Kakashi Hatake

is a Konohagakure Jonin, a former ANBU Captain, and the former leader of Team 7. He is the son 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 Jonin during the Third Great Ninja War. Following the war, Kakashi gained his reputation, and is well-known worldwide for his use of the Sharingan, earning him the moniker.

Background
Kakashi is the son of the infamous ninja, Sakumo Hatake, who had respect on par with the Sannin. Like his father, 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, becoming a Chunin one year later. However, his success came at a great loss; his mother died while he was still young. Sometime later, 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.

Kakashi was later teamed with Obito Uchiha and Rin under the leadership of Minato Namikaze. 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
Soon after becoming a Jonin, Kakashi (age 13) was assigned to lead Obito and Rin on a mission that would benefit Konoha in the ongoing Third Great Shinobi War. They were to destroy a bridge being used by Iwagakure forces to move into Kusagakure. Along the way, Kakashi’s team was ambushed by an Iwagakure ninja named Mahiru. Kakashi saw this as a good opportunity to use his newly created jutsu, the Chidori, only to nearly be struck down by the latter's counterattack. Minato stepped in just in time to save Kakashi and finished off Mahiru.

After the daring rescue, Kakashi and Obito had a fallback on what just happened; Obito bickered on Kakashi's recklessness, while Kakashi pointed out Obito's cowardice. Fortunately, Minato restrained his two students by showing how wrong both acted in the encounter with the Iwagakure ninja. Later that night, Obito approached Minato, explaining to his teacher how Kakashi looked down on him, and asked him why Kakashi was so cold-hearted. Minato then told Obito the tragedy of Kakashi's father, the event that explained his harsh demeanor. He also told his student to try to understand Kakashi.

The next day, just as Minato was about to depart from his team to settle his own mission, Obito acknowledged Kakashi as the leader of their team, to everyone's astonishment. Minato then left with a smile after witnessing Obito's actions, while Kakashi's team set off to the bridge. On their way to the bridge, Rin was kidnapped by two other Iwagakure ninja named Kakko and Taiseki. Obito immediately shouted out in concern, desperate to 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 then punched his comrade to knock some sense into him, and asked him why not. Kakashi simply stated that it would be against the rules of the shinobi. 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 later rejoin Obito in the rescue effort.

Meanwhile, Obito caught up with Taiseki. Obito failed in his efforts to stop the enemy ninja, leaving him open to Taiseki's attack. Before the Iwagakure ninja could finish Obito off, Kakashi stepped in to stop him. Dedicating his fight to his father, Kakashi helped Obito battle Taiseki with his father's blade. Just when it seemed to be a 2-on-1 advantage to the team, Taiseki used a jutsu to make himself nearly untraceable to turn luck back in his favor, causing him to damage Kakashi's left eye, who took the blow that was intended for Obito. In sheer terror, Obito finally awakened his Sharingan to clearly see Taiseki, killing Kakashi's attacker and allowing them to proceed to Rin.

Once they located Rin and Kakko, Kakashi and Obito teamed up to defeat the latter. After Kakko fell to the two Konohagakure ninja, Kakashi and Obito freed Rin from an interrogation genjutsu. Just as Kakashi's team was about to leave, Kakko emerged and attempted to trap them with a crushing boulder jutsu. The team saw this coming and planned to make a run for it. Just when a boulder was about to hit Kakashi, Obito pushed him aside to take the blow for him. Knowing his life was at an end, Obito instructed Rin to implant his left Sharingan eye into Kakashi's damaged one. With Rin complying, Kakashi made a full recovery with his left eye and, now having the ability to use the Sharingan, and having perfected his Chidori, killed 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 his first mission as a Jonin, Kakashi became well-known among all five great countries through the extensive use of his Sharingan, gaining him a reputation as "the man who has copied over a thousand jutsu" (hence his nickname). Kakashi eventually joined the Konohagakure ANBU, where he served as a squad leader. During this time, Kakashi rose to fame as Konoha's Copy Ninja (sometimes known as Sharingan Kakashi), a nickname he earned due to the use of his Sharingan eye. As an ANBU captain, he cultivated a group of students, that included Tenzo, later known as Yamato, and Yugao Uzuki. He later left for unknown reasons, but maintained strong connections with the ANBU.

