Kakashi Hatake

is a jōnin of Konohagakure. He received a Sharingan from his former team-mate, Obito Uchiha, when he was younger, leading to his monikers and. Though of prodigal talent already and one of the village's most capable ninja, Kakashi's Sharingan prowess granted him recognition from the entire ninja world. He is eventually appointed the leader of Team 7, where he uses his years of experience to train his students to become talented ninja in their own rights.

Background
Kakashi is the son of Sakumo Hatake, a genius renowned as "Konoha's White Fang". Little is known of his mother other than that she died at a young age. Sakumo fell into disgrace after choosing to save his comrades rather than complete an important mission, which caused the nation and the village to suffer a great loss. Dishonoured, Sakumo took his own life after suffering a deep depression and drop in his skills; this experience made Kakashi determined to lead his life strictly by the ninja code. Hailed as a prodigy, because of his intelligence and aptitude, at age 5 he graduated from the Academy in a single year at the top of his class. He eventually join a team alongside Obito Uchiha and Rin Nohara under Minato Namikaze's command.

He later became part of a one-sided rivalry with Might Guy. In the anime, Guy first approached Kakashi while he was reading and quickly announced his desire to challenge him. While initially Kakashi was completely indifferent to the overzealous Guy's request, Guy continued to follow Kakashi around and challenge him. Eventually, Kakashi gave in to Guy's request, beating Guy in every challenge, including various forms of marksmanship, taijutsu combat, and even physical comparison. Despite these losses, Guy became only more determined to defeat Kakashi. Seemingly warming up to Guy, he continued to accept Guy's various challenges (including eating contests and Rock, Paper, Scissors), ultimately giving Kakashi a record of 49 wins and 50 losses.

A year later, Kakashi became chūnin after facing and defeating Might Guy during the third stage of the Chūnin Exams.

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 in his mission.

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 his left eye.

Obito's will to protect his comrades caused his Sharingan to awaken, and he used it to kill Taiseki. After finding Rin and defeating Kakkō with Obito's help, Kakashi freed Rin from the genjutsu 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, he himself getting crushed beneath it instead. Knowing he was dying, Obito requested his Sharingan be a belated present to Kakashi and instructed Rin to implant his left Sharingan into Kakashi's damaged eye. Rin complied, and as soon as the surgery was completed Kakashi used his new Sharingan to perfect his Chidori and kill Kakkō. He then returned to Obito to see if there was anything he could do for him, but alongside Rin was forced 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 this mission that Kakashi and Guy found true trust and teamwork with each other, and where Kakashi famously split a lightning bolt with his Chidori, giving birth to its new name Lightning Cutter. Later, during another mission, Kakashi met a young girl named Hanare of the Jōmae Village who was lost. He taught her about how the clouds can help her find her way and find her teacher.

Sometime after the events at Kannabi Bridge, Rin was taken captive by Kirigakure. Kakashi was able to rescue her, but not before she was forcibly made the jinchūriki of the Three-Tails. While returning to the village, they were ambushed by jōnin and ANBU-level Kiri shinobi. Rin, who knew about Kirigakure's plan to unleash the beast on Konoha, begged Kakashi to kill her. After he refused, Rin waited for Kakashi to attack, and intentionally got in Kakashi's path, culminating in a tearful Kakashi piercing through Rin's chest with his Lightning Cutter. Shortly afterwards, Kakashi and Obito — who witnessed it 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 Kakashi technically was the one who killed Rin, Obito left him alive, and he was later found by Konoha reinforcements.

In the anime, despite his growing career, Kakashi was still haunted by having killed Rin with his own hand, having nightmares and visions that visibly shook, even finding himself unable to use his Chidori without fainting in fear of it. Since then, Kakashi avoided his fellow classmates. When Minato is elected Hokage sometime later, the latter assigns Kakashi on a mission, which he fails when having another vision of Rin's death, causing him to collapse of hyperventilation. Minato visits Kakashi at the hospital to assign him to join the ANBU under his direct command.

Post-War
After the conclusion of the war, Kakashi quickly built a famous reputation during his first year joining ANBU, albeit much of it came from his cold-hearted and ruthless approach in battle, stemming from his still bitterness at losing Rin. Eventually, he was promoted again to ANBU captain. Later, Kakashi learned from Minato that his wife, Kushina was pregnant and was entrusted to protect her during her jinchūriki-induced ten-month pregnancy. Kakashi would often visit Rin and Obito's respective graves in the Konoha Cemetery and the Memorial Stone, cleaning their tombstones and bringing them flowers. On one such occasion, he visited Rin's grave and told her that their sensei's child would be born soon and left to go to the stone, unaware that Tobi was watching him from a far and overheard Kakashi reveal the location of where Kushina would birth her child. On the night of Kushina's due-date, Minato gave Kakashi the day off from his duties, during which he felt an ominous presence in the air. Soon after, the Nine-Tails appeared. 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.

In the aftermath, many people, including Kushina and Minato, were killed from the attack. After Hiruzen volunteered to resume his duties as Hokage, Danzō Shimura approached a grieving Kakashi. He pointed out that Kakashi was unable to aid his late-sensei and possibly save him because of Hiruzen's orders. Convinced in Danzō reasoning, Kakashi grew to resent Hiruzen and was not fit to lead village, deciding to take Danzō's offer to join his Root division of ANBU and spy on Hiruzen for Danzō. On his way to deliver Danzō information, Kakashi was attacked by a boy who could use Hashirama's Wood Release. Danzō broke up the fight, revealing to both they were under his orders. Knowing that only the First Hokage was suppose to have access to the Wood Release, Kakashi sneaked into the Hokage Residence to investigate. Unable to find any useful information, Kakashi was approached by Hiruzen. Despite the intrusion, the Third Hokage presented Kakashi with the records of the Wood Release, explaining that in the past it was attempted to recreate the First Hokage's Wood Release, but consistently ended with failure death of the subject, ultimately ceasing the research and deeming it forbidden.

