Kakashi Hatake

one of the main characters of the series, a jōnin-level shinobi from Konohagakure and the leader of Team 7. He is known worldwide for his use of the Sharingan, earning him the moniker and.

Background
Kakashi is the son of Sakumo Hatake, also known as the "Konoha's White Fang". Not much is known of his mother other than that she died at some point. 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 shown 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 five, eventually joining a team under Minato Namikaze alongside Obito Uchiha and Rin Nohara. A year later, Kakashi became chūnin while facing and defeating Might Guy during the third stage of the Chūnin Exams.

Despite his own success, his father fell into disgrace after choosing to save his comrades rather than complete an important mission, causing Konoha to suffer in the war effort. Dishonoured, 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.

Third Shinobi World War
Soon after becoming a jōnin, Kakashi was assigned to lead his team-mates Obito and Rin on a mission that would benefit Konoha in the ongoing Third Shinobi World War. They were to destroy Kannabi Bridge, which was being used by Iwagakure forces to move into Kusagakure. This would also be Konoha's first huge offensive move in the war. On their way to the bridge, Rin was kidnapped by two Iwagakure ninja named Kakkō 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 would not hear of it and stubbornly left to save Rin, but not before mentioning that he believed Kakashi's father, the White Fang, was a true hero. Shortly after parting ways, Kakashi reflected on Obito's words and Rin's prior kindness. He realised that his father was not 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 two-to-one disadvantage, the more experienced Taiseki was able to attack and damage Kakashi's left eye, who took the blow that was intended for Obito, giving him a permanent scar and blinding the eye.

Obito's will to protect his comrades would cause his Sharingan to awaken, and he uses it to kill Taiseki. Finding Rin and defeating Kakkō with Obito's help, Kakashi freed Rin before their opponent attempted to trap them in a cave-in. While trying to escape, Kakashi was hit by a rock which he didn't notice because of his bandaged eye causing him to fall. Obito pushed Kakashi out of the path of a falling boulder, causing himself to be crushed beneath it instead. Knowing he would die, Obito instructed Rin to implant his left Sharingan into Kakashi's damaged eye. Rin complied, and as soon as the surgery was completed Kakashi used the Sharingan and his Chidori to kill Kakkō. He then returned to Obito to see if there was anything he could do for him, but was forced alongside Rin to leave him. With the help of Minato, they ultimately completed their mission, allowing them to mourn Obito's supposed death. Later, in the anime, Kakashi and Rin's team was given Might Guy as a replacement. It was during one mission that Kakashi and Guy found true trust and teamwork with each other.

Some time after the events at Kannabi Bridge, Kakashi and Rin were apparently sent out on a mission where they were ambushed by jōnin and ANBU-level Kirigakure shinobi. The events of this encounter culminated in a tearful Kakashi running Rin through her chest with his Chidori. Shortly afterwards, Kakashi and Obito — who was witnessing from behind the scenes — developed their fully-matured Sharingan and subsequently awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan at precisely the same time. Exhausted and overwhelmed with sorrow, Kakashi lost consciousness as Obito took his rage out on the Kirigakure ninja, slaughtering them all. Though he was the one who killed Rin, Obito left Kakashi alive as he was found by Konoha ninja soon after, who did not appear to know who defeated the enemy.

Post-War
After the conclusion of the war, Kakashi would often visit Rin's grave in the Konoha Cemetery and the Memorial Stone. On one such occasion, he visited Rin's grave and told her that their sensei's son would be born soon and left to go to the stone, unaware that Obito overheard him from afar and used that information to free the Nine-Tails and have the tailed beast ravage their village. During the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha, Kakashi and the rest of his peers were barred from participating in defending the village by Kurenai Yūhi's father and other senior shinobi for their own safety as the younger generation.

Over the years, Kakashi became well-known among all the Five Great Shinobi Countries for the extensive use of his Sharingan, gaining him a reputation as "the man who has copied over a thousand techniques", hence his nickname. Kakashi eventually joined the Konoha ANBU, and also served as a mentor to Tenzō.

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 had never passed any of them due to their inability to live up to his expectations of working as a team.

In the anime, he once had a mission where Iruka, his team-mate at the time, was injured and became an instructor at the Academy. When Iruka was having doubts at being assigned to be the home room teacher of Naruto Uzumaki, Kakashi served to remind him of his real reasons for wanting the post in the first place.

Personality
Kakashi became more stern and serious after his father's death, following all the rules to the letter and chastising any who disobeyed them, like his team-mate Obito Uchiha. He was also very aloof and apathetic to others especially his team-mate Obito who was always late for their missions and would come in tow with a grand excuse. This caused Obito to resent Kakashi; the dynamics between the two would soon change after Obito was mortally wounded during the Third Shinobi World War, with Kakashi and Obito becoming closer friends after Rin was abducted.

Obito's supposed death had a huge impact on Kakashi's personality, adopting many of his friend's cheerful mannerisms such as having greater concern for his team-mates and students over the successful completion of a mission, as well as believing that teamwork is essential to overall success as a team. He has also developed a somewhat carefree personality and is regularly late for appointments, making obvious excuses just like Obito before him. This is often because he loses track of time during his frequent visits to the memorial stone where Obito's name is engraved. However, Kakashi is still just as apathetic as he was during his youth, often speaking bluntly about sensitive topics.

Though his childhood was riddled with numerous despairs that took those dear away from him, one being the death of Rin by his own hand, Kakashi is on the best terms with his childhood friends: Guy, Asuma, and Kurenai, his students and generally with everyone in Konoha to a lesser extent. His devotion to his friends and the rest of Konoha were the motivation to perfect both the Chidori, and its enhanced version Lightning Cutter. After the formation of Team 7, Kakashi begins taking a special interest in his students' development, especially in the case of Naruto and Sasuke whose rivalry reminded him of his relation to Obito. Like Hiruzen, Kakashi loved all of his students deeply, turning down a mission to stop Naruto and Sasuke from killing each other. Despite Sasuke allying with Orochimaru, Kakashi shared Naruto's hope that they could save him. However, Kakashi became originally distraught about having to kill Sasuke after he became an enemy of Konoha, furiously discarding his hesitation only after Sasuke attempted to kill Sakura without a second thought.

