SHIKAMARU NARA'S PERSONALITY AND ABILITIES

SHIKAMARU NARA'S 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 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 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
usually 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.[4] 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 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 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." [5] 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 "mean... I like it."

SHIKAMARU NARA'S 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. In the anime, it was stated that he was offered a position in the Twelve Guardian Ninja , but turned it down in order to stay in Konoha and protect it.

INTELLIGENCE-
Shikamaru is a brilliant strategist. While his
former sensei, Asuma Sarutobi, often played shōgi against Shikamaru, Asuma had never actually managed to beat him. Asuma became
suspicious upon realizing that Shikamaru was so
good at board games, despite his abysmal
grades. As a result, Asuma administered an IQ
test disguised as a game to Shikamaru, which
revealed that Shikamaru was beyond a genius, with an IQ of over 200. His intelligence has
earned praise from the likes of Kakashi and Madara Uchiha, who considers him a worthy adversary. Sakura once said Shikamaru is the smartest person in the Land of Fire.

Shikamaru is able to use his intelligence in
combat to fit a number of purposes. By putting
his fingers together to create a circle and closing
his eyes so he can concentrate, Shikamaru
considers everything that has taken place in the
battle up to that point, even discerning how an opponent's techniques work. 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. This analysis doubles as a way for him to
avoid a fight, or at least minimize injuries for himself or his allies.

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 .

NARA CLAN'S TECHNIQUES-
Shikamaru's primary supporting move is the Shadow Imitation Technique. Later, he learned the Shadow Neck Bind Technique, which allows him to physically harm his opponent by means of
a shadow hand. After the time-skip, Shikamaru
also learned the Shadow Sewing Technique . This is more of an offensive technique, as his shadow
can now act almost as a set of tentacles, leaping
and twisting out of the air to attack multiple
targets. He also has the ability to simultaneously
use all of his techniques in astonishing co-
ordination. Using this technique on Ino's unconscious body after she used the Mind Body Switch Technique, he is able to counter an attack from behind with ease to protect his team mate.

Shikamaru also inherited Asuma's Chakra Blades after his teacher was killed. He learned to add his shadow to the knives, and created the Shadow Imitation Shuriken Technique. This allows him to "pin" his shadow on an opponent, without the
need of the Shadow Imitation Technique, giving
him far greater range, flexibility, and the ability to
move. Shikamaru can also use the Shadow Endgame Technique which allows him great control over his shadow allowing him to pick up
and throw tools, or pull in other objects. It can be
used to grab multiple objects like exploding tags, and attach them to a trapped opponent.