Hiruzen also explained that recently, several shinobi, from children to adult ANBU, have gone missing with suspicion that someone was resuming the research. He then concluded that any replication of the Wood Release could have saved the village from the recent attack of the Nine-Tails. Realizing that Hiruzen truly had the best interest at heart for the village and the Danzō knowingly kept a valuable asset in the Wood Release child a secret during the Nine-Tails' attack, Kakashi told Hiruzen of Danzō's plan to assassinate the Third before he could resume power. The following day Kakashi went in Hiruzen's place to lure out the assailants, one of which was Wood Release child. Kakashi easily defeated him, but chose to spare him, knowing he valuable ally in the future. Later that night, Kakashi requested to resign from ANBU, feeling unworthy from have betrayed the Third's trust even once. Hiruzen however insisted that Kakashi's assistance was needed during these time, having said so to Minato himself. Ultimately, Kakashi agreed to stay working as Hiruzen's right-hand man as he did with Minato.

Over the years, Kakashi became well-known amongst 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. 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 in order 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, especially since he felt that it was his shortcomings as their teacher that attributed to this and Naruto and Sakura's temporary falling out, but then 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 openly admitted to feeling 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 usually stoic demeanour, Kakashi does have 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 reacting to what was occurring on the battlefield. Despite this, Kakashi was eventually able to snap out of this state with new found resolve, and showed Obito no mercy on the battlefield despite their past friendship. Later on this turned out to only extend to non-lethal attacks, as Obito noted that Kakashi has been hesitating to kill him the entire time they've been fighting. Indeed, when Kakashi was given the upper hand in the fight, he stopped his Lightning Cutter before hitting Obito, showing that he still cares deeply about his friend and continues his attempts to reason with him. But soon, Kakashi comes to the realisation that in order to protect Naruto and preserve the memories of how Obito was, he would have to kill the current one.

Kakashi has an ongoing, albeit one-sided, somewhat childish rivalry with Guy. In trying to prove himself superior to Kakashi, Guy regularly challenges him to competitions of questionable value. 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 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).

Kakashi also appears to carry about a pair of bells attached to a red thread. These same bells are used in his genin survival test when testing Team 7. He's often seen with them and while remembering Obito's words and lessons taught by his sensei.

Appearance
Kakashi is a fit and relatively tall shinobi, with spiky white hair (silver in the anime), and has dark-coloured eyes. His left eye — which has since been replaced by a Sharingan — has a vertical scar running over it. It has yet to be revealed why Kakashi, even at a young age, wore his face mask. In the few instances that Kakashi 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. In the anime, it is strongly suggested that he is in fact very handsome, as seen from Teuchi and Ayame's reaction to seeing his face. He was once mistaken by Chiyo for his father Sakumo Hatake, whom he greatly resembles, despite most of his face being obscured. 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.

As a child, prior to obtaining his Sharingan, Kakashi wore a simple black outfit with the lower-half of his face concealed. He also wore a scarf with a simple design running along its length to the entrance ceremony, which he would later swap out for a plain, green one. 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 his early missions as a jōnin, he wore a black T-shirt with white stripes in the middle of the sleeves. On his arms he wears black sleeves 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. Later as a teenager, he wore a black body suit with a variation of the wartime variant of Konoha's flak jacket prior to the Nine-Tails' Attack on Konoha.

While an ANBU member, Kakashi wore the standard uniform 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. In addition, Kakashi has the ANBU tattoo on his left shoulder, and didn't wear a forehead protector during his time at ANBU. In the anime, after becoming an ANBU captain, he also wore a brown cloak over his uniform.

When he joined the regular forces Kakashi once again donned the standard attire of the forces and he began wearing shorter metal-plated gloves. He also wears his forehead protector on a simple blue band, tilted to the left to cover the Sharingan, and a mask which obscures the lower-half of his face, only revealing his left eye when ready to use it. He also wears a chain necklace.

Abilities
A match for seemingly any opponent, it was noted by Tsunade that Kakashi is easily one of Konoha's strongest ninja. Kakashi's extensive and varied skill-set allow him to effectively fight or provide invaluable support against opponents of any level. He is also hailed as a natural genius, evidenced by his meteoric rise through the ninja ranks; graduating from the Academy top of his class at age 5, becoming a chūnin at age 6, plus jōnin and ANBU while still a child (the latter also becoming a captain in the anime and still holding high status in despite resigning). 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. His various accomplishments have earned him much renown, and praise by his fellow Konoha ninja and he holds a position of great influence amongst them. Most enemies grow afraid or excited at the idea of fighting him. He is frequently given responsibility for important tasks, such as watching Naruto in case the seal of the Nine-Tails begins to fail as well as being considered an ideal and one of the most suitable candidates for the position of Hokage by many.

Pain, the most powerful member of Akatsuki, was pressured by Kakashi to the point he saw Kakashi as a threat that needed to be eradicated to allow his plans to progress. This was later validated in the Fourth Shinobi World War. He could pressure powerful missing-nin in Akatsuki or the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and later several "Version 2" state jinchūriki. He also single-handedly defeated in battle the adult Obito Uchiha, whose tutelage under Madara Uchiha gained him comparable prowess to the legendary Uchiha. He could even handle himself against the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path in addition to the Ten-Tails itself.

Taijutsu
Kakashi is very adept in taijutsu. In the anime, as a child, he was skilled enough to hold his own against his sensei, Minato Namikaze, in his bell test, managing to touch one of the bells while engaging the more experienced shinobi unarmed. As an adult, his skills improved considerably. Even when greatly outnumbered by hundreds of enemies, he is easily able to defeat them, using well-coordinated attack patterns to handle the multiple enemy strikes. Kakashi is also able to fight on par with Might Guy, a rival and taijutsu master, even since childhood.

