History
Chronically tardy, Kakashi initially
appears to be flaky and unreliable. He is, however, an exceptionally
skillful ninja, a child prodigy who attained Chūnin rank at the age of
6 and became a Jōnin at age 13. His father was Hatake Sakumo, known as
the "White Fang" of Konoha (木ノ葉の白い牙, Konoha no Shiroi Kiba) and a
genius ninja on par with the Legendary Sannin (famous students of the
Sandaime Hokage : Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade).
Kakashi Gaiden (chapters
239-244), introduces the other two members of Kakashi's former team,
shown in a team portrait in the conclusion of the Chūnin exam arc of
the manga. The sensei or teacher in charge of Kakashi's team
was the Fourth Hokage, while his teammates were Rin, a girl trained as
a medic ninja, and Uchiha Obito, Kakashi's teammate who wears goggles
in the team portrait from flashbacks at the conclusion of the Chūnin
Exam arc. The gaiden begins on the eve of Kakashi's promotion to Jōnin
and team leader and the beginning of a mission to the battlefront in
the middle of a conflict between Iwagakure (Hidden Rock) and the
Konohagakure (Hidden Leaf).
Obito, mentioned by Kakashi several
times earlier in the series, is revealed to be a member of the Uchiha
clan. But, unlike other noteworthy Uchiha including Sasuke and Itachi,
Obito initially appears to be like Naruto in behavior, personality and
ninja ability, while Kakashi is the acknowledged genius and leader of
the group. Obito initially appears without the Sharingan ability. He
manages to awaken the Sharingan in battle in chapter 242.
The gaiden also explains the origin
of the scar on Kakashi's left eye. In the earlier arcs, it was believed
that Kakashi's left eye scar came from the surgical implantation of the
Sharingan eye. However, in chapter 242 of the Naruto manga, the scar on
Kakashi's left eye appears now to have come from a battle with a Rock
ninja. Kakashi detects a Rock ninja, and yells his warning at his
teammate, Uchiha Obito, who is too slow to react. Kakashi jumps in
front of Obito to save him from the enemy's kunai and thus Kakashi's
left eye is slashed to form the scar that Kakashi still has today,
blinding him in the left side. Obito saw Kakashi injured, and had
flashbacks of his laziness, and lame excuses about getting tardy, which
made him realize how Kakashi loved him as a friend, even though he
disliked Kakashi. With that anger, Obito awakened his Sharingan.
In chapter 243, the mission to rescue
Rin from the Rock ninja continues. When Obito throws Kakashi out of the
way of a falling rock, caused by an Iwa ninja's Doton: Iwayado Kuzushi
(Earth Release: Rock Lodging Destruction), his entire right side is
crushed from that falling rock. Mortally wounded, he offers Kakashi his
Sharingan-capable, intact left eye as a belated promotion present and
final gift to Kakashi. Rin successfully transplants Obito's left eye,
replacing Kakashi's useless left eye. Obito's Sharingan eye only has
two tomoe, implying that Kakashi succeeds in fully evolving the eye to
its third stage at a later time.
Following the war, Kakashi earned
renowned fame for his use of the Sharingan and developed a reputation
for failing every potential Genin team that took the Survival Training
Exam he proctored. Like the Third Hokage, and probably Jiraiya and the
Fourth Hokage, Kakashi uses the infamous "Bell Test" to test his
potential students. Ostensibly a training exercise with Kakashi, the
three Academy graduates each have to take a bell from Kakashi, however
there are only two bells. The ultimate goal of the Bell Test is to test
the potential Genin's teamwork and self sacrifice. This test is what
Kakashi uses as the real Genin graduation exam, weeding out potential
Genin selected by their passing of the Ninja Academy's graduation exam
with a failure rate of more than 66%. While his exam is generally
considered to be more exacting and stringent than those of other Jōnin,
the Third Hokage believes that his decisions to fail previous teams
ultimately proved to be correct and wise. Team 7 became the first Genin
team to pass Kakashi's exam.
Kakashi and Team 7
The initial results of the Survival Training Exam
for Team 7 were unpromising. Naruto's impulsiveness, Sakura's tunnel
vision focus on Sasuke and Sasuke's arrogant superiority and lone-wolf
attitude resulted in a lack of teamwork, which led them to fail the
Survival Training Exam. Given a second chance, an uncharacteristic
display of teamwork impressed Kakashi enough to pass the team, the
first Genin team he had ever passed.
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 Nami
no Kuni (Land of Waves) against Momochi Zabuza and his student, Haku.
Kakashi's controversial decision to
permit Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura to take the Chūnin 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 Inuzuka Kiba, 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!"
Through the Survival Training Exam, Kakashi recognizes
Sakura's faculty with Genjutsu.
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 Chūnin
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, who's name is engraved in the
memorial stone. Sasuke's and Obito's relation, plus Sasuke's Sharingan
ability and natural talent, lead Kakashi to train Sasuke for the third
portion of the Chūnin 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 Uchiha
Itachi and his Mangekyō Sharingan, 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.
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.
Yet, 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 Kyūbi no Yōko
(Nine-Tails Fox Demon). Kakashi forms a team with Naruto and Sakura
again. However, the relationship between the three is no longer master
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. 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 Kakashi, but hasn't finished yet.
About Him
| At first glance you would never guess Kakashi is
a very powerful jounin. He’s very relaxed and sometimes even somewhat
slow. He also loves to read his romantic (or is it dirty?) book ‘Come
Come Paradise’. However, in this case, appearances can be deceiving.
Kakashi is known throughout the world as a formidable adversary and he
was an apprentice of the Fourth Hokage. |
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| Kakashi is a very good but very strict teacher.
Prior to Naruto’s team, he had never allowed any of the teams he was to
teach become genins. He uses the same teaching methods the Third and
Fourth Hokages used, and he emphasizes teamwork above all else. He
feels that someone who does not understand teamwork is not worthy of
becoming a ninja. |
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Kakashi has a sharingan in only one of his eyes.
This is unusual because normally sharingan affects both eyes. The most
likely explanation for this is that it was surgically implanted. |
| The sharingan gives Kakashi a huge advantage in
battle. He is able to read and copy his opponents moves with it. Almost
all of Kakashi’s moves are copied from other ninjas. The only exception
is the Chidori. The Chidori is Kakashi’s sole original technique. |
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