A favorite among most fans of Masashi Kishimoto’sNaruto, Kakashi Hatake,the Sharingan wielding jonin commanderof Team 7, had an extremely turbulent time in his early years as a shinobi. Despite emerging from Konoha’s Academy as one of its most gifted prospects, who rose to the rank of jonin while only an adolescent, Kakashi endured the loss of those he valued most in his life, which sent him on a downward spiral that changed him forever. From the loss of his father, Sakumo, to the deaths of both his teammates, Rin Nohara and Obito Uchiha, Kakashi grew accustomed to burden of carrying the lives of his comrades with him.
Hence, even though he seemed to a have a fairly carefree demeanor in his introduction inNaruto, Kakashi never took his duties lightly, having experienced what could go wrong first hand if he did. After the tragedies that befell him early on in his life, Kakashi spent a good amount of time in Konoha’s Anbu division, having been assigned this post byMinato Namikaze, his former mentor, who was also the Fourth Hokage at the time. During his days in the Anbu, Kakashi was haunted by the darkest time in his life, becoming an unrepentant killer. This time would have a profound impact on Kakashi’s worldview, and continued to influence it long after he left the organization and returned to the village’s standard forces, earning a name for himself as Kakashi “The Copy Ninja.”
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Broken By Grief
The Third Shinobi World War was a horrific experience for Kakashi, who, lost both of theother members of his three man genin team. Having dealt with the death of his father Sakumo, who took his own life after being vilified by the village for abandoning an important mission to save his teammates, Kakashi had spent his youth firmly dedicated to doing things by the book, placing his duties above all else. He was ready to take on responsibilities all on his own, and did not see much worth in his peers, who were not yet at his level.
Interestingly, Obito’s brought a profound change in this attitude, as he was forced to deal with the trauma of losing one of his only friends while being completely helpless in his bid to save him. Unbeknownst to him, Obito had actually survived, but was permanently disfigured. This left a mark on Kakashi, who finally began to see the value in working with his teammates, and began to prioritize them over all else. In his dying moments, Obito made Kakashi promise to take care of Rin,while giving him his Sharingan as a parting giftfor having attained the rank of jonin.
Unfortonately for Kakashi, Rin would later be captured Kirigakure shinobi and had the Three Tails forcibly sealed inside her,becoming an unwilling jinchuriki— later revealed to be the work of an elderly Madara Uchiha. Since she was not compatible with the tailed beast, the Kiri shinobi’s intent was to use her as a weapon that would unleash the Three Tails on Konoha once she returned to the village. Although Kakashi managed to find her, Rin knew her fate was sealed and begged him to kill her and prevent the Three Tails from destroying Konoha. Kakashi refused, and fought through swarms of Kirigakure shinobi who had caught up to them. During one of these attacks, Rin impaled herself on his Lightning Cutter. This event traumatized both Kakashi and Obito, who had been watching from the shadows, andawakened their Mangekyo Sharingan.
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A Cold Blooded Killer
Kakashi’s failure tohonor his promise to Obito haunted himeven after the war’s conclusion, and he sank into a deep depression, suffering through nightmares of impaling Rin. The villagers of Konoha even went so far as to say that he intentionally killed Rin, earning him the derisive epithet of “Friend Killer Kakashi,” as they believed that he would even murder comrades to complete missions. Sadly, this could not be further from the truth, as Kakashi genuinely valued his comrades more than anything else, having experienced the anguish of losing those closest to him.
Minato saw Kakashi’s plightand assigned him to the Anbu, where he flourished for a while, owing to his prodigious talent. He even managed to rise to the rank of a captain and squad leader. Alas, a considerable part of his success also stemmed from the cold and ruthless persona he had adopted after Rin’s death, killing his opponents without showing any remorse. His recklessness and aggression also indicated that he had a death wish, which seemed to emerge from his guilt over his broken promise to Obito.
Still struggling with Rin’s death, Kakashi had post-traumatic stress induced nightmares of the moment where he stabbed the girl he hadsworn to protect with his Lightning Cutter. The Fourth Hokage then changed his strategy and assigned him to guard his wife, Kushina, who at the time was pregnant with Naruto.
Finding His Way Back
Kakashi fulfilled all his duties, but was prevented from interveningduring the Nine Tails' attack on Konoha, which saw him lose his mentor, Minato as well. Danzo took advantage of the grieving Kakashi’s vulnerability by pinning the blame of this tragedy on the Third Hokage, and recruited him into the Anbu’s Root division to spy on Hiruzen. However, on meeting with the Third Hokage, and discovering Yamato — the product of Danzo and Orochimaru’s experiments with Wood Release — he saw the error of his ways.
Kakashi then pledged allegiance tothe village and Hiruzen over Danzo, aiding the Hokage in exposing Root and having it officially disbanded. This highlighted how he still had fragments of his former self within him, and he only needed the right catalyst to piece them together. The arrival of an extremely talented but young Itachi Uchiha made Kakashi into a sort of mentor for the young shinobi, as he commended the Uchiha on his talents, but urged him to be more level-headed and teamwork-oriented. Shortly after Itachi was promoted out of Kakashi’s team, the Uchiha Clan Downfall took place.
On learning that his former subordinate was responsible, Kakashi lamented his failure to have a better influence as a mentor. Seeing how this affected him, Hiruzen recalled Kakashi back to the standard forces, understanding that kind-hearted shinobi such ashim had no place in the Anbu. Here, Kakashi would finally gain closure when taking on the role of a jonin commander, bringing his story full circle with Team 7.
