he's been accused of murdering Shisui) he hurls a kunai at one of the crests painted on a nearby wall, then goes off on a rant about how useless and limiting concepts like clans are.
• Teach Him Anger And Hate: Twice to Sasuke with a heavy dose of trauma and encouraging him to develop an obsession with power so the latter could become a loyal shinobi of Konoha and redeemer of the Uchiha Clan... yeah.
• Technical Pacifist: After the Third Shinobi World War, he became a pacifist above all else. His slaughter of the Uchiha clan was to prevent them from throwing Konoha into chaos and starting another war. He's one of the least violent fighters, only ever using enough power to accomplish his ultimate goals, of which just victory is a rare one...

• Thanatos Gambit: He had an emergency plan to stop Madara from manipulating Sasuke by implanting an Amaterasu in his brother that would be triggered at the sight of Tobi's Sharingan. It failed. However, Itachi had a backup plan since he knew there would inevitably be a confrontation between his brother and Naruto. His backup plan was to brainwash Sasuke permanently to be loyal to Konoha forever with Shisui's eye that implanted in Naruto with the crow, which would activate during their fight. However, the one thing he did not count on was being resurrected and turned into a thrall by Kabuto. The power he gave Naruto is used on himself, which allows him to break Kabuto's geas with another. His Plan C appears to be "trust Naruto."
• Theme Naming: His Mangekyo Sharingan powers are named after Japanese gods. Of note is that these are the exact same gods who slew Orochimaru of the legendary Sannin of Konoha.
• Those Two Bad Guys: With Kisame, early on. Par for the course for Akatsuki, who generally go about their grim business in pairs. This is given some depth in the two understanding each other, both being men lost without knowledge of their true selves, unable to forgive and acknowledge themselves. Itachi wants nothing more than death, Kisame wants his world of truth. Both live with the pain of having betrayed and killed their comrades and both. Later on he strikes up quite the rapport with Nagato, whom he helps about the battlefield as they involuntarily serve Kabuto.
• Tough Love: In the most extreme and twisted way possible. He would come to regret it later.
• Undying Loyalty: Uchiha Itachi will never betray Konoha, not even after death.
• The Unfettered: He will do anything to protect Sasuke and the Land of Fire.
  • Subverted later. Not with the Land of Fire but he deemed Sasuke's free will an acceptable sacrifice, after realizing that his brother may have fallen too far to save.
• Vocal Dissonance: In the Japanese version, his deep voice is initially a bit off putting. The English dub gives him a higher-sounding, yet still fairly low voice.
• War Is Hell: His real motivation for killing off his clan. They were on the verge of starting a civil war (that would likely lead to a world war) and he was unable to convince them to call it off.
• Warrior Therapist: In a very odd way to Kabuto. Kabuto's arrogance, unwavering faith in his own abilities and belief he cannot fail and handle everything himself reminds Itachi of himself. Itachi was unable to let go of the selfish belief that he could shoulder every burden, which ended up making things far worse than if he hadn't tried at all. As a result, even though he knows what Kabuto is doing is wrong, Itachi wants to save Kabuto from the lies he tells himself, even if the methods he uses are a mite unconventional.
• Was It All a Lie?: Yes and no, depending on which "it" is being referred to. The insane, unrepentant murderer we first meet? Yeah, that's a huge lie. As for the loving (if extreme) brother Sasuke remembers? No, it wasn't.
• What the Hell, Hero?: In chapter 576 Sasuke tries to do this to him, trying to understand why his brother left him alive. Due to Itachi both being in a hurry to stop Kabuto and feeling he's messed Sasuke up too much already, Itachi keeps shutting Sasuke down with curt yet vauge replies. He does at least confess that he wanted Sasuke to kill him so he could find redemption for the clan, but massive miscommunication still seems to be these two's standard.
• When He Smiles: Itachi rarely smiles, and most of the time it's rather unnerving. However, the few times he cracks a genuine smile are downright heart moving.

• Wise Beyond Their Years: Itachi is incredibly advanced in the mental department. Far more than any teenager has any right to be.
• Worf Had The Flu: Subverted. He couldn't fight Sasuke at full force for two reasons: 1) he didn't want to; 2) he was terminally ill. And still, even Kirin couldn't give Sasuke the upper hand in the fight.
• Would Hit a Girl: Up to and including his own mother.
• You Are What You Hate: Vividly believed this at one point in his life, but then accepted himself for who he was and acknowledged his mistakes in death.

"The weak are the meat the strong eat."

• Actually a Doombot: Happens twice.
• Affably Evil: Cheerful, polite, and always pleased to make the acquaintance of someone new. Like Itachi, he'll also give opponents the chance to back down, which makes him very different from most of his teammates, who can be anywhere from naturally cruel to just plain genocidal.

• Anti-Villain: He was raised to not trust anyone and betray anyone at a second's notice; to the point he wanted to accept Tobi's plan of a world of no lies, which Kisame desired.
• Badass: Especially in death. Who else would feed himself to killer sharks to guard a wellspring of dark secrets in his mind?
• Become Your Weapon: With Samehada, in a very Arrancar-esque way.
• BFS: If you can really count that thing as a sword. It is known as the Samehada ("sharkskin").
• Blood Knight: Kisame is very eager for a fight, despite his role being an espionage agent
• The Brute: Serves this role in the Akatsuki up until Itachi dies. (see the Five-Bad Band page)
  • The Dragon: Becomes this to Tobi and replaces Pain's postion as the Dragon of Tobi and with Zetsu as Co-Dragons.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Inverted. He is loyal enough to his partner Itachi and Akatsuki, and fanatically devoted to what he thinks is Madara and to protecting valuable information at all costs. However, while he was a Mist-nin he had an even more severe case of this, slaughtering his allies at the drop of a hat and murdering his superior who is impled to have been his mentor, although this was out of loyalty to the village.
• Cyanide Pill: Instead of getting captured, he opted for suicide so as to not give any information he may hold to the enemy.
• Dirty Business: Constructed around this. His job in the Mist? Murder of other Mist ninja.
• Empathic Weapon: Samehada's hilt will sprout spikes if anyone other than Kisame picks it up. It can also return to his hand. it turns out to be a living, sentient sword with a toothy mouth. When Kisame commits suicide, Samehada begins crying out for its master in mourning, but then chooses to join Killer B because it liked the taste of his powerful chakra to the point it got greedy and selfish enough to betray Kisame and make its master force it back under control until his death.
  • Living Weapon.
  • Loyal Phlebotinum: Doubly subverted.
  • Shape Shifter Weapon
• Energy Absorption: His sword lets him absorb the chakra of anyone it touches, or of any technique that launch into the air.
• Exact Words: He was ordered to protect an Intel squad carrying important codes, and above all to prevent those codes from falling into enemy hands. At the first sign of trouble, he massacres the squad, so they can't tell anyone the codes they are protecting. His attitude at the time suggests he was actually hoping they would be attacked just so he could do this, which would mean he did it For the Evulz.
• Faking the Dead: After his original seeming death by decapitation, it was revealed several months later that what actually died was a clone created by Zetsu.
• Fusion Dance: With his sword.
• Genius Bruiser: Rarely seen, but he is very quick to pick up on weaknesses and has shown a decided knack for quick yet highly successful plans.
• Gradual Grinder : His preferred method of taking down powerful foes.
• Klingon Promotion: How he became a member of the Seven Swordsman. Over his mentor's corpse.
• Lightning Bruiser: Terrifyingly fast, and strong enough to trade blows with Guy without any real difficulty.
• Loners Are Freaks: His backstory has elements of this, such as refusing to have lunch with the Intel group he was protecting.
• Making a Splash: Kisame specializes in flashy water jutsu.
  • Giant Wall of Watery Doom / Kill It With Water: His preferred finishing moves.
• Meaningful Name: "Same" means shark in Japanese.
  • The "ki" part of his name is written with a kanji character meaning ogre or demon. Therefore, his given name is "demon shark."
• The Mole: Becomes this to infiltrate the Allied Force.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Kisame means "demon shark".
• Not So Small Role: For a long time he was just considered as The Brute and Itachi's sidekick. In the end, he was the last member of Akatsuki (except for Zetsu) to be taken down, dying after Itachi and even Nagato and Konan. He also turned out to be just as close to Tobi as Itachi was before he left Konoha, apparently.
• Off with His Head!: When the clone of Kisame goes up against the Raikage and Killer B, he gets struck with the manliest move ever used in the Naruto universe. His head flies off like a champagne cork.
  Kisame: Water Release: Super Shark Bo—(sickening thud)
  A and Killer B: DOUBLE LARIATOOOOOO!
  (screen flashes white)
  Kisame's disembodied head: Well...you guys are just too fast for me.
• Older Sidekick: To Itachi
• One-Winged Angel: Can fuse with Samehada.
• Only Sane Man: With Itachi and Konan, among the Akatsuki.
• Shark Man: For some reason that is never explained. Judging by his mentor, fish people might just be a thing in the Mist.
• Straw Nihilist: He believes the world is based on nothing but lies, so he has no particular reason to trust or be loyal to anyone. He only follows Madara because the latter agrees, and because he appears to validate his opinions for example, by the revelation that he was controlling the 4th Mizukage, thus showing that the Mist was based on a lie and not run by the man everyone was following, because Kisame believes him when he says he can change all that.
• Thanatos Gambit / Taking You with Me: The scroll he stole back and made Guy fight so hard for... was booby trapped. As soon as it was opened it sealed everyone within range with the Water Prison Technique, complete with shark summonings in each individual prison, while one of the summonings takes the scroll to Madara.
• Threatening Shark: His face, attacks and more.
• Undying Loyalty: To Akatuki and to Tobi.
• Unknown Rival: Guy has a hard time remembering just who Kisame is for Kisame's whole life.
• Villainous Friendship: Compared to most of Akatsuki's other teams, which involve hostile relationships between partners, Kisame and Itachi get along quite well. While they were hostile when they first met, Kisame displays genuine concern for Itachi. In fact, other than the aforementioned meeting, they are never shown to argue at all, and that argument was quite civilised and only turned nasty when Kisame drew Samahada. Kisame's last words are even directed at Itachi! Their friendship is actually quite sweet.
• Worthy Opponent: To Guy ironic in that the latter never remembers him till his death.

"Fine art is something wonderful that's left long into the future ... eternal beauty."

• Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Happens, mixed with Pulling Themselves Together, when he reattaches his head to his body. In the anime it also happens to his hands when he uses the Water Scroll.
• Alas, Poor Villain: His parents were killed by Kakkashi's father, leading him to question his beliefs about life in general, even when his grandma Chiyo tried to help him make puppets shaped like his parents, it made the pain more obvious and ultimately led him to his dangerous obsession with Immortality
• Anatomy Arsenal: See below.
• The Ageless: Due to being a puppet.
• Animal Motifs: Scorpions of course.
• Awesome, but Impractical: His bladed shoulder blades allow him to fly via the propeller motion they make and can function as swords or a giant powersaw but because they're attached to his hips it's hard to fight with them properly due to the angle they're situated at.
• Badass: Being in Akatsuki automatically qualifies for this, and he could've defeated Sakura and Chiyo, but chose to die at the hands of his puppets.
  • He also personally killed the Third Kazekage, who was apparently the strongest ninja his village had ever produced. This makes Sasori the strongest ninja in Sunagakure´s history.
• Badass Boast: "Since I don't like waiting or making other people wait... I'll end this quickly."
• Beware My Stinger Tail: Both his Hiruko puppet and his body have a scorpion like tail

• Conservation of Ninjutsu: Applies to his ultimate technique. The less puppets he controls the better he controls each one. Justified by having more attention to spare as the numbers dwindle.
• Cyborg: Kinda.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: After the death of his parents.
• Evil Genius: For Akatsuki alongside Orochimaru - who both seem to fit the role - and for the revived Akatsuki by Kabuto.