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. His speed allow him to effectively catch his opponents off-guard to quickly strike them down and easily evade attacks. Even against highly experience assassins, Kakashi can silently sneak-up on them, making him prime to strike. His speed increased considerably in Part II; before the timeskip he had difficulty keeping up with Itachi Uchiha, but outmanoeuvred him after the timeskip. His hand seal prowess has also been noted as being very great, 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. In the anime, he can also utilise advanced techniques derived from it while showing no signs of fatigue afterwards. His raw strength is also noticeably high, to clash with the likes of enemies like Zabuza, who possesses great physical strength himself, simultaneously throw Naruto and Sasuke a large distance, and in Part II easily wield the Kubikiribōchō with a single hand despite its considerable weight.

Genjutsu
While used less often, he has also shown proficient 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-timed 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 most high-level techniques, he has advanced knowledge of their working, and is able to dispel genjutsu as well.

Ninjutsu
Kakashi primarily relies on his mastery of ninjutsu, of which he has a vast arsenal due in part to his Sharingan; being noted to have copied over a thousand techniques, the number has continually been growing through his many battles. With this arsenal, he can attack or defend in numerous manners. While a student under Minato Namikaze, Kakashi learned how to use the Rasengan. He also demonstrated noticeable skill since childhood in advanced techniques since like the Shadow Clone Technique. Kakashi has also developed considerable prowess in fūinjutsu, something that Orochimaru found impressive given Kakashi's age.

Nature Transformation
Kakashi is proficient in several nature transformations. He has a natural affinity for Lightning Release, which he mastered before even becoming a jōnin. It became so advanced that it is an attribute enemy ninja identify him by. His prowess with Water Release can match specialists like Zabuza Momochi and perform techniques without a nearby water source. His Earth Release prowess is able to move fast and unnoticed underground or produce large and intricate earthen walls rather quickly. In the anime, he has also shown considerable skill in Fire Release, able to produce a massive fireball able to cause much damage to the area. In addition, he is at least knowledgeable enough to train others in Wind Release.

When Kakashi learned to use the Rasengan, he attempted to infuse it with lightning-chakra as it was intended to be combined with element chakra, but ultimately failed. However, he used the same theoretical principle to create the Chidori, which he later refined into the far stronger Lightning Cutter. He can also enlist the aid of a shadow clone, to create a lightning chain to increase his attack range and even cut through a jinchūriki's chakra arms in a "Version 2" state. He can also create a lightning-infused clone, and hound via his manipulation of lightning chakra.

Bukijutsu
Kakashi is a highly-skilled user in a large variety of weapons such as bows and arrows, kusarigama, chains, wire strings and others. Since early childhood, Kakashi had highly proficient skill in kenjutsu, able to wield his father's signature tantō effectively enough to be mistaken for Sakumo. Due to his ANBU background, Kakashi's sword skill was especially improved. His weapon-skills are also very adaptable, even able to effectively use Kubikiribōchō, a blade of unique shape with noticeable size and weight, to defeat kenjutsu specialists like the Seven Mist Swordsmen. He can also enhance his physical tools, channelling lightning-nature chakra through them.

Summoning Technique
Kakashi is also able to summon a pack of ninja hounds of various breeds. Much like his combat skills, Kakashi's use of these summons is highly versatile, ranging from attacking and restraining his opponents. He can combine his Summoning Technique and his Earth Release skills to have his hounds burrow and erupt from the ground in order to help subdue his enemies. Aside from offensive purposes, Kakashi's pack is also highly skilled in tracking down targets, and often used to deliver messages.

Sharingan
Kakashi's most distinguishing ability is the Sharingan in his left eye-socket that was given to him by Obito Uchiha. Since the eye got transplanted into him, Kakashi's ability to copy nearly any technique used against him gave him the moniker while utilising many of the Sharingan abilities including genjutsu, seeing through deception, and predicting his opponent's next move. This eye also gives Kakashi a heightened visual perception to his surroundings, enabling him to perfect his Chidori and its later version, the Lightning Cutter. While fighting Obito, a potent genjutsu user, Kakashi was able to go toe to toe with his enemy in an illusionary fight until he himself asked that genjutsu fighting be abandoned due to the constant stalemates of it.

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. However, because he is not an Uchiha, Kakashi is unable to deactivate this dōjutsu and is forced to keep it covered when not in combat as it consumes a massive amount of chakra, which forces him into extensive periods of bed rest if overused. Because of this, Kakashi only relies on it when he feels it is an absolute necessity. In Part I, he could only handle using it for a short while in battle before suffering somewhat crippling effects and severe fatigue. In Part II, he is seen using it for seemingly a day while testing Naruto and Sakura without any adverse effects. Regardless, he is very skilled to the point that Itachi Uchiha acknowledges Kakashi's greater proficiency to most true Sharingan wielders.

Mangekyō Sharingan
Kakashi awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan after unintentionally killing Rin Nohara, though seemed unaware of its awakening until years later. Its design is three stretched triangles evenly spaced around the pupil that each curve at the top around the eye to form a circle, making it similar to a pinwheel. With it he can perform Kamui: a technique that creates a space-time barrier in the form of a swirling void that sucks any target he focuses his eye on to another dimension and also bring them back; even transporting them to a new location. Originally, Kakashi lacked proper control to accurately hit his target. His skill and aim later improved greatly, able to successfully warp small, fast-moving, or multiple targets in rapid succession as seen against Pain, and Sasuke respectively. Even Obito, who mastered his variation of Kamui, openly acknowledged Kakashi's great skill with the technique. While battling Obito, Kakashi attempted to use Kamui 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 allows him to safely warp chakra-based techniques, like the Rasengan, or even shadow clones without disrupting them, at such speed that Obito himself was fooled into believing Kakashi failed and dispelled the technique instead. While originally demonstrating only long-range use, Kakashi is also able to use Kamui at a short-range. With this new proficiency, Kakashi can teleport himself at will, able to precisely choose his destination for an attack.

