| abstract | - Akatsuki (暁; Literally meaning "Dawn" or "Daybreak") is the infamous criminal organization created and formerly headed by Pain prior to the Fourth Shinobi World War. In the events that led up to the war Obito, who masqueraded as Madara, began taking increasingly erratic actions with the single-minded devotion towards the capture of the Tailed Beasts. As time passed the components of the organization were dismantled and eventually disbanded months before war was declared on the shinobi world. Forces loyal to Akatsuki consolidated under Konan until she too was slain and the organization existed only in name. In the aftermath of that bloody conflict against Madara Uchiha and the Ten-Tails, the Allied Shinobi Forces struggled to quell the chaos that spread in its wake. Civil wars plagued each of the shinobi nations, and though they tried to maintain the alliance, the demands of their countryman and the civilian populations eventually dissolved whatever brotherhood had been obtained in the war. With each country on the verge of economic collapse, they were forced to pull their shinobi back, leaving much of the country side a festering pit for bandits, piracy and pillaging. In this tumultuous era, the scattered remains of Akatsuki thrived for they possessed experienced leadership and organization, and were able to capitalize on the weakened state of the elemental countries. Bandits, mercenary's, disgruntled shinobi who lost their homes, family and clans due to the war flocked to these mysterious groups. Possessing the finances to fund its military, and the political outreach to secure critical alliances and benefactors, Akatsuki was reborn. In the years that followed, the organization would continue to re-establish itself as a dominate force at the international level; having spies, assets, merchants and agents stretched across the elemental countries all invariably connected. At the turn of the next decade following the war, Akatsuki had become a Village Hidden in the Villages (京隠れの里, Kyougakure no Sato).
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