Naruto: How Strong Is Kakashi? Compared To Other Characters

While some would say that being the most respected and feared shinobi in the Ninja World is a blessing, Hatake Kakashi probably wouldn’t agree with that sentiment. Throughout the Naruto series, Kakashi fought against the strongest foes, and while he won most of the battles, some were even deadly for him. Kishimoto never gave an easy out to his characters, and Kakashi is a prime example of that, which got us thinking – how strong is Kakashi?

Kakashi’s abilities and strengths in the Naruto series

Comparing strengths and abilities between characters is always difficult, especially in the Naruto series. Masashi Kishimoto created great and strong characters; however, the inconsistencies of character powers were always an issue, especially for these types of analysis.

Kakashi is a powerful and legendary shinobi in Ninja World, but he had many different strength levels over the series. From Part One onwards, Kakashi slowly but surely became more powerful but lost some of those powers. For this article, we will compare Kakashi without double Mangekyo Sharingan since that was a brief power he gained with the help of Uchiha Obito – “base level” Kakashi is still extremely powerful.

Shinobi all over the world know Kakashi and his skills very well. He is the son of the legendary White Fang, a shinobi that made other villages scared of Konohagakure. Kakashi inherited his father’s skills and techniques but showed even greater potential than Sakumo.

Throughout his young years, Kakashi’s success as a shinobi only went upward, and the prodigy became a jōnin at twelve. The boy already displayed massive skill differences in battles against other shinobi and showed multiple times how good he was in ninjutsu. However, after the tragic death of his dear friend Obito, Kakashi was gifted with his Sharingan, which became legendary and fearsome throughout Five Great Shinobi Countries.

Kakashi wasn’t a Uchiha, so he couldn’t deactivate the famous dōjutsu whenever he wanted, but he still managed to govern Sharingan and become extremely skillful with it. When Rin Nohara died, Kakashi awakened Mangekyō Sharingan and could use a long-range variant of Kamui, which he shared with Obito.

Kakashi is also really good in taijutsu (challenges with Might Guy show it), can open one of Eight Gates, and sneakily defeat his enemies thanks to his experience in Anbu Corps.

Kakashi can use all five nature transformations and Yin and Yang release. However, his biggest strength is his usage of Lightning Release and his signature skill – Chidori. When he realized he couldn’t infuse Rasengan with his Lightning Release, Kakashi invented Chidori, which can pierce through almost everything. Copy-nin is also extremely intelligent, which is probably his biggest advantage against other opponents – his knowledge helped immensely in defeating Kaguya in the Fourth Shinobi World War.

Sharingan no Kakashi can do almost everything, which only adds to his versatility in fights and gives him an upper hand against his enemies – he is one of the most “complete” shinobi in the Naruto series.

Without further ado, let’s start comparing him to other Naruto characters.

How does Kakashi compare to other Naruto characters?

Kakashi vs. Might Guy

After the Fourth Shinobi World War, fans finally saw the extent of abilities Might Guy could display and do. His power included opening all Eight Inner Gates; the Handsome Beast of Hidden Leaf was the only one who truly harmed Madara Uchiha in the Fourth Shinobi World War.

Gai was hailed as a legendary shinobi with exceptional power. Despite the fact he was mediocre in ninjutsu, The Green Beast of Konoha made sure to be in perfect shape and master taijutsu at the highest level possible. We can say that Might Guy is the strongest and best taijutsu master in Naruto, and Kakashi deemed him one.

Now, if we pit these two rivals against each other in a serious fight, it would be pretty close. For one, Kakashi has Mangekyō Sharingan that can be dangerous against any opponent, and all that talent in nature transformations and ninjutsu. Still, we need to give points to both shinobi. Why? Well, The Green Beast of Konoha showed monstrous strength and durability during the Fourth Shinobi World War.

Opening Eight Inner Gates is far from easy, and Guy did it multiple times. Despite becoming crippled by the eight gates, Guy still survived, which was impossible until that point. Sakumo (Kakashi’s father) once told his son that he should pay attention to the hardworking boy (Guy) because hard work will always prevail over pure talent.

For us, Guy did exactly that, and Kakashi, his own friend, admitted that his rival is equal to or stronger than him, which only confirms this conclusion – these two are rivals for a reason, and that’s why this fight would be a tie.

