Kakashi; What's his problem?

[Silver Fang]

We all know that Kakashi's favorite student was Sasuke, but what's his problem with Naruto? It's obvious he cared the most for Sasuke, but didn't it seem that, from looking at things, Sasuke was to only one Kakashi cared anything about. Here's why I say this.
During the Chunin exam, he pawned Naruto off on Ebisu
He cared enough about Sasuke to teach him Chidori, but he criticizes Jiraiya for teaching Naruto Rasengan
He seems to love putting Naruto down
He constantly underestimates Naruto
He holds, and values, Sasuke ten times higher than Naruto
These are some reasons. What do you think Kakashi's deal is?

[Katerine]

We all know that Kakashi's favorite student was Sasuke, but what's his problem with Naruto? It's obvious he cared the most for Sasuke, but didn't it seem that, from looking at things, Sasuke was to only one Kakashi cared anything about. Here's why I say this.
During the Chunin exam, he pawned Naruto off on Ebisu
He cared enough about Sasuke to teach him Chidori, but he criticizes Jiraiya for teaching Naruto Rasengan
He seems to love putting Naruto down
He constantly underestimates Naruto
He holds, and values, Sasuke ten times higher than Naruto
These are some reasons. What do you think Kakashi's deal is?

You must be a little behind. :) I'll try to avoid spoiling...

1. During the Chunin exam, he pawned Naruto off on Ebisu
He pawned Naruto off because Sasuke needed him more. That's all. Needed him, specifically, because he was the only one who could help Sasuke with his Sharingan. Naruto, OTOH, really only needed Kakashi because he needed to not feel like being abandoned - which is an emotion that's generally discouraged in shinobi. If nothing else, shinobi must be practical.

Plus, Kakashi did have a valid point in that Naruto would benefit from Ebisu's teachings far better than his own. It would have worked, too, if Orochimaru hadn't completely screwed up Naruto's chakra (which Kakashi had no way of knowing).

2. He cared enough about Sasuke to teach him Chidori, but he criticizes Jiraiya for teaching Naruto Rasengan
I don't remember him criticizing, but I'll take your word for it. He may have simply been criticizing because a) he considered Chidori something that Sasuke could handle, while Rasengan, being far beyond just about anybody's capabilities, would have been far beyond Naruto's, and b) Rasengan is quite a bit more damaging than Chidori. He probably wondered if Naruto was mature enough to be responsible with it. You can't really blame him... Naruto could be very responsible under very specific circumstances, but most of the time... he was really not.

3. He seems to love putting Naruto down
He doesn't love putting Naruto down. Naruto's tendancy to ignore tutelage in favor of thinking that he can just skip right to the end and develop awesome abilities gets on Kakashi's nerves. It gets on most people's nerves, and Kakashi has to bear the brunt of it.

4. He constantly underestimates Naruto
Hate to tell you, but... Naruto's demeanor encourages this. Especially before Shippuuden. Like I said, he brags about how he's going to become the next Hokage and surpass everybody, but tends to ignore all of the little steps that it takes to get there.

5. He holds, and values, Sasuke ten times higher than Naruto
This is a natural human tendancy. Kakashi explained this. Sasuke is like Kakashi. In more ways than just the Sharingan. Kakashi simply understands him better than he understands Naruto.

And... just so you know, I really like Naruto. But he does have his faults, and Kakashi, being Naruto's sensei, tends to get the full brunt of those faults, while at the same time, most of Naruto's best points tend to come out when Kakashi isn't around to see them.

[Silver Fang]

Plus, Kakashi did have a valid point in that Naruto would benefit from Ebisu's teachings far better than his own. It would have worked, too, if Orochimaru hadn't completely screwed up Naruto's chakra (which Kakashi had no way of knowing).
Kakashi would've known about the seal if he'd thought to check. I mean, if one of his students had been tampered with, why wouldn't he check the others? Also, Kakashi was pretty much setting up Naruto to lose, because I doubt the basics would be enough to help him defeat Neji. Also, if Naruto's basics were bad, why did Kakashi wait so late to say anything? I guess he was just waiting until he'd be able to pawn Naruto off on someone so he wouldn't have to teach him.

