Shikamaru Nara

Shikamaru is the son of Yoshino and Shikaku Nara. As kids when they all were playing ninjas, the other kids didn't allow Choji to play with them. As Shikamaru couldn't convince them to include him, he left them and went to his favorite spot to watch the clouds.

Coincidentally, Choji was sitting in the same spot and they both introduced themselves. Shikamaru invited Choji to watch the clouds together and Choji offered him his snacks.

From that day onwards they became best friends and they were always together in the Academy. Shikamaru didn't have a lot of interest in his classes and mainly spent time sleeping during his lessons. He also showed a lack of enthusiasm during class and didn't like taking tests which led to him having bad grades.

His intelligence can be in his fight vs Hidan as before the fight, Shikamaru makes modifications to his plan so that Kakashi would be a part of it too. Kakashi was quite impressed by Shikamaru that he could make changes in his plan at the last minute. Ino uses her Mind Transfer Jutsu and locates Hidan and Kakuzu who are just ten minutes away, and alerts the team of Akatsuki members.

Once they are located, Shikamaru uses the Shadow Imitation Technique to launch a sneak attack on them but Hidan and Kakuzu notice him and dodge the attack. While they were busy dodging it, Shikamaru throws two explosive kunais at them, Hidan and Kakuzu are caught in the blast but manage to survive. Just as they're moving away from Shadow Imitation, Shikamaru throws Asuma's chakra blades at their shadows which makes them stop in their place.

Hidan is confused about how they were caught when Shikamaru's Shadow didn't even get to touch them. Shikamaru then reveals that he had imbued his Chakra into the blades which acted as an extension for his Shadow Technique due to which he was able to capture them.

With the help of his Shadow Gathering Technique, Shikamaru removes the blades from Hidan's Shadow while connecting his own Shadow Imitation to it. Now that he was in control of Hidan, Shikamaru manipulated him and made him use his Scythe to attack Kakuzu in an attempt to kill him. Kakuzu managed to evade the attack as he was able to detach his limbs.

He tells Choji to observe and strike Kakuzu when there is an opening. As Hidan manages to escape from Shikamaru's jutsu, he goes to attack Kakashi, and Kakuzu uses this as an opportunity to attack Kakashi as Hidan is immortal. As Kakashi manages to survive the attack, Hidan praises him. As they needed to modify their plan, they all regrouped and concluded that to defeat Hidan and Kakuzu, they had to separate them.

Shikamaru said that he'll take on Hidan. He uses his Shadow Stitching and traps Hidan. With Hidan under his control, he makes him drop his Scythe and goes into the forest, forcing Hidan to follow him. In the forest, once Hidan is free to move again, he uses his Scythe and throws it at Shikamaru, and it grazes his cheek.

Once he ingests Shikamaru's blood he draws the Jashin circle and stabs himself in the heart. Shikamaru falls and Hidan mocks him for not putting up a fight. When he's walking off to help Kakuzu, Shikamaru gets up and Hidan is shocked to see him alive. Shikamaru then reveals that the blood he ingested was not his but Kakuzu's blood and that he had killed Kakuzu instead. He then attacks Hidan and throws him in a ditch planted with explosives. Hidan falls in it and gets impaled, and Shikamaru buries him down there for good.

Shikamaru is a very lazy person and likes to do as little work as possible. He was able to get away with this during his days in the academy as well as when he was a genin. He used to spend his days sleeping, watching the clouds, or playing shōgi or Go. His ultimate goal was to live life with no good or bad in it and then die just as remarkably as he lived.

Whenever he's face to face with an opponent or commitment he usually labels it 'troublesome' and always tries to find a way out of it by pretending that he isn't there or sometimes he outright says that he doesn't want to do the thing.

Even though Shikamaru says that he is a 'number one mortal coward' he has strong morals and is very dedicated to his friends. It was these qualities that made Choji Akimichi his friend as Shikamaru was one of the first to look past his weight and value him for who he truly was. It was these qualities of himself that make Shikamaru leave his laziness behind and volunteer to do work or Sacrifice himself if it means beneficial to his comrades.

This quality was seen in Shikamaru during Pain's attack on the village. He had been given the responsibility to lead his friends into battle and did his best to keep them safe. Sometimes still has his lazy streaks.