• Freudian Excuse: Suggested to some degree that the death of his parents and his attempting to replace them with puppets caused him to turn evil, but Chiyo suggests that the Sand Village teachings caused it.
• Go Out with a Smile: After his defeat by Kankuro.
• Heart Drive: Has one that functions as his core.
• Hidden Weapons: In each and every puppet.
• Heel Realization : After being revived, Kankuro's words caused him to renew his faith in humanity again
• Immortality Immorality: Believes that by becoming a puppet one can attain eternal life, and has some fairly twisted views on human life. He was, rather poetically, the first of the Akatsuki to get taken down in season two.
  • Immortality Seeker
• In-Series Nickname / Awesome McCoolname: Akasuna no Sasori (Sasori of the Red Sand/Scorpion of the Red Sand).
• Irony: He hates waiting, but because of his puppet body he technically has all the time in the world.
  • He claims that emotion is a form of weakness despite having a heart but no brain.
  • Yet thanks to them, Kankuro could set him free of Kabuto´s control.
  • His body is now used as a puppet by Kankuro, whom Sasori had easily defeated way earlier.
  • And now his soul is a puppet for Kabuto, who was once under his control as a spy.
• Leitmotif: "Shitsui" Translates as 'Despair'.
• Mad Artist: Believes that art lasts forever.
• Making a Splash/Playing with Fire: Thanks to fire and water sealed into scrolls, he's able to use the guns in his puppet body's hands for at least those two elemental attacks. First flamethrowers hot enough to melt rock, then water streams intense enough to cut or smash through it (this one is Anime only).
• Marionette Master: He created the puppets used by Kankuro, and was the most skilled puppeteer in the world while he was alive.
• Master Poisoner: His poisons where nigh incurable to the best of the Sand's medical corps.
  • Poisoned Weapons: His weapons (and his puppets' weapons).
    • Deadly Gas
• Meaningful Name: "Sasori" means "scorpion". Sasori's Hiruko armor runs on all four and has a bladed tail, Sasori uses Poisoned Weapons, and he uses a a scorpion as his symbol on the puppets he created before his defection.
• Name's the Same: Translate Sasori's name to English, and you get Scorpion. The first to use that name was Lance Bean, followed by Hanzo Hasashi.
• Names To Run Away From REALLY Fast / Red Baron: He´s known as Akasuna no Sasori, literally "The Scorpion of the Red Sand".
• Older Than He Looks: He's 35 years old but his puppet body, which he created 20 years ago, looks like a teenager.
• One-Man Army: Literally. Sasori used his Performance of a Hundred Puppets to bring down a small country.
• Passing the Torch: To Kankuro.
• People Puppets: Indulges in this after being revived by Kabuto's Edo Tensei due to a lack of usable puppets at his disposal. He combines this with Deidara's explosive clay to turn an incapacitated ninja from Konoha into a suicide bomber.
• Puppet Armor: The armor even has a name (Hiruko).
  • Anime provides an explanation for that. Hiruko is a human puppet. In the manga, it's just an ordinary puppet.
• Pulling Themselves Together: After Sakura seemingly destroys his puppet body.
• The Stoic
  • Not So Stoic: After he reveals his puppet body, he becomes considerably less calm.
• Zerg Rush: His trump card, Red Secret Technique: Performance of the 100 Puppets.

"Art is a blast!"

• Art Attacker: His fighting style
  • Art Initiates Life: He brings bombs to life so that they attack people then explode.
• Ax Crazy: Not as much as Hidan, but is obsessed dangerously with art.
• Badass: He didn't come to Akatsuki. Akatsuki came to HIM.
• Berserk Button: People not giving his "art" the awe he feels it deserves. He can appreciate a fellow artist with a different philosophy, but Itachi and Sasuke drive him insane. The fact that Itachi effortlessly tricked him into near-suicide the day they met doesn't help.
• Bishounen: So much that many fans thought he was a girl at first.
• Blond Guys Are Evil: More Selfish Evil rather than For the Evulz, but still counts.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Despite his power being instantaneous, he likes to takes things slow, something that in itself is conflicting with his ideal of short-lived beauty.
  • He does however get defeated in the shortest amount of time compared to the other Akatsuki.
• Catch Phrase: "Art is a blast!" Doubles as his Famous Last Words.
• Dark Chick: Serves this role in both Original Flavor and Zombified Akatsuki. He doesn't care about his leaders' cause, nor does he have one of his own besides spreading his "art", and is one of the less serious members overall.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: If everyone didn't keep saying "he", Deidara would be considered the second female member of the Akatsuki. Hell, he could pass off as Ino's evil twin.
• Dishing Out Dirt: His bombs where made of clay and thus susceptible to the same vulnerabilities as other earth ninjutsu.
• Evil Laugh: Not as often as Hidan, but still frequently.
• Faux Affably Evil: He's far from a sympathetic character, but he's often entertaining to watch.
• For the Evulz: Before being forcefully recruited into Akatsuki, he worked for various anti-government factions for no reason but the opportunity to blow things up, and Pain said his reason for fighting is "just because".
• Hot Blooded: To the point of having a Hair-Trigger Temper.
• Go Mad From The Revelation: He gets pretty unhinged when he realizes that Itachi's Sharingan is more artful than his bombs.

• Having A Blast: A lot of the time, and half of it comprises his Catch Phrase.
• Horse of a Different Color: Will perch himself on variety of different clay birds while he rains hell on his opponents.
• Large Ham: Not as much as Hidan, but he is proud to be an artist
• Mad Artist: Of the belief that true art fades in an instant.
• Mad Bomber: His specialty, even before he joined Akatsuki.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Felt this way about Orochimaru, partly because his departure resulted in him being forced to join Akatsuki.
  • He also wanted to use his most powerful techniques on Itachi and Sasuke, only because he hated the Sharingan.
• Pet the Dog: Right before pulling his Taking You with Me, he mentally apologizes to Tobi.
• Power Perversion Potential: He has hands with autonomous mouths (fully decked with teeth and tongue) in his palms, and another in his chest. Freud Was Right.
• Psycho for Hire: Of the Terrorist Without A Cause variety.
• Screaming Warrior: Not as much as Hidan, but still is one due to his pride as an artist.
• Shout Out: To Japanese artist Tarô Okamoto. Deidara's Catch Phrase is a quote, while his ultimate explosion has the shape of Okamoto's Tower of the Sun.
• The Sociopath: Not as much as Hidan or Tobi/ Obito, but it's still safe to say he doesn't care for anything beyond his own art.
• Sophisticated as Hell: Does occasionally happen.
• Taking You with Me: Attempted on Sasuke, but it didn't work.
• Terrorist Without A Cause: Pain says his reason is "Just Because".
• Too Many Mouths: Has mouths on his palms. And one over his heart for his Suicide Attack.
• Übermensch: He believes that his ninjutsu is a work of art that should inspire others for its short lived brilliance, while every other ninja does not put nearly as much pride in their techniques.
• Unknown Rival: He can't stand the Uchiha siblings' cooler-than-thou attitude and utter indifference to his "art". To him, It's Personal. To them, he's an annoying idiot. He spends his fight with Sasuke trying to provoke some kind of reaction, while Sasuke just wants him to give up Itachi's location. After his self-destruction and revival, he learns that Sasuke not only survived, but still doesn't think any more of him.
• Verbal Tic: Adds "hm" to the end of every other sentence, hm.
• Wake Up Call Boss: He's the first really challenging opponent for Sasuke in Part II.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: in the recent filler episode during the Shinobi World War, he ponders the fact that his Edo Tensei body will never age or decay, and cannot even be permenently destroyed. Played with, as his angst isn't so much about the pains of living forever as much as it is the fact that the concept of his newfound immortality (such as it is) clashes with his view of art.

"Tobi is a good boy!" (Zetsu)

"I'm no one. I don't want to be anyone, all I care about is completing the Moon's Eye plan."

