Fandom : Naruto
Character : Hatake Kakashi
Ah, good old Kakashi-sensei, a well-known ninjutsu jounin. This leader of team seven brings mix-reactions every time some mention him. He is very well liked, and at the same time there are those who wished he would just disappear forever. Kakashi is a surprising character as he is constantly in the top five of the Shonen Jump's magazine popularity polls. In fact he nabbed the top spot twice, so what is it about the mysterious nin that has our attention?
Physical attributes are the first thing noticed about the lanky jounin. He is noted to be handsome, with his spiky silverish-grey hair that leans to the left, restrained only by his headband. His headband is slanted to the left where he had lost his original black eye which is now a implanted Sharigan eye from a close friend. Though most of his face is hidden by a black mask that is notably part of his character it makes him fetching. Very few have seen his whole face, but those who do have very noticeable blushes. He has a fairly warm, light complexion, and is one of the more taller jounin. Kakashi comes just under six feet at five feet and nine inches, and weighs a grand total of a hundred and forty-eight pounds. Tall and thin is his main body type which is perfect for the speed he fight's at.
Kakashi is a Virgo, a sign noted distinctly for purity and service. Individuals born under this sign are mostly diligent, self-sufficient, analytical, controlled, and orderly. These describe Kakashi to a true point, as he is all of these things which makes him a respected high-ninja. However, they are also prone to perfectionism, harsh criticism, and coldness. Kakashi also presents these personality quirks with both his team and his equals. His favorite foods are just as bland as he presents himself, broiled saury with salt, and miso soup with eggplant. This also points to the fact that he does not need much to get by and deal happily with the bare necessaries.
His personal life is as much a mystery as his face behind the mask he has worn for the majority of his ninja career. No living family, or if he has some he makes little mention of them, and he has stated all he has loved are already dead. A past Anbu captain, and famed son of the ever famous Konoha Shiroi no Kiba who allowed his mission to fail in order to save his teammates have left heavy scars on Kakashi's psyche. He shares a strange rivalry with Mighty Guy, albeit it is slightly one-sided. It is unknown how Guy manages to goad Kakashi into a lot of these events, though it could be because of Kakashi's subtle pride. While he is a heavy ninjutsu user, he does also use taijutsu, and genjutsu, which makes him a pretty rounded ninja.
As a teacher however is where his faults come into play. Sometimes seeing the parallel between his team and his genin team has made it difficult for him to truly teacher. He admits to seeing himself in Sasuke Uchiha, and tries desperately to steer him from the path of an avenger. In the beginning, he was a fairly good teacher, teaching all three of his students equally, but after the wave mission it all went downhill. Most of the time, he spent training the Uchiha, admittedly because Sasuke is like him, and trying to keep him from the path of hate. This had a failing with the rest of his team as he almost blatantly ignored the other two of the team. Leaving the kunoichi without any form of training beyond the tree-exercise, left her weak in the first chunin exams. He also pushed aside Naruto as well, especially after their encounter with Orochimaru to train Sasuke. Kakashi is so wrapped up in trying to stem Sasuke's ambitions that he continuously forgets that he has a team and not an apprentice. Also, to the irate female fans and females in the series, Kakashi loves Icha, Icha, a well-known perverted book. The same stems a sense of admirability from guys at the ability to get away with such things.
Though I think there are other reasons then just trying to stop Sasuke's power hungry actions. Since he sees himself in Sasuke, he knows how to train Sasuke for it would be the same for him. He knows how to motivate the limits of the Uchiha, as it would be the same with him. For awhile he could motivate Naruto by pointing out Sasuke's high points, which activates the rivalry between the two. However, as Naruto grows, it makes it difficult to play on the rivalry because he notices the growing inferiority complex in the Uchiha.
Since he notes his parallel between his teams, he could tend to see Sakura as Rin. They were both very similar personality wise, and now career wise. Since he is a heavy ninjutsu user, he tends to be weaker with genjutsu, which is one of the only things that Sakura specialized in. Also, he is a male and would have a hard time trying to sympathize with the young female of the team. Seeing how he did not pay attention on what motivated Rin to train hard, he could not employ these methods with Sakura. He is not proficient in the areas that Sakura needed in order to grow, which is probably another reason he pushed her to the side.
Naruto was probably the hardest he would have to deal with, as he is the parallel to a lot of his memories. His physical attributes remarking him to look like his sensei, the Yondamine, not to mention he was the one who was used for the sealing. This would have to be a painful reminder of his sensei's death and the same time a painful reminder of his sensei's life as well. For Kakashi could consider that he is not a sensei like his was, and cannot connect with his students on a such a level. Naruto is also a parallel to Obito Uchiha, the one who sacrificed his life to save his. He is reckless, willing to toss away his life to protect his friends, which Kakashi knew Obito was like. This cause him to recoil and at the same time yearn to have his friend beside him again every time he sees Naruto. Naruto is loud, and proud, much like Obito was, and at the same time Kakashi would see that. As such, even though he feels he owes Obito, another reason he trains Sasuke, he has no clue how to train Naruto. Yes, he could compare Naruto and Sasuke to spark the rivalry, but that could cause emotional problems for the pair not to mention completely destroy teamwork.
I believe it's because Kakashi can't train his students fully because he is unable to. He is not a three person teacher, he is one who needs an apprentice someone he could come close to. He only recognizes his students as subordinates, which reveals the relationship he thinks in. At the same time, he cares equally for his students, he just does not know how to act on that. As he does defend them in wave, and teaches them to survive the bout with the two mist-nins. Kakashi is a good guy at heart as he immediately abandons his new mission to stop his two male subordinates from trying to kill each other. He also feels a sense of loss without his team seven, now teaching team ten, as each is now training under a sannin. He attempts to help feed Naruto after the damage to his arm from his new jutsu causes into be unable to be used. Kakashi does try to warn Naruto of the dangers of the use of his new jutsu, but Naruto remarks that he knows his own body. Kakashi goes so far to have team seven defunct until all four of them can be together again.