Anime What If: What if Naruto had joined the Akatsuki?

Naruto and Naruto Shippuden narrate the story of a gutsy ninja who, no matter what life threw at him, emerged victorious with his "never give up" attitude.

Naruto went through a lot since childhood, as the entire village shunned him for having the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed within him. The village had done everything to antagonize him as a child, and he had every reason to turn against the Leaf village.

However, he strived towards greatness and made it his aim to be acknowledged by everyone. Ultimately, Naruto fulfilled his dream of becoming a Hokage.

But what if that had not been the case?

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A sneak peek into how things would have turned out if Naruto had joined the Akatsuki instead

There has been a lot of fan fiction predicting the result of this significant change to the original plot. But before that, it needs to be seen how this could have come to pass.

As fans know, Naruto has always been the good guy, the "gutsy ninja" who aspired to be the greatest Hokage ever. It is quite difficult to pinpoint which event could be the pivot that made Naruto join the infamous organization.

It is safe to assume that Naruto would not 'break bad' primarily because he was simply loathed. If Konoha had treated him as a weapon and pushed him to utilize Kurama's power for the village, while openly loathing and fearing him for his power, the Nine-Tails' hatred would have consumed him.

He would have become what the village saw him as: A monster.

Not to forget, if Naruto was not the warm and loving person he is, he would have never been the instrument of Gaara's redemption. As a result, there might have been an all out war between the Sand and the Leaf Villages.

This, in turn, would have made it extremely easy for Obito to swoop in and snipe Naruto, thus killing two birds with one stone:

1) He would be able to manipulate the hatred and weakness in Naruto's heart, and keep the Nine-Tailed Fox under the Akatsuki's control.

2) He could have utilized a strong shinobi like Naruto in Akatsuki up to the point where he would have extracted Kurama for him, in order to complete Project Tsuki No Me.

It is difficult to imagine how Itachi would have reacted to this, since he did what he did for Konoha's protection. Perhaps he would have planned on using Kotoamatsukami on Naruto when the time was right.

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How would the Sasuke-Naruto scenarios have played out, if Naruto had joined the Akatsuki?

Such a plot would have definitely taken an interesting turn. If Naruto was Konoha's secret weapon, feared yet kept handy, the Sasuke-Naruto dynamic would have been a little different.

Consider Naruto in the position of young Gaara. If Konoha was okay with using a trapped form of the Kyuubi, there would seem to be no reason for them to treat the last of the Uchiha the same way. It is even possible that the village (read, Danzo) would have fanned Sasuke's hatred against Itachi.

This way, Danzo could have kept the truth about Itachi under covers, while having an ace Uchiha up his sleeve (literally). However, with Naruto having deserted the village and joining Akatsuki, he might have used Sasuke to finish him off, and maybe even let Sasuke take care of Itachi while at it.

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If that would've had been the case, it is possible that Danzo would have made Sasuke as strong as he could (maybe even awaken his Mangekyo somehow). In this case, the battle between an unstable Naruto and an Uchiha trained under Danzo would definitely have ended with the former being dead.

However, it is possible that Itachi might have stopped this somehow, by using Kotoamatsukami on Naruto and letting Sasuke kill him, thus fulfilling his purpose.

Either way, if Naruto had turned against Konoha, it would have been an age of turmoil and endless bloodshed, and world peace would have been a fleeting dream.