Kamui's chakra requirements are considerably high, such that initially he had to be hospitalised for a week after using it three times in one day. By his battle against Obito, his mastery of this technique improved further, able to use it at least five times, three of which in quick succession (along with multiple other chakra-taxing techniques) 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, which he soon recovered somewhat from. He is also knowledgeable of other Mangekyō Sharingan techniques as well as the risks the dōjutsu poses to the user's eyesight.

Intelligence
Repeatedly, Kakashi has proven himself to be a very shrewd and resourceful man, regularly having his opinion asked for by Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage. By a quite young age, 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. Yamato notes that Kakashi has his way with words and can be a persuasive speaker, though his arguments are more of a logical nature than of emotional one like those of Naruto Uzumaki. He is also very capable in deception, regularly using his opponents' own tactics against them. He is also good at discerning what emotional nature of people and determine its source as demonstrated in his thoughts about Obito. Kakashi's intellect has proven itself against various S-rank ninja, including members of Akatsuki, showing undeniable 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
Originally, Kakashi's primary weakness was his 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 if used too long, followed by great difficulty to even stand for days. He also stated he could only use his signature technique, Lightning Cutter, four times in a single day before it wouldn't work. To somewhat 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
A man who epitomises versatility, Kakashi's expertise is not limited to the three major ninja skill sets; he is renowned for his tracking abilities and has otherwise displayed proficiency with trap-making, medical, survival, escapism, stealth, subterfuge, and assassination. 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, thus every potential genin team he was assigned to failed in every survival training exam that he proctored while using 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. In the anime, when he learned that of his next potential Team 7 — which consisted of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno — he decided to spy on them a bit to better understand their natures.

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 his displeasure at their performance and that true goal was team-work. After explaining the importance of team-work 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 with a severe penalty for anybody feeding him. When he watches Sasuke and Sakura giving Naruto their food to have him in peak condition from afar, Kakashi immediately confronted them while feigning anger. Delighted as they defiantly stand up to him on the grounds that they are a team, Kakashi passes them on the ground they placed loyalty amongst comrades first.

It was later revealed that Kakashi was chosen specifically by Hiruzen Sarutobi 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-Tails in Naruto contained, and to ensure Sasuke does not tread a dark path, since they had similar traits that would allow Kakashi to better understand him.

Later, in the anime, upon returning from another mission, Kakashi and his team noticed an ANBU team bringing a tied-up beautiful woman who appeared to be a street performer to the village. When Inoichi Yamanaka probed her mind to learn the truth of her identity, it was revealed that she was Hanare from the Jōmae Village on a mission to acquire Konoha secrets. It was also revealed that she knew Kakashi from back when he was a child. Deciding that Kakashi would have the best chance of finding out her true goals. Kakashi decided to let her walk about freely within the village while he escorted her. While walking through the village, Hanare seemed to genuinely enjoy the atmosphere of it, and also seemed drawn to Kakashi, blushing when he looked at her for too long. As Kakashi began to get Hanare to open up about herself, revealing how she met Kakashi and what he meant to her, Kakashi's students, who were spying came crashing out of the tree, landing on Kakashi and Hanare. This caused the two adults to accidentally kiss, and Kakashi to reveal his Sharingan.

After collecting himself, he demanded for the three to explain themselves. Naruto responded first by presenting a bouquet of flowers a congratulations as the three believed Kakashi was dating Hanare. The adults smiled to each other at the kids misunderstanding. Later, Konoha received word that the Jōmae Village had captured a Konoha ninja and demanded an exchange for Hanare. At the exchange, a trap was set, forcing both sides to engage in battle. Kakashi went after Hanare. Upon cornering her, Kakashi revealed that he knows Hanare has a special mind reading technique that lets her look into an individual's mind, even the user's own, without hand seals and used it to read Inoichi's mind while he probed her, meaning she intentionally got taken captive. Kakashi realised this when his Sharingan was accidentally revealed and copied her technique. Hanare then revealed that she used her technique to erase the information she gained. Saying that she enjoyed her time in Konoha so much like the home she never had and the blessing of Kakashi's students for her, she couldn't betray that new-found trust. Refusing to kill her, Kakashi chose to let her go.

Later in the anime, a young but promising ninja named Sabiru proposed a new defence system for the village. Kakashi was one of the guards for the meeting that including the both the Land of Fire and Konoha council. While everyone admired Sabiru's intellect and ambition, Kakashi and the Third Hokage had their suspicions about him. Later, as the council was about to vote to pass Sabiru's proposal, they were interrupted by Kisuke Maboroshi, an ANBU who suspected Sabiru of treason. When it was discovered that Kisuke had in fact died recently, making this man an impostor, he retreated. It was revealed to Naruto, working in league with the spirit of Kisuke. Having talked to Kakashi, the two worked together and tricked Sabiru into confessing his crimes. Before they could take him in, he was killed by an unknown assailant.

During another mission in the anime, Team 7 was assigned to retrieve a golden statue stolen by bandits. To balance his plan for an ambush, Kakashi decided to go solo while his students attacked from a separate location. Naruto and Sasuke accidentally became stuck together by the bandit's leader, Jako's, liquid chakra, but managed to unite their efforts and get the statue back, despite it being seriously damaged. Kakashi however noted that they could probably melt and reforge it. While Naruto and Sasuke continued to bicker at their predicament lasting for another two to three days, Kakashi smiled to himself at how far thier bond has come despite their differences.

