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Like his father, Sakumo Hatake whose skills have been compared to that of the Legendary Ninja, Kakashi is considered a genius shinobi, graduating from the Ninja Academy at age 5 and achieving the rank of Chunin at 6. A few years after these accomplishments, Kakashi's father was disgraced by the village for abandoning a mission in favor of saving his comrades, which cost the Land of Fire dearly. Because of the shame he felt, Sakumo committed seppuku, leaving Kakashi to bear witness to the event. After his father's suicide, Kakashi began to adhere strictly to the rules of the shinobi – in particular the rule dictating that the success of the mission must come before the well being of one's teammates, causing him to become arrogant, humorless, and by-the-book.
At the age of 13, Kakashi achieved Jonin status. As a reward for his accomplishment, he was assigned to lead his team on a sabotage mission to blow up a bridge in order to prevent enemy forces from attacking Konoha. Shortly after the mission started, Kakashi's teammate, Rin was captured by enemy shinobi. Kakashi's other teammate, Obito Uchiha immediately stated his intention to save her, but Kakashi said they had to focus on completing the mission, opting not to make the same mistake his father had. Though Kakashi believed that they had to complete their objective, Obito eventually convinced him that his father had done the right thing in saving his teammates, causing Kakashi to join in on the rescue effort.
During their attempt to save Rin, Kakashi lost his left eye as a result of an enemy ninja's attack. To protect Kakashi, Obito managed to awaken his Sharingan and killed Kakashi's assailant. Soon after saving Rin, Obito again saved Kakashi, pushing him out of the way of another enemy's rock-dislodging attack but getting crushed in the process. Shortly before he died, Obito had Rin (a medical ninja) implant his Sharingan eye in Kakashi's damaged eye socket as a gift. As his first act with his new eye, Kakashi avenged Obito by killing the enemy ninja with his now-perfected Chidori technique, bringing the Kakashi of today into being.
Years later Kakashi would become a member of the Konohagakure ANBU where he served as a squad leader. During this time, he had several kōhai, named Yugao Uzuki and Tenzo, and recognized the latter as the most successful of his kōhai. It is unknown why he left ANBU, but he still wears iron guards on his gloves, a characteristic of ANBU uniforms.
[edit] Personality
Obito's death profoundly changed Kakashi, and Kakashi adopted many of Obito's traits. One such trait was Obito's concept of teamwork, which is most clearly seen in the way Kakashi tests newly-graduated students hoping to become a squad under him. He uses the bell test to test his students, which requires the three students to get the two bells he keeps on his person. Only those who get a bell get to pass, which would be difficult even with teamwork, as at least one ninja would fail regardless. However, the rule is only a ruse; the point of the test is to foster teamwork and to teach the students that teamwork is more important than the rules. Team 7 is the only team to realize this, and as such becomes the only team Kakashi passes into Genin-status. Kakashi also inherits Obito's 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 is one that Kakashi was often annoyed by Obito about. Obito was primarily late due to random good deeds.
Kakashi's personal life appears to be as much of a mystery as the face behind the mask he has worn for most of his ninja career. He has no living family, or at least none he cares to acknowledge, and he's confirmed that everyone he loves is already dead. He is immediately recognizable as the son of (or mistaken for) his father, the "White Fang of Konoha" (木ノ葉の白い牙, Konoha no Shiroi Kiba?). Though his face has never been seen, episode 101, which is devoted to Team 7 trying to remove their sensei's mask, implies that he is in fact quite handsome.
Kakashi has an ongoing, albeit slightly one-sided, rivalry with Might Guy, with Guy constantly proclaiming that Kakashi is his rival. Kakashi, however, seems indifferent to their rivalry, which annoys Guy to no end. Guy randomly challenges Kakashi to contests of skill, and Kakashi has acquired a record of 49 wins and 50 losses in doing so. Given that the contests that make up this figure are so varied (ranging from Rock, Paper, Scissors to sumo-wrestling), this it is not much of an achievement on Guy's part. Nevertheless, Guy is proud of his record.
Though he reportedly has many hobbies, the one pastime seen most in the series is his reading of "Icha Icha Paradise" (イチャイチャパラダイス, Icha Icha Paradaisu?, literally "Make Out Paradise" wink , an adult and probably pornographic novel authored by Jiraiya that is a runaway bestseller in the Naruto world. Kakashi most prominently reads it while training and speaking with his team, and is later seen reading the second known volume in the series, "Icha Icha Violence" (イチャイチャバイオレンス, Icha Icha Baiorensu?, literally "Make Out Violence" wink . In Part II Naruto gives him the new "Icha Icha Tactics" (イチャイチャタクティクス, Icha Icha Takutikusu?, literally "Make Out Tactics" wink , which, during their second bell test, Naruto manages to use against him by attempting to spoil the ending and thus distracting Kakashi.