• Alien Blood: We've seen blood in this series. Whatever it is that comes out when he cuts off his arm, it's not human blood. It's plant matter.
• Appendage Assimilation: It seems Tobi can swap out arms (and it's implied eyes as well) as needed.
  • This is because half his body was crushed by a boulder and replaced with Zetsu cells, and he gave his original left eye to Kakashi.
• A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Was this to Minato, who he ends up causing the death of.
• Assimilation Plot: His main goal. Kishimoto may have got the idea from his brother. And considering how this desire was triggered by the death of his beloved Rin, he's on the way to becoming the ninja equivalent of Gendo Ikari.
• Badass: This comes as no surprise once it's revealed that he was trained by Madara himself. See Took a Level in Badass below.
  • Badass Baritone / Guttural Growler: He fulfills the former in the Japanese and English versions, as well as the latter in the English dub of Storm 3.
  • Badass Boast: Quite a few, honestly. No surprise, considering he's the Big Bad.
  "... If you want to see what's under my mask... You're gonna have to work for it. Eight-Tails... Nine-Tails... I will capture you both... And complete the Moon's Eye!"
  "I am Madara Uchiha, and I possess the power of Hashirama Senju! I am unique! I am the second Sage of the Six Paths!"
• Barrier Warrior: His usage of Uchiha Keanjin (Uchiha Flame Battle Trap) makes him one. Doubles as Playing with Fire.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: This is why his true identity is such a shock to Kakashi; the young, kind-hearted, idealistic Obito shares absolutely no traits with the nihilistic madman Tobi.
• Becoming the Mask: He chose alternatively to be Madara Uchiha or a faceless "no one", presumably to forget about his past. This probably made it a lot easier for the former idealist to commit atrocities.
• Big Bad: Easily the most involved antagonist in the series, from Kurama's attack on Konoha to the Fourth Shinobi World War.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: Kabuto forced Tobi into an alliance by blackmailing him with Madara's body, but now that he's blown Tobi's cover, Kabuto's lost his hold over Akatsuki. He is also this with Madara.
  • Big Bad Ensemble: Alternatively competed with Orochimaru over it, before taking the reins once the Uchiha brothers threw Orochimaru under the bus.
• Blatant Lies: "I didn't unleash the Nine-Tails on Konoha, it was a natural disaster."
• Blood from the Mouth: In Chapter 609, when Kakashi attacks his body parts while within Kamui.
• Breaking Lecture: Several, but the most devastating must be the one he gives to Kakashi, about how he wants to create a world where "heroes don't stand over graves apologizing for their failures".
  • In chapter 608 he almost succeeded in giving Kakashi a Heroic BSOD. It takes Naruto shouting to Obito that "He won't let his friends die." mirroring when Kakashi said that against Zabuza, to put him back on track.
  • Tries again on Naruto after Neji dies and almost succeeds, but Hinata and Kurama put Naruto back on track.
• Broken Aesop: His identity is one. If Kakashi had abandoned his comrades and completed his mission to destroy the bridge, Obito would have died. This would have given Naruto an actual childhood, made Nagato less crazy, made the Mist a better place, invited the possibility of Minato stopping the Uchiha Massacre, let the Moon's Eye Plan die with Madara, and prevented the Fourth Great Shinobi World War. Guess those who abandon their comrades really aren't less than trash, eh Obito?
• Broken Pedestal: Kakashi spent years trying to live up to Obito's loyalty to his comrades and kindhearted nature, and emulated his personality and mannerisms as a memorial to him.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: Perhaps the one time this trope is played straight and subverted at the same time. He's Obito Uchiha. Everyone saw it coming, or so it seemed. What makes the reveal so masterful is that fans theorized Tobi was Obito the moment he appeared (at the beginning of Part II) due to all the obvious character traits; his similarly sounding name, his mask having a single eyehole on the right side and his pretty much being a happy-go-lucky idiot nobody took seriously to name a few. However, when Tobi revealed himself as "Madara Uchiha" much later, all of a sudden readers abandoned that theory because nobody believed Obito could have taken that big of a leap in Badass, much less be the real power behind Akatsuki and the Big Bad of the series. His later actions, namely his manipulations of Sasuke and the rest of the cast and his inherent knowledge of the Naruto universe only convinced people further, such that even those who weren't convinced he was Madara still didn't believe he was Obito, with theories surrounding his true identity (ranging from the somehow still living Izuna Uchiha to the elder son of the Sage of Six Paths) being rampant. Really, it was only when Kakashi connected the dots with Kamui (i.e. the fact Tobi's teleportation/intangibility were just a variation of the technique) and when the Mangekyo design of Tobi's Sharingan was revealed that the readers knew for sure that Tobi was Obito.
• Chain Pain: Used a pair of chains on his wrists in his fight with Minato which combined with his intangibility to be pretty deadly. Also uses chakra chains to control the Tailed Beasts.
• Chekhov's Gunman
• The Chessmaster: While Madara came up with the Moon-Eye Plan and started Akatsuki, practically everything afterward was directed by Tobi. Including the manipulation of Nagato and Sasuke, leading Akatsuki from behind the scenes, using the Nine-Tails to attack Konoha and eventually close the curtain on his own clan, all while impersonating Madara. On the other hand, Madara may instructed him what he was to do after his death.
• Cloudcuckoolander: As part of his goofy facade.
• Combo Platter Powers: As an Uchiha, Tobi has the Fire Release, Sharingan and Mangekyō Sharingan and all of the accompanying abilities. He also has the Senju DNA, which grants him great vitality and immense chakra reserves (which presumably allows him to constantly use his Mangekyō Sharingan with minimal chakra drain and no side effects to his eyes), regeneration on the right side of his body, Super Strength and the First Hokage's legendary Wood Release. In addition, he also has Earth, Water, Yin, Yang, and Yin-Yang Releases. Oh and right now, he currently has possession of the Rinnegan, and we all know how much of a Story Breaker Power that is.
• Complexity Addiction: For the past twenty odd years he has had the ability to teleport himself and others anywhere at any time instantly. He could have accomplished his goal in a matter of hours at literally any point during that time and avoid the entire Fourth World War thing, as well as any actual use for Akatsuki, in the first place. The only reason seems to be that it would go against the plan and would not be fair. He claims however that he wants Naruto to fight Sasuke (people that, mind you, didn't exist for half that time, and didn't even know eachother until much much later than they were born), that he even needs it. Quite a lot of his plan seems to be to set that ultimate battle up, for whatever mysterious end.
• The Corrupter: To both Nagato and Sasuke. After recognizing his younger self in Naruto, he makes an attempt on him too.
• Dark Messiah: According to Madara. Sets up a deliberate contrast to Naruto.
• Darth Vader Clone: Whoo boy, where to start? Grevious injuries? Check. Mask? Check. Evil Sounds Deep? Check. The Big Bad to the Bigger Bad? Check again. Freudian Excuse? Check check. It even with the extra mile, with Obito battling his former teacher, Minato the Fourth Hokage, and being (albeit indirectly) responsible for the man's death. Japanese Vader, say hello to your fanbase.
• Dead Childhood Crush: Rin's death is what pushed Obito beyond the Despair Event Horizon and directly motivated him into becoming Tobi. Everything that Tobi's ever done or has taken part in facilitating is out of the desire to see Rin again. This includes the Kyuubi attack (which includes the death of many Konoha shinobi, including his sensei, the Fourth Hokage, and his wife Kushina), the Uchiha Clan Massacre (the genocidal destruction of his entire clan/family, leaving only three survivors, and that's including himself), and the Fourth Great Shinobi World War.
• Dead Person Impersonation: In spite of what he would like everyone, perhaps even himself to believe, he is NOT the original Madara Uchiha. The fact that he actually is supposed to be a dead person makes it more complicated.
• Deadpan Snarker: He has a tendency to make blunt, rude, and disrespectful comments to everyone around him.
• Determinator: Even if he isn't Madara, you can't deny that he is extremely patient. He seems very old and to have been in the game for a very long time. Once it's revealed that he's actually Obito, Naruto's counterpart on Kakashi's original team, suddenly his Determinator traits make a lot more sense.
• Despair Event Horizon: Rin's death was this for him. Although he doesn't seem to care anymore.It doesn't help that chapter 604 reveals that it was Kakashi that killed Rin, when Obito told him to protect her.
• Diabolical Mastermind: A nice contrast to Orochimaru.
• Discard and Draw: Sacrificed one Sharingan eye and replaced it with a much more powerful Rinnegan-eye.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Has been shown to have at least "Earth" for his chakra nature.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: He possesses the Rinnegan and yet he hasn't demonstrated even half of the techniques that Nagato had. Whether this is due to having only one Rinnegan eye, not as much chakra or experience as Nagato, or just forgetting about them, there's no denying that he'd have a massive Story Breaker Power if he uses all the Rinnegan techniques.
  • Tobi's Mangekyō Sharingan abilities make him a defensively formidable combatant. Even knowing about his abilities and planning against them isn't enough, as Fu and Torune can testify. So in order to get past this, all of his opponents have had some sort of exclusive technique to counter his warping/intangible abilities. Minato was able to defeat Tobi by just a split-second using his Flash Step technique; Konan had been observing Tobi's abilities in Akatsuki the whole time and she had to heavily plan, simulate and trap to battle him; Kakashi, Naruto, Guy, and Killer Bee had been having trouble fighting Tobi until Kakashi realized he just happened to have the exact same Kamui dimension as Tobi.
• Dramatic Unmask: Naruto finally manages to shatter his mask by exploiting a weakness in his defenses — and in the process, confirms the Tobito theory.
• Duel Boss: In chapter 628, he pulls Kakashi and himself into Kamui, isolating the two of them from the rest of the fighting while mentioning that he was "waiting for this". Presumably, he wants to invoke this on his old teammate.
• Emergency Transformation:Madara replaced the crushed half of Obito's body with the plant matter grown from the First Hokage's cells.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He is repulsed by Kabuto's Edo Tensei spell, though this may more or less be because a large part of his plan hinged on the world believing he was Madara Uchiha and immortal. Proving Madara was actually dead would have probably forced him into using a backup plan.
• Evil Counterpart:
  • His personality was originally not dissimilar to Naruto's, he even wanted to be Hokage at one point. He himself has noted the similarities, though he presumes Naruto will end up like him in the end. He even tries to pull a Break the Cutie to show him how pointless the real world is and accelerate the process.
  • He's also one for Kakashi given their past history together, similar (superficial) trickster personality traits, and the same Sharingan abilities.
• Evil Costume Switch: Subverted in that he originally kept the same outfit after being revealed as the Big Bad. Played straight when he replaces his old mask with one that resembles the Ten-Tailed Beast's single eye. Also, he now wears the same robes and holds the same giant "fan" that Madara Uchiha wore in the latter flashbacks, as opposed to his old Akatsuki uniform.
• Evil Former Friend: To Kakashi.
• Evil Genius
• Evil Sounds Deep: Taken Up to Eleven by Neil Kaplan in the dub.
• The Faceless: We've only been able to see a small part of his right eye and there are numerous wrinkles around it. He probably does look very aged. Or tired. Chapter 599 reveals that the supposed wrinkles are actually scars.
• Fallen Hero
• Faux Affably Evil: Acts polite, patient, easy going and pretty laid-back but he's actually crazier and monstrous than he first lets on.
• Foreshadowing:
  • During the fight between Deidara and Sasuke, he acts all goofy as usual until he gets away from the fight and mentally explains Deidara's C4 technique in all its details for the readers. It's the first clear hint of his Obfuscating Stupidity.
  • There's also a case of foreshadowing by absence. He is never shown using the Mangekyou Sharingan, presumably because his eye doesn't have Madara's distinctive design, which in retrospect, was probably the strongest clue that he isn't actually Madara....along the fact Zetsu kept calling him Tobi even after he started to claim he was Madara.
  • When he partially reveals his face to Sasuke to expose his Sharingan, you see it looks wrinkled, so you assume he's an old man. You would be wrong. Those are actually the scars from where Obito's skin streched and deformed from the boulders smashing half his face.
  • Tobi's remark to Sasuke in Chapter 397 about understanding how confusing it is when "some weirdo takes you in and starts saying shocking things" suddenly makes sense when you realize that his second encounter with Sasuke paralleled how he met Madara.
  • In chapter 552, Itachi reminded Naruto not to bear the weight of peace all by himself, or else he would become like "Madara". After it revealed that he was actually Naruto's parallel in Team Minato it suddenly makes a lot of sense.
• Freudian Excuse: Rin's death made him into the Assimilation Plot obsessed maniac he is today.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Obito Uchiha was a joke who only managed to activate his Sharingan minutes before his death. Tobi, conversely, is a Kage level threat who can take on Naruto, B, Kakashi, and Guy all at once.
• Fusion Dance: With Memna in Road To Ninja.
  • The Spiral Zetsu does this with Obito in the main series.
• Generation Xerox: Invoked on him by Madara. Even if he doesn't like Madara, he ends up inheriting his ideals and vision regardless.
• Go Mad From The Revelation: Rin's death did this to him.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: What tends to happen when you have a boulder smash half your head.
• Green Thumb: He can use Wood Style.
• Hairstyle Inertia: Although his hair grew out during his time in Madara's cave of evil, he trims it back to the style he had as Obito, making his true identity even more obvious.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: A rare vertical example, as the entire right side of his body was smashed by the boulder and replaced with tissue taken from a prototype "Spiral" Zetsu. The tissue took time to mature and strengthen, which was evident when Obito tried to punch out a solid stone wall, only to smash his new arm into putty.
• Half Truth: It's pretty obvious he's withholding more than he's claiming.
• Heart Trauma: He claims to have removed his heart, because all it could feel was pain. He also claims that he no longer feels pain, and plans to fill the hole left behind with an illusory world where Rin is still alive.
• The Heavy: He's Obito. So he was responsible for Kakashi's Sharingan, and his personality. He was responsible for the Nine-Tails attack on Konoha and therefore the deaths of Naruto's mother and father, as well as Naruto's life as a Jinchuriki. Then he participated in the Uchiha Clan Massacre, causing Sasuke's Start of Darkness, and he threw Kirigakure to hell by controlling the Fourth Mizukage. He's the leader of Akatsuki, and is responsible for indirectly causing a ton of other problems, like determining the damage done on Orochimaru's invasion of Konoha because he killed Minato, who could've stopped him. Obito's "death" was a huge catalyst.
• Hero Killer: Naruto's parents, Danzo's bodyguards, Konan, Neji, and a large number of allied ninja troops.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: apparently he didn't learn anything from the "rasengan meets mask" incident and sucked Kakashi into his alternate dimension—only for him to repeatedly pummel any part of him that materlialized within it.
• Humanoid Abomination: Implied. Can warp people into a Pocket Dimension, has survived far too many things that would've killed anyone else, is abnormally old-aged, knows facts that others claim as myths, his creases look like scales, half of his face is blackened out like a silhouette, his blood is a mix of human flesh and plant matter, he integrated entire bloodlines into his body like it was Lego.
  • Turns out half of his body is made from the same material as the Zetsu, and the wrinkles are actually scars from the boulder falling on him when he was Obito.
• Humans Are Bastards: Believes that the Crapsack World he lives in inevitably turns all ninja into "trash", himself included. It's part of why he wants to complete an Assimilation Plot.
• In the Blood: Despite easily being the most decent of all the Uchiha in the series, not even Obito was immune to the clan's most fatal flaw: their ability to love more deeply than anyone else. If anything, it was worse for him seeing as he was the most idealistic and emotional of all the Uchiha, and thus his sense of love was far deeper than usual. The death of Rin, his childhood crush, a girl he was and is still in love with, drove him over the deep end and made him what he is today.
• Hyper Space Arsenal: He stores many weapons in his Kamui dimension such as Fuma Shuriken, and a massive chain and stake combo for pinning down and restraining the Tailed Beasts.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Defied in 629. After Kakashi fails to take the shot on Obito, he insists that something of the man he used to be is still with him. Obito rather amusedly insists that no, he's not. He's gone.
  • This continues into 630, and it looks like Kakashi may be starting to get through to him.
• The Infiltration: A very odd inversion. He seems to have made up an alias (and alternate personality to boot) and infiltrated his own organization for, as far as we know, no particular reason.
• Instant Expert: Immediately after activating the Mangekyo, he uses it and his previously unseen Wood Style perfectly to slaughter a few dozen ninjas.
• I Reject Your Reality: Pretty much literally. He refuses to acknowledge a world in which Rin chose to sacrifice herself and Kakashi was unable to protect her, and chooses to believe the current world is fake. His main goal is to end misery by forcing everyone to reject reality, trapping the entire world in a Lotus-Eater Machine.
• It's All About Me: Seems to be leaning towards this as well. Then again he is a Uchiha.
  • Tobi's a notable case in that he was Obito, arguably the best of the Uchiha personality wise and, along with Shisui, one of the few who didn't suffer from this. However, Rin's death served as his Despair Event Horizon, and subsequently brought out all the Uchiha traits he used to lack, including this and the talent that Uchiha Clan ninja tend to have. Now, he claims he's completing his Assimilation Plot in order to create a better world but the truth is he doesn't care about this world or anyone in it anymore because they will all be there and happy in his dream world. What he really wants and all that really matters to him in the end is the chance to see his beloved Rin again.
  • Taken to extremes when it's showed he refuses to acknowledge Rin's will and sacrifice, he instead believes the ideal Rin should have survived and accepted his love.
• It's Personal: He despises Kakashi for failing to protect Rin and tries to kill him, calling Kakashi trash.
  • Subverted/Inverted: Obito later says that it's really not personal, and what he really despises is the ninja system that led to that situation in the first place. In his view the entire ninja world is trash and needs to be destroyed, no exceptions.
• Japanese Pronouns: Used boku in his debut, but once he dropped the act and became a more serious villain he started to use ore. Both are masculine pronouns, but ore has the implications of sounding more "mature" and "manly" compared to the boyish boku.
