What is the best village in Naruto and why is it Kirigakure?

In terms of military power, Kumo > Konoha > Iwa > Suna > Kiri, right?
How the fuck did the mist fuck up so bad

Having an graduation exam that makes students kill each other certainly doesn't help your military power

After Orochimaru and Suna double-teamed Konoha they dropped behind Iwa. Suna and Kiri were about equal. Suna has barely any resources and was losing money. Ofc now Konoha has Naruto and Sasuke.

Sure but it does breed talent

What about the minor villages? Can any of them hold a candle to the big five? Suna and Kiri don't seem much better off than places like Taki and Ame, the latter especially used to be a powerhouse

Amegakure definitely. It brings me back memories of Pain ost

>Can any of them hold a candle to the big five?
Historically no. The major threat to the smaller villages was always getting shat on by the larger ones.

>Suna and Kiri don't seem much better off than places like Taki and Ame,
I doubt they were. Ame especially. You could make a case that Ame was better under Hanzo than Pein since the first thing Pein did when he took over was kill off anyone who opposed him. But who the hell knows what Ame is like now?

So why has the power balance never shifted? Ame during Hanzo's reign was almost certainly more powerful than Kiri during Yagura's, for example. It should be expected for some villages to fall and for others to replace them.
Even Konoha was completely fucked after Pain's assault but it remained relevant anyway.

Would've been nice if kishi did a lot more worldbuilding
His style and ideas when it comes to architecture are pretty unique.
More of the story should've taken place outside of Konoha and outside of the country

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>So why has the power balance never shifted?
My guess is that its related to the advantages the great five have in being situated in larger countries. In effect, their daimyo have more money and therefore more power. The smaller countries can't compete. The Land of Fire especially has a lot of fertile land which equals the ability to maintain a larger standing army.

And we know for a fact that after the 3rd Shinobi War both Iwa and Kumo were secretly increasing their strength for a possible conflict that may have occurred if Akatsuki hadn't tried to take over the world. The Tsuchikage even went as far as hiring Akatsuki to keep his own men from dying.

The time it takes for the smaller villages to recover after a war is time the larger villages use to increase the distance in strength. The only possible exception I see is Otogakure because Orochimaru clearly has a shitton of money and someone had to have been funding him all this time.

*which increases the ability

not - equals the ability.

>Orochimaru clearly has a shitton of money
As much as a Daimyo? I doubt it. Orochimaru just has a vast network, but I don't think the Land of Sound competes with the bigger countries in terms of funding.

Oro probably has the Sound daimyo in his back pocket. I really want to see the village now though. Shino made it sound like they were rebuilding.