Shikaki Nara

Shikaki Nara (奈良 シカ輝; Nara Shikaki), also known as Hisashi Wakahisa (若久 久司; Wakahisa Hisashi), was a jōnin-ranked shinobi 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 was known for his unique shadow jutsu, allowing him to shift in and out of the shadows, granting him the nickname of Shadow Shikaki; other accounts call him Konoha's Black Shadow. Shikaki's is 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.

Although he died, Shikaki was soon reincarnated as Hisashi Wakahisa. He did not complete what he had a burning desire to accomplish in life, thus he was sent back to the living world.

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 team.

The Third Great Shinobi War
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.

Reincarnation


Although crushed by the compressed chakra that formed one of the many tails of the Demon Fox, Shikaki was not yet through. He was reincarnated as Hisashi Wakahisa, originally living as a typical boy untrained in the ways of the ninja.

As a young scholar, Shikaki went on a trip to Konohagakure to research declassified information about the village. He found that he already knew the layout of the village, even recognizing some individuals who were there (abeitly much older than he remember them being). His confusion was further multiplied when he knew that there was something special in a certain scroll that explained ailments to the common cold, cracking the code that it contained in a matter of minutes. From that scroll, he remembered the Shadow Flicker Technique, triggering a multitude of memories, including his name in his previous life.

However, even though his memory was mostly restored, Shikaki's body was not capable of performing the advanced techniques that he knew in his previous life. After further research, he understood that he was reincarnated with a purpose. With this realization, Shikaki left the village and began retraining himself in the ways of the shinobi, so that he could prepare himself to complete his goal.

After training for two years, Shikaki began traveling the world. Although he remembered much of his past, Shikaki could not recall the reason for his reincarnation. He interviewed people of his past in attempts to obtain such information, though he had little success.

Discovering his purpose
While at Shukuba Town, he encountered a woman about the same age as himself. He felt strangely connected to her, even when she was aided by a walking cane. When she was knocked over by a burly man, on accident, Shikaki instinctively grabbed her arm to save her from falling. It was then that Shikaki met Haruka.

The two felt attracted towards each other, agreeing to travel together for their own reasons. After talking with Haruka for a while, Shikaki felt that she had something that he needed to know. He asked her off-handedly what she would do if she had the power to change the world in an instant. Her reply, "create understanding", clicked his past memory. Shikaki remembered that he wanted to create a world in which villages understood each other. In doing so, war could be avoided in the future.

However, Shikaki realized that he would not be able to undertake this goal on his own, forming the Yorudō in order to bring himself closer to universal understanding.

Personality and traits
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.

Most of the time, Shikaki maintained a stern expression: he disliked the prospect of acting irresponsibly or placing those he cared about in unnecessary danger. He treated everyone equally except his enemies, who he then looks down upon, including that of those whom he was supposed to garner respect towards. He disliked, although attempted to find some balance with, the prospect of ninja being tools of a nation; he preferred to be his own boss, which Shikaki took for granted when he created the Yorudō as Hisashi. A lack of diversity of techniques that Shikaki utilizes was offset by his ingenuity of their flexible uses.

Powers and abilities
Shikaki was a genius at what he does, being able to create the Shadow Flicker Technique on his own. The Shadow Flicker was considered to be Shikaki's signature technique, and was what made him a dangerous opponent to fight due to the versatile uses that the technique offered, though it was over shadowed by its parent technique: the Flying Thunder God Technique.

He has also been known to combine his shadow techniques with the Bringer of Darkness Technique in order to disable his opponents. The shinobi also deceives his opponents through the use of techniques also as the Double Suicide Decapitation Technique and Shadow Clone Technique. Shikaki was known to utilize Summoning: Weaponry to summon a metal staff as a weapon.

As Hisashi Wakahisa, Shikaki amassed an enormous underground intelligence network, making him one of the biggest entities in the underground realm. His fame, or notoriety, in the field presented him with a multitude of allies and enemies, each with their own agenda. Even when he was 16, Shikaki's network of intelligence was enough to attract the attention of the Hokage of the time. Shikaki also studied and taught high ranking officers of the Yorudo the concept of Fūrinkazan.

Appearances

 * Naruto: The Third War: A World in Tears
 * Shikaki Nara vs. Minkai Zokatakei (non-canon)
 * The Exchange (non-canon)

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. Shikaki was derived from shika, a presumably common prefix to a member of the Nara clan, and ki, meaning radiant.

Although there were previous separate articles for Shikaki and Hisashi Wakahisa, it was planned from the start that Shikaki and Hisashi were to be the same person, to follow a rebirth motif found in another user's story.

If Shikaki had a databook section about him, it would include the following information:
 * Shikaki's hobbies include playing shogi, xiangqi and chess.
 * Shikaki would like to fight one of the Yonkō.
 * It is unknown how many missions that Shikaki has completed, as many of them were classified during the Third Great War.
 * His favorite food are clams, while he hates bread.