Kakashi Hatake

Kakashi Hatake (はたけ カカシ, Hatake Kakashi) is a fictional character in the Naruto manga and anime series created by Masashi Kishimoto. In the story, Kakashi is the teacher of Team 7, consisting of the series' primary characters, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno. He is initially portrayed as a detached and apathetic figure, but as the series progresses, his loyalty to his friends and students becomes increasingly apparent. Kakashi's past has been extensively explored in the series, resulting in a gaiden being devoted to his past experiences. Kakashi has appeared in several pieces of Naruto media, the featured films in the series, the original video animations, and the video games.

Kakashi was originally created by Kishimoto to be a harsh teacher but the author decided to avoid that. Instead, he made him more generous to calm his students in difficult situations to the point of giving him feminine traits. Kakashi's design gave Kishimoto difficulties as a result of having most of his face covered and as a result it was difficult to show his emotions. For the anime series, he is voiced by Kazuhiko Inoue in Japanese and Dave Wittenberg in the English dub.

Numerous anime and manga publications have praised and criticized Kakashi's character. Although he has been noted to be an echo of similar detached shōnen manga characters, the duality of Kakashi's apathetic and serious sides have been praised. Kakashi has been highly popular with the Naruto reader base, placing high in several popularity polls. Merchandise based on Kakashi has also been released, including key chains and plush dolls.