Sakumo Hatake

, also known as was a renowned, high ranking Konohagakure shinobi.

Background
Sakumo was a famous and powerful ninja of Konohagakure who, during his lifetime, held fame that was said to overshadow even that of the Sannin. His son, Kakashi, proved a himself a genius like Sakumo and idolised him, desiring to become just as great a ninja as his father. His wife had died when Kakashi was very young. Sakumo witnessed his son successfully passing the entrance exam to enter the Academy. Afterwards, he and Kakashi met Might Duy and his son Guy. After Sakumo carelessly asked Guy to be friends with Kakashi in the academy, Duy corrected Sakumo by revealing that his son failed the exam. As Kakashi began to openly question Guy's worth as a ninja with his weak aptitude for ninjutsu, Sakumo warned Kakashi to not underestimate Guy as he may someday grow stronger than Kakashi, noticing how arduously Guy trained to improve. At some time in his life, Sakumo killed Sasori's parents, earning Chiyo's hatred.

Five years before his son became a jōnin, Sakumo and his team were sent on a mission of great importance to Konoha. When his team-mates' lives were endangered, Sakumo chose to abandon the mission in order to save them. The impact of the mission's failure caused Sakumo to be vilified by the Land of Fire, the villagers of Konoha, and even those he had saved. Dishonoured, Sakumo fell into a deep depression, which caused his abilities to suffer as a result. Eventually, he committed suicide, which drove Kakashi to live strictly according to the Shinobi Rules during the time before his last mission with Obito Uchiha.

Personality
Sakumo was a very kind and loyal man. Despite his tremendous fame and power as a ninja, he was a very humble man, which made his only son Kakashi truly look up to and idolise him. He had a deep devotion to Konoha and an even greater commitment to his allies and loved ones to the point he would put their well-being before anything else; his commitment was so great that he would sacrifice the completion of a mission in order to save his team-mates, which led to him being a public figure of hate and ridicule. He was also shown to be a perceptive man, noticing Might Guy's worn-out condition and from that discerned Guy's character, correctly predicting Guy's future growth as a ninja.

Appearance
Sakumo was a kind-faced man with dark eyes which had deep lines running underneath them. He had spiky, silver-coloured hair that reached into the middle of his back tied in a ponytail and bangs that hung over his forehead protector. He wore a standard Konoha-nin uniform complete with a pair of gloves, flak jacket, bandages on his right arm, and the addition of distinctive short white sleeve which had red edges and the standard crest of Uzushiogakure on it. He also carried a holster worn diagonally over his right shoulder which held his White Light Chakra Sabre. Overall, his son, Kakashi bears such a great resemblance to him that he has even been mistaken for his father on several occasions.

Abilities
Sakumo was hailed as a genius shinobi, and was praised for his talents in the ninja arts even by the likes of Minato Namikaze, the future Fourth Hokage. In battle, Sakumo was a truly powerful shinobi, and in his time, his powers were said to be on par with even those of the Sannin. The mere idea of facing Sakumo brought fear to his enemies, as shown from the reaction of an Iwagakure shinobi initially believing Kakashi to be his father.

He was also seemingly very proficient in kenjutsu with his primary weapon during battle being a tantō called the White Light Chakra Sabre that would emit white chakra when wielded, earning him the nickname "Konoha's White Fang". After he died, he left his tantō to his son.

Invasion of Pain Arc
After Kakashi died, having used up his remaining chakra to save Chōji from Asura Path's missile during the invasion of Pain, he found himself in an area of darkness with a single camp-fire, where Sakumo greeted his son and invited him to share his life's story with him. Sakumo lamented that they both died young; though not as young as his wife. Kakashi said that he understood the sacrifice that Sakumo had made for the sake of all the villagers which shocked him. He also finally forgave Sakumo and told him that he was proud of him and what he had done which prompted Sakumo to thank Kakashi. When a ray of light beamed down upon Kakashi, Sakumo told Kakashi that it seemed that he still had a lot of things to do in the world of the living, he was glad that he was able to speak with him, and was thankful that his son had forgiven him. After Kakashi disappeared, Sakumo stated that he could finally move on and see his wife again.

Legacy
Despite being disgraced for his actions during his last mission when shinobi believed that the mission was to be placed above the lives of even their comrades, Sakumo's name still has good standing throughout the shinobi world, as displayed when the Fire Daimyō seemed pleased when Kakashi was recommended to become the sixth Hokage noting that the latter was the son of Konoha's White Fang.

The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, also identified Kakashi as Sakumo's son when the Kage were deciding on whom they wanted to represent Konoha in the Alliance. Obito Uchiha also greatly respected Sakumo for his beliefs that his comrades lives were to be placed before the outcome of a mission or the rules of the shinobi.

This train of thought eventually greatly impacted his son, Kakashi's way of thinking leading him to believe that those who broke the rules were garbage, but those that abandoned their comrades were lower than garbage. This idealism in turn impacted Naruto and most of the shinobi world and changed the views of many ninjas who thought a mission was more important than the life of their comrades.

A prominent example of this was displayed during Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane's conversation during the Chūnin Exams where they noted that a chūnin, being a leader, should think about how to use their comrades' abilities to their advantage rather than successfully completing a mission, but losing their comrades as a result.

Trivia

 * The name "Sakumo" is possibly derived from the word, meaning "agricultural produce" or "crops". This would tie into the name of his son, , which means "scarecrow", and their family name, , which means "farmland".

Quotes

 * (To Kakashi) "Thank you for forgiving me… Now I can move on in peace. And finally see your mother…"