Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's Attack

Twelve years before the start of the series, after the end of the Third Great Shinobi World War, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked Konohagakure.

Attack
The attack of the Nine-Tails coincided with Kushina Uzumaki, the second jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails, giving birth to Naruto on the night of October 10th. With the previous jinchūriki's seal almost breaking during childbirth, the village took multiple precautions; it was carried out in secret, with Biwako Sarutobi, the Third Hokage's wife, as her midwife, a few ANBU as security, and with Minato keeping the Four Symbols Seal holding the Nine-Tails secure, along with one of the most powerful and secret barriers that the village had to protect them.

The location was eventually discovered by Madara Uchiha, who then killed the ANBU and Biwako, and held the newborn Naruto hostage. While holding Naruto at knife point, Madara ordered Minato to walk away from Kushina. Minato tried to negotiate with Madara, as the seal began to weaken. Kushina pleaded with Minato to protect Naruto. It was at this moment that Madara attempted to stab Naruto. Before the knife could hit Naruto, Minato was able to snatch Naruto away from Madara. But to his surprise Naruto's baby clothes were filled with exploding tags, forcing him to use the Flying Thunder God Technique and transport himself and Naruto away from the explosion but also away from Kushina.

With Minato away from Kushina, Madara used a technique to extract the Nine-Tails from Kushina. He hurried the extraction as he noted that the seal holding the Nine-Tails also had carried the Flying Thunder God technique seal, so Minato would not be far behind him in trying to rescue Kushina. As the Nine-Tails emerged from the seal, Madara used his Sharingan to gain control of the Nine-Tails. Before he could set off to destroy Konoha, Kushina, barely alive from having a tailed beast extracted from her body, struggled to speak and begged Madara to stop. Madara directed the Nine-Tails to crush her but was rescued from being crushed by the large paws of the Nine-Tails by the arriving Minato. They soon escaped back to Naruto's secret location where he set Kushina beside Naruto before heading off to protect the village of Konoha.

The Nine-Tails' strength at this point was so great, that even far away from the village, a young Itachi Uchiha, along with several other shinobi, were able to sense its presence. Madara, under the cover of night, sneaked into the village, and with the use of the Summoning Technique, summoned the Nine-Tails into the village without warning. Shinobi and villagers inside of Konoha were frightened as they recognized the Nine-Tails as it caused destruction and casualties instantly. When the Third Hokage felt the familiar power and malevolence of the Nine-Tails, he immediately prepared for battle, even as the ANBU arrived to inform him of the Nine-Tails' attack. He orders shinobi nearby to prepare to defend the village.

Counter-Attack
Minato arrived on top of the Hokage Monument, and the Nine-Tails quickly noticed him, and attempted to kill him using a large blast of chakra. Minato, using a Space-Time jutsu, teleported the blast away from the village, causing other shinobi to be aware of his presence. Before Minato could tell the Third of what had happened to Kushina, Madara teleported to his location and attempted to use his own jutsu on Minato, with Minato barely escaping by using the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport away from the village. Madara followed him, and after analyzing his abilities, Minato asked if he was Madara Uchiha. Giving no definite answer, Madara attacked Minato, both of them using their own Space-Time jutsu to avoid capture. Eventually, using a kunai that he barely threw behind Madara, Minato teleported behind Madara and hit him using the Rasengan.

Madara tried to escape, only for Minato to teleport to him, with a seal that he placed on him while attacking with his Rasengan, and stab him with a kunai. Minato then placed another seal onto Madara, this one releasing the Nine-Tails from Madara's control. Madara proclaimed that Minato truly deserved his title of Hokage, but that he would reclaim the Nine-Tails and the world would then bow to his will. Madara teleported away, and Minato teleported to the village.

Despite no longer being under Madara's control, the Nine-Tails continued its rampage of Konoha. However, it was soon pushed outside of Konoha's walls by the shinobi. The Third Hokage and other shinobi continued their attack on the Nine-Tails, trying to push it back further. During this time, a young Iruka Umino was protected from the Nine-Tails by his mother as his father tried to help repel the beast. Ignoring his father's orders to leave, Iruka stayed, determined to protect his mother, but another shinobi soon took him away from the battle. Several young shinobi were also detained from the battle between Konoha and the Nine-Tails, so that another generation can continue on the Will of Fire.

