Nara Shikamaru

Nara Shikamaru (奈良シカマル) is a chunin level shinobi, and a member of Konohagakure's Nara clan. Though lazy by nature, Shikamaru has a rare intellect that consistently allows him to prevail in combat. The responsibilities that always leave him with success will eventually leave him with frequent annoyance, but he gladly accepts them so that he may be of service to his fellow members of Team Asuma, and to prove himself to generations of the past and future.

Background
Shikamaru was born on the day of September 22nd, therefore he is the only child of Nara Yoshino, and Nara Shikaku. When he was very young before even entering the Ninja Academy, he once played a "ninja" game with other children his age. Akimichi Choji wanted to play with them as well, but the other children refused to allow him to do so, by claiming he was too stupid and fat to participate including that the team he joins will lose. When Shikamaru couldn't convince the others to let Choji join while comparing it to Shogi, he just left the game and went to his favorite spot to watch the clouds. However Choji also happened to be sitting in same spot when he got there, so Shikamaru introduced himself. While Choji offered him some snacks, and he invited Choji to watch the clouds with him. From that point onward they were best friends.

Once they entered the Ninja Academy, Shikamaru had very little interest in the class itself, by preferring to spend his time sleeping rather than listen to long class lectures. Shikamaru also showed the same lack of enthusiasm for the tests he was given and couldn't be bothered to actually answer the questions, therefore leading to his poor grades.

In the anime, around this time, Shikamaru, along with Choji and Yamanaka Ino went searching for a set of kunais that Choji 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.

Later Haruno Sakura also learned of Yota's existance and soon join Shikamaru, and the others in secretly being the stranger's friend. They then confronted Naruto. They (while mostly Sakura and Ino) accused him of making Yota, who was a stranger to the village, disappear. Seeing them look at him with such distrust like the rest of the village, Naruto grew furious and ran away, so angry that people would like even an outsider over him. He then heard a young boy crying who strangely appeared to control the weather, making it rain with his tears. Naruto then realized this boy must be Yota, follow by Kiba and Akamaru also learning of Yota's existence. One day while playing hide and seek, Yota became very sad from a misunderstanding with Naruto. He caused it to rain, which alerted the ANBU. As they took Yota captive, Naruto and the others tried to stop the ANBU, but to no success.

Determined to save Naruto's first ever friend, Shikamaru and the others staged a plan with Naruto acting as a diversion. Despite finding Yota, the ANBU easily foiled their plan. Seeing how much Shikamaru and the others cared for him, Yota summoned bolts of lightning to knock the ANBU out. Greatly weakened by the act, Yota was carried out of the village, determined to bring him to freedom. Upon reaching a river, unable to walk over it yet, they chose to swim. Their attempts proved futile and nearly drowned, only to be saved by Yota. Having overtaxed himself, Yota felt his life fading. Happy to have had friends, Yota didn't want them to suffer with this sad memory and erased all knowledge of him from their minds.

Shikamaru then became a student to Umino Iruka. He is next seen reading his ninja textbook, but stops to see if Iruka will scold Naruto for sleeping in class. Shikamaru was seen looking at Sasuke do the kage bunshin no technique, and is obviously annoy at it. He then watches Naruto battle Sasuke, and laughs at him for failing the technique. However he becomes confuse when, Iruka tells him not to bother a kid like him. Shikamaru is then seen walking back to class with his other classmates. The next day he watches Sasuke do the shuriken technique, and is annoy by it. He then laughs after seeing Naruto fail the shuriken technique. A few days after the Uchiha Clan Massacre, Shikamaru is shown talking to Choji about his mom while comparing her to Choji's mother.

Shikamaru was next seen to be curious as to why Naruto was hated by the majority of the village. At one point he and Choji both witnessed a shopkeeper assaulting Naruto while the latter was harmlessly browsing for a animal face mask. While also seeing everyone glaring at Naruto with hostility. Shikamaru was next seen with Naruto, and Choji playing at the park. Once he sees how sad Naruto is without parents, Shikamaru hears his father calling out to him, and decides to drop Choji off at Choza's house. He and Choji say goodbye to Naruto, and Naruto says bye to them as well. Shikamru then tells Shikaku to stop holding his hand, which makes Naruto even more sad. But his father laughs, and asks him if he is embarrassed. While eating breakfast, Shikamaru then asked his father why Naruto was viewed like a disease. Shikaku did not answer his son's question but told him to follow his own feelings.

When Shikamaru and Choji saw Naruto heading off to the back hills on a dare of three boys, he remembered that a battle had taken place there quite recently and bearing no hostility towards him. Shikamaru angrily told Iruka of the danger Naruto was unknowingly walking into. He is lastly seen with Choji, when they tell Kakashi that Iruka went to find Naruto in the backhills. Kakashi tells them both to go back to class, and they do.

Therefore Shikamaru and Choji were among their classes as dead-last, along with Uzumaki Naruto and Inuzuka Kiba, by spending their day pursuing what they deemed to be more interesting pastimes. He and his friends would even hide in the training hall to get away from Iruka's class lectures. Shikamaru would even hang out with them at the park whenever the adults weren't watching him. As Shikamaru pays no attention to class, and throws a pencil at a sleeping Choji, startling him. Iruka chastises him for sleeping. Knowing it was Shikamaru who woke him up, Choji throws books at him. This makes Naruto complain about the noise, as he is trying to sleep. Iruka sends the three of them to the hallway. Therefore Choji offers them snacks, and when Iruka comes see them, they're all standing up asleep. So Iruka scares them awake. Shikamaru then says he will kill Iruka as the latter laughs at him.

Later, Choji asks Shikamaru for money to buy more snacks. In a later class, Naruto stands up to bullies bothering Hinata. Whereas Shikamaru thinks Naruto is stupid for intruding in other people's problems instead of minding his own business. But Choji angrily criticizes Shikamaru for thinking so. By saying that Naruto is just like him. Shikamaru tells him to say it in words he can understand. The two begin fighting, but Naruto interrupts it, and the three end up laughing. After class, the three see Sasuke rejecting a flower from Ino. She notices them, after they tease her and she runs after them. After losing her, they see Iruka flirting with some women. So Shikamaru tells Naruto to use his Sexy Technique. Afterwards Shikamaru says Naruto's technique was awesome. He and Choji say goodbye to Naruto. While Shikamaru complains that he doesn't want to eat at Choji's house.

When he reaches age 10 - 11, Shikamaru would get annoy to review whatever technique Naruto missed out while pulling pranks. Eventually before the start of the series, Shikamaru stopped wearing causal clothing, and started to wear clothes that had his clan symbol on it.

Personality
Shikamaru is naturally a lazy person, and his inclination is to do as little work as possible. As a Ninja Academy student and even during his early career as a genin, Shikamaru is able to get away with this, by spending his days sleeping, watching the clouds, or playing games of shogi and Go. His goal is to live unremarkably, free of anything of noticeably good or bad, and then to die just as unremarkably as he lived. When he is faced with the potential for conflict or commitment, he tries to find some way out of it, either by pretending to be indisposed or even outright saying that he doesn't want to do whatever it is.

In fact, his most commonly used phrase is Mendokuse (めんどくせー) aka "how troublesome" in the Japanese version. In the English version his commonly phrase is "what a drag" instead. Ironically he would stop saying his catchphrase two years after the war. However he never notice that he stop saying his catchphrase until he friends told him about it in person.

Although Shikamaru describes himself as "the number one coward", he has a strong moral compass and dedication to his friends. It is these qualities that earned Akimichi Choji's friendship, as Shikamaru was one of the first people to look past his weight, and find value in who he naturally was. It is also these qualities that force Shikamaru to move away from his lazy pursuits, as he finds himself volunteering to do work or to sacrifice himself if it will in some way benefit his allies. Such selflessness, once displayed during the Invasion of Konoha, exacerbates his "troublesome" situations: he is given the responsibility of leading his friends into battle, for which reason he does everything that he can to keep them safe. For which reason he is given even more responsibility over even more of his friends, and so on. He still clings to his lazy origins as much as he can; even if he can't spend his entire day being idle, he at least avoids having long-term goals or confessing any particular pleasure in the duties he's assigned.

Shikamaru undergoes a rapid maturity after the death of his teacher, Sarutobi Asuma, whose loss forces Shikamaru to recognize that the world is not safe and that he cannot be protected from it forever. After avenging Asuma, Shikamaru takes it upon himself to do all that he can to make things better for the future generation of Konoha, especially Asuma's then unborn daughter, Sarutobi Mirai and the Will of Fire. Since he wants Asuma's child to be a cool adult like Asuma.

He may still balk at the prospect of the work he must do, but he no longer runs from it, even going so far as to argue in favor of difficult choices if it will guarantee his friends' and village's survival. Shikamaru even agreed with the 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, in order to prevent Konoha from getting caught in a devastating war between the nations, albeit somewhat regrettably. He also resolved to be Naruto's adviser because he never wanted Naruto to suffer the same loneliness he suffered in his childhood again. In the Shikamaru Hiden, he describes his new goal in life as, rather than living unremarkably by himself and watching the clouds all the time, to instead make a world where his children or grandchildren can live that way if they choose to. He would even tell Naruto to eat more healthier, to never give up on his dream goal, and to never change his personality because that's who he is.

One of the more "troublesome" things that runs throughout Shikamaru's life are the women he knows: his mother, his teammate Yamanaka Ino, and his frequent companion, Temari. He describes each of them as aggressive, demanding, and sometimes even scary. Shikamaru tries to treat women delicately, being non-confrontational or at least polite to them and never asking anything of them that he believes he can do himself. During Part I, he generally believes he can do anything by himself, and as such is mortified if a woman needs to assist him in any way; his frustrations are similar when he repeatedly finds himself facing female opponents. Because his father, Nara Shikaku, has similar views and experiences with women, Shikamaru asks him for help in understanding them. Shikaku explains that men destroy themselves without a woman's influence and that women, despite how they may act, are kind to the men they love. As with most things, Shikamaru resists entanglements with women as much as he can; his Infinite Tsukuyomi dream world sees him successfully avoiding marriage entirely. He admits that going on a date with Temari is more scary, then learning what to do for a first date. However in the end, he marries Temari who he realizes is one of the most important things in the world to him and later has a son with her that they name Shikadai. Ironically, his relationship with Temari became very similar to his parents, where he once mocked Shikaku for being "whipped" to which he himself became.

Overtime, by having to come to recognize Naruto great contributions to the village despite his own hardships, Shikamaru came to sympathize for him, deciding to be there to support him much like the Second Hokage did for his older brother. To which, his newfound goal became to aid Naruto in his goal of becoming the Hokage and act as his personal advisor. Ultimately, as an adult, Shikamaru succeeds in this goal, often handling many duties to lighten the workload for Naruto as the Hokage. At the same time, he still holds much of his original carefree nature from youth. To which, he is not very strict with his son, viewing his acting out and/or punishments at school as a learning curve for him, trusting that Shikadai will find his way. He also wants Mirai to learn things on her own without getting help and wants her to figure out that she got her name from Asuma. However he also teaches her how to play Shogi.

Shikamaru takes up Asuma's smoking habit after he dies, his way of both coping with his death and keeping Asuma's spirit alive. He isn't seen smoking again in the manga after he avenges Asuma, but he is described as smoking in the Gaara Hiden and the Boruto movie novel. In the anime, the cigarettes are either removed or replaced with Asuma's lighter as the scene requires.

Appearance
To further emphasise his personality, Shikamaru is regularly seen with a lazy or irritated expression. He has fair skin, thick eyebrows, shoulder length black hair tied in a spiky ponytail and 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 chunin, these were replaced by a pair of stud earrings which were given to him — and the other members of Team 10 — by Asuma.

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 protector worn around his left arm, brown pants, and blue sandals. After his promotion to chunin, he also wore a flak jacket over his outfit. During his childhood, Shikamaru was seen wearing a long sleeve light blue t shirt with his clan symbol being on the front of it, follow by grey pant and blue sandals. He also wore a short sleeve blueshirt that had his clan symbol on it, grey pant and blue sandals. In a flashback of Naruto and Hinata's childhood, when Iruka asked him and his classmates to write down who would be the last person that they would like to spend their last day with if the earth was destroy, or if the moon was falling towards earth, Shikamaru was seen wearing his part I 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 standard Konohagakure'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 chunin'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.

Two years since the Fourth Shinobi War have past and Shikamaru's appearance excluding height and a more mature facial structure hasn't changed much. His ponytail is further out and much more spiky. He dons a more simple chest-guard with only one pocket on the left side of it. The chest-guard is a forest green with clipped-on shoulder pads and high collar. He also wears taller sandals reaching more past his calves.

Years later, Shikamaru's appearance becomes very much like his father, including a short chin goatee, but without any facial scars.

Abilities
Shikamaru's poor grades in the Academy gave his prospective instructors the impression that he would be an unremarkable ninja. This ends up not being the case; Shikamaru is a highly capable shinobi, attested to by him being the first of his peers to be promoted to the rank of chunin, and being made the Proxy Commander of the Fourth Division. He also single-handedly defeated Hidan, a powerful member of Akatsuki. In the anime, he was in charge of his own team and was offered a position as one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja, but turned it down in order to stay in Konoha and protect it. According to Temari, Shikamaru could easily make jonin if he wasn't so lazy, which he successfully did two years later after the Fourth Shinobi War. Years later, Shikamaru became the Seventh Hokage's assistant and right-hand man, as well as head of the Nara clan, further showcasing his abilities. His skills are apparent to those who get to know him, with Sarutobi Asuma, Temari, and Uzumaki Boruto all believing he possesses qualities to be the Hokage. Although he does not want the Hokage's responsibilities, his skills nevertheless result in other responsibilities being appointed to him. Many of these responsibilities are given to him involuntarily, but he is on occasion able to find his own motivation and proves to be no less competent.

Chakra
Not including his inherent laziness, Shikamaru's only real shortcoming is his chakra supply, which in Part I is consistently too small for to him use all the tactics he comes up with.

Ninjutsu
Shikamaru's primary battle tactics involves using his clan's secret techniques of shadow manipulation. His signature move, the Shadow Imitation Technique, connects his shadow to a target's, forcing them to mimic his movements; effective even if they are incapacitated. In the anime, while just starting in the Ninja Academy, Shikamaru was already skilled enough in this technique to subdue three Anbu (although he was too inexperienced to consider its weakness). Shikamaru briefly uses a tantō during Part II; he fails to decapitate his opponent with it as intended the one time he uses it, but still manages to leave a large gash in their neck.

He can also manipulate the shadows of his team-mates to effectively protect them should they be vulnerable to enemy attacks. Years after the Fourth Shinobi War, Shikamaru's power and prowess with the technique increased greatly, being able to utilise it effectively without moving or weaving hand seals. In Shikamaru Hiden, he is able to create shadow clones. He could even restrain Momoshiki and Otsutsuki Kinshiki simultaneously, forcing the former to use his Rinnegan to absorb the technique to escape.

