APPLICATION

[scarecrowboy]

Name: Kakashi Hatake
Canon: Naruto
Journal: scarecrowboy
Gender: Male
Age: 30
Birthday: 09/15
Canon History: http://www.leafninja.com/fullbio.php?p=Hatake_Kakashi

Village Affiliation: Konoha.
Rank: Jounin.

 

 

Appearance:

Kakashi stands at 5’11”, a stretch of pale man with spiky silver hair. Weighing 148lbs, he’s rather slight and has the build, funnily enough, of a scarecrow; broad shoulders, long arms and legs and a stoic expression.

The more noticeable feature of Kakashi’s appearance is the dark mask that covers the lower half of his face. Under it (apart from another mask) he hides the scar running down his left eye which holds his gifted Sharingan and his regulation headband sits shifted askew on his forehead to help cover it. Aside from that his appearance is quite plain; he wears the standard flak jacket and dark uniform of the forces, with the arms rolled up and support bandages around his legs and short, fingerless metal-plated gloves.

Personality:

Kakashi gives an awfully misleading first impression. His lazy expression, slow drawl and minimalist outlook reeks of an ‘I don’t care’ attitude that certain people put down to how ‘cool’ he is, when in reality he simply likes to take it easy and doesn’t “like to do anything (he) doesn’t have to” (Young Kakashi, Shippuden 241). He has fully mastered the art of looking like he isn’t paying attention, aided by half of his face being covered, and the fact that he is very rarely seen without a book in hand.

Sometimes this can be amusing. Kakashi seems unfaltering and oblivious to things happening around him, and can sometimes be seen to show a very dry sense of humour particularly when it comes to playing tricks on his comrades.

Kakashi is friendly, if very self contained. He prefers to stand to the back of conversations, listening rather than contributing; watching instead of getting involved. He has, however, gained a name for himself across the lands due to his skill and power. Despite this, he's incredibly modest and typically shys away from talking about himself - particularly his past.

“Kakashi would prefer to be secretive about the things the happened in his past or even about his current self. This is something that's rolled over from when he was younger and isn't much different. When he was younger Kakashi was a bit of a jerk because of how he viewed his father. Sakumo Hatake put his team before the mission and became a pariah in the Land of Fire. Due to that Sakumo took his own life and Kakashi wanted to be nothing like his father. However, their appearance was very similar so he hid his face to be less recognizable. Kakashi wanted to cut all ties with his father and thus began to avoid talking about the past. Even with the changes he's undergone since Obito's near-death, he still tends to lean towards the side of being mysterious.”

(I love this head-canon(?), especially for the reason behind Kakashi’s mask.)

"Because of his own ridiculously high standards he holds himself to, Kakashi also holds other people to them as well. Kakashi has never accepted a squad to become proper genin, he won't even look at another team after he lost half of his own. All of them failed to realize what his test was truly trying to discover in the team, which is of course, exactly why it was designed the way it was. Kakashi purposely pit the team members against each other by saying only two of them would pass. All of the other teams failed to realize that they were a team; that they should work together despite the fact that one would fail. There was even a point where he was disappointed in his old friend/rival for teaching a student a deadly technique."

(This exactly. Particularly the idea that Kakashi has not accepted a squad because none of them are good enough for his standards, but also because /he/ is not good enough for his own standards.)

Kakashi is incredibly blunt, which can sometimes be mistaken for rudeness or arrogance. He has no time or patience for white lies and soft blows, instead understanding that the best way to deal with the truth is like tearing off a bandage - quickly and to the point. This tends to make him a little difficult to be around and even more complex to understand, but he does have friends despite that.

Kakashi is defined by the friends he has. In canon, Kakashi’s habit of being late reveals itself to be because of regular visits to the memorials of his old team mates, and because of his respect for Obito’s outlook. In this canon, Kakashi’s respect for Obito remains and Kakashi adapts his personality the same way; continuously being late for a myriad of obscure and often abstract reasons, and his loyalty to those he holds dear, taking on the promise to die to save them and the village despite his previous opinions regarding his father's promise of sacrifice.
"Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."

