Kakashi Hatake

is a Konohagakure Jonin, a former ANBU member and the leader of Team 7. He was the son of Konoha's White Fang, Sakumo Hatake, and like him, was a regarded as a genius. After his meteoric rise in the ninja academy, Kakashi became the student of the Fourth Hokage, subsequently becoming a Jonin during the Third Great Ninja War. Following the war, Kakashi earned renowned fame for his use of the Sharingan, earning him the moniker Copy Ninja Kakashi. Note that "Kakashi" can mean "scarecrow." (which was hinted at in episode 101 when he makes a scarecrow of himself standing at the war monument to trick Sakura Haruno)

Background
Kakashi was the son of the legendary White Fang of Konoha, Sakumo Hatake, and like him was considered a gifted shinobi. He graduated from the academy at the age of 5, becoming a Chunin a year later. However, his success came at a great loss; his father, once well respected in the village, fell into disgrace after choosing to save his comrades rather than complete a mission, causing Konohagakure to suffer in the war effort. Dishonored, Sakumo committed suicide after deep depression and a drop in his skills, which caused Kakashi to lead his life strictly by the ninja code. His White Light Chakra Saber, for which his father was nicknamed, was given to Kakashi.

He went on to become a part of the Team Minato, led by the future Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, with Obito Uchiha and Rin, a medic-nin. Kakashi's relationship with Obito and Rin was very much similar to that of Sasuke's relationship with Naruto and Sakura respectively in which they share a complicated relationship that later developed into a close friendship.

In the midst of the Third Great Shinobi War, at a meeting to hear their new mission, Kakashi was elevated to Jonin and received gifts from his teacher and teammates; a special kunai from Minato and a medical pack from Rin. After receiving their gifts, the Fourth informs the team of their mission: they must travel through the Grass Country in the midst of a conflict between Iwagakure and Konohagakure to destroy a bridge. Along the way, Kakashi’s team notices that they’re being watched from the trees by Mahiru, an Iwagakure ninja. Kakashi sees this as a good opportunity to use his newly created jutsu, the Chidori. He arrogantly ran off to attack the hidden foe, only to face off against Mahiru’s multiple Shadow Clones while Rin was captured by enemy Shinobi. Obito immediately stated his intention to rescue her, but Kakashi disagreed on the basis that they needed to complete their mission, opting not make the same mistake his father did. Obito then states that his father was a true hero for protecting his friends. Kakashi parted ways with Obito soon after, and as he reflected on Obito’s words and Rin’s prior kindness, he realized that his father had made the right choice after all. This prompted him to rejoin Obito in the rescue effort, claiming that Obito couldn’t survive on his own.

During the attempt to rescue Rin, Kakashi detected a Rock ninja, and yelled a warning to Obito, who was too slow to react. Kakashi jumped in front of Obito to save him from the enemy's kunai, losing his left eye in the attack. Obito, due to the shock of Kakashi's injury, awakened his Sharingan and killed their assailant. The two managed to rescue Rin, however, a rockfall technique was triggered, hindering their escape. It was then that Obito chose to make the ultimate sacrifice, pushing Kakashi out of its path. As he laid there dying, Obito had Rin implant his Sharingan eye in Kakashi’s damaged eye socket, referring to it as a gift, as he had never given Kakashi one before the mission started. He died shortly thereafter. As his first act with his new eye, Kakashi avenged Obito by killing the enemy ninja with his now-perfected Chidori technique. Obito's death had a huge impact on Kakashi's personality. Obito's flaky and unreliable traits were adopted by Kakashi, as we see in his adult age; constantly being late to meetings and making fake excuses to his tardiness. Kakashi also became more mellow, having adopted some of Obito's other traits such as his notion for teamwork.

Prior to the Fourth Hokage’s death, Kakashi joined the Konohagakure ANBU where he served as squad leader. During this time, Kakashi rose to fame as Konoha's Copy Ninja, a nickname he earned due to use of his Sharingan eye- having copied over a thousand jutsu. He cultivated a group of students- which included Yugao Uzuki and Tenzo, and recognized the latter as the most successful of this group.

Kakashi also developed an ongoing, albeit slightly one-sided, rivalry with Might Guy, with Guy constantly proclaiming that Kakashi was his rival. Kakashi, however, seemed aloof to their rivalry, which annoyed Guy to no end. When given the chance, Guy often challenged Kakashi to contests of skill, in which Kakashi acquired a record of 49 wins and 50 losses in doing so. Given that the contests that make up this figure were so varied, that’s not much of an achievement on Guy's part. Despite the obvious tension around them, Kakashi has come to view Guy as a comrade and close friend.

