akatsuki-no-tsuki

[akatsuki-no-tsuki]

Proposed Timeline for the Akatsuki

Alright, so I’ve had a bit of a nap since this- so it’s onto the promised part two~

The Akatsuki, according to everything I’ve ever been able to find on it, was supposedly founded after the Third Shinobi World War (which we have already established ended a maximum of 1 year before Naruto was born and was definitely over by the time Naruto was born). That basically gives us a general starting point for when it makes sense for the civil war in Amegakure to break out.

In my opinion (though it is certainly just a single possibility) I think Nagato spent the 3-4 years between Yahiko’s death and the war’s conclusion to hone his abilities as Pein (Pein as an entity was likely conceived more around the time of Yahiko’s death as Yahiko is one of the Pein bodies.) This time period gives Nagato a chance to adapt to his new way of life, develop his warped ideals into the new Akatsuki, gather the other five who would become part of his Six Paths of Pein, and perfect his usage of the abilities he unlocked. How much Obito is involved in this is a little questionable, but we do know from flashbacks and statements that Obito and Zetsu are involved with the Akatsuki from a very early point.

Basically, my personal theory is that within a time period of less than a year after the Third Shinobi World War (when Hanzō‘s forces would still be weakened from the war) Pein launched his civil war and effective take-over. How long this war lasted isn’t something I am too confident about, but I do believe Pein had won the civil war in Amegakure before the Akatsuki started operations. It makes more sense for Nagato and Konan to finish one war before preparing for the next and also offers Amegakure as a sort of base of operations for the Akatsuki to fall back onto. In addition, I think the potential protection of a country is something that adds to the Akatsuki’s appeal- If they planned to recruit criminals from the start then the promise of protection (despite not being from a major shinobi village) is something extremely valuable.

So then, the question begins: When did the Akatsuki form?

The furthest bookmark we have is when Orochimaru is stated to have left the Akatsuki 10 years ago during part 2. The problem isn’t so much that it makes no sense for Orochimaru to have been involved with the Akatsuki then (assuming the civil war in Amegakure was launched soon after the Third Shinobi World War concluded and was won not long afterwards, we have the Akatsuki potentially forming as early as the year Naruto was born, or six years prior to this date of Orochimaru supposedly leaving the Akatsuki. The problem with this time frame is rather the fact of Orochimaru leaving the Akatsuki as a result of his loss to Itachi.

With Itachi, we know his joining of the Akatsuki is linked to the killing of his clan. At the time Itachi was 13 years old, which places this event as 8 years before the Orochimaru statement was made. In order for Orochimaru to have left 10 years ago, and to have fought Itachi leading up to that point, Itachi would have been 11 years old at the time. Which um... Doesn’t make sense. Itachi’s backstory is something rather extensively known, so I am fairly confident in stating that the earliest Orochimaru could have left the Akatsuki is 8 years prior to that statement being made.

In Naruto “10 years” pretty much never means 10 years. It’s like a rough estimate for anything that happened in a period of time that was long enough to be history but recent enough not to be ancient. However, just for the sake of fun- What if that statement was meant to be more of an’ Orochimaru joined the Akatsuki 10 years ago? Assuming that ends up being a vaguely accurate statement (and knowing Orochimaru leaves Konoha at 1 year before Naruto’s birth at the earliest thanks to Minato having been installed as the fourth Hokage instead of him at some point prior to Orochimaru’s leaving) We get a bookmark of the Akatsuki being a thing 6 years after Naruto’s birth with Orochimaru leaving circa 8 years after Naruto’s birth. 

The other vague bookmark we are given in this direction is Sasori’s leaving of Sunagakure. He is stated in the beginning of Shippuden to have left Sunagakure 20 years ago- Which actually makes me realize a flaw in my age system...Naruto’s group is 15 at the start of Shippuden and if Sasori was 35 at the time of his death then he is actually closer to 20 years older than Naruto. This means Sasori left Suna around the time Naruto was born and the war had concluded. We can assume from a lot of things that Sasori was one of the first members recruited, but that doesn’t help narrow down the Akatsuki’s formation date much more than ‘after Naruto was born, but before Naruto was 6′.

