 The Shinobi world is a dangerous one. In order to survive, one must be strong. In order to be strong, a nation must have resources. It must have wealth, military might. Those are the powerful nations. And what happens to the smaller villages, those who don't have military might? They spend all their money purchasing the services of those who are part of these bigger villages. It is for that reason that they will forever remain reliant on these larger villages. A world that is run on war needs soldiers. During the Third Shinobi War, the Three Sanyin came across a particular village with three particular children. The land hidden in the rain, ravaged by the current war that raged on. Conan, Yahiko, and Nagato, three orphans united and orphaned by the war, by the Shinobi world. Because the three great lands that surround the rain were unstable, the hidden sand, the leaf, and the stone caught in another Shinobi war, the village hidden in the rain has been hit the hardest. As the three orphans grew older, they created the first version of the Akatsuki. Yahiko's Akatsuki was created to try and save the rain, and save the Shinobi world as a whole in a fashion that lent itself towards peace. Donzo and Hanzo of the Salamander quickly put those peaceful ambitions to rest. The village happens radically, and Nagato, hands wet with Yahiko's blood, decided to take a different path to achieve that initial goal. The Shinobi Creed creates individuals like Donzo Shimor, like Hanzo, people who believe that it is in their right to do anything if it means they've protected their village from those who might cause them harm. Donzo uses the Shinobi principle to defend the slaughter of countless Uchiha, those who possess the eyes that he hides on his right arm. It's the same Creed that Tobe Rama used to defend the punishment of the Uchiha. The Shinobi world is full of traitors and backstabbers, full of individuals with their own agendas, and full of hidden leaders. The Shinobi world is full of darkness. It's a world that indoctrinates children as early as the age of five, and has them quickly abandon their childhood to instead become soldiers for their villages. These villages marvel at child prodigies, and immediately decide to place them in elite operative groups and expose them to the true evils of the Shinobi world. These children suffer, all to try and protect a village that does not protect them. The likes of Kakashi and Itachi, geniuses whose lives quickly become tainted by death so early on, and in a sense, these are the lucky ones. Things like Haku or Kimi Maru, children who don't have the backing of a village, or the warmth and light of a friend to guide them, a child soldier and a kid who was tested on by another disillusioned member of this Shinobi world, people like Orochimaru. This is the reality, the darkness, the cruelty of the Shinobi world, and the Akatsuki stands to try and change things. The current iteration of Akatsuki members have banded together despite their differences To achieve a singular goal, in addition to looking at the philosophy of the Akatsuki, I want to look at each individual group and the inherent duality that exists in these iconic duos. Beginning with Sasori and Daedora, what unites these two characters is art. A Daedora's most common line and catchphrase is that art is an explosion. The clay molding Shinobi's ability is very much in line with his beliefs. Daedora's ability molds clay and explodes the clay that he creates. He often fashions these bombs into what he considers art. It's art before the art, birds, spiders, etc. Daedora's battle environment, his opponent, his audience are all factors that he appraises before making his art. These things are his canvas and he has to set it properly in order to ensure that his art is perfect. True art is revolutionary, incendiary, an explosion, he says. For Daedora, the creation of his clay, refining the lines, crafting its form, is art. But the explosion, what the object does after its death, makes its existence that much more sublime. True art lives only in that brief flash of sublimation. In addition to that, he creates so many little explosions, he has so many clay objects that have been formed that, in a sense, his art lasts much longer than that brief flash, because of the sheer quantity of his explosions. Destruction is creation, destruction is art. Sasseri on the other hand, his relationship with art has much to do with what he has experienced. Sasseri of the red sand was quickly orphaned after his parents were killed. Like any child would, he desired their touch, so much so that he created their puppets. As Sasseri grew, the only warmth he would feel was from these cold puppets, a warmth that did not last. As Sasseri killed and killed, a desire to create beauty that would last grew inside of him. A desire to create companions that wouldn't leave him. The third kaze kage would be his next victim. As stated by himself, art is a work of beauty, captured and left for posterity. The beauty of all eternity. To Sasseri, art is something that transcends time. The art of preserving a form and rebuilding it is what he values most. Which explains why Sasseri's final puppet, himself, as an indestructible and infinitely reputable body, is his magnum opus. For Sasseri, art is quality over quantity. Art unites these two characters, as one is obsessed with the small amounts of awe that an explosion grants, and the other strives to have his art outlast even his own humanity. Though Sasseri calls Daedara's art pyrotechnics and