To a sheltered gazebo, then - still away from people but not their usual training ground. "So, what have you guys been reading lately, and how much do you already know about history and such, in broad strokes?"

"Mostly that this village isn't as stable as they like to pretend now."

"Unfortunately. There's a lot of reasons for that - and a lot of reasons for the current facade - but that means it isn't a bad thing to go into early on."

Nod.

She glances at the other two. 

"... Probably should act like I don't know anything, I think a lot of what I've been like actually told is false..."

"That sort of awareness is good. I can start with basics."

"You pretty much know for me," Sayuri says. "I've been reading that book on Lightning, but not much else new."

Small smile. 

"Well, we've all got a good base to start from, then."

"Okay."

"So... For Mist's current shape - would you rather start from the beginning or with the modern day?"

"Context is helpful. Beginning."

"Alright."

"So, Mist was formally founded sixty six years ago, three years after the founding of the first modern shinobi village, the Leaf."

"The founding period was preceeded by a bit over two centuries of fairly chaotic warfare, which broke out after the last emperor of the Shining Dynasty died without heirs. The daimyo, who had been provincial rulers under the empire, began to feud among themselves, with a few other factions throwing their hats in - the most significant at first was the core of samurai loyal only to the emperor, under the shogun."

"Shinobi at that time were fairly marginal, mostly serving as spies and assassins. Shinobi very often allied with revolutionary movements, and, of course, were mercenaries who didn't hold to samurai ideals of honor. The daimyo exhausted their forces over the course of the Warring States Period, though, and the toll it took on the countryside - and on civilian willingness to tolerate samurai rule - hampered rebuilding those forces. Some did better than others, especially those willing to train civilians as samurai."

"The overall power of the shinobi clans increased over the Warring States Period. During the end, there was a phase of consolidation, both among shinobi and samurai. Smaller clans were either absorbed or subordinated. The shinobi villages arguably grew out of that process, as consolidation left regions containing only powerful but relatively equal clans, who couldn't subordinate each other without risking wiping each other out."

"Of course, how this played out varied dramatically between regions. Wind doesn't have clans, per se, the way most other nations do. Leaf was the closest to a full consolidation - Fire had only two leading clans by within a few years of Leaf's founding, and then the Senju partially subordinated the Uchiha, forming a bloc no other nearby clans could challenge."

"In Mist, consolidation hadn't advanced nearly as far as in any other nation - but, because of our geography and resource differences, we were much less intensely at war with each other than with external enemies. The Land of Water and Mist both consolidated only in response to external threats - Fire was very closely allied with Whirlpool, one of our old enemies, and Fire had economic interest in breaking any hold Water could claim on regulating ocean trade, and Lightning - which had had the most total consolidation - was starting to expand outside of their peninsula."

"This had advantages and disadvantages. We hadn't utterly destroyed our infrastructure when trying to murder each other, and we had less bad blood internally. We had more individually powerful shinobi. We also had far less of a gap between each level of power, both with clans and individuals, and the process of choosing a leader and negotiating an alliance was fraught. Still, we managed, and then mostly stayed out of the First War - we stood to profit more from shipping than from invasion, and prior to that we'd been successfully hedging our competition out. Lightning tried to invade us, but was mostly tangled in the mainland, and Whirlpool was having internal issues that distracted them."

"We did, however, get dragged into the conflicts between the First and Second War, and then we got fully dragged into the Second War. The Second War was the longest single conflict this continent has seen in centuries, and it was also one of the bloodiest and most intense each year. The five deadliest battles of those we have records for all happened over its course. Both the Second and Third Mizukage died in that war, and it was a significant contributor to our later instability. The Fourth Mizukage took power thirteen years into the war, and she is usually credited as the primary actor who ended the war - not through strength of arms, because Mist was basically shattered, but through diplomacy."

"She maintained that start - peace, diplomacy, reconstruction, reconciliation - for four years, but... Not forever." Shinrei closes her eyes. 

"Then she went crazy, right?"

"Yes."

"It wasn't overnight. We didn't know what was happening. We were tired, and we trusted her, and she was charismatic, still. The Civil War didn't start until after her death, when the factions that had sprung up during the last years of her reign were unable to pick a Fifth Mizukage - compounded by the destruction from the Third War. Water's samurai had been nearly wiped out by the Second War, and our daimyo was assassinated during the Third. We have a blended government now, technically - neither the samurai nor shinobi could stand fully on their own after the Civil War."

"There's facts that we know now that we didn't then, about how the Fourth went insane, about exactly what she broke or sabotaged, though many of them are highly classified."

"I'd imagine so. Otherwise people would try to do it again."

She nods.

"That's not the sole reason, but it is much of it."

"What about the bloodline purges?"

"The source of why those weren't stopped lies in the Second War and earlier, and the Third Mizukage had been suspicious of clan power and often targetted clan members who he thought might oppose him, but... As individuals, mostly. The purges themselves were fully and formally begun by the Fourth Mizukage after she 'went insane,' and then spun out as a very, very nasty element of the Civil War."

"Better explanation than others I've gotten."

"Most explanations aren't very good..."

"Might have something to do with all the classification."

"Well, I haven't revealed anything that isn't commonly knowable. I think it's more - this was in everyone's lifetimes. The Fourth Mizukage took power twenty two years ago, and the Civil War began fourteen years ago. The vast majority of your teachers were already genin or nearly so by her death. Most are old enough to have served under her before her insanity."

"It's a painful topic, and - those are difficult to think clearly about."

"I guess."

"It's true, though, that we can't move forward as a village - and can't teach our students like we should - until we come to terms with... Everything."