#''Yamato has Big Feelings abt Kakashi which overwhelm him + freak him out. so he's trying to keep a distance between himself + the subject—

[mokutone]

Hi mokutone! I was wondering what your thoughts are on why Yamato insists on calling Kakashi senpai, even though Kakashi protests against the title. Thank you ^^

:O ! thank you for the question... this is gonna be another long one, so I'm gonna put it under a cut!

I go back and forth on this a lot!

Right now I'm of the mind that it's honestly kind of just...a comforting thing to him? I have two reasons for this.

1) Even though they share the same rank now, Yamato continuing to call Kakashi his "senpai" (despite Kakashi's insistence that they're equals now, and that he's Not Yamato's senior anymore) is about acknowledging and affirming the friendship that they had before, back in anbu.

(Generally, I think this is a big reason why Kakashi calls Yamato Tenzō too, and why I think Yamato is only superficially bothered by Kakashi calling him that)

2) I also think he might just not know what to do with a relationship outside of military hierarchy. Unlike Kakashi, unlike essentially everyone else in the village, he was never brought up in any kind of civilian or domestic environment. Even though Kakashi was raised by a shinobi, he would've seen civilians interacting in his daily life, and would have a general sense of how they interact with each other.

Yamato hasn't really had that! I think he can handle going to grocery stores and restaurants, teaching students, carrying out an interview, and helping people when they ask directions. He might get a little bit lost at parties, but then, if it's a party with games or with drinking he might find it a little easier.

Basically, I think that if there is a purpose to the interaction, it's very easy to carry out.

The thing is, if somebody is your friend, not your superior, not your mission partner, not even your co-captain, just...somebody you keep around because you like them...what do you do with that?

Obviously there aren't goals to that kind of relationship, there's not purposes, you just like them. Hopefully, they just like you. Isn't that kind of terrifying? I think, for Yamato, recatagorizing Kakashi from ''senpai'' to ''friend on equal footing'' might be just about as nervewracking for him as recatagorizing somebody from ''friend'' to ''lover'' might be for most other people.

There's no structure at all, a friend is just an amorphous bond of affection and love and shared experience. There's not really a guidebook for how to proceed. He doesn't really have much experience with it either, although I think we see him testing his boundaries a little in the anime,

What is a friend? What's appropriate interaction to have with a friend? Is it okay to feel like you are not directly doing anything to benefit the friend, other than existing? (Yes. Literally. Yes).

I think, because all he has known is being a lab experiment, and then a shinobi, generally he organizes his social interactions around completing a goal. I think when he goes drinking, the goal is to drink. If Karaoke is available, then that is a new goal to accomplish which can take the pressure off the other one. Also, it's possible to get better at Karaoke, which is even better! A goal that one might see progress in! (Well, he might even get a good grade in going to the bar; something which is normal to want and possible to achieve!)

In a conversation, if he is asked a question, the goal is to answer that question, or alternatively, to get his conversation partner to answer a question of his—an exchange of information is an exchange of trust. (Yes, this is certainly socializing. Yes, this is fitting in. It does feel good, really. It does feel natural. )

To my understanding, a senpai is somebody who you look up to and intend to learn from, somebody who has come before you—this has a goal. This has a purpose. This defines their relationship in an easily operable way. It is not amorphous, it is simple and linear, there are few fuzzy edges to get lost in. This is just Kakashi, who is very skilled, and Yamato, who intends to learn from him.

The problem, as I'm sure you've noticed and as Kakashi points out, is that while this label gives their relationship form, it also limits their roles within it. Kakashi is on a pedestal, and Yamato, beneath him.

Kakashi states his mild discomfort with this, he doesn't see their relationship this way! Yamato disregards Kakashi's opinion! Surprisingly, Kakashi allows Yamato to disregard it easily; (I think he understands that Yamato kind of needs to continue calling him senpai right now.)

There comes a point where this becomes kind of silly, right?

Yamato doesn't look up to Kakashi blindly—in team Kakashi's first mission with Yamato as captain, he seriously and openly criticizes Kakashi's method of leadership, and begins undoing some of the self-destructive practices that Kakashi inadvertently taught the kids.

Yamato has the power to rebuild the entirety of Konoha, to single-handedly restrain the nine-tails, and unfortunately, while being used by the enemy, to sustain an entire army of woodclones.

Kakashi is not his direct superior anymore, they're co-captains.

Still, somehow, Yamato insists that he will not let himself define his relationship to Kakashi as that of equals. While he obviously respects and adores Kakashi, I have to think that this choice on his part is not actually about Kakashi at all.

After all, if this was really about Kakashi, then when Kakashi told him "we're equals, you don't need to call me senpai anymore," then surely Yamato would have listened, and not flat out ignored Kakashi's insistence.