The village itself is literally embedded within a valley of mountains, each inhabited structure nearly indistinguishable from the stone it is hewn into. A network of bridges connected to its many high-rising spires. A series of tunnels linking subterranean labyrinths comprises the village’s lower infrastructure.

Surrounding the skyscraping range of mountainous peaks that encompass the Hidden Rock Village is a virtual forest of monolithic stone pillars, each several hundred feet high, that is said to have been created by the first Tsuchikage. Waters stream hurriedly through the narrow paths between the rough and massive spires, making navigation into the village a difficult task. An easier path through an egress in the forest of pillars is maintained by heavy guard for citizens and scheduled visitors to enter the village.

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The country itself began as isolated settlements within a mountainous terrain of rich soul; through this, the inhabitants of these many early hamlets were able to sustain themselves through international trading via the infamy of the land’s bountiful fruits. Steady prosperity gave way to the expansion of these many communities, whom would inevitably collide with one another, leading precipitously into widespread conflict throughout the northwestern region.

The introduction of practitioners of the budding ideals of Ninshuu turned the tide of the enduring stalemate that had prevailed for years. These enigmatic interlopers, who displayed the supernatural power to bend the very shape of the earth to their will, began offering their services as mercenaries to the highest bidder on each side of the conflict. In time, it would be these heralds of the new age that would bring about peace between the many warring clans.

However, their arrival could be considered somewhat bittersweet; the results of decades of warfare would be the undoing of what had been gained in the war’s preceding years. The shameful scars of avarice and greed can be seen throughout the Land of Earth, many battlefields existing as monuments of barren earth. This would, however, bear the fruit of the Village Hidden in the Rocks---an amalgamation of the surviving clans partnered with the country’s feudal lord.

Throughout the village’s earlier history, though a stance of neutrality had been staunchly maintained, internal conflict was widespread; in a village thronged with nearly all noble clans of the long-past warring period, the basis of each conflict was varied: claims to the seat of the first Tsuchikage, the distribution of political power and agricultural land, among others.

In the end, it would be the second Tsuchikage, Yara Yosuke that would prove to be quite the “persuasive” mediator---several clans deemed responsible for much of the unrest over the years were banished from the village altogether, with a massive power vacuum left in their wake; with so many assets now out of the village’s hands, Iwagakure’s decline was inevitable. Even after the installment of the Fifth’s replacement---his son, Yara Yuuji---and the many olive branches subsequently offered to these exiled bloodlines, the recovery has been minimal.