Shikamaru also can use more advanced shadow techniques to directly combat enemies by utilising shadow hands and tendrils. Similarly, he can use his shadow to pick up and throw objects like explosive tags, and attach them to a trapped opponent. He can also use the Shadow Clutch Technique, which, proportionate to the amount of chakra used, is strong enough to grab and manipulate massive objects, capable of even lifting them in the air. After Asuma's death, Shikamaru inherited his master's Chakra Blades, learning how to flow his chakra into them and use them in tandem with his clan's abilities. This allows him to "pin" his opponent's shadow to the ground, without connecting his own shadow, giving him greater range, flexibility, and freedom of movement.

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.

Nara Clan Techniques
As a member of the Nara clan, Shikamaru's specialty is in manipulating his own shadow. His signature move is the Shadow Imitation Technique, which in the anime he learned before even entering the Ninja Academy. By connecting his shadow to a target's, Shikamaru can use the Shadow Imitation Technique to restrain their movements and force them to mimic his own. When used against opponents, they may be able to resist his control, requiring that Shikamaru exert additional effort to keep them bound; when used for whatever reason on allies or others who have been incapacitated, no resistance occurs and the process is accordingly much easier. Throughout Part I and II, Shikamaru must perform the appropriate hand seals in order to use his shadow, but in later years he is able manipulate it without them.

After he becomes a chunin, Shikamaru is taught the Shadow–Neck Binding Technique, which allows him to use his shadow to strangle those who have been bound with the Shadow Imitation. Like the Shadow Imitation itself, the Shadow–Neck Binding can only be used on flat surfaces, for which reason opponents can resist it if they're strong enough. In Part II, Shikamaru is able to use his shadow independently of surfaces: with the Shadow Sewing Technique, he can make his shadow into tendrils to either pierce targets, destroying them if small enough, or alternatively sewing them in place to assist his Shadow Imitation; with the Shadow Gathering Technique and Shadow Clutch Technique, he can use his shadow to interact with his shadow's surroundings, picking things up and moving them as he chooses. After the death of Sarutobi Asuma, Shikamaru inherits his chakra blades. Rather than use them in hand-to-hand combat as Asuma did, Shikamaru channels his shadow into the blades, allowing him to throw the blades at the shadows of targets that are out of his reach, pinning them in place in the same way as his Shadow Imitation does.

Nature Transformation
Shikamaru's nature transformation include fire and earth, but he almost exclusively uses the Yin Release of his shadow-based techniques.

Intelligence
After Shikamaru was assigned to Team Asuma, Asuma noticed that Shikamaru was much sharper than his Ninja Academy scores indicated. By disguising a number of intelligence tests as games and puzzles – the only way Asuma could get Shikamaru to be interested – Asuma discovered that Shikamaru has an IQ of over 200; his poor grades were because he was too lazy to take any of the written exams. It is chiefly because of his intelligence that Shikamaru receives as many responsibilities as he does, with the Fifth Hokage routinely pushing Shikamaru to use his intellect for his allies' and village's benefit. Indeed, the Hokage's faith in him is well-founded, as Shikamaru remains acutely aware of his own and others' limitations, allowing him to avoid surprise and unnecessary risk. By the time of the Boruto movie, he is regarded as the smartest person in Konoha.

Whether he is about to go into combat, issuing orders to those who are in combat, or is personally involved in combat himself, Shikamaru's general approach is the same: he remains aware of all actions that allies and opponents make, even things that seem insignificant at the time or that he doesn't yet understand; he keeps track of where everything is located in relation to everything else, even features that lack obvious practical use; he studies the behavior of all combatants, gradually learning how they react in any given situation. By then focusing on this vast amount of information – which he usually does by closing his eyes and cupping his fingers – Shikamaru can quickly think ten moves ahead of his opponent(s) and devise over a hundred strategies, from which he instantly picks the most effective. Such strategies are often highly elaborate and use multiple layers of misdirection, where he takes small victories just to eliminate extraneous factors, pretends defeat in order to re-position opponents, and engineers conditions that will lead opponents to defeating themselves.

During the Fourth Shinobi War, he is made the Proxy Commander. Obito even regrets that Shikamaru's ability to see through deception and correctly put together seemingly unrelated pieces of information is "wasted" in service to the Allied Shinobi Forces.

Other Skills
Even while he was still a genin, Shikamaru was among the few shinobi who detected and dispelled Kabuto's sleep-inducing genjutsu.

Introduction arc
He is seen in line with his classmates to do the transformation technique. Having graduated from the Ninja Academy, Shikamaru was first seen in the anime to be surprised by Naruto's graduation despite the latter failing the graduation exam. He was later assigned to Team Asuma along with Choji and Ino, who said moments earlier that she would not want to work alongside someone as lazy as Shikamaru, much to his amusement. He was then seen with the Rookie Nine, after they all graduate from the Ninja Academy. He was seen with Ino and Choji while they waited to meet their new sensei, Sarutobi Asuma.

Chunin Exam arc
Shikamaru, along with the rest of the Rookie Nine, participated in the Chunin Exams, commenting that it was "such a drag" that they were up against many candidates. During the first phase, Shikamaru had already figured out the true purpose of the written exam and was glad that Ino had figured it out as well when she used her Mind Transfer Technique on Sakura.

During the second phase of the Chunin Exams, Team Asuma stumbled across Haruno Sakura being attacked by some Oto genin. Although he said he didn't want to get involved, Shikamaru dragged Choji along once Ino joined the fray. The team then initiated the Ino–Shika–Cho battle formation, Shikamaru immobilising Dosu Kinuta. Soon after,Uchiha Sasuke awakened, his newly received Cursed Seal activated. As Sasuke prepared to attack the Oto genin, Shikamaru told Ino and Choji to join him in abandoning their roles in the battle as Sasuke's onslaught ensued.

In his preliminary battle, Shikamaru fought against Kin. He defeated Kin by sneaking his shadow under the thin strings she was using to control her bells; she did not notice that a string that thin and that far from the floor could even make a shadow. Shikamaru then took a shuriken from his pouch, with Kin, caught in his Shadow Imitation Technique, doing the same thing. Because of Kin's increased proximity to the wall of the arena, she knocked herself unconscious as Shikamaru ducked under her projectile. He was declare the winner of the match.

When Choji was hospitalised due to rupturing his stomach when he ate too much after his battle, Shikamaru brought him a basket with fruits, but Choji was forbidden from eating it. Shikamaru then found out that Uzumaki Naruto also in the hospital, and decided to give him the basket. Later, the two encountered Gaara, who was about to kill an unconscious Rock Lee in his hospital bed. The two young men, however, ambushed Gaara and Shikamaru bounded him with his shadow. Then they listened as he told them about the demon sealed within him, and his life. Gaara then threatened to kill them, but he was stopped by Gai's arrival.

In the anime, one day before the final round, Choji overheard Gai and Naruto talking about the "Fourth Hokage's legacy". Choji then told Shikamaru and Ino about this. Later Naruto and Sakura met with Team Asuma at the entrance. They ended up teaming up with Sakura and Naruto to find the "Fourth Hokage's Legacy". Through out their adventure Shikamaru showed his intellect solving multiple puzzles and ending up saving the other four multiple times. In the end he decided to give the "Fourth Hokage's Legacy" to Naruto realising that as long that someone from the Konoha gets it, they will be okay. However, they realised that this whole mission was made up by Gai and, partially, by Kakashi as a sort of extra special training.

In the final round, Shikamaru was matched against Temari, where it initially seemed as if he was just pointlessly attempting strategy after strategy. Temari assumed that he was simply buying time for the sun to set, furthering the range of his shadow. He was in fact manipulating her into a position in front of the exit to a tunnel which was dug out by Naruto during an earlier match, where he could guarantee that she was caught by his shadow from behind. However, after Temari was actually caught in his shadow imitation, he then simply forfeited the match, claiming to have spent too much chakra to proceed with any additional matches. Moreover, he said he did not like to hurt or hit women. Despite this, the rest of Team 10 could easily tell that his forfeit was purely out of his own laziness, but this may not have been true, as shown below. Despite having forfeited, Shikamaru's brilliant strategy impressed everyone, including the Hokage.

Invasion of Konoha arc
When the invasion of Konoha began, Shikamaru was able to dispel the genjutsu that swept through the stadium, though he pretended to be asleep to avoid taking part in the battle. Sakura noticed this, and forced him to help in pursuing Uchiha Sasuke. As they pursued Sasuke, they discovered that nine Oto ninja were following them, and Shikamaru chose to stay behind so he could stall them while the others continued to follow Sasuke. Using a clever strategy, he was able to trap eight with his shadow. However, the ninth Oto ninja hid in the trees, protecting the captured eight against Shikamaru's attacks.

Despite discovering the ninth's hiding place, he could not fight off the Oto ninja, after being drained from his earlier match against Temari. Asuma arrived in time to save him, and defeated all nine Oto ninja single-handedly. Shikamaru is later seen attending the Third Hokage's funeral.

Searach for Tsunnade arc
In the anime,Shikamaru made in appearance with his father. After Tsunade came back to Konoha to be the fifth Hokage. Shikamaru then saw Naruto,and was inform by Naruto about Tsunade's old lady like appearance, that can make her look like a young women. Shikamaru then ask his father, what the deal is with women. His father told him without woman around,then men will never extist. Shikamaru then thought that women were annoying.

Sasuke Retrieval arc
Because of his performance during the Chunin Exam finals, Shikamaru was the only Konoha genin that was promoted to the rank of chunin. Shikamaru was given his first assignment of forming and leading the Sasuke Retrieval Team to stop Sasuke from defecting from the village. Because Konoha suffered heavy casualties during the failed invasion by Sunagakure, Shikamaru was forced to limit the members of his team to genin. He immediately recruited Uzumaki Naruto and Choji, and then added Hyuga Neji and Inuzuka Kiba to the team. Upon setting out, Shikamaru formulated a plan on how to approach Sasuke's escorts, the Sound Four. Their presence was detected, and they were trapped by Jirobo. However, Shikamaru was able to find a way to escape. He was ultimately forced to leave Choji behind to fight Jirobo, but had no concerns that Choji would lose, and marked the team's path so that Choji could follow them.

The team continued to break apart, one member of the Retrieval Team engaging one member of the Sound Four. To give Naruto a chance to go after Sasuke, Shikamaru fought Tayuya. Tayuya summoned three demons, that she controlled with her flute and easily gained the upperhand against Shikamaru. Counting his remaining weapons, Shikamaru devised an elaborate plan. He threw eight kunai at Tayuya to see what finger movements she would use to protect herself with. Being unable to read her music he eventually took control of the three with his shadow, telling her how he found shogi fun because he could take over his opponent's pieces. Shikamaru then attacked with the three demons prompting Tayuya to remove the demons but she was still caught by his shadow. By activating the second stage of her cursed seal, Tayuya was able to resist Shikamaru's shadow.

Picking up a kunai that had missed her earlier she tried to slit his throat but was suddenly punched in the gut and caught by his shadow again, revealing that he only pretended to fall prey to her genjutsu, as he had used his shadow to break his finger to escape it. Shikamaru then explained about his plan and how he missed with that kunai on purpose to get her close while he then prepared his Shadow–Neck Binding Technique. As he was about to run out of chakra, he was saved by Temari. After Shikamaru gave her a tactical update she blew away her sound based genjutsu with her wind and then used a summon to finish her off.

Temari accompanied him back to Konoha, where they learned that Uchiha Sasuke had escaped, and that everyone on the team suffered injuries despite being helped by Temari's two siblings, Gaara and Kankuro. Shikamaru's initial reaction to the failed mission was to quit being a ninja altogether, but his father scolded him for being such a coward, explaining that his friends would then only be led by some other ninja. If they were to die under that ninja's command, Shikamaru would feel worse for not having been there to try and save them. When he was informed that everyone on the team would make a full recovery, Shikamaru cried out of joy and relief, and resolved to do better next time.

When Choji was release from the hospital, it was reveal that Shikamaru didn't attend Team Asuma's celebration at Yakiniku Q because he was training. He later saw Temari and the Sand Siblings off and, in the anime, was appointed as a Ninja Academy instructor.

Pre-Shippuuden Filler arc
Shikamaru did not make as many appearances as his team-mates during the anime's arcs, being preoccupied with his Academy duties. He appeared with Choji and Ino when they helped Naruto to pursue Mizuki and dealt with the Legendary Stupid Brothers. They performed their version of the Ino–Shika–Cho pattern to hold the brothers. They were able to stall them until Tsunade appeared and defeated the two brothers.

He assisted with missions around the village, but did not play a major role until the Trap Master Arc. Shikamaru was assigned to lead the other primary genin in the investigation of a man named Genno. Gennō had stolen blueprints that could be used to plan a potentially devastating attack during Konoha's period of reconstruction. Shikamaru proved to be a shrewd detective, quickly catching onto seemingly minor clues and predicting the enemy's plans. He also proved more comfortable in his role as leader, though not without complaining to Tsunade first about having to do anything at all. In the end, he led his team to victory and beat Genno at his own game, leading to the old man's death.

He appeared again when Gaara was challenged by the Four Celestial Symbols Men, a group of ninja wielding strange and powerful weapons. When they kidnapped one of Gaara's students, Shikamaru led the Konoha 11 (minus Tenten) to provide assistance, and repay their debt from the Sasuke Retrieval Arc. Shikamaru rescued Temari from Kujaku, another wind-user. He then worked with Temari to defeat Kujaku. After the mission, he sees the Sand Siblings and Matsuri depart from Konoha. when Shikamaru learns that Choji was release from the hospital. He turns down the offer to celebrated Choji's discharge with his team at Yakiniku Q. It was reveal that Shikamaru turned down the celebrating to train more.

Two years after Naruto left the village to train with Jiraiya, Tsunade contacted Gaara as the newly appointed Kazekage, asking him to meet in Konohagakure. When Gaara arrived with his siblings, Shikamaru was assigned to greet and lead them to the meeting. At the meeting, which Shikamaru joined, it was discussed for Konohagakure to host an early Chunin Exams to help restore the village's reputation after Orochimaru's attack on the village ruined the previous exams. In hopes of getting approval from other villages, Tsunade asked for Sunagakure to co-sponsor this event. The Sand siblings noted that Tsunade had a second agenda to go with this idea. After Tsunade revealed her hopes of luring out the Akatsuki with this event, Gaara agreed to the plan. After the nature of the impromptu exams were decided, Shikamaru helped see the Sand Siblings off as they left the village, with Temari once again teasing Shikamaru's previous crying.

