Shikamaru Nara (Nara Shikamaru) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Naruto.

“Shika” means deer , and “-maru” means “round”, “circle”, or “well-developed”, but is commonly used as a suffix in boys’ names. The names “Ino”, “Shika” and “Cho” are also a pun on the “Ino-Shika-Cho” winning combination in Hanafuda.

His surname, Nara, is taken from the Nara Prefecture in Japan, and Nara ko-en (Nara Park), a park famous for deer whose antlers are used for medicines. Coincidentally, Nara Animation is also one of the production companies behind the Naruto anime. Nara was also the era when Buddhism was introduced to Japan. The Buddhist monasteries founded in the Nara Prefecture took the deer as their symbolic protector, and made hunting deer illegal in the prefecture. “Nara” also refers to maple, which is the plant associated with the shika card in Hanafuda.

In Shonen Jump’s character popularity polls, Shikamaru has been in the Top 10 since the third poll and is usually in the 4th or 5th place. In the most recent poll, however, he was placed 10th. He is the only character on his team to make it to the top 10.

Shikamaru Nara is a lazy member of Asuma Sarutobi’s Team 10, consisting of himself, Choji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka. Because their fathers were teamed together in the past, Shikamaru is on good terms with Choji and Ino, and as such the three work very well together. Of his teammates, Shikamaru is closest with Choji, who repays Shikamaru’s confidence in him with unyielding loyalty to Shikamaru. This is because when they were younger Shikamaru always helped Choji out and stuck with him. Shikamaru’s favorite foods are mackerel and kelp, with his least favorite being boiled eggs. His favorite phrases are “live each day quietly” and “life is serene”.

Being an extremely unenthusiastic person, Shikamaru lives his life avoiding work. In his free time, Shikamaru typically takes naps, watches clouds, and plays thinking games such as Shogi and Go. When put into a situation where he potentially needs to put effort into something, he attempts to try to find a way to avoid it such as by forfeiting a battle or by pretending to be preoccupied with something else. In the instances where he can’t avoid these situations, Shikamaru tends to remark “what a drag” (めんどくせぇ, mendokusē?). He is fully aware of this side of his personality, and even dubs himself “the number one at running away” or “the number one coward”.

Despite his lazy attitude, Shikamaru is quick to act when duty calls or his teammates are in danger. Using his Shadow Imitation Technique and its many variants, Shikamaru often plays the part of stalling enemies so that his comrades can get to safety or to simply buy time. Although this role puts him in a dangerous position once he can no longer stall the opponent, Shikamaru is more than willing to serve it, feeling that sacrificing his life to ensure the safety of his friends is worth it.

While Shikamaru is frequently put into situations that would call for his self-sacrifice, his genius and his exemplary strategic skills have thus far allowed him to escape these dangerous encounters relatively unscathed. Asuma, suspicious that Shikamaru was always able to beat him at Shogi and Go despite receiving abysmal grades at the Academy, disguised an IQ test as a series of puzzles to see how smart Shikamaru really was. In doing so, Asuma found Shikamaru to have an IQ of over 200, and learned that Shikamaru’s poor grades were a result of him finding the lifting of a pencil to be too troublesome. When using this trait in battle, Shikamaru puts his fingers together to create a circle and closes his eyes so that he can concentrate. While in this pose, Shikamaru considers every element that is relevant to the situation at hand and analyzes the information to its fullest. Once finished, Shikamaru is able to plan out a battle ten moves in advance and can devise over a hundred strategies to use against the opponent.

One of Shikamaru’s more distinctive characteristics is that he finds all women to be bossy and “troublesome”. This viewpoint seems to be largely due to his mother’s tyrannical personality, though also seems to be influenced by his father’s identical view of women. Of the women he has met, Shikamaru finds his mother, his teammate Ino Yamanaka, and the Sand ninja Temari to be the most troublesome women he knows. Despite his opinions on women, he has expressed a notably mature interest in marriage and raising a family, his goal in life being to, “Marry someone who is not too ugly and not too beautiful. Have two children, a girl, and then a boy. Retire after my daughter is married, and my son becomes a successful ninja and spend the rest of my life playing Shogi or Go. A nice, carefree retirement. Then die of old age,

Shikamaru is the only main character to be promoted to Chunin-level before the time skip. As such, he is often assigned to lead missions or carry out other leaderly duties immediately before and during the filler arcs. His first mission, to lead a squad to retrieve the runaway Sasuke Uchiha, ends in tragic failure; all members of his team are heavily injured and two are near death. Shikamaru dwells on this fact for a while, but later decides to continue leading missions. He resolves that as long as he leads the missions, he can protect them from death and promises never to put his team in danger again.