[edit] Abilities
Kakashi's Sharingan.Kakashi's Sharingan eye gives him a significant advantage in battle, as he can copy enemy techniques and use them as his own, as well as track and predict his opponent's movements almost flawlessly. Because it is a transplanted eye, his Sharingan eye is always active. While this would not be much of a problem for an Uchiha, his non-Uchiha blood causes it to use much more chakra than it should. Because of this, he covers it with his headband and only utilizes it in the most dangerous battles. Kakashi's use of the Sharingan is almost as good as that of Itachi Uchiha, though the aforementioned handicaps brought about by the nature of his eye make him somewhat weaker in comparison. In Part II Kakashi is able to develop his own Mangekyo Sharingan. With his variant he is able to manipulate space-time and utilize it to conduct long range attacks, and in its two uses has been capable of severing another's arms and otherwise sending things to different dimensions. Much like the standard Sharingan, the Mangekyo Sharingan tires Kakashi considerably, and after using it only three times he was hospitalized for weeks due to its chakra usage.
With his Sharingan Kakashi has been able to copy more than one thousand jutsu, giving him the nickname "Copy Ninja Kakashi" (コピー忍者のカカシ, Kopī Ninja no Kakashi?) or "Sharingan Kakashi" (写輪眼のカカシ, Sharingan no Kakashi?). As a result, Kakashi's arsenal most prominently features ninjutsu abilities and has led to him becoming a specialist in the field. Many of the jutsu he has been seen copying in the series are water-based attacks, though most of these he only uses against the person he copies them from. He does, however, use Water Release: Water Encampment Wall on occasion as a way to block attacks. He less frequently uses other elemental attacks such as Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique to attack opponents or Earth Release: Inner Decapitation Technique (土遁・心中斬首の術, Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu?, Viz "Groundhog Technique Decapitation", English TV "Headhunter Jutsu" wink to pull opponents below ground and immobilize them. He can also create shadow clones, though because he lacks the chakra reserves of Naruto he exercises the ability very rarely.
While Kakashi specializes in the use of ninjutsu due to his Sharingan he is fairly adept with other jutsu types, though his use of them is rarely seen. Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique (魔幻・奈烙見の術, Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu?) causes his opponent to see what they would find a horrifying vision, keeping them preoccupied until they can overcome the illusion. Thousand Years of Death (千年殺し, Sennen Goroshi?) consists of Kakashi forcefully plunging his index and middle fingers into an opponent's rectum. While only capable of launching the opponent humorous distances in typical uses, the fingers can be replaced with kunai attached with exploding tags to actually do damage to an opponent. He has also started using sealing jutsu, as seen when he attempts to use Evil Sealing Method (封邪法印, Fūja Hōin?, English TV "Curse Sealing" wink to seal Sasuke's cursed seal. His proficiency with this ability seems to be in its beginning stages, as the aforementioned jutsu is reliant on the user's will to keep the seal active. He is also quite adept at taijutsu and often matches taijutsu skill with his rival, Might Guy. Because of his well-rounded prowess in jutsu, Kakashi is the highest-ranking technique specialist and one of the strongest ninja in Konoha, as indicated by both Sakura and the manga databooks.
When he was younger Kakashi was taught how to use the Rasengan by the Fourth Hokage. Because the Rasengan is meant to have the user's chakra nature mixed with it, Kakashi attempted to add his lightning-based chakra to it, though was ultimately unsuccessful. In time he instead created the Chidori, which has since become the only jutsu that he has not copied from someone else. After the jutsu's initial creation Kakashi was unable to use the Chidori to its full potential as the sheer speed of the attack left his normal eyes unable to see any form of an enemy counterattack. After acquiring the Sharingan, however, he was able to overcome this shortcoming. Through repeated use and increased proficiency with it, Kakashi's Chidori has been upgraded and renamed to the Lightning Blade due to him having cut through a bolt of lightning with it.
Kakashi has his own personal pack of Ninken, which he calls into battle with the Summoning Technique. The dogs were apparently trained by Kakashi, and most are even able to speak. Kakashi typically uses the dogs for tracking purposes and summons them whenever he is in need of finding someone. If need be, the dogs can hold someone in place while Kakashi catches up.
Since being beaten by Itachi Uchiha in Part I, Kakashi has apparently trained to increase the speed at which he forms seals. Naruto and Sakura both remark upon this speed during their second bell test in Part II.
[edit] Plot overview
While he makes frequent appearances throughout Part I, Kakashi's role largely deals with protecting his students and keeping them unified. Most prominently he tries to steer Sasuke away from seeing Orochimaru as a source of power, even teaching him how to use the Chidori. In time, however, Sasuke begins to turn against his team and readily attacks them, which, despite Kakashi's protests, ultimately leads to his betraying Konoha. As Naruto and Sasuke carry out a final battle Kakashi rushes to their location to prevent them from killing each other. He arrives too late and Sasuke escapes, and Naruto and Sakura go their separate ways to find their own methods of getting stronger.
Kakashi begins to take part in more battles in Part II as he no longer needs to focus his attention on his students, who have improved greatly over the timeskip. As Akatsuki becomes increasingly more active, Kakashi joins the various battles in defeating its members. Likewise, Kakashi joins Naruto and Sakura's efforts in bringing Sasuke back to Konoha and has since organized an 8-man team that is in part dedicated to this cause. Still, Kakashi has not fully outlived his role as guidance for his students, and he helps Naruto in creating the Wind Release: Spiraling Shuriken.
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