List of Naruto antagonists

This is a list of major villains in the anime and manga series Naruto.

When designing villains, series creator Masashi Kishimoto first devises the character's unique motives and how those motives differ from those of the protagonists. In some cases, villains are created to take part in a particular fight scene. In these instances, Kishimoto keeps in mind who the character will be fighting when deciding what their unique traits will be so as to keep the battle interesting. Kishimoto also makes sure that villains stand out, both by giving the characters a sinister face and a costume that catches the reader's eye.

Akatsuki

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The Akatsuki roster as of Naruto manga chapter 317

Akatsuki (暁, meaning "Dawn" or "Daybreak") is a criminal organization composed of ten high-level ninja that have defected from their village of origin. The group receives little attention during the first part of the series, only becoming the major antagonists in Part II. Akatsuki members are characterized by their long, dark cloaks bearing red clouds with a chin-high collar. Each also possesses a unique ring, which seems to symbolize one's membership in the organization. Members are partnered together in teams of two, each team sticking together as they traverse the Naruto world. Despite this partnership, members tend to have a strained relationship with their peers, only cooperating enough to complete their assignments and showing little concern when another member is killed. Orochimaru defects from the organization before the start of the series, and thus Akatsuki never exceeds nine members during the current storyline.

Akatsuki was founded by Madara Uchiha after he was expelled from his hometown of Konohagakure. Though initially meant only to mask Madara's movements, Akatsuki eventually began taking part in assassinations and espionage. By the start of the current storyline, Akatsuki's ambitions grow to plans of world domination. To mark this more dynamic goal, Akatsuki increases its activity throughout the series as it attempts to capture the nine powerful tailed beasts. Each member is assigned to capture a specific beast or its current host, at which point Akatsuki convenes to extract the beast and seal it away for their grand plan. As the Akatsuki leader, Pain, explains it, once all nine beasts have been captured Akatsuki will be able to harness their great strength to start world wars at their leisure. With the world powers unable to deal with the beasts' power, Akatsuki will be turned to for salvation, teaching the world the meaninglessness of fighting and giving Akatsuki complete control in the process. As of Naruto manga chapter 354, Akatsuki has captured seven of the beasts, with the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox planned to be the last.

Deidara

Deidara (デイダラ) is a former ninja of Iwagakure. He acted as a terrorist bomber for hire before being forced to join Akatsuki by Itachi Uchiha. Though he came to embrace the organization, Deidara holds a grudge against Itachi and all Uchiha throughout the series, as he feels they look down on his abilities. Upon joining Akatsuki he is partnered with Sasori, who Deidara treats as his master due to his artistic expertise. Sasori is replaced by Tobi after his death, and Deidara assumes the master-position as Sasori had before him. By consuming clay with mouths in his hands, Deidara is able to create his own form of art: sculptures that explode with varying intensities. Deidara's creations can take any form he so chooses, and from the time of their creation to their detonation he can bring them to life and control them remotely. He is very confident in his art's ability, such that he believes it cannot be defeated. When Sasuke Uchiha, Itachi's younger brother, is able to systematically nullify and gain the advantage over his art, Deidara makes himself into a living bomb in an effort to kill Sasuke and prove his art is supreme. When he speaks, he near-constantly ends his sentences with an audible "hmm?", although it has also been translated as "yeah" and other similar syllables. He is voiced by Katsuhiko Kawamoto in the Japanese anime, and during a brief cameo in its English adaptation he is voiced by Quinton Flynn.

Hidan

Hidan (飛段) is the foul-mouthed partner of Kakuzu and a former ninja of a yet-to-be-identified village. He is a member of the Jashin (ジャシン, lit. "evil god") religion, a religion that worships a deity of the same name and where anything less than death and utter destruction is considered a sin. His religion seems to, to some extent, extend to his unique abilities; by consuming an opponent's blood and then drawing Jashin's triangular-design on the ground, Hidan can create a voodoo doll-like link with his opponent. Once this link is created, any damage done to Hidan's body is reflected on his opponent, allowing him to kill them by giving himself fatal injuries. Because he is immortal, Hidan is not impaired while doing this, instead finding pleasure in the pain it causes him. After Hidan uses this ability to kill Asuma Sarutobi, Shikamaru Nara fights him to avenge his teacher. Their battle culminates in Hidan being blown up, and Shikamaru buries his still-speaking remains in a place Akatsuki will never be able to reach. As such, Hidan is no longer considered a member by the rest of Akatsuki.

