Every Konoha attack in Naruto, explained in detail

Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaf, is a central setting in Naruto, as the home to the franchise’s indomitable main protagonist, Naruto Uzumaki, and many other formidable shinobi, such as Sasuke Uchiha, Kakashi Hatake, Might Guy, Obito Uchiha, Madara Uchiha, Hashirama Senju, Minato Namikaze, and more.

The Leaf Village serves as the vibrant heart of the series, shaping the main character’s growth while unveiling the legendary tales of several heroic ninjas. Though renowned for its extraordinary, essentially unparalleled military power, the Leaf has experienced some moments of upheaval due to external assaults.

In most cases, threats were thwarted before they could escalate into full-scale conflicts. For example, a Hidden Cloud ninja’s attempt to kidnap Hinata Hyuga was quickly foiled, while Hashirama took on Madara and the Nine-Tails to safeguard the village from destruction.

In other instances, however, the Leaf’s shinobi were forced to defend their home in the face of overwhelming odds. Read on to discover the most catastrophic attacks that have tested Konoha’s resilience.

Disclaimer: This article focuses exclusively on events from the Naruto series, not covering any events from Boruto: Naruto Next Generations and Boruto: Two Blue Vortex.

A chronological recap of every major attack on the Leaf Village in Naruto

1) The Nine-Tails Attack

Obito kidnaps Minato's newborn son (Image via Shueisha)

During the mission at Kannabi Bridge, a near-death Obito Uchiha entrusted one of his Sharingan eyes to his comrade, the young prodigy Kakashi Hatake. Rescued by an elderly Madara Uchiha's minions, Obito survived, only to see his beloved Rin Nohara perish at Kakashi’s hands during a battle against a group of Hidden Mist ninjas.

Rin's death pushed Obito beyond the brink, awakening the true power of his Sharingan, which he used to slaughter all the Mist shinobi. He then resolved to embrace Madara’s “Eye of the Moon” plan, unaware that Madara had staged Rin’s death to make him sympathetic to his beliefs. Meanwhile, in Konoha, Kakashi visited Obito’s grave daily, mourning his friend as a fallen hero.

Using Kamui to infiltrate Konoha undeterred, Obito overheard Kakashi saying that Kushina Uzumaki, the jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox and wife of his former teacher Minato Namikaze, would soon give birth. Knowing that the seal binding the Nine-Tails would weaken during childbirth, Obito decided to exploit the opportunity to seize the Nine-Tails.

The Nine-Tails unleashed on Konoha (Image via Shueisha)

Twelve years before the main story began, on the night of October 10, Obito slipped into the cave where the birth was taking place. His face covered by a mask, he took Kushina and Minato’s newborn son, Naruto Uzumaki, as a hostage, threatening to kill him if Minato didn’t let him extract the Nine-Tails from Kushina.

Minato, who had recently been appointed as the Fourth Hokage, managed to save his son, but was forced to teleport away with the Flying Thunder God Jutsu in the process. So, Obito remained alone with Kushina, whose seal was about to break, and extracted the Nine-Tails from her.

The Fourth Hokage tracked them just in time to teleport Kushina to the same safe-house where he had left the newborn Naruto, but the worst was yet to come as Obito used his Sharingan to enslave the Nine-Tails, commanding it to destroy Konoha. The mighty Tailed Beast violently attacked the village, sowing death and widespread destruction.

Obito, disguised as Tobi, faces Minato (Image via Shueisha)

After Minato used his Flying Thunder God Jutsu to defend Konoha from one of the Nine-Tailed Fox’s devastating blasts, Obito, his identity still concealed, confronted him. Meanwhile, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the retired Third Hokage, led the villagers in a desperate attempt to hold off the Nine-Tails.

Obito’s Kamui cornered Minato, but the Fourth Hokage outmaneuvered his opponent, winning the battle of space-time techniques with a brilliant move. Minato injured Obito, striking him with a perfectly timed Rasengan. Deprived of his control over the Nine-Tails, Obito decided to flee, leaving Minato to deal with the beast, which was still wreaking havoc in Konoha.

As the Nine-Tails was about to unleash a shattering Tailed Beast Ball on the village, Minato summoned Gamabunta to restrain the creature for a moment. He then teleported the Nine-Tails away from Konoha and reunited with his wife and newborn son.