Konan, Nagato, Zetsu, and Obito don’t have any good landmark points for this time period either... With Deidara all we know is that Itachi, Kisame, and Sasori were already members by the time he was recruited and Orochimaru had presumably left already as Deidara was to be his replacement. (Which, once again, doesn’t narrow things down much more than Deidara joining some point after/during the time Naruto was 8 years old). Hidan is pretty useless too since he is the last member to join the Akatsuki and depending on media referenanced potentially doesn’t even join the Akatsuki until after pre-shippuden. Kakuzu doesn’t offer much help either since he was imprisoned after fighting Hashirama who had died years before this Akatsuki was even an idea in Nagato’s head, and left Taki after escaping from that.

Which leaves our only hopeful marker (that I am aware of) as Kisame’s joining. Now this in itself is going to be problematic since he is recruited into the Akatsuki after killing Fuguki and taking Samehada- But I’m not sure how to place it... We know Yagura was the acting Mizukage at the time and that Obito had him under his control. Yagura’s rule was largely marked by the “bloody mist” but even pinpointing that is hard... In part one Kakashi states that Zabuza forced the bloody mist into an end 10 years ago (and remember that 10 years ago thing?) when he was still just a kid who hadn’t yet entered the academy himself. Problem is that Zabuza is 26 at the time this statement is made, so either Zabuza’s age is a mistake or 10 years was meant to mean 20. [Personally, I’m not sure which to give more credit to]. Soooo if we move on to Yagura himself- He was the three-tails Jinchuriki after Rin (supposedly) which would mean he was not a Jinchuriki until around the time the Third Shinobi World War concluded. Since extracting a Bijuu from a Jinchuriki results in their death, this is really the only time frame that works? If we assume the bloody mist era did, in fact, end around 10 years prior to part 1, then we get the rough estimate of the bloody mist coming to a close around the time Naruto is 2. Trying to narrow this down further, we know Ao recognized that Yagura was being controlled with the Byakugan he obtained during the Third Shinobi World war- Though I am not sure if we have any other details. So trying a different angle, Mei is seen as a marker of change for Kiri- Given that she, herself has kekkei genkais, she’d likely end the war on them. So in we usher Haku and Kimimaro- Haku is 3 years older than Naruto, while Kimimaro is (i believe) 2 (though it could possibly be 3 years as well, I don’t remember when the Chunin exam arc takes place). Haku and Kimimaro were both children when this kekkei genkai war was going on- And we know Orochimaru found Kimimaro while Zabuza found Haku... That means these events have to occur after Zabuza kills a graduating class but before Mei becomes Mizukage- And, it is also likely Orochimaru takes in Kimimaro prior to his own joining of the Akatsuki. Guessing Kimi might have been 5 when Orochimaru found him- That would give us the marker of around 3 years after Naruto was born. To give more wiggle room let’s go with Kimi being 8 and this marker being 6 - it still theoretically works with Orochimaru joining the Akatsuki around then. Essentially, we can narrow Kisame’s joining down to some point after the third shinobi world war and probably around the time Orochimaru possibly joined- (ugh. so much for that bloody mist end thing being helpful).

Basically all we know for sure from this:

* Nagato, under the alias of Pein, launches a civil war in Amegakure after the Third Shinobi World War 

* This war is won some time between the war’s conclusion (12 years before the series’ start) and when the Akatsuki is formed.

* The Akatsuki’s exact start-up date is unknown. Nagato and Konan were members from the previous Akatsuki, with Obito and Zetsu essentially supporting and sparking the new one (The Akatsuki, to this extent, could have potentially formed before or during the Amegakure civil war).

* Going off of rough estimates, Orochimaru and Kisame might have joined the Akatsuki around 6 years prior to the start of the series- Sasori and Kakuzu, who had left their villages years prior to this point, were also likely recruited around this time. (There is circumstantial evidence (such as Kakuzu not being present at Deidara’s recruitment, and non-manga media not showing him in most early-Akatsuki flashbacks) however, to make Kakuzu’s joining date closer to that of Deidara’s.

