Naruto: 10 Times Masashi Kishimoto Glazed Kakashi Way Too Hard

The world of Naruto is a playground for genetic lottery winners. It is a story dominated by literal reincarnations of ninja gods, Jinchuriki carrying nuclear-level tailed beasts, and clan heirs blessed with broken, bloodline-mandated eyeballs. Yet, one of the most revered icons in the entire franchise is a guy who technically shouldn’t have been able to keep up with any of them.

Originally, Kakashi Hatake’s entire appeal rested on his overcoming strict limitations. He wasn’t an Uchiha, he wasn’t a Child of Prophecy, and his chakra reserves were notoriously average. He succeeded purely through tactical genius, trauma-hardened grit, and an iconic mask. However, as the narrative scaled into the stratosphere, Masashi Kishimoto increasingly showered Kakashi with moments that made fans wonder if the author secretly loved the Copy Ninja more than his own main character.

Let’s look back at 10 times Kishimoto blatantly bent the rules to make sure his favorite teacher stayed looking like the coolest guy in the room:

Title	Naruto	Naruto: Shippuden
Author	Masashi Kishimoto	Masashi Kishimoto
Production Studio	Studio Pierrot	Studio Pierrot
Total Episodes	220 episodes	500 episodes
IMDb Rating (as of June 18, 2026)	8.4 / 10	8.7 / 10
MAL rating (as of June 18, 2026)	8.02 / 10	8.29 / 10
Streaming	Crunchyroll, Netflix	Crunchyroll, Netflix

1 Having a Perfect Susanoo & Mangekyo Without Any Uchiha Lineage

When Obito died, his spirit temporarily returned from the afterlife to gift Kakashi his chakra. This granted Kakashi the Dual Mangekyo Sharingan, allowing him to instantly manifest a stabilized, winged Perfect Susanoo against Kaguya. For hundreds of chapters, Kishimoto established that Susanoo was a bloodline-locked Uchiha privilege requiring years of immense strain.

Sasuke and Madara sacrificed their eyesight and transplanted family organs to master this form. Kakashi, a non-Uchiha, unlocked its absolute pinnacle via a spiritual Bluetooth transfer, entirely ignoring the series’ genetic rules.

2 Surviving Death by Being Resurrected Right After Pain’s Attack

During Pain’s assault, Kakashi exhausted his chakra to save Choji, tragically dying and crossing over to meet his father in the afterlife. It was a narratively perfect, emotional send-off. Yet, Kishimoto couldn’t bear to let his favorite jonin go. Soon after Naruto saved the village, Nagato cast Rinne Rebirth, reviving Kakashi with zero lasting consequences.

While legendary figures like Jiraiya and Neji stayed permanently in the ground to maintain emotional stakes, Kakashi’s death was hand-waved away, proving his absolute narrative immunity.

3 Casually Spamming Kamui In The War Arc With Unlimited Chakra

Early Naruto: Shippuden established that Kamui was a dangerous gamble that drained Kakashi’s meager chakra instantly. Fast-forward to the War Arc, and his stamina bar suddenly became infinite, even before getting Naruto’s Nine-Tails chakra. Over a grueling 48-hour battle, he repeatedly spammed his space-time jutsu, teleporting massive projectiles and tailed-beast threats.

While others collapsed from exhaustion, Kakashi fought continuously. Fans still joke that Kishimoto quietly hooked Kakashi up to a secret car battery between manga panels.

4 Cutting a Tailed Beast’s Chakra Arm With Just a Chidori

During the War Arc, Kakashi cleanly cut through a Version 2 Jinchuriki’s chakra arm using a standard Chidori. Tailed Beast chakra is repeatedly described as an incredibly dense, highly corrosive, and nearly impenetrable shroud. Entire elite ninja squads usually struggle to even scratch a Version 2 form without specialized sealing jutsu or equivalent tailed-beast power.

By letting a standard lightning-style assassination jutsu slice through it like butter, Kishimoto threw out established durability rules just to give Kakashi an incredibly badass panel. This way, Kakashi etched his name as one of the top 5 strongest characters in Naruto.