Later, as Team Asuma began discussing their joining the exams, it became noted that with Shikamaru already a chunin and therefore ineligible to join, it left the rest of the team short. Ino came up with the idea of having Haruno Sakura fill in for the exams. Shikamaru would then be chosen as the invigilator for the first phase of the exams. Once the participants were situated, he announced what the first exam entailed, stating that each team must answer one of three questions with their combined score equaling 100. After surveying the exams through monitors and time was up, he announced to everyone of a bonus question asking to which team-mate you would sacrifice as a decoy. Also stating that the person picked would be eliminated. This was a ploy by Shikamaru as you were not suppose to sell out any of your team-mates and thus those who didn't answer the question passed. He later congragulated the participants who passed the first round, leaving the rest up to Temari who is in charge of the second round held at her homeland.

Ultimately, the Chunin Exams were ended early before starting the finals due to controversy happening in the second exam. When discussing with Gaara how to handle things, it was decided by Gaara that a report on each participant would be sent to their respective village leader for them to decide if they would be promoted. Shikamaru then aided Tsunade in deciding which of the Konoha-nin would be promoted. While hearing that Ino and Choji are now at chunin rank like him, Shikamaru remarked that Naruto will be very angry on the fact that he is still a Genin, since the Konoha 11 went up a higher rank than him.

Rescue the Kazekage arc
Two and a half years later, at the beginning of Part II, Naruto ran into Shikamaru and Temari soon after returning to the village. Naruto initially thought that Shikamaru and Temari were a couple, although both denied this, explaining that they were working on planning for the next Chunin Exams. This later prevented him from helping with Naruto's first attempt to look for Sasuke, but he was able to help during Naruto's brief scuffle with Sai.

Sasuke and Sai arc
Shikamaru meet up with Naruto with Choji and both reconciled with one another and then Sai attacked, Shikamaru and Choji assisted Naruto against him but Sai escapes, and later meeting up with Sai again and later befriended him.

Twelve Guardian arc
In the anime, when Konoha was invaded by Furido and his team, Tsunade put Shikamaru in charge of Konoha's defence. He grew frustrated that his friends were fighting on the ground while he was on the back lines. Shikamaru stated that a strategist must lead his troops from the front line, and not be afraid to take risks. After getting Ino, Shikamaru led the counter-attack against the undead, ordering an attack plan which drove the enemy back. Later, Shikamaru used his Shadow Imitation Technique to bind Sora. He was seen later after Naruto's battle with Sora. He and Asuma dicuss who the King is, while playing Shogi.

Kakuzu and Hidan arc
Shikamaru was revealed to be a member of the Nijū Shōtai, where he was teamed up with Asuma, Izumo Kamizuki, and Kotetsu Hagane in an effort to track down and eliminate any and all members of Akatsuki. Eventually, the team found one such member: Hidan, and, as Shikamaru restrained Hidan with his Shadow Imitation Technique, the rest of the team were able to co-ordinate a finishing attack on Hidan. When it was revealed that had done little to stop Hidan, Hidan's partner, Kakuzu, appeared, forcing Shikamaru to release Hidan.

As Asuma battled Hidan, Hidan began a ritual that caused all damage done to himself to be inflicted on Asuma as well. Because of Hidan's apparent immortality, Hidan was able to use this to his advantage, giving himself injuries to easily harm Asuma while not being affected by the debilitating blows himself. To help Asuma, Shikamaru captured Hidan with his shadow once again, and adopted his meditative analysis of all of Hidan's actions and words up to that point. He quickly realised that the "link", created when Hidan consumed Asuma's blood, could only be maintained by Hidan remaining within the blood seal that he had earlier drawn on the ground, so Shikamaru pulled him out of it. With damage done to Hidan no longer harming Asuma, Shikamaru tied Hidan down with his Shadow Sewing Technique, allowing Asuma to decapitate the Akatsuki member.

However, even this was not sufficient enough to kill Hidan. After Kakuzu reattached his partner's head, he joined the fight and pinned down Izumo and Kotetsu, while Hidan managed to bind Asuma to his curse jutsu again by stepping back into the blood seal. Shikamaru rushed to the aid of his sensei just as Hidan impaled himself with his spear, delivering the final blow to Asuma. Choji and Ino arrived as back-up, and Hidan and Kakuzu were driven off. Ino tried to heal Asuma, but there was nothing she could do, and the students were only able to listen to Asuma's final words. To Shikamaru, Asuma said that he had great potential, perhaps enough to one day become Hokage. After Asuma died, Shikamaru began smoking his first cigarette, blaming its smoke for his tears.

Shikamaru did not attend Asuma's funeral, instead coming up with a plan to defeat the Akatsuki duo. This was drawn out considerably in the anime, where his father made an attempt to comfort him with a game of Shogi, though Shikamaru could only blame himself and was too invested in revenge. When he finished his preparations, he set out with Ino and Choji. They were stopped by Tsunade, who insisted that they stick to the usual four-man team. Kakashi appeared, and volunteered to help, so Shikamaru quickly modified the plan to accommodate for his presence.

Upon finding Hidan and Kakuzu, Shikamaru used Asuma's trench knives, swelling with his shadow, to restrain the Akatsuki members by pinning their shadows. With the two unable to fight back, Shikamaru prepared to trap the two with his Shadow Imitation Technique to allow him more of an advantage, though Kakuzu was able to escape before Shikamaru could ensnare him. With Hidan under his control, Shikamaru used Hidan to attack Kakuzu, forcing him into a corner where Kakashi attacked him with his Lightning Cutter. This destroyed only one of Kakuzu's four extra hearts, and, surprised by this turn of events, Kakashi and Team Asuma regrouped. After being left on the defensive for a while, Shikamaru concluded that they must separate Hidan and Kakuzu if they were to win. To this end, Shikamaru again caught Hidan with his shadow, and led him away.

Once far enough, he covered the area in explosive tags to corner the immortal. The time limit on his Shadow Imitation then ran out, so Hidan was able to attack him, get some blood, and initiate his ritual. Hidan quickly stabbed himself in the heart, causing an apparently dead Shikamaru to keel over. Shikamaru was, however, alive and well; the blood had been Kakuzu's, Kakashi having taken a sample when he earlier used Lightning Cutter. In effect, Hidan stabbed Kakuzu in the heart. With Hidan oblivious, Shikamaru tried to decapitate him with a short sword. The cut was too shallow to sever the immortal's head, prompting Shikamaru to capture him in a Shadow Imitation instead - albeit a much weaker one at this point, with his chakra running low.

As Hidan tried to attack Shikamaru, Shikamaru used his Shadow Gathering Technique to cover Hidan with the explosive tags in the area. With Hidan tied in place, Shikamaru activated a mark he had prepared before the battle, causing the ground beneath Hidan to collapse into a pit. Hidan cursed at saying once he was free he would kill him, but Shikamaru explained that the surrounding forest was the property of the Nara clan; only they were allowed to enter or leave the forest, thus ensuring that Hidan's remains would never be found while one of his clan's deer, Rikumaru watched on. In the anime, after lighting a cigarette, Shikamaru flicked Asuma's lighter at Hidan, setting off all of the explosive tags at once. Hidan's remains fell into the pit and, as he swore vengeance against Shikamaru, Shikamaru forced a cave-in. With the battle won, he regrouped with his team escorted by Rikumaru, Kakuzu having also been defeated by Naruto, and returned home. When he got back, Shikamaru stated to Kurenai that it is now his ambition to protect and train the next generation of ninja.

Tsuchigumo Kinjutsu arc
Shikamaru is seen in a flashback by Naruto.

Invasion of Pain arc
Shikamaru was left in charge of deciphering Jiraiya's dying message about Pain. When informed by Shiho and the department's leader that the Konoha Cryptanalysis Team couldn't break the code without some sort of key, Shikamaru approached Naruto for help. Using his own experiences with Asuma's death, he helped him to get over Jiraiya's death, pointing out that they would someday both have students, and would also go to great lengths to protect them, just like Asuma and Jiraiya. Revitalised, Naruto helped to decipher the code which revealed the message: "The real one is not among them." Shikamaru proceeded to figure out what this meant, but was interrupted by Pain's invasion of Konoha.

In the anime, Shikamaru immediately goes to check on Kurenai, arriving in time to kill the Giant Centipede attacking nearby. He then helped Kurenai to an underground passage to evacuate. After the village's destruction, he and his father were shown to have survived, although Shikamaru received a broken leg when he shielded Shiho from harm. They regrouped with Ino and her father, and pooled their knowledge of Pain to try and figure out his secret. They discovered that Pain had a main body that must be nearby, so Inoichi and Shikaku went looking for it. Because his leg made it difficult to move, Shikamaru stayed behind. Later he joined in on the celebration of Naruto's victory over Pain.

Konoha History arc
After Naruto defeated Pain, Iruka, along with Suzume and Daikoku Funeno approach the ruins of the Ninja Academy to salvage things for class. They split up and Iruka sees the destroyed academy, remembering when he began as a teacher and the day Sarutobi Hiruzen assigned Naruto to his class. Though he refused at first, due to Naruto being the jinchuriki of Kurama, Iruka accepts.

The next day, Naruto pulls a prank on Iruka but instead of scolding him, Iruka tells Naruto sit in his seat, remembering the advice given to him from Daikoku. Shikamaru is first seen in class sitting next to Choji when they met Iruka. He is next seen reading his ninja textbook, but stops to see if Iruka will scold Naruto for sleeping in class. Shikamaru was seen looking at Sasuke do the kage bunshin no technique, and it is annoy at it. He then watches Naruto battle Sasuke, and laughs at him for failing the technique. When seeing Naruto being bullied by the other students because of his failed attempts to be better than Sasuke, Iruka tells them not to bother a kid like him. He is then seen walking back to class with his other classmates. The next day, Naruto learns that Sasuke is the only surviving member of the Uchiha clan.

The next day, with Naruto is absent in class. Iruka asks everyone if they seen Naruto. But everyone says no. Shikamaru was next seen to be curious as to why Naruto was hated by the majority of the village. At one point he and Choji witnessed a shopkeeper assaulting Naruto while the latter was harmlessly browsing for a face mask. Seeing everyone glaring at Naruto with hostility. Shikamaru was next seen with Naruto, and Choji playing at the Playground. Once he sees how sad Naruto is, without parents. He heards his father calling him, and decides to drop Choji off at Choza's house.

He and Choji say goodbye to Naruto, and Naruto says bye to them as well. Unknown to Shikamru that Naruto is watching Shikaku holding Shikamaru's hand, which makes Naruto even more sad. Shikamru asks Shikaku to let go, and his father laughs, and asks him if he is embrasesed. Shikamaru then asked his father why Naruto was viewed like a disease. Shikaku did not answer his son's question but told him to follow his own feelings.

When Shikamaru and Choji next saw Naruto heading off to the back hills on a dare of three boys, he remembered that a battle had taken place there quite recently and bearing no hostility towards him, tipped Iruka off of the danger Naruto was unknowingly walking into. He is last seen with Choji,when they tell Kakashi that Iruka went to find Naruto in the backhills. Kakashi tells them to go back to class, and they do.

Back in the present Shikamaru, along with Shiho, was looking at a table filled with salvaged photos of villagers. They were trying to sort them out to give them back to their rightful owners.

Team Asuma tries to round up some hogs for the villagers to eat. Noticing their teamwork, Shikamaru remembers a time where the team also worked closely together in order to complete a mission. After a village headman's granddaughter was kidnapped by Baji, he hired Konohagakure's Team 7 and Team 10 for assistance. When the teams accepted the mission to stop Baji and rescue the girl, an ex-bandit named Tōfu acted as their guide. Shikamaru then instructed Asuma and Kakashi to find an alternate route to the Baji's fortress. Tōfu later gets captured and is revealed to be a double agent working for the gang leader. When the six genin infiltrated the fortress, Shikamaru agreed to a hostage exchange between him and Tōfu in order to find out the location of the Headman's granddaughter. Ino and Chōji managed to find the tower where the hostages were held, and later, helped defeat Baji. The mission ended with a success, the bandit group were captured, and the headman's granddaughter was rescued. The scene then shifts back to present time, where Ino and Shikamaru leave Chōji the arduous task of carrying all the hogs back to the village.

Five Kage Summit arc
When news reaches Konoha of Sasuke's recent dealings with Akatsuki, Team 10, Team 8, and Team Guy decide that they should personally kill Sasuke before he involves the village in a war. Shikamaru volunteers to approach Team 7 on the group's behalf and inform them of their decision. Sakura reluctantly agrees with him. Because Naruto is in the Land of Iron, Sakura offers to tell him for Shikamaru. When Naruto returns to Konoha he meets with Shikamaru and the others to tell them he understands their reasons, but asks that dealing with Sasuke be left to him.

Chikaku arc
Shikamaru is seen battling some of Kabuto's reincarnated shinobi.

Adventures at Sea arc
Shikamaru begins to feel the pressure of shouldering the lives of his friends in the upcoming Fourth Shinobi War. To help ease his mind, Shikaku sends his son along with Tenten on a mission to Mokuzu Island to replenish supplies. On the island, Shikamaru meets up with Naruto's group. Soon after they set sail, the fog around the area gets thicker and they encounter reef systems, a huge rock and a whirlpools again and again. Shikamaru figures that their ship is sailing through the bay in circles and tells Naruto and the others to sail straight for it and get swallowed up. The criminal, on seeing the ship wrecked, arrives at the spot with his gang to loot the wreckage. Having stored the ship in Tenten's scroll, they proceed to defeat the criminals.

At a meeting held by the Hyuga clan regarding the impending war, Neji is appointed as the commander of the clan on the frontlines by Hiashi which shocked some of the members. Hinata later meets with Kurenai where she is told by Shikamaru that he and quite a few of the other members of the Konoha 11 had seen Naruto since he left the village and that Tsunade was looking for her.

Hopeful that Tsunade had in fact requested her to go on a mission so she could see Naruto she goes in search of her only to be disappointed. She along with the other females of the Konoha 11 and Shiho are later invited by Tenten to a girls night out at Yakiniku Q. Somewhat saddened that he wasn't invited, Choji comes up with the idea of a guys night out at the same place. The two groups talk about Naruto and the past, reminiscing about the first Chunin Exams. The girls are later joined by Shizune and a moderately intoxicated Tsunade. Tsunade attempts to apologise for how she dismissed Hinata earlier but Hinata tells her it was fine as she knew what she had to do. The next day during her training with Neji she tells him that she bore no ill will towards him for her father's decision and that he was the right person to lead them in the war.

