Iwagakure

**Iwagakure** (岩隠れの里, *Iwagakure no Sato*, *English TV:* Hidden Stone Village, *literally meaning:* Village Hidden by Rocks) is the hidden village of the Land of Earth. As the village of one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries, Iwagakure has a Kage as its leader known as the Tsuchikage, of which there have been four in its history. The rocky mountain ranges that surround the village provide a natural stronghold that it is very proud of. The village's infrastructure is built from much of the surrounding rock and stone, shaped into tower-like structures that are inter-connected by a network of bridges. The Tsuchikage's residence seems to be the tallest structure with a cone-shaped roof and bears the kanji for "Earth" (土, *Tsuchi*) on it.

The standard attire for Iwa shinobi consists of red outfit — which can either have one, or both sleeves — a lapel which is usually found on the side without a sleeve and a brown flak jacket — which also may, or may not have a pouch attached to it. They also tend to wear mesh armour around their ankles. Many Iwagakure ninja use Earth Release techniques. Iwagakure is well-known for the rock-hard attitude of its shinobi; as soon as the Tsuchikage gives an order, the Iwa-nin follow it without hesitation, even if it means death.

## History

Iwagakure was founded after the Warring States Period by the First Tsuchikage. Shortly after the formation of their villages, Konoha's First Hokage sold tailed beasts to Iwa as a sign of friendship and to ensure a balance of power amongst their new villages. Despite this bid for peace, Madara Uchiha made efforts unsanctioned by the Hokage or the rest of Konoha to make Iwa subservient to Konoha. Relations between the villages would eventually break down:

* Iwa's close proximity with Suna has led to numerous conflicts over the years, enough that enmity between its shinobi has become deep-seated.
* The Second Tsuchikage and Kiri's Second Mizukage at some point met in battle and killed each other.
* Iwagakure participated in the Second Shinobi World War, where it fought Konoha and Suna across Amegakure.
* During the Third Shinobi World War, Iwa fought Konoha across Kusagakure. Although Iwa was winning the war for a time, the destruction of the Kannabi Bridge cut off its supply line, turning the war in Konoha's favour. In the anime, Konoha's Yellow Flash defeated 1,000 Iwa shinobi in a single battle, prompting the Third Tsuchikage to surrender.
* In the anime, Iwa's many battles with Konoha were often led by the Kamizuru clan. When Konoha's Aburame clan proved the perfect counters to the Kamizuru, their status within the village declined.

Even during times of peace, Iwa and its Tsuchikage have worked behind the scenes against its fellow villages, such as by using mercenaries like Akatsuki to carry out missions the village could not be directly involved in or that it lacked the resources for. Deidara, pupil of the Third Tsuchikage, stole a forbidden technique to further his artistic pursuits, and defected after using his new art to leave the village structures in shambles, becoming a terrorist bomber for hire before his forced recruitment into Akatsuki. In the anime, Iwa betrayed Kiri during an incident that would come to be known as the Tragedy of Yosuga Pass; while on a joint mission against Kumo, Iwa forces killed most of its Kiri allies in order to take all the mission's spoils for itself. Also in the anime, Iwa attacks Konoha after the Konoha Crush in order to take advantage of its weakened manpower but is thwarted by Kosuke Maruboshi.

Like many villages, Iwagakure eventually began sealing its tailed beasts into jinchūriki; the most recent jinchūriki of its Four-Tails was Rōshi and the most recent jinchūriki of its Five-Tails was Han. Since the Second Tsuchikage's era, they actively took part in acquiring other tailed beasts. The anime suggests that Iwa did not hold its jinchūriki, or at least Han, in high regard and was glad when Akatsuki captured him. The Third Tsuchikage's words during a Kage Summit suggest that this is not entirely true, as he calls Akatsuki's capture of both its jinchūriki an embarrassment.

Iwagakure joins the Allied Shinobi Forces during the Fourth Shinobi World War in order to oppose Akatsuki. Although initially planning to continue undermining the other villages as it has for years, conversation with the Fifth Kazekage convinces the Third Tsuchikage that Iwa has lost its way. As such, the Third advocates cooperation with the other villages and becomes personally involved in several battles in order to set an example. In the anime, he even apologises to the other villages for previous actions against them that he has sanctioned.

The war was eventually won, but it left massive scars on the world and Iwa, as well as causing a great loss of human life. The villagers spent day and night restoring the village, and in a few years, they built a new town on the outskirts of the village, with the tallest building in it housing the Tsuchikage, and the original village becoming known as the "Old City". When the Earth Daimyō intended to take over the Land of Flowers, putting Kurotsuchi in a bind, the world was, yet again, nearly thrown into another devastating war.

Years after the Fourth Shinobi World War, the Third Tsuchikage was left disillusioned with their newfound peace when a missing-nin attacked the village that left many genin dead due to their waning strength from inactivity. As a result, he went to research on creating Akuta, artificial soldiers who would supplant the shinobi to protect the weak. However, due to the sudden disobedience of these creatures during the demonstration, along with such attempts to build a private army being in transgression of the agreements of the Union, the Fourth Tsuchikage banned any further developments. Nevertheless, the Third would continue his work in secret, creating Fabrications to serve as commanders for his Akuta army. However, Ōnoki's plans went awry when the Fabrications gained their own free will from their desire to live longer than their fragile artificial lives would allow, which led to their revolt against the village by placing it under lock-down while trying to sacrifice five villagers to transplant their human hearts into themselves. With the help of Konohagakure's Teams 7 and 10, the Fabrications were defeated and the Akuta army were destroyed, although Ōnoki died while fighting the last Fabrication. Although Iwagakure, the Five Kage and the small amount of Konohagakure teams knew of the truth, the rest of the world were given a cover story that Ōnoki died from ill-health during a dissenter attack on the village that was suppressed by Kurotsuchi.