Kakashi has a rather solitary and matter-of-fact attitude. His calm and detached demeanour 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, as shown when he readily praises others for leaps in their combat abilities and stating on more than one occasion that Naruto has surpassed him in power. When suggested by many for him to become Hokage, Kakashi admitted being unworthy but would accept the post for the sake of the village's well being. His naturally calm attitude is used to his advantage in battle, as it becomes easier for him to maintain his composure and stay focused on the situation at hand, and 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.

Despite his calm demeanour, Kakashi does has an emotional side, as he noted during the Fourth Shinobi World War that it took a lot to get him worked up, but when he did, he would go on a merciless rampage against the enemy. He was later horrified at the fact that Tobi was actually his thought to be deceased comrade Obito, to the point that he became momentarily depressed and was no longer reacted to what was occurring on the battlefield.

Kakashi has an ongoing, albeit one-sided, somewhat childish rivalry with 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, despite these competitions having little accuracy due to their large variations. In the anime, Kakashi has a 51:50 win-lose record. Kakashi, on the other hand, shows very little interest in their competitions, which only further inspires Guy to defeat Kakashi and his "coolness". However, Kakashi did show disappointment when he learned that Guy taught Lee how to open the dangerous Eight Gates, which turned to sympathy when Guy shows how much his student meant to him. Nevertheless, both men are great friends and also have the utmost faith in each other seen during the Fourth Shinobi World War when they entrusted the protection of their blind spots to each other. This was also expanded on in the anime, where Kakashi told Tsunade that he would need a second-in-command during the war and wanted Guy to serve that purpose.

Kakashi is an avid fan of the Icha Icha series of novels by Jiraiya, revealing a slightly perverted side. He is typically seen reading one of the books in his spare time, making it the only one of his reportedly several hobbies that is ever seen in the series. He even went and read it during his first bell test with the newly formed Team 7 as he deemed Naruto too weak of a threat. However, during the second bell test with Naruto and Sakura, Kakashi lost to his students when his love for the book series was used against him and he was forced into covering his ears and closing his eyes to avoid being told the ending of the latest instalment he had yet to read at the time. Despite his fondness for the books, Kakashi is uncomfortable about reading passages to others (even around his ninken), presumably embarrassed by the adult content (as noted when they were decoding Jiraiya's last message).

Appearance
Kakashi is a fair-skinned, fit and relatively tall shinobi. He has spiky white hair, and dark eyes with the left one having a small scar vertically over it. He wears his forehead protector tilted to the left to cover his scarred eye, and a mask which obscures the lower-half of his face. He was once mistaken by Chiyo for his father Sakumo Hatake, whom he greatly resembles despite the obscured lower-half of his face.

As a child, Kakashi wore a simple black outfit with the lower-half of his face concealed. He also wore a green scarf with a simple design on it. As a genin, he wore another simple black outfit along with an open-front apron around his waist and fish-net armour around his ankles. During the Kakashi Gaiden, he wore a black T-shirt with white stripes in the middle of the sleeves. On his arms he wears black sleeves (which he presumably cut out from his shirt) with metal arm protectors over them. He also has leather straps around his back and chest, and his family's White Light Chakra Sabre is kept in a small holder out in the back. He also wore pants similar to the ones he wears today. He appears to wear the same type of outfit as a child (as seen in a flashback). However, in another flashback he is shown wearing a sleeveless black shirt similar to one he sometimes wears as an adult. This type of shirt is presumably for casual wear. As an ANBU, Kakashi wore the standard attire of the group which consisted of a simple blue suit with the standard flak jacket, strapped up sandals, and arm guards. Along with this he wore plated gloves that went all the way up to his arms with a bandage wrapped around the right one. Along with this he carried a sword strapped to his back and his mask was fashioned to resemble a dog's face with red and black markings around the eyes, sides and mouth. Kakashi's personality is further emphasised 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. The cover page for chapter 16 also shows him wearing a chain necklace. Another noticeable feature to Kakashi, other than his unique left eye, is the thin scar running over it and down to his cheek. When he joined the regular forces Kakashi once again donned the standard attire of the forces and he began wearing shorter metal-plated gloves.

It has yet to be revealed why he has, since a young age, always worn a mask obscuring the lower half of his face. Though in the manga this does not seem to be an issue, 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 is devoted to Team 7 trying to remove their sensei's mask, and suggests that he is in fact very handsome, as seen from Teuchi and Ayame's reaction to seeing his face. In the few instances that he is seen without his mask, it has been seen that he has a narrow jaw-line; in these instances the parts of his face normally covered by his mask are obstructed from view.

Abilities
Kakashi is a natural genius, evidenced by the speed he rose through the ninja ranks; he graduated from the Academy top of his class at age 5, becoming a chūnin at age 6, a jōnin at age 13, and had a long tenure as an ANBU. Naruto notes that much of Kakashi's battle prowess and skills is greater than his friends who showed exceptional might in their own specific skills. A match for seemingly any opponent, it was also noted by Tsunade that Kakashi is easily one of Konoha's strongest ninja. During his career he has amassed a technique arsenal of over a thousand different techniques, making him Konoha's expert in the field. His various accomplishments have earned him much praise by his fellow Konoha ninja and he holds a position of great influence. He is frequently given responsibility for important tasks, such as watching Naruto in case the seal of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox begins to fail and being considered for Hokage.

Other ninja villages are very aware of Kakashi's abilities and, upon meeting him in battle, either fear for their safety or grow excited by the challenge Kakashi is sure to pose. Pain was so concerned by Kakashi's abilities that he tried to kill him for fear that he would someday interfere with Akatsuki's plans. This concern was later validated in the Fourth Shinobi World War when Kakashi defeated most of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and later managed to hold off several "Version 2" state jinchūriki together with Might Guy.

Taijutsu
Kakashi has proven to be very adept in taijutsu. As a child, he was skilled enough to draw out his sensei Minato Namikaze in his bell test, managing to touch one of the bells. As an adult, his improved skill was noted by Naruto to be greater than Rock Lee in Part I, a master taijutsu-specialist-in-training. He is also noted to have impressive speed; being able to intercept an opponent even from a distance as seen during the very start of the bell test. With his skill, even when greatly outnumbered by hundreds of shadow clones, he is easily able to defeat them.

His battle prowess and speed allow him to effectively catch his opponents off-guard to quickly strike them down and easily evade attacks. His speed increased considerably in Part II, before the timeskip he had difficulty keeping up with Itachi Uchiha, but matched the Akatsuki member after the time skip. His hand seal prowess has also been noted as being very great, as he is able to perform them at highly difficult speeds to follow.