Konohamaru,Moegi and Udon are training to prepare for the upcoming war. After heading to the hospital, Haruno Sakura makes them carry and stack boxes. Konohamaru, wanting something more important to do leaves with his team ranting. Shikamaru asks Konohamaru who the "King" was and writes the kanji for King on a stone shaped like a shogi piece and gives it to him. Konohamaru then goes to see Tsunade who outright says no. Frustrated after seeing Temari who was there to deliver a message from Suna as well as check on the progress of the village after Pain's invasion. Konohamaru later challenges Temari while she is on her way home. The two have an intense spar with Konohamaru being unable to land an attack on Temari.

Eventually after Temari taunts him that the Sarutobi clan was left with no good heir and that Uzumaki Naruto had a poor pupil. The two almost end up severely harming each other but the fight is stopped by Shikamaru who had been informed of Konohamaru's intentions by Udon and Moegi. After hearing Moegi's story, Konohamaru realises that the 'King' he wanted to protect were the civilians of the village who were unable to defend themselves. Shikamaru smiles at him and Temari compliments him for mastering such a high-level technique and then Team Ebisu for being such promising young shinobi, and then leaves. Shikamaru then told Tsunade Konohamaru's dream is to become Hokage. She then has a flashback of her late brother,Nawaki. Then she has a another flashback of Naruto,and realizes that Konohamaru is just like Naruto and Nawaki.

As Team Asuma considers the impending war, they encounter Kosuke Maruboshi who reminds them of the time that they rescued him while they were still genin. With this, Kosuke retells the tale of the time their fathers saved him during the Invasion of Konoha with their Formation Ino–Shika–Cho. Somewhat rattled by this story, Kosuke reminds them that great shinobi weren't made in a day. As the team contemplates everything, they decide to perfect their own formation, insisting that they'd be fine because they were not alone.

Confining the Jinchuriki arc
Shikamaru and his father attend a war council to discuss the village's preparations for the looming Fourth Shinobi War. Although Shikaku believed his son is too young and inexperienced to be there, Shikamaru resolved to use every brain cell he had to memorize everything during the meeting. In the anime, before attending the meeting, he sees Naruto being chased by Konohamaru and he can't seem to get Naruto and the Nine-Tails out of his mind and remembers of what Hinata and Yamato said to him earlier, resolving to doing everything possible to protect him.

Fourth Shinobi War arc
When the war begins, Shikamaru is placed in the Fourth Division alongside Choji. Although Gaara is technically the commander, Temari tells Shikamaru that, as Gaara's proxy, he is effectively in command. Shikamaru, Choji, and other members of their division are later sent to provide support for the First Division. They meet up with Ino - sent as backup from her own division - and they team up to help Darui fight Kinkaku. Shikamaru restrains Kinkaku with his shadow but only barely holds him long enough for Ino to use the Mind Body Switch Technique on Kinkaku, leading to Kinkaku's capture within the Kohaku no Johei. Ino–Shika–Cho next engages the reincarnated Kakuzu. As they prepare to face him yet again, he points out that he is not the only ninja to have been reincarnated: Asuma is on the battlefield too.

As Asuma's students and thus experts on his fighting style, Shikaku leaves fighting him to Ino–Shika–Cho. Shikamaru goes after Asuma with his shadow to create an opening for Choji to attack him, but Choji is reluctant to attack their late teacher. While Choji struggles to find his resolve, Shikamaru tries to hit Asuma with his Shadow Imitation Shuriken Technique. Asuma blocks it with a kunai and goes after Choji, forcing Ino to transfer her consciousness to Choji's body and fight for him. Shikamaru looks after her unconscious body, using his shadow to make it imitate defensive actions against white Zetsu. With encouragement from Shikamaru, Ino, and even Asuma, Choji finds the resolve to fight. Shikamaru again uses his shadow to create an opening, allowing Choji to fling Asuma into a cliff wall. Shikamaru pins him there with Asuma's old Chakra Blades. Defeated, Asuma congratulates them on their perfect teamwork before being sealed.

The battle continues into the night and Shikamaru assists Chōji in mopping up the rest of the reincarnated ninja. Before they can claim victory, Tobi appears on the battlefield with the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. While the Statue wreaks havoc, Obito goes after the Kohaku no Jōhei and the Benihisago. Remembering information given to him by Temari about the Statue and the tailed beasts, Shikamaru deduces that Obito plans to use the brothers' Nine-Tails-chakra. Obito calls Shikamaru a worthy adversary for figuring out what he had planned, and has the Statue attack him. He is saved by Choji while Uchiha Obito escapes with the brothers. After the attack subsides, Shikamaru is seen planning with the rest of his team and Tenten.

The next day, the Allied Shinobi Forces are in turmoil over who to trust thanks to the White Zetsu clones that had infiltrated their ranks. In the anime, things grow even more difficult when the Sound Four are summoned to the field. Still shaken over his last encounter with the personal guard of Orochimaru, Shikamaru has his allies stay back. Telling them that they still can't be sure of who to trust, Shikamaru instead faces Tayuya personally as only he knew the methods behind her attacks. While noticing that her genjutsu-range had grown considerably, Shikamaru easily countered her sound-based technique with ear-plugs. Shikamaru then impales the Sound ninja to subdue her. However, his victory is short-lived, as Tayuya engulfs them in a strange technique. Shikamaru's body was left in a comatose state while his soul was sent to a new location where it was reanimate within a large barrier. Inside, the inhabitants are able to battle normal. However, the Sound Four inform their enemies that in time, their actual bodies' halted chakra flow will eventually cause them to die. In addition, killing the Sound Four will not undo the technique.

Despite the initial stalemate, the Sound Four's enhanced Cursed Seals grow even stronger from their accumulated malice, quickly overwhelming the Konoha ninja. Seeing that, Shikamaru begins to intentionally provoke them, knowing that Naruto's new senses would pick up on it. Eventually, Naruto finds them and breaks through the barrier, allowing Inoichi, through a telepathic connection, to release the technique and restore Shikamaru and the others to their bodies. Upon awakening, he is tearfully hugged by a relieved Ino.

Later, in order to counter the mayhem of the White Zetsu Army clones until Naruto arrived to differentiate them, Shikamaru has everyone draw circles around themselves that they were not allowed to leave or enter another one. When Ino asks him if they couldn't just ask questions to confirm each other's identity, Shikamaru tells her that's there too big a chance that an enemy could simply guess the right answer. He later tells Dan who Uzumaki Naruto was, and his dreams of becoming Hokage after Dan initially mistakes him for Nawaki.

After being informed by Inoichi from HQ that Naruto and B were fighting the "masked Madara", Shikamaru and the rest of the Konoha 11 rush to his aid. As he runs, he tells Chōji that he'd expect nothing short of Naruto overdoing things on the battlefield and because of his short temper, he wasn't one to calmly think a plan through, so Naruto should wait for him.

Upon arriving at the battlefield, Shikamaru noted that with the Hiding in Mist Technique and Insect Jamming Technique working in tandem, it would make it harder for the opposition to sense them. He later relayed that the rest of his division had arrived before standing alongside all the remaining members of the Allied Shinobi Forces to face their opposition. When it later proved that their efforts had been futile as the fully-matured Ten-Tails emerged from the hole it had been trapped in and began going on a rampage, a visibly saddened Shikamaru listened to what would be his father's final battle strategy for the Alliance as a Tailed Beast Ball hurtled towards HQ. He thanks his father for everything telepathically, and accepts the role of master strategist in his father's place. Choji tries to comfort Shikamaru, but Shikamaru reminds Choji and Ino that they are still in the midst of battle, and that they didn't have the time to grieve. He later learns of Neji's death.

After Kurama had accumulated enough chakra, Naruto sent a shadow clone to give Kurama's chakra to Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, and the rest of the Allied Shinobi Force. As Kurama's chakra surrounded him, he began the strategy that his father imparted to them. With Choji and several other Akimichi stopping the beast's tails, Ino took control of Uchiha Obito once again, veering another would-be-fatal attack off course. Working with several of his own clansmen, they and Shikamaru immobilised the beast, and signalled to Ino that she could release her technique now that they had rendered it immobile.

With the situation on the battlefield getting dire when the Ten-Tails creates an even larger Tailed Beast Ball, Shikamaru formulated a strategy and requested that Ino connect him to Kitsuchi. Once connected, he requested that Kitsuchi teach the entire division the seals for the simplest of earthen defences. Explaining that they were going to attempt to fight quality with quantity in an attempt to deflect the attack, Shikamaru then requested that Ino connect him to the remainder of the Alliance where he imparted the hand seals to be used in his plan. Their valiant efforts as well as Killer B's, however, prove to be little hindrance to the attack. The Alliance was saved, however, by the arrival of Namikaze Minato on the battlefield.

With Sasuke's subsequent appearance, Shikamaru, along with Choji, warns Ino to be cautious approaching him, as he is still a dangerous criminal. He denounces Sasuke, stating with Shino that he cannot be simply forgiven after all he has done. Shikamaru and the rest of his peers are then left dumbfounded after Sasuke claims that he will become Hokage. He then comments on the reunion of Team 7, saying that he doesn't want to trust Sasuke but they have a war to worry about. He then charges at the Ten-Tails with his friends. Ino then rallies her own team together, for them to perform Formation E. While Choji uses his Multi-Size Technique, and Shikamaru uses the Shadow Clutch Technique on him, Ino uses her sensory abilities to lock onto all of the clones in the surrounding area, before putting her own sensing perception into Shikamaru's mind. With Ino acting as the mind, Shikamaru as the body and Choji as the yo-yo, the trio perform the Human Bullet Yo-Yo technique, obliterating all of the surrounding clones.

As Choji prepares to double in size to strengthen his assault, Shikamaru states that the team has a lot more to show, with Ino then berating him for his sudden competitiveness with the other teams. He then watches Naruto and Sasuke as they attack the Ten-Tails, quietly cheering them on. His mood, however, changed severely and he became very contemplative after seemingly hearing Sai's question Sasuke's motives, although he told Ino when she asked what was bothering him that it was nothing.

Later when the shinobi began to lose morale watching the titans on the battlefield clash, Shikamaru had Ino link him to the Alliance once again where he told them to watch diligently as no matter how small, they could exploit an opening presented with their combined power. Later after Obito launched another attack, Shikamaru willed himself to remain calm while he analysed the situation and create a strategy to counter the attack. Drawing a blank on how to counter this attack, Shikamaru and the others soon found themselves shrouded in the previous Version 1 mantles again. Believing that Naruto intended to shield them with the shroud again, Shikamaru subsequently found themselves on the outside of the barrier, escaping the near-fatal attack thanks to Naruto and Minato's action.

Ready to begin the final stages of his plan, Obito unleashes the Ten-Tails' true form, the original source of all chakra known as the Shinju. It began unleashing countless branches, attacking every living target to absorb its chakra, killing the victim in the process. One of the few survivors of the ordeal but severely drained of nearly all his chakra, Shikamaru collapsed in Choji's arms. Drifting in and out of consciousness, the young man apologised to his parents for his failings. Shortly after when Senju Hashirama had Ino link everyone telepathically to inform them of what his original had learned about the Eye of the Moon Plan and the Shinju, Naruto's senjutsu-enhanced Tailed Beast Mode combined with Ino's telepathy causes his emotions and personal memories to be conveyed to everyone. Still weak, but conscious, Shikamaru sympathised with Naruto over the loss of Asuma.

As Naruto joined Sasuke in attacking Obito, the residual chakra still inside Shikamaru expanded and began to aid in healing him. While Sakura believed that Naruto was splitting his attention between fighting and healing, Ino explained that it was actually Naruto's chakra acting off his subconscious will. Thinking back on his time with Naruto, Shikamaru drew strength from his belief in him, and the hardships Naruto had faced. Shikamaru resolved to stand by Naruto's side as his adviser when he became Hokage, believing he needed someone intelligent around him, similar to the role Tobirama had played with his brother Hashirama. This way, Naruto would never be alone again. Finally recovering enough to sit up, Tsunade later appeared on the battlefield and expedited his recovery with her abilities.

Later mobilising alongside his comrades when Naruto called for them, Shikamaru and the others were shocked when they are enveloped by Naruto's Tailed Beast Mode mantle. Using the Rasengan formed in Kurama's tails, Shikamaru and the others were able to break down Obito's defences giving Naruto and Sasuke the opportunity to land a fatal blow. He and his other comrades later assisted Naruto with wresting the control of the tailed beasts' chakra from Obito in order to stop the Shinju from blooming. Shikamaru once again used the telepathic link to rally the forces telling them that no matter how small, their combined efforts would help greatly in the long run.

Though they are successful in stopping Obito, Shikamaru and the rest of the Alliance are soon faced with the fact that Madara was able to revive himself. Before they can even contend with Madara, the Alliance is confronted by Guruguru who overwhelms them with his massive animate statue. After a timely save by Hiruzen, Shikamaru noted as the Alliance was running out of chakra, Hiruzen was the only one left able to contend with the enemy.

He later watched on as meteorites once again fell to the ground close by him. He noted that not only had Naruto's chakra had disappeared, but the Shinju had also disappeared. His feeling of foreboding is realized after they all fall victim to Madara's Infinite Tsukuyomi. He was stuck to the Shinju tree. Inside the genjutsu, Shikamaru dreamed of his sensei and father still alive with their respective spouses. Watching the differently possibilities in marriage, and decided to not even bother with it himself in which Temari agrees.

Ultimately, Shikamaru and the rest of the world were freed from the genjutsu by Naruto and Sasuke after ending the war. While back in the village, Shikamaru speaks with Naruto. Soon after he attended the funeral of his father and Neji. Then he sees Tsunade give the Hokage hat to Kakashi. He also becomes Kakashi's assistance. He then brings Naruto to the Ninja Academy later on.

Blank Period
Two months after the war ended, A member of the Ryūha Armament Alliance delivers a message containing Rahyō's demands to Tsunade. After confirming the story, Tsunade radios Shikamaru Nara - who is currently in charge of the Blood Prison - with what is happening. As they try to decide what to do, Lee breaks into the transmission to inform Tsunade that Kakashi and Guy are on the ship. Shikamaru has Ino Yamanaka contact Kakashi and Guy while Tsunade assembles Konoha's available personnel, with the exception of Naruto. She sends all the Konoha 11 members except for Naruto to the blood Prison to help Shikamaru.

At the Blood Prison, Konoha's forces watch the Tobishachimaru high above, wondering what's happening on board. They eventually notice that the Tobishachimaru is rising higher into the sky and conclude the threat is over. Parachutes start descending around the Prison and the Konoha ninja prepare to meet them, but are surprised when they start detonating holes in the Prison's walls. Shikamaru realizes what must be happening and coordinates efforts to stop the parachutes from hitting the ground and also saving the people the explosive are attached to. Meanwhile, as prisoners start to escape, Armament Alliance forces storm in looking for Garyo. As they get a handle on neutralizing the bombs, Shikamaru sends some of them after the escaped prisoners while he goes after Garyo. As he nears, however, he finds Garyo coming toward him instead, Ino already being in control of his body. Shikamaru escorts Ino/Garyo back to the Blood Prison.