Minato and Kushina's sacrifice (Image via Shueisha)

Believing that Naruto was the “Child of Prophecy” destined to save the world, and that he could need the Nine Tailed-Fox’s power in the future, Minato sealed half of the beast’s chakra into his son. He then performed the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to lock down the other half into his body at the cost of his own life.

Prior to being sealed, the Nine-Tails tried to kill Naruto, forcing Minato and Kushina to shield their infant son with their bodies. As Hiruzen arrived on the scene, he found Minato and Kushina lifeless, with the newborn Naruto being the new jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails.

Before dying, Minato and Kushina imbued fragments of their chakra within the seal, so that they could someday appear to Naruto and help him. In the years to come, most of Konoha’s inhabitants would hate Naruto, undeservedly blaming him for the Nine-Tails’ attack that had killed so many villagers. The boy, already an orphan, grew up facing the hardships of solitude.

Knowing that only a powerful Sharingan could control the Nine-Tails, many citizens of the Leaf started speculating that the Uchiha Clan was behind the attack, leading to rising tensions that culminated in Itachi Uchiha’s decision to slaughter his fellow clansmen to prevent them from finalizing a takeover of the village.

2) Konoha Crush

After the Nine-Tailed Fox’s rampage, the Leaf enjoyed relative peace and prosperity for about a dozen years until ninjas from the Hidden Sand and Hidden Sound assaulted the village. The invasion was orchestrated by Orochimaru, a former Leaf ninja driven by vengeance against the village and its leader, his former teacher Hiruzen Sarutobi.

A genius shinobi, Orochimaru had forsaken all morality, consumed by his obsession with becoming immortal and learning all of the world’s secrets. He even used his fellow citizens as human test subjects for his twisted experiments, until Hiruzen caught him red-handed in a laboratory filled with limbs and corpses.

Already frustrated by Hiruzen's decision to name Minato as his successor, Orochimaru abandoned Konoha to join the Akatsuki. Yet, he was forced to leave the organization after a failed attempt to steal Itachi Uchiha’s body and Sharingan. Orochimaru then established his own ninja village, the Hidden Sound, and began plotting his revenge on Hiruzen and the Leaf.

Orochimaru confronts Hiruzen (Image via Shueisha)

He killed and impersonated the Fourth Kazekage to manipulate the Hidden Sand into allying with the Sound to attack the Leaf during the final stage of the Chunin Exams. The plain involved the Sand’s Gaara, the jinchuriki of the One-Tail, to transform into his Tailed Beast inside Konoha to devastate the village, while Sound and Sand ninjas would overwhelm the defences with a surprise action.

However, Sasuke Uchiha injured Gaara during their fight in the main event of the Chunin Exams, leaving the latter temporarily unable to fulfill his role. So, the attack began as Orochimaru’s right-hand man, Kabuto Yakushi, cast a genjutsu in the stadium where the exam was being held.

Orochimaru, who had entered Konoha disguised as the Sand’s Kazekage, shed his disguise and personally confronted Hiruzen. Meanwhile, Sand and Sound ninjas, assisted by some of Orochimaru’s massive snake summons, attacked the Leaf’s outskirts, overpowering the initial defenses to storm into the village.

The intense struggle between the Sand and the Leaf's jinchuriki (Image via Shueisha)

As Gaara and his siblings, Kankuro and Temari, fled, their teacher Baki was locked in a stalemate with Leaf ninja Genma Shiranui. Shino Aburame managed to beat Kankuro, while Sasuke confronted Gaara once more. This time, however, Gaara's jinchuriki powers surged, allowing him to overwhelm Sasuke, who was only saved by Naruto’s timely arrival.

The boy attacked Gaara relentlessly, pushing him to enter his full One-Tail transformation. While Kakashi and Might Guy dealt with the situation in the stadium, defeating hordes of enemies, Jiraiya arrived in the village outskirts to help the defenders overcome Orochimaru’s colossal snakes. The rest of Konoha’s elite, including the veteran Ino-Shika-Cho trio, also engaged the invaders.

Orochimaru used the Impure World Reincarnation to summon the deceased Hashirama and Tobirama Senju as immortal zombies at his service, but Hiruzen stopped them with the Dead Demon Consuming Seal. With the same technique, Hiruzen – although at the cost of sacrificing his own life – also sealed off Orochimaru’s arms.

The Third Hokage died during the attack (Image via Shueisha)

Now unable to perform ninjutsu, Orochimaru was forced to flee. As he and the other Sound ninjas ran off, the Sand ninjas also retreated. Meanwhile, outside the village, Naruto finally subdued Gaara and the One-Tail with some providential help from Gamabunta.

