Kakashi Hatake
' is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Naruto''.
Kakashi is a
Konohagakure Jonin and the current leader of Team 7, which originally consisted of
Naruto Uzumaki,
Sasuke Uchiha, and
Sakura Haruno. He is known as Copy Ninja Kakashi (コãƒ"ーå¿è€…ã®ã‚«ã‚«ã‚·, "KopÄ« Ninja no Kakashi") or Sharingan Kakashi (写輪眼ã®ã‚«ã‚«ã‚·,
Sharingan no Kakashi), among other variations on the theme.
These varied aliases refer to the
Sharingan in his left eye and his use of it in battle, which has allowed him to copy more than a thousand
jutsu. Kakashi's Sharingan eye is not his own; it originally belonged to his former teammate,
Obito Uchiha.
Because it is a transplanted eye, his Sharingan eye is always active. While this would not be a problem for an Uchiha, his non-Uchiha blood causes it to use much more chakra than it should. Because of this, he covers it with his forehead protector and only reveals it for the toughest of battles.
Kakashi is considered a genius shinobi; he graduated the Ninja Academy at age 5, achieved the rank of Chunin at 6, and became a Jonin at 13. Kakashi was also a ANBU squad captain at one point. In many ways he resembles Sasuke, who has been compared to Kakashi both by
Might Guy and Kakashi himself, not just for their Sharingan, but also for the fact that they share extraordinary natural talents.
Kakashi has an ongoing, albeit slightly one-sided, rivalry with Might Guy; Guy constantly proclaims that Kakashi is his rival and challenges him on occasion, but Kakashi simply acts indifferent to the matter, annoying Guy to no end. Kakashi's current record stands at 49 wins and 50 losses, though the contests that make up this figure are so varied that it is not much of an achievement on Guy's part. Nevertheless, Guy is proud of his record. The contests have included 100-meter dashes, sumo-wrestling, ramen-eating contests, and even
Rock, Paper, Scissors. Guy serves as a perfect antithesis for Kakashi in personality, appearance, and technique. Unlike Kakashi, Guy has had to work hard to achieve success as a ninja and mainly uses taijutsu, which is the natural counter to the Sharingan. Kakashi, on the other hand, uses mainly ninjutsu and other techniques he copies with his Sharingan.
Kakashi's personal life appears to be as much of a mystery as the face behind the mask he has worn for most of his ninja career. He has no living family, or at least none he cares to acknowledge. He's confirmed that everyone he loves is already dead. He is immediately recognizable as the son of (or mistaken for) the "White Fang of Konoha", Sakumo Hatake. Whether the mask he wears is because of this resemblance or for some other reason is unknown. Though his face has never been seen, the special chapter "At the Ichiraku Ramen" implies that he is in fact quite handsome. The chapter details Team 7's various attempts to see what's under the mask, only to fail horribly each time. Among other things, they persuade Kakashi to eat ramen with them at the
Ichiraku Ramen Bar, knowing that he would have to take off his mask. As Kakashi is about to start eating with Team 7 carefully watching him,
Ino Yamanaka suddenly interrupts with a loud shriek of "Sasuke!", and proceeds to jump on Sasuke. Distracted by Ino, Team 7's attention is broken, allowing Kakashi to eat unnoticed. Only the ramen chef and his daughter, Ayame, get to see his face, and their expressions suggest that Kakashi must have been good-looking.
