The formation of konohagakure

Konohagakure (木ノ葉隠れの里, Konohagakure no Sato; Literally meaning "Village Hidden by Tree Leaves"; also known as "Village Hidden in the Leaves" or "Hidden Leaf Village") is the hidden village of the Land of Fire. As one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries, Konohagakure has a Kage as its leader known as the Hokage. There have been five official Hokage, the most recent being Tsunade. On a mountain overlooking the village from the north exists the Hokage Monument. Although Konoha which is known as the most powerful village possessing an elite shinobi army corps,[1] much like the country in which it resides, has been relatively peaceful since the end of the Third Shinobi World War, it remains one of the most powerful villages in existence, and has great military power and influence, though this has waned in the past three years following the attacks by Orochimaru and Pain. The shinobi of this village wear blue or black shirts which may or may not have swirl patterns on the shoulders, along with matching coloured pants over a green flak jacket which also has a red swirl on the back, and pockets on the chest area. They also tend to wrap bandages around their leg.

The Founding

In the time before the creation of the ninja villages, ninja were organised into small mercenary clans that knew nothing but battle. Of the countless ninja clans, the Uchiha clan and the Senju clan were the strongest. After much bloodshed, the Senju offered a truce with the Uchiha. The leader of the Uchiha, Madara Uchiha objected, and was forced, by the rest of the Uchiha to accept. The Senju, the Uchiha, and the other clans conquered by the Uchiha came together to create Konohagakure. Hashirama Senju, the leader of the Senju, used his Wood Release abilities to produce much of the villages' infrastructure. For this reason he was selected to be the First Hokage by the villagers.

Fearing that the Senju who were now in control of Konoha, would oppress them because they were their former rivals, Madara tried to gather support to overthrow Hashirama. However, no Uchiha would help, forcing him to take on Hashirama by himself. Madara was ultimately defeated at what would be called the Valley of the End and was believed to have died. After the battle, Konoha came into possession of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox after Mito Uzumaki sealed it with herself. To contain its power, the village began its trend of sealing the beast within members of the Uzumaki clan, a clan that the Senju, and thus the rest of Konoha, had close ties with. Hashirama gave the other tailed beasts in his possession to other newly-formed villages to promote peace. However this peace was short lived.

Shinobi Wars

Konoha took part in the first three ninja wars. Hashirama died during the First Shinobi World War, necessitating his brother replace him as Second Hokage. The Second would also die during the war, killed by Kumogakure's ninja, but he appointed Hiruzen Sarutobi as his successor before his death. Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, later led Konoha's forces during the Second Shinobi World War. Other than fighting across Amegakure, causing numerous clashes with Amegakure's Hanzō, little is known of Konoha's actions during the war. Decades later Konoha became involved in the Third Shinobi World War; Konoha fought Iwagakure, using Kusagakure as their battleground. Konoha was almost defeated, but Minato Namikaze helped turn the war back in their favour.

Kyuubi attack on konoha

After the end of the Third Shinobi World War, Minato was chosen as the Fourth Hokage. Soon after taking office, Tobi snuck into the village and, after removing the Nine-Tails from its host, used it to attack Konoha. Minato was able to defeat Tobi, but later sacrificed his life to re-contain the Nine-Tails, sealing the beast into his son, Naruto Uzumaki. Many ninja died defending the village that day and Naruto, now the beast's host was inadvertently blamed for its actions.