Kakashi Hatake

is one of the main protagonists in the anime and manga series Naruto. He is a Konohagakure Jōnin, a former ANBU, and the leader of Team 7.

Kakashi is the only child of Sakumo Hatake and, like his father, he is regarded as a genius among his peers. After his meteoric rise through the ninja ranks, Kakashi became the student of Minato Namikaze, and subsequently became a Jōnin during the Third Great Shinobi War.

Following the war, Kakashi gained his reputation, and is well-known worldwide for his use of the Sharingan, earning him the moniker and.

Background
Kakashi is the only son of Sakumo Hatake, also known as the White Fang of Konoha. His mother apparently died when he was young. Kakashi has been known since a young age as an extremely gifted prodigy, regarded by many as the best of his generation. He had received top marks and had showed an innate aptitude for the ninja arts while in the academy. This permitted him to graduate from it in a single year at the top of his class at the age of 5, and then becoming a Chūnin a year later. Despite his own success, his father fell into disgrace after choosing to save his comrades rather than complete an important mission, causing Konohagakure to suffer in the war effort. Dishonored, Sakumo took his own life after a deep depression and a drop in his skills, which caused Kakashi to lead his life strictly by the ninja code.

After graduating, Kakashi was then teamed with Obito Uchiha and Rin under the leadership of Minato Namikaze, the future Fourth Hokage. Kakashi's relationship with Obito and Rin was noted to be very similar to that of Sasuke's relationship with Naruto and Sakura respectively, as he is known as the indifferent genius who shared a complicated relationship with his teammates, that later developed into a close friendship.

Kakashi Gaiden
At the age of 13, soon after becoming a Jōnin, Kakashi was assigned to lead Obito and Rin on a mission that would benefit Konoha in the ongoing Third Great Shinobi World War. They were to destroy a bridge being used by Iwagakure forces to move into Kusagakure. This would also be Konohagakure's first huge offensive move in the war. On their way to the bridge, Rin was kidnapped by two Iwagakure ninja named Kakko and Taiseki. Obito immediately suggested that they rescue her, but Kakashi disagreed on the basis that they needed to complete their mission, opting not to make the same mistake his father did. Obito wouldn't hear of it and stubbornly left to save Rin, but not before mentioning that Kakashi's father was a true hero. Shortly after parting ways, Kakashi reflected on Obito's words and Rin's prior kindness. He realized that his father wasn't wrong after all, which prompted him to join Obito in the rescue effort.

Kakashi arrived in time to save Obito from Taiseki, using his father's blade to combat him. Despite the 2-to-1 advantage, Taiseki was able to get in an attack and damage Kakashi's left eye, who took the blow that was intended for Obito. In sheer terror and desire to protect Kakashi, Obito finally awakened his Sharingan, allowing him to see through his opponent's camoflash jutsu and kill Kakashi's attacker and continue on to Rin. Once they located Rin and Kakko, Kakashi and Obito teamed up to defeat the latter. Kakashi and Obito freed Rin, but just as Kakashi's team was about to leave, Kakko attempted to trap them with a crushing jutsu, causing a cave-in.

While trying to escape, Obito pushed Kakashi out of the path of a falling boulder, causing him to be crushed beneath it instead. Knowing his life was at an end, Obito instructed Rin to implant his left Sharingan into Kakashi's damaged one. Rin complied, and as soon as the surgery was completed Kakashi used the Sharingan and his Chidori to kill Kakko. He then returned to Obito to see if there was anything he could do for him, but the place was turning into shambles, forcing Kakashi and Rin to leave him behind. With the help of Minato, they ultimately completed their mission, allowing them to mourn Obito's death.

Following the success of his first mission as a Jōnin, Kakashi became well-known among all five great countries for the extensive use of his Sharingan, gaining him a reputation as "the man who has copied over a thousand jutsu," hence his nickname. Kakashi joined the Konohagakure ANBU a few years later. He later left for unknown reasons, but maintained strong connections with the ANBU.

Kakashi eventually became a team leader, and tested many Genin. As the Third Hokage told Iruka Umino, Kakashi has never passed one of them due to their inability to live up to his expectations of working as a team.

Personality
Obito's death had a huge impact on Kakashi's personality. He is now more cheerful and shows greater concern for his teammates, placing their safety over the successful completion of a mission. He is also regularly late for appointments. This is because of his frequent visits to the memorial where Obito's name is engraved, where he loses track of time. However, Kakashi is still just as carefree and emotionless as he was during his youth, often speaking bluntly about sensitive topics.

Kakashi claims to have lost everyone who was close to him, causing some reluctance to allow others to get close to him. Of the people who are still alive, Kakashi is on the best terms with his students. After the formation of Team 7 he begins taking a special interest in their development, as shown from his regular checking up on Naruto and his eating habits. He similarly refuses to go on a mission at the end of Part I so that he can stop Naruto and Sasuke from killing each other. Kakashi is just as devoted to his friends and the rest of Konoha, such that his signature jutsu, the Lightning Cutter, has been made on the principle of duty, and perfected on the principle of protecting loved ones.

Kakashi has a rather solitary and matter-of-fact attitude. His calm and detached demeanor has been called “cool, hip, and trendy” many times by Might Guy. Despite his increasingly growing reputation and prowess as a ninja, Kakashi has shown no signs of arrogance, and is rather modest about his abilities. His naturally calm attitude is used to his advantage in battle, as it becomes easier for him to maintain his composure to stay focused on the situation at hand, and ultimately notice everything around him. As a result, he can quickly adjust to any situation to make keen and thought-out decisions, allowing him to stay steps ahead of his opponents.