Although it is unknown when or why he left ANBU, it is certain that he left between the ages of seventeen and twenty four. He is never seen without the iron guards on his gloves, a characteristic of ANBU uniforms.

Personality
Kakashi was the son of the genius shinobi, Sakumo Hatake who had respect on par with the "Legendary Sannin". Everyone in the village, including Kakashi, respected Sakumo, until Sakumo abandoned a crucial mission in order to save his companions' lives, but because of that, the Country of Fire suffered a great loss and everyone in the village blamed him. In the end, even the companions Sakumo saved blamed him. From that mission, Sakumo's mind and body became weak and he committed suicide. Sakumo’s disgrace as Konoha’s White Fang left Kakashi somewhat resentful of his father, causing Kakashi to discourage any resemblance he had to him. After his father’s death, Kakashi decided to live his life strictly by the ninja code, willfully abandoning a comrade if it meant succeeding in a mission. His ideals, however, often came to clash with Obito Uchiha’s concept of teamwork, which Kakashi initially brushed off. It was only after hearing the words of Obito when he set off to rescue Rin that Kakashi realized how wrong he’d been about his father. Because of Obito’s self-sacrifice, he’d come to value the lives of his comrades over any rule-a notion that he would later apply in his assessment of Genin teams.

Over the years, Kakashi had become mellower, having adopted some of Obito’s traits such as his chronic tardiness, due primarily to losing track of time during his frequent visits to Konoha's memorial site, where Obito's name is engraved. Ironically, this very habit was one that Kakashi was always annoyed at Obito about. Despite these changes, some of Kakashi's previous personality remained-particularly his bluntness and dispassion. At times, although he may mean well, Kakashi tends to push everyone away, unwilling to let get close to him, noting that everyone close to him is already dead. However, this changed upon meeting Team 7; during the course of their partnership, Kakashi acted as a brotherly figure to the group, often giving them helpful advice when needed.

Kakashi's personal life is almost non existent beyond his life as a shinobi. His face is always covered in his mask, even when he was a child. In a filler episode Kakashi actually has a lighter mask behind it. And though he states he has many hobbies the only one that seems true is his love for Jiraiya's adult novel Make-Out series. From Team 7's graduation from the Academy up to their first mission after Naruto's return, Kakashi has been seen reading, , and. Make-Out Tactics ends up being his downfall during the second bell test with Naruto and Sakura as the two came rushing at him with Naruto about to reveal spoilers causing Kakashi to cover his ears so he couldn't hear them speak, and closing his eyes so his Sharingan eye couldn't read their lips while Naruto and Sakura took the bells. Considering the book is rated for eighteen years and over, possibly pornographic, and a true story about Jiraiya's life of love, it is possible that Kakashi has romantic side he keeps secret. When he had to read out some of the books contents he was very embarassed and even Shikamaru looked surprised..

Team Kakashi
Amongst the students and instructors at the academy, Kakashi developed a reputation for failing every potential Genin team that took the Survival Training Exam he proctored. The reason Kakashi failed all his potential Genin was because none of them had a natural feel for teamwork, which Kakashi claims all Genin must have a natural feel for. This was probably because he learned from Obito Uchiha that a team is nothing if they don't work together. When he was given Team 7—which consisted of Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha—Kakashi tested their individual skills, and their ability to work as a team. He gave them a Survival Training Test, which involved the team stealing two bells off of Kakashi's person; only those who retrieved the bells were allowed to eat while the one without one was forced to starve. Sakura's tunnel vision focus on Sasuke, Naruto's impulsive insistence on being a one-man show and Sasuke's arrogant superiority complex and loner attitude led the team to fail the Survival Training Exam. Only after Sakura and Sasuke tried to feed Naruto that he revealed the purpose of the test: teamwork. He then passed the team when Sasuke and Sakura said that they fed Naruto because their team was one. Kakashi tells them that they are the first team to realize this. Before he started the Survival Training Exam, he invited them to a group session, where he got the chance to learn about their goals and dreams. At the start of their partnership, Kakashi seemed a bit wary of his team—especially Naruto, who he found to be quite annoying. Over time, however, his feelings for his team changed, and he took on a more brotherly role.

