Shikadai Nara

is a genin of Konohagakure, and the heir to the Nara clan. As a member of Team 10 alongside Chōchō Akimichi and Inojin Yamanaka, they form the seventeenth generation of the Ino–Shika–Chō trio.

Background
Shikadai is the only child of Shikamaru and Temari Nara. Shortly after his birth, Shikamaru took notice of Shikadai's cry and suggested that the infant would be better off exploring the world with his friends. Being acquainted with Mirai Sarutobi since his birth, the two developed a sibling-like relationship during their training under his father. He would also regularly be practiced on by her for her genjutsu. As his parents continued to stay close to their childhood friends over the years, Shikadai ultimately came to know the various parents' respective kids well. On the day of the Seventh Hokage's inauguration, he watched the ceremony beside Inojin.

Personality
Shikadai takes after his father, Shikamaru, in several ways, possessing a similar relaxed, unenthusiastic personality. He finds participating in activities to be very tiresome and is quick to shirk out of them as seen when he rejected an invitation from Inojin to train after school. Also like his father, he tends to say "Complete" when successfully performing a technique or battle plan.

Stemming from his lax nature, he also isn't one to properly respect rank, greeting his uncle — the Kazekage — plainly before flatly asking for his other uncle Kankurō. He also showed himself to be blunt and outspoken like his mother, telling Boruto Uzumaki that pursuing a prank during the Five Kage Summit was stupid.

Shikadai is referred to as a gamer and seems to have a strong moral code. For instance, he was personally offended when Boruto revealed he was cheating in the video game the two play with Inojin. He also gave up against Boruto, who he did not know was cheating at the time, in their Chūnin Exam fight because he felt that as a gamer, one should understand when to give up to fight another day when the odds are overwhelmingly against you. He also has a fierce rivalry with Boruto. At the same time, he appears to be rather close to him, accepting Hinata's request to watch out for her son, implying he is also close to Hinata.

Appearance
Shikadai bears a strong resemblance to his father and paternal grandfather. He has black-coloured, spiky hair, tied up in a ponytail, and teal-coloured eyes. Unlike his father, Shikadai has sharper facial expressions — a trait he most likely inherited from his mother. Shikadai's outfit consists of a cream-coloured zipped-up jacket with a rudimentary Nara clan symbol on the back, blue trousers and standard shinobi sandals. He wears his forehead protector wrapped around one of his sleeves. As customary of his clan, both of his ears are pierced by grey stud earrings.

In his Academy days, Shikadai's outfit consisted of a white blouse, a green shirt, with yellow sleeves and collar, over it, blue pants, and regular shinobi sandals.

Abilities
Shikadai has been hailed as a prodigy amongst the Nara clan, having inherited the his father's intellect and possessing the Kazekage bloodline. While he was an academy student, his training was supervised by Mirai, with the goal to pass techniques that Shikamaru had taught to her onto Shikadai. As such, she drilled into him how to release genjutsu. During the Chūnin Exams, he was able to defeat Sunagakure's top genin Yodo, and was considered well-above the level of Kumo-elite genin Yurui.

Intelligence
Like both his parents, Shikadai is a natural strategist and tactician, constantly taking a methodical and analytical approach to battle to stay steps ahead of the opponent. During his fight against Boruto, Shikadai said he had at least 12 countermeasures in place if Boruto had used the Rasengan.

Ninjutsu
Being trained regularly by his parents even before joining the Academy, Shikadai is a capable shurikenjutsu practitioner, being able to easily hit the bulls-eye. He is also proficient in Wind Release, as he is able to use his mother's signature Sickle Weasel Technique, although it is unknown whether he requires the use of a fan to perform it. As a member of his generation's Ino–Shika–Chō, Shikadai is learning collaboration techniques with Inojin and Chōchō. In the anime, he is able to effectively perform Cooperation Ninjutsu and Fūinjutsu, able to use both to restrict a person's movements and expand the might of this alongside fellow users.

Nara Clan Techniques
As a member of the Nara clan, Shikadai is a capable of manipulating his shadow in various ways. By using the Shadow Imitation Technique to connect his own shadow with his target's, he can force them to mimic his own movements or restrict their movements entirely. His skill with the technique allows him to greatly expand its range to capture many different targets simultaneously before they can react.

