Nara Shikamaru

Nara Shikamaru (奈良シカマル) is a major supporting character of the series. He is a chūnin-level shinobi of Konohagakure's Nara clan and a member of Team Asuma. Along with his team-mates, he makes up the new generation of Ino–Shika–Chō, just like their fathers were before them.

Background
Shikamaru was born into the Nara clan to Shikaku and Yoshino. He has a long-standing friendship with Chōji Akimichi. They met even before joining the Academy, when others ridiculed Chōji for his weight, Shikamaru soon abandoned the game and ended up hanging out with Chōji instead. Because of the kindness Shikamaru has always shown him, Chōji is unwavering in his loyalty to him, and will gladly give his life for Shikamaru.

Once they entered the Academy, Shikamaru and Chōji were among their classes' dead-lasts, along with Uzumaki Naruto and Inuzuka Kiba, spending their day pursuing what they deemed to be more interesting pastimes. In Shikamaru's case, he would spend all day sleeping; to Shikamaru, even the very effort of putting pen-to-paper was just too much effort for him to put into it unless he had to. Iruka Umino, their instructor, would give them all the same lecture. In the anime, around this time, Shikamaru, along with Chōji and Ino Yamanaka went searching for a set of kunai Chōji lost. During their search, they met a mysterious young boy named Yota. They soon learned to their amazement that Yota had the ability to manipulate weather, especially through his emotional state. Fearing how the village would respond to an outsider considering how much turmoil it had with the other nations, Shikamaru and the others decided to hide Yota's existance, giving him shelter in a treehouse and regularly bringing him food.

Personality
As a genin, Shikamaru Nara was the sort of unenthusiastic kid who liked to watch clouds. He preferred not to get involved in "troublesome" activities, pretending to be busy to avoid responsibility. He also does not like fighting, deeming it, as he does to most things, "troublesome". He is fully aware of this side of his personality. He even named himself "the number one at running away" or "the number one coward". In fact, his most commonly used phrase is "how troublesome" in the Japanese version, and "what a drag" in the English version.

However, when duty calls, Shikamaru has a strong moral compass and sense of commitment towards his comrades. Even though, by his own testimony, he lacks bravery, he will sacrifice himself and face almost certain death, for the sake of his friends and/or villagers without a second thought. Because of his raw leadership skill, he was the first genin from the Rookie Nine to become a chunin. The weight of the decisions he must make as a chunin and, thus, team leader have caused Shikamaru to mature rapidly. This was most evident after the death of Asuma. He vowed to protect and later mentor Asuma's child, so that the child could grow up to be a "cool adult" like Asuma. Shikamaru's sense of duty and commitment to the future of his village is also reflected in his willingness to enforce Konoha 11's recent decision to stop Uchiha Sasuke at all costs, even in the face of potential objections on behalf of the original members of Team Kakashi.

Akimichi Choji is Shikamaru's best friend. He respects and trusts him. He said that if he had to fight Choji in the Chūnin Exams he would give up. After he left Choji to fight Jirobo, he told the rest of the team that Choji is stronger than anyone else in this team.

Shikamaru enjoys playing thinking games, that older men are usually into, such as shogi and Go (his teacher, Asuma, even said at one point "That kid is like an old man. He likes to take things slowly.").

Shikamaru's most distinctive character trait is that he considers most women bossy and "troublesome", particularly Temari, his mother and Yamanaka Ino. He usually defines them as aggressive, demanding, and sometimes even scary. Given his mother's tyrannical personality, this isn't too surprising. However, his father shares the exact same attitude, even though he married Yoshino in the first place. When Shikamaru questioned his father about why he would marry such a domineering woman, his father responded that even the toughest woman will show her gentle side to the man she loves.

Nevertheless, Shikamaru is generally courteous to women, doing them favours and avoiding fights with them. He feels that men, like him, should be the ones protecting them and not the other way around. Despite the latter point, he almost exclusively fought against women during Part I of the manga, albeit because of circumstances that were mostly out of his control.

