Kumogakure

is the hidden village of the Land of Lightning  and was founded by the First Raikage. As the village of one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries, Kumogakure has a Kage as its leader known as the Raikage, of which there have been five in its history. The village is located in a range of tall mountains, and is literally hidden in the clouds. The Raikage works in a large blue structure built into the tallest mountain.

The standard attire for Kumo shinobi consists of a long, grey top which gathers just at the waist to give a sash-like appearance, with a matching coloured bottom. Over this they wear white, one-strapped flak jackets and arm as well as shin-guards. Many Kumogakure ninja use Lightning Release techniques.

History
Kumogakure was founded after the Warring States Period by the First Raikage. Shortly after the formation of their villages, Konoha's First Hokage sold tailed beasts to Kumo as a sign of friendship and to ensure a balance of power amongst their new villages. The Second Raikage and Second Hokage later tried to formally agree to peace between their villages, but the ceremony was interrupted by the Gold and Silver Brothers and the Hokage was nearly killed. Konoha and Kumo ended up on opposing sides during the First Shinobi World War, with Kumo's Kinkaku Force killing the Second Hokage. Decades later, during the Third Shinobi World War, Kumo and Konoha would fight again, often with A on Kumo's side and Minato Namikaze on Konoha's. Following the death of the Third Raikage in a battle against 10,000 opposing shinobi, A succeeded him as the Fourth.

Despite becoming one of the Five Great villages Kumo has gained a rather shameless reputation. While a peace treaty was formed between all the villages to cut back on military budget and reduce the sizes of their forces during times of peace, Kumo secretly does not honour to the agreement, seeing this as a chance to ensure that no other village can ever have an upper hand should hostilities later resume. Kumo's efforts to amass power often entail stealing secrets and kidnapping shinobi from other villages. The Third Tsuchikage notes that this behaviour has only provoked the other villages to employ the same tactics in kind. Several years before the Third Shinobi World War, Kumo shinobi kidnapped Kushina Uzumaki from Konoha in order to study her unique chakra, but were foiled by Minato Namikaze. A few years after the Third Shinobi World War, Kumo sent its Head Ninja to Konoha to sign a peace treaty, a cover for an attempt to acquire the Byakugan by kidnapping Hinata Hyūga. When the Head Ninja was killed by Hiashi Hyūga in the attempt, the village still tried to obtain the Byakugan by feigning knowledge of the their soldier's actions and threatening war unless Hiashi's body was turned over to make up for the Head Ninja's death. In what would be called the Hyūga Affair, Hiashi's twin was given to Kumo instead, as his Byakugan was sealed upon death and making it worthless. In the anime, Kumo made another attempt to acquire the Byakugan amidst the Konoha Crush, but failed yet again thanks to the efforts of Hiashi and Neji Hyūga.

One other method of securing power has been the tailed beasts. In the early days of the village, before buying tailed beasts from Konoha, Kumo sent the Gold and Silver Brothers to capture the Nine-Tails, a task at which they ultimately failed. With the tailed beasts in its possession, Kumo historically struggled to harness the beasts' power in jinchūriki; jinchūriki could not gain control of the beasts and would eventually lose control. The Eight-Tails would prove a particular headache in this regard, routinely rampaging through the village when its jinchūriki could not longer contain it. Because the Eight-Tails was too valuable to destroy, many were killed trying to seal it. The Eight-Tails' most recent jinchūriki, Killer B, as well as the jinchūriki of the Two-Tails, Yugito Nii, have been able to successfully control their beasts, leaving both highly valued by the village. Among the villages, Kumogakure also possesses the best technology to control a tailed beast, having built a whole temple for that sake. Although Kinkaku and Ginkaku had failed in their attempt at subduing the Nine-Tails, they have managed to become pseudo-Jinchūriki by eating the fox's chakra flesh for two weeks, a feat that a Kumogakure shinobi attempted to replicate with the Eight-Tails' tentacles, which led them to die instead.

When the Land of Flowers was nearly conquered by the Land of Earth, the Land of Lightning saved them from complete annexation. Since then, Flowers and Lighting are allies, and Kumo are obligated to protect them from any invasion attempts.

When Akatsuki captures B (the Fourth Raikage's brother) mere months after the similar capture of Yugito, the Raikage is outraged by the loss of the village's jinchūriki and calls a Kage Summit to find a way to deal with Akatsuki. Although suspicious of the other villages due to their histories with Akatsuki, Akatsuki's declaration of the Fourth Shinobi World War (and news that B only pretended to be captured) convinces the Raikage to join the Allied Shinobi Forces. He is appointed its Supreme Commander and Kumo is selected for the Allied Shinobi Forces' Headquarters, making it a target for Akatsuki's counter-offensive.

During the war, Kumo fell victim to the Infinite Tsukuyomi and God: Nativity of a World of Trees, but endures the attack. With the war won, Kumo works closely together with other villages, improving relationships between each other. Two years later Kumo is still consolidating power, but it does so for mutual benefit of all the villages by taking charge of stopping the moon from crashing into Earth. By the era of the Fifth Raikage, all five Kage are on good terms.

However, tensions did arise shortly after the attack of Momoshiki and Kinshiki Ōtsutsuki; Iwagakure was ordered by their Daimyō, Danjō, to invade and conquer the Land of Flowers, whom Kumogakure are obligated to protect due to their alliance. Kirigakure would also side with Iwa due to their trade in vital minerals, which would lead to a potential Fifth Shinobi World War that would dissolve the Shinobi Union and irretrievably destroy the peace that was so hard earned. Fortunately, due to the diplomatic assistance granted by the Seventh Hokage and Ikkyū Madoka, they were able to convince Danjō to call off the invasion, thus averting war.

Locations

 * Raikage's Office
 * Allied Shinobi Forces' Headquarters

Trivia

 * Several shinobi of the village have names that are based on letters of the Roman alphabet, such as "A", "B" and "C" for example. Also, several shinobi have names based on adjectives reflecting their personality such as Omoi (thought), Samui (cold), and Darui (dull) for example.
 * Additionally, several shinobi have tattoos of kanji upon their shoulders reflecting some individual characteristic like their techniques, name or seal, including Darui, Kinkaku and B for example.
 * Several of the village's techniques have a pun of being an English name that has been given kanji that somewhat matches the Japanese pronunciation.
 * In real life, the Kumogakure school is a ninjutsu school dating back to the sixteenth century.
 * The name of the village, as well as its kanji, is the Japanese word for "disappearance".