Land of Water

The Land of Water is oriented towards the element of water. Its weather is typically cool and full of mist and lakes. It some places, like the area where Haku grew up, it is very cold and snows quite a bit. It is an island relatively remote from the continent containing the other four great countires The Land of Water is the smallest and poorest of the five great countries. Its hidden village is Kirigakure.

Kirigakure
Kirigakure, Village Hidden in Mist, is one of the five great hidden villages and is located in the Land of Water. Because it is one of the five great ninja villages it has a Kage known as Mizukage. The ninja from this village specialize in water-based jutsu. It also seems that many of its ninja wield swords or other weapons.

In the past, the graduation exam for becoming a Genin was rather inhumane. The students who had been friends, trained together, and ate from the same table were pitted against one another in fights to the death. This gruesome method was stopped when Zabuza Momochi went mad and killed all of the students in that year's graduating class.

The seven greatest ninja who use swords in the village are known as the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and each one wields a large and/or unique weapon. Kisame Hoshigaki, Zabuza Momochi, and Raiga Kurosuki (anime only) are the three known members of this group so far. Of those three only Kisame is still alive. It also should be noted that recently Suigutsu has taken Zabuza's sword, and was also acknowledged by Kisame as a trainee of the swordsmen.