Shikamaru Nara

Shikamaru Nara (in Japanese: 奈良シカマル, Nara Shikamaru) is one of the main characters in the Naruto anime/manga series. He is one of Naruto's childhood friends and a shinobi of Konohagakure's Nara clan. He is a member of Team 10 along with Choji Akimichi and Ino Yamanaka with their Jonin sensei Asuma Sarutobi. He is known for being lazy, but very intelligent. He serves as the main protagonist of the Akatsuki Suppression Mission arc.

Why He Rocks

 * 1) He is really well designed, and all of his designs look great.
 * 2) Despite him being lazy, he has an IQ of over 200. That's even larger than Bill Gates, Steven Hawkings and even Albert Einstein's IQ.
 * 3) His relationship with Temari is excellent, despite them being from different villages. In fact, it's probably the only romantic relationship in the entire series which is properly developed, while most of the other relationships such as Sakura and Sasuke were either underdeveloped or outright abusive.
 * 4) He is extremely relatable to many people and teens as he loves hanging out with friends, playing board games and napping.
 * 5) He was one of the few people to be friends with the young Naruto, as Naruto was mostly hated throughout his childhood.
 * 6) Both of his voice actors do an excellent job at voicing him.
 * 7) After Asuma's death, he was extremely heartbroken and avenged his death by killing Hidan. After, he took up Asuma's smoking habit as a way to honor his fallen teacher.
 * 8) He was the first member of the Konoha 12 to become Chunin, showing his potential.
 * He, along with the other members of his team, helped Sakura and Lee defend Naruto and Sasuke from the Sound Ninja during the Forest of Death.
 * He, alongside Naruto and Guy, managed to stop Gaara from killing Rock Lee in his hospital bed. This showed that he was brave to stand up against a hearless killer like Gaara, speaking of which...
 * 1) Despite him being cowardly at times, he had been shown to be brave, such as the aforementioned Gaara in the hospital, when he defended Konoha from the Sand and Sound villages, facing against the Sound ninja in the Forest of Death and fighting Tayuya during the Sasuke Retreval arc.
 * 2) He has shown to care for his friends, like when he invited Choji to look at the clouds with him when Choji was getting bullied, and when he cared about rescuing Sasuke even though he hated him.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) At times, he can be unlikable like when he threatened to kill Naruto in the movie.
 * 2) At times, some of his fights can be boring since he has one of the weaker powers.

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