Shikamaru Nara

1. 1
   The lazy geniusDebut Arc · Prologue

   Wasted potential, on purpose

   Shikamaru is born into the Nara clan with one of the sharpest minds of his generation, and spends his early years hiding it — bored, asleep in the grass, dodging anything that looks like work.

2. 2
   Chūnin Exams

   Promoted without winning

   Shikamaru forfeits his own final match in the Chūnin Exams — and is still the only rookie of his year promoted to chūnin. The judges saw what Asuma already knew: his real weapon is the planning he does before a fight starts.

3. 3
   Sasuke Retrieval

   His first command

   Shikamaru leads the mission to bring Sasuke back, his first time in command. Every member of his team is badly hurt, and the mission fails. The guilt nearly convinces him to give up being a shinobi for good.

4. 4
   Asuma's death

   The teacher he could not save

   Asuma is killed by the Akatsuki's Hidan. Shikamaru takes the loss hard, and grieving, he plans a careful, cold revenge — trapping Hidan with his shadow and burying the immortal, dismembered Akatsuki member in a pit forever.

5. 5
   The will of fire

   Out of the grief

   Shikamaru comes through the worst of his grief carrying Asuma's lesson — that the "king" worth protecting is the next generation — and steps fully into the role of a strategist his village can rely on.

6. 6
   Fourth Shinobi World War

   The mind behind the army

   In the Fourth Shinobi World War, Shikamaru is one of the central planners of the Allied Shinobi Forces, helping run the entire war effort from the command tent.

Shikamaru is, by his teacher's measure, a genius with an IQ over 200 — and one of the laziest characters in the series. His real weapon is his mind: he can hold a whole battlefield in his head, read an opponent's patterns, and plan dozens of moves ahead, the way he plays shōgi. His combat is built on the Nara clan's shadow techniques, which pin an enemy in place while he thinks.

Play today's Narutodle or browse past answers.

• Who is Shikamaru Nara?+

  Shikamaru Nara is a shinobi of Konohagakure and a member of the Nara clan. A lazy but brilliant strategist with an IQ over 200, he leads Team 10's Ino–Shika–Chō trio and becomes the Hidden Leaf's most trusted tactical mind by the Fourth Shinobi World War.
• Is Shikamaru a Chūnin?+

  Yes. Shikamaru is a Chūnin — and famously the only Konoha rookie of his year to be promoted after their first Chūnin Exams. He even forfeited his own final match, but the judges promoted him for the strategic skill he showed in the rounds before it.
• What is the Shadow Possession Jutsu?+

  The Shadow Imitation Technique, or Shadow Possession Jutsu, is the Nara clan's signature jutsu. Shikamaru extends his own shadow and merges it with a target's, locking them in place and forcing them to copy his every movement.
• How did Shikamaru defeat Hidan?+

  Hidan, an effectively immortal Akatsuki member, killed Shikamaru's sensei Asuma. Shikamaru lured him into the Nara clan forest, trapped him with his shadow, triggered a field of explosive tags, and buried the dismembered, still-living Hidan in a deep pit for good.
• Who was Shikamaru's sensei?+

  Shikamaru's sensei was Asuma Sarutobi, the jōnin leader of Team 10. Asuma uncovered Shikamaru's genius by playing shōgi against him, and his death at the hands of Hidan is the turning point of Shikamaru's story.
• Has Shikamaru Nara been a Narutodle answer?+

  Shikamaru is in the daily answer pool of 210 characters. The Previous Narutodle Appearances list on this page shows every date he was the Classic answer, each linking to a replayable archive puzzle.
• How do you guess Shikamaru in Narutodle?+

  Shikamaru's Nara clan narrows the board to a small family. His Chūnin rank is the sharper tell — among the well-known Konoha rookies, he is close to the only one who holds it, since he was the single member of his year promoted after the first Chūnin Exams.