Though he reportedly has many hobbies, the one pastime most seen in the series is his reading of "Icha Icha Paradise" (イãƒãƒ£ã‚¤ãƒãƒ£ãƒ‘ラダイス, "Icha Icha Paradaisu",
literally "Make-out Paradise" or "Come Come Paradise"), which is an adult and probably pornographic novel authored by
Jiraiya. It is a runaway bestseller in the
Naruto world. He reads this book when testing Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. In the
first Naruto movie, the new
daimyo of the
Snow country, Fujikaze Yukie, tells Team 7 that she can be both the Snow Country's monarch and an actress. The fact that she's holding an "Icha Icha Paradise" script while saying this probably means she'll be playing in an "Icha Icha Paradise" movie. Kakashi can't help but stare wide-eyed. Later on in the series, Kakashi is seen reading the second volume of the "Icha Icha" series, "Icha Icha Violence" (イãƒãƒ£ã‚¤ãƒãƒ£ãƒã‚¤ã‚ªãƒ¬ãƒ³ã‚¹, "Icha Icha Baiorensu",
literally "Make-out Violence"). In episode 101, Kakashi sees an advertisement for a movie under the same title and immediately goes to reserve a ticket without a second thought. The picture shows a woman kicking a man. Naruto gives Kakashi the third installment of the "Icha Icha" series, "Icha Icha Tactics" (イãƒãƒ£ã‚¤ãƒãƒ£ã‚¿ã‚¯ãƒ†ã‚£ã‚¯ã‚¹, "Icha Icha Takutikusu",
literally "Make-out Tactics"), which has yet to be released in the
Naruto world. Kakashi also frequently visits Konoha's memorial site, where the dead heroic ninja are remembered. In particular, he visits for Obito's sake.
Sakumo Hatake, Kakashi's father, was a genius ninja whose skills have been compared to that of the Legendary Sannin. He was known as the "White Fang of Konoha" (木ノ葉ã®ç™½ã„牙, "Konoha no Shiroi Kiba"). During a mission, he abandoned the objective in favor of saving his comrades, which cost the village dearly. He was blamed and disgraced for the failure, even by those he had saved, and eventually he committed suicide. According to the manga, Kakashi bore witness to this event approximately five years before the events of the
Kakashi Gaiden arc, making him around 7 or 8 years old at the time. After his father's suicide, Kakashi began to adhere strictly to the rules of the shinobi – in particular the rule dictating that the success of the mission must come before the well being of one's teammates. He became arrogant, humorless, and by-the-book.
Kakashi achieved Jonin status at 13 years of age, mainly because of an ongoing war that required ninja more quickly than normal. There was no elaborate ceremony, though the other members of his team (save for Obito) gave him gifts to mark the occasion. Instead, since Konohagakure was embroiled in the Third Great Ninja War, his reward was to lead his team on a sabotage mission to blow up a bridge in order to prevent enemy forces from
Iwagakure from entering the
Land of Grass, where the enemy could easily mount an attack on Konohagakure. Kakashi lost his left eye mid-mission while protecting Obito, and the scar on his face is a result of that injury. At one point, Rin was captured by enemy shinobi who intended to extract information from her. Obito wanted to save Rin, since he liked her, even though Kakashi said they had to focus on the mission. This situation was exactly like the one Kakashi's father faced. Kakashi believed that they had to follow the mission, but Obito convinced him that his father did the right thing, thus convincing Kakashi to do the same.
During their rescue attempt, Obito managed to activate his Sharingan, only to be crushed by rocks shortly thereafter. Kakashi would have been crushed, but Obito pushed him out of the way. Shortly before he died, Obito had Rin (a medical ninja) implant his Sharingan eye in Kakashi's empty eye socket as a gift, thus creating Copy Ninja Kakashi. Obito's death changes Kakashi, and Kakashi adopts many of Obito's traits, even his chronic lateness. This is revealed to stem from long periods of reflection at the Konoha memorial stone.
Kakashi also picks up Obito's concept of teamwork after his death, which is most clearly seen in the way he tests newly-graduated students hoping to become a squad under him. He uses the bell test to test his students, which requires the three students to gets the two bells he keeps on his person. Only those who get a bell get to pass. Obviously, this would be difficult even with teamwork, and at least one ninja would fail regardless. However, the rule is only a ruse. The point of the test is to foster teamwork and teach the students that some rules need to be broken on occasion. Team 7 is the only team to have realized this and passed the test. Kakashi adopts a quote from Obito emphasizing teamwork, which goes as follows:
å¿è€…ã®ä¸–ç•Œã§ãƒ«ãƒ¼ãƒ«ã‚„掟ã‚'ç ´ã‚‹å¥´ã¯ã‚¯ã‚ºå‘¼ã°ã‚ã‚Šã•ã‚Œã‚‹â€¦
ã‘ã©ãªâ€¦ä»²é–"ã‚'大切ã«ã—ãªã„奴ã¯ãれ以上ã®ã‚¯ã‚ºã
Ninja no sekai de rūru ya okite o yaburu yatsu wa kuzu yobawari sareru... Kedona... nakama o taisetsu ni shinai yatsu wa sore ijŠno kuzu da.