Despite this, he remains to be quite a solitary character preferring to work and play alone, which is mirrored in his favourite past time - reading. His father was a great genius, and the same trait has been passed down to Kakashi to be visibly seen in his tactic and physical skill, and his shinobi career thus far.

Obviously, his childhood (pre-Obito/Gai) behaviour was much more conceited and immature, leaving him with bad habits of selfishness and harshness, but he makes a conscious effort to avoid reverting. One of the main things from his younger days that haunt him is ANBU.

Canon Abilities/Powers:

• Ninjutsu: Kakashi has a ranged arsenal of jutsu acquired both through his heightened intelligence and natural skill, and by his continuous use of his gifted Sharingan.
  
  • Sharingan: Given to him by his team mate and close friend, Obito Uchiha, Kakashi uses his Sharingan eye to copy and ‘steal’ techniques seen in battle and also to see attacks and enemy strategies that he wouldn’t be able to normally. Kakashi has grown learning how to enhance and develop these skills, but as he is not an Uchiha and the eye is always active, he must keep it covered to avoid a drain of stamina and chakra. It's because of this that he doesn't use all that often, or for a long amount of time.
  • Chidori: Chidori was Kakashi’s first original technique which uses visible lightning chakra to serve a fatal blow. After acquiring the Sharingan, Kakashi was able to eliminate the straight-line drawback of the attack and went on to improve the technique into the far more powerful S-rank version known as Raikiri, which he prefers to use to this day.

• Taijutsu/Physical: Kakashi’s skill in taijutsu is developed enough to put him on par to his rival Maito Gai, from whom Kakashi has copied the Strong Fist fighting style and many derivatives. His impressive levels of reflex and speed make him adept to physical attacks and strategy devising.

• Bukijutsu/Weapons: Kakashi’s skill in weapons has been influenced greatly by his time in ANBU. He is capable of wielding short range and long range weapons of all sizes, but typically uses his talent in kunai and shuriken as he is proficient enough to be able to write his name with them. He has also experimented in enhancing his physical tools by channelling his lightning chakra through them.

• Other Skills:
  
  • Genjutsu: His use of genjutsu is rare, but his skill blossoms in his Sharingan; locking eyes with an enemy to paralyse, subdue or retrieve information from the target.
  • Fuinjutsu: He has reasonable power in sealing techniques, but very rarely uses it.
  • Element Mastering: Kakashi has mastered several elements and is talented in quite a few nature transformations, but his preferences are Lightning Release, Water Release and Earth Release.
  • Summoning Technique: Some time in his past Kakashi signed a contract with the nin-hounds. Their varying breeds adhere to Kakashi’s varied skill set, enabling him to use them for anything from attacks to restraints, to tracking and hunting. He also seems to have gained a refined sense of smell from them.

Sunshineverse History:

“Everything up to the point to Obito's death remains the same. His father committed suicide, he ended up on a team with Obito, Rin and Minato, became a Jounin at age thirteen. One of those missions cost him his left eye that was replaced with one of Obito's Sharingan's. They then proceeded to finish their mission.

After that is when the changes happen. With their mission completed they returned to where Obito had been crushed by a rock and discovered that he wasn't dead but had slipped through sheer rock into an open space where he still lived. They carried his body home and he began his recovery thanks to Tsunade's medical skills. Those first few months Kakashi would always go straight to the hospital to make sure his teammate was still alive after a mission. It was always the most important thing upon returning to Konoha, more important than getting his own injuries treated. Though he never stayed long during those visits if he could help it.

When Rin would hover over their teammate, Kakashi would hang back. Not just a little but a lot. His time was mostly spent outside the hospital, lingering by Obito's window, just listening to the two of them. Something he still has a habit of doing. No, his longer visits came at night when it most likely that Obito would be asleep. Kakashi would sit beside his bed, quiet most of the time. On the very rare occasion he would talk to his unconscious teammate. Sometimes it would be about what was happening with the war, with the village. Every once-in-a-while he would admit deep, private things about himself. Lucky that Obito was unconscious during all of those moments, right? Right.

