Kakashi’s lame, sloppy and unreliable persona in adulthood is so special to me. It’s really the most radical thing he does to reject the expectations on him and to make up for his past.
This guy is inherently such a serious person. He’s sharp, incredibly intelligent and with years of experience under his belt. He’s a venerated legend and known to basically every ninja in the world. He’s a war vet. The list goes on.
Yet he chooses to present himself as non-threatening. He slouches, is chronically late, lets other people bully him into situations, reads Icha Icha in public and doesn’t fight too hard when his genin team drag him into antics.
After he drops the whole tough guy act with Team 7 early on in the series, he’s surprisingly patient and gentle with them. He answers their questions, calmly corrects them and rarely ever gets mad.
He’s a thousand percent a shambolic mess when he’s first introduced and yet he tries to get it together enough to support team 7. He tries to be there for them.
Without the context of his backstory, Kakashi is still a really compelling character. But when you put it all together, it really does feel quite miraculous that he can be such a loser adult. He didn’t let himself get hardened when it would’ve been so easy to do so. He remains gentle. And I really standby the fact that he is gentle and kind. Those are traits that really shine through to me.
I find myself wondering how he would’ve shown up for team 7 if the Chuunin exams didn’t happen so early in the series. He didn’t really get that much time with them without one major crisis after another. In a way, all the other Jounin senseis got to ease into their role, some even had years but I don’t think Kakashi ever got that.