Kakashi has an ongoing, albeit one-sided, rivalry with Might Guy. In trying to prove himself superior to Kakashi, Guy challenges him to competitions of questionable value ranging from Rock, Paper, Scissors to running races. Guy has a record of 50 wins to 49 losses, which he is particularly proud of. Kakashi, on the other hand, shows very little interest in their competitions, which only further inspires Guy to defeat Kakashi and his "coolness".

Kakashi is a fan of the Icha Icha series of novels. He is typically seen reading one of the books when not involved in a fight, making it the only one (of his reportedly many) hobbies that is ever seen in the series. He even went and read it during his first fight against Naruto, as Naruto was, at that time, too weak to pose much of a threat. Despite his fondness for the books, he grows uncomfortable when reading passages to others, presumably embarrassed by the adult content. Naruto, on one occasion, has used these books against Kakashi, threatening to spoil the ending of the latest installment to force Kakashi to let down his guard (by shutting his eyes and blocking his ears) to prevent learning the ending of the story. Kakashi felt humiliated when he realized that Naruto hasn't read past the first ten pages, and that he was tricked.

Appearance
Kakashi's personality is further emphasized by his generally lazy expression, aloof manner, relaxed voice, and minimalist attitude. In serious situations, however, he is shown to have a very stern and intense look. He is almost always seen in his Konoha ninja uniform, along with iron guard gloves reminiscent of his ANBU days. Another noticeable feature to Kakashi, other than his unique left eye, is the thin scar running over it and down to his cheek. He is a tall, fit ninja, characterized by his tall and spiky silver hair, forehead protector regularly covering his scarred left eye, and his chronically visible mask. He is once mistaken by Chiyo for his father who he is considered to greatly resemble.

While it has yet to be revealed why, he has, since a young age, always been seen concealing the lower half of his face. What he looks like remains a point of interest for his students, who try to find out what he looks like in various omake specials in the series. Episode 101, which is devoted to Team 7 trying to remove their sensei's mask, implies that he is in fact quite handsome from Teuchi and Ayame's reaction to seeing his face. In the few instances that he is seen without his mask (although still obstructed by some object), it has been seen that he has a narrow jaw-line.

Abilities
Kakashi is shown to be very respected throughout Konoha, as well as easily being one of the most powerful ninja Konoha has to offer. Kakashi is also recognized as the foremost jutsu specialist in Konoha, due to his gradually increasing arsenal of thousands of jutsu, a feat that earns either delight or dread from enemy ninja who face him in combat. His knowledge of jutsu is so high that he is requested to watch over Naruto should the seal of the Nine-Tails begin to fail. His skill and cunning are repeatedly shown to be great enough to hold his own against seemingly any opponent. Even Pain, an extremely dangerous ninja, viewed Kakashi's skills as capable of impeding his plans if he did not get rid of Kakashi first. He is also considered a prime candidate for the position of Hokage by a number of characters.

Kakashi is noted (by Naruto) to be smarter than Shikamaru Nara, has a better nose than Kiba Inuzuka, a better taijutsu performance than Rock Lee, and a better Sharingan mastery than Sasuke Uchiha (in Part I). While this is probably an exaggeration, Kakashi has proven himself to be an intelligent ninja with great instincts and battle prowess, making him a match for almost any opponent. His general abilities are greatly improved during the time skip. In Part I, he was unable to keep up with Itachi Uchiha's physical and hand seal speed, even with the use of his Sharingan. By Part II, he is able to keep up with Itachi's immense speed, (his speed was even praised by Madara Uchiha himself). His chakra level sees a similar improvement as well; in Part I, his chakra levels have been shown to be barely average. By Part II, his chakra is shown to have greatly increased, as he can perform several chakra-taxing jutsu in rapid succession. He even increases the number of times he can use his Lightning Cutter per day, using six of them in one battle, and still having enough chakra to plan using the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Experience
As a Jōnin and former ANBU, Kakashi is very adept in any form of battle. He is regularly put in charge of whatever squad he is assigned to, and works well with its diverse members. Kakashi's naturally calm attitude is used to his advantage in battle, allowing him to stay collected and out-think the opponent, similar to Shikamaru Nara. This is primarily because he can quickly analyze the situation at hand, and comprehend his opponent's abilities and battle tactics. After doing so, he can use sharp intuition to make quick and firm decisions to switch to the appropriate counter-tactics. Against more powerful opponents, he regularly uses various misdirection and trap tactics to weaken them. Kakashi's cunning also allows him to be a very effective teacher, able to use various unorthodox methods to produce months if not years of training in just weeks as he has repeatedly helped his students gain tremendous jumps in their prowess in relatively short amounts of time. Kakashi is also highly proficient at evasion, as shown when he was able to fight on par with Hidan, and later with Kakuzu, while simultaneously avoiding taking damage and protecting Chōji Akimichi and Ino Yamanaka.

Mastery of Ninja Skills
Kakashi primarily relies on his mastery of ninjutsu, of which he has a vast arsenal due to his Sharingan. With this arsenal, he can attack or defend against his opponents in numerous manners. While used less often, he has also shown to have impressive skills in genjutsu, which he can use to throw off his opponents as a set-up for stronger attacks. In addition, he has proven to be very adept in taijutsu, which, combined with his impressive speed, allows him to effectively catch his opponents off guard and evade attacks. Moreover, he has proven skillful in areas such as tracking, trap-making, survival, stealth, assassination, armed-combat, and sealing jutsu. Orochimaru notes that his level of sealing jutsu was impressive for his age. He was taught by his late teacher how to use the Rasengan, but could never master it beyond its standard level as it was intended to mix with elemental chakra.