Personality
Obito's death had a huge impact on Kakashi's personality. At the start of the series, Kakashi was characterized as carefree and laid back. He rarely showed any excitement towards anything in his daily life. Even when he gave Team 7 their final exam, he showed more interest in his book than how each of his potential students performed.

Like Shino Aburame, 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 make keen and thought-out decisions, allowing him to stay steps ahead of his opponents.

Kakashi is a fan of the Icha Icha series of novels, implying that he is slightly perverted. 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. 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 one of 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.

Despite his nature in everyday life, he has been shown to be a very responsible and dedicated man when it matters. As he learned from Obito, Kakashi knows what it means to have devotion to what is important in life; people he cares for. He does everything in his power to protect his village and allies. Even his signature jutsu, the Lightning Blade, has been made on the principle of duty, and perfected on the principle of protecting loved ones. He also places their safety over the successful completion of a mission. Kakashi makes use of this belief when deciding whether or not to take on a Genin team, requiring that the Genin work together instead of doing as he tells them. He also makes use of this belief when he disobeyed Tsunade's orders to save Naruto; an action resembling his father's honourable move to save his comrade in spite of his mission. Kakashi 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.

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 little interest in their competitions, which only further inspires Guy to defeat Kakashi and his "coolness".

Kakashi is a very good but very strict teacher. Prior to Naruto's team, he has never allowed any of the teams he was to teach become Genin. He uses the same teaching methods the Third and Fourth Hokages used, and emphasizes teamwork above all else, for he feels that someone who doesn't understand teamwork isn't worthy of becoming a ninja. After finally taking up a team, however, Kakashi's demeanor changed to becoming somewhat older brother-like as he started taking a more active part in his students' development, as shown from his regular checking up on Naruto and his eating habits.

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 usually seen in his Leaf Village 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 who has been told that he looks just like his father. He is characterized by his spiky silver hair, forehead protector regularly covering his left eye, and his chronically visible mask. He is once mistaken for his father, Konoha's White Fang, by the Suna Elder Chiyo.

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.

Part I
Amongst the students and instructors at the academy, Kakashi developed a reputation 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 current 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.

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 missions, Team 7, at Naruto's insistence, were assigned a somewhat more difficult task of escorting bridge-builder Tazuna to the Land of Waves. They were later attacked en route by the Demon Brothers. Although Kakashi was able to defeat them with ease, 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 Gato. Tazuna hoped to build a bridge that would free the country, and had thus garnered Gato's assassination attempts. Even though the mission was far more dangerous than what they had been initially assigned, Team 7 agreed to act as his bodyguard until the bridge was complete, due to Tazuna and his village's poor social status.

Upon arriving in the Land of Waves, Team 7 was attacked by Zabuza Momochi, an S-class missing-nin and another shinobi of Gato's hired assassins. It was at this point that Team 7 first learned the truth about their teacher's worldly fame as the Copy Ninja. Unfortunately, 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 within water. 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 ANBU and would dispose of it, after which Kakashi collapsed from exhaustion due to the strain in his Sharingan eye.

Fearing that Zabuza might be alive, along with suspecting that Haku might have feigned 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. Meanwhile, Zabuza and Haku, having recovered from the former's battle and having endured a fallback with Gato, later resumed their roles as well - to kill Tazuna and his bodyguards. While Haku engaged Naruto and Sasuke, Kakashi fought Zabuza.

Having learned from his defeat, Zabuza relied on sneak attacks during the battle to keep him from falling prey to Kakashi's Sharingan. In response, Kakashi summoned his ninja hounds with underground to locate and pin down Zabuza, making him an easy target for the Lightning Blade. But 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, ending their fight.

Gato and the rest of his henchmen later showed up to have Zabuza disposed of as a result of his failure, only for Gato be killed by his hired assassin. While Kakashi witnessed the event, Gato's henchmen in turn killed Zabuza. In response, Kakashi used his Multiple Shadow Clone Technique to scare away the thugs. As Zabuza died, he asked Kakashi to bring his body beside Haku's before he passed away. As the Demon of the Hidden Mist finally succumbed to his wounds, he was later buried along with Haku.

