Kakashi Hatake (NRB)

Kakashi Hatake (はたけカカシ, Hatake Kakashi) is a former Konohagakure Jonin, a former ANBU, and the former leader of Team 7. He is now the Seventh Hokage in Naruto Raijuu: The Beginning. He is the son of Sakumo Hatake and, like his father, he is regarded as a genius among his peers. After his meteoric rise through the ninja ranks, Kakashi became the student of Minato Namikaze, and subsequently became a Jonin during the Third Great Ninja War. Following the war, Kakashi gained his reputation, and is well-known worldwide for his use of the Sharingan, earning him the moniker Copy Ninja Kakashi (コピー忍者のカカシ, Kopī Ninja no Kakashi) and Kakashi of the Sharingan (写輪眼のカカシ, Sharingan no Kakashi).

Appearance
Kakashi's personality is further emphasized by his generally lazy expression, aloof manner, relaxed voice, and minimalist attitude. In serious situations, however, he is shown to have a very stern and intense look. He is almost always seen in his Konoha ninja uniform, along with iron guard gloves reminiscent of his ANBU days. Another noticeable feature to Kakashi, other than his unique left eye, is the thin scar running over it and down to his cheek. He is a tall, fit ninja, characterized by his tall and spiky silver hair, forehead protector regularly covering his scarred left eye, and his chronically visible mask. He is once mistaken by Chiyo for his father who he is considered to greatly resemble.

While it has yet to be revealed why, he has, since a young age, always been seen concealing the lower half of his face. What he looks like remains a point of interest for his students. In the few instances that he is seen without his mask (although still obstructed by some object), it has been seen that he has a narrow jaw-line.

Kakashi is one of two known Kage to always wear the official Kage uniform. Since he became Hokage, he has also started wearing a red mask, instead of the navy version he wore twenty years ago.

Personality
Obito's death had a huge impact on Kakashi's personality. He is now more cheerful and shows greater concern for his teammates, placing their safety over the successful completion of a mission. He is also regularly late for appointments. This is because of his frequent visits to the memorial where Obito's name is engraved, where he loses track of time. However, Kakashi is still just as carefree and emotionless as he was during his youth, often speaking bluntly about sensitive topics.

Kakashi claims to have lost everyone who was close to him, causing some reluctance to allow others to get close to him. Of the people who are still alive, Kakashi is on the best terms with his students. After the formation of Team 7 he begins taking a special interest in their development, as shown from his regular checking up on Naruto and his eating habits. He similarly refuses to go on a mission at the end of Part I so that he can stop Naruto and Sasuke from killing each other. Kakashi is just as devoted to his friends and the rest of Konoha, such that his signature jutsu, the Lightning Blade, has been made on the principle of duty, and perfected on the principle of protecting loved ones.

Kakashi has a rather solitary and matter-of-fact attitude. His calm and detached demeanor has been called “cool, hip, and trendy” many times by Might Guy. Despite his increasingly growing reputation and prowess as a ninja, Kakashi has shown no signs of arrogance, and is rather modest about his abilities. His naturally calm attitude is used to his advantage in battle, as it becomes easier for him to maintain his composure to stay focused on the situation at hand, and ultimately notice everything around him. As a result, he can quickly adjust to any situation to make keen and thought-out decisions, allowing him to stay steps ahead of his opponents.

Kakashi is a fan of the Icha Icha series of novels. He is typically seen reading one of the books when not involved in a fight, making it the only one (of his reportedly many) hobbies that is ever seen in the series. Despite his fondness for the books, he grows uncomfortable when reading passages to others, presumably embarrassed by the adult content. Naruto, on one occasion, has used these books against Kakashi, threatening to spoil the ending of the latest installment to force Kakashi to let down his guard (by shutting his eyes and blocking his ears) to prevent learning the ending of the story.

Background
Kakashi is the only son of Sakumo Hatake, a.k.a. the White Fang of Konoha. His mother apparently died when he was young. Kakashi has been known since a young age as an extremely gifted prodigy, regarded by many as the best of his generation. He had received top marks and had showed an innate aptitude for the ninja arts while in the academy. This permitted him to graduate from it in a single year at the top of his class at the age of 5, and then becoming a Chunin one year later. Despite his own success, his father fell into disgrace after choosing to save his comrades rather than complete an important mission, causing Konohagakure to suffer in the war effort. Dishonored, Sakumo took his own life after a deep depression and a drop in his skills, which caused Kakashi to lead his life strictly by the ninja code.