• Just Between You and Me: It's like crack to him. Although apparently, explaining his plan to everyone was part of his plan...
• Just Toying with Them: Rather than using the Ten Tails to murder everyone outright, he chooses to kill them off gradually just to make them suffer the loss of their comrades and show them how pointless the real world is.
• Karma Houdini: In Road To Ninja, all he gets in punishment is that he didn't get the Kyuubi, and that didn't seem to bother him, especially when you see villains in previous films in the series, all getting deserving punishments by the end of the film. Well except Hiruko from the third movie who is Easily Forgiven. This is justified by his being the Big Bad of the main series as well.
• Keet: Usually whenever he's around Deidara. He later drops the act.
• Kick the Dog: It's bad enough that he caused Neji's death. Spending half a chapter rubbing it in Naruto's face, however, firms it as a real kick in the gut.
  • He's been kicking Naruto from day one.
• Legacy Character: Plays the role of Madara Uchiha at the real Madara Uchiha's request.
• Loss of Identity: Deliberately tries to invoke this, presumably to forget his past.
• Lotus-Eater Machine: His main goal is to trap the entire world in one of these so that everyone can be a winner and he can pretend to be back with Rin.
• Love Makes You Evil: The reason he's doing all this? Kakashi failed to protect Rin. Although he doesn't blame Kakashi since it's implied War Is Hell in general for him. His other reason for everything was also because he doesn't want to see heroes making excuses in front of graves. It seems more like he's doing it for both their sake.
  • Up to Eleven after The Second Hokage's revelation regarding the origin of the Sharingan. The Uchiha feels emotions like love tenfolds, which is problematic when they lose this love they feel despair and hate even more. The Sharingan is the mirror of the despair and hate felt by the person and the more hate and despair the person feel, the stronger the Sharingan gets. The more powerful their eye become, the harder it is to reason with them.
• Made Of Diamond: After Minato both shreds him with a Rasengan and stabs him in the gut, Tobi is still standing, and even casually chats for a bit.
• The Man Behind the Man: He was the real leader of Akatsuki, and controlled the Fourth Mizukage for years.
• Manipulative Bastard: He may tell you the horrible truth, including his role in it, and still bend you to his will.
• Mask Power: He's had quite a few masks, usually with a single eye-hole. His latest one is stylized like the Juubi's eye.
  • Malevolent Masked Man
  • White Mask of Doom: His latest.
• Mismatched Eyes: After his battle with Konan, he has a Sharingan and a Rinnegan.
• More than Mind Control: A master of this.
  Tobi: To control people's heart, you have to use the darkness within them. Nagato was just too easily influenced.
• Mr. Exposition: HE IS AN ENDLESS BARREL OF EXPOSITION.
• Nigh Invulnerability:
  • Intangibility: He is able to become intangible by using the same space/time manipulation he uses to teleport. The primary weaknesses are that he cannot attack while intangible, he cannot be intangible while teleporting himself or others (and the more he tries to teleport the longer it takes), and he can only stay intangible for five minutes in a row.
  • Super Toughness: Easily blocked a huge sword with his arm with no damage. Also, after Minato manages to blast him with a Rasengan and immediately stab him in the torso, Tobi while injured doesn't seem too bothered by it and even chats for a bit.
  • Spare Body Parts: Can easily replace body parts lost in battle.
• No, Except Yes: He denies starting the war because of what happened to Rin and proceeds to explain how he started the war because of what happened to Rin. His goal is to bring down the entire ninja world, having determined that the world is fake because a world where Rin is dead, and where things like her death happen, can't possibly be real.
• No One Should Survive That:
  • Anywhere between Sasuke (unintentionally) setting him ablaze with the Amaterasu that Itachi sealed inside him, Konan's attempt to kill him with 600 billion explosive tags (which technically worked), etc.
  • Far before becoming Tobi, Obito shouldn't have survived a boulder crushing the entire right half of his body at 13 years old.
• Not So Harmless Villain: Initially seems like a somewhat goofy member of Akatsuki, but fans knew something was up when a sword slash passes right through him and he survives a massive explosion. In his true persona he is an extremely ruthless, competent and determined enemy.
• Not So Small Role: Seemed like a comic relief type of guy and a Token Good Teammate in Akatsuki, but even then, there was something off about him from the start. This can apply to his true identity, as well.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: It's unknown why he made himself act like a goofball if half of Akatsuki's already bought into his impersonation of Madara. It's probable he simply enjoys playing silly.
  Tobi: I ended up saving you too... I believe a "thank you" is in order.
  Konan: .......
• Oh Crap:
  • Inverted, and it's like meth to him. He seems to delight in messing with peoples mind in the most funny way possible- just ask Konan.
  • Still, he's susceptible to it himself. After all, apparently Kabuto has known all along that this Madara...isn't the real one. He finally reveals that to the world by summoning the original Madara to the battlefield with Edo Tensei. The mere existence of this knowledge scared Tobi into letting Kabuto join up.
  • Definitely has this when Itachi's release of Edo Tensei has taken away his Six Paths Technique. Time will tell if it lasts though.
  • In Chapter 598, Naruto manages to DESTROY HIS MASK! The only word he even utters is "Shit!".
• One-Man Army: See Power Parasite.
  • Also, after witnessing Rin's death at Kakashi's hands, Obito goes berserk and proceeds to massacre an entire squad of enemy ninjas using his intangibility and Wood Release. He was 14 years old.
• The Other Darrin: Even professional seiyuu cannot handle the discrepancy between his two characters apparently. Naoya Uchida had to replace Wataru Takagi when Tobi dropped his act in the anime. Serious!Tobi had three voice actors in English. Turns Hilarious in Hindsight when one of them also voices Tobi's younger self, Obito.
• Paper Fan of Doom: He carries a large and apparently quite heavy fan which turns out to be the same one Madara used in his time.
• Personality Powers: A very creative example. Obito hates reality and wants to escape it by creating a dream world. His powers allow him to literally do so by teleporting all or part of his body (as well as other people) to an alternate dimension.
• Plant Person: The right half of his body is composed of Zetsu's cells.
• Playing with Fire: Finally uses an Uchiha fire technique in chapter 596. Also revealed retroactively, as he used Fire Release as Obito.
• Power Parasite: Up to Eleven. Just by stealing the Rinnegan from Nagato, Tobi's gained the Six Paths of Pain (whom he's replaced with the six deceased Jinchuriki) and controls the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Furthermore, in addition to his own Sharingan, he's obtained Senju DNA, allowing him access to Wood Style.
• Pragmatic Villainy: One of the few in the series. He's extremely good about avoiding pointless and/or unnecessarily risky fights. In addition he's fairly nice to his subordinates (as long as they don't betray him) and will help them out when they're in a jam. Not so much because he particularly cares about them, but because he values loyalty and there's simply no advantage in having your subordinates hate you. It's also notable that he seldom tries to force anyone to do anything and usually just talks people into doing what he wants. Doesn't prevent him from Complexity Addiction though. Also quite ruthless and fond of taking hostages, threatening children, and Obfuscating Stupidity.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Type B. His goal is extremely childish: he wants to create a dreamworld where everyone can be happy and the good guys always win. The psychopathic part comes from the fact that he is willing to do anything to accomplish this.
• Psychotic Smirk: He sports one of these after his mask is shattered, and Kakashi asks if he truly is Obito, pointing out that he no longer considers himself to be "anyone" but they are free to call him by that name if they wish.
• A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Tobi caused the Nine-Tails attack and the death of his own sensei. Minato, however, never even knew he was still alive, or that he had turned evil.
• Reality Ensues: His main motivation for everything.
• Reality Warper: He can use the jutsu Izanagi. Apparently, his is a more complete (read: longer lasting) variant than Danzo's.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: To Konan, after she turns on him for Naruto and decides to kill him, fighting for the new hope.
  Tobi: There is no peace! There can be no hope! Nagato only believed in Naruto to try to comfort his own pitiful existence!
  Tobi: You called me the Darkness, didn't you? Then I will make you wilt. I will take your little rainbow bridge and its seven colors and plunge it all into darkness!.
• Red Herring: There were theories and degrees of evidence that he was everyone from Danzou to Obito and several others. Eventually he was revealed to be Uchiha Madara, but even then about half the fandom argued that this was yet another ruse. They were right, but it's a testament to the writing that so many disagreed or couldn't decide either way. Tobi himself claims to be "no one" and that he doesn't care about his own identity, but he does seem to care about concealing his face...
• The Reveal: He's not Madara Uchiha. He's actually Obito Uchiha.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After witnessing Rin being killed by Kakashi, Obito loses it and proceeds to murder every single Mist ninja that comes to attack him. This was (probably) his main Start of Darkness into becoming Tobi.
• Sempai Kohai: Considers himself the kohai of Deidara and Kisame. Even though he's really the sempai.
• Shut Up, Kirk!: When Kakashi asks Obito why he's doing this, Obito responds by telling him to shut up and tries to kill him.
• Significant Anagram: Tobi, is very similar to his actual name, Obito. You could think of the English spelling to be something like 'Toobi' in that regard or his original name to be Obit, with the extra 'o' at the end stemming from the tendency for Japanese pronunciations to end in vowels regardless.
  • It should also be noted that when both Tobi and Obito are written kanji, they are written in the same two characters, simply switched. It was that obvious.
• The Sociopath: Doesn't particularly care for anyone or anything. All that matters to him is his plan. It's no surprise when it's revealed that he's responsible for a lot of the atrocities in the story. It's made even more tragic when his identity is revealed.
• Space Master
• Spanner in the Works: Its like cocaine to him. Massively screws up Itachi's postmortem plans for Sasuke by telling him things he was probably better off not knowing.
• Straw Nihilist: "This world is completely worthless...there is nothing left in it but misery." He thinks he is living in a Crapsack World (with a fair amount of justification, it must be said) and resents how This Is Reality is in effect with regards to heroes, ie. that very often heroes actually fail. As such, he thinks the only place heroes and dreams can truly exist is in a dream world, and he intends to create just that, even if he has to enact an Assimilation Plot to do it.
• Superpower Lottery: He really won the jackpot. Not only is he an Uchiha, his Kamui is incredibly powerful, and the main reason he went from pushover to Kage level in a just a few years. More to the point it apparently has no precedent at all, so it might well be the rarest ability in the series.
• Super Strength: He snapped an arm off of its shoulder with just the grip of his fingers, and blocked a giant ass sword with his forearm.
• Take Up My Sword: A villainous example. After saving him, an elderly Madara passed his knowledge, identity, and plan on to Obito. Subverted in that part of the plan was to eventually revive Madara, so this was meant to be temporary.
• Teens Are Monsters: The same age as Kakashi, which means he was in his teens when he first attacked Konoha.
• Teleportation: He can teleport himself anywhere he wants, and can teleport others into an alternate dimension that seems to exist within his Sharingan.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Tobi and Madara may need each other but that does not mean they like it. Madara thinks that Obito is being too impatient with the Moon-Eye Plan and wants to wipe out the Shinobi Alliance first to make sure they are not a bother. Obito thinks Madara is too immature to wield such power and this is just an excuse for him to test out the Juubi's powers like a child with a new toy. Then there's also the matter of Madara needing Obito to sacrifice himself using Rinne Tensei in order to revive him, which Obito isn't exactly thrilled about.
• That Man Is Dead: Even after his true identity as Obito is revealed he still claims that he's "No One."
• Took a Level in Badass: Up to Eleven! Tobi used to be Obito. The guy who was always in everyone's shadow. Was Always Second Best to everyone, and was basically the Dead Last to all of Konoha. But after becoming Tobi he can fight on par with Minato, control the Kyuubi, learned how to warp reality, and effortlessly manipulates people like Nagato, Itachi and the whole freaking Ninja World like they're his puppets! DAMN! Being evil really ups the IQ points. And the badass points.
• Torso With A View: Intentionally have Kakashi pierce his chest in chapter 629 to show his Heart Trauma and keeps it afterwards.
• Tragic Villain: Because in the end, despite all the horrible, reprehensible things he's done, that's what he truly is. With the In the Blood revelation of Tobirama, and the death of the girl he loved, by his own best friend no less, he's just become so jaded that the only thing he's been able to cling on is the Assimilation Plot, because it can give him the one thing he wants: Rin.
• Tranquil Fury: Has a not-so-subtle grudge towards Kakashi and isn't afraid to make it publicly known, but still manages to keep a lid on his bottle hate towards Kakashi because his act of murder was most likely forced through circumstance, not intentional. However, Kakashi failing to keep his promise is what really angered him, and now Obito is bitterly going forth with the Eye of The Moon Plan to tell the world to shove it to ensure even more senseless killings stop.
• Trickster Archetype: Likes to act like this.
  • Troll: Enjoys toying with people's emotions to make them suffer.
• Two-Faced: The incident in Kannabi Bridge left the right side of his face severely scarred, while the left side is untouched. The cave-in pressed down on his face hard enough to make the skin stetch to the point of tearing, which resulted in spiral-like strech marks where the skin scarred.
• Ultimate Evil: until his reveal as Obito
• The Unfettered: Whatever his goals are, he will not back down from obtaining them no matter how terrible the price. Even if he has to murder his entire family and closest friends. Later, it's revealed that The Plan will supposedly allow anything to happen inside the dream, even the resurrection of the dead, which may go a long way in explaining this.
• Unreliable Expositor: He delivers a lot of exposition, and quite a bit of it is suspect. Especially when it comes to himself and his motives, what with him not actually being Madara.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Did he ever.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: Either played straight or Subverted. He claims at one point that this is his goal, but when Naruto accuses him of really just wanting power, he laughs and says that Naruto is probably right. So either he was laughing that Naruto caught him in a lie or was mocking Naruto's accusations. With the reveal, it seems is played very straight, as he doesn't care any more about this world.
  • More like subverted, or at least indicates that both of them were right: While Tobi/Obito quite rightly points out that there is always pain and suffering in the world, and real change often is nowhere to be found, he is not motivated by making the world better, bringing a world where his beloved is alive and presumably doesn't have to die. At its core, he is attempting to impose his fantasy: A world that makes his dream a reality. At its core, his motivations are as selfish as Madara's
• Villains Never Lie: Played straight most of the time, the rest it depends in how the manga evolves.
  • Except when it comes to his identity, anyway...
• Villain Teleportation: Not that he makes very good use of it, but he can teleport if he wishes.
• Walking Spoiler: You think you know everything about him? Keep reading the manga...
• We Can Rule Together: After killing Neji and delivering a Hannibal Lecture, he invites Naruto to stop prolonging his suffering and join he and Madara. Naruto hesitates, but luckily for the Alliance Hinata is around to snap Naruto out of it.
  • Tries this again with Kakashi, who also rejects it.
• Weak, but Skilled: Downplayed as in spite of this trope, Tobi is actually strong. He has Super Strength, his chakra levels and vitality are incredible to the point he can constantly use his Mangekyō Sharingan abilities with virtually no drain or side-effects. However, Tobi's Space-Time ninjutsu abilities, while defensively impressive, lack the destructive power his Akatsuki comrades have shown. Instead of outright explosions or destruction or offense, Tobi carefully utilizes his warping/intangibility to attack his enemies.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: If he is truthful about the plan. He's called out on this as being nothing more than an egomaniac using this as an excuse. His response? To laugh and say the accusation is exactly right.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: From what we can tell, the idealism he possessed as a child was shattered after his near-death and the subsequent death of his teammate Rin, who he loved. This (and possibly other events) led to him believing that there is no true heroism in the real world, and he wants to create a new world which will allow heroes and ideals to exist within it - at the expense of free will and individuality.
• Would Hit a Girl: Hit? He killed Konan with a pipe from behind, and that's not even getting into the details of the flashback when he killed Hiruzen's wife and then attempt to have the Nine tails kill Kushina, a mother weakened by pregnancy and maintaining the seal by mauling her to death. Thankfully, Minato showed up just in time.
• Would Hurt a Child: Hurt? He'd kill one, as seen when threatening to cut baby Naruto with a kunai; which is soon upped by attempting to blow him sky high with explosive tags!
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Was this as a kid, and this trait is ultimately what caused him to eventually become the Big Bad. After very nearly dying and then witnessing one of his best friends (whom had promised to protect her) kill the other, he realized he lived in a Crapsack World and decided he would end it and create a better one at all costs.
• Xanatos Speed Chess /Gambit Roulette: While at first sight it would look like he planned everything that has happened in the series, he is in fact very accomplished in cutting his losses and creating new plans out of his ass as the situation demands. Hell, around 5% of the things happening now were in his plans and he is still at the top of the game. He was fairly miffed about Kabuto bringing the real Madara Uchiha onto the battlefield, as it forced him to drop his Dead Person Impersonation gambit, and even more miffed when Itachi ended Edo Tensei and he lost the jinchuriki. But apparently he had back-up plans for that anyway.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Tobi has a habit of doing this to practically everyone he has come into contact with. Every member of Akatsuki was a pawn used for the express purpose of capturing all of the tailed beasts, and once they were obtained were cast aside to whatever fate they met. Nagato's only use was to die and revive him or Madara, and once Madara was revived in a way that was a hindrance to their plan, Tobi threatens to pull this on him, should the legendary Uchiha not follow his orders.
• Younger Than They Look: When he was 14 he stood about as tall as Minato.
  • Vocal Dissonance: And had a very deep voice.

