Kakashi wasn’t cool or popular in entirely the same way that Sasuke was when he was in the Academy; Kakashi didn’t have legions of fangirls like Sasuke did, but he was definitely still popular in the sense that many people acknowledged him as a prodigy due to his skill, grades and genius-like accomplishments. So Kakashi had the same type of respect amongst his peers that Sasuke did, but he didn’t have the romantic popularity. Secondly, there was nothing that indicated that Rin’s love for Kakashi was just a shallow crush; it seemed very genuine:
When Kakashi was fighting against Gai during the Chuunin Exams while Rin and Obito were looking on from the stands, the way Rin was looking at Kakashi as he fought was definitely not the look of someone with a shallow crush; her face was filled with genuine happiness as she was watching him do well, and Obito could see this judging from his sullen expression as he was watching her observe Kakashi. Obito could see the love in Rin’s eyes as she watched Kakashi, and probably came to terms with the fact that those feelings weren’t directed towards him:
This greatly parallels the scene in the hospital during Part 1 where after Sasuke is awakened by Tsunade, and Sakura hugs him with all the love and affection in the world, Naruto also wore a very sullen expression, just like Obito did when he saw Rin watching Kakashi. And also just like Obito, it was probably in this instance where Naruto acknowledged that this kind of affection from Sakura was always going to be reserved for Sasuke, as he subsequently gave them some time to themselves:
The expressions that both Obito and Naruto wore as they watched Rin and Sakura show affection for Kakashi and Sasuke, had exactly the same meanings behind them:
Acknowledgement that Rin and Sakura’s hearts belonged to other people. And when Kakashi eventually won the fight against Gai, Rin’s face absolutely lit up in sincere adulation:
I could only really compare it to when Naruto won his fight against Kiba during the 3rd Round Prelims, and despite Hinata’s face not exactly lighting up in the manner that Rin’s did because the former was much more inhibited, you could still undoubtedly tell that the feelings of adulation were identical:
That’s why Rin’s love for Kakashi was genuine. So with that said, I honestly don’t know what would have happened had Obito and Rin survived. Team 7′s love issues were very easy to resolve because Naruto had Hinata who always loved him, so it was always easy to predict how things would end up. However, with Team Minato, Obito wasn’t shown as having someone who felt that way about him, so the direction their feelings would develop in is a lot harder to predict.