Four months later, Kakashi prepares to read a letter. As he opens it, he recalls the Five Kage's inspection of the Blood Prison under Kahyo's care and how she met with their approval by humiliating the Fourth Raikage in a fight. He tries several times to read the letter, but keeps getting interrupted by other villagers, all of whom seem to know that the letter is from Kahyo yet who all seem to be badly misinformed about the nature of his relationship with her. He discovers this is Naruto's doing, who is openly publicizing his fantasies about Kakashi's feelings for Kahyo. Kakashi attacks him in anger, but decides to let it go when he realizes Naruto is only upset for being excluded from the whole affair. To make it up to Kakashi, Naruto invites him and everyone else to Ramen Ichiraku.

Two years after the end of the Fourth Shinobi War ended, Shikamaru lies on the roof of the Hokage Residence in Konohagakure, wondering how his life went so awry. Once, he wanted to spend his days watching the clouds, having an unremarkable life that would end with an unremarkable death. Starting with his promotion to chunin, however, he was increasingly heaped with responsibilities, culminating with his most recent job of advising the five Kage and coordinating missions for the Shinobi Union, the successor to the Allied Shinobi Forces. Shikamaru decides that he won't get up until somebody else forces him to.

While watching the sunset, Shikamaru sees one of Sai's ink birds approaching the office of Kakashi Hatake, the Hokage. Eager to finally have news about Sai's mission, Shikamaru rushes to the Hokage to hear his report. During the War and every month since then, a large number of shinobi (almost exclusively young, single men) have been deserting their hidden villages and then disappearing. The number of missions has also seen an unusually sharp decline. From investigating both matters, Kakashi believed the Land of Silence - a samurai-run country on a distant continent - was involved. He sent Sai and a team of ten Anbu to investigate.

Kakashi and Shikamaru are concerned by a number of things in Sai's message: the clear haste it was written with, not having Sai's characteristically clear handwriting; his report that his entire team has gone missing; his warning of the threat posed by Gengo, the Land of Silence's strangely charismatic leader; Sai's choice of words that suggest he is awed by Gengo and doubtful of the Shinobi Union. What troubles them most, however, is the fact that Sai did not deliver the report in person. It is apparent to Kakashi that, if nothing is done, the Union will inevitably go to war with the Land of Silence. In order to avoid this, Gengo must be assassinated. Shikamaru does not hesitate to volunteer for the job, chiefly so that he can try to find Sai.

At the next monthly meeting of Union representatives in the Land of Iron, Shikamaru is distant with his peers. Temari, his greatest ally in these meetings, questions him about his behavior afterwards. He upsets her by refusing to tell her anything. When he gets back to Konoha he has dinner at Yakiniku Q with his friends, Chōji Akimichi and Ino Yamanaka, intent on asking for their help with assassinating Gengo, but cannot bring himself to involve them in such an affair. Before leaving on his mission he visits the graves of his father and his teacher. At the latter's he runs into Kurenai and Mirai. Shikamaru reminds himself of his promise to Asuma to train Mirai, and as such becomes determined not to die on his mission.

Kakashi assigns two Anbu to assist Shikamaru with his mission: Ro, who can disguise his and others' chakra signatures, and Soku, who can shoot lethal and unavoidable Chakra Needles. They leave the village in secret early the following morning. After he's gone, Naruto talks to Sakura about Sai's long absence and Shikamaru's recent cold behavior. He knows Shikamaru is working hard with the goal of making him the next Hokage, but Naruto can't help but wonder if he's worth whatever risks Shikamaru is taking. In Sunagakure, Temari shares her own worries about Shikamaru with the Fifth Kazekage. The Kazekage, like Temari, assumes Shikamaru is on some assignment for Konoha too important to share with them. Although he trusts Konoha has a good reason for the secrecy, he gives Temari permission to investigate what Shikamaru is doing and lend him whatever support she wishes to.

It takes Shikamaru's team three days of nonstop travel to reach the Land of Silence and another day to infiltrate the capital city. Even though Gengo is, in effect, the country's daimyō, there are none of the usual telltale signs of a daimyo's presence on the streets of the capital. The closest similarities are the actions of cloaked figures, who are treated with deference by the citizens. They recognize one of these cloaked figures as Minoichi, a Konoha Anbu who disappeared during the War. Shikamaru questions him and Minoichi eventually admits under duress that he is an Enlightened One: a shinobi who has seen the truth in Gengo's words and seeks to help him revolutionize the world.

They capture two more Enlightened Ones so that they each have enough a cloak to disguise themselves with. From interrogating them, they learn that Gengo and his Enlightened Ones overthrew the previous daimyo and now rule the country. The Enlightened Ones all speak reverently of Gengo and criticize the shinobi system. And yet, the Land of Silence offers shinobi services (albeit at significantly cheaper prices), and so they are only reproducing the very system they claim to hate. Shikamaru, Soku, and Ro are all confused by this evident self-loathing.

They attend a rally the next day where Gengo delivers a speech to an enraptured crowd. Shikamaru and his team do not find his words at all impressive, but nevertheless cannot deny an allure to what he says. Shikamaru moves close enough to Gengo to use the Shadow Imitation Technique, intending to restrain him so that Soku can kill him with her Chakra Needles. However, his shadow refuses to be used against Gengo, who inexplicably discovers their presence. Shikamaru rushes at Gengo in order to perform the assassination himself, but is intercepted by Sai, now an Enlightened One. Sai attacks him with numerous ink tigers and Shikamaru tries to counter with his Shadow Sewing Technique, but Gengo commands his shadow to stop. Shikamaru is captured and imprisoned, forced to listen to the tortures of Ro and Soku while he must only endure occasional small talk from Gengo.

After ten days they are brought before Gengo. Gengo asks Shikamaru to become his right-hand man. When Shikamaru refuses, Gengo observes that shinobi, despite their importance to the world and their almost transcendent power, are outnumbered and ruled by ordinary people; legendary figures within the shinobi world, such as Naruto Uzumaki and Madara Uchiha, are virtually unknown to the common man. Shikamaru cannot argue Gengo's points and finds his words compelling. When Gengo asks him if shinobi should be in charge, Shikamaru can't bring himself to say, "No." He starts doubting his mission to kill Gengo, only now realizing that the shinobi world he's fought so hard for all his life is small in the grand scheme.

Gengo adds that it is the normal people in charge, the daimyō, who continue to have conflicts between each other, and it is the shinobi who fight and die to resolve those conflicts. Rō and Soku, despite having been tortured by Gengo's command, agree that this is unjust. Although he wants to agree, a small place of defiance in his heart causes Shikamaru to ask why he must be subordinate to Gengo. Gengo is impressed by his continued refusal and gives Shikamaru permission to kill him if he wants. He starts to suspect Gengo is using a genjutsu not dependent on eye contact, but he gives up before figuring it out, deciding it doesn't matter.

Just as Shikamaru is about to join hands with Gengo, a gust of wind lifts him into the air and then drops him on the ground. He sees that it is the doing of Temari and, from her appearance and her words, Gengo's influence over him disappears. Enlightened Ones start to engage Temari's Sunagakure forces while Shikamaru resumes his discussion with Gengo. He finally deduces that Gengo's voice is laced with genjutsu. Now aware of this, the things Gengo say no longer have power over him and his lack of interest only flusters Gengo. Shikamaru still can't refute Gengo's points, but the fact that Gengo wants to replace the world that Naruto and Temari occupy is reason enough for him to disagree. Gengo loses his composure and strikes at Shikamaru with a kunai, which Shikamaru blocks with a kunai thrown to him by Temari. They trade blows and words, with Shikamaru deciding that, rather than the unremarkable life he used to want, he'd prefer dedicating himself to creating a peaceful world where it doesn't matter whether or not a person is a shinobi. He overpowers Gengo, who blames Shikamaru's new resolve on Temari's appearance. Sai forces Shikamaru to release him and Gengo attempts to use his voice on the Suna shinobi, but Temari, at Shikamaru's instruction, fills the chamber with gales of wind so that nobody can hear him. Gengo flees and Shikamaru goes after him.

Sai attempts to stop Shikamaru but his way is blocked by Temari, who has been desperately searching for Shikamaru ever since he left for the Land of Silence. She summons Kamatari to destroy Sai's ink animals, but he pierces through her giant folding fan to stab her with a kunai. He moves in for a finishing blow with tears in his eyes, but he's restrained by Choji. Sakura heals Temari's wound.

Shikamaru follows Gengo into a closed room. The room is too dark for Shikamaru to use his shadow, forcing him to go on the defence. He uses his other senses to locate Gengo, dodge his sword swings, and disarm him several times. When his friends arrive and open a door to provide some light, Shikamaru communicates a plan to Soku and Rō — freed from Gengo's genjutsu — with Ino's help. Shikamaru distracts Gengo with shadow clones while Rō hides his chakra, allowing him to manoeuvre behind Gengo. He restrains Gengo with his shadow and Soku uses a Chakra Needle on his tongue, robbing him of his ability to talk. Defeated, Gengo is taken into custody.

The damage to Gengo's tongue causes his influence over the Enlightened Ones to disappear. As such, they stop fighting the Suna forces; though some Enlightened Ones were injured, none were killed due to the express instructions of the Kazekage. Shikamaru checks on Sai and assures him that he is not to blame for anything he did while under Gengo's control. Just as he leaves Sai's side, however, Shikamaru is immediately assaulted by Naruto, who is upset that Shikamaru would put himself in danger without telling him. Shikamaru promises to never keep anything from Naruto ever again.

Most of the Konoha and Suna forces return to their villages, with a small force (including Naruto) remaining behind to help the Land of Silence return to normalcy after Gengo's arrest. Shikamaru delays Temari from leaving with the others in order to ask her out on a date. She responds with, "How troublesome."

Kakashi gives Shikamaru some time off when he gets back to Konoha. Unlike before, he is able to relax at ease, unworried about any Union activity that may be going on without him; he is confident that his friends can handle anything that comes up, and if they do need him then he can become available without difficulty or protest. When Shikamaru returns to work after a week, Kakashi offers him a mission that, while important, can be accomplished by almost anyone. For that reason, he turns down the mission, as he has a date with Temari the next day.

Many years later in Konoha, Kakashi assigns all the wedding's attendees a mission that is to be kept secret from Naruto and Hinata: bring a gift. While trying to think what to get for Naruto and Hinata, Shikamaru meets up with Choji and the two have lunch at Yakiniku Q. Choji reveals that he's gotten Naruto and Hinata a complimentary meal at a nice restaurant. Shikamaru is impressed by how thoughtful the gift is until Choji mentions it's a meal for three and that Choji intends to accompany them; he'll get a separate table so as not to be rude. Shikamaru considers giving them money, but decides that would be too thoughtless. He finally settles on getting them a romantic honeymoon trip.

Shikamaru is happy with his decision but will need a woman's input to help him plan something suitable. While going around Konoha after lunch they keep an eye out for Ino Yamanaka to get her opinion, but they run into Temari instead. Though Temari is indeed a woman, Shikamaru doesn't believe she has the right personality to advise him on this. Choji nevertheless forces him to ask her anyway, but from the way he poses the question Temari believes he is asking her to help plan their own honeymoon. Temari is embarrassed and Shikamaru, not realizing the confusion, believes he's offended her. Choji excuses himself for reasons of hunger and Shikamaru tries to do the same, but Temari stops him and agrees to tour the Konoha Hot Springs' district with him.

Evening descends and Shikamaru and Temari walk around in the soft lighting of the hot springs. Temari remains quiet and strange the whole time, so Shikamaru suggests they go to a shop so the trip isn't wasted. Temari points out some target-throwing booths where numerous couples are trying to win prizes. Shikamaru ends up winning two small trinkets in his determination to figure out the booths' scam, which he gives to Temari. Afterwards he takes her to an inn, hoping she can tell him if Hinata would like it. Temari suspects he has other intentions and declines, believing she won't refuse him if they go inside. Shikamaru puts his hands on her face, worried she's sick because of how red it is, causing her to run away. He chases after her, desperately needing her (opinion). When she stops he assures her how important she is to him, explaining that he, as a man, can't evaluate the inn's services for women.

Temari is confused once again and Shikamaru is confused by her confusion. He repeats that he wants to give Naruto and Hinata a nice honeymoon and, now that he says it, he realizes what Temari thought he meant earlier. Temari is put at ease and Shikamaru smiles from the misunderstanding. In the anime, he gets beat up for not telling her about it. But the make up for it, and go on a date. In the anime, after getting his gift, Shikamaru learns that everyone who gave Naruto a gift will have to do a mission on his wedding day. Therefore he and his friends tell Kakashi that they can do missions back and forth so this way they can still attend Naruto's wedding.

On the day of the wedding, guests start arriving at the ceremony to be held under the Hokage Monument. Shikamaru is seen happily discussing work with Temari. While also looking at her blush.

Way after Naruto married Hinata, while he is working in Sunagakure. Gaara is visited by his older sister, Temari. Temari is to be married to Shikamaru of Konohagakure's Nara clan; their relationship surprised Gaara when he first learned of it and, despite his research, he still doesn't really understand it. Because Temari is a sibling of the Kazekage and Shikamaru is an influential figure in Konoha, their marriage is a delicate political matter that will solidify peace between their two villages. After careful consideration, Temari and Shikamaru have found a date for their wedding that will appease both sides. Gaara is pleased by the news as it is one less issue that he'll need to deal with.

After Naruto got married to Hinata, while reading a letter that is sent to him by Temari. He learns that Temari fears that Gaara will be kill or hurt, so she asked Shikamaru to go save him. Once he arrives at Gaara's location, he reveals that he witness everything by watching his battle. He then tells Gaara that he will file a report testifying that he witnessed Shigezane kill Hakuto, that Gaara executed Shigezane, and will meanwhile help them settle in Konoha under new identities.

Epilogue

 * Boruto Naruto Next Generations (Anime)

13 years later, Shikamaru married Temari and had a son named Shikadai. Shikamaru even grows close to his wife's siblings as well. He has also joined his trio team in training their respective kids to become the new generation's Ino–Shika–Cho. The night before the celebration, Shikamaru along with Kiba, Sai, Rock Lee, Choji and Shino help a unconscious Naruto arrive at his house. It turns out Shikamaru and the others are also drunk. Shikamaru even told the others to be quiet since Naruto's kids are asleep. When Naruto was later chosen to become the Seventh Hokage, Shikamaru helped with setting up the inauguration ceremony. Much to his and Kakashi's dismay, Naruto was late to show up. With Shikamaru commenting that Naruto probably forgot about it. After Hinata left, Kakashi spoke to Shikamaru about wondering what Naruto is up. Unable to wait any longer, Shikamaru had Sarutobi Konohamaru fill in by disguising himself as Naruto.