He has expressed a knownable mature and modest interest in marriage and raising a family. He hopes to "marry a regular girl who isn't too ugly and not too pretty. Have two children, first a girl, then a boy. Retire after my daughter is married and my son becomes a successful ninja, and spend the rest of my life playing shogi or Go. Then die of old age before my wife."

Shikamaru has also shown a little devious side. When he gets food for Choji while he's in the hospital during the Chūnin Exams, the nurse tells him that Choji has indigestion and that he can't have food. So, Shikamaru goes to Naruto's room to give him the food. When Naruto tells Shikamaru he wants to eat it in front of Choji to annoy him, Shikamaru states "That is so mean… I like it."

Appearance
To further emphasise his personality, Shikamaru is regularly seen with a lazy or irritated expression. He has shoulder length 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 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.

Abilities
Shikamaru is a highly skilled shinobi, attested to by him being the first of his peers to be promoted to the rank of chūnin.[7] According to Temari, Shikamaru could easily make jōnin if he wasn't so lazy.[8] Even while he was still a genin in Part I, Shikamaru was among the few shinobi who detected and dispelled Kabuto's sleep-inducing genjutsu.[9] In the anime, it was stated that he was offered a position in the Twelve Guardian Ninja, but turned it down in order to stay in Konoha and protect it.[10] In Part II of the anime, he was seen being able to summon objects from scrolls to his advantage.

Taijutsu
Even though it is not his preferred fighting style, Shikamaru is a capable close range combatant and most often uses it as a method to employ the use of his shadow, seen when he attacked Hidan with a punch that came as such a shock to the latter that he could not evade Shikamaru's secondary, shadow attack. He has also made use of his tantō to attack Hidan, leaving a gash in the side of his target's neck. In the anime, he showed great skill with close-range combat.

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

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

Nature Transformation
After learning the needed hand seals from Kitsuchi, Shikamaru, alongside the other remaining allied shinobi, could use the Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall technique, meaning he has the potential to use other Earth Release techniques as well.

Introduction arc
Having graduated from the 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 10 along with Chōji and Ino, who said moments earlier that she would not want to work alongside someone as lazy as Shikamaru, much to his amusement.

Chunin Exam arc
Shikamaru, along with the rest of the Rookie Nine, participated in the Chūnin 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 Chūnin Exams, Team 10 stumbled across Sakura Haruno being attacked by some Oto genin. Although he said he didn't want to get involved, Shikamaru dragged Chōji along once Ino joined the fray. The team then initiated the Ino–Shika–Chō battle formation, Shikamaru immobilising Dosu Kinuta. Soon after, Sasuke Uchiha awakened, his newly received Cursed Seal activated. As Sasuke prepared to attack the Oto genin, Shikamaru told Ino and Chōji 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.

When Chōji was hospitalised due to rupturing his stomach when he ate too much after his battle, Shikamaru brought him a basket with fruits, but Chōji 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 and they listened as he told them about the demon sealed within him and his life and then threatened to kill them, but he was stopped by Might Guy's arrival.

One day before the final round Chōji overheard Guy and Naruto talking about the "Fourth Hokage's legacy". Chōji then told Shikamaru and Ino about this. Later Naruto and Sakura met with Team 10 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 it will be okay. However, they realised that this whole mission was made up by Guy 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 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 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 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.

Sasuke Retrieval arc
Because of his performance during the Chūnin Exam finals, Shikamaru was the only Konoha genin that was promoted to the rank of chūnin. 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 Naruto and Chōji, and then added Neji and 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 Jirōbō. However, Shikamaru was able to find a way to escape. He was ultimately forced to leave Chōji behind to fight Jirōbō, but had no concerns that Chōji would lose, and marked the team's path so that Chōji 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 Sasuke had escaped, and that everyone on the team suffered injuries despite being helped by Temari's two siblings, Gaara and Kankurō. 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.