Land of Waves Arc
After completing a number of easy D-rank missions, Team 7, at Naruto's insistence get assigned a somewhat more difficult C-rank task of escorting the bridge-builder Tazuna to the Land of Waves. Noticing they were about to be ambushed en route by the Demon Brothers, Kakashi faked his death to determine if their target was his team or Tazuna. Easily defeated them upon seeing them attempt to kill the bridge builder, Kakashi realised that Tazuna has not been completely honest of the mission and threatens Tazuna to tell them the truth. After hearing Tazuna's goal to build a bridge to free his country from the tyranny of Gatō, despite the mission now being more of an A-rank or B-rank, Kakashi decides for his group to remain until the bridge was complete.

Upon arriving in the Land of Waves, Team 7 was attacked by Zabuza Momochi, a missing-nin of Kirigakure and former Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist member who is under Gatō's employment. Despite his Sharingan, combined with his need to protect his students from the more experienced ninja, Kakashi finds himself trapped in a water prison. Luckily, Naruto and Sasuke orchestrate a gambit to free him. From there, using both his Sharingan and psychological warfare, Kakashi placed Zabuza at a disadvantage until a young Kirigakure hunter-nin named Haku stepped in and appeared to kill Zabuza before dragging him away for disposal. While forced to recuperate from his Sharingan overuse, Kakashi realises that Haku might have faked Zabuza's death to save him, deciding to train Team 7 in perfecting their chakra control for a week until they can resume bodyguard duty.

Once at the bridge, Kakashi's suspicions are confirmed when Team 7 is confronted by Zabuza and Haku. While their wards battle, Kakashi once more battles Zabuza as he learned to counter him with his Hiding in Mist Technique to keep him from falling prey to Kakashi's Sharingan. In response, Kakashi summons his ninken underground to locate and pin down Zabuza to finish him off with a Lightning Cutter. However, Haku uses himself as a human shield and took the fatal blow intended for Zabuza. But despite Haku's sacrifice, Kakashi had the upper hand until Gatō and his crew arrive to wipe out everyone. After seeing the gravely wounded Zabuza managing to kill Gatō, Kakashi used his Multiple Shadow Clone Technique to scare the other criminals. As Zabuza died, he asked Kakashi to bring his body beside Haku's before he passed away. As Naruto tells Kakashi Haku was born in a "snowy village", Kakashi believes Zabuza really will go to where Haku has gone. Kakashi buried them alongside each other before returning to Konoha with Team 7, as the bridge is completed.

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, unable to remove it, Kakashi 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 Hiruzen's funeral, mourning his loss, he listens to Iruka's words at the funeral and thinks how sad it would be if the Third Hokage had died for nothing.

Search for Tsunade Arc
Shortly after the invasion was prevented, Kakashi comes to the aid of Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yūhi when they nearly got killed by Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki when they arrived to the village. Having learned of Akatsuki from Jiraiya, Kakashi was able to hold his own against Itachi for a short while until falling to his opponent's Tsukuyomi. Severely weakened by the technique, Kakashi confirmed that Itachi and Kisame are after Naruto before losing consciousness. Before they could take him, Kakashi is saved by Guy's arrival with the Akatsuki members driven 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.

In the anime, one of his missions was survey the Valley of Judgement for an eye medical plant as Orochimaru might be interested in it for his dōjutsu research. Later, Kakashi and Guy discovered Naruto, Sakura, and Neji looked for the said plant to aid Hinata's eye recovery. When the genin were attacked by the inhabited people, Kakashi and Guy acted, driving them away. Afterwards, Kakashi stated that there was no point pursing the plant as the people of this valley have spent countless years there to the point they have lost their eyesight. The Konoha ninja then returned home.

In another mission, to further strengthen the new alliance between the Konoha and Sunagakure, Kakashi's team joined a Suna ninja team that included Gaara, who Kakashi noticed seemed much calmer than before. On their way to the mission, they were attacked by a group of Suna ninja determined to kill Gaara as they still deemed him a danger. While understanding their views, Kakashi did not agree with them and attacked. After defeating these enemies, Kakashi and his team made their way to their to destroy a group of bandit's stronghold, which was a success.

Later in the anime, Team 7 went on a mission with Team 10 to rescue the granddaughter of a Village Headman who was kidnapped by a cunning bandits leader named Baji. After being taken to the entrance cave of Baji's headquarters by a former member named Tōfu and told of its basic structure, it was decided between Kakashi and Shikamaru to have only the jōnin enter while the genin stay behind. However, it was later revealed to be a deception of Shikamaru's, who cleverly manipulated his and the other genins' way into the stronghold, systematically taking down Baji and his forces. Once reuniting with Kakashi and Asuma, Kakashi congratulated Shikamaru for his effective plan.

Later, Tsunade assigns Team 7 a mission to locate and discover the plans of a missing-nin named Sadai. However, Kakashi and Tsunade noted that ever since Naruto defeated Gaara whereas Sasuke failed, Sasuke has been feeling inferior to him, leading to greater turmoil between them. It was decided that Kakashi would take Sasuke alone for this mission while Naruto and Sakura were sent to escort Naho, a young girl who is a relative of the Fire Daimyō. Later, Kakashi and Sasuke found and infiltrated Sadai's base where they learned he planned to kidnap Naho. With Pakkun's help they were able to find Naruto and Sakura's trail, but not before they were taken captive by Sadai's gang. With the scents mixed up, Kakashi summoned another ninken and split up with Sasuke following Pakkun. Sasuke ended up finding Sadai first. Kakashi arrived in time to stop Sasuke from beating an already defeated Sadai to death, reminding Sasuke they should bring him back for questioning. Still steaming, Sasuke left the team and returned to the village, much to Kakashi annoyance.