Nature Transformation
In addition to the sheer number of jutsu at Kakashi's disposal, he has an extensive knowledge of and skill with elemental jutsu. He has shown mastery of his natural affinity towards lightning chakra, being able to use several high-level lightning-based jutsu without hand seals. Even Kakuzu, an extremely experienced member of Akatsuki, immediately recognized his assailant to be "Sharingan Kakashi" after seeing his prowess in lightning jutsu. With much assistance from his Sharingan he has mastered multiple elements despite his still young age, which he is able to use together for various combo attacks or strategies. Individually, he is able to perform earth-based jutsu with great detail in their shape and is able to perform water-based jutsu without an existing water source nearby. He has also been shown (in the anime) using fire-based jutsu, and he is otherwise at least knowledgeable enough with Wind Release to help train Naruto in its use.

Even though he owes much of his repertoire to his Sharingan, Kakashi is capable of creating his own techniques, as he did with the Chidori. While powerful, the Chidori has two drawbacks: the amount of chakra it requires and the speed at which the user must move. These flaws prompted Minato Namikaze to ban his student from using the technique after seeing it in action. After gaining the Sharingan, the tunnel effect can now be worked around, as he can now see his opponents clearly. He later refines the Chidori into the stronger Lightning Cutter and develops several new lightning jutsu.

Sharingan
Kakashi's most distinguishing ability is his Sharingan, a gift from his late friend Obito Uchiha, as it allows him to copy any jutsu used against him, see through any deception, give hypnotic suggestions, perform genjutsu, and predict his opponent's movements. The drawback of his Sharingan is that, because Kakashi has no Uchiha blood, his body cannot completely adjust to it, hence costing him more chakra than it would an Uchiha. Coupled with the fact that he cannot deactivate it (and thus must keep it covered when not using it), he quickly expends his chakra in battle. Because of this, Kakashi only relies on it when he feels it is an absolute necessity. Despite his handicap with the Sharingan, he is very skilled in using it. While it was initially at stage 2 of its development when first obtained, Kakashi was able to fully develop it before the start of the series. Even Itachi Uchiha, a true heir and master of the Sharingan, acknowledged Kakashi's superior proficiency with the Sharingan compared to most true Sharingan wielders.

Kakashi has somehow been able to improve his Sharingan with time. When he first gained the Sharingan it had only two tomoe, but by the start of the series it has progressed to three. In addition, by Part II, Kakashi seems to have extended the amount of time he can sustain using the Sharingan, as he is seen using it for seemingly a day while testing Naruto and Sakura.

Mangekyō Sharingan
During the timeskip, Kakashi further improved his Sharingan by developing his own Mangekyō Sharingan through unknown means. Furthermore, he has mastered his only known Mangekyō jutsu called Kamui. This jutsu has the ability to manipulate space, and was shown to be able to suck targets or even tear off parts of a target and hurl them into another dimension. When used against Deidara, he noted Kakashi's dōjutsu to be of Itachi's caliber, who was infamous for his prowess with Mangekyō jutsu. Despite Kakashi mentioning that he has yet to master it, as shown from his difficulty in using it against Deidara, his skill with Kamui was later great enough to hit a small speeding target with no effect on anything else. However, this technique uses so much chakra that he has to be hospitalized for a week after using it three times in one day. Though he has never shown signs of deterioration in his sight from the use of his Mangekyō eye (as Madara, Itachi, and Sasuke), Kakashi has knowledge of the side effects of their repeated use.

Part I
Although later earning status as a Jōnin-sensei, Kakashi developed a reputation throughout the academy for having exceedingly high standards on who he would train, and failing every potential Genin team that took the Survival Training Exam he proctored. When he was given the next potential Team 7 — which consisted of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno — he gave them a bell test, requiring that the three of them obtain one of the two bells the he keeps on his waist. They worked independently to try and take a bell, unwilling to work together since one of them wouldn't be able to have a bell.

Each of the young ninjas try their own methods to getting a bell, only for Kakashi to easily defeat them. After Team 7 failed their test, Kakashi was quick to express how displeased he was with their performance. After belittling each of their performances, he revealed the true goal of this test: teamwork. After explaining the importance of teamwork and seeing how ashamed they were at their performance, Kakashi decided to give Team 7 one more chance to act as a team, and let them take a break for lunch. However, Naruto, having earlier tried to steal their lunches, was forbidden to eat. Deciding that they would need Naruto in peak condition if they were to work together, Sasuke and Sakura gave him food anyway. Kakashi witnessed this act and immediately confronted them, feigning anger that they disobeyed him, before passing them. The newly formed team explained that they needed to work as a team first before anything else. He then congratulated them on being the first team to pass under him after revealing the true objective of the test: being loyal to each other.

It was later revealed that Kakashi was chosen specifically to be the leader of Team 7 because of Naruto and Sasuke. Kakashi's duty in addition to training the team was also to keep the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox in Naruto contained, and to keep Sasuke from walking down a dark path, since they had similar traits that would allow Kakashi to better understand him.

Land of Waves arc
After completing a number of easy D-rank missions, Team 7, at Naruto's insistence, was assigned a somewhat more difficult C-rank task of escorting the bridge-builder Tazuna to the Land of Waves. They were attacked en route by the Demon Brothers. After Kakashi easily defeated them, he realized that there was more to the mission than a simple escort, and convinced Tazuna to tell them the truth: that the Land of Waves was under the tyranny of Gatō. Tazuna hoped to build a bridge that would free the country, and had thus garnered Gatō's assassination attempts. Even though the mission was far more dangerous than what they had been initially assigned (at least A-rank difficulty), Team 7 agreed to act as his bodyguard until the bridge was complete.