He later saw Temari and the Sand Siblings off and, in the anime, was appointed as an Academy instructor.

Pre-Shippuden arc
Shikamaru did not make as many appearances as his team-mates during the anime's arcs, being preoccupied with his Academy duties. 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 Gennō. 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 Gennō at his own game, leading to the old man's death.

He appeared with Chōji and Ino when they helped Naruto to pursue Mizuki and dealt with the Legendary Stupid Brothers. They performed their version of the Ino–Shika–Chō pattern to hold the brothers. They were able to stall them until Tsunade appeared and defeated the two brothers.

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.

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 Chūnin 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 Chōji and both reconciled with one another and then Sai attacked, Shikamaru and Chōji 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.

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. Chōji 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 Chōji. 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 10 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. [24] 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.

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.[25] 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.[26] 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 joining in on the celebration of Naruto's victory over Pain.

Konoha History arc
Shikamaru was shown to be curious as to why Naruto was hated by the majority of the village. At one point he and Chōji witnessed a shopkeeper assaulting Naruto while the latter was harmlessly browsing for a face mask. Seeing everyone glaring at Naruto with hostility, Shikamaru 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 Chōji 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.

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. 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. The next day, Naruto learns that Sasuke is the only surviving member of the Uchiha clan.

After class, Naruto wants to join Hibachi and his friends in their "test of courage" though Hibachi tells him to not follow them. Naruto pranks them later in the night by dressing up as a fox demon. Hearing them say they saw a fox demon, Iruka runs to the Konoha grave site and learns it's Naruto. Recognising Iruka's glare as the same one everyone else in the village gives him, Naruto runs off with the intent not to return to the Academy again.

The next day, with Naruto is absent in class and denied to be seen by the Third Hokage, Iruka sits in the park where he meets Kakashi Hatake and discusses his issues of being Naruto's teacher. Kakashi remembers when after his mission with him, Iruka decides to become an instructor at the Academy to pass the Will of Fire to the next generation.

Hibachi and his friends decide to let Naruto in their group if he would do their test of courage. Hibachi was told by his father that in the hills, there are corpses left by enemy ninja. Naruto agrees to get an item from a corpse in the hills. Hibachi tells his friends that there are still enemy ninja in the hills after Naruto left. When Iruka sees that Naruto is absent in class, Hibachi says he hasn't seen him, but Shikamaru Nara, having heard of his trick, tells Iruka who runs out the classroom to find Naruto. Remembering Suzume telling him of the enemy ninja, Iruka tries to find Naruto before the enemy ninja find him. Elsewhere, Kakashi hears from Shikamaru and Chōji that Iruka went to look for Naruto in the hills.

Team 10  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. Tofu 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 Tofu 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
In the anime, when Hidan's Triple-Bladed Scythe was stolen from the Nara Clan Forest, Shikamaru and a group of shinobi went there to investigate.[27] Upon receiving news that Kabuto is responsible for the massacre in Tonika Village, Tsunade sends Shikamaru, Kakashi, and Might Guy to assist Team Kakashi.

Adventures at Sea arc
Shikamaru begins to feel the pressure of shouldering the lives of his friends in the upcoming Fourth Shinobi World 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 Hyūga 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, Chōji 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 Chūnin 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, 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 shōgi 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 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 reliazes 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–Chō. 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 World War. Although Shikaku believed his son too young and inexperienced to be there, Shikamaru resolved to use every brain cell he had to memorise 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 Chōji. Although Gaara is technically the commander, Temari tells Shikamaru that, as Gaara's proxy, he is effectively in command. Shikamaru, Chōji, 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 Jōhei. Ino–Shika–Chō 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–Chō. Shikamaru goes after Asuma with his shadow to create an opening for Chōji to attack him, but Chōji is reluctant to attack their late teacher. While Chōji 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 Chōji, forcing Ino to transfer her consciousness to Chōji'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, Chōji finds the resolve to fight. Shikamaru again uses his shadow to create an opening, allowing Chōji 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, Tobi 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 Tobi plans to use the brothers' Nine-Tails-chakra. Tobi calls Shikamaru a worthy adversary for figuring out what he had planned and has the Statue attack him. He is saved by Chōji while Tobi 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 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. Chōji tries to comfort Shikamaru, but Shikamaru reminds Chōji 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, Chōji, 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 Chōji and several other Akimichi stopping the beast's tails, Ino took control of Obito Uchiha 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 the Fourth Hokage on the battlefield.