"Seems palatable..."

• Artificial Human
• Blatant Lies: "Tobi is a good boy!"
• Cloud Cuckoolander: White is more prone to bizarre thoughts and actions than Black, sometimes downright stupid, such as bursting into the meeting room of the five Kages to announce Sasuke broke in and giving away Taka's cover. Then, the newly-introduced Spiral Zetsu has a nagging curiosity for bowel movements out of wonder what such a function would be like if he had it. No Social Skills, indeed.
• The Dragon: To Tobi. He appears to have been working with Tobi much longer than most of Akatsuki. Ironic, given Tobi's first appearance made him look like Zetsu's underling but possibly to cover him and also Co-Dragons with Pain and Kisame before their deaths.
• Energy Absorption
• Enigmatic Minion: Nobody really knows what his deal is, but from what we've seen, he may be one of the few that knows the truth about Tobi.
• Exotic Eye Designs: Looks like plant seeds.
• The Faceless: Spiral Zetsu has a hollow head with one hollow eye socket, yet it still manages to see through the link it shares with the other Zetsu.
• Foreshadowing: His personality (White) should've been an obvious foreshadowing to Hashirama's true personality as he is, after all, made from the man's cells.
• Green Thumb: Can merge with the earth and even burrow underground, masking his chakra altogether and allowing him to tunnel around undetected at extreme speeds. This is of course all made possible out of Hashirama's Wood Style abilities.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: Chojuro cuts Black Zetsu in half during the War arc.
• Hive Mind: The White Zetsu all share one mind that they link through a system of underground roots, once linked they instantly share information with each other.
• Humanoid Abomination: A cannibalistic Man-Eating Plant who can move seamlessly within grass and trees and black and white halves which differ in personality, which can split from each other physically, with the white half capable of making clones of himself in a process akin to a fungal parasite. Word Of God implies he's probably not even human, considering that he's an artificial amalgamation of Hashirama's DNA and Madara's will.
• Fusion Dance: The White Zetsu can combine to create a hideous gigantic plant monster.
• I'm a Humanitarian Man-Eating Plant: Disposes of corpses by eating them. His favorite food is even listed as chewy people.
• Ironic Echo: "*insert name here* is a good boy." becomes this in chapter 603.
• Killed Off for Real: The original White Zetsu gets offed by Sasuke, though he still has plenty of clones running about.
• Me's a Crowd: Tobi creates an army of 100,000 white Zetsu's Parasite Clones.
• Mysterious Watcher: Subverted. Nobody knew who he was or what he wanted the first time he showed up in the series but it soon beame clear he belonged to Akatsuki.
• Non-Action Guy: White Zetsu never directly engages in a fight. His clones, on the other hand...
• Off Model: In early anime episodes (and some in later ones, it seems to vary by who does animation) black half has orifices besides eyes. In the manga, black half never has had any of those.
• Plant Person
• Shapeshifter Weapon: The Zetsu's malleable plantlike flesh can act this way for him.
• Split Personality: Has black and white halves.
• Talking To Themself
• Those Two Bad Guys: In one body. Sorta.
• The Dark Chick: When Kabuto Joins in and after Konan's defection.
• The Mole- he functions as the spy and watcher of the group.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: He can make himself into a perfect double of a person after absorbing their chakra.

