Which Members Betrayed Naruto Anime Akatsuki And Why?

I still get a kick talking about the messy, shaded corners of 'Naruto'—the Akatsuki was full of people whose loyalties were...complicated. For me the clearest “betrayers” fall into a few flavors: those who left the group to chase their own obsessions, those who were never really loyal to begin with, and those who turned against the organization’s later direction.

Take Orochimaru first. He actually abandoned Akatsuki to follow his own grotesque hunger for forbidden jutsu and immortality. He joined early on as a dangerous, brilliant presence, but he didn’t share the group’s long-game of collecting tailed beasts; he wanted experiments, bodies, and personal power. That’s classic desertion: not ideological opposition but pure self-interest. His departure is important because it shows Akatsuki wasn’t a family bonded by belief—members could and did bolt when their whims demanded it.

Then there’s Itachi Uchiha, the emotional knife in the heart of trust. To the rest of the world he looked like a defector who joined Akatsuki and killed his clan, but the truth was he’d been playing a double role for Konoha’s leaders. Itachi’s “betrayal” of Akatsuki wasn’t spectacle—he was a planted spy, protecting the village’s fragile peace and, quietly, looking out for Sasuke. He sabotaged Akatsuki’s aims from within when necessary, but always in secret. That kind of betrayal is tragic and principled; it’s betrayal by protection rather than greed.

Konan is another name worth calling out. She grew up with Yahiko and Nagato and helped form the Akatsuki that wanted peace; when Obito/Tobi and later Madara manipulated the group into being a tailed-beast-hunting machine, Konan actively opposed that perversion. After Nagato died, she tried to stop Obito from using Nagato’s Rinnegan, even attempting to kill him to protect Nagato’s legacy. From her viewpoint, she wasn’t being disloyal—she was defending the soul of what Akatsuki used to mean.

Finally, there’s the twist: Obito/Tobi himself effectively betrayed the original ideals of the founding trio. He hijacked the organization to execute the Moon’s Eye Plan, turning a group that once sought peace into a terror squad. And then behind the scenes, entities like Black Zetsu manipulated leaders into reviving Kaguya—so even “loyalty” could be a puppet show. Personally, I love how these betrayals make the story messy and human: loyalty in 'Naruto Shippuden' is rarely simple, and that moral fog is why the series still hooks me.

If I had to sum up quickly, four figures stand out as betrayers of one kind or another in 'Naruto' lore: Orochimaru, Itachi Uchiha, Konan, and Obito/Tobi — each for very different reasons. Orochimaru abandoned the group because his obsession with forbidden experiments and immortality outweighed any allegiance; he left Akatsuki to pursue personal power, which is garden-variety betrayal by desertion.

Itachi’s case is the most poignant: he infiltrated Akatsuki as a covert operative for Konoha, so from the organization’s point of view he was a traitor, but his motives were to avert greater bloodshed and to protect his brother. Konan, meanwhile, turned against the organization’s later manipulation — she opposed Obito when he perverted the Akatsuki’s purpose and tried to stop him from taking Nagato’s eyes, effectively betraying the new leadership to defend the original ideals. Obito/Tobi is complicated: he betrayed the founding vision by transforming Akatsuki into the engine for the Moon’s Eye Plan, using the group to capture tailed beasts. In short, betrayals in 'Naruto' are rarely black-and-white; they’re driven by survival, conviction, manipulation, or ambition, and that moral grey is what keeps the story engaging for me.