Konohagakure

The Life of a Shinobi 2: Naruto Uzumaki

**Konohagakure** (木ノ葉隠れの里, *Konohagakure no Sato*, *English TV:*Village Hidden in the Leaves" or "Hidden Leaf Village, *Literally meaning:*Village Hidden by Tree Leaves) is the hidden village of the Land of Fire. As the village of one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries, Konohagakure has a Kage as its leader known as the Hokage, of which there have been seven in its history. Konoha resides deep within a forest at the base of a mountain known as the Hokage Rock, which has the faces of all those who have taken the office of Hokage engraved on it.

The Hidden Leaf Village is the most significant location in all of Naruto, being the main setting of both the anime, manga, and The Life of a Shinobi RPs (original and reboot).

## History

### Founding

During the Warring States Period, ninja were organised into small mercenary clans that knew nothing but battle. The two strongest of these clans were the Senju and the Uchiha, who had warred against each other for their entire histories. Eventually, intending to end the countless bloodshed, Hashirama Senju used his position as leader of his clan to create a truce with the Uchiha clan. The Senju, the Uchiha, and their affiliated clans formed the first shinobi village: Konohagakure — a name invented by Madara himself. Other villages would soon start being formed following Konoha's example, ending the Warring States Period.

Hashirama used his Wood Release abilities to produce much of the village's infrastructure.This ability and his ideals were two of the reasons he was chosen to become the village's leader: the Hokage. Madara, however, feared that the Senju would oppress his clan and attempted to gather support to overthrow Hashirama. 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 he was believed to have died. As a result of the battle, Konoha came into possession of the Nine-Tails Kurama. To contain its enormous power, the village began its trend of sealing the beast within the Uzumaki, a clan that the Senju and thus the rest of Konoha had close ties with. At some point, Hashirama came to bind some of the other tailed beasts and gave them to the other newly formed ninja villages to promote peace and tranquility. Hashirama died shortly after the village began to flourish, and the mantle of Hokage was passed onto his brother, Tobirama Senju, who became the Second Hokage.

### Historic Events

After the end of the Third Shinobi World War, Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, chose Minato to replace him as Fourth Hokage. Soon after Minato took office, however, a masked man kidnapped the Nine-Tails' Uzumaki-host and removed it from her body, which he then used to attack Konoha. Minato was able to defeat the man, but the Nine-Tails proved more difficult. Left with few options, Minato gave his life to seal the Nine-Tails into the body of his newborn son, Naruto Uzumaki. Many ninja died defending the village, and most survivors blamed Naruto for the Nine-Tails' actions. Hiruzen, Hokage again, outlawed all mention of the Nine-Tails so that future generations would not hate Naruto as their parents did.

Konoha's leadership believed an Uchiha was responsible for the Nine-Tails' attack, and as such cut off the Uchiha from much of the village's affairs. Angered by this mistreatment, many of the Uchiha began plotting a coup d'état that would wrest control of Konoha. However, some Uchiha saw the dangers from such a venture. One such figure was Itachi Uchiha, who became a spy for Konoha's leadership. After peace talks failed, Danzō Shimura ordered Itachi to wipe out his clan in exchange for being allowed to spare his younger brother, Sasuke. Itachi, with assistance from Tobi, did as instructed, but staged events to seem as though he acted alone and for selfish purposes so that Sasuke would someday take vengeance against him for what he did to their family.

During Part I, Konoha is the site of the Chūnin Exams. During the exams' final stage the village is invaded by Otogakure and Sunagakure ninja, an attempt to end the peace and prosperity that Konoha alone has enjoyed since the Third Shinobi World War. The invaders are repelled, but Konoha suffers heavy casualties, including Hiruzen. Although Tsunade quickly replaces him as Fifth Hokage, recovery for the rest of Konoha's military forces is slow. The village is understaffed until Part II, leaving it unable to properly respond to events occurring in the interim such as Sasuke Uchiha's defection.

Three years after the failed Konoha Crush, Pain of the Akatsuki attacks Konoha with his six paths and Konan in an effort to capture Naruto. Konoha's forces have some success while fighting the Pains individually, but can do nothing to stop the village's destruction by Pain's Almighty Push. Naruto returns to Konoha shortly afterwards and defeats Pain before confronting Nagato, the man behind Pain. After Naruto convinces him that his actions were wrong, Nagato gives his life to revive everyone that died during the invasion. Tsunade is left in a coma from exhausting herself in protecting Konoha from Pain, causing Danzō Shimura to temporarily take office as her replacement. Danzō oversees the start of the village's lengthy rebuilding process and deals with the immediate aftermath of Pain's attack.

Because of Akatsuki's growing aggression, the ninja villages decide to form an Allied Shinobi Forces to oppose Akatsuki in the Fourth Shinobi World War. Danzō is killed shortly after the Alliance is agreed upon, but Tsunade wakes from her coma in time to start overseeing the war efforts. Despite still being under construction, Konoha is used as a haven for refugees fleeing countries where much of the fighting is expected to take place. By the time the war is won, most of the village has been restored.

After the war, Konoha experienced a population boost under the leadership of Kakashi Hatake and Naruto Uzumaki as the Sixth and Seventh Hokages respectively. The village has overall grown in size and a series of skyscrapers have been built behind the Hokage Rock. The village has experienced a technical revolution, with computers, cell phones, and electric trains being available. Some, such as Sarada Uchiha, note Konoha is now a city rather than a village.

## The Life of a Shinobi

The story of the original Life of a Shinobi takes place 30 years after the events of Naruto Shippuden. However, due to the time the RP was started, the members of the forum had little to no knowledge of the canon events after Shippuden. As a result, canon material beyond the Fourth Shinobi World War is absent from the story. So in this story, there are no skyscrapers and modern technologies in the village, and Kakashi Hatake was never the Hokage. Instead, technologically in the village has actually made very few advancements, and Tsunade remained Hokage until Naruto Uzumaki was able to take her place. Eventually, however, Naruto died in a battle and was succeeded by Konohamaru Sarutobi.

Several things to take note of:

After Naruto's death, Kurama was eventually sealed into Kitsune Kasai. This breaks the trend of Konoha continuing to seal the nine-tails into members of the Uzumaki clan.

Although mostly extinct, the Uchiha clan has not been exterminated completely. An Uchiha named Taka is introduced in chapter 5.

## The Life of a Shinobi 2

The story of the Life of a Shinobi reboot takes place 17 years after the events of Naruto Shippuden. Taking into account their newly obtained knowledge of the events after Shippuden, this Leaf Village is updated to fit the village of the Boruto era, and the history of Hokages now includes Kakashi and excludes Konohamaru. Naruto Uzumaki is the current Hokage in this story.

## Inhabitants

The Hidden Leaf village is generally seen as having the most skilled shinobi out of all 5 Great Nations. The standard attire for Konoha shinobi consists of blue or black shirts which may or may not have swirl patterns on the shoulders, along with matching coloured pants under 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 legs. Many Konohagakure ninja use Fire Style techniques, connecting with their heritage as people from the Land of Fire.

The majority of characters in the anime, manga, The Life of a Shinobi, and The Life of a Shinobi 2 hail from the Hidden Leaf Village. For a list of Hidden Leaf Village characters who appear in The Life of a Shinobi or The Life of a Shinobi 2, click here.