"Hidan, anyone with a brain would know that the world revolves around money!"

• All Your Powers Combined / You Will Be Assimilated: He can take his opponents' hearts and, at the same time, their elements. Therefore, he controls earth, fire, wind, water and lightning.
• Ambiguously Brown
• Anti-Villain: Type II.
• Appendage Assimilation: With human hearts.
• Ax Crazy: The reason that Hidan is his partner is because he killed his previous partners in fits of blind rage.
• Badass: One of Akatsuki's more impressive fighters.He mentions that he fought the First Hokage and lived (although Bonus Material reveals he was more dead than alive), a feat Madara Uchiha only barely pulled off.
  • Badass Baritone: His voice is EXTREMELY deep.
  • Badass Grandpa: He's the oldest of the Akatsuki, but keeps his youth due to his extended life-spans of the hearts he's taken
• Body Horror: What his body strings do, and create five large beasts that fire powerful elemental attacks from his back that contain one of his five hearts each. Oh and he has two One-Winged Angel modes by recombining with those beasts.
• The Brute: He and Hidan fullfill this role for Akatsuki during the early part of the series, although he's more of a Genius Bruiser. As well as The Brute for Kabuto's Akatsuki zombies.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: After meeting up with Izumo and Kotetsu, the two ninja he held helpless while Hidan killed Asuma, Kakuzu merely remarks:
  "Sorry, pal. I tend to forget about chump-change shinobi when I'm done with them.
• Chrome Champion: One of his more frequently uses abilities was to turn his skin into stone to protect himself or to give himself a Power Fist.
• Combat Tentacles: Can extend his stitches and arms as weapons.
• Deadpan Snarker: Asuma decapitates Hidan and when Hidan tries to talk Kakuzu into bringing him his body, Kakuzu instead takes his head by its hair and carries it over to the body, under loud protests from his partner, stating that Hidan's head "is lighter". He says this with a completely straight face after having just razed a building with his bare fists. Later, when Hidan gloats about having killed Asuma as if it was no big deal, Kakuzu points out that Asuma did cut his head off. Hidan is not pleased.
• Death In All Directions: Many of his attacks do this, which makes Hidan an ideal partner because he doesn't have to worry about accidentally hitting him.
• Elemental Powers: His multiple hearts let him use all of them.
• Et Tu, Brute?: The reason why he turned evil in the first place
• Evil Old Folks: He's 91 years old.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Especially in the Japanese.
• Exotic Eye Designs: Green iris. Maroon sclera.
• Freudian Excuse: Was once a very loyal shinobi, but after his village locked him away for years after a lifetime of loyal service for failing an impossible task, he stole a forbidden technique, killed some of the elders and left, deciding to believe only in money from now on.
• Genius Bruiser: Collectively, he and Hidan are more or less The Brute for the Akatsuki. This doesn't stop Kakuzu from being very bright, even outsmarting Shikamaru on occasion.
• Glasgow Grin: After his mask finally comes off, seen better much later in chapter 489.
• Greed: He's the banker of the Akatsuki and greedily takes his opponents' hearts.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Killed all of his partners this way, until he met Hidan.
  • Informed Flaw: While he is repeatedly described as having a hair-trigger temper, the closest he ever comes to losing his cool on-screen is taking a single swipe at Hidan for his repeated mocking of his love of money, only to immediately shrug him off and go back to being stoic. For someone with such a big chip on their shoulder, he puts up with a surprising amount of annoyance from enemies and allies alike.
• Leitmotif: "Kakuzu"
• Lightning Bruiser: Fast even for the series standards.
• Lovecraftian Superpower: His body strings tear his enemies' hearts so he can fuel his black elemental beasts that emerge from his back. Oh, and he has two very nice One-Winged Angel forms.
• Mask of Power: Has 4 stitched to his back which can split from him to attack or fuse with him to go One-Winged Angel.
• Miser Advisor: His role in the organization.
• Money Fetish: Admits this, saying that it'll be useful even in hell.
• Nothing Personal: He doesn't seem to be particularly mad when he runs into Team 10 again after being revived, even playing along with Shikamaru's shogi metaphors.
• Oh Crap: When he sees Naruto's Rasenshuriken. In his own words :"If I'm getting hit with that, this is over. I'm finished."
• One-Winged Angel: He has two more powerful forms he uses by combining with his mask monsters.
• Only in It for the Money: His motivation.
• Only Sane Man: His intermittent fits of berserk rage notwithstanding, he's among the more realistic and collected members of Akatsuki.
• Organ Theft
• Our Angels Are Different: The masks on Kakuzu's back correspond to the four heads of the Living Creatures of Judeo-Christian Mythology. Likewise, they also correspond to the symbols of the four Evangelists, and are arranged on his back in the same order as the Evangelists were traditionally depicted.
• Really 700 Years Old: He's been around since the First Hokage, and at 91 he's even older than Madara, the true Big Bad, before he died and even then he was in a lot better shape than he was at his time of death.
• Screw The Rules I Have Money: When Hidan warns him that killing a priest is a one-way ticket to hell, he simply replies with "Even hell runs on money, I'd be just fine."
• Serious Business: money.
• Shout Out Theme Naming: All of his unique techniques are named (and pronounced very similarly in Japanese) after Mobile Suit Gundam mecha used by Zeon in the One Year War, with meaningful kanji replacing the phonetic characters. (e.g. MSN-02 Zeong -> Jiongu -> Earth Grudge Fear; this is Kakuzu's forbidden "body of threads" technique, and the Zeong was a mobile suit that could detach its arms on wires for ranged attacks.) Complete list: Jiongu, Domu, Zukokku, Atsugai, Gian = Zeong, Dom, Z'Gok, Acguy, Gyan
• Soul Jar: He can't die unless all of his collected hearts are destroyed.
• Super Strength: Even by Naruto standards. He manages to wreck an entire building in a single blow.
• Those Two Bad Guys: With Hidan.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: He bickers a lot with Hidan because of their disagreeing viewpoints, but they clearly have some mutual respect for each other.

"As the other dies, their agony radiates through my body, and living through it is pure ecstasy!"

• And I Must Scream: Buried alive while being kept living by his immortality.
• Another Man's Terror: Hidan experiences his victims' final moments. Though he doesn't exactly feel terror from the experience.
• Ax Crazy: The most openly deranged and bloodthirsty member of the group.
• Back from the Dead: Played with in a recent filler arc. His 'real' self is still buried at the Nara shrine, but Kabuto manages to recreate an entire edo Hidan from some of his cells. The fact that even the neo Hidan's personality matches the original is played for laughs.
• Badass: His first reaction to be stabbed through the chest with 2 swords? "Who the hell are you?"
  • Badass Baritone
• Blade on a Stick: Carries around several collapsible spikes in order to inflict precise self injury.
• Blood Knight: Fighting is quite literally all he lives for, and the specific reason why he left his village in the first place.
• Blood Magic: Uses his opponent's blood to link his body with theirs, and typically uses his own to draw the circle.
• Bloodbath Villain Origin: Killed his fellow villagers because they made the village into a bathing resort...BECAUSE it meant no more violence.
• The Brute: He and Kakuzu fulfill this role for Akatsuki early on, although he's more of the traditional Dumb Muscle.
• Chew Toy: Official Title in Akatsuki. Kakuzu when enraged would kill his partners. Solution: Give him an immortal one. An obnoxious, swearing, religious nut one. A strange amalgamation of stress reliever/punishment apparently.
• Cluster F-Bomb: In some fan translations.
• Combat Sadomasochist: "Let me feel your pain!"
  • Orgasmic Combat: It's strongly implied that he jizzed himself when he impaled himself to finish off Asuma.
• Confusion Fu: He swings around his scythe on a long cord, making it fly around unpredictably, and thus making it tougher to block.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Well, subverted in that he cannot die, but being blown up to pieces and buried while alive certainly is cruel and unusual.
• Dumb Muscle: Played for laughs, though he really is stupid.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He doesn't condone blasphemy or attacking priests. Although he stil willingly does the latter when he thinks he can get a good fight out of it.
• Evil Albino: Has white hair and magenta eyes
• Evil Gloating: Kakuzu is really irritated about that to the point of constantly making(useless)death threats.
• Evil Laugh: A particular offender.
• Fate Worse Than Death: Word Of God states that his head will rot before his immortality runs out.
• For the Evulz: His religion seems to be built around a sadistic god who encourages his followers to murder For the Evulz.
• From a Single Cell/Cloning Blues: In the Chikara anime filler arc he is brought back by Kabuto. However, he used a cloning method different from the Edo Tensei resurrection. Instead he uses a lake to regenerate the clone..
• Giggling Villain
• The Grim Reaper: What his ritual does as a type of One-Winged Angel.
• Hypocritical Humor: Once cracks a joke about his enemies attacking clergymen. Of course, his religious dogma is Thou Shalt Massacre Thy Neighbor.
• Immortality: Type 6.
  • Immortality Immorality: Type 1; Hidan needs to kill people to stay immortal.
• Irony: That fancy immortality of his? It's the only thing that's keeping him from being brought back with the other beaten Akatsuki by Kabuto, meaning that he's stuck where Shikamaru buried him until he dies from malnutrition.
• Jerk Ass: When he isn't killing something, he is arguably the biggest asshole in the series.
• Kick the Dog: He takes time during his fight with Team 10 to insult Asuma, who he had killed eariler then he calls Choji fat.
• Large Ham: He really hams it up once he starts his ritual, even Shikamaru calls him out for this.
• Laughably Evil: He is a psychopathic monster, but loves being evil so much, that he becomes enjoyable in his hamminess and crazy antics.
• The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort: Thanks to his arrogance over being immortal.
• Leeroy Jenkins: He's the most impulsive member of the organization.
• Leitmotif: "Hidan"
• Licking The Blade: It's necessary for his ritual.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Whenever he is injured, though he does feel the pain. Justified, as he's immortal.
• Mr. Fanservice: sort of, given he's an almost Walking Shirtless Scene.
• Obligatory Swearing: In many fanlations, less so in Viz translations, to convey his very rude way of talking.
  • Precision F-Strike: The above-mentioned Obligatory Swearing becomes this in the English dub.
• Psycho for Hire: The biggest example in the Akatsuki as he's literally there for acting psychotic and killing as many people as possible.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Has a tendency to act like a teenager enjoying an adrenaline rush, complete with much smack talk and "woo-hoo"ing.
• Religion of Evil: Follows the religion of Jashin, which literally means "evil god", and requires killing his opponents.
• Religious Bruiser: See Religion of Evil above.
• Sinister Scythe: Weapon of Choice, more for drawing blood than fatally injuring opponents. Has three blades.
• Smug Snake: Not only is he a loudmouthed psychopath, but he's also an arrogant dick who thinks that he's invincible.
• Synchronization: Once he uses his Blood Magic.
• Those Two Bad Guys: With Kakuzu and apparently with Deidara during the Chikara filler arc. Ironically, the two argue no less than he and Kakuzu did, if not more so since they are more similar than they'd like to think.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: While they disagree and bicker a lot, Him and Kakuzu clearly have some mutual respect for each other.
• White-Haired Pretty Boy: Except when his ritual's active.
  • White Hair Black Heart

"Those who do not understand true pain can never understand true peace."

