okay I just saw fan art of Kakashi making this face
which makes me go feral so time for a kakashi meta that nobody wants or needs cuz i'm not gonna say anything new that everybody already knows
right so, that face, from the infamous scene where Obito convinces Kakashi whoopdeedoo you SHOULD care about teammates and friends actually
BUT THAT'S THE THING
THIS IS THE THING THAT MAKES ME SO FERAL ABOUT THSI
Kakashi ALWAYS cared about teammates and friends. Like it IS just a part of who he is. If he didn't actually care, it'd take alot more than a guy like Obito saying 1 thing to change his mind, because that was never the case
right? RIGHT YOU GUYS KNOW WHAT IM SAYING RIGHT
Kakashi's problem was never that he genuinely believed that he should prioritize rules over lives. Literally same scene, start of the scene, Obito asks him if he realizes what he's saying (ditching Rin to complete the mission) and THIS is the face he makes
He looks down BEFORE he looks up at Obito. Yes, he absolutely realizes what he's saying and he absolutely thinks it's messed up. He 100% thinks it's a gross and ugly truth, but it's still gross and ugly. Something he wishes weren't true. And then, what happens after that? Obito declares saving Rin takes priority over the mission. What does Kakashi do?
sdfasfdkmsafdlkaHE FREAKING LOOKS DOWN AGAIN and he just tells Obito the same dumb mantra he's had on loop in his head since his dad died about shinobis needing to carry out missions even at the expense of the team
Obito punches him, they get into an "argument" (ngl it felt more like Kakashi just word vomiting at Obito all the things he keeps telling himself to justify his own behavior because again, KAKASHI HIMSELF DOESN'T ACTUALLY BUY INTO IT, it's like he keeps needing to convince HIMSELF over and over)
Then Obito asks if Kakashi genuinely believes what he's saying/genuinely feels that way. And cue the face I go feral over.
HE DOESN'T
KAKASHI DOESN'T ACTUALLY FEEL THAT WAY
KAKASHI KNOWS HE'S FULL OF SHIT
He doesn't say yes immediately. He doesn't say yes with conviction. He looks down and away like he's guilty
And then of course he remembers his dad's suicide and
he hardens his resolve and THEN answers yes
Cuz what's really going on here? Kakashi's whole deal in the main series, yeah go after your friends, saving lives is more important, and he's always believed that. Obito was even SURPRISED when he first heard about baby-Kakashi suddenly going rules-comando-abandon-friendso because he had heard Kakashi declare that he cared about protecting his friends
we all know what's really going on here, *cough cough* Sakumo *cough cough* but like it's not JUST trauma
Kakashi is a child, he saw what happened to his dad, and MORE than being true to his own personal convictions, he's SCARED. He's scared of consequences. He doesn't believe you should abandon friends, but he is scared of the consequences of prioritizing them over the mission cuz he saw what happened to his dad
What do people do when they're scared? They try to gain control of the situation, his obsession with the rules, and they get angry, because anger feels better than fear. So now we have our cranky rules-driven boy
WHO STILL CARES ABOUT HIS FRIENDS
and does genuinely feel conflicted and horrible when he's forced to pick between being true to his own convictions, or listening to his fear
and moreso
What's the first thing Kakashi do when Obito begins leaving to rescue Rin himself?
he WARNS Obito, he wasn't trying to convince him as in "hey this is the right thing you need to do" he was trying to warn Obito because he didn't want to see what happened to his dad ALSO happen to Obito (also like, straight up sidenote, every time he lectures his team about rule following feels like he's trying so damn hard to like, make. them. get. it. IDIOTS he doesn't want you all to die the same way either)
LIKE GRRRRR
THATS WHY THAT FACE MAKES ME SO FERAL
We're watching real time someone betraying their own personal convictions because they're scared, and they're feeling ashamed over it. When you don't act in accordance to your own personal values, that can really mess you up as a person. It feels awful
And it does. So Kakashi doubles down, trying to justify his fear and drown out his actual beliefs but it clearly just makes him feel worse.
I think that's kinda the whole reason why Obito's whole "abandon your friends and you're worse than scum/trash" whatever hit him so hard. Right before that Obito told him that he thought his dad was a hero, followed by acknowledging that yes there is a stigma against breaking rules, but it's better to break rules and have friends alive, than to have been the "perfect shinobi" and people dead
because THATS WHAT KAKASHI WANTS TO BELIEVE
he wants to believe that his dad, his hero was RIGHT
he wants to follow his internal convictions
but the real kicker
Obito acknowledges that yeah, there are consequences, but are those really worse than letting people die? HE'S LITERALLY BOTH VALIDATING KAKASHI'S FEAR AND ALSO SAYING THAT KAKASHI'S INTERNAL BELIEFS ARE RIGHT AT THE SAME TIME
oh OH and lets not forget Obito complimenting Sakumo again, let's circle back to that. The root of Kakashi's fear all comes from that. And here's his teammate saying: A) hey idiot, saving friends IS important B) What your dad did was good, despite the consequences, he was right
Of course this doesn't sink in right away, but Kakashi does eventually double back because this all mattered to him
But yeah like, Kakashi never BELIEVED that the rules were more important, he was just scared of breaking them. He was MORE scared of the consequences
If Kakashi didn't already believe that friends mattered, Obito's words never would have reached him
anyways in conclusion, Kakashi was a child reacting out of fear and Obito helped him be brave, and I am feral over the clear answer to Obito's question "Do you really believe that?" because the answer is clearly "No" despite what Kakashi says, the answer is no, he doesn't believe that, but he's scared so he will still say yes
Thanks for coming to my TEDtalk about Kakashi in which I say nothing new
