Shikamaru Nara (奈良シカマル, Nara Shikamaru) is a major supporting character of the series. He is achūnin-level shinobi of Konohagakure's Nara clan and a member of Team Asuma. Along with his team-mates, he makes up the new generation of Ino–Shika–Chō, just like their fathers were before them.
Source: http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Shikamaru_Nara
Background
Shikamaru was born into the Nara clan toShikaku and Yoshino. He has a long-standing friendship with Chōji Akimichi. They met even before joining theAcademy, when others ridiculed Chōji for his weight, Shikamaru soon abandoned the game and ended up hanging out with Chōji instead. Because of the kindness Shikamaru has always shown him, Chōji is unwavering in his loyalty to him, and will gladly give his life for Shikamaru.
Once they entered the Academy, Shikamaru and Chōji were among their classes' dead-lasts, along with Kiba Inuzuka and Naruto Uzumaki, spending their day pursuing what they deemed to be more interesting pastimes. In Shikamaru's case, he would spend all day sleeping; to Shikamaru, even the very effort of putting pen-to-paper was just too much effort for him to put into it unless he had to. Iruka Umino, their instructor, would give them all the same lecture. In the anime, around this time, Shikamaru, along with Chōji and Ino Yamanaka went searching for a set of kunai Chōji lost. During their search, they met a mysterious young boy named Yota. They soon learned to their amazement that Yota had the ability to manipulate weather, especially through his emotional state. Fearing how the village would respond to an outsider considering how much turmoil it had with the other nations, Shikamaru and the others decided to hide Yota's existance, giving him shelter in a treehouse and regularly bringing him food.
Personality
As a genin, Shikamaru Nara was the sort of unenthusiastic kid who liked to watch clouds. He preferred not to get involved in "troublesome" activities, pretending to be busy to avoid responsibility. He also does not like fighting, deeming it, as he does to most things, "troublesome". He is fully aware of this side of his personality. He even named himself "the number one at running away" or "the number one coward". In fact, his most commonly used phrase is "how troublesome" in the Japanese version, and "what a drag" in the English version.
However, when duty calls, Shikamaru has a strong moral compass and sense of commitment towards his comrades. Even though, by his own testimony, he lacks bravery, he will sacrifice himself and face almost certain death, for the sake of his friends and/or villagers without a second thought. Because of his raw leadership skill, he was the first genin from the Rookie Nine to become a chūnin. The weight of the decisions he must make as a chūnin and, thus, team leader have caused Shikamaru to mature rapidly. This was most evident after the death of Asuma. He vowed to protect and later mentor Asuma's child, so that the child could grow up to be a "cool adult" like Asuma. Shikamaru's sense of duty and commitment to the future of his village is also reflected in his willingness to enforce Konoha 11's recent decision to stop Sasuke Uchiha at all costs, even in the face of potential objections on behalf of the original members of Team 7.
Chōji Akimichi is Shikamaru's best friend. He respects and trusts him. He said that if he had to fight Chōji in the Chūnin Exams he would give up. After he left Chōji to fight Jirōbō, he told the rest of the team that Chōji is stronger than anyone else in this team.
Shikamaru enjoys playing thinking games, that older men are usually into, such as shōgi and Go (his teacher, Asuma, even said at one point "That kid is like an old man. He likes to take things slowly.").
Shikamaru's most distinctive character trait is that he considers most women bossy and "troublesome", particularly Temari, his mother and Ino. He usually defines them as aggressive, demanding, and sometimes even scary. Given his mother's tyrannical personality, this isn't too surprising. However, his father shares the exact same attitude, even though he married Yoshino in the first place. When Shikamaru questioned his father about why he would marry such a domineering woman, his father responded that even the toughest woman will show her gentle side to the man she loves.Nevertheless, Shikamaru is generally courteous to women, doing them favours and avoiding fights with them. He feels that men, like him, should be the ones protecting them and not the other way around. Despite the latter point, he almost exclusively fought against women during Part I of the manga, albeit because of circumstances that were mostly out of his control.
He has expressed a notably mature and modest interest in marriage and raising a family. He hopes to "marry a regular girl who isn't too ugly and not too pretty. Have two children, first a girl, then a boy. Retire after my daughter is married and my son becomes a successful ninja, and spend the rest of my life playing shōgi or Go. Then die of old age before my wife."
Shikamaru has also shown a little devious side. When he gets food for Chōji while he's in the hospital during the Chūnin Exams, the nurse tells him that Chōji has indigestion and that he can't have food. So, Shikamaru goes to Naruto's room to give him the food. When Naruto tells Shikamaru he wants to eat it in front of Chōji to annoy him, Shikamaru states "That is so mean… I like it."