Itachi Uchiha

Itachi Uchiha (うちは イタチ, Uchiha Itachi) is a former ninja of Konohagakure and the partner of Kisame Hoshigaki. Though having spent his early youth as the kindly child prodigy of the Uchiha clan, Itachi is treated as a villain for much of the series. He is initially portrayed as being solely responsible for the slaughter of his entire family, sparing only his brother, Sasuke Uchiha, with the explanation that he was testing his abilities. Around the time of his death his villainous role is downplayed; not only is he revealed to have had help from his master, Madara Uchiha, in killing the clan, but he performed the massacre under the orders of Konoha's leadership so as to prevent an Uchiha coup d'état. Though he is ordered to kill Sasuke as well, Itachi cannot bring himself to do so, instead forcing Konoha to keep Sasuke safe or risk Itachi going public with his mission. For his part, Itachi accepts his role as a villain, never telling anyone of who else was involved and even encouraging Sasuke to get strong enough to kill him and avenge their family.

Throughout the series Itachi tries to avoid combat, seeking nonviolent discussions instead. If he is forced to battle he usually remains stationary, only acting in self-defense. From his idle position he studies an opponent's movements with his Sharingan eyes, trapping them in illusions when opportune by merely pointing or looking at them. He is noted to be extremely fast with hand movements, allowing him to attack before an opponent has the chance to respond.. Itachi at times uses one of the three abilities of his Mangekyo Sharingan, though he tries to avoid doing so as it is taxing on his body and damages his eyesight. The first, Tsukuyomi (月読), allows him to torture opponents for what seems like days in a matter of moments. Amaterasu (天照), the second, generates black flames at his focal point that will continue to burn until the target is reduced to ash. The final ability, Susanoo (須佐能乎), creates a massive ethereal warrior that fights on Itachi's behalf and shields him from all attacks. Before he dies during his battle with Sasuke, Itachi gives his Mangekyo Sharingan and all of its abilities to him in an effort to keep Sasuke safe and to help him someday kill Madara Uchiha. In the Japanese anime, Itachi is voiced by Hideo Ishikawa. His first voice actor in the English anime was Skip Stellrecht, who voiced Itachi in episodes twenty-nine and thirty, but in all following appearances, he has been voiced by Crispin Freeman.

Kakuzu

Kakuzu (角都) is a former ninja of Takigakure and the partner of Hidan. He has a deep love for money, and uses his membership in Akatsuki as a means to seek out and kill valuable bounties. Because money is the only thing he relies on, Kakuzu dislikes needing to be partnered with someone in Akatsuki. He has killed all of his previous partners in fits of rage, and thus was paired with the immortal Hidan so he wouldn't need to keep finding a replacement. Kakuzu's body is composed of large amounts of black threads, allowing him sew things (such as Hidan's dismembered body parts) back together. The threads are also capable of piercing flesh, which Kakuzu uses to remove the still-beating hearts of his opponents for his personal use. By integrating these healthier organs into his body he can escape death and extend his life indefinitely. Hearts that he is not using are stored in animal masks sewn to his back. The masks can be detached during combat situations to shoot elemental blasts at his opponents, and can quickly be recalled to his body if he needs their heart. Kakuzu's masks are systematically destroyed soon after his introduction by a group of Konohagakure ninja. After Naruto Uzumaki leaves his final heart on the brink of failure, Kakuzu is easily finished off by Kakashi Hatake.

Kisame Hoshigaki

Kisame Hoshigaki (干柿 鬼鮫, Hoshigaki Kisame) is a former ninja of Kirigakure and the partner of Itachi Uchiha. While most Akatsuki partners are hostile towards each other, Kisame and Itachi get along considerably well; Kisame does as Itachi asks of him unquestioningly and always looks out for Itachi's well-being. While he was still loyal to Kirigakure, Kisame was one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, a group of ninja that use particularly large swords in battle. His sword, Samehada (鮫肌, lit. "shark skin"), is covered in scales, can absorb untold amounts of an opponent's chakra, and only allows Kisame to wield it. Kisame has a unique appearance, having pale blue skin, a gill-like facial structure, and sharp triangular teeth. These shark-like characteristics extend to his choice of attacks in battle, as he frequently uses water shaped into the forms of sharks to damage opponents. If there is no water nearby, Kisame can quickly produce his own lake to use at his leisure. His seiyū in the Japanese anime is Tomoyuki Dan, and his English voice actor is Kirk Thornton.