He is also able to open at least one of the Eight Gates, a feat that very few ninja are able to achieve, and utilise advance techniques derived from it while showing no signs of even fatigue afterwards. His raw strength is also noticeably high, able to in Part I simultaneously throw both Naruto and Sasuke a large distance and in Part II easily lift the giant blade of Zabuza Momochi, Kubikiribōchō, with a single hand despite its considerable weight.

Ninjutsu
Kakashi primarily relies on his mastery of ninjutsu, of which he has a vast arsenal due to his Sharingan; being noted to have copied over a thousand techniques, the number has continuously been growing through his many battles. With this arsenal, he can attack or defend against his opponents in numerous manners. His prowess also allows him to enhance his physical tools, channelling lightning-natured chakra through them. Kakashi is also able to summon a pack of ninja hounds to aid him in battle or for other supplementary purposes.

Nature Transformation
In addition to the sheer number of techniques he is purported to know, he also has high prowess in multiple elements. He has a natural affinity for Lightning Release, which he has mastered and which has, in turn, become an attribute that enemy ninja identify him by. His prowess with Water Release techniques is such that he is able to match specialists of it like Zabuza Momochi and perform them even without a nearby water source. He has used Earth Release techniques, able to move fast and unnoticed underground or produce large and intricate earthen walls rather quickly. He has also shown proficiency in using Fire Release techniques, and he is otherwise at least knowledgeable enough with Wind Release to help train Naruto in its use.

When Kakashi was taught how to use the Rasengan by its inventor, Minato Namikaze, he attempted to infuse it with lightning-chakra as it was intended to combined spacial and and elemental chakra, but ulimately failed. He failed, so produced the next closest thing: 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 far stronger Lightning Cutter, his supposedly only original technique. Refining Lightning Cutter even further as well as using the Shadow Clone Technique, he can create a chain which can cut through even a jinchūriki's chakra arms in a Version 2 state. He was also able to create a Lightning Release Shadow Clone and hound via his manipulation of lightning.

Genjutsu
While used less often, he has also shown skill in genjutsu, which he can use as a set-up for stronger attacks. His skill in its usage is able to easily deceive most opponents with well-time diversions, giving his opponents little chance to counter. During the bell test for Team 7, Kakashi was able to use low-level techniques to easily subdue a keen-minded and natural genjutsu-type like Sakura. Against high-level genjutsu, he has advanced knowledge of their working and is able to dispel genjutsu as well.

Sharingan
Kakashi's most distinguishing ability is his Sharingan, a gift from his friend Obito Uchiha, as its ability to have him to copy nearly any technique used against him gave him the moniker "Copy Ninja" while seeing through any deception, give hypnotic suggestions, perform genjutsu, and predict his opponent's movements. This was seen in action twice, once against Zabuza Momochi and then against on Root members sent to watch Naruto.

However, because Kakashi is not of Uchiha blood and cannot deactivate it, he uses a massive amount of chakra to utilise his Sharingan, keeping it covered when not in battle and taking extended bed rest from using it extensively. 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; Itachi Uchiha, a true heir and master of the Sharingan, acknowledged Kakashi's superior proficiency with the Sharingan compared to most true Sharingan wielders.

When he first received the Sharingan it had only two tomoe. Some time after this, the traumatic loss of his dear friend Rin caused Kakashi's Sharingan to fully mature into three tomoe. In addition, Kakashi has extended the duration of time he can sustain using the Sharingan. In Part I, he could only handle using it for a short while in battle while suffering somewhat crippling effects such as severe fatigue. In Part II, he is seen using it for seemingly a day while testing Naruto and Sakura without any adverse effects.

Mangekyō Sharingan
Kakashi awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan after killing Rin, though whether he was aware of its activation at the time is unknown as he only began to use it during Part II of the series. With it he can perform Kamui, a technique that sucks anything within a small area to another dimension. Originally, he lacked the proper control to hit his target properly, if at all. His skill with Kamui later improved, able to successfully warp away small, fast-moving, or multiple targets in rapid succession as seen against Pain and Sasuke Uchiha respectively. During the battle against Obito, he was confident enough to attempt this technique to behead the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, an object of significant size and mass, failing only because of Obito's intervention. His finesse with the technique allows him to warp chakra-based techniques like Naruto's Rasengan without disrupting it, and even able to safely teleport an entire shadow clone at such a speed that Obito himself was fooled into believing the teleportation failed and the latter dispelled the clone instead with one of his stakes. Kakashi's proficiency with Kamui even becomes great enough to teleport himself back and forth between the Other Dimension as he chooses as noted by Kurama.

Kamui's chakra requirements are even greater than those of the standard Sharingan, such that initially he had to be hospitalised for a week after using it three times in one day. By his battle against Obito however, his mastery of this technique improved further, able to use it at least five times, three of which in quick succession (along with other chakra-taxing techniques like the Lightning Cutter) and still had enough strength left to act. Afterwards, though tired, he remarked that he retained enough chakra to use the technique a few more times, and only after the fourth use did he start experiencing the immediate side effects. He is also aware of other Mangekyō Sharingan techniques as well as the risks the dōjutsu poses to the user's eyesight.

Intelligence
Repeatedly, Kakashi has shown himself to be a very shrewd and resourceful man. By the age of 13, Kakashi had enough experience on the battlefield to detect a hiding enemy's presence, impressing his sensei, Minato. Kakashi has even been noted to be smarter than Shikamaru Nara in Part I, a ninja well-known for his insightful, and calculating nature. His instincts also allow him to calmly effectively perceive and react to any incoming danger. Kakashi's intellect has proven itself against various S-rank ninja, including members of Akatsuki, showing unsurpassed perceptive and analytical skills, able to quickly and single-handedly deduce the workings of the most mysterious enemy techniques and plot successful diversions in order to verify his theories (most of the time proving them correct). He is aided in this regard by his calm personality, which allows him to handle a given situation with some detachment.