* If nothing else is true, we know that Itachi joined the Akatsuki 8 years prior to the start of the series.

* Orochimaru gets into a conflict with Itachi and leaves the Akatsuki at some point after Itachi joins, assuming this is somewhat immediate, he leaves 8 years prior to the start of the series. Orochimaru’s leaving means he needs to be replaced and Deidara is recruited (8 years prior to the start of series at the earliest) 

* Kakuzu has numerous partners before Hidan, and Hidan is mentioned to be the newest member of the Akatsuki during Shippuden- Manga canon potentially indicates that Hidan was not a member until during the gap between part one and part two, but even if this is not the case he is recruited at some point during or after 8 years prior to the start of the series at the earliest.

* The start of the Akatsuki was likely rather hush hush, it was probably not until a full 10 member list (or 9, rather, with Orochimaru leaving) was created that the Akatsuki made enough moves to be noticable, making this time frame approximately 8 or so years before the series starts.

* By the series start, they are well-known enough for rumors to be circulating about them; by the start of Shippuden their existence is practically common knowledge.

[akatsuki-no-tsuki]

Proposed Timeline for Amegakure

Boring Admin Note: I’m basically making this post for my own usage, since I have an Amegakure OC and am constantly forgetting the timeline that I made in order to work out her backstory. That said, I also invite other people to use my timeline as a reference (and I’ll post my justifications as to why I place certain events where I do for those who feel iffy about blindly following numbers!) or to point out any mistakes I might have made along the way (which, let’s face it, is probably bound to happen thanks to how tangled up the Naruto timeline is).

I also might neaten this and fix some vague details later on, but for now I just wanted to post it

Review of Known Facts: Alright, so as messy as the Naruto timeline is, there are a few things that are stated about Amegakure that we can likely assume are facts. In Hyō no Sho (Which was published as Naruto The Official Fanbook here in America) page 17 states that Amegakure is a “Secluded village known for creating unusual jutsu. This village pushes their shinobi to the limits of their abilities, creating many unique jutsu.Their assassination jutsu are in great demand by other countries. Many shinobi skilled in genjutsu illusions live here.” [This same book also states that Konohagakure was “founded about 60 years ago” on the very next page, however this passage also implies Hashirama alone founded Konoha and I am fairly certain that “60″ being an accurate number is contraindicated later on and not very well supported by the current fandom, but it is still a number to keep in mind with all of this.]. As another little well-known statement about Amegakure, Kabuto implies that Amegakure shinobi have something of a reputation for having short fuses (in chapter 39).

Other things that we know for sure include Amegakure’s location between Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Konohagakure- Something that has historically turned the unnamed country that it resides in into a constant war-zone. We know from Konan/Yahiko/Nagato’s backstories that the Second Shinobi World War left behind orphaned children and made growing up in that country rather difficult and dangerous. [I am also fairly confident in the Second Shinobi World War being a large part of the reason why Hanzō adopted such an isolationist policy after its conclusion, possibly furthering the proof that this war was particularly harsh on those associated with Amegakure.] Speaking of Hanzō, we also know that he was the leader of Amegakure up until he was overthrown by Pein (and is the only other Amegakure leader mentioned aside from Konan). From Nagato’s speech towards Naruto, we can infer that Yahiko (and effectively, the first Akatsuki [Which, yes, would have had at least some modest fame in Amegakure whilst active- At least enough for the village leader to hear about it and grow worried]) died during a time of war (and common headcanon places it as the Third Shinobi World War). Although the timeline blurs a lot around here, we’re told that a civil war broke out at some point after Yahiko’s death and before Hanzō‘s and that ultimately anyone who opposed Pein or was connected to Hanzō died as a result (Or, at the very least, was forced outside of Amegakure- Chapter 369 makes mention of how those supporting the older ideals had still been trying to infiltrate until recently, but does also confirm that everyone close to Hanzō was hunted down and killed.). After Hanzō’s defeat, those remaining in Ame started to view Pein like a god (despite Pein never making public appearances, and only rumors standing to give his name any sort of image) and Konan as his angel. Those outside of Amegakure never came to know of Hanzō’s defeat until Jiraiya discovered it whilst infiltrating. At some point Nagato, under the Pein alias, reforms the Akatsuki and things spiral into what we know of the series- But the other relevant events to Amegakure include Nagato’s death in Konohagakure, Konan’s death not long after at the hands of Obito, and then a snippet I have seen stating that, in the Shikamaru Hiden, Amegakure is invited to join the Shinobi Union.