After Naruto officially took office, Shikamaru finally realized his desire to become Naruto's advisor and personal guard, which also made it harder at times to help train his son. When Mirai finally became a Chunin, Shikimaru approaches her. He hands Asuma's chakra blades to Mirai, and congratulates her on passing the exams.

As the new semester for the Ninja Academy was approaching and by extension new students joining, Shikamaru kept Naruto on track with the various paperwork. On the day of the entrance ceremony, as everyone began looking for an absent Boruto, the said student suddenly appeared, crashing a train into the Hokage Monument. Shikamaru then had everyone clear out to begin clean-up. Weeks later, when Shikadai was doing community work as punishment for an episode at the Ninja Academy, while Temari was furious, Shikamaru took it in stride, noting that no one is perfect and this will only help him grow. Temari, not pleased with the two males' attitude, decided to not give them any food for dinner that night.

Later, as a mysterious presence continued to cause people in the village to randomly attack the citizens, Shikamaru joined in an investigation. The investigation later discovered the perpetrator's actions were leaving its victims severely drained of the chakra to the point of being hospitalized. As they continued their investigation, only to find no real leads, Shikamaru decided to help an overworked Naruto back to his home. Once there, they learned that Boruto was acting strange recently. When they confronted Boruto about it, he proudly declared that he finally manifested his Byakugan. Shikamaru was skeptical about that as one normally requires extreme training to manifest the power. As Himawari herself proved that in rare occasions, one can independently awaken the Byakugan, it it was decided to for Naruto to bring Boruto to Hiashi who could give a better answer to the situation.

As the mysterious attacks began happening more commonly and expanding in area, evidence was found to suggest that the real goal of the perpetrator was to harvest people's chakra. It was also discovered that Wood Release was possibly involved. As Root had a history of conducting its own secret research on the famed power of the First Hokage, Shikamaru decided to research if more with Sai. Later, a strange release of chakra began spreading throughout the village. As it showed a similar nature to the chakra of the rampages, Shikamaru went to act. He then told the event to Naruto's shadow clone.

Later, it was learned from Sai that the culprit was Sumire Kakei, who was the daughter of a radically loyal follower of Danzo's, Tanuki Shigaraki. Shikamaru realized that Sumire was able to hide her actions so effectively because the identities of all former Root members were sealed away to avoid ostracising from the other villagers. It was also learned from Kakashi that Sumire was completing the final request from her father to unleash the Gozu Tenno on the village.

Despite the initial devastation, the attack ended soon afterwards with Sumire surrendering. As Shikamaru discussed the events with Naruto and Sai, he noted his relief yet surprise at Sumire being stopped by Boruto appealing to her kindness.

Five years later, Shikamaru was later accompanied his son while he stopped Boruto from interrupting the Seventh Hokage from his duties. Later, as the Ninja Academy graduation was approaching, Shikamaru insisted that he would take care of production for the forehead protectors. There conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Sasuke's hawk with a message. Upon learning from the message that a young boy wielding the Sharingan attacked Sasuke and Kakashi theorizing that it was another experiment of Orochimaru's, Naruto decided to meet with Sasuke personally. While Shikamaru noted his concerns of having the Hokage leave the village so close to graduations, it was agreed to try and handle this matter swiftly.

When Naruto leaves the village to go meet up with Sasuke, he asks Shikamaru to say sorry to Boruto, and heads off towards Orochimaru's hideout. This left Shikamaru very confuse by the statement that Naruto told him. Just as Naruto leaves, Boruto arrives together with Mitsuki, with the intent to bring Naruto his lunch. Shikamaru finally realized what Naruto was talking about, when Sarada offers to help bring the food to Naruto, Shikamaru tells her where Naruto is heading, and that she must hurry if she wants to catch up to him. Boruto hands it over to Sarada and she heads off together with Chocho to give Naruto his lunch.

As ninja classes began preparing for the graduation exams, Orochimaru came to the village to discussing matters with Naruto about his research on Danzo's old experiments. As Orochimaru delivered promising results to aid Sasuke in his own investigations, Shikamaru voiced his still limited trust in Orochimaru, reminding him to stay in disguise while roaming the village, which the Sannin nonchalantly disregarded as obvious.

Shikamaru aided Naruto in assigning the first mission for each of the new genin. Afterwards, he openly admitted to worrying about how Shikidai would do on his mission, to which Shikamaru chuckled at how much times have changed. Later, Shikamaru began teaching Shikadai more advanced tactics in shōgi to sharpen his mind for strategic planning.

But he gets blown away by an angry Temari; who uses her fan on them in a fit of rage for ignoring her, as she kept telling them it's dinner time.

Later, when a group of self-proclaimed noble thieves began making various heists throughout Konohagakure, their act of distributing their stolen wealth to the poor began gaining much support from many of the villagers. Even more, swarms of protestors began emerging in the village against various legitimate companies, fueled by the Byakuga Gang's claims of the said companies being corrupt, one of which included the Kaminarimon Company. In hopes of better understanding this new enemy, it was decided to talk to the other villages for any information on the Byakuya Gang.

Later, the protesting was growing potentially violent. As Shikamaru came to aid, he crossed paths with Mitsuki, who informed him of Boruto rushing to aid Shikadai's sudden leaving of his post. Deciding to investigate his son's actions himself, he found Inojin and Chocho facing a member of the Byakuya Gang. After swiftly defeating the foe himself, Shikamaru decided to look the other way on the genin ignoring orders to avoid fighting the thieves. When the genin asked Shikamaru to help them with the pursuit, he reluctantly declined as he still had to help with the chaos from the riots. He was however happy to hear how determined Shikadai seemed during this.

Shikamaru talks to Naruto about how Shikadai has been training very hard since the Byakuya Gang incident. But he also laughs when Naruto teases how Shikadai is like Shikamaru.

While Naruto is away at a meeting with the feudal lord, Shikamaru handles Naruto's paperwork and tell Konohamaru about the Chunin Exams.

Later Shikamaru notices that Naruto has been more busy with his Hokage duties since he missed Boruto's birthday. Soon after he and Naruto leave to handle business that regards Kaguya. Upon seeing Team Konohamaru outside the building Shikamaru along with Sarada and Mitsuki leave to let Naruto have a chat with Boruto.

Naruto movie 1
He is seen in a flashback by Naruto.

Naruto movie 2
The movie revolves mostly around a special mineral called the Gelel Stone, which has a strong and mysterious power. There was once a clan that could control the stone's powers, but they were destroyed because of wars for the stone.

A battle was taking place at night on a desolate seaside beach between Sunagakure ninja and soldiers wearing bulky suits of armour. Despite their best efforts, the Sand ninja are slowly overwhelmed by the sheer strength of their mysterious opponents. The timely arrival of reinforcements, led by Kankuro and Gaara, turn the tide of battle, with Kankuro slicing apart a suit of armor with his puppet, and Gaara dispatching a large number of enemies with his signature Sand Waterfall Imperial Funeral. However, when Gaara orders the Sand-nin to shine a flare at the retreating enemies, a large warship, is revealed with its own arsenal of heavy weapons much to the Sand shinobi's shock and curiosity of its appearance. The ship then opens fire with its guns, and Gaara's sand armour barely manages to protect his comrades as its artillery shells relentlessly pounded the beach.

Shikamaru along with Uzumaki Naruto, and Haruno Sakura are on a mission to capture a lost pet ferret and deliver it to its village. Naruto comically refers to the creature as a cat for the remainder of the movie. But while on their way to return the animal, they are attacked by a mysterious man clothed in knight armour. He too is accompanied by the strange armoured soldiers from before. The three fight him, but get separated when Naruto, the knight and the pet ferret all fall off a cliff. Shikamaru and Sakura only realize afterward what has happened and immediately go to look for them. Before they can, what appears to be an earthquake stops them in their tracks until they realize that it isn't an earthquake at all, but the movement of a giant mechanical moving structure. Sakura and Shikamaru split up to search for Naruto.

Naruto wakes up to find himself bandaged, as well right next to an equally wounded unknown man. They have been taken in by a very peaceful caravan of nomads that own a number of foreign animals, including ostriches and rhino. An old man goes on to inform Naruto that they are in fact the village that hired the leaf ninja to return their pet ferret, named Nerugui. The ferret also seems to have a great interest on the unknown man, much to the despair of the elder. While healing, the man seems to have a flashback dream that depicts what happened to him as a child. His home was invaded and destroyed while he hid, seemingly the only one alive. He is almost found, but in the last moment he is spared and manages to live.

Kahiko and his granddaughter Emina goes onto explaining to Naruto how their clan once originally had a country, but it was destroyed a very long time ago by some kind of disaster, and that Nerugui is proof of it. They also tell him how Nerugui is in fact older than the clan elder, having been looked after by the clan for generations. As Naruto looks for an explanation from Temujin, the knight only asks Naruto about his strange 'power,' that is actually his chakra. Temujin appears not to know what chakra is, even if he can wield a similar power. Temujin simply tells him that he is there 'to build a utopia,' then goes on to invite Naruto to join him. Naruto promptly refuses, only for the ostrich he is riding to run away on its own.

Still looking for an explanation from Temujin, Naruto follows him as he sneaks away from the caravan. After risking his injuries to save one of the caravan's children from falling from a tree, Temujin claims that his debt has been 'repaid' and continues to leave. Meanwhile, Shikamaru infiltrates the mechanical structure and finds what appears to be a lab with children in capsules. They are overlooked by a pair of women (Kamira and Ranke) with similar armour to what Temujin had been wearing, whom operate a machine that makes the bulky soldiers from before. The two discuss the Gelel Stone, something that Shikamaru has never heard of. He is almost caught, but manages to flee at the last moment.

Naruto discovers that Temujin has gone missing and goes to head after him when Kahiko comes to him, saying how Nerugui has disappeared again. As his mission was to deliver the pet to the village the group was headed to, he still has to complete it. The clan elder even goes as far as saying he should have hired the Sand Ninja instead. Even though he returned the ferret to its owners, Naruto still must go and find it again. Meanwhile Sakura comes across an abandoned campfire and finds the caravan's trail.

Naruto goes on to find Temujin again, who has Nerugui with him. (He comically tells him to hand over the 'cat.') Temujin finally reveals his name, as they find themselves in front of the large vessel from before. They go inside, revealing the structure to be very advanced in technology and sort of like a European cathedral on the inside. There, Temujin introduces Naruto to his master, Haido. Dressed in what appears to be bishop robes, Haido goes on into detail about their goals, and again extends the invitation to join them. Naruto claims that he can't join them because he's going to be Hokage, but offers to spread the peace that they wish for. Nerugui appears on Temujin's shoulder, instantly showing a dislike for Haido. Haido starts thinking when they mention a caravan.

They move out when an overhead announcement tells them that the fleet that was sent to the Land of Wind has been annihilated. Temujin and Naruto head on to find the ship that had attacked the Sand Ninja, beached with all kinds of metal parts in the sand. Once they investigate the vessel, Naruto discovers Kankuro among a room filled with unconscious children amongst all of the rubble. Kankuro immediately attacks Temujin, explaining how the ship had been wiping out Land of Wind villages. Naruto demands an explanation, but all Temujin can reply is 'Noble sacrifices for the greater good.' Before they battle, they are interrupted by the Kamira and Ranke, whom Kankurō and Gaara take on. Kamira uses a kind of mind control that seems to be genjutsu. Meanwhile, Ranke transforms herself, causing her to have several gorilla-like traits, as well as large lightning attacks. After a hefty battle, Gaara manages to distinguish Ranke's lightning and kill her, but Kamira manages to flee by growing bat-like features, wings included. During the commotion, Naruto is separated from Temujin.

The movie shifts to the caravan being attacked by one of Haido's followers known as Fugai. After destroying most of the wagons and killing most of the livestock, she questions Kahiko about where the Gelel stone is. Thankfully who should step in but Shikamaru and Sakura, who claim to have seen her flare. They already managed to take out the soldiers. Fugai goes on to take on wolf-like traits and manages to escape. Shikamaru questions the elder about the Gelel stones, but the he doesn't want to talk. They start to leave, saying that they need to find a friend. When Kahiko asks if their friend is Naruto, they find out that Naruto was with him. The elder goes on to ask the two for help.

Through a series of flashbacks, we discover how Temujin met Haido after his village was destroyed. We also discover that Temujin actually has a Gelel stone inside of him, causing his eyes to appear the red color they are. After getting word that the caravan from before has information, Temujin returns to what is left of it only to be captured by Shikamaru. Naruto has managed to find Shikamaru and Sakura, and the three stay with the caravan people, who had managed to escape and are currently hiding in a cave. There, they question Temujin to find out what Haido wants with the Gelel stone. Kahiko claims that the stones only cause harm, but then Temujin reveals how he has a stone inside of him.

The elder goes on to question Temujin about a book and about their clan, confusing Temujin. He tells them that only members of the royal family of their clan could bind the stones with their bodies, Temujin being one of them. He then tells them that the royal family left and crossed the ocean, taking the Book of Gelel with them. Temujin hasn't come to a new land, in fact he has returned home. Kahiko tells them that they don't know of the stone's origin, but they do know it was a mineral that their clan was able to refine and use as they pleased. It was very powerful, so much that an entire civilisation was wiped out in a battle over it. Afterward the few remaining clan members sealed it away in attempt to keep it from happening again. The only reason they didn't destroy it was because the only ones who could were those of royal blood.

Determined after the tale, Temujin tells them that he only wants to achieve his dream of a utopia. He manages to escape (he was free the whole time) and kidnaps Kahiko to make him lead him to the Gelel mines. They don't know where the mines are, but Nerugui manages to lead them to it. Temujin and the elder find the ruins and journey deep into them to find the entrance to the mines. The Leaf ninja try to save Kahiko, only for Haido and his entourage appear. Shikamaru tries to stop Haido to question him, only for Haido to claim he only wants peace, and he's going to create a utopia. Shikamaru ironically states that they are doing the exact opposite. Naruto angrily asks him if he even cares about his fallen comrades, whom Haido only claims are 'noble sacrifices.' Temujin grimly agrees.

After Naruto tells them that dreams without friends are nothing, the elder finally triggers a mechanism that seals him and Temujin into a passageway into the mines. Haido reveals that he possesses the Book of Gelel before smashing Naruto into the wall like it was nothing and follows them. Kamira and Fugai attack, but Shikamaru and Sakura hold them off to allow Naruto to follow Haido. Temujin and Kahiko find themselves in the 'Chamber of Sealing' and find a picture that appears to be one of despair. The elder tries to reason with Temujin, but Temujin doesn't wish to hear it. Kahiko then reveals a knife.