Sasuke Retrieval Arc
Before setting out on his mission, Kakashi stops a battle between Naruto and Sasuke. Learning that Sasuke had relapsed into desiring revenge, Kakashi lectures the youth that the Chidori was designed to protect friends — not attack them. Despite encouraging Sasuke to place greater importance on friendship, Kakashi learned upon his return that his student has defected and a squad of genin, led by Shikamaru, has been sent out to retrieve him and deal with Orochimaru’s Sound Four. 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 long gone. 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.

Konoha History Arc
In the anime, while aiding the village in its recovery from Pain's attack, Kakashi found himself thinking of many past moments in his life. Watching Naruto and Sakura walk off reminded him of when they were first assigned to his team along with Sasuke.

Later, upon seeing a street performer come to entertain the village, Kakashi couldn't help but notice her resemblance to the Hanare of the Jōmae 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 in any way possible. 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. They are then met by members of Root. Learning that Danzō was truly dead as the seals he placed on all of his subordinates have vanished, Kakashi and his team decided to quickly to return to the village knowing that Kakashi would most likely be made the new Hokage.

Chikara Arc
In the anime, upon receiving news that Kabuto Yakushi is responsible for the massacre in Tonika Village, Tsunade sends Kakashi, Guy, and Shikamaru to assist Team Kakashi.

Confining the Jinchūriki Arc
Upon returning to Konoha, Kakashi brings Karin to Ibiki for questioning. Kakashi spoke with Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado about all that had occurred. While reluctant, he agreed to their decision to make him Hokage as the Allied Shinobi Forces would need a Kage from each of the Five Nations and Kakashi already had full trust and respect from the other Kage. In the anime, word quickly spread about Kakashi being appointed the Sixth Hokage. Happy for his long-time friend and rival, Guy challenged him to a race, which resulted in Kakashi's 50th win over Guy. Soon afterwards, Kakashi was taken to the Stone Carvers of the Hokage Monument to make a replica of his face to carve his likeness on the monument.

Later, he accompanied the Konoha Council to a meeting hall with the Fire Daimyō and his delegation. Despite a unanimous vote for Kakashi, moments before he was officially declared the Sixth Hokage, news reached them of Tsunade waking up, ending the proceedings. Later, while Tsunade was recovering, Kakashi spoke with her and thanked her for waking up in time, noting he was not cut out for the position of Hokage.

Adventures at Sea Arc
In the anime, Kakashi won a sushi eating contest against Guy, giving him the lead in their rivalry with 51 wins. Later, while preparing for the upcoming war, he was approached by Kiba Inuzuka. Depressed that Naruto had come so far in comparison to him as Naruto was bottom-graduate of their class, Kiba asked Kakashi to train him since he trained Naruto and also shared an affinity for canine-related techniques not unlike Kiba. Feeling too busy, Kakashi instead summoned his nin-ken to assist Kiba in the training. Later, after his nin-ken successfully taught a lesson about perseverance to Kiba, they told Kakashi about how Kiba said he wanted to be like Naruto, which Kakashi doubted Kiba would want.

Later, Tsunade told Kakashi that as a veteran from the previous great war and someone respected by all five great nations, he was to be assigned a unit commander for the joined shinobi forces. Kakashi humbly accepted the decision but asked for Tsunade to appoint a second-in-command for Kakashi that he could trust completely, which Kakashi suggested be Might Guy. Suddenly, a small projectile crashed into the room. It was revealed to be a small nin-turtle from Guy delivering an SOS. Kakashi quickly went off to aid Guy, who was currently on a mission to escort Naruto through the Land of Lightning. When Kakashi found Guy, having grown suspicious of enemy attacks from rumours of more advanced transformation techniques, the one-sided rival believed Kakashi was an impostor and attacked him. After a heated battle, Kakashi fighting purely defensively, was able to convince Guy that he was real by pointing out a private and embarrassing fact from Guy's childhood. After calming down, Kakashi explained that Guy sent his SOS turtle to him. Guy realised that while experiencing seasickness, he accidentally bit his finger and summoned his turtle. Seeing that everything was fine, Kakashi returned to the village, sure that Guy would protect Naruto well.

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 amongst 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, which fully regenerates Zabuza's Kubikiribōchō, 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 mist to dispel. Openly voicing his anger at how someone could toy with the dead, he states that he will going on a rampage as he picks up 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.

Later, Kakashi faces Fuguki Suikazan. He cuts down the Mist Swordsman by imbuing the Kubikiribōchō with lightning, allowing Sai to seal Fuguki inside of his drawing. 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 Kurama's 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.

Ten-Tails Revival Arc
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 an earth 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 from the other 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, Kakashi falls to his knees in exhaustion. Obito again attempts to warp Kakashi to the other dimension, but is stopped by Naruto. After Kurama temporarily switches places with Naruto, it grabs Kakashi, and throws 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 it 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.

As Madara and Obito connect themselves to the Ten-Tails by way of tendrils being inserted, Kurama grabs Kakashi and Guy in its mouth to restore their chakra. Kurama, understanding the true nature behind the Ten-Tails, begins giving instructions to how they should face the mighty beast. When Kakashi notes that Kurama is acting like a captain, it thinks Kakashi has a problem with it, but the jōnin merely replies that he actually likes it. Kakashi's kindness to Kurama is shortly enjoyed as the Ten-Tails shows remarkable speed, quickly overwhelming Kakashi and his team. Following Kurama's advice, Kakashi uses Kamui to teleport Gyūki in front of the Ten-Tails, who launches a point-blank Tailed Beast Ball at the resurrected demon.

