Madara Uchiha (うちは マダラ, Uchiha Madara^?) is one of the founders of Akatsuki and its current leader, a descendant of the Sage of the Six Paths. Long ago, Madara became the first possessor of the Mangekyo Sharingan, a rare form of the eye condition unique to the Uchiha which gave him the strength to take control of the Uchiha clan, though it rendered him blind from overuse until he took his own brother's eyes in order to regain his sight.^[48] Madara eventually banded together with Hashirama Senju to create Konohagakure. The two founders disagreed on who should lead their new village, and after a momentous battle between the two it was believed that Madara had died.^[92] In later years, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked Konoha, an act Minato Namikaze and others said to have been Madara's doing, though he denies it. Once the fox was sealed by Minato, Madara infiltrated Konoha in secret, and subsequently assisted Itachi Uchiha in assassinating the Uchiha clan.^[93] Kisame Hoshigaki, upon seeing his face, recognizes him as a former Mizukage.^[94]

Much of Madara's role in the series has been under the guise of Tobi (トビ^?), who replaces Sasori in Akatsuki after Sasori's death. While acting as Tobi he is carefree and goofy as opposed to Madara's usual serious self. Tobi's tendency to take credit for others' work and undermine his superiors annoys his partner, Deidara, who either blows up or strangles him in comical fashion as punishment.^[95] After Deidara dies during a battle with Sasuke, Madara takes a special interest in Sasuke's development and takes him under his wing.^[96] However, after Nagato's death/betrayal, Madara decides to make Sasuke the Gedou Demon Statue's new summoner and completely discards the Tobi persona. He reveals himself to the five Kage, revealing his intent to become the Jinchuriki of the Ten-Tailed Beast and threatening them with war unless they give him Naruto and Killer Bee to complete his goal. When they refuse him, Madara declares the Fourth Great Shinobi World War and takes his leave, confronting Danzo as the latter flees the Summit to allow Sasuke the honor of getting his revenge. After attempting to make use of Danzo's corpse, Madara is confronted by Kabuto and agrees to an alliance after being blackmailed into it.

Though Madara's face as it appeared during Konoha's founding has been shown in full at various points in the series, he always wears a mask in the current Naruto storyline with a swirl pattern focused around his right eye, allowing him to suck people into a subspace. Kishimoto found Madara to be his favorite Akatsuki member at the time to draw, noting his mask to be easy to make.^[97] His black hair (cut back from his earlier years) is the only constantly visible part of his face. When asked how Madara could have survived since Konoha's founding generations ago, Itachi Uchiha states that Madara is immortal.^[98] The specifics of his immortality have yet to be touched upon, though Madara implies the potency of his chakra has something to do with it.^[99] In battle he has been shown capable of making his body intangible, leaving him visible but otherwise impervious to most forms of damage unless while executing a counterattack. He can also teleport over great distances at will.^[100] In the Japanese anime, Madara's seiyū is Naoya Uchida and the seiyū for the Tobi persona is Wataru Takagi.^[101] In the English version, his Tobi personna is voiced by Joshua Seth.

Pain

Pain (ペイン, Pein^?) is the leader of Akatsuki, partnered to Konan and the principal figure in the Tailed Beast sealing ceremony as he can summon the Gedō Demon Statue (外道魔像, Gedō Mazō^?). When first introduced Pain is shown as nothing more than a shadowy outline. As Part II of the series progresses, parts of his face are shown; culminating in the revelation that the Pain that is seen is actually Deva Pain, one of six different bodies collectively known as the The Six Paths of Pain (ペイン六道, Pein Rikudō^?). Controlled by a single conscious mind, each of the six bodies are individually named after one of the six Buddhist paths of reincarnation.^[86] All but one of the bodies have orange hair and a number of body piercings that, from a design standpoint, give Pain a "more dangerous" appearance and relate the pain of their installation to the character's name.^[78] Each also has the Rinnegan (輪廻眼^?, lit. "Saṃsāra Eye"), a unique eye technique characterized by a ripple-like pattern around the pupil that enables the six Paths to share visual information and coordinate attacks.^[87] Discovering the secret behind Pain forms a major component of the plot in Part II, and through the efforts of ninja from Konohagakure the identity of Pain's base mind is revealed.

The Paths of Pain are controlled by Nagato (長門^?) who, like Konan, was an Amegakure orphan that was trained by Jiraiya alongside Yahiko (弥彦^?) before he became Deva Pain. During his time with Jiraiya, he awakened his Rinnegan and came to desire peace for the world.^[88] After Yahiko dies as a result of the three falling into a trap by Hanzo years later, Nagato came to the realization that peace could only be attained by teaching the world the pain caused by war. To that end he adopted the name "Pain" to conquer Amegakure before killing Hanzo and his loved ones, becoming a "god" in the eyes of Amegakure's citizens.^[89]

In Part II, Jiraiya tries to eliminate Pain to stop him from bringing chaos to the world, but is only able to figure out how Pain works before he is killed. By fitting corpses with a unique type of body piercing, Nagato can channel his chakra into the bodies to animate and control them remotely. He can also give them unique abilities - the Animal Path can summon a wide array of creatures, the Preta Path can absorb chakra related attacks as a form of defense,^[87] the Deva Path can attract and repel objects, the Human Path can read people's minds and remove their souls, the Asura Path can use various high-tech weapons from his own body, and the Naraka Path can revive the other bodies and summon a spirit creature that can devour the souls of humans he is in contact with. Controlling six bodies puts a great strain on Nagato, who is frail, emaciated, and confined to a six-legged mobility device. All six bodies were eventually defeated by Naruto, with Deva Pain the last to fight him. It is ultimately revealed that Nagato is Naruto's de facto namesake, having been the inspiration for the hero of Jiraiya's first book, after whom Naruto was named. Naruto is able to renew Nagato's faith in his late master and in the possibility of peace, prompting Nagato to sacrifice his life in order to revive the people he killed in Konoha. Konan takes the bodies of Nagato and Yahiko with her back to Amegakure. In the Japanese anime Pain's seiyū is Ken'yū Horiuchi. In his cameo appearance in episode 135 of the English adaptation, he is voiced by Dave Wittenberg,^[90] and in the Shippuden anime he is voiced by Troy Baker.