Shikaku Nara

is the father of Shikamaru Nara and the husband of Yoshino Nara. He's the Jonin Commander of Konoha. He greatly resembles his son with the exception of his more matured appearance and the few scars on his face. He was also a member of an Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

Personality
When he is first seen, he is portrayed as a bit of an alcoholic, and at times uses some of Shikamaru's catchphrases ("What a drag" in English, "How troublesome" in Japanese). Like his son, he thinks that women should be tender and sweet, but as his son says, his wife has him whipped. Also like his son, he is a very lazy person, but he is also quite caring, and is ready to jump into action when needed. Unlike his son, his resolve is much stronger, as even during the most depressing or dangerous of situations, he has shown to maintain great determination and understanding as shown from how he has repeatedly helped Shikamaru regain his sense of worth.

Since Shikamaru became a Chunin, Shikaku has taken a great interest in his training, teaching him the clan's more secret techniques and having great confidence in Shikamaru's abilities. He also spends his time tending to the clan's deer.

Part I
Shikaku debuts in the anime during the Chunin Exams, attending a festival with his former teammates and giving Inoichi Yamanaka a hard time for having had a daughter. His manga debut occurs during the invasion of Konoha, where he fights alongside his former teammates to repel the invading forces.

Later, when Shikamaru fails during the course of a mission and some of his teammates suffer severe injuries, Shikaku speaks with him. He encourages his son to keep his responsibility as team captain as it might be that a team on a mission without him could have several casualties, but if he was there, that team might end up with no casualties.

Hidan and Kakuzu arc
Shikaku appears following Asuma Sarutobi's funeral, comforting Shikamaru about Asuma's death and offering to play shogi with him. After Shikamaru avenges Asuma and they play shogi again, he discusses the concept of the "king" with Shikamaru before defeating him.

Invasion of Pain arc
Shikaku is later shown to have survived Pain's destruction of Konoha along with Shikamaru and Shiho. Apparently having some knowledge of senjutsu, he tells his son not to interfere with Naruto's fight with Pain and they instead regroup with nearby villagers. He and Inoichi go searching for Pain's real body soon afterwards, only to run into Naruto, who has defeated Pain. When Naruto tells them not to follow him to Pain's base mind Shikaku, remembering Shikamaru's words about Naruto, convinces Inoichi to comply. When Pain then revives all those who he killed, Shikaku realizes he made the right choice in trusting Naruto.

Five Kage Summit arc
After the invasion, he was summoned by the ANBU captain to meet with the seniors of Konoha. Shikaku nominated Kakashi to become the next Hokage, which was met with the council's agreement. Danzo spoke against the ideologies related to the Third Hokage, and goes into his fanaticism of power over trust. Shikaku tried to persuade the council not to take Danzo's ideals into account, but was overruled by Danzo's appointment as the Sixth Hokage.

Abilities
Like other Nara, Shikaku uses the manipulation of shadows in various ways. Although he has only been seen in combat once, as the head of his respective clan, it is assumed that he has mastery of his clan's techniques. During the invasion of Konoha, Shikaku used the Shadow Neck Bind Technique against three opponents at the same time. He is also shown to be very intelligent, regularly beating Shikamaru at shogi.

Quotes

 * (To Shikamaru) "No matter how strong-minded a woman is, she will show kindness to the man she loves."
 * "Oh come on. Now you've never heard of the Shadow Paralysis Jutsu, then you'll love this this next one, the Hidden Leaf Village's Shadow Strangle Jutsu."

Trivia

 * Shika means "deer" but shikaku can mean "assassin".