"In the world of the ninja, those who violate the rules and laws are called trash. However... those who don't take care of their comrades are worse than trash." – (Japanese version)
"In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, that's true. But, those who abandon their friends are worse than scum." – (adapted US anime version)
"Those who do not support their team-mates are lower than trash" – (adapted US manga version)
As stated by Sakura, Kakashi is the highest-ranking technique specialist in Konoha. He tends to focus mainly on
ninjutsu though, using his Sharingan to copy the techniques of others and then turn them on their source. However, he is skilled in all three forms of jutsu, having shown his abilities with
genjutsu in the bell test with Team 7. Though having never shown prowess in taijutsu, Naruto commented that Kakashi was more skilled than
Rock Lee, who himself is extremely good at it. Kakashi seems to have a great deal of water-based jutsu in his arsenal, which can be attributed to the disproportionate number of mist-nin he has faced, such as Zabuza and
Kisame Hoshigaki.
Kakashi's Sharingan eye gives him a significant advantage in battle, as he can copy enemy techniques and use them as his own, as well as seeing fast movements with great clarity. In addition, he can even copy a jutsu that an opponent hasn't used through the Sharingan's hypnotic and suggestive abilities. Kakashi's use of the Sharingan is nearly as good as that of
Itachi Uchiha, though the aforementioned handicaps brought about by the nature of his eye make him weaker in comparison.
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Kakashi's Mangekyo Sharingan |
In Part II, Kakashi has developed his own variant of the
Mangekyo Sharingan, which acts differently than
Itachi's. With it, he can manipulate space-time, even to a focus, and utilize it to conduct long range attacks. In the jutsu's premiere, he managed to destroy
Deidara's right arm. Later on, when Deidara's clone attempted to blow himself and everyone around him up, he used the Mangekyo Sharingan to send it to another dimension. The Mangekyo Sharingan tires Kakashi considerably, and he can only use it up to three times a day.
Kakashi has his own personal pack of
Ninken ("ninja dogs"), which he calls into battle with
Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique). The dogs were apparently trained by Kakashi, and the smallest one,
Pakkun, can even speak. He uses these dogs for tracking purposes. They can also be used for attack, as seen during his battle with
Zabuza Momochi, in which he uses
Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no Jutsu (Summoning: Earth Release: Tracking Fang Technique) to hold Zabuza still by having the dogs follow Zabuza through the ground by tracking the scent of Kakashi's blood on his sword.
Kakashi's Sharingan eye has allowed him to copy many jutsu, but his only original jutsu is the
Raikiri (Lightning Blade), a ball of lightning-based chakra held in the hand that can kill in a single hit. Its true name is
Chidori (meaning, "a thousand birds"), because of the high-pitched chirping sound made by the electrified chakra. It is believed that Kakashi cut through a lightning bolt with this jutsu, thus the former name. The former is also more powerful and requires better chakra control, making the two names separate, yet still similar, techniques. This jutsu is used while running at high speed, which causes it to burrow through anything in its path, making it an effective assassination technique. This technique has a somewhat fatal flaw, however. Because of the speed at which it must be done, the user is open to a counterattack by the enemy. The Sharingan removes this weakness with its incredible perception, allowing the user to perceive and dodge any counterattacks. Kakashi developed this technique before gaining the Sharingan, and thus experienced its weakness first-hand. He was only allowed to use it again after he received the Sharingan. Developing Chidori before acquiring his Sharingan eye, he is nearly impaled by an enemy countermeasure, and is injured. As a result, the Fourth Hokage forbade Kakashi from using Chidori again. Kakashi resumed using it after receiving the Sharingan eye.