Over the timeskip, Shikamaru has changed very little, the only real difference being that he has gotten noticeably taller. He has also begun to wear ear studs instead of earrings, a gift to him from Asuma. During the Chunin Exams at the start of Part II, Shikamaru serves as one of the exam’s proctors. Shikamaru’s abilities with his shadow have also improved.

Shikamaru and Asuma

Over the course of the series, Shikamaru had formed a close bond with his Jonin leader, Asuma Sarutobi. The two are often seen playing Shogi together or simply conversing even if the rest of Team 10 is not there. Asuma recognized Shikamaru’s potential even through his abysmal grades and was the first to realize Shikamaru’s incredible IQ.

This bond is heavily emphasized in the Hidan and Kakuzu arc. Shikamaru is forced to watch helplessly as his beloved sensei dies at Hidan’s hands. To this, Shikamaru takes up use of Asuma’s trench knives and sets out to get revenge, ignoring Konohagakure’s regulations at first. As he ends his fight with Hidan, Shikamaru sees an apparition of Asuma congratulating him. Shikamaru notably ends that battle by setting off explosive tags with Asuma’s last cigarette. In death, Asuma’s final lesson still drives Shikamaru: the ninja is a pawn to protect the king, and that king is not the Kage, but the next generation.

Abilities

Coming from the Nara clan, Shikamaru specializes in shadow-themed ninjutsu. The first and most basic of these techniques is the Shadow Imitation Technique , Kagemane no Jutsu?, Viz “Shadow Possession Technique”, English TV “Ninja Art: Shadow Possession Jutsu”). The Shadow Imitation technique enables the user to control their shadow and combine it with their opponent’s, who is subsequently forced to mimic the movements of the user. Even partially conscious or unconscious targets can be made to mimic the user’s movements. This jutsu is extremely versatile, as the user can split their shadow to catch multiple targets, and extend and stretch their shadow, with the total surface area being the limit it can stretch, although it can go farther through combining with other shadows. The opponent can break free of this jutsu, but it requires enormous strength on the target’s part for this to succeed.

Shikamaru can also use the Shadow Neck Bind Technique (Kage Kubi Shibari no Jutsu?, English TV Shadow Strangle Jutsu) after the opponent has been caught in the Shadow Imitation Technique. This jutsu sends a shadow of a hand up the target’s body to their neck, choking them to death. This jutsu can also bind the limbs of opponents to further restrict exceptionally powerful opponents that can still move even when caught by the Shadow Imitation Technique.

Shikamaru has developed a variation on the Shadow Imitation Technique after the timeskip, known as Shadow Sewing (Kage Nui?). This jutsu allows tendrils of shadow to emerge from Shikamaru’s shadow, leaving the ground. These tendrils can be used as stabbing weapons, throwing implements, or a rope for binding opponents. Shadow Sewing can be used simultaneously with the Shadow Imitation Technique, splitting the user’s shadow. The Shadow Summoning Technique (Kageyose no Jutsu?) works on the same principle as Shadow Sewing, except that after the opponent is bound with the Shadow Imitation Technique, this jutsu produces tendrils from the opponent’s body.

After Asuma’s death, Shikamaru uses his chakra-absorbing trench knives. Shikamaru is able to use the Shuriken Shadow Imitation Technique (Kagemane Shuriken no Jutsu?) via channeling his chakra into Asuma’s weapons. The knives can then be thrown at the opponent’s shadow, paralyzing the target, at which point Shikamaru can cast his shadow and perform the Shadow Imitation Technique.

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