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Naruto is one of the most popular shows in the genre, even when shonen tropes have become somewhat repetitive in the eyes of the audience. However, this one anime has gained fans worldwide due to its fight scenes, animation, characters, and mysteries.
Naruto: Shippuden kept its audience engaged through 500 episodes, with both canon stories from manga and fillers from the studio. The longest-running joke of the series, however, is perhaps the most intriguing mystery.
One of the main characters in the anime, Kakashi Hatake, is seen wearing a headband and a mask, with the latter covering more than half of his face. This harbored a question from many people: Did Kakashi ever remove his mask in Naruto: Shippuden? The answer is both yes and no.
How Kakashi's face was revealed during Naruto: Shippuden
Fillers are an integral part of the serialization of a long-running story. Writers and directors often insert chapters and episodes that have nothing to do with the story but give the audience something extra to work with going forward. Much of the audience skip this part, while others feed on everything the creators produce.
Kakashi's unmasking came in the form of a filler, as the copy ninja's true face was first seen at a Naruto art exhibition back in 2015. Upon attendance, numerous visitors received a unique guestbook, Shinden Fu No Sho. This book uncovered one of the best-kept secrets in the series, as it showed everyone what the entirety of Kakashi's face looks like.
The story in the guestbook consisted of Team 7 discussing ways to uncover Kakashi's face. Later, the usual trio met a photographer looking to snap pictures of Kakashi's face. After a failed attempt by everyone, it was later revealed that the photographer was none other than Kakashi himself.
Studio Pierrot later adapted the entire chapter and released it as episode 469. The chapter and the episode can't be considered canon, since they don't officially tie in anywhere with the main plot. However, long-time fans got to see the entire face of one of their favorite characters after 15 long years.
Aside from this scene, Pierrot decided to give the fans a bonus and added another few frames at the end where Kakashi was seen putting his mask back on. So if there is a specific portion of the audience who have not seen the fillers, Kakashi will still remain unmasked for them.
But if the discussion revolved around the entire universe of Naruto and Kakashi's unmasking, then the answer should be yes, he did remove his mask at one point. Naruto: Shippuden has a total of 500 episodes, 295 of which are considered fillers.
Such fillers are released by the creators to keep the long-time fans happy with the back stories and screen time of their favorite characters. Episode 469 was well-received among the audience, as many were delighted to see one of the iconic characters in the anime get a long-awaited face reveal.
