Shadow Absorption

This technique was one used by the very first of the Nara Clan and preceded their shadow-manipulation abilities, establishing them almost. For centuries following however, this technique would generally become more lost and lost and labeled forbidden due to the mental burden it places. A millennia later, Shikaniku would come to awaken this technique by sheer coincidence which has led to his extremely varied skill-set all incorporating different styles into his shadow-manipulations. While the Nara supply form to their shadows to grant their dark doppelgangers an array of feats, this technique focuses on assimilating individuals by removing their form and leaving them as nothing but a blob of chakra. In this technique lies four handseals all intended for a specific technique in this process of assimilating individuals.

The first handseal Rat activates the beginning handseal which allows him to extend his shadow towards the desired targets. Fusing their shadows, Shikaniku is given domain over their own shadow and movements just as he would his own shadow and body. The second handseal boar commands their shadow two fuse with the body turning them into a living shadow similar to his own shadow-like transformation. The third handseal is where Shikaniku pulls their shadow-like body closer to his and into his own. The last handseal seals the deal; his shadow is stricken of all form and anything in it. His shadow becomes the imprint on the ground that many fail to notice, and all unused chakra in it returns back to the wielder. For anything trapped in his shadow, it also becomes stricken of all form. The result of these people, whom has now become nothing but form is erased from the world. All that is left is the chakra that remains which is returned to Shikaniku: their experiences and physical energies included. With such, everything that they were or may be are now Shikaniku.

For most of the older ancestors of shinobi other than those of the true bloodline descending from the creator of the technique, they lacked the mental power to sustain the personalities/experiences/sensations that are latched onto the chakra, thus very few actual Nara are capable of doing so. Born as the son Shikamaru who descends directly from the originator of the Nara clan, Shikaniku is one capable of using this technique while maintaining the physical strain that deals with it; his ability to harness his own memories unlike his father and grandfather before him through the use of his mindscape, makes him an even better candidate. For this, Shikaniku has assimilated the experiences and physical actions of hundreds of shinobi he deem worthy to being absorbed; his growth has been amplified because of it.
 * Shadow Absorption Immortality Technique: Those who run out of chakra die; that is a fact. Long before the Sage of Sixth Paths distributed this life energy however, people thrived. The world had been littered with mankind for millennium. For centuries, scientist spent years trying to discern how humans were able to continue living prior to receiving chakra. Why had we even existed? This inquiry led to the development of the first Jinchūriki. After capturing the chakra behemoth, these scientist infused it into a test subject and they gradually watched as it shaped his body and mind. He had grown nimble like a cat, his eyes adapted, and he became nocturnally functional. However, what they noticed more or less was that his habits had grown even more cat-like: milk had become his favorite drink to consume, yarn surprisingly grew more interesting, etc. After observing this behavior, the scientist, in an attempt to save this man from his unique transformation, removed the tailed beast from him, and like all Jinchuriki he perished as a result.


 * Under this conclusion, it was obvious to the scientist, that chakra and the soul were somehow connected. Years of research would commence, and several people would be used as sacrifices to obtain the necessary data. It was for this reason that Matatabi had become revered as a demon of death, but with each death the scientist drew more conclusions until they had found their answers. The human soul naturally attached itself to chakra. It was for this reason that when a Jinchūriki's tailed beast was extracted that they died. By removing the beast, a being made completely of chakra, one's soul was removed with it. When the body had been devoid of any chakra, the soul would gradually fade away with it.


 * When stripping these people of all form leaving nothing but their chakra, Shikaniku inadvertently stole their chained soul with it. Because of this, Shikaniku is blessed with a skill that alchemist have spent centuries attempting to garner: immortality, or so he calls it. A sword piercing his heart, his body being blown to smithereens; with every death he seems to simply return entirely unharmed. There are no tricks in which he will use illusions to make it appear as if he was stuck. When his heart is pierced, and his body blown to smithereens, he is struck and his body is truly destroyed. Similarly to a technique used by those who wield the Rinnegan, Shikaniku infuses himself with a new life. Rather than give his own soul for the death god to claim, Shikaniku offers a soul from his reservoir. As each soul that resides in the human world possesses a life force, they are unable to take life with them to the afterworld, and are forced to release it so that the death god can claim their essence. The recipient of this life energy is Shikaniku, who's body is reconstructed and rejuvenated using it.


 * For such reason, killing Shikaniku is a task attainable by those strong enough to survive him a thousand times. He has assimilated thousands of lives and people; he is considered immortal by those who know his secret. With every life force he takes, while he is granted the ability to die those amount of times, Shikaniku has access to their array of skills and special abilities. He has conquered the five elements with mastery that many specialist consider entirely unprecedented. His skills with every kenjutsu, shuriken, and taijutsu styles of the five great nations and even some forms belonging to the samurai are considered master tier. The sheer supply of skills that he has is impressive in its own right, however what many find jaw-breaking is the level in which he can employ these skills. Unlike those wielders of the Sharingan, Shikaniku is assimilating skills rather than copying them. Because of this, he takes in the experiences of those whom he steals these skills from. Their failures and successes become his own; he takes the time that they spent training and adopt it as his own. Thus, he copies their skills and uses them to a level that match those whom he acquired it from, making this particular assimilation much more valuable than that of the Sharingan.