Shikamaru is an extremely unenthusiastic person, and as such lives his life avoiding work. This is partly due to seeking paths of least resistance, as he often chooses to do things he would otherwise not do if people nag him enough, as he does as Ino says because "she throws a fit if she doesn't have her way." His plans on life reflect this aspect of his personality, as he plans to be an average ninja making an average salary, and retire once his children become independent. In his free time he typically takes naps, watches clouds, and plays thinking games such as Shogi and Go. When put into a situation where he potentially needs to put effort into something, he attempts to try to find a way to avoid it such as forfeiting a battle or by pretending to be preoccupied with something else. In the instances where he can't avoid these situations, Shikamaru tends to remark "how troublesome" (めんどくせぇ, mendokusē?, English TV "what a drag" wink . He is fully aware of this side of his personality, and even dubs himself "the number one at running away" or "the number one coward".
Despite his cowardly tendencies, Shikamaru is extremely intelligent. Asuma, wondering why Shikamaru was always able to beat him at Shogi and Go despite receiving abysmal grades at the Academy, disguised an IQ test as a series of puzzles to see how smart Shikamaru really was. In doing so, Asuma found Shikamaru to have an IQ of over 200, and learned that Shikamaru's poor grades were a result of him finding the lifting of a pencil to be too troublesome. Nevertheless, Shikamaru works very well with his teammates as their fathers were teamed together in their youth as well. Of his teammates, Shikamaru is closest with Choji, who repays Shikamaru's confidence in him with unyielding loyalty to Shikamaru. Shikamaru also has a strong bond with Asuma, often spending time with him playing strategy games. He even vows to protect Asuma and Kurenai's unborn child for Asuma's sake.
One of Shikamaru's more distinctive characteristics is that he finds all women to be bossy and "troublesome". This viewpoint seems to be largely due to his mother's tyrannical personality, though also seems to be influenced by his father's identical view of women. Contrary to this opinion on women, he has expressed a notably mature interest in marriage and raising a family with one son and one daughter. Ironically, almost all of Shikamaru's opponents have been women.
Shikamaru has had a number of his appearances coincide with those of Temari. The two face each other during the final matches of the Chunin Exams, where, although Shikamaru has a chance to claim victory, he forfeits to Temari instead. Temari later comes to his aid during the Sasuke Retrieval arc and defeats Tayuya to save him. Shikamaru returns the favor in the last of the anime's filler arcs and saves her from one of the Shiitenshounin. In addition, the two are seen together in their Part II debuts. In this instance, Naruto Uzumaki asks if the two are on a date, though both make it clear that this is not the case. Temari ranks as one of the women he finds most troublesome, being on the same level as Ino and his mother.
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