Konan

Konan (小南) is the partner of the Akatsuki leader, Pain, and the only female ninja in Akatsuki. She was orphaned as a child by one of Amegakure's many wars, forcing her to fend for herself until being found by Jiraiya. Jiraiya trained Konan to take advantage of her natural talent with origami, and as a result paper is a key component in her battle style. Konan can divide her body into countless numbers of paper sheets, which she controls and reshapes remotely to scout out an area or form weapons for attack. She can even form wings that mirror her title as "God's Angel" amongst the villagers of Amegakure, as she often carries out Pain's (who has the title of "God") will. Her abilities are constrained while wet, as paper clings to itself and loses its stiffness.

Madara Uchiha

Madara Uchiha (うちは　マダラ, Uchiha Madara) is the founder of Akatsuki and the first possessor of the Mangekyo Sharingan, a rare form of the eye condition unique to the Uchiha. Though it gave him the strength needed to take control of the Uchiha clan, overuse of the Mangekyo Sharingan left him blind, and it was only by taking his own brother's eyes that he was able to regain his sight. Madara eventually banded together with Hashirama Senju to create Konohagakure. The two founders disagreed on who should run their new village. Hashirama was chosen in a unanimous decision by the villagers and the land of fire, much to Madaras disliking. He sought to oppose Hashirama only to find that the Uchiha would not back him in what they belived was an attempt on Madaras part to rekindle the embers of war in his quest for power. Feeling betrayed Madara left the village, and returned acting on revenge to challenge Konohagakure. However, he was defeated by Hashirama in an epic battle in what has come to be known as "the valley of the end", and believed to have been killed. In later years the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked Konoha, an act Itachi Uchiha states to have been Madara's doing, which Madara denies to have any part of. Madara was later discovered by Uchiha Itachi to help him wipe out their clan.

Much of Madara's role in the series has been under the guise of Tobi (トビ), who replaces Sasori in Akatsuki after his death. While acting as Tobi he is carefree and goofy as opposed to Madara's usual serious and stereotypically "villainous" self. Tobi's tendency to take credit for other's work and undermine his superiors annoys his partner, Deidara, who either blows up or strangles him in comical fashion as punishment. After Deidara dies during a battle with Sasuke, the only Uchiha to be spared during the massacre, the Tobi persona is discarded as Madara takes a special interest in Sasuke's development, abucting him after Itachi's death. However, Madara has not completely outlived the use of his guise as he temporarily reassumes being Tobi when delaying a group of Konohagakure ninja.

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. The mask features a swirl pattern focused around his right eye. 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, Itachi Uchiha states that Madara is immortal. 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. In battle he has been shown capable of making his body intangible, leaving him visible but otherwise impervious to most forms of damage, and can teleport over great distances at will. In the Japanese anime, the Tobi identity is voiced by Wataru Takagi.

Pain

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Pain's six bodies

Pain (ペイン, Pein) is the leader of Akatsuki and the partner of Konan. "Pain" is not a single person, instead being six entirely different bodies that share the same mind. The only common physical characteristics amongst them are their orange hair color, a number of body piercings, and the Rinnegan (輪廻眼, lit. "Samsara Eye"). The Rinnegan, a unique eye condition characterized by a number of concentric circles around the pupil, allows the wielder to utilize any ninja ability. Pain uses it to share visual information amongst all six bodies, giving them the ability to coordinate offense and defense as if they were a single entity. Each body possesses a unique skill; the body with a large ponytail, for example, can summon a wide array of creatures, while the fat body is able to absorb attacks as a form of defense. The six bodies' combined might was enough to singlehandedly overthrow Amegakure's former governmental body, giving Pain control of the village and god-like status amongst the villagers in the process.