With Sasuke's subsequent appearance, Shikamaru, along with Chōji, 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 Chōji 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 Chōji as the yo-yo, the trio perform the Human Bullet Yo-Yo technique, obliterating all of the surrounding clones. As Chōji 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 Chōji's arms. Drifting in and out of consciousness, the young man apologised 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 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.

Naruto the movie ll
Shikamaru was part of a team with Sakura and Naruto, all of them being sent to retrieve a lost pet ferret and take it to a village where its owners could pick it up. Arriving to find the village in ruins, they then engaged the knight Temujin and his allies, who wielded the powers of the Stone of Gelel. Shikamaru and Sakura were separated from Naruto during the fight, but rejoined him after further engagements with the enemy forces. Shikamaru deduced a number of facts regarding the Stones of Gelel, before becoming involved in the final battle to prevent their falling into the wrong hands. He fought Kamira, who could transform into a large bat-like creature, by crafting a web of explosive tags and pieces of paper made to look like explosive tags to entrap her, allowing Kankurō to finish her off with his puppets. He also saved many people from Haido's castle, and appeared in the bonus ending credits.

Naruto Shippuden movie l
After the legendary demon Mōryō 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 Shippuden 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 lll
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 Chōji 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 lllll
Naruto is amazed that Killer B and all his friends have gathered there. As Naruto wonders why this is happening, Tsunade reveals that it was Naruto's mission to destroy the box and that no one believed that Naruto really committed any of the crimes. It was also revealed that Maroi was a friend of B's and he was the mysterious voice. Naruto decides to attain Sage Mode once more and tells Killer B and the others to distract Satori, while he does this. Naruto is able to realise that the Satori cannot read the minds of people, but he can read their fears, allowing Naruto to fight Satori evenly in Sage Mode. Naruto attempted to end the battle by creating a large Rasengan, with two clones, however Satori impales him and Ryūzetsu. Naruto is able to wake Mui up, and uses his shadow clones to hold Satori's wings, pushing Satori back and therefore allowing Mui to weaken it. Naruto uses this time to free himself and Ryūzetsu, and defeats Satori by firing a Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, returning Satori back to normal. Muku kills both his father and himself and apologises to Ryuzetsu for not keeping his promise. The prisoners attempt to escape, but are stopped by Naruto's friends. After capturing all the prisoners, Sakura tries to heal a dying Naruto, but has no success, until Ryūzetsu revives Naruto, by using her kekkei genkai but at the cost of her life.

In the aftermath, Mui and Ryūzetsu are shown buried next to each other. Naruto ties Ryūzetsu's bandanna around her gravestone.