Academy Entrance Arc
In the anime, after attending the Academy's enterance exam, Shikadai was placed in Shino Aburame's homeroom. Two weeks later, he warned Boruto not to get into more trouble, thinking Boruto would get suspended again for skipping class to fight Iwabee Yuino. Later, during their shurikenjutsu training, Boruto caused a ruckus, leading to Shikadai and others being punished with repairing the Hokage Rock. The following day, Shikadai, Boruto and Inojin found Metal Lee unusually aggressive, which resulted in him attacking the group. After devising a plan to subdue Metal, the group managed to free him from being possessed. After learning about the Summoning Technique, Shino had the boy and girl students of his class compete against each other in a race to capture a flag on top the Academy first. During the climax of the competition, Boruto managed to summon Nue, which launched Chōchō off the Academy's roof, leading to Shikadai and Boruto rescuing her. After the beast was subdued by Konohamaru Sarutobi, the competition was won by the girls.

Later, as a former Academy student rampaged through Konoha, Shikadai alongside Iwabee and Boruto took it upon themselves to subdue him. Before they could, they discovered that a mysterious boy defeated him. The next day, Mitsuki enrolled into Shikadai's class, leading to the entire class partaking in a party to welcome him the next day. Afterwards, as a possessed repairman went on a rampage at the Academy, Shikadai and other classmates decided to handle the matter, leading to the group freeing him of being manipulated. The next day, Shino had the trouble makers of his class partake in an extracurricular class, leading to him having Shikadai, Mitsuki and Boruto meet him outside a forest in the village. Upon arriving, they learned that Shino was possessed, forcing the students to flee from his assault of them. Developing a plan to combat Shino, Shikadai and Boruto acted as distraction while Mitsuki submerged and electrocuted their teacher in a lake, which freed him. Afterwards, as Shino voiced his decision to resign as teacher, the students convinced him to reconsider, apologising for their earlier statements.

Later, growing concerned about this repeated and seemingly random attacks, Boruto and Shikadai tried to figure out the source behind them and why apparently only Boruto could see it. The following day, Shikadai and other students dedided to protect Sumire Kakei from Magire Kakuremino, after he left her a stalkerish message. Follwing a possessed Magire abducting Sumire, Shikadai and Boruto engaged in a fight against the culprit, which ended after Chōchō freed him of his possession. Later, Shikadai, Boruto, and Mitsuki decided to ditch classes one day, having Mitsuki write fake parent notes for them. When he was caught out, Temari punished him. Shino then has his class pick a place to spend their workplace field trip at, leading to the three picking the Konohagakure's Central Post Office. While sorting stamps, they heard on the news that another attack happened at the water purification plant, where Sumire was, leading to the three rushing to the hospital.After learning that Sumire was okay, Shikadai and his friends were approached by Naruto, who warned them about the danger of their investigation.

Continuing their investigation, the three got help from others students in facing the culprit behind the incidents. After they lured the person out and Komame became possessed, half the team dealt with the culprit while Shikadai's squad faced Komame. While having saved the post chief, the culprit ultimately got away. During the night Nue attacked the village, Shikadai wondered where Boruto and Sumire were. The following morning, they found Boruto, Sumire and Mitsuki in a field. Sai Yamanaka and his group of shinobi arrived to the scene, leading to him apprehending Sumire for her role in the attacks. Several weeks later, Shakadai's class took part in a training exercise, during which the Ino–Shika–Chō faced Metal, Mitsuki and Boruto in a game of capture the flag, which resulted in their team losing. Afterwards, Sumire returned to class, leading to all the students welcoming her back.

Sarada Uchiha Arc
After class at the Academy was dismissed, Shikadai warned Boruto not to pursue his prank because of the five Kage meeting. Upon arriving home, he told his mother to tell Ino that his stomach was hurting, simply to get out of having to train, and greeted his uncle Gaara casually, earning a reprimand from his mother, but shrugged it off and asked for his other uncle Kankurō instead.

Upon hearing that he and the rest of the class will be going through graduation exams in a week, Shikadai found little interest in the idea. Later, after training with Shikamaru in the anime, he accompanied his father in stopping Boruto from interrupting the Seventh Hokage from his duties, and to his chagrin, was asked by his father to notify Naruto's shadow clone where Boruto was.

School Trip Arc
In the anime, Shikadai took part in a class field trip to Kirigakure. Upon arriving, Kagura Karatachi escorted them through the village and took them to meet the Sixth Mizukage in his office, where Chōjūrō gave them a speech. That night, Shikadai and his classmates revived a message that informed them Denki Kaminarimon had been kidnapped and to meet the culprits at the pier. Upon arriving, the perpetrator was revealed to be Tsurushi Hachiya and his gang of delinquents. Attacking the students, they managed to easily defeat the shinobi. Afterwards, they invited Kagura to play a card game with them. When Boruto and Sarada acted strangely, Shikadai and Inojin decided to follow them. To their surprise, the instead found Mitsuki talking secretly with Suigetsu Hōzuki. Trying to make sense of their conversation, Suigetsu approached and threatend the pair, leading to them nervously agreeing to help Mitsuki. Sometime afterwards, the class returned to Konoha.