Konoha triumphed over the invaders, but victory came at the cost of many losses, including the death of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. Years earlier, Hiruzen had spared Orochimaru despite seeing the evil within him, a misjudgement that proved catastrophic, leading to numerous casualties.

The Sand Village surrendered to Konoha, signing a peace treaty after discovering that Orochimaru had killed their Kazekage. As the Sand offered their apologies, which the Leaf accepted, the two villages forged a lasting alliance.

Before the invasion, Orochimaru had approached Sasuke to imprint the young ninja with the Cursed Seal, planting a seed of ambition in the young Uchiha's heart. Eventually, Sasuke deserted Konoha to seek out Orochimaru in pursuit of more power, a resolution that profoundly shaped the subsequent events.

3) Pain’s Assault

The Six Paths of Pain enter Konoha (Image via Shueisha)

Three-and-a-half years after Orochimaru’s failed invasion, Konoha faced another threat as the Akatsuki stormed the village. Obito Uchiha – still posing as Tobi – instructed Nagato, the outward leader of the Akatsuki, to seize the Nine-Tails. Nagato sent the Six Paths of Pain to attack the Leaf, while he remained hidden on a nearby mountain due to his paraplegic and emaciated body.

Thanks to the information sent by Jiraiya, the Leaf was partially prepared for Pain’s assault. Jiraiya had tried to infiltrate Pain’s lair in the Hidden Rain, but was discovered and later killed in the ensuing battle. Still, he managed to slay one of Pain’s bodies, which he sent to Konoha alongside vital – yet rather cryptic – information about the enemy.

At the time of the attack, Might Guy and Hiashi Hyuga were absent, deployed on a distant mission. Naruto also wasn’t in Konoha, as he was training to learn Sage Mode at Mount Myoboku. The Six Paths of Pain, accompanied by Konan, entered the Leaf as the Asura Path launched the Animal Path inside the village, and the latter summoned Konan and the other Paths to its location.

Then, Animal Path summoned several monstrous creatures, while Asura Path unleashed devastating firepower, and Preta Path used its chakra-absorbing ability to neutralize any ninjutsu from the Konoha shinobi. Deva Path, Naraka Path, Human Path, and Konan interrogated anyone they encountered about Naruto’s location, leaving a trail of corpses, as no one would speak.

Eventually, Human Path used its mind-reading ability to rip the truth from Shizune's mind, killing her in the process. Tsunade, who was leading Konoha as the Fifth Hokage, sent the messenger toad Kosuke to contact Mount Myoboku. She also summoned Katsuyu to help her heal all the villagers. Unbeknownst to anyone, however, Danzo Shimura killed Kosuke.

Kakashi Hatake arrived in time to stop Deva Path from killing Iruka Umino. As Kakashi and Deva Path engaged in an intense battle, Asura also arrived in support of Deva. Despite lacking prior knowledge of Deva’s gravitational powers, which were not mentioned in Jiraiya's information, Kakashi managed to outmaneuver Deva and Asura.

Kakashi uses the last of his energy (Image via Shueisha)

Mindful of the other Paths lurking in Konoha, Kakashi didn't use his Mangekyo Sharingan to preserve his chakra. Choza and Choji Akimichi assisted Kakashi in cornering Deva Path, but Asura Path sacrificed itself to protect Deva, who then repelled everyone with a powerful Shinra Tensei.

Still wary of Kakashi’s threat, Deva opted to finish him with a long-range attack before leaving the location. In truth, however, Kakashi had used his Mangekyo Sharingan’s Kamui to warp away the attack without Deva noticing. With another swift use of Kamui, Kakashi then saved Choji, ensuring the young Akimichi could relay crucial information about Pain’s gravitational powers.

Having consumed the last of his energy to protect Choji, Kakashi died from complete chakra depletion. Meanwhile, Deva Path met and threatened Tsunade. Having learned Naruto’s location from the Human Path, Deva decided to destroy Konoha. Konan and the other Paths left the Leaf as Deva unleashed a large-scale Shinra Tensei to crush the village, reducing it to a large crater filled with debris and ruins.

Pain about to destroy Konoha (Image via Shueisha)

All that remained of Konoha was the Hokage Rock, looming over the village, reduced to rubble. Although unable to stop Deva, Tsunade managed to protect the inhabitants of Konoha by shielding them from harm through Katsuyu. Yet, she consumed nearly all of her energy to do so. Meanwhile, Asura Path was revived, its body restored by Naraka Path.