Naruto Shippuuden movie llllll
The movie starts with a flashback to the Nin Tails Attack on Konoha, which then flashes forward to eight members of Akatsuki that are meant to be dead which unsettles Sakura. Shikamaru states there is no point in wondering why the dead are back alive and quickly comes up with a counter plan, but Naruto quickly attacks Akatsuki head on, forcing the rest of the Konoha 11 plus Sai, Kakashi and Guy to attack. The battle continues until Naruto is caught by Kakuzu. Sai frees Naruto by cutting part of  Kakuzu's arm off, causing the Akatsuki to retreat. Naruto and his friends return home, where most of Naruto's peers are congratulated by their families whom all promise to write a recommendation letter so they can become jōnin although Sakura has a little fight with her family who embarrasses her in front of the others. As Naruto returns home, he passes many families causing him to reminisce of his father and mother causing him to feel lonely. He then asks Iruka for a letter of recommendation of his own, but Iruka refuses as Naruto is only a genin and must become a chūnin and rise through the ranks just as Minato and all other jōnin did. Naruto is saddened by his lonely lifestyle and the fact no one seems to understand him, and storms off. He meets Sakura, who had an argument with her family and also stormed out, grabbing Naruto's hand and telling him to go on a date with her. While Sakura complains about her family,Tobi appears in front of them and after a small scuffle, he then activates the limited Tsukuyomi. Naruto and Sakura are absorbed in a flash of light, and later find themselves still in the same park they were before.

They run into their friends including Sasuke, but with different personalities, and to add to the confusion, no one knows who Tobi is. They realize they are in another world where Sakura's father was the Fourth Hokage, who saved the village instead of Minato, and in this world Naruto is named Menma instead. As Naruto and Sakura return home Sakura is happy for the new freedom she has, while Naruto hurries home to his apartment hoping to see his parents, only to find he does not live there.

Tobi reveals that the dead Akatsuki members in the beginning were only Zetsu clones. In the Genjutsu World, a man in a mask meets Tobi and they agree to work together. Elsewhere, as Sakura is looking through her dresser, she sees the same coat that Naruto's father had there. She then meets Sasuke who gives her a flower and flirts with her. Naruto and Sakura meet in the morning to try to gather more information of their current world, although Sakura enjoys this world as she has more freedom and is well loved by the village thanks to her father's actions. Naruto, on the other hand, wants to return home as fast as possible.

Naruto and Sakura meet Tsunade and Shizune, who tell them that a masked man attacked Kumogakure, and killed their jinchūriki which Naruto and Sakura believe to have been Tobi. They then meet Naruto's parents, who are alive in this world. Minato says that Jiraiya died finding the Red Moon Scroll that was said to help save the world. Tsunade lets Naruto and Sakura join Minato and Kushina on their mission when Kakashi and Guy return. Sakura is shocked at finding out who Naruto's parents are, while Naruto is angry that Tobi would dare to make copies of his dead parents, and he swears to break the Genjutsu. While Sakura is still enjoying her life, she wonders how Naruto is doing. While Naruto attempts to ignore his parents, he sees an album showing him how his life would have been if his parents had been alive.

In the morning, Sakura notes that this world's Kakashi and Guy switched personalities, while Naruto isolates himself from his parents at every turn. They soon locate where Jiraiya hid the scroll, but as the group stops to rest Naruto charges ahead until he is confronted by the summoning of Gamabunta, Gamahiro and Gamaken. They refuse to listen to Naruto and the group who explains their reason for being there and attacks them with an army of frogs. Naruto attempts to use Sage Mode, but is unable to gather enough energy before Gamabunta attacks him. Kushina protects him, but a shot of acid burns her leg. Minato saves both of them and quickly is able to get the scroll, dispelling the Summoning Technique.

As Sakura heals Kushina, Naruto still attempts to brush off his parents, causing Minato to say no matter what Naruto does, they will always try to save him. Kushina then awakens and hugs Naruto, causing him to be unable to try to ignore his parents any longer and finally accepts them. They return to Konoha, where Tsunade locks the scroll in the village's safe until the night when a red moon will appear when they can use the scroll to fulfill the said prophecy. As Naruto and Sakura walk home, Naruto quickly walks home leaving Sakura alone and happily walks into his house. Sakura now finds her home too lonely and wonders if Naruto's always this alone. As she walks down town she sees happy families, only making her more sad. She then realizes that this world's Sasuke is just a flirt and decides that Naruto was right on his decision to quickly break the genjutsu they're now trapped in and wishes to return to their own world. As she walks to Naruto's home to try to find a way to break the genjutsu, she see how happy Naruto is and wonders if they really should leave. Sakura later meets Naruto, and asks him if he wants to stay. Although he denies it, he later thinks to himself that he truly does not want to leave.