Meanwhile, Kamira toys with Shikamaru as she flies around, he is unable to get a lock on her shadow. But then he suddenly spots Kankurō on the far side of the ruins. As Fugai chases after Sakura, she is unable to lose her even after Sakura blinds her. Finding a crystal structure that creates echoes, Sakura uses herself as bait so Fugai will howl and triggers the crystals to collapse on top of her. Shikamaru fills the whole area with lines with explosives (most of them are fake just pieces of paper) so Kamira cannot fly about. Just as Kamira thinks she knows what he has in store, Kankurō suddenly launches one of his puppets to automatically trap and kill her.

After wounding Temujin, the elder has his blood on a dagger that he tries to pierce a seal on the floor, only for Haido to interrupt. Just as Haido finds the mine's key, Nerugui tries to stop him. The ferret is killed by a barrier around him, a Gelel stone falling out of the ferret's mouth. Temujin stands in front of the elder as Haido is about to kill him, Temujin claiming there is no reason to kill him. Temujin suddenly has a bit of deja vu, just as Naruto appears. Haido tells Temujin to kill the both of them, but Temujin has had enough and refuses. Haido then claims that he is useless, no different from his parents. Deja vu happens again, and Temujin finally realizes that Haido was the one who murdered his parents.

Haido goes on to turn into his own kind of creature, then captures Temujin and extracts the Gelel stone from him. The elder begs Naruto to stop Haido. Naruto encourages Temujin to get up as he fights, even going so far as to use Rasengan. But Haido has managed to tap into the mine and heals all of his twisted limbs. Naruto still wishes for Temujin to help him, and just as Haido goes to finish them, the fake soldiers go and protect them both. The souls of the children emerge as the soldiers are destroyed, and Temujin finally realises his wrongdoings.

Combining both Rasengen and the Galel stone, Temujin and Naruto manage to to kill Haido. But in the process they accidentally destroy the key to the mine. The walls start to crumble around them as the mine spirals out of control. Shikamaru, Sakura and Kankuro all manage to retrieve the children from the machines, only for the ruins to start collapsing. They cannot control it, but there is a way to destroy it. If Temujin puts his hand on the seal from before, he can summon a time/space continuum. Only royal blood can do it, and the one who does will end up sacrificing himself. Naruto tries to stop Temujin from doing it, only for Temujin to knock him out. He says doing it is the only way to atone for what he's done. Temujin goes into the collapsing Galel to the seal and activates it.

All is quiet as Shikamaru, Sakura, Kankurō and Gaara can only watch as everything in the void's way begins to be devoured. Naruto remembers Sasuke as he is faced with Temujin's death. As Temujin waits for his fate, suddenly he finds himself floating as a line of Naruto clones have clutched onto him. Sakura almost goes into the void herself to see where Naruto is. Only at the last moment a burst of the Gelel escapes and causing the land mass to start moving. When it finally stops, they find Kahiko, who claims that he feels even better than ever thanks to the Gelel. He is even joyously reunited with a still alive Nerugui. The wastelands have now turns into an oasis, as all the children awaken.

Temujin awakes, realizing he's still alive with Naruto still clutching his arm. They find picture from despair from before, and it wasn't one after all, in fact it was one of hope. Later they all gather at the ocean, where Temujin and the others all gather and prepare themselves to leave, back to the land that they came from. They are aware that it's one with lots of conflict, but Temujin wishes to help where he can. Temujin's eyes have now turned back to their original bright green. And much to the elder's disappointment again, Nerugui has chosen to go with them as well. As they leave, Naruto stands on a cliff and shares a sign with Temujin, promising each other never to give up.

Naruto Shippuuden movie 1
After the legendary demon Moryo escaped its imprisonment, Shikamaru became one of the ninja to hold off the demon's army from attacking the world. Later, he was one of the ninja holding back the stone army from interfering with Naruto's battle against Mōryō.

Naruto Shippuuden movie 2
When the Sky Ninja attacked Konoha, Shikamaru fought to the best of his abilities to stop them. Later, he was teamed with Kakashi, Shino, and Sai to destroy the enemy's ship fleet. Using what he already learned from the enemies' attack patterns, he was able to deduce the enemies' location. There, he worked out a plan with Kakashi to take down the fleet. At the end of the movie, he watched with mild interest as the enemies' mother ship crashed into the ocean.

Naruto Shippuuden movie 3
Shikamaru was visiting Asuma's grave remembering Asuma's last words. After his visit, he came across Kakashi and asked him if he has also someone to visit. Kakashi then said something to Shikamaru. When Kakashi was controlled by Hiruko and was leaving the village, he stopped Naruto who was trying to chase after Kakashi. When Tsunade told the teams to spread the news of Kakashi and Konoha parting ways, Shikamaru was called by Tsunade to stay. He then told Tsunade about Kakashi sacrificing for the village was the main reason for him to leave the village, which Tsunade responded by saying he was as sharp as always. When Naruto and Sakura was trying to go after Kakashi, he led the team who would bring the two of them back to Konoha. When he was almost to reach Naruto, San released his explosive feathers and Sai came to help Naruto and Sakura.

Shikamaru, along with Choji and Ino, almost defeated San when he summoned Ichi and Ni to do the Chimera Technique. Shortly after, the rest of the team came and restrained the beast, allowing Shikamaru to chase after Naruto. After having a brief conversation with Gaara, he was able to chase Naruto. He tried to stop Naruto and threatened to kill him just to protect the children of Konoha, who are the hope of the future. After Naruto explained his side, Shikamaru saw Asuma in him and eventually allowed Naruto to go after Kakashi, because that is his Will of Fire.

Naruto Shippuuden movie 5
Shikamaru appears along with the other members of the Konoha 11, Kakashi, Yamato, Guy, Shizune, and Tsunade to help save Naruto from the Hozukijo and help defeat Satori.

Naruto Shippuuden movie 6
Shikamaru first appeared with his friends battling several Zetsu clones disguised as late Akatsuki members. Later, a different version of Shikamaru appears in an alternate world. Compared to the Shikamaru that Naruto and Sakura know, this one is very goofy and slow-witted, being no where near as smart as his other self. His hair is also thicker, appearing star-shaped when held in its ponytail.

Naruto Shippuuden movie 7
Two years after the war, Shikamaru is deployed onto a team with Naruto, Sakura, Sai, and Hinata to rescue Hyuga Hanabi, who has been kidnapped by Otsutsuki Toneri. He is given a special clock to the countdown of the Moon destroying the Earth.

They eventually find themselves caught in a trap by Toneri, but break out of it thanks to Sakura. After Hinata willingly goes with Toneri to save Hanabi, Shikamaru and Sai travel to the artificial sun and discover the entrance to Toneri's palace via his puppets. After Naruto regains consciousness after three days from his fight with Toneri, Shikamaru lectures him about giving up on Hinata, stating he doesn't care what happened between them, but he is a shinobi and has duty to his cause. He then takes him to Sakura, revealing she used up almost all her chakra to save him.

After his talk with Sakura, Shikamaru leads them to Toneri's palace to rescue Hinata and Hanabi. Sakura and Sai decide to get Hanabi while Shikamaru holds off Toneri's puppets for Naruto to go save Hinata. After Naruto and Hinata destroy the Tenseigan, Shikamaru notes the clock isn't stopping and are caught in Toneri's attack revealing he entered the Tenseigan Chakra Mode. After Naruto defeats Toneri, the team heads home as Shikamaru was lastly seen at Naruto and Hinata's wedding alongside Temari.

Boruto movie
As the Chunin Exams approach, Shikamaru helps Naruto to prepare for them, as well as training with his son. One night, while Naruto was working in his office, he sent a shadow clone to his attend his daughter's birthday, which ended up disappearing. Seeing, that Naruto was feeling sad at the thought of having disappointed his family, Shikamaru offered to take care of the rest of the work and advised Naruto go home and rest.

Later, as investigations into Kaguya's former activities continued, it was discovered that her creation of the White Zetsu Army was in fact set up as a further precaution for a looming threat.

Shikamaru is then put in charge of the second phase of the Chūnin Exams with Sai. Later he informed Naruto that both of their sons passed the second round. During the third round of the Chunin Exams, Shikamaru watched on with Naruto and the rest of the Kage, as his son was matched against Boruto and voiced his surprise to Naruto about their sons fighting against each other, only to discover that Naruto had gone to sit with his wife and daughter.

While Shikadai ultimately admitted defeat, similar to how Shikamaru did when he was younger, it was discovered that Boruto had cheated by using a Kote. Momoshiki and Kinshiki appeared soon after with the intent of capturing Naruto and began attacking the arena. Shikamaru attempted to restrain the two enemies; however, Momoshiki absorbed Shikamaru's jutsu, much to Shikamaru's shock and confusion. When Naruto was captured by Momoshiki and Kinshiki, Sasuke, Boruto and the rest of the Kage set out to travel to the other dimension on a mission to rescue Naruto while Shikamaru and the others gathered around as they prepared to set off. Shikamaru smiled when he saw how much Boruto, who was wearing his father's old jacket and Sasuke's forehead protector, resembled Naruto when he was younger. As soon as Boruto and the others got into the portal, Shikamaru angrily noticed that Katasuke and his henchmen manage to get into the portal as well. After Naruto was saved, Shikamaru is lastly seen giving out instructions to the shinobi that are helping repairing the destroyed Chunin Exam Stadium including that he has Katasuke helping out as well.

In the Boruto manga, Shikamaru states that Katasuke was being controlled by someone, which was the cause for his recent behavior, and stated that Katasuke was genuinely, and extremely, shocked about his actions, and Shikamaru stated that once Katasuke was fully back to normal, he would reinstate his position in the Science Ninja Weapons Team as Katasuke's brilliant mind was still very useful to Konoha. Due to this Naruto makes Shikamaru watch over Katasuke.

Boruto Naruto Next Generations Manga
In the Anime, he lets Naruto have a few days off after the incident with Momoshiki.

In the anime, after the defeat of Momoshiki Ōtsutsuki and Konohagakure recovered from his attack, a Kage Summit was held. Shikamaru also attended to discuss the next course of action.

Later, when two chūnin-level gate guards were attacked by unknown assailants, the village was put on lockdown. Shikamaru joined Naruto and his advisors when overseeing Ino probe one of the guard's his mind for answers, learning that Mitsuki had left willingly with the attackers. When Naruto revealed to the others Mitsuki was in fact Orochimaru's son, much outrage followed from learning that Naruto would permit an offspring of the man who killed the Third Hokage live in Konohagakure, let alone keep it a secret. Naruto rationalised this on the grounds that Orochimaru's conduct as changed from before and that his aid in investigating the Ōtsutsuki. Despite this, noting the unpredictable nature of Orochimaru, the meeting ended with deeming the Oto-born boy as a threat.

As the council and Hokage continued to talk about how best to deal with this, Kakashi voiced his overall approval of Naruto actions, noting that Naruto would never do anything he through would bring danger to the village and that the elders wouldn't even consider letting the boy in the village had they known the full story to begin with. When Konohamaru requested to be sent to retrieve Boruto and Sarada, who left the village to go after Mitsuki, Shikamaru denied it, as his conflicted feelings about Mitsuki meant he couldn't be objective in the mission.

As questions continue to build up on Mitsuki, Naruto and Shikamaru still felt the situation didn't make sense for Mitsuki to betray them. They began wondering if the enemy's goal was Mitsuki himself because of his unique background. They then received word that one of the guards was recovering and would soon awake to give them answers.

It was then learned that the attackers wielded the Explosive Clay and were on route to the Land of Earth, Kurotsuchi was deeply troubled by this revelation. Despite this, Kurotsuchi refused Naruto's quest of letting the Konoha pursuit unit enter the Land of Earth. As Naruto contacted Kurotsuchi about the situation, Shikamaru began wondering why the enemies had such an interest in Mitsuki.

Later, as talks about what to do about Mitsuki's apparent betrayal continued, it was reluctantly determined that they would have to place extreme punishment for Mitsuki. Overhearing this, Konohamaru insisted that he be the one to bring Mitsuki back, which Naruto reluctantly agreed to.

As Naruto contacted Iwagakure again for an update, he was told that Kurotsuchi left on an important mission. After hearing this, Naruto and Shikamaru were now certain that something foul was happening in Iwagakure.

Shikamaru's fears were proven correct when Shikadai contacted his father via phone, revealing that Iwagakure was taken over as part of a plan by Ōnoki. While Shikamaru told his son to stay hidden, Shikadai insisted that he figured out enough to make a move against the enemy. The call was then cut short as the enemy forced Shikadai to retreat. Knowing that they couldn't act hastily, Shikamaru talk with the other officials and decided that he would join Naruto in meeting with the other daimyō to get their support on engaging this personal matter.

After finally getting approval, Naruto and an escort moved out, leaving Shikamaru in-charge during the Hokage's absence. Before leaving, they were confronted by Team 7's fellow genin. Having learned of their friends danger, they were determined to help and requested to join the Hokage. While Naruto initially refused to put the genin in danger, the group firmly said they will go with or without his approval. Admiring their loyalty to their friends, Naruto decided to let them, impressing Shikamaru.

Later, the chaos in Iwagakure was subdued, but also came with the passing of Ōnoki. This left Shikamaru in charge for a while longer while Naruto went to the late Tsuchikage's funeral as a representative for Konohagakure. Upon Naruto's return, while Mitsuki was pardoned for his apparent betrayal on the grounds that he saved Iwagakure from the Fabrications, the Team 7 genin were stripped of their shinobi status for having deserted the village. Later however, thanks to support and gratitude from Kurotsuchi, it was agreed to restore the students their shinobi status.

In the anime, he spends time with his son during Parent and Child day. Shikamaru offered to set up a schedule to ensure Naruto would have time with his own family the day before the holiday began. As the holiday began, he and his son were also accompanied by Sai, Lee, and their respective sons. He is seen walking pass Kiba and Naruto. When Temari learned that the winner of an eating competition would get unlimited free dumplings from Ankorodō for one year, she forced Shikamaru and Shikadai to compete, wanting the prize for herself. However, they soon overate, after getting up to round two but are eliminated after not eating a spicy burger leaving them physically sick and unable to continue. Later that night, the Nara men nervously ate dinner under the stern watch of a noticeably angered Temari due to their failure at the competition.

Later, as the elder sister of Fifth Kazekage, Temari was invited to join Gaara at the Wind Daimyō's banquet. Shikamaru however chose not to attend as he felt his duties as chief adviser to the Hokage were more important. Enchū Nara, the elder adviser of the Nara Clan, was deeply annoyed that Shikamaru, as head of the Nara Clan, would not be joining. He voiced his disdain at how much the Nara Clan appeared to be slipping since the Fourth Shinobi War and the constant gossip of the Land of Wind that the Nara Clan was not worthy of the unity between the Kazekage Clan ever since Shikamaru married Temari. Shikamaru insisted that such gossip was irrelevant and that he worked earnestly to progress his clan. Later, Shikamaru learned that Enchū approached Shikadai with the offer of going into politics under the teachings of the Fire Daimyō to better the reputation of the Nara Clan. Trusting that this was what his son wanted, Shikamaru decided to not get in the way. The following day however, Shikadai decided to decline offer, instead deciding to prove the worth the Nara Clan by mastering the various Wind Release techniques from his mother along with the Nara hiden techniques.