Kakashi vs. Minato

Minato Namikaze was Kakashi’s mentor and the one he admired, especially when his father, Sakumo, died. Moreover, Minato was hailed as one of the strongest and most talented shinobi of his time, and because of that became a Fourth Hokage. He always encouraged and supported Kakashi and acknowledged his potential, but has the student surpassed the teacher?

It depends. If Kakashi still had Obito’s both Sharingan’s, he would probably beat Minato, but since that isn’t the case, the Yellow Flash will overwhelm Kakashi. The Space-Time jutsu Fourth Hokage possesses and the teleportation ability that no one could replicate, with immense speed and Rasengan, are a dealbreaker here. Frankly, the fight would be really close, but alive Yellow Flash in his prime was a force to be reckoned with, and not even Copy-nin could beat him.

Kakashi vs. Jiraiya

Now, this is an interesting matchup since it is pretty close. We already had an exhausting article about Kakashi and Orochimaru matchup that was a respectful tie. However, this one is different since Jiraiya had a much different set of skills. First, Ero-Sennin was formidable in Sage Mode, one of the strongest modes available in the Naruto series.

Sage Mode lets users enhance their jutsu and techniques with new senjutsu chakra and attune them to the natural force of the world. Jiraiya was proficient in it and one of the best users of it ever. Of course, there are other jutsu and techniques available for Jiraiya to beat Kakashi, but the Copy-nin definitely has a chance in this matchup.

Post-Naruto series, Kakashi seems much stronger than in Naruto Shippuden, even without his Sharingan, which is an impressive feat. We will say that Kakashi will beat Jiraiya in most fights. This might seem controversial to some fans, but saying that Kakashi is the most talented shinobi of his generation and then stating that Jiraiya will stomp Kakashi is illogical.

Jiraiya was a talented shinobi, one of the best there was, but Kakashi was called a prodigy for a reason. Although he lost Sharingan after the war, Copy-nin ensured he got even better, making this battle go Kakashi’s way – it would be really close.

Kakashi vs. Pain

Why do we mention this matchup if Pain already defeated Kakashi in the series? If we run it back and pit these two against each other once again, I would give the edge to Kakashi. One of the biggest reasons why Kakashi lost against Pain is his chakra depletion and his use of Kamui to save other people.

Kakashi defeated two Paths on his own and died of exhaustion; however, if post-Hokage tenure Kakashi fights against Pain and his Six Paths, Rokudaime would defeat him. Experience and practice improve shinobi, and Kakashi learned that from his rival, Might Guy. Post-Naruto Kakashi worked hard to ensure that he would not be a weaker shinobi because he lost Mangekyō Sharingan – he improved his chakra reserves and upgraded his already powerful jutsu like Chidori.

More offensive-minded Kakashi could definitely beat Pain without using his abilities to save other people.

Kakashi vs. Itachi

We will end this article with this epic matchup. Uchiha Itachi is considered one of the strongest and smartest shinobi in Ninja World. He was hailed as the strongest and most fearsome Uchiha during his days as missing-nin. Actually, Itachi has quite a similar life and expectations to Kakashi, who, once upon a time, was his captain in the Anbu corps. Their similar lives made them stronger, but when it came to their fight against each other, Itachi had actually beaten Kakashi in the Naruto series.

However, mysterious sickness prevented us from seeing Itachi in his true prime, and it propelled many discussions on Naruto forums on who is stronger. Well, I would say they are mostly the same strength, but Itachi’s prowess of Mangekyō Sharingan and the fact that he is a Uchiha gives him a bit of an edge against Kakashi. Frankly, Itachi respects and values Kakashi, as seen in the Naruto series and another life; maybe that factor would prevail on Kakashi’s side. For now, we will make this battle go to Itachi.

As you can see throughout this article, all of these fights are insanely close. Naruto fans will never be on the same page on these topics, but one thing is for sure.

Kakashi is one of the most impressive shinobi in the Naruto series, and his strength is unparalleled most of the time. Despite us thinking some of the shinobi might be stronger than him, those don’t erase the fact that Copy-nin consistently got better through anime and manga series, which makes these articles interesting.

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