Okay, well that took forever.

To be honest the rest of the details in this aren’t going to be much easier to read or get through, if anything I’ll just delve into a deeper mess- But I suppose I may as well start off by boring you with some basic math. Because Naruto is what a majority of the story and events revolve around, for the sake of this timeline, the year that Naruto was born is going to be Year 0. 

Figuring out the start of Amegakure is something I have yet to find any good markers for... I haven’t really been able to find any evidence to support that Amegakure had a formal mention in the First Shinobi World War? [If you guys know of anything, please let me know!] The first mentions I can find of Amegakure’s existence are tied to the Second Shinobi World War- With the only event that possibly pre-dates it being the Mifune and Hanzō fight. [ I am unsure when that particular conflict takes place. But I suppose, since Hanzō wasn’t given an official age, we can at least grab Mifune’s ‘65′ (which comes from the fourth databook, when Naruto is 17- meaning at some point 48 years (and given that Mifune isn’t exactly a baby in this fight, likely somewhere closer to the 30 year range) before Naruto’s birth [as I heavily doubt it could have been after that point]  Hanzō and Mifune got into a fight). 

So, since I am at a loss for anything prior to it, the Second Shinobi World War is going to be my first timeline bookmark. We know that this is the war in which Hanzō fights Tsunade/Orochimaru/Jiraiya and names them the Sannin.We also know Nagato/Konan/Yahiko become orphans during this war and are taught by Jiraiya. Non-related key events include: Dan’s death and Sasori’s parents dying. Why is any of that relevant? Well... Kishimoto has a habit to make all his characters who are connected to one another the same age- even in cases where it doesn’t seem logical (examples: Naruto ending up as one of the youngest in his year despite being stated early-on to have been held back multiple times; All of the major Konoha Jonin being the same age; All teammates having the same ages despite having various graduation ages (like Kakashi was 5 and Obito was 9, but they’re on the same team and were confirmed to be the same age and just- Oh boy...)). Basically, as flawed as this makes other points you can end up basically assuming Nagato/Konan/Yahiko/Sasori were all the same age and Orochimaru/Tsunade/Jiraiya/Dan were as well. Sasori/Nagato/Konan and Orochimaru/Tsunade/Jiraiya are all confirmed for that to boot. 

Nagato/Konan/Sasori have a confirmed age difference with Naruto of 19 years (Using ages given in the fourth and third databooks)- and were likely at least 5 when their respective parents died (though I have no bookmark for giving that number any solidarity, I doubt the Ame orphans could have survived at all if they were much younger than that) giving us a tentative bookmark of this war still being active 14 years before Naruto’s birth [This is also the time period where it is most likely for the Hanzō/Sanin fight and Jiraiya finding the Ame Orphans and taking them under his wing]. Assuming (without direct proof) that Tsunade and Dan were the same age, we can use Tsunade’s age (a 38 year difference from Naruto) to make Dan’s age at death potentially relevant. Dan died at the age of 27, so assuming Tsunade was also 27 at this time, it gives us the bookmark age of 11 years before Naruto’s birth. As this event makes her hemophobic, and we see that her hemophobia was rather extreme in part 1, it’s also likely that this bookmark is more towards the end of the war. Unfortunately, that is the best I am truly able to piece this timeline together?

