Brief history of Konoha Village

In the time before the creation of the ninja villages, ninja were organized 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 clan 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. 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. This was short lived.