Upon arriving in the Land of Waves, Team 7 was attacked by Zabuza Momochi, another of Gatō's hired assassins. Zabuza's superior experience with water-based jutsu, combined with Kakashi's focus on protecting his teammates, allowed him to catch Kakashi off guard, resulting in Zabuza trapping Kakashi with a water prison. Kakashi pleaded with his students to flee with Tazuna, but they instead chose to work together, and managed to free him. Using his Sharingan, Kakashi was able to turn the tide against Zabuza. Before Kakashi could land a killing blow, however, a boy named Haku stepped in, and appeared to kill Zabuza first. He then took Zabuza's body away, claiming that he was a Kirigakure Hunter-nin and would dispose of it, after which Kakashi collapsed from exhaustion due to overuse of his Sharingan.

Fearing that Haku might have faked Zabuza's death to save him, Kakashi trained Team 7 to gain better chakra control while recuperating. In a week, they had mastered the training, and thus resumed their bodyguard duty. At the bridge they were confronted by Zabuza and Haku, confirming Kakashi's suspicions. While Haku engaged Naruto and Sasuke, Kakashi fought Zabuza.

Having learned from his defeat, Zabuza relied on sneak attacks during the battle through his Hidden Mist Technique to keep him from falling prey to Kakashi's Sharingan. In response, Kakashi summoned his ninja hounds underground to locate and pin down Zabuza, making him an easy target for his Lightning Cutter. Before he could kill Zabuza, Kakashi was once again interrupted by Haku, who used himself as a human shield and took the blow intended for Zabuza.

Still determined to win, Zabuza relentlessly attacked Kakashi, but the battle turned completely in Kakashi favor, easily outmaneuvering Zabuza. Gatō and the rest of his henchmen later showed up to have Zabuza disposed of as a result of his failure, only for Zabuza to kill Gatō. While Kakashi witnessed the event, Gatō's henchmen in turn killed Zabuza. In response, Kakashi used his Multiple Shadow Clone Technique to scare the thugs away. As Zabuza died, he asked Kakashi to bring his body beside Haku's before he passed away. Kakashi buried them alongside each other before returning to Konoha with Team 7.

Chūnin Exam arc
Feeling his students were ready, Kakashi entered Team 7 in the Chūnin Exams, despite some initially disapproval from other elite ninja. After Sasuke was branded with the Cursed Seal of Heaven by Orochimaru during the exam's second phase, Kakashi took it upon himself to deal with the cursed seal. Unable to remove it, he instead used the Evil Sealing Method to try and prevent its usage. Following the preliminary matches, Kakashi decided to personally train Sasuke for a month after realizing how much Orochimaru desired Sasuke from his subordinate Kabuto Yakushi attempting to abducted him. Kakashi tried to reinforce Sasuke’s self-worth and value for his friends by teaching him how to use Chidori as a deterrent against the cursed seal. As the training also involved taijutsu training copied from Rock Lee to better condition Sasuke's body for the Chidori, Kakashi runs late in delivering Sasuke to his final round match late.

Invasion of Konoha arc
When the invasion of Konoha begins during Sasuke's match, Kakashi releases the Genjutsu Along with Might Guy and Sakura Haruno and helps repel the invaders along with Might Guy. They end up having several contests to see who could defeat the most Sand/Sound Ninja, Although Might Guy usually won. When he notices that Sasuke is going after Gaara, Kakashi sends Naruto, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Pakkun to stop him and bring him back.

Return of Itachi arc
Shortly after the invasion was prevented, Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke's older brother, and Kisame Hoshigaki of Akatsuki infiltrated the village. Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yuhi tried to apprehend the two, but they were almost killed, making Kakashi intervene. Although Kakashi was able to hold his own against Itachi for a short while, Kakashi fell victim to Itachi's Tsukuyomi. Severely weakened by the technique, Kakashi confirmed that Itachi and Kisame were after Naruto and the Nine-Tails before collapsing. With Kakashi's knowledge on them, Itachi ordered Kisame to kidnap Kakashi. Luckily, Might Guy arrived just in time to drive the Akatsuki members off.

Kakashi was left in a coma after what happened, and was not revived until Tsunade returned to the village. Immediately after recovering, he was sent on a new mission.

Sasuke Retrieval arc
Before setting out on his mission, Kakashi stops a battle between Naruto and Sasuke. Learning that in his absence Sasuke had begun reverting to his obsession for power and revenge, Kakashi lectures Sasuke about misusing the Chidori, pointing out that it was designed to protect friends, not attack them. He encourages Sasuke to place greater importance on friendships than on revenge, then leaves to let his words sink in, unaware that Sasuke was given little time to embrace those words thanks to Orochimaru’s Sound Four.

When Kakashi returned from his mission, he found out that Sasuke had defected to Orochimaru, and that a squad of Genin, led by Shikamaru, was all that had been sent out to retrieve him. Ignoring the fact that he had a new mission, Kakashi rushed out to track down Sasuke and the retrieval team. Using his Ninken, Kakashi was able to locate a defeated Naruto, with Sasuke having already left. Unable to pursue Sasuke because of a fresh rainfall and due to Naruto's current condition, Kakashi took Naruto back to the village to recover, saddened that he failed to help his students.