Since it appeared that Obito would live he attempted to return the eye that had been gifted to him only to have it refused. Eventually he stopped trying to give it back. Though that didn't happen until Obito was gifted with the eye of one of his relatives. While Obito continued to recover, Kakashi continued to fight in the war. Quite of few of his missions involved his teammate Rin. Near the tail-end of Obito's recovery there was a particularly bad mission where he returned to the village dripping with blood. As per his now-acquired habit, Kakashi went to check on his teammate, only to be caught not having his injuries attended first. Needless to say that he no longer gets away with that seeing as how Obito won't let him go without checking him over when he returns from missions now.

The war ended and Kakashi left behind normal missions. He became an ANBU and served under Minato long after Naruto's birth. For years he was just a member until finally he became a Captain with his own squad of rookies. After a year of working alongside them they were given a mission that was extremely dangerous. They went into the mission as a four-man squad and came back with two of their comrades carried on their backs. Thanks to the lesson he learned from Obito and instilled in his own team, they too nearly died in an attempt to save their comrades. Not that Kakashi regrets it. They did everything they possibly could - even come near death - but all they could manage was to bring their dead teammates home.

After that Kakashi had his remaining teammate placed on a new squad, recommending them for the position of Captain and refused to take on another one. He started operating alone as a member of ANBU. This is how it was when Obito became the new Hokage but sometime after he left the ANBU to take on normal missions once again. At first he refused any that would require the need of a squad but one particular mission made it impossible. He was forced to work alongside people once again.

Now that's what he does. Go on various missions while avoiding taking on a genin team despite the Hokage's irritating badgering requests. While he prefers solo missions, he will take on ones requiring a team without much of a fuss. Usually preferring those with chunin or higher ranks. Kakashi does, reluctantly, take on Obito's team from time-to-time because the baka doesn't seem to know about time management.”

(It seems like a cheat to simply copy-paste this history in, but I can’t help it. It’s so /good/ I couldn’t possibly think of anything to add to better it. Particularly loving the end paragraph. However.....)

Due to the lack of devastating-inward-turmoil-Kakashi as a result of his comrades’ deaths, there would be less necessity for the strong level of rivalry between Kakashi and Gai that we see in canon. But we can’t ignore the fact that they have been in some form of rivalry since childhood and that it wouldn’t change given the conditions of the AU canon. So personally I would want the relationship between Kakashi and Gai to be pretty much as is; they are incredibly close friends with a certain dynamic adapted to suit the way they both work with other people.

(Obviously, I assume this will need some thrashing with the other player involved, but that is where I personally stand.)

Sunshineverse Abilities/Powers:

Kakashi is pretty much at the top of his league already when it comes to abilities, I can’t see him making any more great leaps and bounds because... Well, he’s already made them.

Going back to the Sharingan section of Kakashi’s canon abilities, however...
“Since Rin didn't die, it never became a Mangekyo Sharigan and his Kamui no longer works as it once did. Instead he has mastered transporting other people and just parts of them to another dimension. He cannot do the same to himself however. Sort of a yin & yang affect of the eyes as Obito can do the exact opposite. Because Obito was around they have figured out that they can see what the other is seeing and they've learned how to do it. Though they've never told anyone about it as it comes in handy as a secret technique.”

I realise this probably should belong in canon abilities; I thought it belonged here due to the adaptation of the AU. Again, cheating by copy-pasting, but I love the idea of a secret teamwork technique too much.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

+ Intelligence; makes him a capable, model shinobi.
+ Varied skill set.
+ Friendly approach and moral high ground; when all is said and done, he’s a good guy.
+/- His loyalty to his friends. While unwavering, it could technically one day be his downfall.
- His solitary lifestyle. He is completely capable of leading and working with a team, he simply prefers not to.
- His confidence, awareness and honesty sometimes rubs people up the wrong way.
- His typical overuse of techniques leading to chakra-drain. Let’s just say he’s very used to being in the medical ward.

