Konan

**Konan** (小南) is a kunoichi from Amegakure and a founding member of the original Akatsuki. After Yahiko's death, she was partnered with Nagato, who had since taken control of Akatsuki, and was the only member to call him by his name. After Nagato's death, Konan defected from Akatsuki and became the *de facto* village head of Amegakure.

## Background

When she was young, Konan's family was killed during the Second Shinobi World War, and she was left to fend for herself. Some time later, Yahiko found her, and the two worked together to survive. Not long after that, Konan went for a walk and found a young, dying Nagato and his dog, Chibi. She rescued him and brought him back to their hideout. Gradually the three became best friends. They eventually encountered the Sannin, who gave them some food. Konan impressed them by making an elaborate flower out of the paper wrappers left behind as a sign of gratitude. When Orochimaru suggested to kill them so they would not have to suffer the horrors of war, Jiraiya instead opted to stay and teach the three how to look after themselves.

During their time with Jiraiya, he made a defence system composed of four planks, each with one red and one white side, attached to a part of a wall of the hideout they shared at the time with a string and a nail, each one above one of their names, which he called "Hop-In" planks. The purpose of the planks were that when they were in the hideout, they turn their planks to the red side and they leave, they flip their plank to the white side, so when a plank's on the red side and the person's not in the hideout, it means they could have been captured by the enemy and when a plank's on the white side and it appears that the person's in the hideout, it could mean that an enemy has transformed into said person and has infiltrated the hideout, along with a trapdoor hidden among the floorboards leading to a hidden room and emergency escape route he left just in case. After Jiraiya was confident they could take care of themselves, he told Konan that she will be very beautiful when she grows up and to come see him when she turns eighteen. With that said, he left for Konoha and the three continued to bring peace to their land.

Over time, the three formed Akatsuki and became renowned for their strength and effectiveness, with news of their actions even reaching Konoha. When their group became too big, they were forced to find another hideout, and leave their current one. When they were about to leave, two Iwa ninja attacked the hideout but Yahiko noticed in time and they used the escape route to escape. Through out their time together, Konan became close with Yahiko. During the Third Shinobi World War, their group was approached by a man calling himself "Madara Uchiha". He offered to help them in their pursuits but Yahiko refused the offer, suspecting he only meant to use them.

Through out their quest for peace, Akatsuki's ranks grew and became known throughout of Amegakure, so much so that Hanzō began to feel that Akatsuki threatened his rule so he approached the group and offered that they work together. The next day while on patrol, Konan was abducted by Hanzō's men and was brought to the meeting where he ordered Nagato to kill Yahiko in exchange for her life. Konan cried out for them to flee without her, but they refused to leave her behind. Nagato was paralysed in shock by the order but Yahiko stabbed himself with the kunai in Nagato's hand and in a fit a rage, Nagato saved Konan by slaughtering the Anbu and Hanzō's subordinates.

Accepting Tobi's earlier offer of support, Nagato and Konan began recruiting S-rank missing-nin into Akatsuki and started offering its services as a mercenary group to ninja villages, earning the money necessary to fund its long-term plans. Some time later, Nagato under the alias of Pain, began a civil war within Amegakure, and as his messenger, Konan promised to the villagers that he would bring change to their village and other nations. Nagato eventually killed Hanzō and Konan assumed his identity to make it appear to the world that he was still alive and in control of Amegakure. In the anime, Konan aided in recruiting Hidan into the organisation.

## Personality

Konan was smart, stoic, calm, and level-headed much like her partner, Nagato. As a child, she was bright, compassionate, and relatively cheerful, in comparison to Yahiko's tough attitude and Nagato's sensitivity. However, the traumatic events since then have led her to become a very serious person, and she never spoke during Akatsuki meetings. Nevertheless, she has always placed the safety of her team-mates above her own. Konan had romantic feelings towards Yahiko, which were reciprocated.

She did seem to be more empathetic than most other Akatsuki members, as she appeared sad whenever she was reminded of her past. She also expressed a great deal of loyalty and courtesy to Pain, doing his bidding without question, looking out for his well-being and always having complete faith in his abilities. She acted as an intermediary between Pain and Ame, the villagers having given her the title "God's Angel", because with her paper wings activated, she resembles one.

She had the ability to read Pain's emotions without him facially expressing them, presumably as a result of having known him for so long. As soon as Tobi ordered Pain to capture the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, she could tell right away that there was something about the order that very much upset her emotionally deadened partner.

After Nagato's sacrifice, Konan becomes fiercely adamant to protect Naruto Uzumaki, the person Nagato entrusted his mission of world peace to, even going as far as to proclaim all of Ame's loyalty to him. She was equally fierce in defending Nagato's remains from Tobi going as far as to prepare herself for suicidal attacks against him if it meant protecting Nagato and Naruto from him.

In the anime, Konan was shown to be more of a realist than Nagato, as Tobi stated he did not expect Naruto's arguments alone would be enough to turn her against Akatsuki, which she further elaborated when she compared Naruto to Tobi and realised Naruto is light personified while Tobi was darkness personified. Like Nagato, also she also regained her high regard for Jiraiya because prior to her fight with Tobi, she reminisced about her time with Jiraiya.