Minato arrived at the village, and was horrified at the destruction. Just as the Nine-Tails was about to fire another blast at the village, Minato summoned Gamabunta to hold off the Nine-Tails for a moment. Minato then teleported himself and the Nine-Tails away from the village, letting the blast detonate without anyone hurt. He met up with Kushina, who then held down the Nine-Tails with her chakra. When Kushina told Minato of her plan to take the Nine-Tails to the grave with her, Minato came up with a plan of his own, knowing that the Nine-Tails, without a host, would eventually be revived and become a threat to Konoha again. In order to prevent this, Minato planned to seal the Yin half of the Nine-Tails' chakra within himself using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal. Since it was impossible for him to seal all of the Nine-Tail's chakra within himself, Minato needed to use the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style to seal the Yang half into Naruto. Another reason Minato did this was because he believed Madara would be a harbinger of a great disaster in the coming future, and that Naruto would some day need the Nine-Tails' power in order to stop him. Minato also planned to sealed away a piece of his and his wife's chakra within their son. This would serve as both a final safeguard to prevent the Nine-Tails from breaking free and to assist Naruto during his future attempts to take full control of the Nine-Tails' chakra.

When Hiruzen and a few other shinobi finally caught up to Minato, they found Minato, Kushina, and the Nine-Tails inside of a barrier. Kushina, against using their son as a host, tried to reason with Minato to live and raise Naruto, but Minato convinced her that this was not only for the village's sake, but for Naruto's as well. While Kushina held down the Nine-Tails, Minato sealed away half of the Nine-Tails' chakra within himself, causing the Nine-Tails to decrease dramatically in size. Soon after, Minato summoned the throne needed for the Eight Trigram Sealing Style and placed Naruto onto it. Realizing that it was about to be sealed again, the Nine-Tails tried to kill Naruto. Both Kushina and Minato stepped in front of Naruto to stop the claw from reaching him, instead having it pierce through their bodies. As Minato gave Gerotora the key to the seal, Kushina told Naruto how she wanted him to live, to never forget who he was, and how she loved him. Minato told Naruto to listen to his talkative mother, then proceeded to seal the Nine-Tails into his son.

Aftermath
Since the sealing of the Nine-Tails happened far from the village, only the Third Hokage and his two shinobi bodyguards witnessed the sacrifice of the Fourth Hokage and Kushina as well as who Naruto is. The Third Hokage subverted all information relating to the relationship of Naruto and the Fourth Hokage, giving him the surname of his mother. With the village having suffered heavy casualties during the attack, few of the villagers would forgive Naruto (who they viewed as the Nine-Tails) for its actions despite the fact that he was the one who contained the beast.

Because the Fourth Hokage died during the attack, and having no suitable candidates at hand, the Third Hokage was forced to retake his position, despite his age. Also, the Third Hokage may have seen the treatment of the villagers of Naruto, so much so that he may have taken the step to decree that no mention of the Nine-Tails be made and no reference to Naruto being a jinchūriki was to be made. However, the actions of the parents in ostracizing Naruto had the similar effect on the children of Konoha that Naruto lived a lonely childhood.

As the Uchiha clan's Sharingan is able control the Nine-Tails, the elders of the village suspected them of being responsible of unleashing the attack. It was this suspicion that led them to attempt a rebellion, which ended with their mass assassination before it could happen. During the attack, Itachi noted that his parents were noticeably absent before the beast struck. What they were doing is currently unknown.

In the anime, the Nine-Tails is revealed to have left behind large amounts of its chakra during the attack that, when gathered by Kazuma, allowing him to turn Sora into a pseudo-jinchūriki.

Claims
Though the Nine-Tails had attacked many settlements regularly throughout history for no apparent reason, Jiraiya and Itachi Uchiha speculate that Madara Uchiha was behind the attack on Konoha, while Minato and Kushina were personal witnesses to his involvement. Madara denies this to Sasuke Uchiha and attributes its rampage as a natural occurrence. However, Minato claims to have fought him on the night of the attack, and Kushina tells Naruto that a "masked man" took control of the Nine-Tails.