After deflecting the attack back at Gyūki, the Ten-Tails attempts to attack Naruto and Kakashi with its tail, but Naruto throws Kakashi out of the way in time. Landing in the safety of Kurama, Kurama later dematerialises, and Kakashi falls to the ground. Kakashi finds himself weakened from transporting Gyūki with his Kamui. Stressing the importance of Naruto's life to the war effort, Kakashi finds relief as all divisions of the Allied Shinobi Forces assemble at the battlefield, and Sakura begins to heal him.

Reeling from an attack from a newly evolved Ten-Tails, Kakashi is asked by Shikaku for information regarding his fights with the enemy prior to the Allied Shinobi Forces arrival, but Kakashi is forced to cut contact and attempts to use Kamui against the Ten-Tails. Realising he couldn't use it in time, ordering another to use an Earth Release technique to make the ground underneath the beast uneven, Kakashi is shocked to see the Ten-Tails massive firing distance with a Tailed Beast Ball. Kakashi and Sakura later narrowly avoid one of the wooden stakes that was fired by the Ten-Tails. He later watched on in horror as Neji sacrificed himself to protect Naruto and Hinata from the projectiles, and attempted to chide Obito for degrading Naruto, but was cut off by the former's tirade, in which he pointed out that Kakashi should know that nothing but loneliness was at the end of the path Naruto had chosen to take. He would later affirm that promising to protect loved ones could become a curse, if they were unable to fulfil that promise. Understanding this, Naruto still agreed to keep Neji in his heart and to carry on his will, stating that to do otherwise would be to truly killing Neji.

After receiving chakra from Naruto, resulting in a chakra cloak, Kakashi thought back to his conversation with Shikaku and the feats he was able to accomplish the first time Kurama gave him chakra. He later charged towards, and attacked the Ten-Tails alongside the other empowered members of the Alliance. Ultimately, the Allied Shinobi Forces manage to separate Obito and Madara from the Ten-Tails, which causes the massive demon to start going berserk. As Kakashi prepares to warp it away, he is intercepted by Obito. The two men end up warping to Kamui's dimension but not before Kakashi called out to Naruto, telling him to handle things there.

Upon arriving, Kakashi reacts first and strikes with his Lightning Cutter, only to hesitate and stop at the last moment, much to Obito's shock. Realising that Kakashi is still plagued by guilt and hope for Obito reforming, the fallen Uchiha begins mocking Kakashi. Kakashi begs Obito to accept that things don't have to be this way, as in many ways the man Obito once was now lives in Naruto. Obito then stood up, phasing through Kakashi's Lightning Cutter. He then revealed that he knew all along the circumstances of Rin dying. That just like how he didn't blame Kakashi for Rin's death, she and Kakashi weren't the reason for him starting this war. Obito tells Kakashi to forget about his guilt as there is nothing left of the man Kakashi once fought alongside, emphasising this from a genjutsu of a gaping hole where his heart should be.

Appealing to Kakashi's happier memories from their childhood, Obito emphasises that the illusion world can give Kakashi back that lost time, creating an illusion of child Obito and Rin, which Kakashi quickly strikes down. Kakashi defiantly refuses Obito's offer of a dream world, saying that illusions will never heal one's pain. While admitting that the real world can be cruel at times, the support of one's friends can ease the pain and rejecting your friends will only add to the pain. Obito scoffed at Kakashi's words, saying that attachments like that are the source of one's pain. Kakashi however reminds Obito of the lesson he once taught Kakashi: One who abandons their friends are worse than trash. As Obito was taken aback by these words, Kakashi declared that he will force these feelings back on Obito, even if he refuses.

Their battle then raged on, with them challenging each other with various genjutsu tactics, constantly ending in a stalemate. Finally deciding to fight for real, Kakashi and Obito as a last sign of respect between former allies performed a challenge salute. The two clashed, almost mirroring a sparring match from their youth. While Obito managed to pierce Kakashi's right ribs with a black rod, Kakashi impaled Obito through the chest, winning the fight. While Obito admitted defeat, he laughingly said Kakashi would lose the war before returning to the real world.

Heavily fatigued from his battle against Obito, Kakashi remained in the Kamui dimension to suture his wounds before returning to the battlefield. As he began to catch his breath, he thinks over all that has transpired with the new dark Obito, coming to the conclusion that Obito has not truly relinquished the Will of Fire, but rather pushed it aside and his meeting with Naruto has caused him to gain conflicted emotions. Suddenly, Kakashi begins to see and hear what Obito does through their matching pair of Sharingan eyes. Seeing Obito's continued turmoil, Kakashi notes that Obito could have overcome this hole in his heart if he let his friends fill it with their feelings.

Once recovered, Kakashi teleported back to the battlefield, poised over a defeated Obito. Believing that Obito was his responsibility, Kakashi lunged his kunai at Obito, only for the reincarnated Minato to stop him. While Kakashi was shocked by the appearance of his late sensei, the Fourth Hokage explained that Naruto's persistence has gotten through to Obito. Accepting his inner pain, Obito admits that Rin was the only good thing in his life and losing her only left him in misery. Madara's plan seemed the only sensible choice left in Obito's mind. Kakashi admits that he doesn't know for sure if Naruto's views are anymore right and that maybe Madara's isn't completely wrong, shocking Obito. While sympathising with Obito's personal pain of Rin's death along with his other loved ones, Kakashi insists that Naruto's views are at least less likely to fail because his goals naturally draws more people to aid him.