When first meeting Pain, Jiraiya assumes the entity to have once been Nagato (長門), an Amegakure orphan he trained in the past. Though Nagato was the first possessor of the Rinnegan that he encountered and Pain refers to him as sensei, Jiraiya begins to doubt this initial assumption when he sees Pain's six bodies. Realizing that all six bodies once belonged to ninja he encountered when he wandered the Naruto world, Nagato's body not being among them, Jiraiya risks his life to learn the secret of Pain. He succeeds and is able to send his, as yet undisclosed, discovery to Konohagakure, though is killed in the process. The first of Pain's bodies is voiced by Dave Wittenberg during a brief cameo in the English anime.

Sasori

Sasori (サソリ) is a former ninja of Sunagakure. His parents died when he was young, leaving him in the care of his grandmother, Chiyo. Lacking the love of parents, Sasori left Sunagakure when he got older and joined Akatsuki where he is initially partnered with Orochimaru. After Orochimaru's defection he Sasori teamed with Deidara, who looks to him and his artistic knowledge with reverence. Before leaving Sunagakure, Sasori was taught the art of puppetry by his grandmother, which he refined to fit his needs over the years. He eventually devised a way to convert the corpses of humans into puppets, allowing him to use any of the ninja abilities they possessed during their life for himself. In time he even converted his own body into a puppet, which gives him eternal life and allows him to control hundreds of puppets at once. Each weapon in his puppets' extended arsenal is laced with a poison of Sasori's design that causes extreme pain to the inflicted until they die. Sakura Haruno is able to create an antidote for Sasori's poison, allowing her and Chiyo to fight him uninhibited. They eventually destroy his heart, the only part of his humanity he kept when converting himself to a puppet, resulting in his death. In the Japanese anime Sasori is voiced by Takahiro Sakurai as an adult and Akiko Yajima during flashbacks to his childhood.

Zetsu

Zetsu (ゼツ) is the only member of Akatsuki to regularly act without a partner. This is in part a result of his ability to merge with any object and quickly travel to a new location, a feat few other ninja are capable of. Because of this ability Zetsu serves a variety of different positions in Akatsuki, such as a spy that observes and reports on battles of interest or a lookout during Akatsuki's meetings. Being cannibalistic, he is often sent to dispose of bodies Akatsuki does not want found, mirroring the large venus flytrap that envelops his body. Zetsu's body is split into two different colors, his right side being black and his left being white. Similarly, the two sides have their own personalities and knowledge bases, frequently leading to discussions and arguments between the two. The black half speaks in Katakana in the Japanese manga and is voiced by Michael Sorich in the English anime, while the white speaks Kanji and Kana and is voiced by Brian Beacock. Both sides are voiced by Nobuo Tobita in the Japanese anime, with the black half being given a much deeper voice than the white.

Sound Four (Most Formerly: Sound Five)

The Sound Four (音隠れの忍四人衆, Otogakure no Shinobi Yonin Shū, lit. "Hidden Sound Shinobi Four People", English "Sound Ninja Four") are Orochimaru's elite bodyguards. Though briefly introduced during the Invasion of Konoha arc, they do not become antagonists until the later Sasuke Retrieval arc. The Sound Four were once known as the "Sound Five", as they were briefly forced to accept Kimimaro into their ranks due to his superior strength. As a group they specialize in barriers, defensive walls, and sealing techniques, causing Orochimaru to task them with protection-based jobs. Orochimaru has given each member of the group one of his cursed seals, which open their minds to his control, alters their appearance, and greatly increases their strength when active.

Jirobo

Jirobo (次郎坊, Jirōbō) was the third member of the Sound Four to be created by Masashi Kishimoto, intended to be the largest character in the group. Jirobo is the physically strongest member (albeit the least powerful); he can lift boulder-sized rocks and hurl them across long distances with ease. He can also absorb others' chakra, which, after trapping opponents, he uses to his advantage during battle as a form of sustenance. Tayuya frequently calls Jirobo fat due to his size and "eating" habits, and he promptly scolds her for it. Though personally taking offense to being called fat, he calls Choji Akimichi fat near-constantly during their battle. This, among others reasons, goads Choji into using his trump card, giving him superior strength and allowing him to kill Jirobo with ease. His seiyū in the Japanese anime is Kenta Miyake and his English voice actor is Michael Sorich.

