Do we like Kakashi Hatake?
A character from Naruto (1999–2017)
Our score: 9 out of 10. Yes, we'd back him. He's calm, loyal and a very good teacher, and he's always behind his students. He's a bit late and a bit odd, but he's reliable when it counts.
Kakashi Hatake is a ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village. He is famous across the ninja world as the "Copy Ninja" because his Sharingan eye lets him copy the techniques he sees. When the story begins he becomes the jonin leader of Team 7, a new squad of three young ninja: Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno.
He's laid-back and often late, and he reads his favourite romance novel in the middle of serious conversations. Underneath that he's sharp, calm and protective. His first lesson to the team is a test he designs to show them that teamwork matters more than winning alone. He keeps coming back to that idea throughout the series.
He gets the score because he's a mentor you can rely on. He gives each student the guidance they need and still lets them make their own choices. He loses points for his emotional distance and for how long he keeps his past to himself, and he's sometimes too slow to open up to the kids he's looking after. Even so, he's the kind of leader people trust with their lives.
His Sharingan came from his teammate Obito Uchiha, and he carries the guilt of that loss. Years later, after the Fourth Shinobi World War, he rises to become the Sixth Hokage, the leader of the village.