Naruto's Place

Shinobi villages or hidden villages , "Kakurezato" are ninja villages that serve as the military force for their country. A hidden village maintains its economy by training its citizens to be ninja from a young age and using them as manpower in various missions others would be willing to pay for, from weeding a garden for a single payment to receiving a constant budget from the country it resides in for being soldiers in case the country is involved in a war. The hidden villages of the five great countries each have a Kage as its leader.

Village Hidden Among Stars (Hoshigakure) is located in the Land of Bears. Hoshigakure was formed sometime after a strange meteorite, which they call the "star", struck its location 200 years previous. Dialog from its inhabitants suggests that it can't have been around longer than Konoha. Its leader is the Hoshikage (���e, "Star Shadow"), though the leader is a Kage in name only. The other villages do not recognize Hoshigakure as an equal, nor is there any ninja truly worthy of the title.

The meteorite itself is not that large, but it emits a chakra-enhancing radiation. No trees or plants could grow around the vicinity after it landed. The First Hoshikage was able to devise a training method to allow the ninja in the village to harness the power of the star, allowing its ninja supernatural chakra levels. Completion of the training allows the user almost unrivaled chakra control, to the point where they can solidify it as a shield or create wings for flight. It has since been destroyed. The training was eventually forbidden by the Third Hoshikage, after he realized the deadly toll the training took on those doing it. Even if one can survive the training, the side effects will eventually kill them. Only Natsuhi and Hotorubi, the parents of Sumaru, managed to survive the training, and both died eventually. The Third was assassinateed by Akahoshi, who became the substitute Hoshikage and reenstated the training. Knowing what the star did, he decided to ignore the effects in the hope of forcing the other villages to accept Hoshigakure.

During a filler arc, a bodyguard request for the star came from Hoshigakure. Team Guy team was sent as bodyguards, and Naruto joins them by bribing Tsunade with sweets. There they meet Sumaru, who hopes to become a worthy Hoshikage. Naruto empathises with Sumaru, since their goals, and general situations, are the same. Team Guy and Naruto eventually learn of the secret of the star, and it is destroyed by Naruto after Akahoshi implants it in his own chest.

Village Hidden in Smoke (Kemurigakure) is a village alluded to in episode 101 of the anime. Its location is unknown, as are the capabilities of its ninja. The only three ninja from the village that have appeared were portrayed as rather inept, but this may not be indicative of the overall state of the village. Instead, the three ninja in question could easily be untalented outcasts.

The Smoke Shinobi featured in the episode, who were identified as the Moya brothers, were portrayed as bumbling, incompetent ninja who could barely use any sort of jutsu, if any at all. Kakashi saved a woman that one was trying to wed by force, and tied them up in the process. This event is apparently so insignificant that Kakashi could not remember it after meeting them once more. Since Kakashi's intervention would seem a product of random chance, it is likely that Kemurigakure is in the Land of Fire, given that smoke is a natural product of fire.

Village Hidden in Mist (Kirigakure) is one of the five great hidden villages and is located in the Land of Water. Its leader is the Mizukage. Little is known about Kirigakure, except that its ninja specialize in water-based jutsu. In the past, the graduation exam for becoming Genin was rather inhumane: 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 cut short, however, when Momochi Zabuza, a boy who had failed to pass the preliminary exam to even attend the ninja academy, went mad and killed all of the students in that year's graduating class.

This village was once the home of the famous Kaguya clan, who had a kekkei genkai ability allowing them to control their own bones, and the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, who were a famous group of swordsmen. The Kaguya clan was wiped out after they went to war on their own village, and at least three of the Seven Swordsmen (Hoshigaki Kisame, Momochi Zabuza, and Kurosuki Raiga) became missing-nins. The reason for the Kaguya's clan actions was their love for battle and killing. Presumably, the Land of Water was already at peace which caused the clan to attack their ninja village for their love of battle. The were soundly defeated, leaving Kaguya Kimimaro as the only survivor.

In chapter 303, this country is briefly referenced by Yamato as "the Village Hidden in the Bloody Mist", a nickname it had gained through its practice of pitting trainees against one another in order to make them into emotionless killing machines. Yamato contends that Sai was subjected to this method in preparation for serving Danzo's Root division.

Hidden Leaf Village (Konohagakure), or Konoha for short, is one of the five great ninja villages. As such, it is one of five villages with a Kage as its leader, known as the Hokage.

Although Konoha, much like the country in which it resides, has been peaceful for the past twelve years and has grown accustomed to that peace, it remains one of the most powerful villages in existence, with an overall ninja population much greater than that of any other village, and therefore has great military power and influence. In the Ch�nin exam, out of all 153 Genin participants, Konoha had 87 Leaf Genin (72 in the anime) trying to become Ch�nin, whereas all other ninja villages had considerably fewer participating: 30 Sand Genin, 21 Rain Genin, 6 Grass Genin (15 in the anime), 6 Waterfall Genin (12 in the anime), and 3 Sound Genin (6 counting Kabuto and his teammates). In addition, Konoha is the village which hosted the event, which possibly contributed to the unbalanced number of participants. It has been mentioned that certain villages (such as the Kirigakure) have had exams of their own in the past, and presumably, may hold a grudge against Konoha. The hiragana (an) is painted on the entrance gates of the village (one hiragana on each door). This means hermitage or retreat.

Konoha is the home to several noteworthy clans (even a few with kekkei genkai abilities), among them the Hyuga clan and the nearly extinct Uchiha clan (whose only remaining members are Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Itachi, who slaughtered the rest of his clan).

Village Hidden in Grass (Kusagakure) islocated in the Land of Grass. Nothing apart from that is known about it at this point, but it stands to reason that its ninja specialize in jutsu involving flora. Judging from the ninja that have hailed from Kusagakure, it can be assumed that this village is far less pleasant than Konohagakure.

During the second Ch�nin exam, Orochimaru and his Sound ninja impersonated a three-man Genin team from Kusagakure using a mysterious technique which literally melts the victims' faces off. This made the unfortunate Grass-nin identifiable only by their ID tags. Later, in the third stage finals of the Ch�nin exams, two shinobi from Kusagakure, Midori and Tsuba, were hired to intimidate Gaara to forfeit his match against Uchiha Sasuke intentionally so their feudal lords would win a bet on the fight. When Gaara doesn't respond, they attack him, and are killed almost instantly. In a stroke of luck, it is their deaths that keep Gaara from killing Naruto and Shikamaru, since Gaara's bloodlust is satisfied for the moment.

Village Hidden in a Waterfall (Takigakure) is located in the Land of the Waterfall. It's lead by Shibuki, who seems too much of a coward for the job at first. Nothing apart from that is known about it at this point, but it stands to reason that its ninja specialize in water-based jutsu. Also, its leader processed a type of water called the Hero Water, which was extracted from a rather old tree. It gives the user ten times their ordinary chakra level. However, the strain of its use can prove fatal.

There were six genin participants (12 in the anime) from Takigakure in the first part of the Ch�nin exam, none of whom made it to the third stage of the examination.