His long career as a jōnin, and formerly as an ANBU, have only expanded his knowledge, allowing him to handle virtually any situation. For these reasons Kakashi has been assigned to a variety of teams — always as the leader — and he is always able to work well with his team-mates. Chōza Akimichi attributes Kakashi's success to his approach to battles: he avoids direct combat by using misdirection and clones until he can determine the opponent's skills, at which point he modifies his tactics to fit the situation. Kakashi has also shown repeatedly to be a highly capable teacher. He has come up with various unorthodox methods to help his students produce impressive leaps in their abilities in weeks what would normally take months if not years of intense training.

Chakra Prowess
Originally, Kakashi's primary weakness was his barely average reserves of chakra and stamina. He could only maintain his Sharingan for a short time, quickly tiring out from overusing it and ultimately collapsing, followed by great difficulty to even stand for days. He also claimed he could only use his signature technique, Lightning Cutter, four times in a single day before it wouldn't work. To compensate for this, Kakashi possesses very refined chakra control, allowing him to use multiple techniques quickly with the minimum necessary chakra and to their highest level. Kakashi’s control also allows him to perform various techniques, usually lightning-based, with few to no hand seals.

Over the course of the series, his reserves improved considerably to extend his timespan and versatility to fight multiple high-level opponents. By Part II, he can maintain his Sharingan for an entire day and utilise several chakra-taxing techniques in quick succession unfazed, including his Lightning Cutter at least six times. His chakra reserves development is best seen with his Mangekyō Sharingan technique, Kamui. Originally, a single use tired him greatly. Using it more than twice in a single day would leave him crippled for over a week. By the time of the Fourth Shinobi World War, he was able to fight throughout an entire day right before going to fight against Tobi and his Six Paths of Pain which comprised of reincarnated jinchūriki. Once arriving, he was able to use Kamui several times in quick succession before finally collapsing as his eye started bleeding. Shortly afterwards, he recovered enough to stand up on his own and soon leapt back into action, using Kamui yet again, along with several other chakra-taxing techniques.

Other Skills
Kakashi's expertise is not limited to the three major ninja skill sets, as he is renowned for his tracking abilities and has otherwise displayed proficiency with trap-making, survival, stealth, and assassination. Kakashi has also developed considerable prowess in fūinjutsu, something that Orochimaru found impressive given Kakashi's age. He is also a highly-skilled user in a large variety of weapons, especially in kenjutsu due to his ANBU background. His weapon-skills are also very adaptable, even able to effectively use Kubikiribōchō, a blade of unique shape with noticeable size and weight, even use it to defeat kenjutsu specialists like the Seven Mist Swordsmen. Kakashi is also noted to have a better sense of smell than Kiba Inuzuka did in Part I, a noteworthy member of a clan with canine-like senses. Even without sight, Kakashi is still a highly formidable fighter, able to use his other senses and knowledge of his surroundings, allies, and enemies to perceive the situation and overwhelm his opponents.

Introduction Arc
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 the three of them to obtain at least one bell that he keeps on his waist. With only two bells available and three genin present, his students believed the test to be a competition against each other and so they worked independently in the attempt to take a bell.

Each of the young ninja 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: teamwork and loyalty to your team-mates.

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 realised 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 (A-rank, B-rank jōnin 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 and an ex-member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Zabuza's superior experience with water-based techniques, combined with Kakashi's focus on protecting his team-mates, 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, 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.

Realising 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 Hiding in Mist Technique to keep him from falling prey to Kakashi's Sharingan. In response, Kakashi summoned his ninken 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, thus being killed in the process.

Still determined to win, Zabuza relentlessly attacked Kakashi but the battle turned completely in Kakashi's favour, as he easily outmanoeuvred 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 initial 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 realising how much Orochimaru desired Sasuke from his subordinate Kabuto Yakushi attempting to abduct 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.

Invasion of Konoha Arc
When Sunagakure and Otogakure's invasion of Konoha began during Sasuke's match, Kakashi released a genjutsu along with Might Guy and Sakura, and helped repel the invaders along with Guy. They ended up having several contests to see who could defeat the most Suna and Oto-nin, although Guy usually won. When he noticed that Sasuke was going after Gaara, Kakashi sent Naruto, Sakura, Shikamaru Nara, and Pakkun to stop him and bring him back. After defeating several Suna and Oto-nin, he is briefly seen with Guy, Aoba and Kurenai. After the failed Invasion, he attends the Third Hokage's funeral, mourning his loss, he listens to Iruka's words at the funeral and thinks how sad it would be if the Third had died for nothing.

Search for Tsunade 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 Yūhi 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, 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 Cursed Warrior incident in the Land of Birds. While not officially his mission and arriving much later, Kakashi realised 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 Ultimate Weapon Arc, Kakashi was sent to spy on the Takumi Village when rumours 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.

Kazekage Rescue 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 have improved. When they were unable to get close enough to Kakashi to each take a bell, 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 had 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 manoeuvre, Kakashi was able to trick and restrain Itachi, giving Naruto the opening needed to finish the fight with his Big 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 was poor and he was 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 prompted to carry Kakashi on his back, to the disgust of the rest of the two teams except for Lee who offered to do the same with Neji. Afterwards Kakashi is left bed-ridden for a week.

Sasuke and Sai Arc
Kakashi, a bit disorientated, was brought back to Konohagakure by Guy and rushed to the hospital to recover from the strain of using his Mangekyō Sharingan. Ordered bed rest for at least a week, Yamato, a former ANBU ally, goes in his stead as Team Kakashi's leader to capture Sasori's spy. Before the mission began, Kakashi learned the horror that awaited if Naruto was allowed to reach the fourth-tail of the Nine-Tails chakra cloak; Jiraiya had received a near-fatal blow to the chest during training with Naruto in that form. He was later hooked up to an IV, complaining that he wanted to eat solid foods.

Twelve Guardian Ninja Arc
Upon Team Kakashi's return to Konohagakure, Kakashi learned that they failed in capturing Sasori's spy and of their defeat by Sasuke. He then revealed that he had been brainstorming ideas on how to help their training and ultimately came up with an idea that worked only for Naruto; he would help him create a new and powerful technique that would allow Naruto to possibly surpass him. Being discharged from the hospital soon after (mainly due to Naruto camping out in his room, wanting to start training right away), Kakashi explained that using the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique would allow Naruto to gain experience from each clone when he undoes the technique. Using special paper that responds to chakra, Kakashi helped Naruto learn that his chakra nature was wind-affiliated. With Yamato's help in keeping the Nine-Tails suppressed Kakashi was amazed at how fast Naruto was mastering his wind nature. Following Naruto getting advice from Asuma, Kakashi was called away for a new mission by Tsunade, leaving Naruto unable to train.