After graduating, Kakashi was then teamed with Obito Uchiha and Rin under the leadership of Minato Namikaze, the future Fourth Hokage. Kakashi's relationship with Obito and Rin was noted to be very similar to that of Sasuke's relationship with Naruto and Sakura respectively, as he is known as the indifferent genius who shared a complicated relationship with his teammates, that later developed into a close friendship.

Kakashi's Gaiden
At age 13, soon after becoming a Jonin, Kakashi was assigned to lead Obito and Rin on a mission that would benefit Konoha in the ongoing Third Great Shinobi World War. They were to destroy a bridge being used by Iwagakure forces to move into Kusagakure. On their way to the bridge, Rin was kidnapped by two Iwagakure ninja named Kakko 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. Obito wouldn't hear of it and stubbornly left to save Rin, but not before mentioning that Kakashi's father was a true hero. Shortly after parting ways, Kakashi reflected on Obito's words and Rin's prior kindness. He realized that his father wasn't wrong after all, which prompted him to 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 2-to-1 advantage, Taiseki was able to get in an attack and damage Kakashi's left eye, who took the blow that was intended for Obito. In sheer terror and desire to protect Kakashi, Obito finally awakened his Sharingan, allowing him to kill Kakashi's attacker and continue on to Rin. Once they located Rin and Kakko, Kakashi and Obito teamed up to defeat the latter. Kakashi and Obito freed Rin, but just as Kakashi's team was about to leave, Kakko attempted to trap them with a crushing jutsu, causing a cave-in.

While trying to escape, Obito pushed Kakashi out of the path of a falling boulder, causing him to be crushed beneath it instead. Knowing his life was at an end, Obito instructed Rin to implant his left Sharingan eye into Kakashi's damaged one. Rin complied, and as soon as the surgery was completed Kakashi used the Sharingan and his Chidori to kill Kakko. He then returned to Obito to see if there was anything he could do for him, but the place was turning into shambles, forcing Kakashi and Rin to leave him behind. With the help of Minato, they ultimately completed their mission, allowing them to mourn Obito's death.

Following the success of his first mission as a Jonin, Kakashi became well-known among all five great countries for the extensive use of his Sharingan, gaining him a reputation as "the man who has copied over a thousand jutsu" (hence his nickname). Kakashi joined the Konohagakure ANBU a few years later. He later left for unknown reasons, but maintained strong connections with the ANBU.

War Emerges arc
He first signs the paper allowing the Land of Mountains to become a Great Nation. He listens to Mizukage and the other Kages argue about the past, and about controlling Tailed Beasts before finally deciding to side with Yamagakure and Sunagakure in the Fifth Great Shinobi War.

Abilities
Kakashi is shown to be very respected throughout Konoha, as well as easily being one of the most powerful ninja Konoha has to offer. Kakashi is also recognized as the foremost jutsu specialist in Konoha, due to his gradually increasing arsenal of thousands of jutsu, a feat that earns either delight or dread from enemy ninja who face him in combat. His knowledge of jutsu is so high that he is requested to watch over Naruto should the seal of the Nine-Tails begin to fail. His skill and cunning are repeatedly shown to be great enough to hold his own against seemingly any opponent. Even Pain, an extremely dangerous ninja, viewed Kakashi's skills as capable of impeding his plans if he did not get rid of Kakashi first. He is also considered a prime candidate for the position of Hokage by a number of characters.

Kakashi is noted (by Naruto) to be smarter than Shikamaru Nara, has a better nose than Kiba Inuzuka, a better taijutsu performance than Rock Lee, and a better Sharingan mastery than Sasuke Uchiha (in Part I). While this is probably an exaggeration, he has proven himself to be an intelligent ninja with great instincts and battle prowess, making him a match for almost any opponent. His general abilities are greatly improved during the timeskip. In Part I, he was unable to keep up with Itachi Uchiha's physical and hand seal speed, even with the use of his Sharingan. By Part II, he is able to keep up with Itachi's immense speed, if not match it (his speed was even praised by Madara Uchiha himself). His chakra level sees a similar improvement as well; in Part I, his chakra levels have been shown to be barely average. By Part II, his chakra is shown to have greatly increased, as he can perform several chakra-taxing jutsu in rapid succession. He even increases the number of times he can use his Lightning Blade per day, using six of them in one battle, and still having enough chakra to plan using the Mangekyo Sharingan.