Journey to the Land of Waves
Unsatisfied with the usual D-ranked missions assigned to them, Naruto motioned for the Third Hokage to give them a real ninja mission. Without hesitation, the Third Hokage assigned Team 7 their first C-ranked mission: escorting the bridge builder, Tazuna, to his home in the poverty-stricken Wave Country. As the group ambled through the forests, Kakashi discovered a strange puddle along the roadside, and deduced that they were being followed. At the instant the Demon Brothers attacked, Kakashi performed the replacement technique, faking his death. After realizing that the ninja were after Tazuna, Kakashi unveiled himself and subdued the ninja before any harm befell on the others. The ambush was enough to confirm his suspicions of the bridge builder, and after confronting Tazuna about his reasons for lying to them, Kakashi deemed the mission too advanced for his genin students. This coupled with Naruto's injury convinced Kakashi to end the mission and take his team back to Konoha. Naruto, however, after hearing Kakashi's and Sakura's praises of Sasuke, protested against Kakashi's decision.

On route to the village, Tazuna told the team more about his attackers hired by the shipping magnet Gato. According to Tazuna, his shipping business was just a front for much shadier activities, such as illegal goods and dealing drugs. He took control of the Land of Waves' shipping routes and created a monopoly by isolating the country from the outside world, preventing free import and export and turning it into an impoverished, hunger-stricken country in the process. He hired Hidden Mist ninja to assassinate Tazuna and stop him from finishing the bridge which would connect the Land of Waves to the outside world and allow its economy to recover. After learning the whole truth from the bridge builder, Kakashi decided to go through with the mission.

Upon arriving in the Land of Waves, Kakashi and the others were attacked by Zabuza Momochi, a missing-nin from Kirigakure. By using his Sharingan, Kakashi managed to defeat him. Before he could be finished however, his student Haku, threw needles into his body to feign death. Disguised as a hunter-nin from Kirigakure, Haku took the "corpse" and fled. Kakashi was suspicious of Haku because he knew from his days on the ANBU that hunter-nin dispose of a corpse on the spot. Because his body was drained from the Sharingan, he was unable to pursue them. Instead, they continued their mission and escorted Tazuna back to his village. Because his teams collective chakra control needed work, had them climb a tree by only using chakra. To his surprise, Sakura had completed the task with ease, something neither Naruto or Sasuke could do. The two would continue their training while Kakashi and Sakura protected Tazuna.

When Zabuza and Haku attacked the bridge, Kakashi battled Zabuza while Naruto and Sasuke were trapped in Haku's Hyoton jutsu. Feeling the force of the chakra of the demon fox, Kakashi knew he had to deal with Zabuza quickly. Using Summoning Technique: Earth Release: Tracking Fang Technique he used his Ninken to trap Zabuza in place, while he prepared his Lightning Blade to kill Zabuza. Before he made contact however, Haku jumped in the way of the attack, letting it kill him instead. When Gato appeared moments later, Zabuza following Naruto's words turned on him and killed him. With their mission a success, Team Kakashi returned to Konoha.

Chunin Exams
Not long after, Kakashi, along with fellow Jonin, Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yuhi to enter their fledgling Genin into the Chunin Exams. However during the second part of the exam, Sasuke was branded with Orochimaru's Cursed Seal of Heaven. Kakashi tried using the Evil Sealing Method, to forcefully suppress the Seal. When Orochimaru arrived, Kakashi said he was willing to die to protect Sasuke, though he realized attacking Orochimaru would be suicide on his part.

Also during the preliminary, Kakashi, Hayate Gekko, Might Guy, and Kurenai Yuhi managed to prevent Neji Hyuga from landing the final blow on Hinata Hyuga

He would then train Sasuke for the one month of time between the second part and the third, teaching Sasuke his original jutsu, the Chidori.

During the third part of the Exam, during Gaara and Sasuke's battle, the Invasion of Konoha began.

Invasion of Konoha
The initial stage of the Invasion was putting a genjutsu on the entire arena. Guy, Sakura, Kakashi, and Shikamaru were able to repel the genjutsu. Kakashi then gave Sakura, Naruto, and Shikamaru an A-Rank mission (in which he knew Naruto would love): to follow Sasuke and stop him, as he had just followed after Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro with Gaara deeply influenced by the Shukaku. While they did, Kakashi worked with other Jonin to fight off the invading Sound Village Ninja, eventually defeating them. Together with the other Hidden Leaf Villagers, he then attended the funeral of the Third Hokage, though not before visiting the villager memorial to pay his daily respects to Obito.