Kidomaru

Kidomaru (鬼童丸, Kidōmaru) was the first member of the Sound Four to be created by Masashi Kishimoto, his spider-like traits meant to be main aspects of his character. As such, Kidomaru possesses four extra arms, a third eye, and the ability to excrete webs from his mouth. This webbing, a mixture of body fluids and chakra, is as strong as steel and can ensnare anything that comes into contact with it. He can also produce a golden webbing that hardens upon contact with oxygen, allowing him to make armor or weapons. Kidomaru looks at battles like a game, playing with opponents to watch them squirm. He even refers to Neji Hyuga as a "trash character" who, like all trash characters, will be the first to die. During their battle Kidomaru slowly picks up on a blindspot in Neji's defenses, and proceeds to focus his attacks on that point. Despite successfully striking this blindspot, Neji is able to recover from the attack and kills Kidomaru. His seiyū in the Japanese anime is Susumu Chiba and his English voice actor is Peter Lurie.

Kimimaro

Kimimaro (君麻呂) is the last surviving member of the Kaguya clan (かぐや一族, Kaguya Ichizoku). When his war-loving family went off to die in battle, Orochimaru took Kimimaro into his custody so that the Kaguya bloodline would not be completely lost. Because of this, Kimimaro develops the belief that Orochimaru is the only person who cares for him, and as such stops at nothing to ensure his master's ambitions become a reality. His clan's genetic ability, Shikotsumyaku (屍骨脈, lit. "Dead Bone Pulse"), allows Kimimaro to manipulate his skeletal structure. He can grow extra bones and have them sprout from any part of his body, which he can then remove to be used as a melee weapon. Kimimaro can strengthen his bones to steel-like quality, making him virtually immune to most types of damage. It is for this reason that Orochimaru selects him as his future host body, though Kimimaro falls ill and is left unable to fulfill this purpose. When Orochimaru is left in need of a new body Kimimaro, ignoring his illness, goes to fetch Sasuke Uchiha for his master's use. He is drawn into battle with Rock Lee and Gaara in the process and, just as he is about to kill them both, dies of his illness. His seiyū in the Japanese anime is Toshiyuki Morikawa and his English voice actor is Keith Silverstein.

Sakon and Ukon

Sakon (左近) and the older Ukon (右近) are twin brothers who share positions in the Sound Four. Sakon enjoys toying with his opponents, causing him to waste time in battle by using showy techniques. Conversely, Ukon is impatient and likes to end battles quickly, counteracting his brother's faults. With their genetic ability to merge with others' bodies, Ukon spends much of his time within Sakon's body, only emerging enough to donate the use of his arms and legs to his brother. Though Ukon can move around independently, he isn't accustomed to doing so and tires out quickly. The two brothers can also merge with an opponent's body; while this allows them to do internal damage to the host without incident, whatever physical damage befalls upon the host is also done to them. Sakon was the final member of the Sound Four to be created by Masashi Kishimoto. After deciding to have him fight Kiba Inuzuka and Akamaru in a two-on-two battle, Kishimoto created Ukon to complete the matchup. Just as the two brothers are about to finish off Kiba and Akamaru, Kankuro arrives to save them and kills Sakon and Ukon. Their seiyū in the Japanese anime is Shunsuke Sakuya and their English voice actor is Brian Beacock.

Tayuya

Tayuya (多由也) was the second member of the Sound Four to be created by Masashi Kishimoto, intended to be the only girl in a group of boys. The only weapon she is equipped with is a flute, and thus she avoids close combat at all costs. With her flute Tayuya can control three demonic beasts that she summons to her side during battle. Though primarily meant to perform the physical attacks she avoids, the beasts can also produce ethereal, snake-like creatures that consume an opponent's chakra. Once weakened in this way, Tayuya can trap them in illusions she creates with her flute. She attempts to use her many long-range techniques against Shikamaru Nara, though his superior intelligence forces her to rely on brute strength to gain victory. Though she almost succeeds, Temari arrives to help Shikamaru and creates a windstorm that crushes and kills Tayuya under a pile of debris. Her seiyū in the Japanese anime is Akeno Watanabe and her English voice actor is Kari Wahlgren.

Snake

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The members of Snake

After breaking his ties with Orochimaru, Sasuke Uchiha gathers a four-man group consisting of himself and three of Orochimaru's former subordinates under the name "Snake" (蛇, Hebi). All of them have a certain ability that Sasuke requires to locate Itachi Uchiha. The main purpose of the team, however, has always been to stop anyone from interfering with his fight against Itachi when it actually commenced.