Pre-Shippūden filler arcs
Kakashi continued to be sent on missions during the anime's filler arcs, leaving him with very few appearances. He returned from a mission in time to recapture some of the prisoners that had escaped from prison when Mizuki led a breakout. He was later sent to assist with the Noroishimusha incident in the Land of Birds. While not officially his mission, and arriving much later, Kakashi realized the situation wasn't as it seemed, and ultimately took command of the team, thereby deciding to investigate. This led to Kakashi's fight with Hōki's minions, Nagare and Hokushin, whom he defeated with relative ease.

In the final filler arc, Kakashi was sent to spy on the Takumi Village when rumors of an uprising reached Konoha. There, he discovered the entire village abandoned, and the corpses missing. He later showed up towards the end of the arc, where he was sent as part of reinforcements, along with Jiraiya, to aid Naruto and the rest of the Genin in helping Sunagakure, only to discover that Naruto's team had already successfully completed their mission. At the conclusion of Part I, Naruto and Sakura began training under Jiraiya and Tsunade respectively, leaving Kakashi free to train himself.

Rescue Gaara arc
With Team 7 effectively dissolved, Kakashi spent the two and half years further enhancing and refining his abilities to prepare for the inevitable battle with Akatsuki. After Naruto's return to the village, Kakashi was given, by Naruto, the newest edition to the Icha-Icha series. Later, Kakashi had Naruto and Sakura take another bell test, with the real objective being to actually capture the bells, to see how much they'd improved. When they were unable to get close enough to Kakashi to each take a bell due to Kakashi’s own skill, Naruto and Sakura resorted to trying to spoil the plot of the most recent Icha-Icha novel, throwing Kakashi off guard and allowing them to take the bells.

When word reached Konoha that Gaara of Sunagakure has been kidnapped by Akatsuki, Team Kakashi was sent to rescue Gaara. Upon arrival in Sunagakure they are teamed with Chiyo before following Akatsuki's trail. Along the way, they encountered Itachi. Kakashi was able to fight on even grounds in this battle, but noted that Itachi's performance wasn't what it was the last time they met. With a well-timed maneuver, Kakashi was able to trick and restrain Itachi, giving Naruto the opening needed to finish the fight with his Great Ball Rasengan. Afterwards, they discovered that the Itachi was only a lookalike. They then met up with Team Guy, which was sent as back-up to Team Kakashi, outside an Akatsuki lair. Because there is a barrier over the entrance, Team Guy went to take down the barrier. This allowed Team Kakashi to infiltrate the lair, where they found Sasori, Deidara and Gaara.

Deidara flew off with Gaara's body, with Naruto and Kakashi in pursuit, leaving Sasori to Sakura and Chiyo. While pursuing Deidara, Kakashi tried to use his new Mangekyō Sharingan and its Kamui ability in an attempt to remove his head, but his aim is poor and he is only able to sever an arm. Nevertheless, Naruto was able to retrieve Gaara. With Naruto successful, Deidara tried to use a Suicide Bombing Clone to escape. Kakashi used Kamui again to get rid of the explosion, saving Team Guy, who was nearby. Chiyo gives her life to revive Gaara and they return home. Because he used Kamui too much, Guy has to carry Kakashi and Kakashi is left bed-ridden for a week.

Hidan and Kakuzu arc
While recuperating, Team Kakashi, led by Yamato, goes on a mission to try and find Sasuke. When they come back from the failed mission, Kakashi offers to help Naruto create a new jutsu to make him better prepared for his next encounter with Sasuke. Using the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, Naruto could reduce the amount of time needed to train and master the new jutsu that would potentially make Naruto surpass (in a manner of speaking) Kakashi himself.

Kakashi's training for Naruto was revealed to teach Naruto to master his natural element chakra (which turned out to be wind) and combine it with the Rasengan, to create an ultimate jutsu that not even Kakashi or the Fourth Hokage could complete. After hearing that Asuma Sarutobi had been killed in a battle with Akatsuki, Kakashi decided to lead Team 10 in avenging him, as Naruto had already advanced in his training beyond needing Kakashi's assistance. He left Yamato in charge of overseeing Naruto's training, and had Shikamaru Nara work with him on the plan of attack.

When they located Akatsuki members Hidan and Kakuzu, Shikamaru distracted the two, giving Kakashi an opportunity to hit Kakuzu with a Lightning Cutter. Although successful, it turned out that Kakuzu had a total of five hearts, one of which (the Earth heart) Kakashi had already destroyed. Realizing that the Akatsuki duo were seemingly unstoppable when together, the team decided to separate them, with Kakashi handing a capsule filled with Kakuzu's blood to Shikamaru and the latter leading Hidan away. Kakashi later barely escaped Kakuzu's counterattack, when Hidan inadvertently destroyed his partner's Lightning heart with his curse jutsu.

While Hidan fell to Shikamaru, Kakuzu intended on taking Kakashi's and the remaining members of Team 10's hearts to replace the ones he lost, with three hearts remaining intact. In the nick of time, Naruto and the rest of Team Kakashi came to their aid. Using his new Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, Naruto was able to crack Kakuzu's Fire and Wind hearts, leaving Kakuzu defeated. This gave Kakashi the opportunity to finally finish the Akatsuki member off with another Lightning Cutter.

Three-Tailed Beast arc
In the anime, after Konoha learns where Orochimaru is, Kakashi is assigned to lead Team 8 in tracking down Orochimaru and potentially Sasuke. They are able to find one of his bases, but it is destroyed upon their arrival to get rid of any evidence. They decide to look for survivors and in doing so find a number of prisoners trapped in crystals. Perplexed by this, Kakashi is unable to properly investigate, discovering that the team is being spied on.