I don't remember him criticizing, but I'll take your word for it. He may have simply been criticizing because a) he considered Chidori something that Sasuke could handle, while Rasengan, being far beyond just about anybody's capabilities, would have been far beyond Naruto's, and b) Rasengan is quite a bit more damaging than Chidori. He probably wondered if Naruto was mature enough to be responsible with it. You can't really blame him... Naruto could be very responsible under very specific circumstances, but most of the time... he was really not.
Well, Sasuke was revenge driven, and power hungry, but Kakashi still trusted him. So, there's no reason he shouldn't trust Naruto. Except that he has a very elitest attitude.

He doesn't love putting Naruto down. Naruto's tendancy to ignore tutelage in favor of thinking that he can just skip right to the end and develop awesome abilities gets on Kakashi's nerves. It gets on most people's nerves, and Kakashi has to bear the brunt of it.
Since he wasn't much of a teacher, and spoent no time on Naruto, he didn't bear the brunt of anything too well. Kakashi, when it comes to Naruto, doesn't even deserve the title of "sensei."

Hate to tell you, but... Naruto's demeanor encourages this. Especially before Shippuuden. Like I said, he brags about how he's going to become the next Hokage and surpass everybody, but tends to ignore all of the little steps that it takes to get there.
Naruto is also the one that always ends up saving everyone. Naruto the "flunky" as KAkashi thinks of him, is even the one that saved his precious Sasuke from Gaara.

This is a natural human tendancy. Kakashi explained this. Sasuke is like Kakashi. In more ways than just the Sharingan. Kakashi simply understands him better than he understands Naruto.
That's no reasonm to be so obvious with the blatent favoritism.

[HolyWhippet]

Kakashi would've known about the seal if he'd thought to check. I mean, if one of his students had been tampered with, why wouldn't he check the others? Also, Kakashi was pretty much setting up Naruto to lose, because I doubt the basics would be enough to help him defeat Neji. Also, if Naruto's basics were bad, why did Kakashi wait so late to say anything? I guess he was just waiting until he'd be able to pawn Naruto off on someone so he wouldn't have to teach him.


Sasuke's cursed seal was pretty obvious to see. Kakashi could see it and knew what to do about it. Naruto never mentioned that Orochimaru hit him with a second seal and he seemed more or less ok. Kakashi had no reason to suspect anything was wrong with him.


Well, Sasuke was revenge driven, and power hungry, but Kakashi still trusted him. So, there's no reason he shouldn't trust Naruto. Except that he has a very elitest attitude.


Kakashi hoped Sasuke would see that revenge was a waste of time. It was also a matter of teaching Sasuke a technique he would need to win against Gaara. He could see that his sand defenses were near impregnible so he gave Sasuke a technique that could breach them.

There's also the question of whether Naruto could even learn chidori. Sasuke managed to learn it in time, but he has the sharingan to help him copy the technique. Naruto would have had to train from scratch. It's clearly not an easy technique as you have to focus your chakra to a point and add lightning elemental power.


Since he wasn't much of a teacher, and spent no time on Naruto, he didn't bear the brunt of anything too well. Kakashi, when it comes to Naruto, doesn't even deserve the title of "sensei."


What about when he was teaching all three of them how to walk up trees? The thing with Naruto is, he learns better by doing than by direct education. Explaining things to him tends not to work. Throwing him in a situation and seeing what he does often has surprisingly good results. Handing him over to Ebisu was a good move as Ebisu is an expert at teaching ninja techniques.



Naruto is also the one that always ends up saving everyone. Naruto the "flunky" as Kakashi thinks of him, is even the one that saved his precious Sasuke from Gaara.


Yes, but that is because Naruto inherently refuses to give up and he has the raw power and potential to win. He doesn't need to be closely guided most of the time. He gets training when it is required, but mostly he is able to get stronger by developing his own methods.

[Katerine]

Just a quick note: I've never actually known Kakashi to call Naruto a "flunkie," or anything even remotely like that. Perhaps he does in the English dub version (they sometimes alter things in the dub version for comic effect) - I wouldn't know. But in the subtitled version, the only thing I remember Kakashi ever calling Naruto was something along the lines of "Konoha's #1 ninja when it comes to surprising people." Which isn't even remotely the same thing as "flunkie."

