Itachi was a master of all the Uchiha clan's techniques, along with the Sharingan, and had great prowess with all of the three main types of jutsu. Itachi's taijutsu is at a very high level despite not specializing in it, as demonstrated when he easily dispatched three fellow Uchiha. Being of the Uchiha clan, and as noted by Kakashi, Itachi was a true successor of the Sharingan. Itachi possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan, which increased his already great power, and enabled him to use his most powerful techniques.

Kakashi is a natural genius, evidenced by the speed he rose through the ninja ranks; he graduated from the Academy at age 5, becoming a chunin at age 6, a jōnin at 13, and had a long tenure as an ANBU. During his career he has amassed a jutsu arsenal of over a thousand different techniques, making him Konoha's expert in the field. His various accomplishments have earned him much praise by his fellow Konoha ninja and he holds a position of great influence. He is frequently given responsibility for important tasks, such as watching Naruto in case the seal of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox begins to fail and being considered for Hokage.[4] Other ninja villages are very aware of Kakashi's abilities and, upon meeting him in battle, either fear for their safety or grow excited by the challenge Kakashi is sure to pose. Pain was so concerned by Kakashi's abilities that he tried to kill him for fear that he would someday interfere with Akatsuki's plans. n Part I, Naruto notes that Kakashi is smarter than Shikamaru Nara, has a better nose than Kiba Inuzuka, has a better taijutsu performance than Rock Lee, and has better Sharingan mastery than Sasuke Uchiha.[5] While this might be an exaggeration, Kakashi has proven himself to be an intelligent ninja with great instincts and battle prowess, making him a match for almost any opponent. His skills also improve between Part I and Part II: in Part I he has difficulty keeping up with Itachi Uchiha's speed, but by Part II he is able to match Itachi in combat. Similarly, in Part I he is only able to use the Lightning Cutter four times a day, but in Part II has been seen using it six times in one battle and still having enough chakra to plan using the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Lee is unable to use any type of ninjutsu or genjutsu. His fellow students teased him for this handicap while he was in the Academy, though Lee ignored their words and began specializing in taijutsu, hoping to become a powerful ninja despite his inability. Upon being assigned to Team Guy, Might Guy took a personal interest in Lee's attempts to prove himself and began to help him in his dream of excelling in taijutsu. With Guy's assistance Lee learned many advanced taijutsu abilities, bringing him ever closer to achieving his goal of becoming a splendid ninja. Lee looks up to Guy as a father type figure.

Deidara is a missing-nin from Iwagakure. Before joining Akatsuki, Deidara was as a terrorist bomber for hire, where his work attracted the attention of Pain. Pain sent other Akatsuki members to recruit Deidara, though he refused. After being defeated by Itachi Uchiha, however, Deidara was forced to join the organization. Deidara maintained a deep loathing for Itachi from that point further and became determined to defeat him, even training one of his eyes to overcome Itachi's signature ability: genjutsu. Deidara was partnered with Sasori upon joining the organization, whose artistic ability and insight Deidara admired. After Sasori's death Deidara is paired with Tobi whom he treats as a disciple. Despite Tobi's habit of accidentally angering Deidara, Deidara takes great care to keep Tobi out of harm's way and even dedicates his final moments to apologizing to him.

In battle, Deidara uses special mouths in the palm of each hand to create Exploding Clay, chakra-infused clay that explodes on command. He commonly uses the command "Katsu" to trigger it. The blast strength of his creations is determined by how much chakra he adds to them. His clay can take on any size or form, ranging from microscopic in size to copies of himself as tall as a skyscraper. Deidara refers to his creations as art, believing the most beautiful thing about them to be their detonation. His admiration for his art is such that he believes it can't be defeated, leading to overconfidence in battle. Depending on the complexity or potency of one of his works, Deidara applies it a designation from anywhere between "C1" to "C4", the former being the most basic and the latter being his strongest and most complex attack. For his final act, Deidara also has a mouth on his chest that, once provided with clay, turns him into a living bomb that destroys everything in a 10 kilometer radius.

The leader of Akatsuki is a mysterious figure. None of the other Akatsuki members refer to him by name, instead simply calling him "leader," and his face is rarely shown. He has the respect of most of his subordinates (Hidan is an exception) and is the one directing their actions. He is also the one to initiate and supervise the jutsu that forcibly brings a tailed beast out of its host. He can also use the Shape shifting Technique (象転の術, Shōten no Jutsu?) to clone his subordinates using human sacrifices, allowing them to engage the enemy without risking themselves. The clones formed are a perfect copy of the target, even possessing the kekkei genkai and unique weapons of the original. Their abilities are proportionate to the amount of chakra given to the clone (in its debut, the leader requested thirty percent). When it becomes necessary to gather his subordinates, he can communicate with them over long distances through some form of telepathy.


The lower half of the leader's face.While the leader has remained mostly anonymous, the cover of chapter 317 depicts him with auburn hair and a glimpse of his lower face shows what appears to be either tattoos or piercings on either side of his nose. He is seen sitting on an odd statue with many tubes winding through it, commenting that Hidan and Kakuzu are always causing trouble. The statue is located in a city much more modern than is common for the series, and has tubes similar to those in the statue winding through its various buildings.

The leader has displayed at least a cursory knowledge of the various villages, as well as the underlying political and economic conditions in the country at large. When Hidan referred to the Konoha-nin as "godless heathens," the leader gave a short description of Konoha's "Will of Fire," then proceeded to note that all countries have some similar practice to justify their battles.