Shikamaru is lazy. He hates fighting, hates training, and would rather just lay back and look at the clouds, or play a nice game of chess than get involved in any kind of trouble. Unfortunatly for him, he also has a strong sense of duty, and whenever he is needed, he goes along without hesitation, although with plenty of complaining about "how troublesome" it all is. You see, for despite being lazy, Shikamaru is a genius. He had terrible scores in the Academy, because he slept through all the tests, but an IQ test disguised as a game (since he wouldn't have been interested in taking it otherwise) showed that he had an IQ of over 200 (which is the highest the scale goes). Shikamaru is a brilliant tactician, able to formulate hundreds of scenarios in seconds in his mind and choose the correct one for any given situation. He's not a very good hand-to-hand fighter, but his mind more than makes up for it, which is why he was the only one made a Chuunin after the first exam he participated in. Many a foe have underestimated him and found themselves dancing to the strings of one of his complex plans, and finally snared in his ultimate trap.
That trap often comes in the form of his family's secret technique, Kage Mane no Jutsu, or the Shadow Bind. Shikamaru is able to control his shadow, making it stretch out and contort. If it touches someone else's shadow, he is able to bind that person to him, so they are frozen in place and must mimic every move he makes. This is a great way to immobalize enemies and force them into his traps. He is know also trained in the next step in shadow control, the Shadow Choke, where he can actually strangle his enemies with their own shadow once he catches them in the Bind, making him more deadly than he was before. Although he lacks in raw power, Shikamaru is a valued planner and thinker for Konoha. He is also one of Naruto's best friends, as the two had a fair bit of slacking in common at the Academy. His best from from childhood, however, has been Chouji, who is also his teammate. |
