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. Kakashi and Orochimaru have both stated that Kiri has a strong and ruthless military that cannot be easily defeated.

Kirigakure is composed of several cylindrical buildings, with the Mizukage's palace being the widest and the largest. Like its name, the village is surrounded by a thick mist, with several mountains in the background, making it difficult to find by foreigners.

Kirigakure, according to Kakashi, was known for its 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 while under the lordship of Yagura, the Three-tailed Jinchūriki and Fourth Mizukage. This practice lasted until an incident where Zabuza Momochi infamously killed the entire graduating class (before even reaching the age of qualification himself).

During times of war, those with Kekkei Genkai have been responsible for high death tolls. As a result, many villagers have developed a hatred and fear of such bloodlines. They have them persecuted and discriminated, with little difference towards most Jinchūriki.

As stated by the Raikage, there has been a rumor that Kirigakure is the birthplace of the elite criminal organization Akatsuki, and their lack of diplomatic ties reinforce such suspicions.

History
The Kaguya clan waged a war against Kirigakure sometime in the past, but 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 Mizukage of the village. Kisame Hoshigaki, a fellow Akatsuki member and a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, also hails from here, and is apparently the closest to Madara. However, he defected after he tried to overthrow the government and assassinated several officials.

The village also had the Three-Tailed Giant Turtle and the Six-Tailed Slug in its possession, but the former was removed from Yagura (the Fourth Mizukage) for some unknown reason and the beast began to roam free. The latter's host, Utakata, was captured and had his tailed beast extracted by Akatsuki.

Even with having a violent graduation ritual, the Mist Village is, amongst the five Great Shinobi Villages, the one that has not participated in any known major shinobi conflict; however, this may be because it is significantly farther from the mainland, or because it has too many internal conflicts to involve itself with the other village wars.

Trivia

 * The second fanbook gives Kirigakure a population size of two out of five stars, a military strength of three out of five stars, and an economic strength of two out of five stars.
 * This village seems to have plenty of missing-nin, including most members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, like Zabuza Momochi and Kisame Hoshigaki.
 * Despite the persecution of people with Kekkei Genkai in the past, the village's current Mizukage has two Kekkei Genkai.