5 Earning Global Reputation as the Legendary Copy Ninja at Age Twelve

Kishimoto heavily overloaded Kakashi’s backstory with an absurd list of achievements to ensure his mystique was unmatched. He graduated the academy at age five, became a chunin at six, and achieved the rank of jonin by twelve, inventing his own S-rank jutsu along the way. Before the main cast was even born, Kakashi was already a globally feared Bingo Book legend.

Plus, he was a Captain of the ANBU squad (Team Ro) at the age of 13. While other geniuses like Itachi had incredible feats, Kishimoto ensured Kakashi’s resume was uniquely packed, making him a historical icon incredibly early.

6 Bypassing Obito’s Intangibility Hax Due to Shared Dimensions

For years, Obito’s Kamui intangibility was the most broken, untouchable defensive ability in the franchise, flummoxing Kage-level opponents. Naturally, when it came time to solve this unbeatable puzzle, Kishimoto revealed that Obito’s eyes shared the exact same pocket dimension, and Kakashi owned the other eye.

This convenient twist transformed an omnipotent antagonist into a solvable riddle where Kakashi held the exclusive cheat code. Instead of a complex allied strategy, the ultimate counter to the Akatsuki’s mastermind was conveniently sitting behind Kakashi’s forehead protector.

7 Getting Named the Sixth Hokage Despite Losing His Sharingan

After Madara ripped out Kakashi’s Sharingan, the Copy Ninja lost the very tool that defined his name, his fighting style, and his signature Chidori. Logically, this massive nerf should have forced him into retirement. Instead, Kishimoto had the village name him the Sixth Hokage anyway.

While other candidates had to display overwhelming, destructive power, Kakashi ascended to the highest office based almost entirely on his sheer reputation, administrative competence, and author favoritism. Say what you may, but Kakashi deserved that position.

8 Intercepts Kaguya’s Fastest Attack in the Final Battle

During the climax against Kaguya Otsutsuki, Kakashi utilized a Kamui Lightning Blade to blitz down and cleanly intercept the rabbit goddess. At this point, Kaguya’s speed and reaction times were actively overwhelming Six Paths Sage Mode Naruto and Rinnegan Sasuke, two characters possessing literal god-like physical enhancements.

For Kakashi, a regular human without an Otsutsuki lineage, to out-speed and blitz the primordial progenitor of chakra is the sheerest vertical leap in power scaling the series has ever seen, solely because Kishimoto wanted him to land a decisive blow.

9 Matching Itachi Uchiha’s Hand Signs at Lightning Speed

In Naruto, the legendary Itachi Uchiha made his terrifying debut in Konoha. Itachi’s hand-seal speed was noted by elite Jonin as being completely invisible to the naked eye. Yet, when Kakashi stepped up to confront him, he matched Itachi sign-for-sign in a blistering water-style duel. This was an early, subtle indicator of Kishimoto’s bias.

While other seasoned jonin like Kurenai and Asuma were easily overwhelmed or left completely bewildered, Kishimoto ensured Kakashi stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Uchiha clan’s ultimate prodigy.

10 Kishimoto Made Obito’s Soul Literally Visit Kakashi From the Afterlife

The absolute pinnacle of “Kakashi favoritism” occurs when Obito’s soul leaves the afterlife, enters Kakashi’s body, and unlocks temporary Dual Mangekyo Sharingan (DMS). No other character in Naruto lore has ever died, entered the afterlife, and then manifested their spirit back into reality just to hand over a temporary, dual-eyeball power-up to a non-relative.

It completely broke the boundaries of life, death, and chakra mechanics. Kishimoto essentially wrote a divine intervention into the script, giving Kakashi an ultimate, god-tier finale moment that ensured he wouldn’t be overshadowed by anyone. Ever.

Which of these moments felt like the ultimate author favoritism to you, or did the Copy Ninja earn every single bit of the hype? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!