Naruto: Kakashi Hatake would have been stronger if Minato never died (and this theory explains it)

Some Naruto fans don't remember that Minato Namikaze shared the same bond with Kakashi Hatake, which the latter shared with the former's son, Naruto Uzumaki.

Kakashi was part of Team Minato when Minato was a teacher, and the other two members of his trio included Obito Uchiha and Rin Nohara. Unfortunately, he had to leave his team as he was set to become the Hokage of Hidden Leaf Village.

Kakashi was the only member of his team left alive (until Obito was revealed as alive in the later episodes) who joined the Anbu Black Ops later on. But if Kakashi had trained under Minato after the latter had left to become the Hokage, could he have inherited his teacher's iconic 'Flying Raijin Technique'?

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers from the Boruto Two Blue Vortex manga series and might contain the author's opinion.

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Naruto: Exploring Kakashi's potential if he had continued his training under Minato

Kakashi as seen in the Naruto anime (Image via Studio Pierrot)

Minato Namikaze, a legendary ninja, was appointed as the teacher of a team comprised of Kakashi Hatake, Obito Uchiha, and Rin Nohara. Like most teams, this team had no sense of teamwork at the start but slowly learned the importance of it.

Out of his team, Kakashi was the most gifted student who climbed the ranks of a ninja pretty quickly, and during the Third Great Ninja War of Naruto, he was promoted to a Jōnin. Minato was assigned the mission to destroy the Kannabi Bridge, which was the main source of supply for the enemy, and he took his students on this mission.

As Kakashi was of the highest rank among his students, he gave leadership responsibility to him as he left them to fight on the front lines. After returning, he found his students miserable as he could only save Kakashi and Rin. Obito was crushed under rocks and couldn't make it.

In a later mission, as the remaining members of Team Minato were fighting the enemies, Rin jumped in front of Kakashi's attack. This pierced her in the torso, and she died. She did this to save her village because the Three-tails were sealed inside her, and if it had lost control, it could destroy the whole village. Now, Kakashi was left all alone with the burden of two dead teammates.

Kakashi went into depression after this mission, as Minato was promoted to the next Hokage. Seeing the former's helpless condition, Minato sent the latter to the Anbu Black Ops so that he wouldn't overthink while being holed up alone in his room.

Instead of sending Kakashi to the Anbu, if Minato had taken him under his wing, the former could have been much stronger than he already is. As mentioned earlier, Kakashi was one of the most talented ninjas of his generation and the most talented one out of Team Minato. He could have taught Kakashi his 'Flying Raijin Technique.'

Minato's Flying Raijin Technique formula on his kunai (Image via Studio Pierrot)

The 'Flying Raijin Technique' was Minato's signature move. This technique involved embedding a formula on some object (in Minato's case, kunai). During the battle, wherever these objects with the formula were placed, the user of this technique could teleport there instantly.

This technique wasn't passed down in his generation as Minato wasn't there to teach Naruto this technique. Boruto can be seen using this technique in the Boruto: Two Blue Vortex manga series, but it wasn't explained how he learned this technique.

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Final thoughts

The Hokage Guard Platoon as seen in Naruto anime (Image via Studio Pierrot)

The Hokage Guard Platoon was a trio of trained ninjas that served directly under the Fourth Hokage (Minato Namikaze). To help them keep up with his Flying Raijin Technique, Minato taught them a less efficient variant of this technique.

This technique was called the Flying Thunder Formation Technique and had the same effects as Minato's Flying Raijin Technique. The only drawback was that it involved three ninjas to perform it. If Minato could have appointed Kakashi as a member of the Hokage Guard Platoon, he could have mastered it alone, given how talented he was.