So, the Six Paths of Pain gathered to confront Naruto, who had just arrived in Konoha along with Gamabunta, Gamaken, Gamahiro, Gamakichi, Fukasaku, and Shima. Asura Path attacked Tsunade, but Naruto, who was in Sage Mode, intercepted the enemy and obliterated it with a Rasengan before ordering everyone not to interfere in his fight with Pain.

With Deva temporarily weakened, drained by the large-scale Shinra Tensei, Naruto, assisted by the toads, defeated the other five bodies. Yet, the moment that Deva recovered his chakra, the battle's tide shifted. Deva quickly defeated all of the toads before overpowering Naruto.

Naruto returns to Konoha (Image via Shueisha)

After pinning the future Seventh Hokage to the ground, Deva told him that the shinobi world was hopelessly filled with hate, and insisted that his death would only help achieve the peace that Jiraiya cherished. Deva challenged Naruto to offer a better answer than the Akatsuki's solution to create peace by overwhelming force, a vision shaped by a life of tragedy, but Naruto had no alternative answer to oppose.

In a desperate bid to save Naruto, Hinata Hyuga attacked Deva Path from behind. Hinata bravely declared her love for Naruto, confessing her feelings for the young ninja, but the latter could only watch as Deva effortlessly defeated her. As Deva struck Hinata, apparently killing her, Naruto lost his mind and unleashed a large portion of the Nine-Tailed Fox’s chakra, entering a six-tailed transformation.

The form granted Naruto the power to free himself from the Deva Path’s bindings and even drive the foe back. Pressed by Naruto, Deva Path moved to Nagato’s location in order to perform Chibaku Tensei, a cataclysmic jutsu that pulled everything in the vicinity to ensnare Naruto inside an enormous sphere of accumulated debris.

Naruto's Nine-Tails fighting against the Chibaku Tensei (Image via Shueisha)

Naruto unleashed more power from the Nine-Tails to shatter the Chibaku Tensei, entering an eight-tailed transformation. He even thought to completely remove the seal keeping the Nine-Tails contained within himself, but was stopped before doing so by Minato Namikaze.

An imprint of chakra inside Naruto’s subconscious, the Fourth Hokage encouraged his son to find his own solution to bring peace. Minato then restored the seal and faded away, leaving Naruto more determined than ever. Fueled by newfound resolve, he exploited the cooldown of Deva’s gravitational powers with a brilliant plan to land a fierce Rasengan strike, securing the victory.

Naruto then used the chakra receivers in Deva’s body to track down Nagato, who scorned him for disrupting his plans for peace despite not having an alternative solution. Trusting in Jiraiya’s ideals, Naruto suppressed his rising anger and asked Nagato to tell his story. So, Nagato spoke of the tragedies that forged his beliefs, ultimately giving rise to the Six Paths of Pain.

The fateful encounter (Image via Shueisha)

Naruto sympathized with Nagato’s sad story, but rejected his conclusion, proposing instead to achieve peace and stop the hatred by breaking the never-ending cycle of revenge. He then told Nagato that he wouldn’t retaliate against him, even though he was angry for what he had done.

Deeply moved by Naruto's words, Nagato placed his faith in him as the one destined to bring true peace. In a final act of redemption, he decided to make amends for his actions by resurrecting those who had died during the recent battle.

As Nagato's Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique took effect, Kakashi’s soul, who was lingering with that of his father Sakumo inside a limbo dimension, was sent back to the living plane along with everyone else's.

Konoha welcomes its new hero (Image via Shueisha)

After Nagato completed the jutsu, his life faded. He died entrusting the future to Naruto, which prompted Konan to leave the Akatsuki. Naruto then erected a shrine in honour of Jiraiya and went back to Konoha, where everyone – including the people who had ostracized him for years – finally acknowledged him as a hero.

With Tsunade left in a comatose state after consuming all her chakra, the council was about to elect Kakashi as the new Hokage. However, Danzo manipulated them into making him act as Hokage to oversee the Leaf’s reconstruction. Meanwhile, Obito, undeterred by Pain’s failure, prepared the next step of his “Eye of the Moon” plan, a scheme destined to ignite the Fourth Ninja War.

Every Konoha attack in Naruto, explained in detail

A chronological recap of every major attack on the Leaf Village in Naruto

1) The Nine-Tails Attack

2) Konoha Crush

3) Pain’s Assault

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