On a related note, even before the Chuunin exam, Kakashi has been known to have high respect for Naruto - when he deserves it. The whole story arc with the bridge and the kid who lost his father springs immediately to mind. It's just when he's trying to teach Naruto the basics, and Naruto demands to learn something new and cool when Kakashi knows he still has problems with the basics but refuses to learn them, that Naruto tries his patience.

---

And I agree with everything HolyWhippet says.

Especially the point about how Kakashi really couldn't have known about Orochimaru messing up Naruto's chakra, no matter how much time he spent with Naruto. It was nothing short of sheer dumb luck that Jiraiya found out about it, and Jiraiya actually knew Orochimaru, and knew some of the specifics about the Fourth's seal.

Think about it. Thanks to Kyuubi, Naruto wasn't himself at the moment. Naruto's memory of his Kyuubi moments tend to be either foggy or absent. And even if he remembered anything at all... all he would remember is that when Orochimaru touched him, he passed out. IIRC, Sakura was unconscious at the time, and Sasuke's view of what was happening was obstructed, and he was too busy being confused anyway. So the only person who knew that Orochimaru had done anything to Naruto... was Orochimaru.

One of the only things they knew about Orochimaru was that he gave cursed seals which looked exactly like what Sasuke now had. They had no reason to believe that Orochimaru had done anything to anybody else, especially since Orochimaru himself was entirely focussed on Sasuke (to Naruto: "you're in the way"). Sasuke had the visible curse seal that Orochimaru had obviously gone out of his way to give him. Naruto did not.

Again, the only reason anybody found out about what had happend to Naruto, was that Naruto happened to practice his chakra control in front of Jiraiya (who, I'm convinced, is one of only a handful of people who would have understood what he was seeing), while half naked.

It would have been a rather incredible brain leap for Kakashi to say, "Naruto, you seem to be having trouble controlling your chakra. And even though you've always had trouble controlling your chakra, which is why I'm having Ebisu teach you in the first place (because he's better at teaching the stuff you need to learn than I am), I think the fact that you're having trouble now means that you've been tampered with in some way. So... I want you to practice your chakra control in front of me. But take off your shirt first."

And even if Kakashi had done that... he probably wouldn't have understood what he was seeing. Oh, he would have known that he was seeing Yondaime's seal. But he probably wouldn't have known that it looked wrong.

[animegates]

Kakashi always cared for Nauto. When Naruto turned into an evil he even helped Naruto to stop him turning into an evil one. His way of treating Sasuke is just a manifistations of understanding the life of Sasuke have and they both have sharingans, it means that if Sasuke was with him, he can train him well if theyre together and if they understand each other.

[Silver Fang]

Just a quick note: I've never actually known Kakashi to call Naruto a "flunkie," or anything even remotely like that. Perhaps he does in the English dub version (they sometimes alter things in the dub version for comic effect) - I wouldn't know. But in the subtitled version, the only thing I remember Kakashi ever calling Naruto was something along the lines of "Konoha's #1 ninja when it comes to surprising people." Which isn't even remotely the same thing as "flunkie."

He may never actually say "flukie" but from looking at his attitude, he obviously thinks that. Now, I don't think it's just Naruto. I think Kakashi did a bad job with all of the students in Team 7. The favoritism is just the main thing that stands out, and contributes to a few other things. He ignored Naruto & Sakura and he spoiled Sasuke. But, I really think Naruto would've done better if he'd been placed on Gai's team. Now, don't get me wrong, Kakashi is a great character, and i'm crazy about him, but I don't think he tried when it came to being a teacher. I'm not saying Kakashi being a crappy mentor is a fact, but it's just the way it's always seemed to me.


And I agree with everything HolyWhippet says.

Especially the point about how Kakashi really couldn't have known about Orochimaru messing up Naruto's chakra, no matter how much time he spent with Naruto. It was nothing short of sheer dumb luck that Jiraiya found out about it, and Jiraiya actually knew Orochimaru, and knew some of the specifics about the Fourth's seal.



And even if Kakashi had done that... he probably wouldn't have understood what he was seeing. Oh, he would have known that he was seeing Yondaime's seal. But he probably wouldn't have known that it looked wrong

You may be right, but it still wouldn't have killed Kakashi to at least check Naruto, or take him to Sandaime and have him look over Naruto. You can never be too careful when Oro is involved.