Chunin Exam arc
Kakashi was seen to enter Team 7 in the Chunin Exams. 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, as the Third Hokage was shown to be too busy with the exams. Unable to remove it, he instead used the Evil Sealing Method to try and prevent its usage. Following the preliminary matches, he decided to personally train Sasuke himself, fearing that Sasuke's similar desire for power to Orochimaru's would drive the last of the Uchiha to go down a similar path. Deciding that he needed to remind Sasuke to have true faith in his own strength, and of the importance of protecting what he had now, Kakashi's main goal during the training was to teach Sasuke his Chidori, which was built on the principle of protecting loved ones, and would teach Sasuke about responsibly using power (in addition to being a strong counter to Gaara's sand shield, as he would eventually become Sasuke's next opponent).

He had Sasuke focus mainly on taijutsu copied from Rock Lee to give Sasuke the necessary conditioning, speed, and developed chakra for the Chidori. Their training ran late, and a month later, Kakashi delivered him to his final round match. When the invasion of Konoha began during Sasuke's match, Kakashi helped repel the invaders. With Sasuke going after Gaara, Kakashi sent 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 failed miserably. When their deaths drew near, Kakashi stepped in. 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-Tailed Demon Fox 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 returns to the village. Immediately after recovering, he was sent on a new mission.

Sasuke Retrieval arc
Kakashi returned from his mission in time to interrupt a battle between Naruto and Sasuke. Learning that Sasuke had begun reverting to his original desire for power due to his anger at Naruto's superior growth as of late, Kakashi lectured him on the importance of not allowing anger to control him. Sasuke then retorted that Kakashi couldn't understand how he felt unless his teacher's loved ones died, to which Kakashi replied congenially that everyone close to him was already dead. Seeing how Sasuke realized that he did know how he felt, and that he was only alone because he insisted on pushing people away, Kakashi attempted to convince Sasuke to protect those who were still alive, let him go, and left him to think over their encounter. Thus, Kakashi wasn't able to either protect him from the Sound Four, or stop him from leaving the village.

When Kakashi returned, 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 from Tsunade, 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, Kakashi took Naruto back to the village to recover. Ashamed he failed to help his students, Kakashi once again went to the memorial stone to be alone with his thoughts, wishing deeply that he could have used his gift from Obito to prevent these events from happening.

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 Oki'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, 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. Following the bell test, Tsunade, along with Jiraiya and Shizune, regrouped Kakashi and his former students as Team Kakashi, after witnessing their improved skills, and later assigned them on a C-Rank mission, to Naruto's disappointment.

While Naruto argued for getting a higher-ranked mission, he and his team learnt that Gaara, the new Kazekage of Suna, had been kidnapped by Akatsuki. Team Kakashi was then reassigned to rescue Gaara, and is sent to Sunagakure, where they were teamed with Chiyo before heading out. 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, as his tactics had been seen as primarily defensive, and his techniques had been weaker. With a well-timed maneuver, Kakashi was able to trick and restrain Itachi, giving Naruto the opening needed to finish the fight with his upgraded Rasengan. Afterwards, they discovered that the Itachi was actually a brain-washed Suna ninja, who was somehow transformed into a perfect clone. They then met up with Team Guy, which was sent as back-up to Team Kakashi, outside an Akatsuki lair. Unfortunately, Akatsuki set up a powerful barrier that required the team to split up, ultimately making Team Guy forced to fight clones of themselves. This, however, allowed Team Kakashi to infiltrate the lair, where they found Sasori and Deidara with a recently killed 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 Mangekyo Sharingan and its Kamui ability in an attempt to remove his head, but his lack of control towards his new technique ended up destroying Deidara's right arm instead, allowing Naruto 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. Gaara was later revived, at the cost of Chiyo's life, which ultimately made the mission to rescue Gaara successful. Because he was unable to move due to the overuse of the Kamui, Kakashi was carried home, and was left to rest.