ANBU History Notes:

After Kakashi's first mission as a Jounin results in his friend getting crushed by a rock he loses trust in his abilities as a leader. Despite the fact that Obito survives, Kakashi still feels at fault and haunts Obito's bedside till he's up and walking. Countless times he tries to give Obito's gifted sharingan back to him, but Obito refuses every time.

At age 14, Kakashi is promoted to ANBU. He falls easily into the role; the independence and solitude works for him as he has no team to lead and therefore no-one potentially fail. However, he turns cold in distrust, putting emotional barriers between himself and the people who care about him in some self-depreciating form of 'protecting them from himself'. Also known as his teen angst phase.

At age 17, Kakashi meets Kinoe/Tenzou for the second time, and realizes how dangerous dwelling on the past can be. He has a small revelation that eases his guilt and starts letting a few of his barriers fall.

At age 25, Kakashi goes on a mission for Obito that goes horribly wrong. [ PROSE; Needs adapting to player canon ] The death of his team-mates under his lead confirms his personal theory that he should never lead a team. Losing his faith in himself and his leadership skills again, he resigns from ANBU to take missions as a Jounin once more. He spends his time now taking mostly solo missions, while constantly dodging Obito's efforts at giving him a team of Genin to lead.





Prose sample:
He opened his eye to a sun stained ceiling and the feeling of constriction surrounding his chest. He shifted to unfurl himself from his blanket cocoon and eventually managed to sit on the edge of the bed, elbows resting on his knees. From the undeniable shouts of pain his body offered, it was safe to say that Kakashi had over done it this time. Again.
There was a weak ache running through both his hands, stopping a little beyond his wrist – chakra depletion, he was used to it – and a blooming glow of pain in his chest... Ah. That would be his ribs. The chakra depletion he could deal with, the bruised and/or broken ribs would actually require a completed stay in the hands of the medical-nin. Much to his dismay, this time it would be wholly unwise to slip out unnoticed through the window. Damn.

He pauses a moment, taking in his surroundings with lazy scrutiny. Well, at least there appeared to be no-one else in here. No more awkward smiles or “What happened to you?” conversations. Shinobi etiquette seemed to fluctuate when the factor of healing came into play. All Kakashi knew was that he’d never dream of asking anyone what happened to them, for fear that he might actually find out what happened to them. He was, and always would be, a firm believer in the notion that some things should be left unsaid and unknown. The only downside to this was that hospital stays were often incredibly tedious, with more danger of him dying of boredom than from his injuries; and here he was without so much as a nurse to talk to.

With a sigh he settled back again, admitting defeat to the strain across all of his limbs. That was when he noticed a book with a red cover had been lain out on the small table to the right of his bed. He reached out a hand to pick it up. Icha Icha. There was no note, no sign that anyone had dropped it off other than its presence... But Kakashi knew, and smiled.

Bracket sample:
[The aim was to appear as if he was going somewhere, when in actuality he had nowhere to be at all. The pace of his footsteps was slow, his book perched in his left hand and his other in his pocket, his eye half on the road and half reading....]

Take me with you, Junko implored as she took Akio by the hand. I cannot stand to face the world without you, my love. Take me with you and I will make you the happiest man alive. To be yours and yours alone is all I crave. Anything else and I might die... Well.

[He flipped the page, taking the moment of slight repose to glance upward. The street before him was quiet except for the muted bustle of the few businesses lining the roadside, all stretching and yawning their way into another day of work. The early morning sun was brimming high over the Hokage Monument, and caught Kakashi’s face in the temperate breeze. Today felt like a good day.]

Missive Sample:
Gai-
Regrettably, I won’t be around for our usual, uh... display of rivalry.

I have a mission. Yes, a real one. I was issued this morning. Classified as it is, I can’t give you any proof with evidence of my location, so I guess you’ll just have to trust me.

If you find yourself pouting in any way, you can tally this as a loss for me. A forfeit, even.
But I know you won’t.

Hopefully this note finds you before your schedule does.
-Kakashi.