Shikamaru Nara was truly Shikaku Nara’s son, for they were both very alike, be it due to their similar appearances, their hairstyles, or even their brilliant (and strikingly similar) strategies. Shikamaru was the smartest shinobi of his generation, and for that very reason, he was the first one to be made chunin amongst all his classmates, even though he forfeited his match.
The boy who once used to be excessively lazy and found everything to be a drag, blossomed into a mature and sensible person who went on to become a master strategist and the right-hand man of Naruto, the Seventh Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village.
10 When He Beat Asuma At Shogi Every Time They Played
Shogi is the Japanese version of chess, and it is a game that Shikamaru was very good at. He used to play it a lot with his sensei, Asuma Sarutobi, and in all the years that they played the game, Asuma was not able to beat Shikamaru even once.
No matter what move he made, Shikamaru was always several steps ahead and always got his sensei, in the end.
9 When He Successfully Led A Mission Against Gengo From The Land Of Silence
Two years after the Fourth Shinobi War ended, Shikamaru, along with two ANBU members as his teammates, went on a mission to the Land of Silence to rescue Sai, who was captured by the village’s leader, Gengo. He managed to infiltrate into the village but was captured while trying to save Sai.
There, he found out that Gengo used genjutsu-laced words to convince people to do his bidding. With a little help from Temari, Ino, Choji, and his ANBU teammates, Shikamaru successfully completed his mission by defeating Gengo and stopped him from being able to influence other people forever.
8 When He Defeated Kin During The Chunin Exams
During the preliminary round of the Chunin Exams, Shikamaru had to go up against Kin, a Genin from the Hidden Sound Village. He was smart enough to make his shadow travel all the way to her without her realizing it, by disguising it as being the shadow of her strings.
Once he had her, he threw a shuriken towards her, and even though her body imitated his movements, she was not able to save herself due to her position. This was because when he dodged the shuriken attack, he did so by bending backward, and since there was a wall behind Kin, she hit her head while bending and fainted.
7 When He Outsmarted Temari During The Chunin Exams
Shikamaru had to face Temari in the second round of the Chunin Exams, and it was this round that showed everyone just how smart he was. As good as Temari was as a ninja, Shikamaru was always ten steps ahead of her.
Without her realizing it, he slowly kept backing her into a spot he wanted her to be in, until, suddenly, she got caught by his jutsu from behind. He had used the shadows of an underground pathway to make his shadow travel and bind her from behind, when she least expected his attack.
6 When He Set The First Round Of Chunin Exams
Two years after the Chunin Exams first took place, the leaders of the Hidden Leaf and Hidden Sand decided to co-host another set of the Chunin Exams. The written round of these exams was held in The Hidden Leaf, and Shikamaru was the Proctor of the exam. The first rounds of these exams were always interesting and required the students to use their wits to solve a problem.
Shikamaru handed out the papers, which had a total of three questions carrying 30, 40, and 50 marks. The challenge was to answer the questions in such a way that once the marks were added with their teammates’, the total should not have exceeded 100 marks or gone below it. It was very interesting to watch how the Genin communicated with their teammates in this unique challenge that had been set up by Shikamaru.
5 When He Figured Out How Hidan’s Jutsu Worked Without Ever Having Seen It
During his first fight with Hidan, Shikamaru noticed that Hidan drew a large circle on the ground with markings in it and stood inside the circle while performing his unique jutsu. Not too long into the fight, Shikamaru was able to realize that in order to perform the jutsu, he had to stay inside the circle.
To counter this, he used the Shadow Possession Jutsu to force him out of the circle and give Asuma a fighting chance. Even though he lost the battle eventually, it was quite brilliant of him to be able to figure out the workings of a jutsu he had never seen before and adapt so quickly.
4 When He Successfully Separated Hidan From Kakuzu During Battle
Burning with the desire to avenge the murder of his Sensei, Asuma Sarutobi, Team 10 went up against Hidan and Kakuzu once again. This time, however, Shikamaru was a lot more prepared than the last time. He knew that the only way to defeat these formidable Akatsuki members was to separate them from each other.
While the others kept Kakuzu busy, he used his jutsu to intimidate and separate Hidan from his teammate, sending him inside the forest, where Shikamaru had laid out the perfect trap for him.
3 When He Understood The Pattern Behind Tayuya’s Ogres’ Movements
Tayuya was one of the dangerous Sound 4 Ninja who was tasked with getting Sasuke to Orochimaru. Shikamaru went up against her during the Sasuke rescue mission, where she proved to be quite a challenge for him. Tayuya used a flute to control three large ogres who kept attacking him.
Shikamaru tried to figure out a pattern within the music's melody, but she kept changing it, so he decided to observe the pattern in which her fingers moved, and struck gold. Through this, he was able to anticipate the ogres’ movements and even managed to take control of them.
2 When He Buried Hidan Where No One Could Find Him
Hidan was an Akatsuki and a follower of the religion Jashin, which gave him powers that made him immortal. However, even though he could not die, when he was decapitated during their first altercation, Shikamaru noticed that Kakuzu had to pick up his head and put it back where it was supposed to be.
Using this knowledge, Shikamaru led Hidan into a trap which ended up in his body parts being blown to pieces. He buried the Akatsuki’s head deep underground and filled the hole so that no one could ever find it, and that was how he also managed to forever silence an immortal enemy.
1 When He Instructed Shinobi To Create Mud Walls Against The Tailed Beast Bomb
During the Fourth Shinobi War, the Ten-Tailed Beast was about to attack the Shinobi Alliance with a Tailed Beast Bomb of such power that it would completely annihilate the entire forces if it hit. Shikamaru came up with an idea to have everyone construct mud walls in order to counter the attack.
He contacted Kitsuchi, commander of the Second Division of the Shinobi Forces, and learned the hand signs to create a basic mud wall that even a shinobi who did not have Earth-style abilities could construct. He then used Ino’s jutsu to transfer this knowledge to everyone, and they all constructed the walls, which slowed down the bomb enough for Minato to step in and save everyone in time.