scoffs at him, and Daedara describes Sasseri's art as a grotesque puppet show, they both respect each other, and they understand each other as artists. Art is a matter of perspective, it's subjective in nature, and so are their arguments. Their perspectives are inherently reflective of what they've been through, and so their argument will never find a true conclusion. It's a lifetime of loneliness against the pure ecstasy of a single moment. Ironically, Sasseri predicts that Daedara is the type to die an early death, while Sasseri died in his very first battle that we saw him in, and one of the few times he got to use his true form. A form that was intended to last eternity, instead lasted mere moments, but I think his inability to take his grandmother down, his desire not to, was art in a sense. It was poetic. A man who has refuted his humanity, to the point where he believed that his emotions were no more, allowed himself to feel and allowed himself to die in that form and that manner, and in his parents' arms, a fitting end for a puppet, alluding to the tiny bit of humanity he did have left. Whereas Daedara's final moments, he died in the essence of who he's always been. He died in an explosion, one for all to see and one that would scar through very earth, allowing his art that is only supposed to last a second, last forever, much like the art of his partner. When it comes to Kisame and Itachi, these two are alike in many ways. Their differences exist in the way they view human beings. One of the few pairings who got along quite well, they respected each other, and as words spread in the Naruto world, surely they've come to respect the dedication that the other has towards their village. We know Itachi's story, the clan killer. We know his motivation, his intention, the lengths he wanted to go to to protect his brother, what he thought was right. He believes in truth, and he believes in what it means to be a shinobi. If he must soak his hands in his brethren's blood to serve the shinobi code, he will do it. But that willingness doesn't come without a great deal of turmoil and inner questioning. The monster of the hidden mist even questions himself, asking if he is indeed a mist shinobi, despite the fact that he was able to kill his own. Kisame was killing the regular, innocent mist shinobi. Out of necessity, he believed, shinobi who had truly done nothing wrong. So how can he achieve inner peace if he doesn't know who he truly is, and that is the nature of the shinobi world. If he cannot discern right from wrong, enemy from ally, lies from the truth, what then is reality? The very man he followed for the shinobi code turned on their village. Who can Kisame trust? Can he even trust himself? And learning that the Mizukage at the time was just a puppet for Madara Uchiha, it only heightened Kisame's doubts. The shinobi world is full of lies he says, and he wants nothing more than to find the truth. Spilling the blood of his brethren, had Kisame believing that he was a worthless human being, that he didn't know his true nature. While facing down the same situations that his former comrades once faced, his brain about to be searched by konoha shinobi, Kisame once again questioned himself, with no code to protect, with no orders to follow, what is his purpose? Who is Kisame Hoshigaki? Kisame believed that he and Itachi were sharks, cannibals, simply waiting for the chance to kill each other, that their nature was fixed. This is a result of Kisame's guilt eating at him. Kisame believed that he is a worthless human being, and that he will always be corrupted and depraved. But in that first interaction, Itachi argues that no matter who you are, your true nature, your true goals, your desires, who you have become, will only reveal itself in the end, when you are faced with death. Itachi believed in change, the difference between fish and humans is that ability to change. Kisame then goes on to call upon his very own sharks to devour his body, Kisame grins. He knows who he is, he knows his nature, and he has found inner peace. He killed his brethren out of necessity, and Kisame knows that he would do the same if that happened to him. He is a man who is loyal, to the mist and now to the Akatsuki, that is a truth that will follow him into death. If a shinobi is someone who endures, someone who does whatever they must do to protect their village, Kisame and Itachi both live in that definition. But the difference is, is while Kisame was surrounded in lies, unable to discern the truth, Itachi was the culprit, the liar, whether it was lying about the massacre, the details surrounding it, or lying to Sasuke. I think in death, both Itachi and Kisame died believing that they had changed. Hidan and Kakazu are united through their immortality, the zombie combo as Kisame calls them. Hidan follows his faith strictly, whether that be his rituals or following his commandments wholeheartedly, he is a dedicated religious man, and he's been paired with a man whose faith resides in the material. Here it's the material against the spiritual. Hidan is so committed to his religion that even killing a monk for worldly gain, he says, is a ticket straight to damnation. But the thing about joshinism is that there is virtually nothing to be said about it. Hidan might be its only follower, it might be an excuse for Hidan to kill senselessly, as it is what he's been deprived of his whole life. But his dedication to it cannot be denied. Kakazu on the other hand is a man obsessed with money, money is his religion, his