Naruto remains one of the longest-running series in anime and manga. Despite some ups and downs, the series is beloved by countless people around the world thanks in large part to its huge cast of (mostly) wonderful characters.
With so many episodes following Naruto on his journey to become the greatest ninja, he's obviously going to come face-to-face with more than a few villains. Naruto has some villains throughout the series that ended up feeling one-note or boring, but it also has plenty of great, unforgettable villains, and that's what we'll be focusing on for this list.
Updated August 4th, 2020 by Josh Davison: The most memorable aspects of the Naruto saga, other than Naruto's eagerness, Kakashi's awesomeness, and the prominence of filler content, is the roster of villains. Naruto has very memorable villains with unique motivations, interesting powers, and overall memorable aesthetics. The initial version of this article listed many of those villains and did so excellently. We've expanded this list with an additional five villains that deserve to be remembered most in the Naruto canon.
15 Kakuzu
Kakuzu is a frightening and powerful member of the Akatsuki organization. He has access to all five elements through the implantation of four additional hearts into his body. He cannot die unless someone destroys all five of his hearts, making him effectively immortal like his partner, Hidan.
Kakuzu's veins can move seemingly as he wills it, making his skin little more than a thin shell for his true body. He and Hidan invaded the Leaf Village, and Kakuzu had to face Naruto and Kakashi in a pitched battle. Naruto first unveiled his Rasenshuriken technique during this showdown, ultimately killing Kakuzu.
14 Deidara
Deidara's motivations are less interesting than his personality. Deidara is the most persistent and talkative member of the Akatsuki. He hails from the Village Hidden in the Stone and has mouths on his hands and chest that can chew, shape, and animate clay that explodes with an extreme blast.
Deidara partnered with Sasori and partook in the kidnapping of Kazekage Gaara, a mission that resulted in Deidara losing an arm. He lost another arm while being pursued by Kakashi Hatake. However, both arms were stitched back onto Deidara. He finally met his demise while trying to kill Sasuke Uchiha after the latter departed from Orochimaru's operation.
13 Kimimaro
Kimimaro is a member of the Kaguya clan, making him a descendant of the godlike Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. Kimimaro became a soldier under Orochimaru armed with a Kekkei Genkai that allows Kimimaro to grow and weaponize his bone matter.
Unfortunately for Kimimaro, he has a degenerative disease that ultimately ended his life. He had a memorable battle against Gaara and Rock Lee before expiring seconds away from killing his enemies. Kimimaro is possibly the most engaging and sympathetic follower of Orochimaru, and he easily earns a spot on this list.
12 Kisame
Kisame is a member of the Akatsuki and the partner of Itachi Uchiha. He was once among the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, making him a former comrade of Zabuza Momochi. His skin is blue, he resembles a shark, and he's sadistic and vicious to match.
His Samehada is a powerful and memorable weapon that reveals itself to be a living entity of its own. We also get to see Kisame further evolve into a shark-like entity. He had a memorable fight against Might Guy and ultimately fell in an epic battle against A and Killer Bee of the Village Hidden in the Clouds during the Kage Summit.
11 Gaara and Shukaku
While Gaara later becomes a hero and even ascended to the rank of Kazekage in the Village Hidden in the Sand, Gaara first came on the scene as an antagonist and a compelling one at that. His control over sand made him immensely dangerous, and he killed another lesser villain, Dosu, with apparent ease.
On top of that, we learned of Gaara's torment by his father and the rest of the Sand Village, and we learned that he had a powerful beast inside him much like Naruto himself. We learn the motivations of Gaara and come to sympathize with his plight. His personality is also very believable, and the audience is allowed to truly feel for him.
10 Kabuto
Kabuto wasn't exactly the most threatening villain when he was first introduced, but, over the course of the series, he became more and more dangerous. For most of the series, Kabuto was just Orochimaru's lackey and wasn't worth much more than a second glance, that is until the latter half of Shippuden.
After Orochimaru's supposed death, Kabuto infused his own body with Orochimaru's remains, changing not only his looks, which became really snake-like but also his chakra signature. He had effectively turned himself into the "perfect being" and became absurdly powerful. If it wasn't for Itachi and Sasuke stopping him, Kabuto would have likely killed a lot of major characters.
9 Kaguya Otsutsuki
Kaguya Otsutsuki is the last main antagonist of Naruto Shippuden. She's a Celestial being who came to Earth a millennium ago to consume the fruit of the God Tree, and as a result, became the first wielder of chakra on Earth. She's impossibly powerful, basically immortal, and has a near-infinite amount of abilities.
The problem with such overpowered characters as Kaguya is that they're almost always boring characters, and Kaguya, unfortunately, falls into that category. Kaguya's backstory had some interesting potential, but, because she was shoehorned in at the last minute, we just can't seem to care all that much about her.