However markers like circa ‘14 years before Naruto the Sanin/Hanzō fight happened and the war was still ongoing 3 years later doesn’t help much as far as concrete time periods for war go. So this is even more of a tangent than before, I’m afraid (and feel free to skip it). The First Shinobi World war has key events such as Hashirama giving the villages their tailed beasts, and Tobirama dying and appointing Hiruzen as the next Hokage. Hiruzen has an age gap with Naruto of 56 years. So- Let’s hope Hiruzen was at least an adult when that happened. Going on the low end of 18 at the time of appointment, that’d mark that as 38 years before Naruto’s birth. Since there aren’t too many concrete details on this war, I’m also going to hope that it’s a marker towards the end of the war... Kai no Sho evidently has information about how the war ended but I can’t read Japanese and it was not released in any other language. But, to play it as safely as I can, Let’s just broadly assume this war ended 36 years before Naruto was born. I can’t find the source, but I see it repeated so often that it is at least fandom canon that there are 20 years between SWW1 and SWW2, meaning the second shinobi world war would have started circa 16 years before Naruto’s birth. (which works just fine with our bookmarks of 14BNB and 11BNB).

So with that out of the way- We move on to the fun world of the third shinobi world war (since I am excluding the first’s timeline from this due to a lack of relevance to this particular village? Though I do find it a fun headcanon that Amegakure was made up of refugees from the first war now ;>w>). The third shinobi world war is kinda the “main” war in Naruto’s history. It’s where Obito and Rin died, the first Akatsuki was active, Minato got a reputation great enough to be appointed Hokage at its conclusion, and a lot of other things I don’t want to think too much about because it is 4 AM right now. So I have a good marker for the end of this war (which I’ll explain in the paragraph below this one) but as for the start... I don’t? Minato was extremely active in this war and is 24 years older than Naruto- But perhaps Kakashi/Rin/Obito will shed more light onto this war? Kakashi/Obito have a 14 year age gap with Naruto and this particular war was said to have involved kids straight out of the academy (shame those graduation ages mean nothing OTL). Using Obito’s “death” as a bookmark (as we are told he was 13 at the time) we have that event placed as 1 year before Naruto’s birth and- Oh dear... Let me jump ahead to that thing I said about the war’s conclusion...

To figure out when the third shinobi war ended, my main go-to is actually Itachi. Itachi is stated to have seen the war at the age of four (which is actually the last bookmark for the war that I am aware of). Given that Sasuke and Naruto are the same age, and there is a 5 year age gap between Sasuke and Itachi, the third shinobi world war (at the earliest) ended 1 year before Naruto was born (and given that Minato isn’t installed as the Fourth Hokage until after this war [as far as I have been able to find] that marker is off by a few months at the most as Minato was Hokage when Naruto was born. 

Which now has me squinting at that Rin event... Since if Obito’s “death” happened around this time frame then what happened with Rin is probably at the very end of the war. So the only other bookmark I can think of that has numbers is Yahiko’s death? He died at 15 and with the assumed 19 year age difference we get that event occurring 4 years before Naruto’s birth.Which is, thus far, the furthest back I can find a bookmark for.

But it’s getting super late now and I want to recap the important details real quick (and convert them into start of series terms) so that this is actually vaguely useful?

* There is no mention of Amegakure before the Second Shinobi World War

* Hanzō is the only leader mentioned in a Historical sense, and was possibly the founder of Amegakure (I am also having fun with the headcanon that Amegakure is largely comprised of refugees from the First Shinobi World War and was created in its aftermath- but that is definitely not stated anywhere or anything more solid than the sleepy rambles of a girl up way too late).I would actually genuinely love to hear what anyone has to say on the subject? Particularly if they have an OC from this time period?

* 28 years before the series starts - The Second Shinobi World War starts

* Circa 26 years before the series starts - Jiraiya/Tsunade/Orochimaru fight Hanzō and are named the legendary Sanin; Jiraiya finds the orphaned Yahiko/Nagato/Konan and takes them under his wing.

* Circa 23-22 years before the series starts - The Second Shinobi World War ends.

* Circa 16 years before the series starts (though very possibly a bit before?) - The Third Shinobi World War begins. (This is the specific marker for Yahiko’s death, however)

* Circa 13 years (on the lower end) before the series starts - The Third Shinobi World War Ends

I need to make an Akatsuki-Specific timeline in addition to this one for my OC, so that’s where I’ll leave things for now? The events after the war have a lot to do with the Akatsuki and Pein in specific so...

I also don’t think I’ll tag this? I’ll tag a more finished and put-together writing than this.