Hidan and Kakuzu Arc
After resuming training with Naruto, Kakashi revealed that this training was to allow Naruto to combine his Wind chakra with his Rasengan to create a brand new technique attempted by the Fourth Hokage; to demonstrate his point, Kakashi showed Naruto that he could perform the Rasengan as well, but couldn't add his Lightning chakra to it. Upon 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 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. Realising 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 escaped Kakuzu's counterattack, when Hidan inadvertently destroyed his partner's water heart with his curse technique.

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. As Kakuzu wondered how he could have been defeated by the likes of them, Kakashi told him before killing him how the next generation will always surpass the current one. Kakashi along with Yamato are later summoned to Kakuzu's autopsy by Tsunade who labels Naruto's new technique as a kinjutsu and orders that he never uses it again because of the detrimental side-effects. Afterwards Kakashi finds Naruto at Ramen Ichiraku and ends up having to feed him his noodles. As Kakashi attempts to tell him what Tsunade says, Naruto interrupts him telling him not to stop him from progressing.

Three-Tails Arc
In the anime, after Konoha learned where Orochimaru was, Kakashi was assigned to lead Team 8 in tracking down Orochimaru and potentially Sasuke. They were able to find one of his bases, but it was destroyed upon their arrival to get rid of any evidence. They decided to look for survivors, and in doing so, found a number of prisoners trapped in crystals. Perplexed by this, Kakashi was unable to properly investigate, discovering that the team was 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 arrived in time to free them from the labyrinth. The two teams then pursued Guren and her men to a lake where they discover that the Three-Tails was located somewhere in its centre. Later, when Kakashi learned 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 focused their efforts to seal the beast and retrieve Yūkimaru. After Guren and her men interrupted the sealing, the Three-Tails went on a rampage, and ate both Naruto and Guren whole. With help from Yūkimaru, Kakashi and his team were able to free Naruto and Guren from the Three-Tails. Kakashi immediately had his team restart the sealing process, but was again stopped by Guren's forces, who were enhanced with cursed seals, making them more formidable opponents. While the Konoha-nin were 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. On 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.

Itachi Pursuit 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 Kurenai (minus Kurenai) into an Eight 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 delayed by Tobi. Their efforts to attack Tobi all proved futile because of Tobi's unique teleporting technique. 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.

Tsuchigumo Kinjutsu 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 technique from the missing-nin. Kakashi puts Yamato in charge of the mission while he returns to the village for more information.

Invasion of Pain Arc
Kakashi was present in Tsunade's office where Fukasaku told the room at large, including Naruto, that Jiraiya was killed by the leader of the Akatsuki. Kakashi left Naruto alone to mourn for his loss but later helped the decoders decipher Jiraiya's message using a clue from the latest Icha-Icha instalment, much to Kakashi's extreme discomfort and Shikamaru's embarrassment. While Naruto left the village to learn senjutsu, Kakashi prepared himself for an Akatsuki attack.

When Akatsuki's leader, Pain, attacked Konoha in search of Naruto, Kakashi confronted Pain's Deva Path, after realising that the initial attack was a diversion. He saved Iruka Umino from certain death, but was 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 succeeded, but the Asura Path uses itself as shield, allowing the Deva Path to counter, defeating them all. Noting that Kakashi was too great a threat to be left alive, the Deva Path sends a nail flying towards the Copy Ninja, seemingly killing him.

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, and his soul left his body. He lamented on how he failed to protect Rin and soon found himself at a campfire with his deceased father, Sakumo, to whom he tells his life story upon request from his father.

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 Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique. 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 shocked. As Kakashi wondered what happened, a Katsuyu division explained to him the series of events that had occurred. 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 finally achieving his goal to be accepted and appreciated by the whole village.

Five Kage Summit Arc
When news reaches Konoha of Sasuke's actions in the Land of Lightning, Naruto asks Kakashi and Yamato to take him to the Land of Iron so that he can ask the Fourth Raikage to forgive Sasuke. Before leaving, Kakashi asks Sai to keep their departure a secret from Danzō, the acting Hokage while Tsunade is in a coma. They locate the Raikage, but Naruto is unable to convince him. During their stay at a motel in the Land of Iron, Tobi confronts Naruto. Having expected him, Kakashi and Yamato attack him. Knowing the attacks will have no effect, Tobi tells them about Sasuke's motivations, the Sage of the Six Paths, the Uchiha clan, and the truth of Itachi. Kakashi then asks what Tobi's own motives are, but receives only the answer of "to be complete" before Tobi disappears.

Sai and Sakura follow Naruto to the Land of Iron and Sakura tells Naruto that she loves him and Kakashi watches on in disappointment and stops an angered Yamato from interrupting, trusting Naruto to handle it. Kakashi suspects that this is not the real reason they came, which is confirmed by one of Sai's ink clones. Sakura, as agreed upon by the other members of the Konoha 11, is going to kill Sasuke before he involves Konoha in a future war. Knowing that she is no match for Sasuke and possibly understanding that he is most likely the only one who can reason with her in her current mental state, Kakashi prepares to follow her. At that moment, Gaara arrives and tells them about the start of the Fourth Shinobi World War and Danzō's actions at the Kage Summit. He adds that the other Kage would prefer if Kakashi were the Hokage. When Gaara leaves, the ink clone guides Kakashi to Sakura.

The ink clone disperses en route when Sakura neutralises the real Sai. Kakashi finds her in time to stop Sasuke from killing her and tells her that, as Sasuke's teacher, he will be the one to kill him. Kakashi makes one final attempt to draw Sasuke away from a life of vengeance, but Sasuke menacingly responds by saying that only by bringing his entire clan back would he stop. Kakashi tells Sakura to leave with Karin while he fights Sasuke, and contemplated his feelings being the same as the Third Hokage's with Orochimaru. Their fight soon led off the bridge they were on and Kakashi receives an attack from Sasuke's Susanoo. Kakashi is forced to use Kamui to divert the attack, which leaves him unable to protect Sakura when she rejoins the fight. Naruto arrives in time to save her, and furious at Sasuke's mercilessness, Kakashi tries to finish him off. Naruto halts Kakashi in order to speak with Sasuke, who gloats about having killed Danzō. Tobi and Zetsu soon arrive and Kakashi, at Naruto's request, allows them to leave with Sasuke without incident. Kakashi tries to take out Tobi with Kamui, but Tobi tells him that the technique won't work on him. Tobi teleports away taking Sasuke, and Zetsu leaves then as well. Kakashi collects Karin, believing she may have useful information, and revives Sai and Sakura's other escorts before going home.