Graduation Exams Arc
In the anime, taking up Shino's subtle offer to try stealing the test answers for the written portion of the Genin Exams, Inojin and his friends were able to pass the test. The next day, the students for set against Academy teachers and Kakashi Hatake during the twenty four hour practical portion of the exams. While the teachers would still evaluate the students' respective improvements, their true test was against the Hokage. As the test began, the Ino–Shika–Chō trio fought Anko Mitarashi alongside other students, which resulted in them all being defeated and captured. During the night, his classmates rescued the restrained students after they defeated Anko. Strategising, all the students transformed into copies of Boruto and attacked Kakashi, during which they got into position to restrain him so Boruto could grab his bell. During their struggle, the exam reached its time limit. Despite not getting the bell, Kakashi chose to pass everyone as they succeeded in the test's true goal; team-work and loyalty. Having become a genin, the Ino–Shika–Chō trio was placed on Team 10 under Moegi Kazamatsuri's leadership.

Genin Mission Arc
In the anime, the Seventh Hokage personally assigned Team 10 their first mission, which involved chauffeuring around a client. During the mission, Shikadai and Inojin carried the clients shopping while she chattered with Chōchō throughout Konoha. Later, Team 10 was tasked with another mission which involved clearing rocks off the Thunder Rail.

Byakuya Gang Arc
In the anime, Shikadai began getting taught more advanced tactics in shōgi by his father to sharpen his mind. During his studies, Shikadai learned about the Byakuya Gang who stole a collection of jewels from a high secure vault. Hearing about how they call themselves noble thieves because they steal riches to support the poor, Shikadai acknowledged that while stealing is wrong, the world is not always so clear-cut on right and wrong. Later, he was approached by a young boy, named Ryōgi, took an interest in playing shōgi with him. As the boy proved skilled in the game, they played well into dusk. Realising it was late, Shikadai gave the boy his spare shōgi set and invited him to play more the next day.

With the continued thefts performed by the Byakuya Gang throughout Konohagakure, Team 10 was assigned alongside the other genin teams to help stop the self-proclaimed noble thieves. However, the genin were not permitted to engage the Byakuya Gang without aid from a chūnin or higher-ranked shinobi. At the same time, after watching reports about how so many people supported the gang, as they were working so hard to help poor people, Shikadai was left conflicted. Later, he met up with Ryōgi again, talking more how the world is and how they feel about it. They were then approached by Boruto, who offered for them to play some new videogames. Ryōgi declined and decided to leave. Upon which, a burst of cold air appeared, masking Ryōgi's departure. Soon afterwards, Shikadai and Boruto found Temari pursuing the Byakuya Gang. While instructed by his mother to help out, Shikadai hesitated, enabling the thieves to escape. Afterwards, Temari confronted her son, noting that he has to learn to commit himself to his job.

With the continued thefts performed by the Byakuya Gang throughout Konohagakure, Team 7 was assigned alongside the other genin teams to help stop the self-proclaimed noble thieves. However, the genin were not permitted to engage the Byakuya Gang without aid from a chūnin or higher-ranked shinobi. Later, the gang's act of distributing their stolen wealth to the poor began gaining much support from many of the villagers. Even more, swarms of protesters began emerging in the village against various legitimate companies, fuelled by the Byakuya Gang's claims of the said companies being corrupt, one of which included the Kaminarimon Company. Later, Shikadai met with Ryōgi again to play. Ultimately, he confronted him about being part of the Byakuya Gang. After tricking the boy into revealing himself, Shikadai pleaded with Ryōgi, trying to convince Ryōgi that this path as a so-called noble thief would only get him killed, Ryōgi rejected the claim, saying that Shikadai has been lucky to live a peaceful life and as such, never had to try hard at anything. Ryōgi then retreated.

Later, as the protesting against the Kaminarimon Company continued to grow more volatile, the Konoha-nin were deployed to help pacify the situation at set locations. As Shikadai and his team-mates looked at the situation, Shikadai realised that the situation was near-identical to a shōgi strategy that Ryōgi used on him repeatedly. Deducing that the attack on the Kaminarimon Company was a diversion, Shikadai rushed to the ignored Ninjutsu Research Centre. His team-mates followed him, along with Boruto, who noticed his friends leaving their post. Shikadai's assumption proved correct as they stole the Centre's entire data on world ninjutsu. Katasuke Tōno, who managed to place a homing beacon on the leader of the gang, gave Shikadai and his friends the locator to track them down. Upon catching up to the Byakuya Gang, Inojin and Chōchō stayed behind to deal with the underlings while Shikadai and Boruto chased Ryōgi and Gekkō onto a train that was leading outside of the country.