At that moment an explosion occurs at the Hokage's office, where the masked man from earlier asks for the scroll they brought back. He overpowers Minato, Kushina, and Tsunade, and then Naruto and Sakura arrive. They realize that this was the man Tsunade was talking about, and that he knows Tobi. He overpowers Naruto and Sakura, and kidnaps Sakura in exchange for the scroll. He then uses Great Spiralling Ring, destroying a large part of Konoha and leaves. Naruto tries to save Sakura, but Minato prevents him, showing that in the end this world's Minato is different from his father. He takes one of Minato's kunai and the scroll leaving with Sakura's father's Hokage coat. Sakura is tied up and meets Tobi who is a ghost saying they are in an old training ground that Minato and Jiraiya used. Naruto arrives but is attacked by the other masked man asking for the scroll. Naruto is unable to fight properly as his stomach acts up, the Masked Man then takes the time to summon the Nine Masked Beasts, and about to kill Naruto when the Akatsuki arrives and saved him.

This Akatsuki was hired by Tsunade to help Naruto, and they deal with the masked beasts when Naruto attacks the masked man. Itachi saves Sakura and Tobi decides to escape instead. The Akatsuki defeats the masked beasts that turn into nine fox kits, while Naruto chased the masked man into the training grounds. They then fight, Naruto uses Sage Mode and uses the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken to counter the Masked Man's Great Spiralling Ring. It ends in a draw, but the attack destroy the masked man's mask, showing that he is Menma, this world's Naruto. Menma then called back the defeated masked beasts, and summoned Kurama's counterpart, the Black Nine-Tails. Naruto was unable to attack, while the Akatsuki retreat, taking Sakura with them. Not wanting to be manipulated by the Sharingan again, Kurama makes a truce with Naruto to work together, allowing him to summon Kurama out of his body. In the battle Naruto is barely able to win, but Tobi reveals that this was his plan, to have Naruto and Menma fight, as doing so would cause the two foxes to fight and weaken Kurama. As he possessed Menma, Kurama warned Naruto if he looked into Menma's Sharingan, it would be all over, for Tobi planned to extract Kurama out of Naruto the same way he extracted it from Kushina sixteen years ago. As Menma overpowers Naruto, the latter tries to use the scroll when he notices the moon had turned red, but Menma cuts the scroll, causing Naruto to look into Menma's eyes. Naruto's memories are erased, but Sakura rescues him before Kurama is extracted from him.

Naruto, in an amnesiac state, stares at the destroyed Red Moon Scroll, which brings back memories of his training to learn the Rasengan with Jiraiya, and how his father was the one who invented the technique. Naruto is able to break free of the genjutsu just in time to save Sakura, and then defeats Tobi the same way his father did, breaking the Limited Tsukiyomi. Tobi, using his ghost body, attacks again, until Minato and Kushina arrive. Tobi decides to give up and exits the genjutsu world just as Naruto and Sakura are enveloped in a bright light, preparing to return to their world as well, but beforehand Naruto thanks Minato and Kushina who quickly goes to assist Menma who is returning to his original state as their son. Naruto and Sakura returns to their world, where Naruto's Hokage coat breaks down since it was only part of the genjutsu world and not real. Naruto and Sakura tell Tsunade and Kakashi of what transpired and sets out more guard patrol since Tobi was easily able to enter further in the village than they imagined. Shizune also brings up the topic of the letters of recommendation from the beginning of the movie, to which Tsunade replies that she has no intention of promoting any of Naruto's friends to jōnin. As they both return home, Naruto watches Sakura as she meets her parents, happily hugging them. He approaches her, asking her out on a date, but Sakura tells him they just came back from the longest date ever, much to Naruto's shock. As Naruto goes home, he sees Iruka in his house, waiting to apologise to him. Afterwards, Naruto happily walks through the village while quoting that the road of a ninja is one who endures.