Confining the Jinchūriki Arc
Back in Konoha, Kakashi spoke with Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado about all that has occurred. While reluctant to become Hokage, he agreed and accompanied them to a meeting with the Fire Daimyō. Before he can be appointed, news reaches them of Tsunade waking up, ending the proceedings. Later, while Tsunade is recovering, Kakashi spoke with her and thanked her for waking up in time, noting he is not "cut out" for the position of Hokage.

Shinobi World War Arc
Kakashi was later appointed as commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces' Third Division. As he and the other generals stood over their battalions he urged Gaara as the Regimental Commander to say a few words to them. As two ninja on the brink of infighting began to bicker, Kakashi watched on noting that he had a feeling something like this would happen and as Gaara parted them and spoke to the masses Kakashi noticed the change in atmosphere around the ninja.

Later on while Kakashi was with his division, he saw the ambush squad set off a red flare. He then ordered his division to go to the Surprise Attack Division. They arrive in the nick of time and save Sai, Omoi, and Zaji from danger. Much to Sakura and his surprise, they find Zabuza and Haku among the enemy ranks. Zabuza and Haku ask how Naruto is doing, and Kakashi remarks that Naruto has become an admirable shinobi. However, their reunion is cut short when Kabuto strengthens his grip on the resurrected shinobi, completely eradicating their personalities. Before completing losing control of themselves, Haku and Zabuza pleaded for Kakashi to stop them, with Kakashi agreeing as he revealed his Sharingan. As Zabuza used the Hiding in Mist Technique, Kakashi orders his squad into a Manji Formation around the sensor ninja. When Kakashi's division is about to mount a counter-attack, he watches in exasperation as the previous generation of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist is summoned to the battlefield. As the swordsmen begin to thin the division's numbers, Kakashi comes up with a plan to neutralise the Hiding in Mist Technique used by Zabuza. He tries to impale Zabuza with a Lightning Cutter, only for Haku to take the blow. Zabuza then seizes the opportunity to attack the immobile Kakashi.

Kakashi narrowly dodges the strike with only a shallow wound while Haku was bisected at the waist. As Kakashi reflects on how this situation was just like their last battle, he remembers how Zabuza and Haku taught Naruto an important lesson in bonds. Kakashi openly thanked them for being Naruto's first opponents. Also remembering how Kakashi had grown to respect and like the two rogue ninja, Kakashi became determined to free them from their undead prison in respect for the way they chose to die. Kakashi then ordered his men to prepare the strategy again as Kakashi charged forward, using his Lightning Cutter to destroy Zabuza's sword-wielding arm and stab him through the chest. Kakashi's team then used special bounds to trap them, also causing the Hiding in Mist Technique to dispel. Openly voicing his anger at how someone could toy with the dead, stating that he will going on a rampage as he takes Zabuza's fully regenerated Kubikiribōchō to use.

On the next day, Kakashi and his division resume the battle against the remaining Mist Swordsmen. In the anime, he defeated Jinin Akebino, giving his team time to seal him. Later, he encountered Jinpachi Munashi and Kushimaru Kuriarare toying with members of Kakashi's division. While able to save some of them, he soon found himself cornered by the two swordsmen. Might Guy than arrived to aid Kakashi. Taking advantage of the swordmen's lack of teamwork, they were able to hold them off until the sealing team arrived to subdue them.

Imbuing the Kubikiribōchō with lightning, he cuts down Fuguki Suikazan and Sai seals him inside of his drawing. He then asks a noticeably winded Sai if he was all right. After noticing more White Zetsu Army clones arriving, he tells Guy who wanted them to take them down all at once that they also had reinforcements after seeing Naruto's clone arrive on the battlefield. After dealing with the remaining Mist Swordsmen, Kakashi and Guy head on to save Naruto from being captured by Tobi. Attacking him once he materialised, Kakashi was able to retrieve Naruto before Tobi could warp him away.

Smiling at his pupil, he tells him that he couldn't sit idly by while his student overexerts himself. Deciphering the information Naruto had spewed out, he watches on as the Five-Tails charges at Tobi and theorises that Tobi did not have perfect control of the beasts before telling Naruto to stay focused. As the beasts charge at them, Kakashi tells Guy that they needed to decipher which beast used which of the Six Paths of Pain's abilities. Activating his Lightning Cutter, he and Guy confront the beasts head on, he is shocked to see that they aren't using these abilities. He and Guy later watch in shock as Tobi, after congratulating Kakashi on his observation skills, causes Utakata and Rōshi to fully transform. As the Six-Tails attacks breathing out a corrosive gas, Kakashi warns Guy not to touch the substance it spewed at all.

As they retreat, Guy alerts him to Naruto's predicament. Telling Guy that they weren't able to leave to free Naruto from Son Gokū's jaws as they were being pressured from all sides, he creates a shadow clone and assumes the Manji Formation. Entrusting their backs to one another, Kakashi and his clone charges forward with the Lightning Transmission technique, severing the chakra arms. Kakashi prepares for another onslaught of attacks as the beasts confront him head-on. As Naruto succeeds in releasing Son from Tobi's control, both Kakashi and Guy look on shocked as the now fully-transformed jinchūriki bear down on them.

As the situation becomes dire, Kakashi decides that he would warp away the five Tailed Beast Balls that were aimed at them, but Guy tells him that there was no way he had enough strength for that. Kakashi also declines Guy's decision to use the eighth gate, stating he would die after opening it. Both men are rescued however by Naruto who deflects the attacks with such speed that Kakashi momentarily believes him to be his former teacher Minato. Absorbed into the Nine-Tails' chakra as Naruto transforms, both men watch on at the battle between the beasts ensue watching in horror as the five opposing beasts later combine a Tailed Beast Ball, and Naruto attempts to counter with his own.