Kakashi also has another famous (or infamous, depending on who's been on the receiving end) jutsu called
Konohagakure Hiden: Taijutsu no Ogi: Sennen Goroshi (Hidden Leaf Secret: Taijutsu Supreme Technique: A Thousand Years of Death). Despite the verbose title, this is simply an extremely sharp poke to the rectal region of an opponent with the index and middle fingers of both hands (see
kancho), launching him into midair with humiliating pain. This is first demonstrated by Kakashi on Naruto during the Survival Training Exam. Naruto discovers the true purpose of the jutsu and uses it in a modified form during his fight with
Gaara.
Team 7
The initial results of the Survival Training Exam for Team 7 were unpromising. Sakura's tunnel vision focus on Sasuke, Naruto's impulsive insistence on being a one man show and Sasuke's arrogant superiority complex and loner attitude resulted in a huge lack of teamwork, which led them to fail the Survival Training Exam. During lunchtime, Naruto was not to be given any food from either Sasuke or Sakura since he tried to eat it by himself during the test. But by breaking that rule, they were the first to pass the test, since the true purpose was to test their teamwork and commitment to each other; not to follow rules that would jeopardize the lives of their comrades.
The team improved their skills under Kakashi's training, which included the tree-walking exercise seen in the anime and manga. This exercise, which involves the use of chakra to walk up trees with feet alone, greatly improved the chakra control abilities of the team as they prepared for a final battle in the
Land of Waves against
Zabuza Momochi and his student,
Haku.
Kakashi's controversial decision to permit Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura to take the
Chunin exam surprised many, who believed that Kakashi should have given the team another year to prepare. Yet, through this decision, the team begins to truly realize their potential to be ninja. By the end of the second stage, the three exhibit signs of extensive growth from their extreme ordeals.
Kakashi, during the tree-walking exercise, is the first one to recognize Naruto's potential to surpass Sasuke and even himself in Chakra capacity. Initially considered to be weak and untalented, Naruto's growth as a ninja early in the series is attributed to Kakashi's training and influence. Naruto, in his fight against
Kiba Inuzuka, quotes Kakashi's earlier admonition to him: "Use your techniques carefully, after giving some thought to what you're doing! Or it'll be used to the other person's advantage, stupid!" Naturally, Kakashi was amused.
However, despite the training that Kakashi has given to Naruto and Sakura, the one he has spent the most time in training with is Sasuke. After the second stage of the Chunin exam until Sasuke's defection to
Orochimaru, Kakashi takes an active role in training Sasuke, teaching him
Chidori (One Thousand Birds) and how to use his Sharingan, as well as attempting to seal the effects of Sasuke's Cursed Seal. Kakashi, like Sasuke, has lost many important people in his life including Obito, whose name is engraved in the memorial stone. Sasuke's Sharingan ability and natural talent, combined by a need for supervision due to the cursed seal and Orochimaru, lead Kakashi to train Sasuke for the third portion of the Chunin exam, much to Naruto's disappointment, believing that Kakashi is playing favorites with Sasuke. Kakashi's intention was for Sasuke to learn to use the Chidori to focus on protecting the important friends he has made in the present, rather than seeking vengeance for the loss of his family.
With
Akatsuki seeking to capture Naruto, Jiraiya appropriates responsibility for Naruto and his training from Kakashi, while they agree that Sasuke should develop his Sharingan under Kakashi's guidance.
Following his recovery after a confrontation with
Itachi Uchiha, Kakashi awakes to find that much has changed. Sasuke's frustration at his inability to kill Itachi and his growing envy of Naruto's recent growth and success leads him to demand a fight against Naruto in order to prove his superiority. The fight quickly gets out of hand and Kakashi is forced to intervene to protect Sakura from accidental harm.
Despite Kakashi's admonishment about Chidori and his need to end his quest for revenge, Sasuke's frustration and his need for revenge against Itachi lead him to leave the village and seek Orochimaru and his offer of power. Knowing that Naruto and Sasuke have the potential to kill each other, Kakashi attempts to intervene but arrives too late, finding Naruto seriously injured and Sasuke gone, having succeeded in his defection to Orochimaru. This is the first time that being late has severely cost him, though it is worth noting that Kakashi was away on a mission when Sasuke left and immediately pursued Naruto and Sasuke when he heard from Tsunade that Sasuke had left.