Experience
As a Jonin and former ANBU, Kakashi is very adept in any form of battle. He is regularly put in charge of whatever squad he is assigned to, and works well with its diverse members. Kakashi's naturally calm attitude is used to his advantage in battle, allowing him to stay collected and out-think the opponent, similar to Shikamaru Nara. This is primarily because he can quickly analyze the situation at hand, and comprehend his opponent's abilities and battle tactics. After doing so, he can use sharp intuition to make quick and firm decisions to switch to the appropriate counter-tactics. Against more powerful opponents, he regularly uses various misdirection and trap tactics to weaken them. Kakashi's cunning also allows him to be a very effective teacher, able to use various unorthodox methods to produce months if not years of training in just weeks as he has repeatedly helped his students gain tremendous jumps in their prowess in relatively short amounts of time. Kakashi is also highly proficient at evasion, as shown when he was able to fight on par with Hidan, and later with Kakuzu, while simultaneously avoiding taking damage and protecting Choji Akimichi and Ino Yamanaka.

Mastery of Ninjutsu
Kakashi primarily relies on his mastery of ninjutsu, of which he has a vast arsenal due to his Sharingan. With this arsenal, he can attack or defend against his opponents in numerous manners. While used less often, he has also shown to have impressive skills in genjutsu, which he can use to throw off his opponents as a set-up for stronger attacks. In addition, he has proven to be very adept in taijutsu, which, combined with his impressive speed, allows him to effectively catch his opponents off guard and evade attacks. Moreover, he has proven skillful in areas such as tracking, trap-making, survival, stealth, assassination, armed-combat, and sealing jutsu. Orochimaru notes that his level of sealing jutsu was impressive for his age. He was taught by his late teacher how to use the Rasengan, but could never master it beyond its standard level as it was intended to mix with elemental chakra.

Elemental Techniques
In addition to the sheer number of jutsu at Kakashi's disposal, he has an extensive knowledge of and skill with elemental jutsu. He has shown mastery of his natural affinity towards lightning chakra, being able to use several high-level lightning-based jutsu without hand seals. Even Kakuzu, an extremely experienced member of Akatsuki, immediately recognized his assailant to be "Sharingan Kakashi" after seeing his prowess in lightning jutsu. With much assistance from his Sharingan he has mastered multiple elements despite his still young age, which he is able to use together for various combo attacks or strategies. Individually, he is able to perform earth-based jutsu with great detail in their shape and is able to perform water-based jutsu without an existing water source nearby. He has also been shown (in the anime) using fire-based jutsu, and he is otherwise at least knowledgeable enough with Wind Release to help train Naruto in its use.

Even though he owes much of his repertoire to his Sharingan, Kakashi is capable of creating his own techniques, as he did with the Chidori. While powerful, the Chidori has two drawbacks: the amount of chakra it requires and the speed at which the user must move. These flaws prompted Minato Namikaze to ban his student from using the technique after seeing it in action. After gaining the Sharingan eye, the tunnel effect can now be worked around, as he can now see his opponents clearly. He later refines the Chidori into the stronger Lightning Blade and develops several new lightning jutsu.

Sharingan
Kakashi's most distinguishing ability is his Sharingan eye, a gift from his late friend Obito Uchiha, as it allows him to copy any jutsu used against him, see through any deception, give hypnotic suggestions, perform genjutsu, and predict his opponent's movements. The drawback of his Sharingan is that, because Kakashi has no Uchiha blood, his body cannot completely adjust to it, hence costing him more chakra than it would an Uchiha. Coupled with the fact that he cannot deactivate it (and thus must keep it covered when not using it), he quickly expends his chakra in battle. Because of this, Kakashi only relies on it when he feels it is an absolute necessity. Despite his handicap with the Sharingan, he is very skilled in using it. While it was initially at stage 2 of its development when first obtained, Kakashi was able to fully develop it before the start of the series. Even Itachi Uchiha, a true heir and master of the Sharingan, acknowledged Kakashi's superior proficiency with the Sharingan compared to most true Sharingan wielders.

Kakashi has somehow been able to improve his Sharingan with time. When he first gained the Sharingan it had only two tomoe, but by the start of the series it has progressed to three. In addition, by Part II, Kakashi seems to have extended the amount of time he can sustain using the Sharingan, as he is seen using it for seemingly a day while testing Naruto and Sakura.

Mangekyo Sharingan
During the timeskip, Kakashi further improved his Sharingan by developing his own Mangekyo Sharingan through unknown means. Furthermore, he has mastered his only known Mangekyo jutsu called Kamui. This jutsu has the ability to manipulate space, and was shown to be able to suck targets or even tear off parts of a target and hurl them into another dimension. When used against Deidara, he noted Kakashi's dojutsu to be of Itachi's caliber, who was infamous for his prowess with Mangekyo jutsu. Despite Kakashi mentioning that his prowess with it is incomplete, as shown from his difficulty in using it against Deidara, his skill with it was later great enough to target a small speeding target with no effect on any other targets. However, this technique used so much chakra that he had to be hospitalized for a week after using it three times in one day.