Shikadai Nara

is a genin from Konohagakure's Nara clan, and a member of Team Moegi. Together with his teammates Chōchō Akimichi and Inojin Yamanaka, he forms the seventeenth generation of the Ino–Shika–Chō trio.

Background
Shikadai is the only child of Temari and Shikamaru 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.

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. 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.

Academy Arc
In the anime, Shikadai joined Boruto in a race to get a taste of the limited edition burger, after which he took the opportunity to remind his friend not to be late to the Academy's entrance ceremony. Two weeks into the Academy, Shikadai took it upon himself to warn Boruto not to get into more trouble, and later agreed to lend text books to Boruto, as Boruto forgot to bring his own. Later, Shikadai joined the rest of the class to watch the fight between Boruto and Iwabee Yuino, during which he noted that Boruto will most likely get suspended yet again.

After Boruto's failed attempt at shurikenjutsu caused property damage, Shikadai and his friends were punished with repairing the damages to the Hokage Rock. When Lee accidentally made a blunder with the repairs, Shikadai commented on his friend's problem with anxiety and harshly told him to get over it. Later that night, Shikadai was scolded by his mother for getting into trouble, while Shikamaru insisted that no one is perfect and people all progress at their own rate. Taking to heart his father's words, Shikadai realised he was much too harsh on Lee. The following day, Shikadai, Boruto and Inojin found Lee, who was acting unusually aggressive. A fight broke out between them, during which Shikadai devised and executed a plan to subdue Lee with his shadows. After the fight, Shikadai apologised for his harsh words earlier, and Lee accepted.

During a class introducing students to summoning techniques, Boruto got into another argument with Sarada, it sparked a confrontation between all the girls and boys. Later, as Boruto began to fight with Sarada over who would get the last yakisoba bun, Shino insisted that they boys and girls settle things with a race challenge for a flag. The challenge quickly got heated, with many of the boys being taken out of the contest until only Boruto, Shikadai, and Inojin were left on their team. Getting desperate, Boruto found a summoning scroll and miraculously summoned a snake-like creature. The creature went on a rampage, attacking the students and launched Chōchō Akimichi off the roof, to which Shikadai aided Boruto in saving her. After the creature was subdued by the timely arrival of Konohamaru, the contest ended with the girls getting the flag. Despite their victory, the girls made peace with the boys.

Later, as an expelled Academy student, who was being possessed by an unknown presence, began going on a rampage in the village, Shikadai, along with Boruto and Iwabee went into action. Before they could stop him, a mysterious youth took out the destructive ex-student. The following day at class, the mysterious youth was revealed to be a new transfer student from Otogakure named Mitsuki. Shikadai had his concerns about the boy with his friendly yet secretive demeanour. The following day, wanting the students to warm up to Mitsuki, Shino organised a welcoming party for the new student. When Shino's efforts for the party backfired with his insects, the class began to freak out, with Denki begging someone to make the insects go away, which Mitsuki did with his Wind Release: Breakthrough, causing even more damage to the Academy. The chaos caused Shikadai along with other students to absentmindedly belittle Shino's credibility as a ninja and teacher, making him take the day off.

Later, one of the repairmen went on a rampage, being possessed by the same presence from before. Shikadai joined his friends in stopping him from destroying the Academy. While Sarada gave a distraction, Shikadai subdued him. Despite the initially success, the man quickly recovered and continued his rampage. Ultimately, the combined effort of Boruto and Mitsuki ended the madness. Later, Shikadai, along with Boruto and Mitsuki were called to the training field by Shino for an extracurricular class. Once their teacher appeared, he was revealed to be possessed by the dark presence. Shino then encased the entire area with his insects, forcing the students to flee. After a prolonged chase, Shikadai devised a plan to stop the rampaging sensei. While Shikadai and Boruto distracted Shino and lured him into the water, Mitsuki ensnared Shino and electrocuted him, expelling the spectre. Later, as Shino voiced his decision to resign as teacher despite being possessed, the students convinced him to reconsider, apologising for their earlier statements.

Later, growing concerned about this repeated and seemingly random attacks, Boruto and Shikadai begin discussing, trying to figure out the source behind them and why apparently only Boruto could see it. Later, they along with Mitsuki find several of the girls confronting Magire, a shy boy that is student from a different class. As the boy was stalking Sumire lately, Chōchō insisted that he be more forward with his feels. When Magire meekly asks her out, Sumire turned him down, leaving him distraught and running away in shame. The following day, various creepy messages are left for Sumire. While Shikadai and the others decide to watch over her, they are systematically separated from Sumire. Eventually, the perpetrator is revealed to be a possessed Magire, who kidnaps Sumire. Shikadai and the others soon find them, where Magire quickly attacked them with his concealment skills. Eventually, Chōchō was able to reach Magire, noting that such an indecisive nature will never win anyone over. Accepting his poor methods of trying to make Sumire like him, the spectre was rejected from Magire. As Magire began to apologise for his actions he fainted, resulting from severe chakra drain caused from his possession. As Boruto and Shikadai continued to ponder the truth behind this shadow spectre and while only Borut can see it, they eventually came to the theory that he was manifesting the Byakugan. However, after Boruto tested the theory with his grandfather, Boruto regretfully learned that to not be the case. Despite this, Boruto was still determine to figure out the true nature of his eye.

