Chronicles: Kakashi Hatake

Chapter 3: life without obito

At some point during this time, Kakashi signed a summoning contract with the ninken. Later, in the anime, Kakashi and Rin's team was given Might Guy as a replacement. It was during this mission that Kakashi and Guy found true trust and team-work with each other, and where Kakashi famously split a lightning bolt with his Chidori, giving birth to its new name Lightning Cutter.[29] Later, during another mission, Kakashi met a young girl named Hanare of the Jōmae Village who was lost. He taught her about how the clouds can help her find her way and find her teacher.[30]

Kakashi Kills Rin
Kakashi unintentionally impales and kills Rin.
Sometime after the events at Kannabi Bridge, Rin was taken captive by Kirigakure. With the help of his nin-ken pack, Kakashi was able to track her down.[31] Kakashi was able to rescue her, but not before she was forcibly made the jinchūriki of the Three-Tails. While returning to the village, they were ambushed by jōnin and Anbu-level Kiri shinobi.[32] Rin, who knew about Kirigakure's plan to unleash the beast on Konoha, begged Kakashi to kill her. After he refused, Rin waited for Kakashi to attack, and intentionally got in Kakashi's path,[33] culminating in a tearful Kakashi piercing through Rin's chest with his Lightning Cutter, leaving the Kiri-nin stunned and Kakashi himself devastated.[34] Shortly afterwards, Kakashi and Obito — still alive and witnessing it from behind the scenes — developed their fully-matured Sharingan and subsequently awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan at precisely the same time.

Exhausted and overwhelmed with sorrow and grief at his part in Rin's death, Kakashi lost consciousness and passed out while Obito, whose own rage and grief manifested itself in his new wood-based abilities, went on a rampage and brutally killed all the Kirigakure ninja.[35] Though Kakashi technically was the one who killed Rin, Obito left him alive, and he was later found by Konoha reinforcements.[36] In the anime, despite his growing career, Kakashi was still haunted by having killed Rin with his own hand, having nightmares and visions that visibly shook him. Since then, Kakashi avoided his fellow classmates. When Minato was elected Hokage sometime later, feeling that Kakashi needed a new direction in life following the loss of Rin, he assigned Kakashi to join the Anbu despite his student's young age under his direct command.[37]