• A God Am I: And he has the power to back it up.
• A God I Am Not: During his battle with Naruto however, he reveals that this attitude is simply a farce on his part. He actually does not think that he's a god. In fact, he repeatedly tells Naruto during their battle that he is only a man, and as such, he cannot find a perfect solution to the problem of the 'Cycle of Hatred' in the shinobi world.
• Affably Evil: If you don´t stand between him and a Jinchuuriki, He won´t harm you. Even then he´s always polite and doesn´t kill unnecessarily unless it can lure out Naruto
• Ambition Is Evil: Surprisingly inverted: Him wanting to change the world is viewed in a very positive light. How he wanted to change it is where he gets into trouble.
• Anti-Villain: Vic Mignogna's performance manages to drive this home even further than the original seiyuu.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The purpose of the Animal Path is to invoke this trope.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Pain's interrogation methods. He uses two main abilities to try to find Naruto, one of which can instantly read the mind of those it touches. On it's own, this is perfectly practical. His other, however, can kill anybody who either lies to him or refuses to answer his question. Meaning anybody who actually knows ends up dead... This does spare him the trouble of having to look up misinformation, though.
  • His mind reading would be practical if it didn't rip out the person's soul, making it essential that the person had outlived his/her usefulness.
• Awesome McCoolname: PAIN
• Awesome Yet Practical: Aside from the ones listed above, all of the Rinnegan's powers...
• Badass: The combination of the Rinnegan's powers with his attitude and fighting ability make him one of, if not the, strongest shinobi of the current generation.
  • The three Sannin couldn't beat Hanzo. Pain completely destroyed him, has never lost a fight (and he´s presumed to be at least 30), easily defeated the entirety of Konoha and would´ve completely destroyed Naruto if it wasn't for the fact that Deva´s powers were down for a good 10 minutes after the Shinra Tensei and the vast amount of help Naruto had with him. He is easily the most badass character in the entire show. Oh, and he went up against a Six-tailed Naruto with 1 body left... and WON.
  • When Kabuto revives him, he shows that he´s even more badass than we could possibly expect by curbstomping Naruto´s Chakra Mode, Killer Bee and Itachi (after all, Itachi had been hit by the blindsiding OHKOing Shinra Tensei too and spent the time regenerating). He only gets sealed after all three of them destroy the Chibaku Tensei core. And even this arguably only happened due to his controller, Kabuto, being careless, and didn't even know of Nagato's sensing abilities which made up for when his Rinnegan got blinded..
  • Badass Baritone: The voices of the 6 Paths of Pain, barring the female Animal Path, are all extremely deep.
• Berserk Button: He does not like people questioning his ideals as Tsunade learned the hard way.
• Big Bad: Seemed to be this for a long time Turns out to the right hand man for Tobi the real leader from beind the scenes.
• Blood Knight: Despite of his ideas of peace, he really wanted to fight Naruto in his Nine-Tailed form according to the databooks, unfortunately it was too much for him.
  • This does explain why he pissed off Naruto once to do so, and complimenting him as a fellow student.
  • Not to mention that he briefly shows an uncharacteristic expression of awe ("The nine tailed fox' power... is amazing...") when he fought the six tails, like he was feeling the thrill of fighting a worthy opponent for the first time.
• Break the Cutie: His entire backstory.
• Cast From Lifespan: The Rinnegan's more powerful techniques.
• Combo Platter Powers: The Rinnegan's powers are basically a mish-mash of various powers that are all Game Breakers in their own right.
  • Aura Vision: He can see chakra in a manner similar to the Byakugan.
  • Elemental Powers: He can use all five, but unlike Kakuzu it comes naturally.
  • Hive Mind: The Six Paths of Pain technique which controls six bodies that are in constant communication, and it's justified in that they're being controlled and coordinated by one person. Each path is also granted a different power...
    • Deva Path: Which can attract and repel enemies as well as create a sphere that pulls enemies and the earth itself to it.
    • Ashura Path: Which transforms the body into an Anatomy Arsenal, including an Arm Cannon, Beware My Stinger Tail, Multi-Armed and Dangerous, Multiple Head Case, Rocket Boots and Rocket Punch.
    • Human Path: Which can read the mind and soul as well as tear it from the body.
    • Animal Path: Which summons Bond Creatures controlled by the Rinnengan including a Stone Panda, a Giant Buffulo, a giant centepiede, a giant bubble blowing crayfish, a Hell Hound that can seperate its many heads into new bodies, a gigantic drill-beaked bird and Giant Chameleon.
    • Preta Path: Which absorbs and seals chakra and ninjutsu.
    • Naraka Path: Which summon an entity that tears the tounge from liars and regenerates the other paths.
    • Outer Path: Which can ressurect the deceased as well as controls the Statue of the Outer Path.
• Cosmic Plaything: His entire backstory is him being this, ironically prior his death; he had enough power to make the entire shinobi world into a literal plaything.
• Cross-Dressing Voices: The Second Animal Path in both versions, justified since it enforced the fact that she was formerly female
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Arguably, every battle Nagato/Pain has participated in to some extent.
  • vs. Jiraiya: Sure, he admitted that Jiraiya would've won if he had known about Nagato's secret, but the fight itself was nothing short of a dragged out execution.
  • vs. Konoha: Fighting an entire village and only temporarily losing one expendable Path puts the assault square into this category.
  • vs. Sage!Naruto: The first time ever that the Six Paths had faced a challenge, and that quickly disappeared after Deva Path's powers returned.
  • vs. 9Tail!Naruto, Killer Bee & Edo!Itachi: Not so much a Curb-Stomp Battle as a massacre until Itachi unleashed Susanoo and used the one thing that had a chance of beating him in that situation.
    • In most cases, and especially the last example, you can say that Nagato/Pain has only ever lost thanks to Divine Intervention. And it only happened since Kabuto lacked knowledge of Nagato's extraordinary sensory powers, didn't even summon anything for Nagato to stand on or use Asura Path, and was generally completely careless throughout the fight.
• Cute Bruiser: The second Animal Path.
• Cynicism Catalyst: He and Konan became villains after the death of their best friend Yahiko.
• Dark Messiah
• Darth Vader Clone: Grevious injuries? Check, if you count loss of leg use. Evil Sounds Deep? Check. The Dragon to the Big Bad (who is another Darth Vader Clone)? Check again. Freudian Excuse? Check check. It even with the extra mile, with Pain battling his former teacher, Jiraiya, and being responsible for the man's death. What he has that the other Darth Vader Clone lacks is a Heel Realization shortly before death, an iconic Leitmotif, being related to The Hero, and being able to emotionally crush The Hero while he's on the ropes.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Nagato, or more specifically the Six Paths, had never encountered someone who could fight him on even grounds until Naruto. To be fair though, he did admit that Jiraiya would have kicked his ass if he had known the workings of his techniques.
  • Actually, Villain Sacrifice. Before Naruto came Pain fought and defeated the entire Hidden Village. And Nuked It. Naruto came with a Super Mode and the strongest warriors of the Frog village; and was defeated. He fought with the Nine-Tails all out and was technically defeated. Even the last Path needed all the juice Naruto had left to take. And when Nagato met with Naruto face-to-face he could use all the Paths' Powers, had Konan with him, and enough chakra left to revive the entire Village.
    • Talking the Monster to Death: And all it took was a little sympathy and Jiraiya's terrific Literature.
• Deus Angst Machina: Pretty much Nagato's entire backstory.
• Deus ex Machina: Pain pulls a case of Redemption Equals Death and revives everyone that he'd killed in the last thirty chapters or so. Bonus points to him for considering himself a god and sitting in a machine.
• Disc One Final Boss: Deva Path to Nagato, Nagato to The Masked Man.
• The Dragon: For quite a while, everyone thought this guy would be the Big Bad, but he was actually working as a figurehead for Tobi.
  • Co-Dragons: With Itachi for Kabuto, and when he was alive he was with Zetsu for Tobi.
  • Dragon-in-Chief
  • Dragon with an Agenda
  • The Starscream
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: Nagato, using the Six Paths of Pain, is a big Badass as he gave Naruto the fight of his life. Nagato, using his own single body despite his crippled legs, is an even more massive Badass as he managed to overwhelm Naruto (in Nine-Tails Chakra Mode), Killer B (in perfect jinchūriki form), and Itachi (who, this time, lacked the weakness of low chakra reserves and eye side-effects). Who knows what would have happened if this guy could use his legs?
• Dramatically Missing The Point: The portion of the fandom that thinks Naruto should have killed him.
• Evil Counterpart: Naruto's third one. He's even a fellow descendant of the Uzumaki clan.
• Evil Cripple: Nagato lost full use of his legs after saving Konan from Hanzo's fire attack.
• Evil Eye: The most powerful ones in the setting. It gives him the powers in the Super Power Lottery above although due to his immobility he is forced to divide his abilities between six puppets.
• Evil Red Head: Yahiko, and all of Pain's bodies (even the ones that weren't in life) except the bald Asura path, have orange hair, while Nagato has dark red hair.
• Exotic Eye Designs: Has the Rinnegan, after all.
• Fat Bastard: Preta Path.
• Five-Bad Band: A one-man version.
  • Bigger Bad: Outer Path/Nagato himself
  • Big Bad: Deva Path
  • The Dragon: Animal Paths I & II
  • Evil Genius: Naraka Path (used to be a priest, revives the others)
  • The Brute: Asura and Preta Paths
  • Dark Chick: Human Path.
• Fallen Hero
• Freak Out: Nagato after Yahiko's death
• From Nobody to Nightmare: While he is a descendant of the Sage of Six Paths and Uzumaki clan, he was born to a normal family of non-shinobi people, as well as a Street Urchin who stole food to survive. Who would've thought, he'd grow up to the "leader" of the Akatsuki, killing Hanzo who defeated the Sannin and reduced the Leaf Village to a crater and create a mini moon in his acts a Physical God.
• Genius Bruiser: He is described by Jiraiya as a prodigy from a young age, and he fights strategically in order to win fights
• Gonk: The Asura Path.
• Handicapped Badass: Even after Kabuto summons him, he is unable to use his legs to do more than stand up, which leads to his sealing by Itachi.
• Hero Killer: Killed Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Shizune, and nearly killed Hinata and Choza. Then he brought them all back to life, except for Jiraiya.
• He Who Fights Monsters
• Hollywood Cyborg: Asura Path.
• Ill Guy
• Implacable Man: Pain modus operandi until he faced Naruto.
• Kick the Dog: His nearly killing Hinata.
• Kick the Son of a Bitch: He's the one who killed Hanzo.
• Knight of Cerebus: Played straight then subverted, He does not have any quirks to hinder him and is unfettered in his methods He kills Jiraiya, destroys the Leaf Village, kills off characters like Kakkashi and Shizune, and finally nearly kills Hinata to bring Naruto to almost become the Nine Tails. However, after Naruto's words get to him, he revives the aforementioned except Jiraiya at the cost of his life
• Leitmotif: "Courtesy", which perfectly captures everything about his character.
• Lightning Bruiser: The Deva Path. When you can keep up with and beat up on both the Four-Tailed and Six-Tailed manifestations of the Nine-Tailed Fox while simultaneously taking whatever it can dish out, you deserve the title.
  • Nagato himself shows just how broken the Rinnegan is after he gets brought back with Edo Tensei. He curb-stomps Naruto's new Super Mode, Killer Bee, and Itachi at his peak physical condition simultaneously. The only reason he lost is Itachi had what is quite possibly the one ability that could beat him.
    • And even then the only reason said ability even connected was that Nagato was both controlled by an outside influence and seemed to be too busy WTFing at the fact that someone actually broke out of Chibaku Tensei to dodge it coupled with the fact that he couldn't use his legs properly either, and the fact that the one thing that would compensate, Nagato's sensing, wasn't even known by Kabuto.
• Madness Mantra: "(Now) Do you understand pain?"
• The Man Behind the Man: Nagato to Deva Path.
• The Man Behind the Curtain: The Six Paths of Pain are insanely powerful, but they're just puppets. Nagato is extremely weak physically, extremely skinny, and has difficulties to walk unaided.
• Mighty Glacier: Nagato is able to use all abilities of the Pain Rikudo, making his main body one the strongest individuals in the Naruto universe. But due to his almost immobile legs, he cannot dodge by his own, that is one of his greatest weaknesses he have. That's why he let the Pain Rikudo fight.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Asura Path.
• Must Make Amends: After being convinced by Naruto.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Well, duh!
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Naruto was down for the count and demoralized... until Pain almost killed Hinata, which resulted in the Nine-Tails coming within a hair's breadth of being completely unsealed.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: This is a man who's only desire in life was a world of peace and compassion, and he struggled to make life better for everyone. Fate's response was to destroy everything he held dear in the cruelest possible way, thus causing his Start of Darkness.
• Six Men Army: The Pain Rikudo, but Nagato himself is a One-Man Army.
• People Puppets: Uses corpses as hosts/weapons.
• Person of Mass Destruction: In general, Pain is a one... er, six-man army who can level villages on his own. In particular, his Shinra Tensei technique.
  • It's been shown that he is perfectly capable of being a one-man army on his own, since he is the Six Paths, and can use the abilities better than through People Puppets.
• The Philosopher: Easily summed up as "Humans Are Bastards" and "War Is Hell".
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: "Now, the world shall know pain... SHINRA TENSEI"
• Redemption Equals Death: After being impressed by Naruto's conviction, he uses up the last of his power and his life to revive everyone killed during his invasion of the Hidden Leaf.
• Shirtless Scene
• Shrinking Violet: As a child.
• Skilled, but Naive: He is/was an indomitably powerful ninja, but his ultimate goal was to end all war with the threat of the use of an incredibly powerful weapon. This sentiment has been expressed by many inventors in the past, who believed that the weapon they created would be devastating enough to end war forever (the gatling gun and dynamite to name two) and without exception they have been sadly mistaken.
• Squishy Wizard: For all the power the Rinnegan gives him, with his horribly mangled legs he's not going anywhere unaided.
• Start of Darkness: See No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.
• Story Breaker Power: There's a reason fans accuse him of being a God Mode Sue: His Rinnegan gives him ridiculous amounts of chakra that rivals the Nine-Tails, a virtually unlimited number of summons, and the ability to use all five elements (in addition to another two), level entire cities, create miniature moons, read minds, rip souls from peoples' bodies, and revive the dead all while being in a wheelchair.
• Superpower Lottery: Of all the superpower lotteries in Naruto, Pain hit the absolute jackpot. In chapter 602 of the manga, it's revealed that he was actually given his eyes by the Big Bad Madara Uchiha. He still hit the jackpot, but more by virtue of being one of the few related to the Senju bloodline that he didn't hate with a passion.
• Took a Level in Badass: Went from a sniveling brat to a godly badass over the course of his backstory.
• Too Powerful to Live
• Tragic Keepsake: Yahiko's body.
• Tragic Villain: He lost his parents, his best friend kills himself on his own kunai to save Konan and his dog, Chibi was killed by explosions, no wonder he turned into a peace obsessed near-deity with a serious god complex
• Übermensch
• The Unfettered: A villainous example.
• The Unfought: Subverted. He's revived by Kabuto using Edo Tensei, allowing him to have a proper battle against Naruto.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Until the world stomped on him and his dreams until there was nothing left. After making peace with Naruto, his good nature returns and he is Actually Pretty Funny.
• Utopia Justifies the Means
• Visionary Villain
• Walking Spoiler: The sole fact that Nagato is alive is a huge spoiler.
  • Simply showing the 6 paths of Pain is a spoiler, given Jiraiya fights and defeats only 3 bodies.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: His goal is essentially gaining world peace by using the threat of essentially nuclear warfare in order to frighten people enough to fight wars anymore
• World's Strongest Man: The strongest member of Akatsuki, even acknowledged by Tobi as being invincible. His defeat by Naruto, Itachi, and Killer Bee drove Kabuto to resurrect the original Madara Uchiha.
• Would Hit a Girl: Notably, almost killing Hinata and attempting to kill Tsunade when she didn't agree with his opinion
• Would Hurt a Child: The Hell Path had no reservations about using his jutsu in order to kill Konohamaru

