2. Kakashi Hatake Teaching His Students to Break the Rules

After serving for 10 years as a member of the Konoha Anbu, even reaching the position of Anbu Captain, the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered Kakashi to retire from his position. In return, Hiruzen assigned Kakashi to become a Jonin responsible for guiding newly graduated Genin.

Although tasked with training three students who had just graduated from the Academy and officially earned the status of Genin, Kakashi did not immediately accept them as his students. He set a qualification test as a condition to determine whether the Genin were worthy of becoming Shinobi and part of his team.

One of the methods Kakashi used in his test involved lunch. He once tied a Genin to a tree using ropes and gave two Bento boxes to the other two Genin. Kakashi set a strict rule: the two Genin were forbidden from giving any food to their tied-up teammate. After issuing this order, Kakashi pretended to leave them alone.

However, there was a consequence to following this rule. If the three Genin obeyed Kakashi’s command and refrained from sharing food, Kakashi would deem them unworthy of becoming his students and send them back to the Academy.

Team 7, consisting of Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto, also had to undergo a similar qualification test. During the training session, Naruto was caught stealing food and was punished by being tied to a tree. Kakashi then handed Bento boxes to Sakura and Sasuke, warning them not to share their food with Naruto. Kakashi emphasized that anyone who broke this rule would be immediately disqualified.

After giving his instructions, Kakashi pretended to leave Team 7, giving the impression that he was not watching them. From a distance, he observed the behavior of his three students. Sakura and Sasuke could not bear to see Naruto starving, especially while eating their food in front of him. In the end, they chose to break the rule and shared their food with Naruto.

Kakashi suddenly appeared before Team 7, pretending to be angry at them for disobeying his orders. However, beneath his feigned anger, Kakashi declared that Team 7 had passed his test.

Kakashi’s decision to pass Team 7 was not without reason. He firmly held onto the philosophy passed down by his childhood friend, Obito: “Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum.”

If Sakura and Sasuke had chosen to follow the rules without considering Naruto’s condition, they would have failed like the previous teams. However, their courage to prioritize their friend over the rules convinced Kakashi that they were a team worthy of his leadership.