Desperate to capture the spectre, Shikadai, Boruto, and Mitsuki decided to ditch classes one day, having Mitsuki write an excuse. However, Mitsuki's poor lying quickly got them in trouble, leading Shikadai to be severely punished by Temari. As punishment from class, it was decided that Shikadai would take after-school classes to make up for the lost time. Later, Shino assigned his class to tail other workplaces to better understand non-shinobi life. Seeing Shikadai's desire to continue patrolling the village, he subtly convinced Shikadai, Boruto, Shikadai, and Mitsuki to try the postal service. While sorting stamps, they heard on the news that another attack happened at the water purification plant, where Sumire was. Shikadai and his friend quickly rushed to her aid.

After learning that Sumire was okay, Shikadai and his friends were approached by Naruto. Realising that the children were conducting their own investigation on the attacks, the Hokage decided to show them what became of people who were possessed by the spectre for prolonged periods, requiring intensive care from near-complete chakra depletion. While Naruto insisted they stay out of this matter, Shino appeared, insisting that Naruto not underestimate his students after seeing what they were capable of. As Shikadai and his friends continued their post work and tried to find the spectre, they soon learned that the creature was intentionally attacking in areas far away from Boruto as he is the only one who could see it, from which Shikadai deduced that they were being spied on. Deciding to get help from their classmates to better patrol the village, they left the post office, anticipating that the culprit controlling the spectre would go after the post chief Komame. Half the team went after the retreating masked culprit while Shikadai and his half stayed to subdue the possessed Komame. While saving the post chief, the spectre and the culprit ultimately got away.

When another attack came, the area was closed off. Shikadai, along with Denki and Inojin, wondered where Boruto was, along with the missing Sumire. The following morning, they found Boruto, along with Sumire and Mitsuki in the field. They were soon joined by Sai and his unit, who took Sumire in for question. As Denki asked what happened, Boruto happily brushed it off, saying everything was fine. Several weeks later, Shino decided to change up the three-man teams for their next challenge to determine the optimum pairings for graduation. Chōchō decided to team up with Inojin and Shikadai. When Iwabee noted that they were essentially forming the Ino-Shika-Chō trio like their respective parents, the team admitted that their techniques were naturally compatible. Later, learning that Sai has gathered files on Academies in other villages, making Shikadai wonder if Sumire was going to leave the Academy. During the team challenge to capture the flag, Shikadai got Lee anxious enough to let Chōchō quickly knock him out. Shikadai managed to pin Mitsuki down, but escaped with a launched needle. Mitsuki created a distraction long enough for Boruto win the challenge. Shino was then called aside concerning Sumire. As the class began discussing rumours that Sumire was being transferred to a different school, they were relieved to see her return to their class.

Nearing graduation, 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.

Sarada Uchiha Arc
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, 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, to improve relationships with other villages and symbolically show the warring era was over, the Seventh Hokage set up an official class trip for the Academy to go to Kirigakure. Upon arriving, they were met with Kagura Karatachi, who was appointed to act as the class' tour guide. The class was later taken to meet Chōjūrō, the Sixth Mizukage, who welcomed the class to the village. The following night, while waiting for Denki to return from his shopping, Inojin, Boruto, and Shikadai received a message in blood that Denki was kidnapped and the culprits demanded Denki's friends come to the pier.

Once arriving, the culprits were revealed to be Tsurushi Hachiya, and old classmate of Kagura, and his delinquent gang. As they began mocking Kagura's relationship with the Konoha-nin, they attacked the visiting class. During the fight, Hachiya revealed Kagura's dark past as the grandson of the Fourth Mizukage and having his own personal bloodshed reputation from his Academy days. After defeating their enemies, to cheer up Kagura, they inviting him to play a card game with them.

Later, when Boruto and Sarada were acting strangely, Shikadai and Inojin decided to follow them. To their surprise, the instead found Mitsuki talking secretly with Suigetsu Hōzuki. He instructed Mitsuki to not get involved with Shizuma Hoshigaki and his team, but Mitsuki plainly rejected the order. While trying to make sense of this, Shikadai and Inojin were taken by surprise by Suigetsu. While not understanding what was happening, the two nervously agreed to help Mitsuki.

Graduation Arc
During the exams, taking up Shino's subtle offer to try stealing the test answers for the written test, Shikadai and his friends were able to easily pass the test. Later, during the practical and final test, the class was brought to the training field. There, the entire class was set up to face Shino, Anko Mitarashi and Konohamaru for 24 hours. While the teachers would still evaluate the students' respective improvements, the students' true test was against Kakashi Hatake. The Sixth Hokage quickly explained that he would only pass the first student who is able to take the single bell attached to his hip. As the test began, Shikadai chose to work with Chōchō and Inojin against Anko. While Anko questioned their decision to work together as there can only be one winner, they said that it is more practical to join forces for the time being. As Anko soon began overwhelming the trio, more of their friends came to help fight Anko.

Ultimately, the trio, along with several other students were defeated and captured by Anko. Later that night, Boruto led his fellow classmates saving Shikadai and the others. Afterwards, following Boruto's next plan, Inojin and everyone attacked the Sixth Hokage together. Despite their team-up, Kakashi easily saw through their patterns and exploited their scattered assault to repel them. This however was a cover for their true goal of a group String Light Formation to subdue Kakashi. Despite their effort, Kakashi was still able to hold them off, allowing time to run out. While no one got the bell, Kakashi chose to pass everyone as they succeeded in the test's true goal; team-work and loyalty.

Ultimately, Shikidai was placed on the same team as Chōchō and Inojin, once again forming a new generation for the Ino-Shika-Chō. For their first mission, they're assigned to chauffeuring around the client, carrying her various purchases. Shikadai was especially annoyed that Chōchō had to carry nothing as she was getting so chummy with the client.

Byakuya Gang Arc
Later, 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:
 * 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 has four stars in observation and intelligence gathering, and three stars in ninjutsu.

Quotes

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