"I have received the will of God and I must kill you."

• Anti-Villain
• Awesomeness by Analysis: She's the first person to figure out Tobi's Made Of Air powers.
• Badass: Eventually shown to be one of, if not the, strongest female character in the 'Verse, given that she very nearly kills an enemy that took the 4th Hokage a lot of effort to even land one hit on.
• Broken Bird: Yahiko's death destroyed her emotionally.
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu
• Childhood Friend Romance: With Yahiko if Chapter 511 is any indicator.
• Closer to Earth: By far the most level-headed and, well, sensible of the whole bunch.
• Crazy-Prepared: Disguised 600 BILLION paper bombs as the Hidden Rain Village's lake
• Creepy Monotone: Except when she's yelling at Nagato for being too reckless.
• Cynicism Catalyst: She and Nagato became villains after the death of their best friend Yahiko.
• Dark Action Girl: Although her powers are not over all as strong as some, she still has some very deadly tricks up her sleeves.
• Dark Chick
• Dark Mistress
• Determinator: In her last fight against Tobi.
• Designated Girl Fight: Thankfully averted, despite everyone's expectations. Instead, she got to face off with the Manipulative Bastard who hijacked their organization and led both her True Companions to their doom, fighting for her ideals.
• Emotionless Girl: Konan's more or less dead inside, except when it comes to Nagato.
• Fan Nickname: "Blue".
• Gray Eyes: In the manga.
• Hair Decoration: A flower made of paper.
  • Flower in Her Hair: Subverted in that she's anything but childish.
• Heel Face Turn: Subverted when examined closely enough. Konan was only allied with Akatsuki, which is very different from being on their side. She was only ever on Nagato's side and nobody else's. His Redemption Equals Death is a Heel Face Turn, but as far as Konan is concerned she never switched sides, since her "side" was Pain. Since Pain chose to throw his support to Naruto, she's supporting Naruto now.
• Heroic Sacrifice: God knows she tries. Her first attack against Tobi was an attempted suicide attack. He ended up saving her too. A "thank you" is in order.
• Lady of War: Konan finally has the chance to show Tobi just how much ass she can kick.
• Let's Get Dangerous: Granted, being in Akatsuki should have been the first clue. But not even Tobi realized how tough she could be when she wanted to. He still beat her, but he had to warp reality to SURVIVE.
• Only Sane Man: Along with Kisame, she is generally the only member who consistently acts in a rational manner.
• Paper Master
  • Elemental Shapeshifter: Can turn herself into paper.
  • Paper Talisman: All ninja use paper bombs but she gets a special mention for her Sacred Paper Emissary.
  • Power Gives You Wings: One of her powers is to create paper Angel's Wings.
    • Feather Flechettes
• Person of Mass Destruction: Thanks to billions of explosive tags.
• Prim and Proper Bun
• Punny Name: One of her techniques, kami no shisha no jutsu is a pun off of her "Angel" epithet. Phonetically, it could be reads as the "messenger of God technique," but the kanji instead reads "paper-person of God technique."
• Satellite Character: Take away Yahiko and Nagato's influence on her and what do you have left? A near-emotionless woman with paper powers who likes to do origami.
• The Smurfette Principle: Word Of God says this was the original intention.
• Stripperific: Kishimoto's concept art shows that beneath her cloak, she wears a scanty robe that exposes her stomach, part of her breasts and back.
• Sugar and Ice Personality: Acts and looks very cold, but genuinely cares for Nagato.
• Survivor Guilt
• Token Good Teammate
• Undying Loyalty: To Nagato.
• Unholy Matrimony: Chapter 511 heavily implies that she and Yahiko were at least aware that they were attracted to each other.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: She was a very sweet little girl... then shit happened.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Her powers are nullified by oil.
• What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Her paper abilities.
  • Heart Is an Awesome Power: Her Crowning Moment of Awesome despite it being a failure.
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Known as "Blue" prior to actually being given a name. More like light purple in the anime.

"If war is going to continue - I will become the God of the world!"

• A God Am I: For a little while, but he grew out of it.
• Childhood Friend Romance: With Konan if Chapter 511 is any indicator.
• Dead All Along: After seeing Konan and The Six Paths of Pain, Jiraiya briefly believed that the rumors of their deaths weren't true. It turns out that it was only true of Yahiko. His body was used as the Deva Path by Nagato.
• Expy: Zigzagged of Mario, the main character of Kishimoto's one-shot of the same name. See Kishimoto actually wrote Mario back in 1998 before shelving it for 15 years at the advice of his editor, rewriting it for release in 2013. In the interim, Mario's design and basic motives were reused for Yahiko.
• Fiery Redhead
• Heroic Sacrifice: For Konan.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Hanzo promised to free Konan in exchange for his sacrifice. Needless to say, that was a lie.
  • That said, he saw through Tobi's lies pretty fast.
• Idiot Hair
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: He killed himself by running into Nagato's kunai knife.
• Leader Wannabe: Wanted to be leader of Amekagure so that he could reform it.
• Making a Splash
• Messianic Archetype: He's like a mature Naruto.
• People Puppets: His body along with the others were used as the Six Paths of Pain by Nagato.
• Posthumous Character: Everything we know of him comes from flashbacks.
• Power Trio: With Konan and Nagato.
• Red Herring: The manga suggested that he was the villain Pain, but Pain was then revealed to be his friend Nagato.
• Unholy Matrimony: With Konan, according to chapter 511.