Happy Days

Akatsuki (meaning "Dawn," or "Daybreak") is a criminal organization in Naruto. They were first introduced in episode 80 of the Naruto anime and chapter 139 of the Naruto manga when Akatsuki members Itachi and Kisame entered the Hidden Leaf Village in pursuit of Naruto and the the Nine-Tailed Fox within him. Currently, Akatsuki consists of six elite S-class criminals. The exact criteria for admission to Akatsuki are unknown, but extraordinary fighting ability and deadly ruthlessness seem to be prerequisites as members of Akatsuki have cause death and destruction in their villages in their past.

The organization was created by Madara Uchiha, initially to hide himself from the world and carry out killings without drawing much attention. After the midway point in the Naruto series, however, Akatsuki's goal seems to change as it becomes increasingly more active with it's presence felt as its members start to carry out the tasks needed to achieve the ultimate goal - world domination. To achieve this goal, a three-step process has been put into place. Step 1 is to attain lots of money to support the organization. Step 2 is to set up a mercenary group loyal only to Akatsuki so that they can carry out missions and build their reputation. The key here is that they will charge less money than the established shinobi villages so people will go to Akatsuki instead of the established nations for help. Then, by using the tailed beasts, Akatsuki can start wars and then immediately put a stop to them, solidifying their reputation as the best and convincing every country to depend on them. With Akatsuki getting all the businesses, the established shinobi villages would collapse because they wouldn't have the money to operate. This would leave Akatsuki as the only major shinobi force in existence and they could easily conquer the other countries (step 3).

Akatsuki is inching closer and closer to their goal with the acquisitions of the tailed demons (also known as Bijuu). Currently, Akatsuki has seven of the nine bijuu including the One-Tailed Shukaku, the Two-Tailed Demon Cat, Three-Tailed Turtle, and the Four-Tail (the type of demon was not revealed). They are currently in pursuit of Naruto and the Nine-Tailed Fox and need another unrevealed numbered Bijuu as well.

As with Gaara and the One-Tail, the demons are taken to the Akatsuki hideout to be extracted from the host (referred to as the Jinchuuriki). The members who captured the demon are physically present, while the rest are there in spirit. Pain in summons a giant statue of a monster while the Jinchuuriki or Bijuu. The members take their stance on the finger of the monster statue which corresponds to the finger they wear, and the Bijuu is extracted into the statue. For each Akatsuki member, a Dragon-like aura comes out statue's mouth and surrounds the Jinchuuriki, removing the Bijuu, and sealing it into the statue. The sealing process takes three days to complete, and according to Kisame must be done in a specific order. The Nine-Tailed Fox needs to be sealed last, otherwise the statue would collapse.