8 Konan
Konan was one of the founding members of the original Akatsuki. She might not seem very powerful at first glance because all of her ninjutsu abilities revolve around paper folding, but that paper is much more dangerous than it looks. Since Konan can manipulate paper, there are loads of applications for her abilities.
What makes Konan so interesting is the fact that she's a villain not because she's an evil person, but because of her tragic backstory. Unfortunately, Konan's story wasn't explored as much as it should have been, but she still remains one of the more interesting villains in the series.
7 Black Zetsu
For most of Shippuden, Zetsu was only a minor antagonist always lurking in the background. Physically, Zetsu wasn't anything to write home about, but that doesn't make him any less dangerous. It turns out that Zetsu, specifically Black Zetsu, was pulling the strings the whole time, manipulating other villains to do his dirty work for a convoluted plot to free Kaguya from her eternal confinement.
Machiavellian villains are always a delight to watch, but, because the revelation that Black Zetsu was the puppet master came so late in the story, Black Zetsu never really got to feel like such a villain, it just felt like a last-minute plot twist.
6 Haku and Zabuza
Haku and Zabuza are not the strongest villains on this list by any stretch of the imagination, but they're two of the most beloved characters in the entire series. Zabuza was introduced early in the series and was really the first major antagonist in Naruto. This former Anbu of the Hidden Mist Village proved a difficult opponent for Team 7, and he was even strong enough to take on Kakashi.
Most fans agree that Haku is the more interesting character of the pair. He's a character with a tragic backstory; ostracized as a child because of his natural ability in combat, Haku was forced to kill his own father. Haku and Zabuza were the first examples that the world of Naruto is much more brutal than it first appears and morality is not always black and white.
5 Orochimaru
As one of the three legendary Sannin, the three greatest ninjas of their time, Orochimaru is one of the most powerful ninjas in the series. He's also the most long-running villain in the entire series so we get to know him quite a bit by the end.
Orochimaru's ultimate goal is to achieve immortality, which led him to conduct horrific experiments on human subjects, as well as extensive modifications to his own body. He seemed to be a heinous, irredeemable character, but, strangely enough, he did have some good in him, however small, and, by the end of Shippuden, he was redeemed.
4 Madara Uchiha
Madara's influence on the world of Naruto could be felt all throughout the series, and fans knew about him way before he even showed up on-screen. Madara was one of, if not the most, powerful members of the Uchiha clan. When he finally showed up, not even the five great Kages, living and dead, were a challenge for him.
But, it's not just his skill as a ninja that makes him a cool character, it's his ideology that makes him a compelling character. All Madara wants to do is achieve lasting peace in the world, it's just his method for doing so that the people of Naruto take issue with. His plan is to project the Infinite Tsukuyomi onto the moon to trap the entire world in a dream, which he believes will save mankind from destroying itself.
3 Obito Uchiha/Tobi
It seems quite a few members of the Uchiha clan have found their way onto this list. Obito was Kakashi's former teammate, but he was thought to have died after a massive boulder crushed his entire right side. It turns out he was alive all along, masquerading as the masked member of the Akatsuki, Tobi.
Obito fell to the side of villainy after the death of Rin and blamed Kakashi for it, even though the whole thing was orchestrated by Madara to manipulate Obito. After losing Rin, Obito became convinced of Madara's plan to create a world of truth. Obito was a tragic character made even more tragic by the fact that he was being manipulated, but he does redeem himself when he learns the truth.
2 Itachi Uchiha
So, it turns out that one of the series's most powerful and most dangerous villains was best boy all along. From the beginning, Itachi was known for slaughtering the entire Uchiha clan, save for his younger brother Sasuke, before fleeing the village and joining the Akatsuki. Sasuke's whole motivation for most of the series is to get revenge on his brother, and he's made out to be an extremely dangerous criminal.
But, things were much more complicated than they appeared. It wasn't until after Sasuke gets revenge and kills Itachi that we learn that Itachi wasn't the villain everyone thought he was. He slaughtered his entire clan to prevent a civil war in the village, then joined Akatsuki as a spy for the Leaf Village. Everything he did was for the sake of his brother and his village, but it's heartbreaking that we didn't know that until after his death.
1 Pain
Pain is everything a great villain should be. First of all, Pain was the leader of the Akatsuki for much of the series, and, thanks to his Rinnegan, he was also the most powerful among the Akatsuki. He even destroyed the entire Leaf Village just to get Naruto's attention.
What makes Pain such a compelling villain is how he ties into the world of Naruto. The world of Naruto is a brutal place, and Pain is a product of that brutality. His parents were taken by war, so Pain set out to create a world of peace, only for his best friend and many of his comrades to die in that pursuit. Using his best friend's corpse as an avatar of sorts, Pain endeavored to create peace by whatever means necessary. Pain is easily the most compelling villain in the series.