Sai and Sasuke arc
After returning to the village, Kakashi became bed-ridden for a week. During that time, Team Kakashi's temporary squad captain would be Kakashi's former student Tenzo, under the codename of "Yamato", due to his ability to suppress demon chakra. When a Tenzo-led Team Kakashi failed in their effort to infiltrate Orochimaru's hideout and retrieve Sasuke once again, Kakashi learnt about Sasuke's tremendous growth, and met Sasuke's replacement: Sai. Knowing that Naruto was disappointed by the failure, Kakashi decided to help him create a new jutsu, that would make him more of a match when they met again. Using the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique at a higher level, 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.

Hidan and Kakuzu arc
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 Blade. 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 Technique: Death Controlling Possessed Blood.

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 Blade.

Three-Tails Arrival arc
After Konoha leart where Orochimaru was hiding, Kakashi was assigned to lead Team 8 in tracking down Orochimaru and potentially retrieving 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 Release: Jade Crystal Labyrinth Technique. While initially at a disadvantage, Team Kakashi arrived in time to free them from the labyrinth.

Team 8 and Team Kakashi then arrived at a lake, where they discovered that the Three-Tailed Giant Turtle was located somewhere in its center. Kakashi sent Pakkun to Tsunade, to see how they should proceed.

When Kakashi later leart 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. Upon meeting up with back-up from Konoha, Kakashi formulated a plan for dealing with the Three-Tails and Orochimaru's men, by dividing the team into three groups: a sealing team, a primary defense, and a secondary defense. Much to Naruto's delight, Kakashi also ordered his team to retrieve Yūkimaru, so they could bring him back to Konoha.

While the plan failed, which resulted in the Three-Tails' escape, Kakashi and his team instead found an unconscious Yūkimaru. Knowing how important Yūkimaru was to both Naruto and their mission, Kakashi decided to bring the boy back to the team's hideout. There, he instructed part of the team to take care of the boy, while the rest of the team joined him in finding a missing Naruto.

After learning from Yūkimaru that Naruto and Guren were trapped inside the Three-Tails, Kakashi decided to try their three-team plan again. Once returning to the lake, Kakashi was able to break the field that allowed the Three-Tails to hide, with Yamato's assistance. Afterwards, Kakashi ordered the sealing team to act immediately in sealing away the beast. Unfortunately, the enemy ninja encountered them again. Kakashi noted that their abilities had become stronger than what had been reported from their last encounter. Despite being at an initial disadvantage, Kakashi and his team made quick work of the Otogakure ninja. Unfortunately, with Yūkimaru witnessing Guren's apparent death, it 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 were given new orders from Tsunade to return to the village, to formulate a new plan in dealing with the Three-Tails. During the night, before the team returned, Yūkimaru left after being treated by Shizune. Aware of Yūkimaru's departure, Kakashi opted not to stop or pursue him, believing that Yūkimaru was no longer in any danger or a danger to them.

Hunt for Uchiha 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. Naruto was 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, through Tobi's unique teleporting jutsu. It was not until Zetsu reported to Tobi that Sasuke had won over Itachi in their own battle that they were able to continue their pursuit. Before Tobi disappeared, Kakashi noticed, to his shock, a Sharingan eye on Tobi. Despite the team's haste, Tobi got to Sasuke first and, having lost the trail, were forced to return home.

Later, Kakashi was seen with a deeply depressed Naruto, as they heard the news of Jiraiya's death at the hands of Akatsuki's leader, Pain.

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 Choji and Choza Akimichi. After figuring out the Deva path's powers, Kakashi devised a plan, and used Choji and Choza's help to take down the Deva path. With their plan almost coming in at full circle, Pain's Asura path used itself as a shield, and their plan was foiled, as the Deva path took the Konoha trio out.

Believing them all to be dead, the Deva path left. When he came to, Kakashi sent Choji to tell Tsunade about the Deva path's abilities. But as Choji left, the still-active Asura path launched a missile at him, and despite knowing that he was almost out of chakra, and would likely die if he used the Mangekyo Sharingan again, Kakashi reluctantly used Kamui to dispose of the missile, and save Choji. Having expended the last of his chakra, Kakashi was caught on the verge of life and death. Before passing out, he lamented over his inability to protect Obito and Rin in his early years with them, and soon found himself at a campfire with his deceased father, Sakumo, in an alternate realm of afterlife, to whom he tells everything that had happened in his life.