Jugo

Jugo (重吾, Jūgo) is the final character to be recruited for Snake. He is mentally unstable, sporadically fluctuating between a bloodthirsty and a docile personality. While in the former mindset, Jugo kills anyone around him without remorse until he somehow returns to his senses, at which point he seeks confinement or solitude to protect others from himself. It is for this reason that he sought out Orochimaru, hoping that he could find a cure for his impulses. While examining him, Orochimaru isolated enzymes in Jugo's blood that caused him to radically transform the appearance and capabilities of his body. By extracting these enzymes, Orochimaru was able to reproduce the transformation in his own subordinates. Though Orochimaru's refined transformations are more controllable, his subordinates are limited to using only one form. Jugo is able to alter his transformed state to suit the situation, and can even isolate the transformation to a single part of his body.

Karin

Karin (香燐), a former assistant to Orochimaru during his experimentations, is the second character to be recruited for Snake. Karin has red eyes, matching hair color and an unusual hairstyle; her hair is short and unkempt on one side, and long and combed on the other. She tends to fluctuate between two dynamic personalities, appearing tough and in control when Suigetsu or Jugo are present and highly flirtatious when she is with Sasuke. Karin has an almost obsessive interest in Sasuke, as she goes so far as to keep one of his battered, sweat-drenched shirts for herself and plans to "ravage" him after the rest of Snake has fallen asleep. Karin's special ability allows her to find and track specific individuals through chakra. She is able to do so over long distances and can even notice subtle changes in an individual's chakra. Kakashi Hatake surmises that Karin is a particularly skilled chakra-sensing ninja, as she is not only able to tell that his eight-man team is approaching her location, but also that one of them is a dog.

Sasuke Uchiha

Main article: Sasuke Uchiha

Sasuke Uchiha (うちは サスケ, Uchiha Sasuke) is originally one of the members of Team 7 and the creator of Snake. He was created by Kishimoto to be a rival to Naruto Uzumaki, as well as a "cool genius," which Kishimoto believed was an integral part of an ideal rivalry. He is one of the few remaining members of the Uchiha clan, his brother, Itachi Uchiha, having killed the rest of their family. Because of this, Sasuke's sole desire is to kill his brother, and he develops a cold and withdrawn personality. Though his interactions with his fellow teammates, especially Naruto, make him focus less on revenge, being defeated by his brother during a brief reunion causes Sasuke to leave the village to seek more power from the criminal Orochimaru. His teammates' attempts to recover him from Orochimaru form a major component of the plot in Part II of the Naruto storyline. In the Japanese anime, Sasuke's seiyū is Noriaki Sugiyama, and his English voice actor is Yuri Lowenthal.

Suigetsu Hozuki

Suigetsu Hozuki (鬼灯　水月, Hōzuki Suigetsu), a former test subject of Orochimaru, is the first character to be recruited for Snake. Suigetsu is able to reduce himself to liquid form and return to bodily form at will. This allows him to change the size of his limbs, proportionally increasing his strength in the process. It also makes striking him somewhat difficult; since he is made of liquid, any sufficiently powerful strike will go right through his watery form. Sometime before being introduced, Suigetsu trained to be one of Kirigakure's Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, an organization of particularly violent swordsmen. Having been unable to become a member himself, Suigetsu has begun collecting all of the swords of the Seven Swordsmen for himself. He retrieves Zabuza Momochi's giant Kubikiri Hōchō soon after joining Snake, and hopes to be able to take Kisame Hoshigaki's Samehada by working with Sasuke.

Other

Haku

Haku (白) was orphaned at a young age. His father killed his mother when it was discovered that she possessed a genetic ability, and would have done the same to Haku had he not awakened his latent heritage to kill his father. After wandering from place to place for a time he was found by Zabuza Momochi, who recognized Haku's talents and agreed to take him in as a tool. As a result, Haku becomes unquestioningly protective of and loyal to Zabuza, and only by being useful does he find a purpose in life. He ultimately gives his life in his mission to be useful to Zabuza, becoming a human shield to protect his master from Kakashi Hatake's Lightning Blade. Haku's genetic inheritance, Hyōton (氷遁, lit. "Ice Release"), allows him to mix wind and water to create ice. He commonly uses this ability to surround an enemy with ice mirrors that he can freely merge with and instantly move between. He then bombards them with needles, and with his superb accuracy he can hit pressure points to put opponents in a death-like state. This reflects his pacifist nature; despite being a ninja and Zabuza's tool of battle, Haku dislikes fighting and does all that he can to keep opponents out of harm's way. His seiyū in the Japanese anime is Mayumi Asano and his English voice actor is Susan Dalian.

