Highlights
- The Hidden Cloud Village has a history of power-hungry policies, violating peace treaties, and committing kidnappings and espionage to amass military power.
- The Leaf Village was blindsided when the Cloud Village kidnapped their Jinchuriki, causing strain in their relations and leaving a lasting impact.
- The Cloud Village has a reputation for attempting to steal bloodline abilities, such as the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan, and demanding sacrifices without being held accountable for their actions.
The Five Great Nations are often viewed as leaders of the shinobi world, yet such a position has never stopped these nations from resorting to underhanded tactics. While each of the five nations has a muddled history, the Hidden Cloud Village arguably has the most atrocious past, committing multiple crimes simply to amass military power.
The Raikage’s power-hungry policies led to the Cloud garnering a negative reputation among the ninja world, and the blatant disregard of peace treaties led to the other nations following suit. While the Cloud Village has committed several atrocities over its short existence, the Naruto series has revealed only those that involved the Hidden Leaf Village. However, these incidents are enough to paint the true picture of the Cloud’s deplorable past.
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The Hidden Cloud’s Power-Hungry Policies
In the current setting of Naruto, the Hidden Cloud Village sits atop the military rankings, boasting an immense army with all-powerful techniques. However, this wasn’t always the case, as the Cloud used to be barely on par with the other nations. It lacked Kekkei Genkai and its two Tailed Beasts remained untamed by its Jinchuriki, putting the nation at a disadvantage against the other four nations.
This dire situation forced the Hidden Cloud Village to start the process of amassing its military might, one that involved a direct violation of peace treaties and intervening in the sovereignty of other nations. The other nations had accepted a treaty to reduce military budgets and cut back on amassing power, yet the Cloud Village secretly kept on inflating its military size.
However, simply growing a larger army wasn’t the last of the Cloud’s expansionist policies, as the village went on to commit several kidnappings and espionage to steal clan secrets. These atrocious acts were met by hostility from other nations, forcing the other villages to scrap the peace treaties and resort to similar tactics. It won’t be wrong to state that the Cloud is responsible for several major conflicts in the series, rightfully gaining a loathsome reputation among the ninja world.
Kidnapping the Leaf’s Jinchuriki
The Hidden Cloud Village has always been infamous for its low blow tactics to further its military might, yet the Leaf Village was entirely blindsided when its only Jinchuriki was kidnapped from within its borders. In a bid to capture the Nine-Tails and utilize Kushina Uzumaki’s novel chakra, three skilled Cloud shinobi infiltrated the village and kidnapped the 12-year-old Jinchuriki.
Kushina extinct Uzumaki bloodline, a clan known for its Fuinjutsu and Tailed Beast repressing chakra. The Raikage wanted to utilize this power to tame the Cloud's own Tailed Beasts, the Two-Tails and the Eight-Tails. Without having control over their respective Tailed Beasts, Jinchuriki are essentially useless to their nation, in-turn causing more harm in the form of rampages.
The kidnapping was foiled by Minato’s intervention, who was able to track Kushina using the hair strands she left behind. The kidnapping may have been thwarted, yet the incident left a glaring mark on the Leaf and Cloud’s relations, straining their ties indefinitely. However, the incident didn’t seem to have any long-lasting impact as the two villages were witnessed signing a peace treaty years later.
An Attempt to Steal the Byakugan
Since the Hidden Cloud Village possesses no strong bloodlines of its own, its history has been riddled with attempts to acquire secret techniques and Kekkei Genkai of other nations. The Hyuga Clan also became victim to this greed, with its revered Byakugan becoming a target of the Cloud’s power-hungry antics. Some time after the Third Great Ninja War, the Hidden Cloud sent its head ninja to sign an official peace treaty with the Leaf, marking the end of a brutal war. However, the treaty signing was merely a ruse, as the head ninja’s actual mission was to capture the Hyuga’s heiress.
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The head ninja was eventually caught and killed by Hiashi Hyuga, saving Hinata and the clan’s secret Dojutsu in the process. Despite a clear act of aggression against the Leaf, the Hidden Cloud demanded the death of Hiashi for killing the head ninja, forcing Hizashi to pose as his brother and take the fall. The entire ordeal was eventually known as the Hyuga Affair, and it still baffles many how the Hidden Cloud got away with such a deplorable act, even going as far as demanding a sacrifice.
Why Was the Hidden Cloud Never Held Accountable?
While every other village has been held accountable for their misdeeds and acts of aggression, the Hidden Cloud seems to get away with most of its atrocities. One reason could be the Hidden Cloud’s military might that forced other nations into a policy of appeasement. Despite a lack of rare Kekkei Genkai, the Hidden Cloud still boasted an immense military and two Tailed Beasts, deterring other nations from engaging directly in an all-out war.
The Cloud’s despicable actions were also overlooked due to every other nation eventually engaging in similar tactics. Espionage became highly common among all five nations, and none could claim the moral high ground. This allowed the Hidden Cloud to sweep its own atrocities under the rug, though the village still acquired a vile reputation among the ninja world.
Naruto is available to stream on Prime Video.
