Kakashi is widely known as the “Copy Ninja” for his ability to replicate enemy jutsu upon seeing them just once. It is said he has copied hundreds of jutsu throughout his life.
Beyond mimicking the techniques of other shinobi, Kakashi is incredibly skilled at wielding the Sharingan, despite not being born into the Uchiha clan. His Sharingan was actually a final gift from Obito Uchiha.
Initially, Uchiha clan members like Sasuke and Itachi underestimated Kakashi’s ocular prowess. They believed he would never awaken the Sharingan’s true power, a feat supposedly reserved for true Uchiha descendants.
However, Kakashi proved them entirely wrong. He mastered the Sharingan at its absolute highest level, unlocking abilities wielded by only a select few of the Uchiha elite.
1. Kakashi Masters the Mangekyo Sharingan After Being Underestimated by Itachi
The story began when Itachi and Kisame infiltrated the Hidden Leaf Village. Spotting two suspicious figures at a local tea shop, Kakashi asked Kurenai and Asuma to tail them. The pursuit quickly escalated into a fierce battle against the Akatsuki duo.
Kakashi soon arrived as backup to support the overwhelmed Kurenai and Asuma. He declared that only he, a fellow Sharingan wielder, could stand against Itachi’s ocular powers.
Itachi was briefly impressed by Kakashi’s proficiency with the Sharingan, acknowledging his skill despite lacking Uchiha blood. However, Itachi still looked down on him, believing Kakashi’s standard Sharingan was no match for the overwhelming power of his Mangekyo Sharingan.
Overconfident in his standoff with Itachi, Kakashi fell victim to the Tsukuyomi genjutsu. He was plunged into a nightmare realm, enduring the excruciating agony of being repeatedly stabbed with swords for 72 hours.
In the Tsukuyomi’s illusionary world, a single second in reality stretches into grueling hours or days. After enduring three days of psychological torture, Kakashi collapsed, remaining unconscious in the hospital for an entire week.
Two years later, during a mission to rescue the Kazekage of the Hidden Sand Village, Kakashi faced Itachi once again. This time, he was fully prepared to avoid falling into the Tsukuyomi trap.
Kakashi had also deduced the jutsu’s critical flaw: it rapidly drained Itachi’s chakra and deteriorated his eyesight. Mid-battle, Kakashi caught Itachi off guard with a chilling question: “How bad has your eyesight gotten?” Surprised that Kakashi understood the severe risks of the Mangekyo Sharingan, Itachi began to suspect that the Copy Ninja had awakened the eye himself.
However, their skirmish was cut short. It was revealed that Kakashi wasn’t fighting the real Itachi, but a sacrificial pawn modified by Pain to act as a body double. Operating remotely, Itachi had only channeled 30% of his chakra into the clone.
Still, Itachi’s suspicion about Kakashi mastering the Mangekyo Sharingan was soon proven right. Later, when Deidara attempted to escape through the air on his clay bird, Kakashi activated his Mangekyo Sharingan to launch a devastating long-range strike.
Utilizing Kamui, Kakashi cleanly severed Deidara’s right arm, proving he had conquered the very power Itachi had once doubted he could attain.
2. Kakashi Manifests Susano’o After Being Challenged by Sasuke
This encounter was set in motion when Sakura set off alone to find Sasuke, fully intent on killing him. Deeply concerned for her safety, Kakashi tracked her down to intercept the confrontation.
After assassinating Danzo, Sasuke was finally approached by Sakura, who falsely claimed she wanted to join his cause. Sasuke presented a grim condition: to prove her loyalty, she had to execute Karin, who was already bleeding out from Sasuke’s own Chidori strike during his fight with Danzo.
Sakura’s plea to join him was a desperate bluff. Feigning an attack on Karin, her true intention was to blindside Sasuke and strike him down. But as hesitation paralyzed her hand, Sasuke coldly readied his Chidori to kill her from behind. Fortunately, Kakashi arrived just in time, intercepting Sasuke’s lethal strike and pulling Sakura from the brink of death.
This intense reunion brought teacher and student face-to-face for the first time in three years. As a mentor, Kakashi felt a heavy moral obligation to stop Sasuke from plunging the shinobi world into further chaos. Sasuke, however, no longer saw Kakashi as his teacher.
Watching his beloved student abandon their village and being forced into a death match with him, Kakashi finally understood the heartbreak Hiruzen Sarutobi felt when fighting Orochimaru. Sasuke, fueled by vengeance, intended to give Kakashi the exact same tragic end Hiruzen suffered.
It deeply infuriated Sasuke to see Kakashi wielding the Sharingan in combat. To him, the eye was an exclusive birthright of the Uchiha clan, and he arrogantly demanded Kakashi stop using it. Downplaying Kakashi’s ocular prowess, Sasuke unleashed his Susano’o to assert his dominance. Boasting that his Sharingan was vastly superior, Sasuke mockingly challenged Kakashi, asking if he could manifest a Susano’o of his own.
Despite the arrogance, Sasuke grudgingly praised Kakashi for handling the Sharingan so effectively. He was genuinely astonished when Kakashi activated the Mangekyo Sharingan to warp away a lethal arrow fired by his Susano’o.
Their clash was cut short when Naruto arrived, stepping in to take over the fight. The two rivals clashed once more, grinding Rasengan against Chidori. Shortly after, Tobi materialized and extracted Sasuke from the battlefield.
During the Fourth Great Ninja War, the tide shifted dramatically when Madara was cornered by Naruto and Sasuke, who had both attained god-like power from the Sage of Six Paths. Armed with only a single Rinnegan in his right eye, Madara realized he couldn’t match their overwhelming strength. Desperate, he resolved to take back his other Rinnegan from Obito.
Moving blindingly fast, Madara snatched the Sharingan right out of Kakashi’s socket and used it to warp into Kamui’s dimension. There, he reclaimed the Rinnegan from Obito’s left eye and callously implanted the stolen Sharingan in its place.
In the final, apocalyptic phase of the war, Kakashi felt entirely useless without his Sharingan. Stripped of his power, he could only watch helplessly as Naruto and Sasuke battled Kaguya.
When Kaguya shifted the battlefield into a super-gravity dimension, she fired two lethal rods at the immobilized duo. Desperate to be useful, Kakashi threw himself forward to shield Sasuke, while Obito moved to protect Naruto.
However, only Obito was struck, suffering a fatal blow. Kakashi survived because Obito had used Kamui at the last second to warp away the rod aimed at him.
As Obito transitioned into the afterlife, he was greeted by the woman he had always loved, Rin. But Obito asked her to wait just a little longer—he needed to help Kakashi so his friend wouldn’t follow them into death so soon.
Utilizing chakra as an ethereal tether connecting all living things, Obito channeled his remaining life force into Kakashi’s subconscious, temporarily lending him both of his Sharingan.
Empowered by the dual dōjutsu, Kakashi was not only able to wield both eyes simultaneously but also manifested a Perfect Susano’o.
His towering avatar was uniquely distinguished by a vertical scar over its left eye and possessed the devastating ability to mold Kamui into giant shuriken, warping away whatever they struck.
As Kakashi swooped in with his Susano’o to save Sakura from the massive, rampaging chakra hands of Kaguya, Sasuke watched in absolute disbelief. Naruto eagerly reminded his rival exactly why Kakashi was legendary as the Copy Ninja, boldly declaring that Kakashi’s Susano’o was even cooler than Sasuke’s.