Kabuto Yakushi

Kabuto Yakushi (薬師 カブト, Yakushi Kabuto) is Orochimaru's personal medic, assistant, and general right-hand man. He was found as a child on a battlefield by a medical officer from Konoha, who took Kabuto home with him and raised him as a son. In time Kabuto began acting as a spy for numerous countries and organizations (such as Akatsuki) before coming under the servitude of Orochimaru. Kabuto has since used his various former affiliations as a means to gather intelligence on Orochimaru's behalf, such as entering the Chunin Exams as a Konoha ninja to gather information on his fellow participants for Orochimaru's use. Though he appears to be very loyal to Orochimaru, he is not above healing Orochimaru's enemies or trying to strike up polite (if somewhat degrading) conversations with Naruto Uzumaki when they meet. Orochimaru himself seems to have a hard time determining Kabuto's thoughts, and has suggested that Kabuto secretly works against him.

Kabuto's talents as a ninja have on many occasions been compared to Kakashi Hatake. His medical expertise, taught to him by his adoptive father, is even remarked to surpass that of Tsunade when she was his age. His medicinal talents have risen to new heights in his allegiance to Orochimaru, and through his human experimentations he has learned how to reactivate dead cells in a concentrated area and grow new ones. Aside from the practical function of quickly recovering from wounds in battle, it also allows Kabuto to keep his test subjects alive for much longer than is feasible. Despite his talents, Kabuto has always served others, a fate he is dissatisfied with. As such, after Orochimaru is apparently killed, Kabuto integrates his master's remains into his body as a means to become more powerful and to no longer be the mere tool of others. The remains have since begun to take over his body, and he is in constant competition with them to retain control. His seiyū in the Japanese anime is Nobutoshi Canna and his English voice actor is Henry Dittman.

Orochimaru

Main article: Orochimaru (Naruto)

Orochimaru (大蛇丸) is one of the primary antagonists of the Naruto series. To emphasize his role as a villain, Kishimoto worked towards making him appear "pasty and sickly," part of his theme of distinguishing villains from the protagonists. In the series, Orochimaru is a former ninja of Konohagakure and a student of the Third Hokage. During his time in the village, he distinguished himself as one of the village's most powerful ninja along with his teammates, Jiraiya and Tsunade. His desire to obtain immortality led to him to conduct experiments on other Konohagakure ninja, and after fleeing the village, he joined the criminal organization Akatsuki. After leaving Akatsuki due to an incident with Itachi Uchiha, he founded his own ninja village, Otogakure, in the hope of destroying his former home. His immortality technique involves transferring his consciousness between different host bodies, and his desire for a new host, particularly Sasuke Uchiha, is one of his driving motivations throughout the series. Due to his different host bodies and the disguises he assumes, a panoply of voice actors are utilized for Orochimaru; however, his most common seiyū in the Japanese anime is Kujira, and the corresponding English voice actor is Steven Jay Blum.

Zabuza Momochi

Zabuza Momochi (桃地　再不斬, Momochi Zabuza) is the first antagonist to be introduced in Naruto. He was once one of Kirigakure's Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, a group of ninja that use particularly large swords in battle. Zabuza's sword is the giant Kubikiri Hōchō (首斬り包丁, lit. Decapitating Knife). After a failed coup d'état wherein he tried to assassinate Kirigakure's leadership, Zabuza and his followers fled the village and began working as mercenary assassins. Like most Kirigakure ninja, Zabuza is skilled in water-based abilities. His area of expertise, however, is in assassinations; by blanketing an area in mist, Zabuza can blind an opponent, locate them by the sounds they make, and kill them without their ever noticing his presence. His talents lead to him being hired to kill Tazuna, a job he is never able to finish due to interference by Tazuna's bodyguard, Kakashi Hatake. Because he takes to long to complete the task his contract is revoked, and his employer tries to have Zabuza killed. Zabuza kills him first, though is heavily injured in the process and dies soon afterwards. His seiyū in the Japanese anime is Unshō Ishizuka and his English voice actor is Steven Blum.