Kakashi and his team later found themselves attacked by Orochimaru's minions, and trapped by Guren's crystal labyrinth. While initially at a disadvantage, Team Yamato arrives in time to free them from the labyrinth. The two teams then pursue Guren and her men to a lake where they discover that the Three-Tailed Giant Turtle was located somewhere in its center. Later when Kakashi learns from Naruto that Guren was accompanied with a young boy named Yūkimaru, Kakashi deduced that the child must have an important role to play in Orochimaru's plans for the Three-Tails.

After receiving backup from Konoha, Kakashi focuses their efforts to sealing the beast and retrieve Yūkimaru. After Guren and her men interrupt the sealing, the Three-Tails goes on a rampage and eats Naruto and Guren. With help from Yūkimaru Kakashi and his team are able to free Naruto and Guren from the Three-Tails. Kakashi immediately has his team restart the sealing process, but is again stopped by Guren's forces, who are now enhanced with cursed seals, making them more formidable opponents. While the Konoha ninjas are able to dispose of them, Yūkimaru witnessing Guren's seemingly death caused his power to erupt in full force, causing the Three-tails to break free from the seal and retreat back underwater.

Later, Kakashi's team was ordered to return to the village to formulate a new plan for dealing with the Three-Tails. During the night before the team returned, Yūkimaru left after being treated by Shizune. While aware of Yūkimaru's departure, Kakashi chose not to stop or pursue him, believing that Yūkimaru was no longer in any danger or a danger to them.

Hunt for Itachi arc
When word of Orochimaru's defeat at the hands of Sasuke, reached Konoha, Kakashi tried to make another attempt at retrieving Sasuke. He assembled the members of Team Kakashi and Team 8 (minus Kurenai) into an 8-Man Squad, and set out to locate either Sasuke or his brother, Itachi. Kiba and Naruto were eventually able to find Sasuke's location, and the team gave chase, only to be stopped by Tobi. Their efforts to attack Tobi all proved futile because of Tobi's unique teleporting jutsu. It was not until Zetsu reported to Tobi that Sasuke had killed Itachi that they were able to continue their pursuit. Before Tobi disappeared, Kakashi noticed, to his shock, a Sharingan on Tobi. Despite the team's haste, Tobi got to Sasuke first and, having lost the trail, were forced to return home.

Six-Tailed Beast arc
In the anime, while returning to the village, Katsuyu appears with a message from Tsunade. The team is ordered to aid the Tsuchigumo clan in protecting its forbidden jutsu from enemy ninjas. Kakashi puts Yamato in charge of the mission while he returns to the village for more information.

Invasion of Pain arc
When Akatsuki's leader, Pain, attacked Konoha in search of Naruto, Kakashi confronted Pain's Deva Path, after realizing that the initial attack was a diversion. He saved Iruka Umino from certain death, but was quickly overpowered by the Deva Path's gravitational-manipulation techniques, repelling all of Kakashi's attacks. When the Asura Path arrived to help the Deva Path, Kakashi was forced on the defensive until he got reinforcements from Chōji and Chōza Akimichi. After figuring out the Deva Path's powers, Kakashi devised a plan, and used Chōji and Chōza's help to take down the Deva Path. They almost succeed, but the Asura Path uses itself as shield and the Deva Path defeats them all.

Believing them all to be dead, the Deva Path left. When he came to, Kakashi sent Chōji to tell Tsunade about the Deva Path's abilities. But as Chōji left, the still-active Asura Path launched a missile at him. Despite knowing that he was almost out of chakra, and would likely die if he used the Mangekyō Sharingan again, Kakashi used Kamui to dispose of the missile and save Chōji. Having expended the last of his chakra, Kakashi died, his soul leaving his body. He soon found himself at a campfire with his deceased father, Sakumo, to whom he tells everything that had happened in his life.

During Pain's destruction of Konoha, Kakashi's body was protected by one of Katsuyu's divisions. After finishing the recount of his life, he stated that he finally understood why his father had chosen to save his friends and was now proud of him for it. Their conversation was halted when a ray of light beamed down upon Kakashi, as a result of Nagato's resurrection jutsu. Before seeing his son depart, Sakumo thanked Kakashi, and declared that he would now be able to join his wife. Kakashi then woke up in the Konoha battlefield, with Chōji and Chōza shocked. Kakashi wondered what happened, before a Katsuyu division started explaining to him the series of events. After the invasion came to an end, Kakashi fetched Naruto and brought him back to a massive welcoming party at Konoha. There, he complimented Naruto on him finally achieving his goals to be accepted and be appreciated by the whole village.

Five Kage Summit arc
Because Tsunade was left in a coma after the invasion, a meeting was held with the Fire Daimyo to select a new Hokage. Kakashi was almost selected for the position because of his father's fame, his reputation as a powerful ninja as well as his relation to the previous Hokage. Danzō, on the other hand, was able to convince the council to choose him instead. When Kakashi later hears of Danzō's selection, he stopped Naruto and Sakura from being reckless in confronting Danzō, telling them he wouldn't take lightly to insubordination and that they wouldn't be able to help Sasuke if they were imprisoned.

Later, Naruto revealed his desire to speak with the Fourth Raikage and make him forgive Sasuke. Naruto also revealed that he met with the Fourth Hokage who explained that it was the masked man who made the Nine-Tails attack Konoha 16 years ago. Kakashi was amazed at how impressive his late sensei's final jutsu, the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, really was to leave an image of himself in Naruto. Kakashi also deduced that the masked man of Akatsuki was Madara Uchiha. After revealing to Naruto that he also knew the Fourth Hokage was Naruto's father and glad to hear about the Fourth's faith in Naruto, Kakashi decided to join Naruto with Yamato in speaking with the Raikage. While preparing to leave, Kakashi noticed that some of Danzō's men were spying on them and used his Sharingan to disable them. Kakashi instructed Sai to not report Naruto's departure to Danzō, expressing his trust in Sai. Kakashi then joins Naruto and Yamato in secretly following Team Samui to the Kage Summit. Unfortunately, upon finding the Raikage, he strongly rejects Naruto's desperate pleas.

