Their ultimate goal is to control the world; this will be accomplished through three steps. Step One is for the group to attain money. Step Two is to create the first mercenary group. Shinobi villages make money for their country, and for the money to be steady it requires war. Because there have not been any large scale wars in approximately the last decade, the ninja villages were being reduced in size. The Five Great Shinobi Villages could handle the downtrend, but the smaller villages could not. Akatsuki will form their own fighting force with no country allegiance. With this force they will undercut all the other villages and fight their battles for cheap. Then using the bijuu they can create new battles and new wars and gain a monopoly over the whole market. In the end they plan to control all the wars and be powerful enough to even collapse the shinobi villages of the large countries, forcing them to rely on Akatsuki as well. With all that in hand, the group can achieve Step Three, to control the world. It should be noted their goal and plans have been explained by Pain, the man acting as leader. While Pain was separated from the group, he expressed his own desire for the Bijuu, to use them to create a powerful Kinjutsu. It has also recently been revealed that Pain reported to Tobi, who was revealed to be Uchiha Madara. What Madara wants with the Bijuu and powerful Sharingan of Uchiha Sasuke is unknown. He may share Pain's deadly Kinjutsu plan or have his own goal mind.
The stated goal of the group is far reaching and it requires the capturing of the bijuu and "Jinchuuriki," meaning the power of human sacrifice. These are the individuals possessing bijuu (tailed beasts) within their bodies. The demons are known by the number of tails their body possesses. Shukaku is the One-Tailed Tanuki, Nibi is the Two-Tailed Cat, Sanbi is the Three-Tailed Turtle, Yonbi is a Four-Tailed demon, Hachibi is an Eight-Tailed Demon and Kyuubi is the Nine-Tailed Fox. The only known Jinchuuriki are Uzumaki Naruto, Gaara of the Sand, Nii Yugito and two other unnamed Jinchuuriki have also been seen. Yugito, Gaara and two or possibly three other unknown Jinchuuriki have had their Bijuu removed. All lost their lives save for Gaara, who was later resurrected with a tensei jutsu. At some point after Gaara's capture and before Yugito's, the group managed to capture and seal away another Bijuu. It is unknown if this was a wild bijuu or a Jinchuuriki. The only remaining Bijuu are the Eight-Tails and the Nine-Tails within Naruto. Akatsuki's current base of operation is unknown. Previously they met at a cave in the River Country, which was later destroyed. They then moved on to a new base. These bases are used to summon the gigantic King of Hell statue. With the reduction in members, the largest gathering of members has happened at Pain's compound in the Rain Country.
The statue's mouth is bound and his hands are cuffed. Each respective finger of the statue's hand represents the Akatsuki member. Each statue finger thus represents the kanji and ring finger of the member. The members have the ability to project their presence to their base, this allows them to remain out and about and still conduct the business of Jinchuuriki demon extraction. This process takes three days and nights due to the absence of Orochimaru. This length of time goes for both free roaming bijuu and bijuu enhanced Jinchuuriki. To begin to leach the power from the Jinchuuriki, the members will use the sealing technique of GenryuuKyuu Fuujin (Mystical Dragon Nine Exhaustion). This causes the mouth of the statue to open. Nine spectral dragons will emerge to coalesce around the Jinchuuriki to begin the extraction process. When extraction is completed, the bijuu spirit will be sealed within the statue and one of its eyes will open denoting a captured bijuu spirit. The Jinchuuriki themselves will fall back to the earth, dead.
Drawn from ancient Chinese and Japanese lore, the kanji on each ring have served in the past as representations of Gods, to help in concentration before battle and in protection from evil. Their ring placement on their finger corresponds to their position on the summoned statue, with each member wearing the ring on a different finger. The rings seem important to each member, as Deidara was set on finding his when it was lost. Orochimaru also took his when he left the group, which apparently denied the group the ability to replace him with someone new. With Sasori's death, Tobi was eager to get his ring and join, but he would need to go through their entrance requirements first.
Each member wears the traditional forehead protector of the hidden village from which they fled. The protector has been modified though to bear a large scratch through the symbol, showing they no longer hold the same ideals their village does.
Members wear a traditional bamboo hat (kasa) to hide their appearance when traveling. The hat will be removed when the member enters battle.