After Naruto's Tailed Beast Mode was cancelled, Kakashi stands alongside Guy, who uncharacteristically says that he felt old seeing Naruto come so far which somewhat shocks Kakashi. Kakashi then tells him that their youth wasn't over just yet which seemingly gets Guy back to his old self. He is later seen mobilised beside Might Guy, Naruto Uzumaki and Killer B in his full Eight-Tails form preparing to assault Tobi and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Launching an attack with his shadow clone, Kakashi called to Guy who followed up with an attack followed by B and Naruto, the latter of which continued to taunt Tobi despite his advisement against it.

While Naruto and Guy battle Tobi, Kakashi focuses on the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Kakashi then tries to use Kamui on the the statue to remove it's head, however the statue seems to have nullified the attack which confuses Kakashi. He then infuses a kunai with Lightning Release and calls out to B to launch him. Launching across the battlefield, Kakashi easily cuts through a rock that separated him from Naruto and launches the kunai at Tobi who becomes intangible and kicks the kunai towards Naruto. Kakashi uses Kamui once again to warp away the kunai. Regrouping as the last attack seemingly fails to land, the shinobi wonder how they were going to defeat Tobi.

Noticing the slight crack in Tobi's mask, Kakashi denies the fact that it was made by Naruto's last attack, and noted that the crack was too sharp to have been made by an impact like that. Realising what had made the gash in the mask, Kakashi called out to his comrades to aid him in testing his hypothesis. Climbing into B's hand the three shinobi are launched across the battlefield, and after Guy and Naruto respectively attacked Tobi, just before the masked man phased through Naruto's Rasengan, Kakashi used Kamui to send the Rasengan to the other dimension. Tobi's right arm was then subsequently hit by an unseen attack at which time Kakashi declared that his hypothesis was right and realised that Tobi was not using two separate techniques to warp himself away and another to phase, but one single technique.

Obliging Guy's request to tell them his analysis in the simplest way possible, Kakashi explains what occurred that Tobi only intangible by transferring part of himself into the other dimension where Kakashi sends whatever he targets with Kamui to. But as this other dimension is pointed out as a link between his Sharingan and their enemy's, Kakashi questioned Tobi as to where exactly he got the eye from. However, Kakashi is horrified upon hearing Tobi's answer of obtaining his Sharingan from Kannabi Bridge during the previous war. Kakashi is at a loss for words, in a daze thinking of his former comrade, Guy attempts to snap him out of it while Naruto charges at Tobi in his Tailed Beast Mode. After hearing Naruto's speech, Kakashi rallied back and readied a new strategy that requires him to time the few remaining Kamui he can use. Charging forward as Naruto created a shadow clone to attack Tobi, Kakashi seemingly warped away the dispelled clone's Rasengan before collapsing from the strain with his eye bleeding. In reality, however, Kakashi warped Naruto's clone into the other dimension, allowing his student's clone to catch Tobi off guard and shatter his mask.

Kakashi is left completely stunned as he looks on to see that behind the shattered mask, is his childhood friend Obito Uchiha. When Kakashi questions him as to how he survived, Obito avoids his question but explains the reason for his plans; Kakashi's failure to protect Rin, causing Obito to hate "this useless reality", an answer that only caused Kakashi to sink further in depression. After the attack launched by Obito is thwarted by Naruto, they are soon joined by the reincarnated Madara. Shocked by this, they silently watched the Uchiha pair converse amongst themselves, and Kakashi expressed surprise at the fact Madara knew about Obito's Eye of the Moon Plan. While Madara started his confrontation with Naruto and Killer B, Kakashi and Guy prepared to confront their former comrade. Taking advantage of this, Kakashi proceeded to ask Obito why he teamed up with someone like Madara.

Interrupted by the clash between Naruto and Madara, Kakashi again posed the question to Obito. However, his former friend told him that there was nothing more to be said between them, and that the only thing left to do was to have their final fight. Hurling shuriken out of the other dimension, Kakashi blocked Obito's barrage with Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall until Obito phased through the wall holding one of the shuriken and stabbed it into Kakashi's left leg. Kakashi's persistence to ask why Obito was doing this only led his former friend to retort that he is trash that does not shut up, and warped Kakashi away to the other dimension. Remembering Obito's words of those who abandon friends being even worse than trash, Kakashi could not believe that the hero he looked up to had forsaken his previous beliefs and used his Kamui to warp himself back to the real world.

Kakashi admits that he is trash for failing to protect Rin as promised, but questions Obito if Rin was related to his new ideals before getting kicked in the face and slashed with Obito's two held shuriken. Calling Obito one of Konoha's heroes while imploring him to not end up like him, Kakashi is told by his former friend that they are both trash because they survived the worthlessness of this reality. Obito prepared to finish Kakashi off before Naruto's shadow clone intercepted Obito's right-hand shuriken, declaring that he would protect his friends with his life. Remembering the exact same words he said to Team 7, Kakashi regained his will to fight and used his Lightning Cutter to destroy Obito's other shuriken. He then proclaimed that he remembered what Obito taught him in the past, and that now he would protect Naruto.

Weakened from his injuries and overusing his Mangeykō Sharingan, Obito again attempted to warp Kakashi to the other dimension, but is stopped by Naruto. After Kurama temporarily switched places with Naruto, he grabs Kakashi, and threw him towards Obito, who successfully warps him away. With no time to complain, Naruto attacks Obito while Kakashi, who Kurama had supplied with chakra when he threw him, attacked Obito's materialised body parts in the other dimension. Warping himself back to the real world, Kakashi looks on as a giant Tailed Beast Ball was fired by B and Naruto at the statue. Kakashi contemplated whether the statue had really been destroyed, but it was later revealed to have successfully become the Ten-Tails.

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 Yuki 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 daimyō 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 technique to escape.

Realising 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 armour, Kakashi relied on his taijutsu and defeated him with his Front Lotus. After Dotō was defeated and Koyuki took up her role as daimyō, Kakashi learned to his joy that Koyuki would be playing a lead role in a new "Icha-Icha" movie.

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 aided 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 technique to keep the enemies occupied. In the end, Kakashi overused his Sharingan, and was forced to be hospitalised for several days, thus allowing his team to have a vacation in the Land of the Moon.

Naruto: Shippūden the Movie
Kakashi only had a few cameos. 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 counter-attack 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 Cutter 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 unknowingly agreed to.

Naruto Shippūden 2: Bonds
When the infamous ninja of Land of the Sky 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.

