Kirigakure

Kirigakure (霧隠れの里, Kirigakure no Sato, literally meaning: Village Hidden by Mist) is the hidden village of the Land of Water. As the village of one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries, Kiri has a Kage as its leader known as the Mizukage, of which there have been six in its history. Befitting its name, the village is surrounded by a thick mist, with several mountains in the background, making it difficult to find by foreigners. Kirigakure's architecture is composed of several cylindrical buildings, with the Mizukage's office being the widest and largest. Most of the buildings have vegetation growing on their roofs.

Kage of the Village
First Mizukage – Nakai Sekino

Second Mizukage – Nakai Tohaku

Third Mizukage – Kono Keiji

Background and History
Kirigakure (Kirigakure no Sato; Village Hidden by Mist) is the hidden village in the Land of Water. It has had three Kage in its history, going by the title of Mizukage. The village, as hinted by its name, is surrounded by a thick mist, hiding it from foreigners and enemies of the village. The architecture is composed of cylindrical buildings surrounded by mountains.

History
The village of Kirigakure was founded by the Nakai Clan, with the clan head, Sekino Nakai, established as the first Mizukage. The village was divided into a caste system, with the lower caste members fighting for rights that the higher castes were given without question. By the time Sekino’s son, Tohaku Nakai, took over as the second Mizukage, Mist had gained a reputation as the “Village of the Bloody Mist” (Chigiri no Sato) due to their cruel and heartless graduation policy in the Shinobi Academy. Students from the lower castes that wanted to rise as a Shinobi of the village were put through rigorous testing, up to and including the systematic slaughter of the rest of their Academy class.

The Second Mizukage’s reign was a horrible moment in Kiri’s history, with their numbers rapidly fading due to violence and an outpouring of rogues. In the midst of the Bloody Mist period, the Tailed Beast War broke out.

Tailed Beast War
Serving as mercenaries in the war, Kirigakure allied themselves with Kumogakure to rid the world of the tailed beasts. With the help of Kumo, the forces of Kirigakure successfully captured and restrained Kurama. As the Konoha forces rallied behind warriors of their own, Kumo and Kiri fell back.

With Kurama retrieved, Kumo and Kiri turned their attention towards Iwagakure next. The Siege against Iwagakure last for about three weeks, but ultimately they broke through due to a young team of Shinobi led by an assassin known only as The Viper of the Mist. This allowed Kumo to sneak enter in the dead of night, and make away with their Jin.

The forces of Kirigakure remained on Kumogakure’s side in the war until a single mission, in which the Viper of the Mist betrayed his superiors. Viper and his team were sent to scout possible locations of the Sunagakure Jinchuriki, the heiress of the Kazekage’s clan, Hikari Sunaku. When they arrived, Viper discovered that she was already captured by a small cloud force. Upon learning her name, and discovering that she was a teenager not much older than himself, he killed her kidnappers, and freed the Jin. His teammates were given their own titles on this battlefield, and Kiri’s forces shifted their alliance fully.

Letter from Kono, Keiji: the Third Mizukage
The former mizukage really tried his best to be good. And up to his capabilities he was… if you discounted the era of the blood mist. He signed off on the bloody practices, allowing those brutal final exams that forced children to fight to the death. To the best of his ability he brought some measure of prosperity in our country. However, not many other people could accept this that easily.

The first and only attempt at his life was very public and very personal. They used only the worst of poisons, forcing him to die publicly at a meeting. It shook all of the land of water to their core, though none more so than the young Jonin known as the Viper of the mist.

I was asked to take over, to clean up. They brought me up to fix things. If Lord Daimyou wanted someone to sit aside and change nothing, he would be proven wrong. I had a job to do, and I'm going to do everything in my power to do it.

Nearby Locations
Ono Village

Kanon VIllage

Etsuko Village

Water Capital

Land of Water Oceans

Rainy Forest

Crater

Clans/Families
Hoshigaki Clan

Hozuki Clan

Karatachi Family

Yuki Clan

Kono Family