Sakumo Hatake

1. 1
   The White Fang rises

   A blade of white light

   Sakumo earns his name with the White Light Chakra Sabre — a blade that trails white chakra through the air. As the White Fang of the Leaf, his reputation spreads across the shinobi world.

2. 2
   Power beyond the SanninDebut Arc · Kakashi Gaiden

   A name that ended battles

   Sakumo's strength is spoken of as greater, alone, than that of Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru together. Enemy forces are said to have broken and fled at the mere sight of him.

3. 3
   The choice

   His teammates over the mission

   On a mission, Sakumo is forced to a decision: complete the objective, or save the lives of his teammates. He chooses his comrades — and abandons the mission to bring them home alive.

4. 4
   The village turns on him

   Branded a disgrace

   Konohagakure does not thank him. The village — and even the teammates he saved — brand Sakumo a failure and a disgrace for putting their lives above the mission.

5. 5
   Depression and isolation

   Worn down from within

   No enemy could beat Sakumo. The scorn of the village he had been so loyal to could. The shame and isolation press on him until the famed White Fang is a broken man.

6. 6
   His death, and the lesson it left

   Proven right, too late

   Sakumo takes his own life. His son Kakashi carries the wound for years — and, in time, comes to understand that his father's choice was the right one, and to teach it forward.

Sakumo was a swordsman whose reputation could win a battle before it began. His White Light Chakra Sabre, trailing its streak of white chakra, was the centre of a kenjutsu style strong enough that his name alone made enemy forces retreat. The shinobi world held that his power, on its own, surpassed that of all three Legendary Sannin together.

Play today's Narutodle or browse past answers.

• Who is Sakumo Hatake?+

  Sakumo Hatake is a jōnin of Konohagakure's Hatake clan, known across the shinobi world as the White Fang of the Leaf. He was the father of Kakashi Hatake, and a shinobi whose power was said to surpass the Legendary Sannin.
• Why is Sakumo called the White Fang?+

  Sakumo's epithet came from his weapon — the White Light Chakra Sabre, a blade that trailed a streak of white chakra each time he swung it. That white light, and his ferocity in battle, made him the White Fang of the Leaf.
• Why did Sakumo Hatake die?+

  On a mission, Sakumo chose to abandon the objective to save his teammates' lives. Konoha — and even those he saved — branded him a disgrace for it. The depression of being scorned by the village he loved led him to take his own life.
• Was Sakumo stronger than the Sannin?+

  Sakumo's reputation held that his power surpassed that of the three Legendary Sannin — Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru — combined. His name alone was enough to make enemy forces break and retreat.
• How did Sakumo's death affect Kakashi?+

  Sakumo's death deeply marked his son. For years Kakashi rejected his father's choice, putting mission rules first — until his own losses taught him that Sakumo had been right, a lesson Kakashi later passed to his students.
• Has Sakumo Hatake been a Narutodle answer?+

  Sakumo is in the daily answer pool of 210 characters. The Previous Narutodle Appearances list on this page shows every date he was the Classic answer, each linking to a replayable archive puzzle.
• How do you guess Sakumo in Narutodle?+

  Sakumo's Hatake clan is a rare signal — on the board, he shares it only with his son Kakashi. His Konoha village and Jōnin rank trim the answer, and his Nature column pairs Lightning with Earth.