Shikamaru Nara

Team 10's lazy genius who becomes Naruto's advisor.

Shikamaru Nara is a Konohagakure ninja in Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto, a member of Team 10 and one of Naruto Uzumaki's closest friends.

Quick Facts

Team: Team 10
Wife: Temari
Japanese voice: Showtaro Morikubo

Facts from the source article.

Background

Kishimoto has said he likes Shikamaru for his easygoing nature: the character is a genius who is nonetheless lazy, and the author set him against the intelligent but abrasive Sasuke Uchiha. His team leader Asuma Sarutobi can never beat him at shogi or go, and in a fight he works out complex strategies on the spot, though his laziness often stops him from using his brains fully.

He has been friends with Choji Akimichi for years and sees him as a person rather than judging his size. Although he finds Naruto annoying and thinks a little poorly of him, he was one of the few children who treated Naruto as a person instead of the tailed beast, and the two remain close.

In battle Shikamaru controls his own shadow: by stretching it into an opponent's shadow he can force that person to copy his movements. In the epilogue he serves as Naruto's advisor, has married Temari, who moved to the Hidden Leaf, and has a son named Shikadai. Showtaro Morikubo voices him in Japanese, with Nobutoshi Canna standing in for episode 141, and Tom Gibis voices him in English.