faith. Both Hidan and Kakazu use bodies for different purposes, carrying around that bingo book of bounties ensures Kakazu's wealth, and wealth brings power, power that he once did not have when he was the enemy of the first hokage, and power brings control, all that he did not have when his village dishonored him. Money brings Kakazu stability, control, and it gives him the choice to prolong his life by selecting to steal only the most powerful hearts. Kakazu's self-destruction, his wounds grow as his humanity fades. There is a hidden sadness behind Kakazu, it is said that each time he steals a heart he mutilates himself as compensation, possibly to remind himself of the wound that his village has scarred him with, or to one day escape the very humanity that has made him this way. I said that these two oppose each other with the material against the spiritual, religion versus money. In a sense, both of their chosen paths cross, Hidan parades himself as a man who is higher than money, higher than the material, but in his religion, human bodies, the sacrifices are his currency. Probably every time he kills someone on screen, he is shown performing that sacrificial ritual afterwards. He states that his religion requires him to make these sacrifices, but if we look at his own words, his actions, what truly drives Hidan is a lust for combat, and more specifically, a desire for pain. That in essence is an earthly desire. Furthermore, they are bonded in the sense that the shinobi world is fickle, and money and religion are not. Money and religion gave these two shinobi purpose, after theirs were destroyed, Kakuzus by the village that cast him out, and Hidan by the village that built him up, only to never use him. Out of all the Akatsuki, these two immortals are arguably the most removed from their humanity. The two are bonded in their need to kill for what they desire, no. These two are bonded in their need to kill to survive. The Akatsuki are but symptoms of the shinobi world. Of the shinobi world's cruelty. Sasseri's parents, killed by Sakumo Hatake, presumably during a war, that creates the immense loneliness he faces. He desires warmth so desperately that he creates puppets to fill that void. Unable to find it, he discards his own warmth, his own humanity, to become a puppet. Kakuzu, a shinobi from the village hidden in the waterfalls, failed to defeat the man known as the God of shinobi, arguably the most powerful shinobi ever. Instead of being hailed for surviving said battle, his sacrifice is met with severe punishment by his village. Itachi and Kisume, the two traders who believed that they had no other choice but raising their blades against their own people. Two traders who did what they did in order to honor the definition of the shinobi. Paine and Konan, the first Akatsuki products of the shinobi world, who wear the red clouds that represent the blood that fell during that third shinobi war. And nearly all of them are products of the vile shinobi life. Even Obito, who was never aligned with the Akatsuki's initial goal, should have been. Given what the shinobi world has done to his life. Prior to the Eye of the Moon plan, Paine mentions that goal, the overarching philosophy of the Akatsuki. A goal to create an army of shinobi mercenaries, offered at a much lower cost than other nations, which benefits smaller villages as they don't need to purchase bigger nations shinobi. Think of that very first land of waves arc in the original Naruto. The land of waves is a nation that does not have a hidden village, meaning they have to purchase other nations shinobi to escort people like Tazun other bridge builder. They have to purchase team 7 for example. Eliminating the system by offering elite shinobi mercenaries at a lower price corners the war market, as bigger villages will not make enough money to maintain these shinobi villages. Paine understands that this world runs on war. By shorting the shinobi market, the flow of money to the shinobi villages decreases, weakening these big shinobi villages. Additionally, as we know them, they capture the tailed beasts to hold the true power of these big villages. Then using these tailed beasts to start wars, they can truly take a hold on the economy and finally dominate the world, effectively destroying the shinobi creed and dissolving shinobi forces. In the words of Yahiko, this world is all about never ending war. Yahiko's goal was to rule the world and to make it stop. He was for the dissolution of the shinobi and the shinobi world that has corrupted and destroyed so many people's lives. Whether they joined for religion, philosophy, money, or for whatever reason, they all stayed and united under Paine. They all contributed to see the shinobi world crumble, a world that has affected all of their lives in one way or another. A philosophy that maybe could have changed the shinobi world for the better. This video has kindly been sponsored by Audible. Hours before watching The Batman, I was frantically searching for a way to read the original movie novel in time for the movie. I had a bunch of things to do and only a few hours before I went to go see the movie. And here's Audible. It has an incredible selection of audiobooks of so many genres, from best sellers to new releases, celebrity novels, and to my surprise, even comic book novels. On Audible I was able to listen to it and finish it just in time. I was able to listen from my phone over to my computer using the one app seamlessly. 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