During Pain's destruction attack of Konoha, Kakashi's body was protected by one of Katsuyu's divisions. Sometime later, during his talk with his father, he stated that he finally understood his father's actions on that mission of his disgrace, 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 Choji and Choza 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.

Sasuke and Sixth Hokage Arc
Later, a meeting on the status of Konoha with the Fire Country Council was held, while Kakashi helped the village in rebuilding Konoha. During which, Kakashi was nominated by Shikaku Nara to take the position of Sixth Hokage, with Tsunade being in a coma. Initially, the Fire Daimyo and his advisers approved of Kakashi being selected, due to him being the son of Sakumo Hatake, and having connections to Minato Namikaze, Jiraiya, and Hiruzen Sarutobi, along with his reputation and respect throughout Konoha as a powerful and dexterous shinobi. Danzo, on the other hand, was able to convince the council, despite Shikaku's objection, to choose him instead.

Later, Kakashi learned from Kiba that, because of Tsunade's current inability to lead the village, Danzo was appointed Sixth Hokage, whose first decision was to kill Sasuke immediately. While deeply against the idea, Kakashi stopped Naruto and Sakura from being reckless in confronting Danzo, knowing well that the hardened man wouldn't hesitate to lock them in prison for insubordination.

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 an ANBU captain. 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, Doto. Kakashi used his Sharingan to copy some of their ice-based jutsu to escape.

Realizing what Doto 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, Doto captured her niece, along with the necklace.

Kakashi was later intercepted by Nadare Roga. 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. In the end, Kakashi was surprised and overjoyed to find out Koyuki would be starring in a new Icha-Icha Paradise movie when she took up her role as daimyo.

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 Hyuga 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.

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.

Abilities
Kakashi is shown to be very respected throughout Konoha, as well as being one of the most powerful ninja Konoha has to offer. His reputation has grown to the point that most opponents know of him, and find great delight or dread in the thought of facing him. Even Pain, an extremely dangerous ninja, viewed Kakashi's skills as a considerable effect on his plans if he did not get rid of Kakashi first. Kakashi is also recognized as the foremost jutsu specialist in Konoha, due to his high proficiency in all forms of ninja combat, and his gradually increasing arsenal of over a thousand jutsu, copied with his Sharingan eye. His knowledge of jutsu is so high that he is requested to watch over Naruto should the seal of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox begin to fail. A true testament to his skill is during a conversation between Jiraiya and Tsunade, mentioning that if the need should ever arise, Kakashi would be an obvious candidate for the title of Hokage, implying that his powers are of Kage-level. Both are proven to be true, when Kakashi's name as Sixth Hokage is highly considered by the Fire Country Council.

Kakashi has been noted 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 (at least compared to their Part I abilities). While this may be an exaggeration, Kakashi has admitted himself that he can think in a similar manner to Shikamaru, and has proven several times to be a highly intelligent man, capable of thinking several steps ahead. He has also shown, like Kiba, to have great instincts, as he is rarely caught off guard and is able to see through deceptions. Moreover, he has shown great proficiency in taijutsu, as shown from being able to single-handedly fight off countless Naruto clones, and perform a stronger version of Lee's techniques. Furthermore, his proficiency in using his Sharingan has been great enough to properly train Sasuke in using his during Part I.

These general abilities are greatly improved between Part I and II. In Part I, he has been shown to be 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, if not match it. The speed and proficiency of his hand seals have also greatly improved, as he is able to perform highly complex jutsu much faster, to the point of becoming a blur, and with much fewer hand seals. 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, even increasing the number of times he can use his Lightning Blade per day, using 6 of them in one battle, and still having enough chakra to plan using the Mangekyo Sharingan.

Experience
As a Jonin and former ANBU captain, 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 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 Choji Akimichi and Ino Yamanaka.

Mastery of Ninja Skills
Kakashi primarily relies on his mastery of ninjutsu, of which he has a vast arsenal of. In his moves list, he can attack or defend against 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 shown high skills in areas such as tracking, trap-making, survival knowledge, and sealing jutsu. His knowledge of sealing jutsu is demonstrated from his ability to seal the Cursed Seal of Heaven on Sasuke.