Shikamaru matures a lot after the death of his sensei Asuma Sarutobi. His loss taught Shikamaru that the world isn't safe and he can't be protected from it forever. After avenging Asuma, Shikamaru takes it upon himself that he has to do things to make the future better for the next generation of Konoha, especially for Asuma's unborn daughter Mirai.

He now doesn't run from the work he is handed even though he doesn't enjoy it at times. He can even argue in favor of difficult choices if it means that the survival of his friends and the village is guaranteed.

Matters regarding women are something that Shikamaru finds very troublesome. He has made this assumption by observing all the women he knows like his mother, Ino and Temari. He says that they're aggressive, annoying, and can sometimes get very scary.

Shikamaru tries his best to treat them delicately and politely and doesn't ask them to do anything which he thinks he can do himself. It was due to his father that he had these views, and Shukaku had these same views and experiences with women.

When Shikamaru asked his father to help him understand women, his father said that men destroy themselves without a woman's influence, and despite how they act women are always kind to the men they love. Shikamaru tries to ignore too much involvement with women as much as he can.

Shikamaru sympathizes with Naruto and was there to support him just like how Tobirama did for Hashirama. His new goal in life is that he will help Naruto become the Hokage and act as his advisor and right-hand man. As an adult, Shikamaru achieves this dream. He is not very strict with his son and trusts that he'll find his way.

Shikamaru has narrow brown eyes and a bored or lazy look on his face. He has shoulder-length black hair which is always in a ponytail. As a kid, he used to wear a short-sleeved grey jacket with green-edged sleeves which had the Nara clan symbol on its back. Underneath it, he used to wear green lines mesh armor t-shirt. He wore brown pants with his clan's traditional silver hoop earrings and wore his forehead protector on his left arm.

When he became a chunin Konoha's green flak jacket was added to his usual attire. As a teen, she wore the standard Konoha Ninja uniform with a green lined mesh armor on his wrists and ankles and the metal plate of his forehead protector was stitched on his left sleeve.

He also wore studs that were gifted to him by Asuma. As an adult Shikamaru grows a goatee and resembles his father a lot.

As his grades were really poor, nobody expected Shikamaru to become an exceptional ninja. He was the only one in his class to become a Chunin, and he uses Fire and Earth Release. As he is part of the Nara Clan, Shikamaru can also manipulate his own Shadow. He can even channel his Chakra into weapons and increase their powers.

Shikamaru is extremely intelligent with his IQ being over 200. Due to his intelligence, he's able to strategize and make plans on the spot. He can even make modifications to his plans so that it compliments everyone.

Shadow Imitation

The user manipulates their Shadow across a surface to merge it with the target's shadow. The user can stretch the shadow however they wish to do so. If the person is out of the range of the user, they can't get trapped.

Shadow Neck Binding

The user extends their Shadow along their target's body. The Shadow has physical properties that the enemies can feel. It can be used as a restraint. The closer the user is to the target, the stronger the binding becomes.

Flying Swallow

In this technique, the user adds his Chakra to his weapon to increase its reach. Their chakra acts as a cover around their weapons, and they can also adjust the reach of their chakra.

Shikamaru Nara has not only made an appearance in the series only but also movies and video games.

Movies

Naruto the Movie: Legend of the Stone of Gelel

Naruto Shippūden the Movie

Naruto Shippūden the Movie: Bonds

Naruto Shippūden the Movie: The Will of Fire

Naruto the Movie: Blood Prison

Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie

Video Games

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

Shikamaru vs Temari

Shikamaru vs Tayuya

Shikamaru vs Hidan

Shikamaru vs Edo Asuma

"Laziness is the mother of all bad habits, but ultimately she is a mother and we should respect her."

"It's stupid to talk about things you're not. Be yourself and you'll be fine."

"Stay focused. Never avert your eyes, because if an opening arises, even our insignificant power may be enough to determine the fate of the world."

"It’s because we help out when they’re in trouble that we can count on them to come running when we need it."

"We are not that stupid. I have no intention to die…but, I don’t want to give up without setting things straight...I don’t want to live a crappy life like that."

Q. Which episode does Shikamaru fight Hidan?

A. The Fight between Hidan and Shikamaru takes place between episodes 83-86 of Naruto Shippuden.

Q. How did Shikamaru kill Hidan?

A. Shikamaru kills Hidan by blowing him to bits and burying him deep down in the depths of the Nara Forest.