Appearance
To further emphasise his personality, Shikamaru is regularly seen with a lazy or irritated expression. He has shoulder length dark brown hair tied in a spiky ponytail, narrow brown eyes. Initially he wore a simple pair of silver hoop earrings given to him by his father as a way to pass on his will to him. Upon becoming a chūnin, these were replaced by a pair of stud earrings which were given to him — and the other members of Team 10 — by Asuma Sarutobi. During Part I, his attire was rather plain, consisting of a green lined mesh T-shirt under a short sleeved grey jacket with green edges, adorned on both the sleeves and the back with a circle with a line through it, his blue forehead protectorworn around his left arm, brown pants, and blue sandals. After his promotion to chūnin, he also wore a flak jacket over his outfit.
During Part II, he has grown noticeably taller. His hairstyle remains the same, but he changed his earrings from rings to studs. He has also undergone a costume change, and among the members of Konoha 11, he is the only one to sport an attire more mirroring the standardKonohagakure's one: he retains his flak jacket, along with a black long sleeved shirt paired with matching pants and sandals, and green lined mesh armour on his wrists and ankles. The placement of his headband is the same as before, but only the metal part is visible, seemingly sewn onto the shirt itself. He is also equipped with a chūnin's tantō, horizontally strapped onto the back of his flak jacket via a brown strap. During the second part of the Hidan and Kakuzu Arc, he wore a utility belt around his waist with pouches attached to it.
Abilities
Shikamaru is a highly skilled shinobi, attested to by him being the first of his peers to be promoted to the rank of chūnin, as well as being made the Proxy Commander of the Fourth Division. According to Temari, Shikamaru could easily make jōnin if he wasn't so lazy. Even while he was still a genin in Part I, Shikamaru was among the few shinobi who detected and dispelled Kabuto's sleep-inducing genjutsu. In the anime, it was stated that he was offered a position as one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja, but turned it down in order to stay in Konoha and protect it. In Part II of the anime, he was seen being able to summon objects from scrolls to his advantage.
Taijutsu
Even though it is not his preferred fighting style, Shikamaru is a capable close range combatant and most often uses it as a method to employ the use of his shadow, seen when he attacked Hidan with a punch that came as such a shock to the latter that he could not evade Shikamaru's secondary, shadow attack. In the anime, he showed great skill with close-range combat.
Intelligence
Shikamaru's greatest trait despite his adolescent age is his mental capacities, most noticeably as a strategist and tactician; great enough to outsmart an entire squadron of Oto-nin who were stated to be of chūnin-level or above. While Asuma often played shōgi against Shikamaru, Asuma noted that he had never actually managed to beat him. Asuma became suspicious upon realising that Shikamaru was so good at these strategy-based board games, despite his abysmal grades in the Academy. As a result, Asuma administered an IQ test disguised as a game to Shikamaru, which revealed that Shikamaru's intelligence was beyond that of a normal genius, with an IQ of over 200 which is regarded as immeasurable intelligence. His intelligence has earned praise from the likes of Kakashi Hatake, who is also considered a genius, and Tobi, who considers it regrettable that Shikamaru is his enemy. In the anime, Sakura Haruno — who is also noted for her intelligence — once stated that Shikamaru was the smartest person in the Land of Fire.
Taking advantage of his normally calm nature, Shikamaru rarely loses his composure, able to make accurate choices during intense moments. Surprisingly astute for his age, he is highly aware of his surroundings and able to see through most deceptions. His intelligence is also highly adaptable, regularly using it to out-think his opponents, even manipulate them into a pre-set trap with various misdirections. Shikamaru is very resourceful, able to use the most random of tools to his advantage. His analysis doubles as a way for him to avoid a fight, or at least minimise injuries for himself or his allies.
From these traits, Shikamaru is able to easily focus on all data acquired to quickly and effectively analyse the situation to discern how an opponent's techniques works, devise counters, anticipate enemy actions, and quickly form effective plans; the pinnacle of his focus is commonly seen from his habit of putting his fingers together to create a circle and closing his eyes. After doing this he can quickly think ten moves ahead of his opponent with over a hundred strategies ready to be used, but his real skill is choosing the best one. Likewise, he can easily adjust or switch to an alternate plan at a moment's notice.
Because of his intelligence, Asuma believes that Shikamaru could become Hokage if he weren't so lazy. He is nevertheless given his share of responsibilities, such as helping the Fifth Hokage formulate defensive strategies and being made the Proxy Commander of the Fourth Division in the Fourth Shinobi World War.
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