Where is that stated? I know that we are a Genin and thus young, but i don't think we know our position in the timeline. For all we know we were in the Academy class that graduated before Zabuza.
Ah, point.
Unfounded assumption on my part.
I think we should choose between a lesser country though.
After looking at the map here are some that stand out:
[]Grass
[]Waterfall
[]Hot Springs
[]Rice
[]Wave
They all contain lesser villages, and they all border an enemy of the Leaf, making Leaf less likely to wish to stamp us out and might even motivate them to help us survive. The best choice would probably be Wave, since it has no village of it's own.
The problem here is that is far too close to Mist for comfort. I want a big land-mass between our former village and us thank-you-very-much.
Several of the others are dependent on where in the time-line we are and how accurate our knowledge of it is.
Rice would be good if we are before the formation of Sound. If we are in the progress of the formation of Sound or after it is founded it would be bad. Being discovered by Orochimaru would be less than pleasant("Test-subjects! *Squees* *collects*).
Hot springs would be good if we are after the dissolution of Yugakure. Then we would be the only ninja village in the country. This is probably the best bet among the minor ones, but is a bit too close to Mist again. If we are in the march-up to the war on akatsuki it would be bad. But if the war on akatsuki is imminent, most places would be bad.
Grass was (in the series, probably here also due to geographical location remaining similar) the front between Earth and Leaf in the second shinobi war. As such, we can assume that both countries have an interest in a buffer here, and/or controlling the villages. Proxy-warfare ho!
We could ally with one or the other and take missions of sabotage and recieve tacit support if discovered.
Waterfall could be intersting. They have a penchant for producing skilled jounin though, which could be bad. This also borders Leaf and Earth. The same situation as with Grass might apply. Which could be interesting.
Iron and Rain are both non-starters if political situation in the quest is similar to the series.
River might be interesting, but the alliance between Leaf and Sand makes none of them interested in supporting us.
To my mind, the places we would be most useful would be either Hot springs or Grass. Grass gives a politically charged environment to play on, while Hot Springs gives us a blank slate, but is a bit close to Mist.
All of these suggestions are made with the assumption that we want to play on our knowledge of Leaf and its political environment, while at the same time not antagonizing them by trying to found a ninja village on their territory. If the assumption that "founding a ninja village on their territory == bad" is wrong, I'm all for being in Leaf, with a few minor reservations left.
1) We would be competing with a major village for missions. This might or might not be relevant. In the short-term likely not. If founding village is successful then it could be a problem.
2) We would have to traverse Leafs (assumed) well-guarded borders to take missions outside Leaf.
Comments?