As Shikadai and Boruto confronted the two thieves, Shikadai again tried to reason with Ryōgi, who still rejected Shikadai's words, while also struggling to maintain his composure as he began suffering a massive headache. Gekkō then comforted Ryōgi, urging him to continue fighting, to which he then captured Shikadai and Boruto in a dome of ice. Inside, Boruto suddenly attacked Shikadai, believing that Shikadai was one of the Byakuya thieves. Shikadai realised that the ice's reflection was also causing a genjutsu effect. He then proceeded to smash all the reflections while binding Boruto with his Shadow Imitation Technique and then released him from the illusion. As Boruto settled down, Shikadai deduced from everything that Ryōgi was also being manipulated by Gekkō through genjutsu. This ultimately was proven right as once the two genin faced off against Ryōgi again, Gekkō retreated while Ryōgi stayed behind, mindlessly insisting that he must be the pawn. Soon, the genjutsu mark began going unstable, making Ryōgi become even more reckless. Fearing for his new friend's safety as he continued to overtax himself, Shikadai employed Boruto's aid to get close enough and break the genjutsu. Finally seeing reason and remembering the truth, Ryōgi accepted defeat, but also fell into sorry at having nothing left. Shikadai insisted that he has come to understand Ryōgi better and will help him to rediscover himself. Ultimately, the Seventh Hokage captured Gekkō, who along with Ryōgi was arrested and put in prison. However, Shikadai remained in contact with Ryōgi.

Versus Momoshiki Arc
After finishing their missions for the day, Shikadai hung out with Boruto and Inojin to play video games together. When he found out that Boruto had been cheating in the video game, he was annoyed and told Boruto that levelling up on his own behind his mother's back was much more fun. He later on entered the Chūnin Exams with Inojin and Chōchō. He used his shadow to hold Inojin and Chōchō against the sides of a pit to successfully avoid falling in and failing the first Chūnin Exam test administered by Sai Yamanaka. In the second test, Team Moegi uses their team-work to easily capture a flag to advance. In the third round of individual fights, Shikadai is matched-up with Yodo, who he defeats with his Shadow Imitation Technique and moves on.

In the final round of the Exams, Shikadai is matched against Boruto. Shikadai is able to capture Boruto and his shadow clones by creating a massive shadow circle, taking them all out at once. When he asks the trapped Boruto to give up, Boruto instead creates multiple shadow clones to surround Shikadai with the aid of his concealed device. Shikadai admits defeat, however, is pronounced the winner when Boruto was discovered to have cheated. When Kinshiki and Momoshiki Ōtsutsuki began their attack on the arena, Shikadai was protected by Rock Lee and saved by Gaara from the falling debris of the stadium, before being evacuated.

A few days later, Shikadai voices his frustration to his team about how many missions they have been tasked with. Afterwards, Moegi joins her team and tells them they have a new mission, much to his annoyance.

Mujina Bandits Arc
Shikadai appears in this arc.

Ao Arc
At the Training Hall, Shikadai watched Boruto fight the Seventh Hokage alongside other genin.

Trivia

 * Before Shikadai was born, the counsellors of Sunagakure stated that if his uncles die without heirs, he, as a descendant of Rasa's bloodline, would become the Kazekage; Suna considered it a crisis for a Konohagakure-born shinobi to become Kazekage, and this reasoning was used to force Gaara into taking a wife.
 * According to the movie's light novel adaption, Shikadai's role-playing character, when he plays with Boruto and Inojin, is a silver armour-clad, two-handed sword wielding warrior.
 * According to character trivia from Boruto: Naruto Next Generations:
 * Shikadai's hobbies are shōgi, simulation games, and taking afternoon naps.
 * His favourite foods are sashimi and water eggplants.
 * His least favourite food is spinach.
 * His attributes are: 180 in intelligence, 130 in negotiations, 112 in dexterity, 90 in strength, 145 in perception, and 120 in chakra.
 * He was also given a skill rating in these particular areas:
 * Observation: ★★★★☆
 * Ninjutsu: ★★★☆☆
 * Intelligence Gathering: ★★★★☆

Quotes

 * (To Inojin) "Pranks and training are both annoying."
 * (To Boruto after capturing him) "It would be great, if you gave up soon."