As Kakuzu and I travel through the Land of Fire, I am forced into battle with Asuma Sarutobi. After forming a link with Asuma and preparing to kill him, I am stopped by Shikamaru Nara. Although Shikamaru is able to break the link and allow Asuma to decapitate me, I am soon able to rejoin my body with Kakuzu's help, reform the link, and kill Asuma. Before I can turn my attention to Shikamaru and the rest of his team, Kakuzu and I are called away by the Akatsuki leader. Once our business is finished, Kakuzu and I set out for Konoha to finish our battle, though along the way we are captured by Shikamaru, who had been waiting for us. Although Kakuzu is able to escape, Shikamaru is able to use his shadow to force me to attack him, although he eventually decides to lead me away so the rest of his team can deal with Kakuzu. Upon reaching his destination, Shikamaru restrains me, covers me in exploding tags, and causes a pit beneath me to break away. Finally having a chance to avenge Asuma's death, Shikamaru lights a cigarette and tosses it at me, causing the exploding tags to detonate. As my remains fall into the pit i promised to kill Shikamaru in any way possible, to which Shikamaru responds by causing the pit to cave in, trapping me beneath the rubble. While my actual status is currently unknown, Akatsuki no longer considers me a member

My ring is located on my left index finger. Each Akatsuki member wears a single, unique ring, and no two members wear a ring on the same finger. Each member wears their ring on the same finger as the spot we occupy on the giant statue. In total, there are ten rings, but the Akatsuki only possesses six; Orochimaru kept his after defecting, and those worn by Kakuzu, Deidara, and I have yet to be retrieved. The rings seem to have some special significance; Tobi believed that he could become a member after finding Sasori's ring, and although Zetsu claims it's not as easy as that, Tobi does indeed become a member. Deidara reinforces the significance of the rings after losing both his arms by expressing more concern for finding the arm with his ring, rather than finding the arm itself. Each ring bears a unique symbol, the first kanji of its name.

The Akatsuki are interested in the tailed beasts because we need them in order to acquire our goal. Whenever an Akatsuki member captures a tailed beast or its host, it is taken to our lair. Once there, Pein summons a giant statue of a humanoid monster. Pein doesn't need to be present to summon the statue, nor do Akatsuki members need to be physically present for the statue to activate. Any Akatsuki members unable to reach the statue can use astral projection to appear at the statue. The statue itself seems to symbolize restriction or sealing; the creature's hands are handcuffed, its eyes are blindfolded, and a bit is in its mouth, which falls out when the Akatsuki members are sealing a tailed beast. On the creature's blindfold are nine closed eyes (eight eyes in two rows of four with the larger ninth eye in the center), each corresponding to one of the nine tailed beasts. The eyes don't appear to be in any specific order. After the summoning, the host or tailed beast (depending on if it is sealed in a person or not) is placed in front of the statue while each Akatsuki member stands on the finger that corresponds to their specific ring. The members then perform the Sealing Technique: Illusionary Dragon Nine Consuming Seals to draw the spirit of the beast (or the beast itself) into the statue. Nine dragon-like figures then pour from the statue's mouth, surround the captured host, and forcefully remove the tailed beast from them. In the case of an unsealed tailed beast, the same thing happens to the beast itself. Once the beast is sealed, all the eyes open, and the pupil of the eye that corresponds to the beast appears, indicating that it has been successfully sealed. The jutsu takes three days to complete. Kisame Hoshigaki commented that the jutsu takes longer without Orochimaru present, though whether this means that Orochimaru created the jutsu, or that the presence of all ten Akatsuki members is necessary for the greatest efficiency is unknown. Because of the large amount of time it takes to complete a sealing, Akatsuki members use Five Seal Barrier to prevent interruption. The seal consists of placing five other seals: one to prevent entry to the lair, and four others to prevent the first from being removed. The five seals are spread across a wide area and must all be removed simultaneously, requiring an average team to split up to bring down the barrier. Once the seals are removed clones of those that removed them are created, capable of using all attacks in the original's arsenal and weapons in the original's possession. It's unknown if the statue serves any other purpose than to contain the captured tailed beasts. The statue apparently requires that the power sealed within it be balanced, as Kisame notes that sealing the nine-tailed fox before sealing the other eight tailed beasts would destroy the statue.