Akatsuki's Hunt for the Nine-Tails
When Itachi and Kisame come to the village looking for Naruto, their uncommon clothes draw the attention of Kakashi Hatake, who has Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yuhi follow Itachi and Kisame. Itachi and Kisame nearly manage to escape Konoha, though Asuma and Kurenai catch up to them in time.

After the two reveal their identities, Itachi and Kisame are quick to battle Asuma and Kurenai after they refuse to leave unharmed. Despite their high ranks of Jonin, Asuma and Kurenai stood little chance against the two Akatsuki members and could have been quickly killed. However, the arrival of Kakashi, who had gotten worried, managed to keep Asuma and Kurenai from receiving any major damage. After a short skirmish with Kakashi, Itachi activated his Mangekyo Sharingan, using the Tsukuyomi, which managed to put Kakashi in bed for many days. After Kakashi revealed he had knowledge of Akatsuki, Itachi ordered Kisame to kidnap Kakashi and kill Asuma and Kurenai, though Might Guy showed up within enough time to stop Kisame. After Guy revealed he ordered ANBU to send other teams to help defeat Itachi and Kisame, the two Akatsuki retreat, not wanting to start a war.

Pre-Sasuke Retrieval Fillers
He was later awakened by Tsunade, and despite his weakened condition was immediately sent out on missions again. One of these missions was influenced by Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke attempting to discover what was hidden behind his face mask. At the same time, a trio of enemy ninja called the Moya Brothers Kakashi had defeated three years earlier returned seeking revenge, only to be thwarted by Kakashi's knowledge of their presence the entire time and Team 7's own efforts to find out what was behind their teacher's mask. Once the three had been defeated, Naruto asked Kakashi to remove his mask (which he believed to conceal enormous lips, giant buck teeth, or a tiny mouth) to reveal...another mask. Shortly afterwards, Kakashi was sent on a solo mission while the rest of Team 7 went to the Land of Tea for an escort assignment.

Sasuke Retrieval
Kakashi returned from his mission in time to interrupt a battle between Naruto and Sasuke, which had led to them charging each other using the Rasengan and Chidori respectively. Kakashi dealt with Sasuke, (while the newly arrived Jiraiya dealt with Naruto) tying him to a tree so as to prevent him from running away, Kakashi lectured him on the importance of being responsible in his use of the Chidori and in not allowing anger to control him. Sasuke retorted that Kakashi couldn't know how he felt unless Sasuke were to kill everyone he loved, to which Kakashi replied congenially that he was too late, stating that everyone close to him was already dead. Letting Sasuke go, Kakashi left him to think over their encounter, and thus wasn't in position to either protect him from the Sound Four or stop him from leaving the village.

Later, after learning from Tsunade that a squad of Genin was all that had been sent out to retrieve Sasuke, Kakashi defied Tsunade's orders by launching his own search using his ninja hounds. Following Naruto and Sasuke's scents, he closed in on the sight of their battle. Due to the level of chakra used, he was able to detect the battle from some distance away, but arrived at the Valley of the End too late to intercept Sasuke. Rescuing an injured Naruto, he began carrying him back to the Hidden Leaf Village, only to run into a medical unit that had been dispatched to recover the rest of the injured squad members.

Filler Arcs
With Naruto and Sakura beginning their training under Jiraiya and Tsunade-though Naruto spends more time out on missions than actually training-Kakashi is left bereft of a squad, thus prompting Tsunade to task him with S-rank missions for him to carry out on his own. Between two such missions, Kakashi returned just as Mizuki led a breakout from the maximum security prison of Konoha, and Kakashi recaptured several inmates before setting out on his next mission, summoning Pakkun to aid Iruka in tracking both Mizuki and Naruto.

Kakashi caught up with Naruto, Tenten, and Neji and aided them in the Noroimusha incident in the Land of Birds. This led to Kakashi's fight with Oki's minions Nagare and Hokushin whom Kakashi defeated.

Rescue Gaara
With Team 7 effectively dissolved-Naruto training under Jiraiya, Sakura under Tsunade, and Sasuke under Orochimaru-Kakashi spends the 2 and half years between Naruto's departure and return to develop his speed, particulary his sign-weaving abilities, making him an even more formidable opponent. Naruto and Sakura claim they can't track his movements. When Naruto returns, Kakashi is quick to put him and Sakura through a second bell test, in which their efforts to acquire the bells through force prove ineffective. Realizing this, the pair instead yell out spoilers from Make-Out Paradise's newest edition, Make-Out Tactics, distracting Kakashi and allowing them to recover the bells. Tsunade then appears and congratulates the two before officially forming Team Kakashi, with Kakashi as the captain and Naruto and Sakura as his subordinates. Later on, when word of Gaara's kidnap reached Konoha, Tsunade reassigned Team Kakashi's mission: to aid Sand and rescue Gaara from the Akatsuki.

