Kirigakure

, called Kiri for short, is located in the Land of Water. The official head ninja of Kirigakure is the Mizukage. It is also the place from which the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist hail. Kiri's layout is relatively unknown, only seen briefly in flashbacks. Kakashi and Orochimaru have both stated that Kiri has a strong and ruthless military that could not be easily defeated.

Kiri, according to Kakashi, was known for a barbaric graduation ritual. Students wishing to move on into the ranks of the ninja there would be pitted against each other in one-on-one duels to the death - thus earning the village the nickname,. This practice lasted until an incident where Zabuza Momochi infamously killed the entire graduating class (before even reaching the age of qualification himself), after which it was banned.

History
The Kaguya clan waged a war against Kirigakure sometime in the past, and were slaughtered by the village's superior forces. Zabuza Momochi also tried to assassinate the Mizukage. His attempt failed and from that point further Kirigakure began hunting him.

Madara Uchiha, founder of Konohagakure and Akatsuki, was once a Mizukage of the village. Kisame Hoshigaki, Akatsuki member and strongest of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, also once hailed here, and was apparently the closest to Madara. However, he defected when he tried to overthrow the government and assassinated several officials.

The village also had the Three-Tailed Beast in its possession, but it was removed from its host for some unknown reason and the beast began to roam free.

Ironically, despite having a violent graduation ritual, the Mist Village is, among the five great shinobi villages, the one that has not participated in any known major shinobi conflict. Though, it may be because it is significantly farther from the mainland or that it has too many internal conflicts to involve itself with the other village wars.

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