Kakashi Hatake (はたけ カカシ, Hatake Kakashi) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Naruto created by Masashi Kishimoto. He is the leader of Team 7, originally consisting of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno. After Sasuke defects, Team 7 receives Sai as a replacement.
Though his name is written in the manga using kana, Japanese syllabic scripts that carry no particular meaning, the family name "Hatake" can be written in kanji (Chinese characters) as 畑, or 畠 which means "field" or "farmland". The name "Kakashi" can be written in kanji as 案山子, which means "scarecrow". Understandably, Naruto uses a scarecrow look-alike of Kakashi to practice on the day before Team 7's first test, since he then considered Kakashi as the main one to defeat. Also, when Sakura spies on Kakashi so he would take off his mask, he replaces himself with a scarecrow to get rid of her.
Kakashi is a popular character, consistently ranking in the Top 6 in Shonen Jump magazine's official polls.He has taken 1st place in these polls twice.