After their stop in Sand, Team Kakashi went on their way to meet up with Team Guy at the Akatsuki hideout. They were delayed when they came upon Itachi Uchiha. After a battle, they met up with Team Guy, but had to split out in order to destroy the seal on the hideout's entrance. Once in, they were confronted with two Akatsuki members, Deidara and Sasori. Kakashi and Naruto went after Deidara while Sakura and Chiyo dealt with Sasori. During the fight against Deidara, Kakashi revealed his Mangekyo Sharingan and destroyed Deidara's arm by sending it into an alternate dimension. Kakashi then saved his team, Guy's team, and Chiyo by sending Deidara's ultimate bomb into another dimension. However, this excess use of the Sharingan has left Kakashi weak and immobile.

After Chiyo traded her life to revive Gaara, Team Kakashi and Team Guy returned to Konoha. Their return journey was humorous what with Guy carrying Kakashi piggy back style all the way back to the village.

Sai and Sasuke
After returning to the village, Kakashi was bed ridden for a week and his position as squad captain was temporarily replaced by Tenzou/Yamato, a member of ANBU Black Ops, who possesses with the ability to suppress Naruto's demon fox chakra. As such, he didn't participate in the team's battle against Orochimaru, nor in their search for Sasuke. When Naruto returned to the village, Kakashi volunteered to train Naruto and help him develop a new jutsu which would surpass the Rasengan.

Hidan and Kakuzu
Following Asuma's death, Kakashi took over as the leader of Team 10 to battle Hidan and Kakuzu, two more Akatsuki members. Kakashi faced off with the bounty hunter Kakuzu, who planned to kill him to collect the reward for Kakashi, seemingly killing him but in fact only destroying one of his five hearts. Hidan then attacked, but was drawn off and neutralized by Shikamaru Nara thanks to a strategy he and Kakashi had worked out. Kakuzu then determines to replace his destroyed heart with Kakashi's, and is nearly successful in doing so until a strategy arranged betwen Kakashi and Shikamaru earlier leads to another heart being destroyed by an unwitting Hidan's curse jutsu, activated by a capsule containing Kakuzu's blood that Kakashi had collected earlier.

Kakazu tries to dispose of the team by using a various elemental attacks, which were blocked by Kakashi's use of Lightning Blade, in both hands simultaneously. Despite being weakened, Kakuzu is still too strong for Kakashi when trying to protect his team and attack at the same time, and ended up capturing Kakashi, Ino and Chouji using his threads, with the intent of taking their hearts to replace his two lost ones. Fortunately, Team 7 arrives, and Naruto engages Kakuzu using his Wind Release: Rasenshuriken move. Naruto's inexperience with the technique made it dissolve before hitting Kakuzu, and Naruto was then left at his mercy. Kakashi is then forced to step in to save him. After Naruto is successful on his second try with the Rasenshuriken, destroying two of Kakuzu's hearts, Kakashi finishes the final heart, and the Akatsuki member using the Raikiri.

Hunt for Uchiha arc
Upon returning to Konoha, Team 7 and Kakashi learn that Orochimaru has been killed by Sasuke, but that Sasuke still has no intention of returning to the village. Agreeing with Naruto's suggestion that a team should be sent to capture Itachi Uchiha in order to lure Sasuke back, Tsunade puts Kakashi in charge of the 8-Man Squad consisting of the new Team 7-Yamato, Naruto, Sakura, and Sai-and Team 8-Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka-to accomplish the task. They set out in search of Itachi, only to learn that Sasuke's Team Snake is nearby, thus prompting them to go looking for Sasuke instead. Kakashi, and the rest of the 8-Man Squad then got into a short battle with Tobi, but when Zetsu comes and informs Tobi (Madara) that Sasuke won the battle between him and Itachi, he escapes with Zetsu. Before Tobi departs, however, Kakashi notices that his one visible eye is a Sharingan. Unable to locate Sasuke or Madara, the 8-man Squad returns to Konoha.