Video Games
Shikamaru Nara is a playable character in the following video games:

Catchphrases
"How troublesome" (めんどくせー, mendokusē; English TV "What a drag") 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. 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".

Quotes

 * (To Temari) "It really doesn't matter to me if I ever become a chūnin or not, but I guess I shouldn't let myself be beaten by a female, so let's do it."
 * (To himself while fighting Temari) "Oh, man… those clouds are so lucky… so free… More to the point, I didn't feel like doing this in the first place…And I only became a ninja because I thought life would've been more interesting as one… I suppose things aren't gonna be that simple."
 * (About women, to his father) "C'mon. You know what they're like. You can never figure them out. You never know where you could stand with them. The smallest things could put you in their bad side. Always playing little mind games with you. Trying to make you do what they want. They're just a big pain basically."
 * (About Sasuke) "I never really liked Sasuke, but all the same, he's a member of Konoha; he's a comrade and I'll put my life on the line to help him, that's the way of our village. I know I usually seem like a pretty lazy guy but not today, because now I'm responsible for your lives too."
 * (To Tayuya) "How many times do I have to tell you? The first move is always a feint. It's the most basic thing to land a hit with the second move."
 * (To Tayuya) "Socking a defenceless woman goes against my policy, but, you don't seem in any way defenceless."
 * (To himself) "Ughh. Great. What's the point in setting the alarm if I'm going to wake up before it goes off? What a total waste. Now I've gotta shut it off but I don't feel like moving. But if I don't shut it off it will just keep ringing and ringing. It makes me tired just thinking about the whole thing. Some mornings are such a drag…"
 * (To Hidan) "See, you and I have different beliefs. I believe in the Will of Fire. That pathetic Lord Jashin or whatever isn't your God any more. I am. The only one bringing down vengeance is me."
 * (To Tsunade) "We're not stupid enough to go out there planning to die."
 * (To Kurenai) "When you have that kid, I'll have to protect it. So I've gotta grow up to be a cool adult, too!"
 * (To Naruto) "My master entrusted me with a lot, from big things to little things. It's the same for you an unlimited number of things, don't you think it's about time for us, to be the ones who entrust not the entrusted, it's a pain in the ass but I can't say that; Someday you'll be the one to treat others to ramen and you'll be called Master Naruto… we can't stay kids forever, like Asuma and Jiraiya I wanna be as cool as them."
 * (To the Allied Shinobi Forces) "No matter how little the power, it can still be used in some way. We might be useless but at some point we might turn out useful too. Even a little power could change the future of the world. That's why we must always be focused and not let that moment slip away."

Trivia

 * In the omake at the end of Shippūden episode 75, Shikamaru told Asuma that Naruto: Shippūden would now be called Shikamaru: Shippūden after rejecting his idea of renaming it Asuma: Shippūden. 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.
 * Other than Naruto, Shikamaru is the only one of the Konoha 11 who did not move up in rank during the timeskip, though he was already a chūnin before the time skip.
 * After Asuma's death, Shikamaru temporarily took up Asuma's habit of smoking. The cigarettes were removed from the English manga and the anime, the smoke instead being shown to come from Asuma's lighter.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * Shikamaru's hobbies are taking naps and playing shōgi against formidable opponents.
 * Shikamaru desires to fight no one, and always tries to avoid getting into trouble in the first place.
 * Shikamaru's favourite foods are mackerel and kelp, his least favourite are 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's most used phrase is "How troublesome" (面倒くせい, mendōkusei; English TV "What a Drag").

Voice actors
Japanese voice actor :Shotaro Morikubo (all his appearances)

English voice actor :Tom Gibis (All his appearances)