Naruto Shippūden 3: Inheritors of the Will of Fire
When word that all the Great Ninja Nations but Konoha were having wielders of their kekkei genkai abducted, Kakashi and his team were sent to investigate, following the trail of the most recent abducted man to the mountain range of Shumisen. Upon arriving, they are attacked by strange animals that injure Naruto and Sai. After the trail goes cold, Kakashi's team is forced to return to the village. Later, rogue ninja of Konoha named Hiruko appeared and announces to the world via technique that he was responsible for taking the kekkei genkai wielders and assimilated their power with his Chimera Technique to begin the Fourth Great Ninja War. Kakashi, who met Hiruko ten years prior, after obtaining Obito's Sharingan and was branded with a mind-controlling technique in a desire to obtain the Sharingan, realises that Hiruko has not actually gained control of the kekkei genkai he stole and must require certain conditions to obtain them or he wouldn't have waited ten years to go after Kakashi. After theorising that a solar eclipse was one of the conditions, Kakashi decides to face Hiruko. He also asks Tsunade to perform a technique on him. Later, after visiting Obito's grave again, Hiruko's technique takes effect on Kakashi, making him leave the village.

It is later revealed that Kakashi intentionally let this happen, as he had Tsunade implant a seal on him that would activate his Mangekyō Sharingan once Hiruko assimilated Kakashi. Refusing to let Kakashi sacrifice himself, Naruto went after Kakashi and managed to save him. This unfortunately allowed Hiruko a second chance to assimilate Kakashi and his Sharingan before the eclipse ended. Together Kakashi and Naruto fought Hiruko and found an opening for Naruto to unleash his Wind Release: Rasenshuriken to defeat Hiruko. As Hiruko began to die from his injuries, Kakashi went to him. Hiruko asks how he could have failed. Kakashi says that it was because he chose solitude over comrades. Realising that Kakashi made the same mistake in trying to sacrifice himself, Kakashi remembers how Obito once showed him the way and was thankful for Naruto stopping him. The movie ends with Kakashi thinking back on his past when Obito spoke to him about refusing to abandon a comrade and he smiles at Naruto commenting on the similarities between the two. Naruto, however, gains the wrong impression, mistakenly believing that Kakashi was homosexual and making a pass at him, which is commented upon by the rest of the groups present. Kakashi hurriedly denies this and chases after the fleeing Naruto, trying to explain what he meant.

Naruto Shippūden 4: The Lost Tower
Twenty years in the past, a young Kakashi is seen in the line of Ramen Ichiraku grand opening, along with Shizune, Asuma Sarutobi and Might Guy, who are impatiently waiting to eat ramen. However, Kakashi claims that they shouldn't be so excited for just ramen. As Shizune replies that he is in the waiting line too, Minato Namikaze appears and tells him to get ready for the mission. Guy asks Kakashi if he's not going to eat the ramen, to which he answers that he doesn't have as much free time as they do and leaves. Shizune calls him a jerk and Asuma agrees with her.

At Minato's request, Kakashi is allowed to tag along with him, Shibi Aburame and Chōza Akimichi in their effort to intervene in the conflicts occurring in a place known as Rōran.

Kakashi put explosive tags on the factory in Rōran under Minato's orders.

Later, Kakashi is saved by Yamato, though he claims that he saved him instead. As a result, Yamato hits him in the head claiming it's a payback for his future bullying, while Naruto looks in awe at his future sensei.

Creation and Conception
Masashi Kishimoto originally intended for Kakashi to début 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 début 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. Also, in episode 101, he replaced himself with a scarecrow when Sakura was following him.
 * 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. In the seventh poll he ranked third with 4,828 votes.
 * Kakashi is one of four characters to have always stayed in the Top Ten of every Character Popularity Poll.
 * According to Pakkun in an omake chapter published in the Third Databook, Kakashi greatly dislikes being photographed without his mask.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * Kakashi's hobby is reading (Icha Icha series).
 * Kakashi wishes to fight Minato Namikaze.
 * Kakashi's favourite foods are salt-broiled saury and miso soup with eggplant, while his least favourites 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.
 * Kakashi's favourite word is.
 * During Naruto Shippūden 4: The Lost Tower, when Minato presented the Third Hokage with Kakashi's files, it showed his Ninja Stats. It revealed that Kakashi's Total Stats at age 10 are 22.5: Ninjutsu 3, Taijutsu 3, Genjutsu 2, Intelligence 4, Strength 1.5, Speed 3.5, Stamina 2, and Hand Seals 3.5. It also showed that his total missions completed at age 10 were 140: 48 D-rank, 21 C-rank, 63 B-rank, 8 A-rank, and 0 S-rank.
 * In Shippūden episode 214, his Mangekyō Sharingan's colours are inverted, making his Mangekyō black with a red design, similar to Sasuke's Mangekyō Sharingan.
 * A younger Kakashi that appears in Kakashi Gaiden and ANBU Kakashi are playable as separate characters from his adult self in some Naruto games.

Quotes

 * (To his students) "I'm Kakashi Hatake. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes… My dreams for the future… Hmm… As for my hobbies… I have lots of hobbies…"
 * (To his students) "In the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash, that's true, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."
 * (To Sasuke) "I won't allow my comrades to die. I'll protect you with my life. Trust me."
 * (To his students) "Sorry I'm late, I'm afraid I got lost on the path of life."
 * (To Orochimaru)" I don't care if you are one of the legendary Sannin, the great shinobi of legend, I swear take one more step towards Sasuke and one of us will die here!"
 * (To Yūgao, about Obito's name engraved in the Memorial Stone) "This place makes me think about the mistakes I've made in the past… and I've made so many of them."
 * (Looking at the statues of Madara and Hashirama in the Valley of the End) "Like the fate of the two who founded the village of Konoha… Naruto and Sasuke… your fates are like theirs."
 * (To Kakuzu) "The next generation will always surpass the previous one. It's one of the never-ending cycles in life."
 * (To Pain) "The people from this village are different from your average village. Even if it means dying, there's not a single one of us, who would sell out a comrade."
 * (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…"
 * (To Sasuke) "No matter how far Orochimaru fell, he still loved him… Now I know how the Third Hokage felt."
 * (To the Third Division) "Look, it takes a lot to get me worked up, but this time my boiling point's as low as it's ever been. The "Copy Ninja" Kakashi, the man who copied one thousand techniques is about to go on a rampage!"