Jiraiya's Death
Kakashi is next seen retrieving an awakened Naruto, directing him towards the Hokage Residence. As the two make their way there, they run into Gamabunta and Gamakichi, who direct them as well towards the Hokage Residence. It is here, with Sai, Sakura, Tsunade, Pa, and Shizune that the two find out about the death of Jiraiya. When Naruto reacts with hostility, Kakashi simply stands by, empathizing with his student's pain.

Abilities
When Kakashi was younger, he was taught the Rasengan by the Fourth. However, since the Rasengan was meant for the user's chakra element to be mixed with it, Kakashi was only able to master the jutsu to the extent the Fourth had. Instead he developed his own, and only original jutsu - the Chidori. While powerful, the Chidori had two crippling drawbacks. The first was the speed which had to be utilized for more power, and the tunnel-vision effect experienced by the user when moving at the aforementioned speed. The latter drawback giving opponents a chance to counter the attack due to the users limited vision. The Chidori is very chakra-intensive, so Kakashi could only use the technique four times any given day. With the Sharingan eye, the tunnel effect could be worked around as he could now see his opponents clearly, but he could still only use the jutsu four times a day. He later refined the Chidori into the stronger.

The Sharingan is however his most useful asset as it allows him to copy any jutsu used against him. The draw back of the Sharingan is that because Kakashi has no Uchiha blood, he can't deactivate it, so if it was allowed to see it would use up chakra needlessly. Kakashi avoids this by covering it up with his forehead protector further giving him a mysterious appearence. Sometime between Naruto's departure to his return from Konoha, Kakashi developed his own Mangekyo Sharingan, presumably without the requirement of killing his best friend. His eye has the ability to manipulate space and was shown to be able to tear off one's body parts and hurl them into another dimension. However since the standard Sharingan costs him more chakra than normal because of his lack of Uchiha blood, the Mangekyo Sharingan uses so much chakra that he had to be hospitalized for a week after using it three times in one day. Also, Kakashi seems uneffected by the side effects of the Mangekyo Sharingan such as gradually going blind.

During the time skip, Kakashi spends time working on the speed of his hand seals. Over the 2 and a half years, Kakashi ability to create hand seals becomes exceptionally faster. During his battle with Zabuza, it took Kakashi roughly 42 seconds to use Water Release: Water Dragon Blast Technique, after the time skip, he was able to complete the jutsu in just 4 seconds. Meaning his hand speed is roughly more than 10 times faster.

After the time skip, during the second bell test, Naruto commented that Kakashi is smarter than Shikamaru (whose I.Q. is over 200), has a better sense of smell than Kiba, has a better Sharingan than Sasuke (at the time of his betrayal), and better at Taijutsu than Rock Lee (who is a Taijutsu master himself).

Quotes

 * "I'm Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate. I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future. Never really thought about it. As for my hobbies... I have lots of hobbies."
 * "Sorry I'm late, I got lost on the road of life"
 * "Um, Naruto that was pretty cool, taking out the poison and all. But if you lose any more blood, you are going to die."
 * "I'm telling you this because you don't get it. You think you get it, which is not the same as actually getting it. Get it?"

Creation and conception
Masashi Kishimoto originally intended for Kakashi to debut in the second chapter of the Naruto manga, appearing prior to the other members of Team 7. This Kakashi was designed as a laid back, affected, skilled ninja that ended his sentences with the polite "de gozaru" in the Japanese versions of the series, similar to Himura Kenshin in the popular manga series Rurouni Kenshin. After speaking with his editor, Kishimoto pushed this debut back, allowing him to better develop Kakashi and the rest of Team 7. Despite this, Kakashi retains many of his original personality traits, being easygoing, unfazed by the actions of others, and appearing to be half-asleep. Kishimoto feels that this makes Kakashi a compelling leader and helps to keep the diverse members of Team 7 unified. Because he acts as a link between the other main characters of the series, Kakashi is rarely featured prominently in promotional artwork, instead appearing in the background while his students are the focus of the scene.

When deciding upon Kakashi's name, Kishimoto considered a number of possibilities: Kuwa (クワ, "hoe"), Kama (カマ, "scythe"), Botan (ボタン, "peony"), Enoki (エノキ, a nettle tree), and Kakashi (カカシ, "scarecrow"). He eventually decided upon Kakashi, and remains glad that he did to this day. In keeping with the meaning of his name, scarecrows are occasionally used to represent Kakashi; Naruto, for example, uses a scarecrow that is dressed like Kakashi to help him train for a combat test between the two. Likewise, scarecrows are at times added to the background of scenes in which Kakashi appears, as is the case with the cover of the Naruto manga volume three.