Later on, when Naruto is approached by Tobi, Kakashi and Yamato appear to defend him. While Yamato ensnares Tobi with his Wood Release techniques, Kakashi threatens to impale him with a Lightning Cutter, and reveals his belief that Tobi is really Madara Uchiha. Madara insists that he only came to talk. After Madara revealed the truth to them about Itachi, Kakashi and the others were completely shocked at Sasuke’s decision to go for revenge after all Itachi gave up for Sasuke. Madara then revealed the ultimate truth; the Sage of Six Paths passed two halves of his power to two young brothers. He also chose the younger brother as his successor, to which the elder despised and caused a war between them. The elder brother became the beginning of the Uchiha clan and the younger brother for the Senju clan, who both continued the war. Madara explained Naruto's soul has taken on the will of the Senju and that Sasuke has embraced his inborn hatred of his clan to which has become an inevitable fight between them. While Kakashi tried to get Madara to reveal his plans for Sasuke and the Tailed Beasts, Madara merely said he wanted to "become complete" and teleports away.

Later, while thinking about what actions to take next, Sakura, Sai, Lee, and Kiba arrive with an important message. He watched on with a disappointed look in his eye to see Sakura 'confess' to Naruto and stopped Yamato from interrupting, seemingly trusting in Naruto to handle it. When Naruto attempts to tell the others about Sasuke's reason for joining Akatsuki, Kakashi stops him, reminding him that the truth should not be shared without proof.

After Sakura and her group left, an ink clone of Sai's appeared to tell Naruto the truth that Sakura refused to tell. It was revealed that Sasuke was labeled a criminal that needed to be immediately disposed of. Even worse, Sakura had resolved to kill Sasuke herself. Before the news could be thought over, Gaara and his siblings appeared with news of Danzō's deceitful actions at the Kage Summit and that Madara had proclaimed the start of the Fourth Great Ninja War. Realizing that he might be selected now as Hokage and preparations would be needed for the upcoming war, Kakashi decided to quickly head back to Konoha, but the Sand Siblings and Yamato convinced him otherwise, as there is no time for politics.

Naruto is hit by this news, but remains silent as the Sand siblings begin to depart. Yamato tries to console Naruto, but Kakashi stops him, saying that Naruto must find the answer on his own. Kakashi decides to go after Sakura and talk to her personally since at her current level, she has no chance against Sasuke. He decides for Yamato and Naruto to return to the village while his nin-dogs inform the other Summit attendees of their plans. But before they do anything, Naruto falls to the ground and starts hyperventilating and passed out. He is later seen with Sai racing towards Sakura's location to stop her from fighting Sasuke. Unfortunately along the way, Sai's clone begins to disperse, telling Kakashi that Sakura incapacitated Sai and the others to face Sasuke alone.

Following the clone's last instructions, Kakashi finds the rest of Sakura's team, which he moved to a safe location, before having Kiba tell him where Sakura had gone. By the time he arrived at the Blue Samurai Bridge, he arrived in time to stop Sasuke from killing Sakura. Kakashi told Sakura, as her teacher, he would shoulder the burden of his fallen student, and told her to heal Karin. Kakashi tried again to convince Sasuke to give up on his revenge, to which Sasuke just laughed and stated his desire to kill Kakashi. Realizing how the Third Hokage felt when he had to fight Orochimaru, Kakashi vows he will put an end to his former student.

Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow
In Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow, Team 7 was given orders for an A-Rank mission to escort the famous actress, Yukie Fujikaze, to the Land of Snow. Upon arriving in the Land of Snow, they were attacked by three Snow Village ninjas Kakashi had fought years ago when he was still in ANBU. It was then revealed that Yukie was actually Koyuki Kazahana, the true heir as daimyo to the Land of Snow, who Kakashi saved years ago from her treacherous uncle, Dotō. Kakashi used his Sharingan to copy some of their ice-based jutsu to escape.

Realizing what Dotō was after, Kakashi switched Koyuki's crystal necklace with a fake one, in an attempt to stop him. When Koyuki was kidnapped, Kakashi, along with his team (minus Naruto), mounted a rescue attempt. Soon after Kakashi returned Koyuki's necklace to her, Dotō captured his niece, along with the necklace.

Kakashi was later intercepted by Nadare Rōga. Knowing his opponent had a high protection from ninjutsu and genjutsu, thanks to his armor, Kakashi relied on his taijutsu and defeated him with his Front Lotus. After Dotō was defeated and Koyuki took up her role as daimyo, Kakashi learned to his joy that Koyuki would be playing a lead role in a new "Icha-Icha" movie.

Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom
In Naruto the Movie 3: Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom, Kakashi was sent on a mission of escorting Prince Michiru of the Land of the Moon, and his son, Hikaru, back home. He was joined by his team (plus Rock Lee). Upon arriving, it was discovered that the Land of the Moon had been taken over by one of the king's advisers, Shabadaba, with the help of Three Wandering Ninja. After getting assistance from the royal guards, who were still loyal to the king, Kakashi used an earth jutsu to aid in their escape.

