Shikaki Nara

Shikaki Nara was a skilled jōnin who participated in the Third Great Shinobi War as a young strategist of the Konoha military. He acts as the protagonist of the book A World in Tears. On the battlefield, he is known for his unique shadow jutsu, allowing him to shift in and out of the shadows among other things, granting him the nickname of Shadow Shikaki. As so, his name could be found in some versions of the Bingo Book. He has considerable skill in the combining of ninjutsu and taijutsu techniques to maximize his efficiency in combat, though genjutsu has always been "troublesome" for him to handle. Although his tactical prowess and skill in battle were valuable to the Konoha cause, Shikaki was killed when the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked Konohagakure, while transporting wounded shinobi from the frontlines.

In the image shown in the infobox, Shikaki is shown without his signature black scarf, which is wrapped around his neck as a means to obscure his face when on special missions. It is sewn with a special material that can channel chakra through it.

Early years
Born and raised in Konoha, Shikaki was the average young school child at the local academy. There, he was a bit of a rebel without a cause, per say. His equal treatment of absolutely everyone was highly insulting to those whom he is supposed to show respect towards, such as his teachers. The tension created did little to make Shikaki back down and change his attitude.

In class, he was a moderate student. His grades were neither outstanding nor ridiculously poor, leaving him in relative anonymous stature (besides his attitude). Shikaki showed little to no interest in mastering any of the teachings of the ninja academy, although his proficiency appeared to lie in the fields of the ninjutsu tactics, with his smarts to guide him.

As the graduation exam for Shikaki’s first year of the academy approached, he did practically nothing in preparation for the exam that would allow him to progress to the bottom of the real shinobi ladder: genin. His parents consoled with him to at least practice his ninjutsu for the exam, and Shikaki then only performed the techniques once or twice a week. It would seem that he would flunk his first year at the ninja academy, but Shikaki had confidence in his own abilities.

The exam involved creating an excellent replica of one of the teachers through the use of the transformation technique. With that, Shikaki easily passed. Even so, he remained anonymous to those who are unfamiliar to his behavior in the graduation ceremony, accepting his new rank with a lack of celebration.

With his acceptance into the chûnin rank a year later, Shikaki made attempts to reform himself as to be a more ideal role model to aspiring genin, with limited success. Those who were taught under his wing were given the emphasis of teamwork and that giving up the life of a comrade for the completion of the mission may doom them later on. Throughout the years, Shikaki successfully aided genin into the promotion to chûnin and eventually found himself promoted to tokubetsu jōnin. Shikaki was a prominent member of Clan Nara and a part of the famous Ino-Shika-Chō combination.

The Third Great Shinobi War
"They'll attack us here. If not, we'd have won the war by now."

- Shikaki Nara

At the start of the war, Shikaki was a part of the Rain Expeditionary Force sent to form the battlefront at the Land of Rain. The move proved to be a disaster: the team was ambushed en route to the Land of Fire's border and forced to retreat. Only with Shikaki's direction was the expedition force able to evade complete annihilation. When word of this reached the Third Hokage, he promoted Shikaki to the rank of lieutenant of the expedition force that he was a part of, alongside sending reinforcements to ease the loss of manpower and fully mobilizing the Konoha military and police forces in preparation for a possible invasion.

Shikaki advised the commanding officer, Taiki Takahashi, to not travel into Rain territory, but to move to eliminate enemy forces staking out in the forests of the Land of Fire by the lands. The request was reluctantly agreed upon, and Shikaki's predictions proved to be true in a matter of days: the Rock were preparing their forces to invade Konoha in a covert operation, and the Third Hokage was quickly notified. Several expedition forces were mustered and they successfully drove off the enemy forces.

It was at this time that Shikaki created the Shadow Flicker Technique. He recorded the creation process of the technique, though coded it as an ailment to the common cold, in case that the enemy steals the scroll it was written on and passes the knowledge of the secret clan jutsu to others. The scroll was later stored in the clan library, where it was found by a descendant of his, Shikami. No method of breaking the code has been recorded.

Kyūbi attack on Konoha
Stationed at Konohagakure when the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked the village, Shikaki thought little of the consequences of his actions and quickly entered the battlefront, alongside many other shinobi, in fighting the monstrous demon. Since his shadow jutsu had little chance of stopping the demon fox, Shikaki used what he could to transport himself across the battlefield and evacuate the wounded. However, he was crushed when one of the demon's tails came crashing down upon him, instantly killing him.

Shikaki's bravery was remembered alongside many of his fellow shinobi, and was listed upon the small kunai shaped monument by the village training grounds. It may have been Shikaki's death that led Yoshino to become more aggressive towards her husband, leading to Shikamaru's comments about women being troublesome.

Personality and traits
"Being born with a kekkei genkai means nothing. You should be grateful that your mother gave you life in the first place."

- Shikaki Nara

Shikaki was a firm believer of the Will of Fire, more so than any other religion or belief. He also believed that kekkei genkai were overrated and used to strike fear into the less fortunate ninja. Almost all the time, Shikaki maintains a stern expression: he dislikes the prospect of acting irresponsibly or placing those he cares about in unnecessary danger. He treats everyone equally (except his enemies, who he then looks down upon), including that of those whom he is supposed to garner respect towards, creating some tensions. He dislikes, although attempts to find some balance with, the prospect of ninja being tools of a nation; the guy preferring to be his own boss. A lack of diversity of techniques that Shikaki utilizes is offset by his ingenuity of their flexible uses.

He was also a skilled player of a multitude of chess games, including Western chess, shōgi, and Xiangqi.

Powers and abilities
Shikaki was a genius at what he does, being able to create the Shadow Flicker Technique on his own. He has also been known to combine his shadow techniques, which also include the Shadow Blade Technique, Shadow Imitation Technique, Shadow Neck Bind Technique, Shadow Sewing, Shadow Guard Technique, and the Shadow Gravity Formation with the Bringer of Darkness Technique in order to disable his opponents. The shinobi also deceives his opponents through the use of techniques like the Double Suicide Decapitation Technique and Shadow Clone Technique.

Other known techniques utilized by Shikaki are Shadow Endgame Technique, Summoning: Weaponry, and Summoning: Tracking Fang Technique

Behind the scenes

 * Shikaki's name has been, indecisively, been swapped between Shikaki and Shikami, the latter being a play on phonetics (since kami refers to something of divine proportions). The former was chosen over the latter, since there is nothing divine about Shikaki.