After learning from Minato that Obito would survive, Kakashi prepared to join the battle against Madara. As Kakashi's words fully reached Obito, the Uchiha admitted to understanding why Nagato betrayed him to aid Naruto. Deciding to follow suit, Obito resolved that as a true act of atonement for his mistakes, he would sacrifice his life to revive all the fallen shinobi with Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique. Not wanting his childhood friend to die, Kakashi begged him to instead dedicate his life to making amends, to which Obito said would be the "easy" path, no longer feeling worthy to ever see Rin again. Before he could do so, however, Black Zetsu emerged from the ground, merged with Obito and forced him to revive Madara, much to Kakashi and Minato's shock.

Return of Madara Arc
Succeeding in his goal, Black Zetsu then proceeded to take Obito's Rinnegan eye to return it to Madara. Kakashi and Minato quickly acted to stop it, to which Black Zetsu responded by merging again with Obito, warning them that his unison with the dying Obito was the only thing still keeping him alive. Being asked what it is, Black Zetsu responded that he was a manifestation of Madara's will, calling Kakashi and his allies fools for underestimating Madara.

Suddenly, from Obito's artificial body half, the Demonic Statue emerged. Kakashi attempted to stop it by removing the head with Kamui, but the statue is teleported elsewhere, causing Kakashi's attack to instead remove its right arm. As Black Zetsu continued its attempt to take the left Rinnegan from Obito's eye-socket, Obito continued to resist the possession, telling Kakashi to destroy the eye. Looking down on their attempts, Black Zetsu informed them that Madara has already regained his right eye. Deciding to take the risk on Obito, Kakashi and Minato prepare to attack Black Zetsu. Suddenly, Gaara appeared with Sakura and a critical-state Naruto, having lost Yang-Kurama to Madara. Gaara quickly told Minato that Naruto can be saved by sealing the Yin half of Kurama inside Naruto. While Minato's attempt to do so was stopped by Black Zetsu, and before long Madara arrived. Now the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki, Madara seeks to complete his power by regaining his left eye.

As Black Zetsu attempts to reunite with Madara, bringing with it Yin-Kurama and Madara's remaining eye, Obito manages to overshadow Black Zetsu, keeping it merged to the younger Uchiha. As Obito and Madara begin questioning Obito's purpose in life, Kakashi attempts to teleport Obito away from Madara and Minato launches an attack on the Uchiha. Madara easily repels Minato's attack and kicks Minato's Rasegan at Kakashi, cancelling Kakashi's Kamui before it could take affect. Obito then approaches Madara and everyone is shocked as Obito impales his hand through Madara's chest, stating that he is not an extension of Madara, but Obito Uchiha.

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. Part of Kakashi's mission was to 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.

Naruto 5: Blood Prison
When the Fourth Raikage was attacked by a lone ninja, Team Kakashi was called by Tsunade. She revealed that the attacker was identified to be Naruto. Naruto profusely denied doing so, but when asking for Kakashi to verify his claims, the sensei remained silent. To keep relations between Konoha and the other villages civil, Naruto was arrested and sent to Hōzukijō, which Kakashi explained to be criminal containment facility located in Kusagakure used by all the ninja villages. Despite Naruto's refusal to cooperate, he was quickly restrained.

Later, it was discovered that Naruto was framed to get him sent to Hōzukijō so the council members could use the Nine-Tails' chakra to access the power of Box of Ultimate Bliss. Their goals turned sour when it instead unleashed a horrible demonic creature called Satori. During Naruto's battle against it, Kakashi and Naruto's other allies arrived. Kakashi revealed that they never truly believed Naruto was guilty, but instead pretended so as part of a mission that was a unified effort with Kumogakure designed by Kakashi; they didn't tell Naruto only in fear he would blow his cover. Feeling sorry for hurting Naruto's trust, Kakashi decided he would treat Naruto to as much ramen as he could eat. Despite the Kumo and Konoha-nin's combined effort, Satori was easily able to dodge all of their attacks, as if he could read minds. After Naruto discovered the truth behind the creature's power, Naruto became able to launch an effective counterattack. This allowed Kakashi and the others to round up the escaped prisoners who took advantage of the prison being demolished and their seals removed.

Naruto 6: Road to Ninja
Kakashi first appeared with his friends battled several Zetsu clones disguised as deceased Akatsuki members. Later, in an alternate dimension, a different Kakashi appeared who is passionate, energetic, and a proponent of the "Power of Youth", causing his personality to be generally similar to the real world's Guy. He also has a bad habit for wasting his Sharingan for non-combat situations.

This Kakashi was assigned to retrieve the Red Moon Scroll that was hidden and sealed away by Jiraiya who died protecting it from a masked man. He joined his sensei Minato and Kushina Uzumaki along with Guy and Naruto. Having overused his Sharingan again, he was unable to fight back the toads that were summoned to safeguard the scroll. After Minato retrieved the scroll, the toads dispersed. Later, the masked man appears in Konohagakure to take the scroll. Kakashi appeared with several Konoha-nin to defend Tsunade and the scroll, but was quickly defeated by the man's masked beasts.

Video Games
A younger Kakashi that appears in Kakashi Gaiden and ANBU Kakashi are playable as separate characters from his adult self in some Naruto games.

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 second and in the seventh and the most recent poll, he got in third place.
 * 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 as a chūnin, 20 years before Shippūden, 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.

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 Naruto) "I can see where a thing like that would be hard to accept… but it's a fact you'll have to live with. This probably won't be the last time we run into a kid who's both younger than you… and stronger than 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!"
 * (To Obito) "I'm just a piece of trash… but there are things I learned. The hole in your heart is something other people can fill. If you reject your friends' feelings and this world… just because something didn't go as you wished, no one will ever come to you. And so that hole won't be filled either, if you just run away without doing anything people won't do anything for you either… As long as you don't give up, you can still be saved!"
 * (To Obito) "In the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash. However, those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash. And the ones who abandon their friends' feelings are even worse than that. I won't get rid of your past feelings, even if it's you who's refusing them."