When Kakashi was younger, he was shown to have inherited his father's uniquely strong and adaptive chakra, as well as the ability to manifest it through his clan's special tanto to form a white aura. He was taught several of his master's unique skills, including the Rasengan. However, Kakashi was only able to master the jutsu to the extent the Fourth had, as the Rasengan was meant for elemental chakra to be mixed with it. He is well-versed in all forms of armed fighting as well, commonly employing a standard kunai to effectively fight against much larger weapons.

Elemental Techniques
In addition to the sheer number of jutsu at Kakashi's disposal, he is an even more formidable opponent from his extensive knowledge and skill at elemental jutsu, for he has shown high mastery for his natural affinity towards lightning chakra, even being able to perform lightning-based jutsu without hand seals. Thanks to his skill, along with his unique chakra and Sharingan, he is also highly capable, if not proficient, at multiple elements. His proficiency in earth- and water-based jutsu have proven to be at master-level strength, as 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, to a lesser extent, to be fairly adept in fire-based jutsu and knowledge of wind-based chakra (although in Ultimate Ninja 4: Naruto Shippuden, he has shown capable skill in the latter).

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, flaws that prompted Minato Namikaze to ban his student from using the technique after seeing it in action. After gaining the Sharingan eye, the tunnel effect can now be worked around, as he can now see his opponents clearly, but he can still only use the jutsu four times a day. He later refines the Chidori into the stronger Lightning Blade. Like Sasuke, Kakashi further refines his Lightning Blade and develops several new jutsu, reshaping lightning into the form of dogs or copies of himself.

Sharingan
Kakashi's most distinguishing ability is his Sharingan eye, as it allows him to copy any jutsu used against him, see through any deception, 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 to try and avoid possible hospital time afterwards. Despite his handicap with the Sharingan, he is very skilled in using it. 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.

Sometime between Naruto's departure and his return to Konoha, 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.

Mangekyo Sharingan
Kakashi's talent with his Sharingan was shown from how well he developed it since first acquiring it. Originally, it was only at Stage 2 in development, but by the start of the series, it had fully developed. During the timeskip, Kakashi further developed his Sharingan by unleashing his own Mangekyo Sharingan through unknown means. Furthermore, he has mastered his only known Mangekyo 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, to reappear in another desired location. When used against Deidara, he noted Kakashi's dojutsu to be of Itachi's calibre, who was infamous for his prowess with Mangekyo jutsu. Despite Kakashi mentioning that his prowess with it is incomplete, as shown from his difficulty in using it against Deidara, his skill at it later was great enough to target a small speeding target with no effect on any other targets. However, this technique used so much chakra that he had to be hospitalized for a week after using it three times in one day.

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 . "Hatake" means.
 * 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 is one of the only three people to defeat at least one of Pain's bodies (the others are Jiraiya and Naruto).
 * Kakashi has a misfortune of being stopped when he's about to kill his enemies:
 * Haku took Kakashi's Lightning Blade that was intended for Zabuza Momochi, thus killing Haku instead.
 * Kakashi destroyed one of Kakuzu's five hearts in an attempt to permanently dispose of the latter.
 * Kakuzu countered Kakashi's assault on Hidan.
 * Gozu shielded Guren with his body and got her away from the battle.
 * Pain's Asura path intervened to protect his Deva path from Kakashi.
 * His favorite foods are salt-broiled saury, and miso soup with eggplant. His least favorite are tempura and sweet things.
 * He is one of the few characters in Naruto to experience death and be brought back to life. The others to have experienced this are Gaara, Shizune, and Fukasaku.

Quotes

 * (To Team 7) "My first impression of this group ... you're a bunch of idiots."
 * "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."
 * "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?"
 * "Those who break the rules of the ninja world are scum ... yes, that's true. However ... 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."
 * "Naruto, you're seriously going to die if you eat only ramen and red bean broth. Ninjas must eat more vegetables!"
 * "You want to know what's under my mask? Sure, why didn't you say so in the first place? Okay, here we go. Behind this mask ... is another mask! Pretty cool, huh?"
 * (To Naruto) "Because you're the only shinobi in the world who can surpass the Fourth. That's what I believe."
 * "The next generation will always surpass the previous one. It's one of the never-ending cycles in life."
 * "Well ... it looks like ... this is it for me. Obito ... Rin ..."
 * (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 ..."