Haunted by Ghosts: Kakashi Hatake

Welcome back to another edition of Comic Relief! Where I talk about all sorts of things going on in the world of Geekdom!

So today’s entry is about something that is actually pretty close to home for me. I grew up in a military family and I have myself served. With the recent global conflicts on terror raging on, we have had a lot of soldiers trade one hell for another. Soldiers find themselves as strangers in their own home, finding it hard to readjust to the civilian life and as such the suicide rate for combat rates is at 20 soldiers per day give or take.

So the question is why am I bringing this up? Well, I have found that for a lot of people in the service, fictional outlets such as comics, anime, movies, etc. are therapeutic and allow for them to have another way to connect with a society that they feel MILES away from. So every now and again I will be taking the time to write about a character from any fictional medium to spread awareness on PTSD and hopefully bring a light to any of my readers who may be suffering from some of these issues by finding a story that resonates with their own struggle and maybe even give them an idea or the hope they need to push through it. Anyways, today’s character profile is Kakashi Hatake from Naruto.

In all honesty, despite a horrific and obnoxious fan base, I would recommend this anime to anyone, ESPECIALLY veterans of combat. It is a story all about the struggle of war and for a project with no veterans attached to it, is incredibly on the mark for handling a LOT of issues that soldiers face. Kakashi Hatake is introduced in Naruto as the nonchalant, whimsical mentor of team 7, who is constantly pushing Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura to come together as a team. He is known for his sunny disposition, and badass character design. However, in Shippuden (the follow up series) you get to find out a LOT about Kakashi, and what we find is a man that is haunted by the decisions he has made in war, so here is a character biography on Kakashi, the Copy Ninja.

Kakashi was the son of a prominent shinobi of the Leaf Village “The White Fang” of the Leaf village, and as such was a sort of childhood prodigy. However, tragedy found Kakashi before he could even reach the battle field. Disgraced for choosing to save the lives of his comrades and subordinates rather than complete a mission, Kakashi’s father committed suicide. He was not even 10 when this happened. The Shinobi code dictates that the mission comes first, that those who break the rules in the shinobi world are scum. After the suicide of his father, Kakashi strived to redeem his name and lived life to "t" of the Shinobi code. He became a stickler for rules, and by the age of 13 had reached the rank of Jonin in the village (Jonin being the most elite level of ninja outside of Hokage). The Third Great Ninja War roared on, and so Kakashi was given his first mission as a Jonin team leader where he led his old team mates Obito and Rin on mission.

Obit, Rin, and Kakashi as a part of Team Minato

This mission goes horribly wrong. They are intercepted by enemy Shinobi that outclass them and Rin gets captured. Initially Kakashi insists on pushing on to the objective rather than going to the aid of his captured comrade, clearly trying to avert the same fate that had once befallen his own father. However, Obito refuses saying “those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than that.” Additionally Obito’s claim to idolize the White Fang of the leaf as a TRUE hero, cause Kakashi to reconsider his position and aids Obito in the rescue of Rin. However, again, they were going up against enemy shinobi that out classed them and while they were able to save Rin it came at a hefty price: Kakashi lost his eye, and Obito is mortally wounded. As he lays dying Obito bequeaths to Kakashi his recently awakened Sharengan (a visual prowess that is passed down through one of the village clans) to replace Kakashi’s lost eye as a present for becoming a Jonin. Obito makes Kakashi promise to always look out for Rin and Kakashi gets her to safety. However, war being ugly as it is, had other plans for Rin. Sometime later a rival village kidnapped Rin and tried to turn her into a host for one of the tailed beast spirits. Kakashi, unable to prevent this from happening, is forced to kill Rin using his own signature technique, the lightning blade, before she loses control of the beast and kills a lot of innocent people. Killing Rin haunts Kakashi and every night as he closes his eyes Kakashi sees her wide eyed expression as he takes her life away with his own hands. 

While a lot of it is on the nose, Kakashi's remorse and survivor's guilt is something that a lot of veterans can identify with. I feel that a lot of soldiers could watch this story and identify personally with the struggles of their own ghosts haunting them. However, the most important thing about Kakashi is that despite all of the bad, he is able to find light. You see, initially, in an attempt to try and cope Kakashi throws himself deeper into the ninja world, becoming a member of the special forces of the village doing the riskiest missions, hoping that as he stacks up an enemy kill count, he will find absolution in the deaths of his best friends. This goes on until eventually Kakashi’s mentor, the present village leader, Minato, removes him from the Black Ops after being confronted by Kakashi’s best friend and rival for being more distant than usual. Minato puts Kakashi as a Jonin mentor for students who had just graduated the academy to achieve the rank of Genin (a junior shinobi). Initially Kakashi takes the responsibility with little enthusiasm. He is arguably too strict in his selection method to determine if the teams of Genin would work as a team. At first it was a way for Kakashi to push people away and remain alone (after all if he was alone no one could get hurt). However, after being approached and thanked by students he had turned back to the academy for helping them realize the importance of team work, Kakashi feels like he is given new purpose. He dedicates himself to teach incoming Genin the importance of watching out for your comrades (and as a result, hopefully prevent the tragedies that happened to him from happening to the next generation). Eventually he even finds a squad that passes his test: Squad 7 (the squad of the main characters: Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura).

Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura as team 7 with Kakashi in the Back

Despite all the horror he had lived through, Kakashi still found his way out of the dark and into the light. He found both redemption in being a mentor and fostered a next generation of shinobi to become new comrades. I feel that it is important for people to see that there is a possibility to reconnect and find new purpose in life. Kakashi came close to giving up, and had he not become a teacher, it honestly would have been a bad ending for him, similar to that of his father. However, he found new purpose and with that purpose found a way to live again. I think that such a story would benefit soldiers who have issues coming home from war, where it seems like they aren't able to connect with anyone over what happened. Anyways, if you know someone who has just come home from a war front and is having some issues, or if you yourself are one of those people. Don't be afraid to reach out, and hell maybe put on some Naruto and just hang out together. After all, what are friends and comrades for if not to enjoy a good show and hang out?

I hope you enjoyed and I hope to see you guys again next post!