When life hits you hard, be a Kakashi and not an Obito
Context: If you haven’t watched Naruto, this might not be worth your time. Also a lot of spoilers so SPOILER ALERT.
It all starts with two young aspiring ninjas. One is hyperactive, big dreamer and extremely passionate. The other is kind of a genius, smart and cool headed. Obito is the former and Kakashi is the latter. They compete and learn from each other. They end up being in the same team with a girl called Rin and mentored by Minato.
Their lives take a drastic turn during a team mission. This is during a war and their team is assigned a dangerous mission. A mission that a team mostly made up of inexperienced ninjas won’t be assigned under normal circumstances. It so happens that they have to split up during this mission. Minato was called to the front lines and Kakashi, who is now a Jonin, is made the leader of the group of three(Rin, Obito and himself). They are tasked with destroying a bridge to slow down enemy’s approach. During this mission, Rin gets captured by the enemy. This creates a divide between Kakashi and Obito. Kakashi wants to continue with the mission and Obito wants to rescue Rin.
I won’t get into the details but Kakashi is moved by Obito’s words and decides to help him rescue Rin from a cave where she was being held. They are successful in the rescue but as they are leaving the cave it collapses due to an explosion triggered by the enemy. Obito saves Kakashi from the falling rock but gets crushed under it in the process. Obito dies there(or so we all thought). This is a life changing event for Kakashi. He lost a good friend and a teammate while he was the team leader. Things get pretty dark from there.
A quick recap of Kakashi’s life after this incident:
Kakashi was an orphan having lost his father to suicide early in life. When Obito died, he asked Kakashi to always keep Rin safe from harm. In another mission during the war, Rin jumped in front of Kakashi’s attack(for reasons I won’t delve into) and committed suicide by his hands. After this incident, Kakashi became depressed and ruthless. He started avoiding making friends and kept distance from his peers. He joined an elite force called Anbu. His skill and ruthlessness was feared by all and he gained popularity as a ninja. Soon after, he also lost his mentor Minato to an attack on the village. He went on to mentor Team 7 and nurtured Naruto and Sasuke. He ended up being instrumental in saving the world and defeating Madara and Kaguya. He lost his father, his friends and his mentor but he kept going.
A quick recap of Obito’s life after this incident:
Obito grew up not knowing his parents and was raised by his grand mother. After this incident, he was presumed dead. He was however, rescued by a very old and dying Madara. Madara trained him and gave him strength by fusing him with white Zetsu. Madara tried to influence Obito to turn him against the world. Obito resisted it for sometime and tried going back to his team. He heard that Kakashi and Rin is in trouble and he witnessed Rin’s death by the hands of Kakashi. That is when he turned to the dark side. He trained further under Madara’s influence and attacked his own village. Minato lost his life in this attack. He also orchestrated the genocide of his own clan, The Uchiha. He went on to plot against the world and manipulated a powerful group called Akatsuki to do his bidding. He also started a 4th Ninja war killing many in the process and reviving Madara and Kaguya. It was only in the end that he realizes that he was manipulated and used by Madara for his own agenda and tries to make amends. He dies trying to save Kakashi once again.
Finally coming to my point. Both these individuals had life filled with tragedies. They kept losing people important to them due to war and conflict. While Obito decided that the only solution to war is to end free will and to control every individual, Kakashi decided to believe that someday there will be peace through mutual understanding and faith. He endured all the pain and trained the next generation to be better and hoped that they will be more successful in finding a solution to the conflicts. I feel there is a lot to learn from these individuals. In our life, we are often faced with tragedies. Some which are very hard to bear. But these tragedies give us two potential paths forward: one blames and hates the world for these tragedies, the other makes us willing to fight for others who are going though similar struggles.
Easier said than done, but if you are ever faced with a choice between becoming an Obito or a Kakashi, chose to be a Kakashi.