From watching the anime and reading the mangas it always seems that the good guys runout of chakra before the bad guys. Anybody else notice this trend?
The Akatsuki are made up of ninja that have either been kicked out, or have abandoned their own villages.
Konoha turned against Orochimaru because he was experimenting using "Forbidden Jutsu". I will assume that the other Akatsuki have perfected their own "Forbidden Jutsus".
Remember that they give the user power, but at a cost...
Sasori had to give up his own body.
Orochimaru had to change into a snake (more or less)
Madara had to kill his brother (even though he says otherwise)
Pein (thats obvious)
Konan (I am assuming that because her body physically turns into paper, that she lost/gave up her original body as well)
Kakuzo gained immortality by changing the form of his body.
Hidan... well we never learned HOW his immortality worked.