my sister and i have been randomly rewatching older naruto episodes while we’re on our shippuden hiatus, and i’m so glad we picked this one the other night, because i had almost forgotten about this scene, and it’s EXACTLY the kind of thing i was talking about in that other post i made about the socially/politically-charged context kakashi must be constantly navigating in shinobi circles, given his family and personal history.
like - the vibe here…it’s kind of bizarre, you know? this entire exchange becomes fraught with a weird, unspoken tension. raido cuts kakashi off mid-sentence to propose doing exactly what kakashi was cautioning people against (jumping to conclusions and rushing to act without all the information) - which, first of all, is flagrantly disrespectful (you’re interrupting kakashi?? in front of the hokage and the entire Jonin Assembly??? kakashi has been a jonin longer than most of the people in this room) and second of all, it’s followed by an exchange where kakashi issues a veiled, deceptively calm correction and raido has sweat dripping down his face.
like - the last four gifs here are just too tense for the kind of simple discussion we’re hearing. the body language is like - there’s more going on here than just a minor disagreement over tactics. kakashi doesn’t bat an eyelash when he’s interrupted, but it’s not that raido’s rudeness has gone unrecognized, it’s just that kakashi never loses his carefully constructed, deceptively laid-back persona (cue me thinking about him telling sai “it takes a lot for me to lose my temper, too”…). he doesn’t have to snap back to make it known that he’s not pleased. he’s one of those people who, when he gets irritated, just gets more deliberate/controlled/“calm,” while whoever he’s talking to breaks out in hives, and some of that is just his natural personality, certainly, but i also wonder - how much of that is a result of the fact that stuff like this has been happening to kakashi for years? how many times has he had to bite his tongue in response to slights issued to himself or his family? (cue me thinking about adult shinobi talking shit about child!kakashi in obito’s flashbacks, about supposed comrades nicknaming a young teenager “friend-killer kakashi”and “cold-blooded kakashi,” about little kakashi telling gai “i can’t believe you couldn’t return a single punch, after what they said about your father” without realizing that he himself would soon be in the same exact position, unable to respond to a village-wide campaign of condemnation).
kakashi is older now, and he’s risen high enough in the ranks that he doesn’t let people steamroll over him, but he never makes a scene, either, instead issuing his corrections in ways that are simultaneously pointed and understated. eg: there are SO many levels of meaning to kakashi saying “……as we found out during the last Great Ninja War.” the way he’s perfectly still, only sliding his eyes over to give his fellow jonin a significant sidelong look - no wonder raido is sweating! i’d be sweating, too, if i had kakashi’s perpetually polite, measured voice subtly smacking me down in a way that is technically never uttered in words but still loud enough to be heard by every single silent witness in the room, one of whom is the most powerful official in the village.
i’m just interested in this scene as a moment that hints at what i was talking about in that other post, which is the fact that even if the show doesn’t show it to us often, kakashi has to navigate some truly complicated dynamics in his career as a leaf shinobi. all of the history with his father (aka, the fact that virtually the entire village’s older generation harassed the man to his death, and now kakashi is expected to work alongside them as if he doesn’t clearly remember this happening), and kakashi’s own personal reputation (both in terms of “cold-blooded kakashi” and his newer notoriety as an unconventional/maverick teacher [“it’s a good thing we didn’t get that jonin everyone talks about/“who does he think he is, making up his own criteria”]) - all of this must occasionally contribute to some VERY weird and/or uncomfortable vibes in the Jonin Assembly, most of which probably simmer unmentioned under the surface most of the time, like whatever’s going on in the gifset above.