With Kakashi now called on by the village to take more A and S level missions due to the current manpower shortage, Sasuke's defection to
Orochimaru, Naruto's three-year apprenticeship to
Jiraiya, and Sakura's medical apprenticeship to
Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, it seems that Team 7 is currently defunct. His students have since become apprentices of the Sannin.
Naruto the Movie
Kakashi played a very small role in the 1st movie. He freed the Princess Fuun movies staff from being tied up by Sakura and Sasuke due to them thought to be guilty of hunting Fuun. Kakashi encountered Nadare through out the movie and killed him with a piledriver into rocks inside an avalanche and looked out at the newly created Spring Country.
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Kakashi shielding his ears from Naruto's "Make-out Tactics" spoilers |
After two and a half years, Naruto and Jiraiya return to the village earlier than expected because of the impatience of Akatsuki at capturing Naruto for his
Kyubi no Yoko (Nine-Tails Fox Demon). Kakashi forms a team with Naruto and Sakura again. However, the relationship between the three is no longer teacher and students, but equal teammates.
Kakashi decides to test Naruto and Sakura's skills with another bell exercise, identical to the one they underwent with Sasuke when they first met Kakashi. The exercise reveals that Naruto and Sakura's skills and abilities had improved over the years, though he is still able to keep the bells from them. However, Naruto and Sakura manage to finally retrieve the two bells by preying upon Kakashi's addiction to the "Icha Icha" ("Make-out") series of books written by Jiraiya, by trying to spoil the ending of the latest volume, "Make-out Tactics", which Naruto gave to Kakashi.
Rescue Gaara Arc
Upon hearing that Gaara had been kidnapped by Akatsuki, the team of Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi are sent to the village of the Sand for assistance. When they arrive, Chiyo attacks Kakashi, believing him to be the White Fang of Konoha. She soon realizes her mistake and laughs it off. After Sakura heals Kankuro from his poisoning in the hands of Sasori, Chiyo joins the three Leaf Ninjas in tracking down Gaara. However, they are confronted by Uchiha Itachi, who engages Naruto and Kakashi in combat. However, it turns out that this manifestation of Itachi was nothing more than a body substitution jutsu.
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Might Guy helping the incapacitated Kakashi after the mission. |
Finally arriving at the place where Gaara was being held (and meeting Team Guy there also), they break into the cave to find Deidara and Sasori standing over Gaara's limp body. Deidara creates a clay bird with his hands and takes Gaara's body, and Kakashi and Naruto chase, leaving Chiyo and Sakura to deal with Sasori. Whilst chasing Deidara, Kakashi uses his new Mangekyo Sharingan and uses it to tear off Deidara's remaining arm. Naruto advances to finish him off, but when Naruto realizes his Rasengan hits nothing more than a Deidara bunshin, he starts to lose composure and grow chakra tails. Kakashi then uses a seal that Jiraiya gave him to quickly return Naruto to normal, thus stopping Naruto's transformation at only two tails.
As Deidara tries one last attack with his explosive clay, Kakashi once again utilizes Mangekyo Sharingan to send the clay explosion to another dimension. Kakashi then collapses from exhaustion from overusing his Sharingan. The effects on his body are so severe that, in a rather hilarious moment, Kakashi has to be carried back to Konoha on Might Guy's back. As a result, Kakashi is unable to accompany Naruto and Sakura on their next mission, and Yamato temporarily replaced him as the leader of the new Team 7.
Current Arc
Yamato has informed Kakashi of all that has occurred during the Grass Country mission. When Naruto, Sakura, and Sai visits him at the hospital, he informs them of a new training technique he created that will help them improve their strength and be able to compete with Sasuke. Specifically it was designed for Naruto. After this training, Kakashi says that Naruto's strength might surpass his own. This training involves creating his own ultimate jutsu, one that can even surpass Rasengan (or even Hiraishin). He also stated that due to this, Naruto wouldn't be super powerful within a few days like some protagonist from a novel (this likely refers to Shonen manga in general, parodying it in that the main characters frequently gain enormous amounts of power easily and in a short period of time). Before he can finish, Ino and the rest of her group come in and interrupt during the conversation so they weren't able to go on but Kakashi says they will continue later. Kakashi is also about to discuss an important matter with Asuma. Then Kurenai interrupts them, and Asuma leaves with her.
