I adore how each of the akatsuki are a different facet of grief/loss. And it goes from most literal to most metaphorical:
Konan: Loss of home; loss of a loved one. Konan is the most obvious representation of grief. A war orphan, she lost everything she held dear. She lost her parents and her village along with them. Her home was devastated by a war that she was too young to comprehend. When she was finally old enough to do something about it, she lost the first and only love of her life. Her actions and attitude later in life are at least primarily motivated by/explained by his death. The mission of the akatsuki is literally structured upon her grief.
Sasori: Loss of a family. Sasori's goal in life is to live eternal--never to die and decay like those that were most important to him. Sasori never recovered from the absence his parents left in his life. Much like Konan, he seeks to somehow remedy this absence through control. Just like she parades Yahiko's body around, he constructs his puppets.
Kisame: Loss of allegiance. After sacrificing everything he could for his village, Kisame had to directly face the self-serving nature of his superiors, and it was his first introduction into the sphere of political corruption. It's so tragic that he cared so much about honesty and transparency, and he never was able to extricate himself from the machinations of others, whether it be fuguki or obito.
Kakuzu: Loss of trust. Kakuzu was betrayed by the village he was brought up to serve. The village that he was taught to believe had his best interests at heart. After surviving a suicide mission, he was rewarded with torture and prison. Any sense of faith or fidelity to anyone but himself died along with the village elders he slaughtered in his escape.
Hidan: Loss of empathy. It was so difficult to come up with a pithy line for Hidan, but I think empathy sums it up pretty well. Hidan is, definitionally, a reactionary. He couldn't stand that his village was moving away from the traditional ninja-for-hire economy (for reasons that aren't relevant right now but significant in their own right). He sought out individuals and institutions that validated his ideology and turned to violence in order to restore what he saw as the correct way of things. He claims to be spreading his message for the betterment of the people, but he is completely blinded by his egomania.
Deidara: Loss of purpose. Deidara is so interesting because he doesn't have a defining "moment" in which he experiences this loss. His loss is instead over time, starting when he was a teenager and ultimately culminating in his suicide. Deidara has this unflagging need to prove himself as the most true artist to ever exist, with the purest purpose that most clearly aligns with what "art" is supposed to be. But in doing so, he burns himself out, not unlike a star that collapses in upon itself under the sheer weight of what he's trying to do.
Nagato: Loss of innocence. Nagato *is* the akatsuki. He's the figurehead, and as such, his specific iteration of grief is most archetypal of what "the akatsuki", as an organization, represents. Nagaato was also an orphan. And similar to Konan, he also began to believe in something better, until Yahiko's death. But while I think Konan focuses on Yahiko's death itself, and mourns Yahiko the person, I believe that Nagato focuses on what Yahiko's death *represents*--the unending plight of the most oppressed. He assumed the role of leader after Yahiko's death, and it was only after Yahiko's death that the akatsuki switched its focus. Would go into what I believe the progression of the akatsuki mission statement to be, but I realize I'm just rambling rn lmao
Itachi: Loss of self. Itachi really destroyed and betrayed himself for nothing smh. He was brought into the shinobi system at such a young age. His "prodigy" status ultimately signaled him as someone to be taken advantage of--too young to understand that he was being manipulated and indoctrinated, but talented and "mature" enough to carry out the desires of his superiors. And ultimately, he sacrificed his own values and became a person that was hardly recognizable from the child he once was.
I'm deliberately choosing not to include Zetsu and Obito. Zetsu because he is a part of the larger akatsuki conspiracy and is therefore outside of the general "mission statement." Obito because I think he deserves his own post. He is the foundation of the "modern" (post 3rd ninja war) akatsuki. And I believe that it was his losses that shaped the modern (post-3rd ninja war) akatsuki into what it was--and he unknowingly sought out people experiencing the same grief as him for his conspiracy-organization
prguitarman
theartofmadeline
pixelskylines
izzy806
romaincrisis
stormborns