Later, Kakashi faced off against the leader of the rogue ninja, Ishidate, but failed to keep up with his opponent, thanks to being affected by a special gas, and ultimately having his left arm petrified to stone. This let the rogue ninja capture Michiru. After his arm was cured by Sakura, Kakashi joined a circus as a diversion, while having his team enter the castle to save Michiru. He then used his Sharingan and a water jutsu to keep the enemies occupied. In the end, Kakashi overused his Sharingan, and was forced to be hospitalized for several days, thus allowing his team to have a vacation in the Land of the Moon.

Shippūden the Movie
Kakashi only had a few cameos in Naruto Shippūden the Movie. When word reached Konoha that the legendary demon, Mōryō, had been released, and had begun its quest to control the world, Kakashi was sent out as one of the lead ninja to mount a counterattack on Mōryō's assault of stone warriors. This was merely to stall for time while Naruto, Sakura, Lee, and Neji Hyūga escorted Priestess Shion, who had the power to reseal Mōryō. Towards the end of the movie, Kakashi appeared with Shikamaru Nara, Might Guy, and Temari to support Naruto and Shion in stopping Mōryō. Here, Kakashi used his lightning jutsu to destroy several stone warriors. At the end of the movie, Kakashi was shocked by Shion's proposal for Naruto to father her child, which Naruto obliviously agreed to.

Shippūden the Movie 2: Bonds
When the infamous ninja of Soragakure attacked Konoha, Kakashi was one of the ninja who fought to protect the citizens, and fended off the attack. Later, Kakashi was put on a team with Shikamaru, Sai, and Shino Aburame to take down the enemy's ship fleet. After working out a plan with Shikamaru, the team was able to accomplish their mission. After Naruto was able to stop Shinnō and destroy his mothership, Kakashi witnessed it plummet, and merely commented that Naruto was as hyperactive as ever.

Creation and Conception
Masashi Kishimoto originally intended for Kakashi to debut in the second chapter of the Naruto manga, appearing prior to the other members of Team 7. This Kakashi was designed as a laid back, affected, skilled ninja, that ended his sentences with the polite "de gozaru" in the Japanese versions of the series, similar to Kenshin Himura in the popular manga series Rurōni Kenshin and Lance Corporal Dororo in the manga and anime Keroro Gunsou. After speaking with his editor, Kishimoto pushed this debut back, allowing him to better develop Kakashi and the rest of Team 7. Despite this, Kakashi retained many of his original personality traits, being easy-going, unfazed by the actions of others, and usually appearing to be half-asleep. Kishimoto felt that this made Kakashi a compelling leader, and helped to keep the diverse members of Team 7 unified. Because he acted as a link between the other main characters of the series, Kakashi was rarely featured prominently in promotional artwork, instead appearing in the background while his students were the focus of the scene.

When deciding upon Kakashi's name, Kishimoto considered a number of possibilities:, , , , and. He eventually decided upon Kakashi, and remained glad that he did ever since. In keeping with the meaning of his name, scarecrows were occasionally used to represent Kakashi; Naruto, for example, used a scarecrow that was dressed like Kakashi to help him train for a combat test between the two. Likewise, scarecrows were sometimes added to sceneries in which Kakashi appeared, as was the case with the cover of the Naruto manga volume three.

Trivia

 * "Kakashi" is Japanese for and "Hatake" means, so his name means . This is very fitting since many ninja in actual history (and ninja villages) posed as farmers.
 * Kakashi always places in the top three of the Naruto character popularity polls. The third Naruto databook, after compiling the results of all six polls, places Kakashi as the most popular character in the series with 48,469 votes.
 * According to Pakkun in an omake chapter published in the Third Databook, Kakashi greatly dislikes being photographed without his mask.
 * Kakashi, possessing the Sharingan, is one of four people to possess a kekkei genkai despite not being a member of the appropriate clan, the others being Yamato, Danzō, and Ao.
 * Kakashi has a misfortune of being stopped when he's about to kill his enemies:
 * Haku took Kakashi's Lightning Cutter that was intended for Zabuza Momochi, thus killing Haku instead.
 * Kakuzu countered Kakashi's assault on Hidan.
 * Kakashi was about to kill Guren until Gozu intervened.
 * Pain's Asura Path intervened to protect his Deva Path from Kakashi.
 * According to the Naruto databook:
 * Kakashi's hobby is reading (Icha Icha series).
 * Kakashi wishes to fight with Minato Namikaze.
 * Kakashi's favorite foods are salt-broiled saury and miso soup with eggplant, while his least favorites are anything fried or sweet.
 * Kakashi has completed 1,141 official missions in total: 197 D-rank, 190 C-rank, 414 B-rank, 298 A-rank, 42 S-rank.
 * Both Tsurugi and Kakashi have a scar running through their left eye.

Quotes

 * "I'm Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate...I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future...never really thought about it. As for my hobbies...I have lots of hobbies."
 * (To Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura) "In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, that's true, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum."
 * "I won't allow my comrades to die. I'll protect you with my life. Trust me."
 * "Sorry I'm late, I'm afraid I got lost on the path of life."
 * (To Naruto) "I'm telling you this because you don't get it. You think you get it, which is not the same as actually getting it. Get it?"
 * (To Kakuzu) "The next generation will always surpass the previous one. It's one of the never-ending cycles in life."
 * (To Sakumo) "Regardless of what happened, you did the best you could. I understand that now... you broke the rules for all our sakes - I'm proud of you now..."
 * (Looking at the statues of Madara and Hashirama) "Like the fate of the two who founded the village of Konoha... Naruto and Sasuke... your fates are like theirs."
 * (About Obito's grave) "This place makes me think about the mistakes I've made in the past...and I've made a lot."
 * (To Sasuke) "No matter how far Orochimaru fell, he still loved him... Now I know how the Third Hokage felt."