Later, when Kakashi leaves the hospital, he finally begins to explain to Naruto how he will train him to complete a new more powerful jutsu. It involves two techniques. The first technique involves 'altering the nature' of one's chakra. The second technique involves 'altering the shape' of one's chakra. He explains that the Rasengan is an example of altering the shape of chakra, and that his Chidori is an example of 'altering the nature' of chakra (in this case creating an electric current). In order for Naruto to create his new jutsu he must learn the technique of altering his chakra's nature.
Kakashi explains to Naruto that the method to speed up his training involves the use of shadow clones. Kakashi explains that because they are actual clones, Naruto will remember everything the clones do once they disperse. Kakashi then helps Naruto discover the element Naruto's chakra is based on using a special kind of paper that reacts to chakra. Handling the paper as an example, Kakashi makes it crumble, showing his affinity to lightning. When Naruto channels his chakra into the paper, it splits, indicating that he has an affinity for wind. With that, they begin training to manipulate that element. Kakashi explains to Naruto that the wind element is considered the strongest type for battle.
Kakashi begins the training by having Naruto and each of his clones hold a single leaf in their hands, and try to split the leaf with just their chakra. After some effort, only one of the 1000 clones manages to split the leaf. After seeing this, however, Kakashi remarks that this training may go faster than he thought. He also comments that Naruto is learning how to use his clones effectively, after one of the clones asked him if there are any other person who has wind-based chakra to ask for tips.
* According to official handbook his favorite foods are broiled saury with salt and miso soup with eggplant; his least, Tempura. His favorite phrase is "Teamwork." His hobby is reading "Make-Out Paradise."
* Though his name is written in katakana in the manga, the family name "Hatake" can be written in kanji either as 'farmland' or 'leaf warrior'. The literal translation of "Hatake" is "cultivated field" however, "Kakashi" means 'scarecrow'. Interestingly, Naruto used a scarecrow look alike of Kakashi to practice on the day before Team 7's first test. Also, when Sakura spied on Kakashi so he would take off his mask, she waited for him to move, but didn't move. She found out it was a scarecrow look alike of him. "Kakashi" is similar to "kagami", which means mirror in Japanese.
* Kakashi's entire face has never been seen; Naruto and Sakura almost pulled his mask off once while Kakashi was sleeping, but Naruto twitched and woke him up. An entire episode,
Naruto Episode 101, is actually devoted to Team Kakashi trying to remove their sensei's mask.
* Kakashi is a largely popular character. In official polls made in the Shonen Jump magazine, he is one of the characters constantly in the Top 3, taking 1st place twice.
* There is evidence to suggest that Kakashi knows the Sannin (Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru) on a personal level. During the Chunin exam arc, Orochimaru confronts Kakashi, saying "So you can perform seals now? It's been a while, Kakashi." Kakashi shows knowledge of the relationship between Jiraiya and Orochimaru, when he compares it to the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke. He also talks to Jiraiya like they were old friends after Naruto's and Sasuke's first fight.
* Kishimoto can be quoted once saying that for a long while, Kakashi's name was supposed to be 'Enoki'.
* Missions Completed - D-Rank: 197 C-Rank: 189 B-Rank: 414 A-Rank: 277 S-Rank: 39
* Kakashi's gloves are the same type that ANBU members wear. They may be left over from his days as a ANBU member. Similarly, he still keeps his father's White Light Chakra Sabre even though it was cut in half during Kakashi Gaiden. The sabre can be seen on his back in flashbacks to when he was in ANBU.
* Most of the time, Kakashi seems to call Sasuke without a title attached. He has (mockingly) called Sasuke "Sasuke-kun" once in Episode 5, while he was administering the "bell test".
*Kakashi's idea of training using Kage Bunshin is similar to the invention machine of
John Koza, which is composed of 1000 computers, using
genetic programming to invent/reinvent items. [
1]