In the anime, he talks to Mirai before she goes on a mission to protect Kakashi. He admits that she over thinks stuff to much and has a habit of praying to her late grandfather in public. Later, after Mirai returned from her mission, which included saving young girls from the remnants of the near-forgotten Jashin cult, he was happy to hear Mirai finally figure out the right answer for the quiz.

In the anime, Shikamaru received a mission Sasuke via his hawk revealing the current location of Ōtsutsuki Urashiki. Later, Shikamaru and Naruto was surprised by the delivering of Shukaku from Gaara, explaining Urashiki's intent to capture the tailed beast. While Shikamaru and Naruto were concerned about the events and learning that Boruto was there, Sasuke quickly appeared, revealing that he already saved Boruto and that Urashiki had disappeared.

In addition to setting up a Kage Summit to deal with the potential danger to the other tailed beasts, it was decided that Shukaku would for the time being remain in Naruto's care. Shikamaru tells him that he doesn't understand why Tail Beasts have a rivalry with each other, until Naruto says that all nine tail beasts are like a family.

When Naruto decided to test Tono Katasuke's new Scientific Ninja Weapon, Shikamaru and Sai watch Naruto test it against Boruto at the Training Hall. During the match, Shikamaru applauds Boruto for using his Shadow Clone Technique in order to get behind his father. After Naruto defeats his son, he reveals that he was using a prototype for a new weapon based of Momoshiki's ninjutsu-absorbing power. As Boruto began to get angry for feeling the match was unfair, Sasuke soon arrived to explain the need of the weapon, noting that a coming danger of enemies like the Otsutsuki Clan. Naruto then has Team Konohamaru take a C-rank mission to escort Katasuke to Ryuben City.

Kawaki wakes up in Konoha, with Naruto, Shikamaru, and Konohamaru in his room. Despite Naruto and Konohamaru trying to ease him, Kawaki immediately tries to escape, but is paralysed by Shikamaru, who assures him if they wanted to do anything with him, they'd already have done it. Naruto introduces himself to Kawaki, and thinks back to his earlier discussion with Shikamaru about the possible dangers of keeping Kawaki in the village. Naruto wants to personally oversee Kawaki, owning to his own experiences of isolation as a jinchūriki. Shikamaru reminds him the threat of Kara means the decision isn't his alone.

He has a conversation with Sai and the Nara says that doesn't trust Kawaki. Sai also tells him that Sasuke is their only hope of finding Jigen. However he makes sure that Shikamaru doesn't smoke which annoys the Nara and agrees that Naruto still hasn't change with being dense. Following the dangers associated with Kawaki and enemies after him, Shikamaru told Shikadai to maintain a certain distance from Kawaki.

Video Games
Nara Shikamaru is a playable character in the following video games: How troublesome (めんどくせー) is Shikamaru's catchphrase. Shikamaru purposely uses this phrase to toss his point across that he's the type that would rather watch clouds all day than pick a fight, especially with a female opponent. This phrase is also used sometimes by Shikamaru's father, Shikaku Nara. He most likely "inherited" this attitude and catchphrase from his father, since his mother, has a more active attitude, which he and his father sometimes find "bothersome". In the English version, he and his father use " What a drag" as their catchphrase.
 * Naruto Clash of Ninja 2
 * Naruto Clash of Ninja Revolution
 * Naruto Clash of Ninja Revolution 2
 * Naruto Gekito Ninja Taisen! 3
 * Naruto Gekito Ninja Taisen! 4
 * Naruto Konoha Senki
 * Naruto Ninja Council 2
 * Naruto Ninja Council 3
 * Naruto Ninja Destiny
 * Naruto Path of the Ninja
 * Naruto Path of the Ninja 2
 * Naruto Rise of a Ninja
 * Naruto RPG 2 Chidori vs Rasengan
 * Naruto Shinobi Collection
 * Naruto Shinobi Collection Shippu Ranbu
 * Naruto Shippuuden Clash of Ninja Revolution 3
 * Naruto Shippuuden Gekito Ninja Taisen! EX 2
 * Naruto Shippuuden Gekito Ninja Taisen! EX 3
 * Naruto Shippuuden Gekito Ninja Taisen! Special
 * Naruto Shippuuden Kizuna Drive
 * Naruto Shippuuden Legends Akatsuki Rising
 * Naruto Shippuuden Naruto vs Sasuke
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ninja Council 4
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ninja Destiny 2
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ninja Destiny 3
 * Naruto Shippuuden Shinobi Rumble
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja 4
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja 5
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Blazing
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Impact
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution
 * Naruto Shippuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Road to Boruto (non playable)
 * Naruto to Boruto Shinobi Striker
 * Naruto The Broken Bond
 * Naruto Ultimate Ninja
 * Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2
 * Naruto Ultimate Ninja 3
 * Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes
 * Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2 The Phantom Fortress
 * Naruto Ultimate Ninja Online
 * Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm
 * Naruto Uzumaki Chronicles
 * Naruto X Boruto Ninja Voltage

Quotes

 * What a drag from the second I get up it's nag nag nag

Uzumaki Naruto
Shikamaru was a "dead last" student like Uzumaki Naruto during their Ninja Academy days. Having noticed the way the other villagers ostracized Naruto, Shikamaru seemed to be one of the first of their peers to see him as more than as a jinchuriki. Furthermore, Shikamaru himself stated that something about Naruto compels him to follow him. Because of this, outside of the missions that may include them working together, Shikamaru would sometimes hang out with Naruto. Having lost his mentor Sarutobi Asuma prior, Shikamaru played a role in helping Naruto cope with Jiraiya's death. In some ways, Shikamaru had became one of Naruto's best friends and strongest bonds among his male friends. In the anime, during the Fourth Shinobi War, after being informed by Inoichi from HQ that Naruto and B were fighting the "masked Madara", Shikamaru and the rest of the Konoha 11 rush to his aid. As he runs, he tells Choji that he'd expect nothing short of Naruto overdoing things on the battlefield and because of his short temper, he wasn't one to calmly think a plan through, so Naruto should wait for him. Shikamaru asserted that he wishes to protect Naruto and also fight alongside him during the war.

He then comments on the reunion of Team 7, saying that he doesn't want to trust Sasuke but they have a war to worry about. He then watches Naruto and Sasuke as they attack the Ten-Tails, quietly cheering them on.

Ready to begin the final stages of his plan, Obito unleashes the Ten-Tails' tree form. It began unleashing countless branches, attacking every living target to absorb its chakra, killing the victim in the process. One of the few survivors of the ordeal but severely drained of nearly all his chakra, Shikamaru collapsed in Choji's arms. Drifting in and out of consciousness, the young man apologized to his parents for his failings. Shortly after when Hashirama had Ino link everyone telepathically to inform them of what his original had learned about the Eye of the Moon Plan and the Ten-Tails, Naruto's senjutsu-enhanced Tailed Beast Mode combined with Ino's telepathy causes his emotions and personal memories to be conveyed to everyone. Still weak, but conscious, Shikamaru sympathized with Naruto over the loss of Asuma.

When he was weakened by the Ten-Tails, aware that Naruto was always alone, Shikamaru believed Naruto needed an intelligent brother figure, like Tobirama was to Hashirama, by his side, and resolved to be Naruto's adviser when he becomes Hokage so he would never have to be alone again. Later mobilizing alongside his comrades when Naruto called for them, Shikamaru and the others were shocked when they are enveloped by Naruto's Tailed Beast Mode mantle. Using the Rasengan formed in Kurama's tails, Shikamaru and the others were able to break down Obito's defenses giving Naruto and Sasuke the opportunity to land a fatal blow. He and his other comrades later assisted Naruto with wresting the control of the tailed beasts' chakra from Obito in order to stop the Ten-Tails' tree form from blooming.

He later watched on as meteorites once again fell to the ground close by him. He noted that not only had Naruto's chakra had disappeared, but the holy tree had also disappeared. He later fell prey to the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Ultimately, Shikamaru and the rest of the world were freed from the genjutsu by Naruto and Sasuke after ending the war.

Two years after the war, Shikamaru is deployed onto a team with Naruto, Sakura, Sai, and Hinata to rescue Hyuga Hanabi, who has been kidnapped by Otsutsuki Toneri.

They eventually find themselves caught in a trap by Toneri, but break out of it thanks to Sakura. After Hinata willingly goes with Toneri to save Hanabi, Shikamaru and Sai travel to the artificial sun and discover the entrance to Toneri's palace via his puppets. After Naruto regains consciousness after three days from his fight with Toneri, Shikamaru lectures him about giving up after Hinata, stating he doesn't care what happened between them, but he is a shinobi and has duty to his cause. He then takes him to Sakura, revealing she used up almost all her chakra to save him.

Shikamaru leads them to Toneri's palace to rescue Hinata and Hanabi. After Naruto and Hinata destroy the Tenseigan, Shikamaru notes the clock isn't stopping and are caught in Toneri's attack revealing he entered the Tenseigan Chakra Mode. After Naruto defeats Toneri, the team heads home as Shikamaru was lastly seen at Naruto and Hinata's wedding alongside Temari. Years later when Naruto finally became Hokage, Shikamaru along with Kiba, Sai, Rock Lee, Choji and Shino help a unconscious Naruto arrive at his house.

During the Five Kage Summit, Shikamaru accompanies Naruto to the Kage Summit in the epilogue as both his advisor and personal bodyguard. Their relationship improves when Shikamaru tries to help Naruto by telling him to have a pet talk with Boruto when he was taking the Chunin Exams. Including when Naruto was battling Momoshiki, Shikamaru try to stop the enemy with his shadow by fail. When Naruto was kidnapped by Momoshiki, Shikamaru told Sasuke to look after Naruto for him while he stays in the village. After Naruto was rescued, Shikamaru had Naruto's schedule lessen permanently so he can spend more time with his family without having to work to long in the Hokage Office.

Knownable Relatives

 * Nara Shikaku (Father/dead)
 * Nara Yoshino (Mother)
 * Nara Temari (Wife)
 * Nara Shikadai (Son)
 * Gaara (Brother in law)
 * Kankuro (Brother in law)
 * Karura (Mother in law/dead)
 * Rasa (Father in law/dead)
 * Shinki (Foster Nephew)
 * Akimichi Choji (Childhood Best Friend & Teammate)
 * Yamanaka Ino (Childhood Classmate & Teammate)
 * Sarutobi Asuma (Sensei/dead)

Trivia
According to the databook(s): According to character trivia from Boruto: There are several differences between his character in the current timeline, and in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream:
 * In the omake at the end of Naruto Shippuudon episode 75, Shikamaru told Asuma that Naruto Shippuuden would now be called Shikamaru Shippuuden after rejecting his idea of renaming it Asuma Shippuuden. The logo appeared with the title, and two silhouettes appeared facing each other: that of Shikamaru and Temari.
 * Shikamaru ranked as high as the 4th most popular character in Naruto, according to the third Naruto character popularity poll. He ranked 5th in the next poll. He was 10th in the sixth. In the seventh he was 9th, making this the fifth consecutive poll he was in the top 10.
 * After Asuma's death, Shikamaru temporarily took up Asuma's habit of smoking. The cigarettes were removed from the English manga and the English version of the anime, the smoke instead is being shown to come from Asuma's lighter.
 * Shikamaru's most used phrase is "How troublesome" (面倒くせい)
 * In the English version his catchphrase is "What a Drag".
 * His birthday is September 22, & his bloodtype is AB.
 * Shikamaru's hobbies are taking naps & playing shogi against formidable opponents.
 * Shikamaru desires to fight no one, and always tries to avoid getting into trouble in the first place.
 * Shikamaru's favorite food is mackerel & kelp. While his least favorite food is boiled eggs.
 * Shikamaru has completed 39 official missions in total: 8 D-rank, 3 C-rank, 9 B-rank, 19 A-rank, 0 S-rank.
 * Shikamaru is even younger than his wife's two little brothers. However, Gaara still calls him "big brother" in respect.
 * His attributes are: 115 in strength, 130 in negotiation, 100 in chakra, 210 in intelligence, 160 in perception, and 133 in dexterity.
 * He has five stars in intelligence gathering, and six stars in observational skills.
 * He has his own Extreme: Shinobi Picture Scroll training cards.
 * In the current timeline, Shikamaru join the Chunin exams with his six former classmates and Team Guy. However in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, he joins all nine of them on a mission.
 * In the current timeline, Shikamaru and his team never saw Sasuke train to learn the Chidori. However in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, Shikamaru and his team do see Sasuke train to master the Chidori.
 * Even though he, Naruto and Neji are official members of the Sasuke Retrieval Squad in both the current timeline, and in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream. However in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, when Neji goes to help Naruto and Shikamaru fight against the Root ANBU members. It's reveal that the other two Sasuke Retrieval Squad members that Neji brought with him are Rock Lee and Tenten.
 * In the current timeline, when Shikamaru and the others went to get Sasuke back. He fought against Tayuya. However in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, Shikamaru fought against Sai.
 * In the current timeline, it is Neji who believes that Naruto can bring Sasuke back home. However in the anime during Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, it is Shikamaru who believes that Naruto can bring Sasuke back home.
 * In the current timeline, Naruto was found unconscious by Kakashi after his fight with Sasuke. However in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, it was Shikamaru who found Naruto unconscious after his battle with Sasuke.
 * In the current timeline, Naruto was informed by Kakashi that Sasuke is never coming back to the village. However in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, it was Shikamaru who told Naruto that Sasuke is never coming back to the village.
 * In the current timeline, Shikamaru never saw Naruto battle Pain. However in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, Shikamaru does watch Naruto battle Pain.
 * In the current timeline, Shikamaru fought against the Ten Tails. However in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, he fought against Sasori's human puppets.
 * In the current timeline, was sad about Asuma's death. However in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, Shikamaru is glad that Asuma is alive to which they take a group photo their team, Naruto, the Konoha 11, Team Jiraiya and a redeemed Sasuke.

Voice Actors
all information on Nara Shikamaru is from http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Shikamaru_Nara
 * Japanese : Showtaro Morikubo (2002 – Present)
 * English : Tom Gibis (2005 – Present)
 * Played by in (Live Action) : Tsubasa Hattori (2015 Live Spectacle Naruto), Tatsuya Kobayashi (2016 Live Spectacle Naruto)