OK... so here's Shikamaru's chapter. He comes off a little bit bratty, but remember he's my favourite character... I'm trying very hard to be unbiased. T be honest, it started off better in my head... but those versions don't go anywhere.
Now I know I've had over 100 hits, which is pretty cool. But I'd like some more reviews... if you have time. I'm not demanding them or anything, but... would be nice. Really, really nice. Thank you if you have reviewed- made my day.
Disclaimer: The rights to Naruto do not belong to me.
Shikamaru knows that he was considered a genius from pretty much the moment he was born. (At first, he doesn't quite understand why, having done nothing really worthwhile in his life. But, as the son of Konoha's jounin commander, how could he not be? His high intelligence wasn't exactly a surprise.)
His father begins to teach him to play shogi at the tender age of three, and that is when he really realises just how far ahead he is in terms of intellect. Shikaku tells him that he'll be a great strategist one day.
As it happens, he doesn't mind- he's good at strategy and it's far less troublesome than physical training like Choji's clan has started him doing.
He'd much rather watch clouds or sleep than learn his family techniques (plus, he still doesn't have enough chakra to learn anything higher than the Kagemane. His dad just looks at him lazily and tells him that if he uses his mind, he'll only ever need the one technique.) but Shikamaru respects his Dad- he's a kind of cool father to have- so he doesn't mind about following in his footsteps at all. Although it does mean an annoying amount of early mornings spent playing shogi, with Shikaku then picking apart every move of the match and explaining exactly where he went wrong.
He is taken aback, but not shocked, when, despite his lazy tendencies, the Hokage personally offers him the chance to enter and graduate the Ninja Academy three years early. (I'm sure you'll outgrow it, all Nara do. Just look at your father) In other words, another exception for him, because he is the Nara heir and a 'genius'. He isn't sure how they know this, since he's never actually taken an official IQ test.
He says no, of course. Graduating aged nine would definitely group him with the likes of Hatake Kakashi and Orochimaru of the Sannin. Looking at, well, every genius in Konoha's history… he doesn't want to be that messed up.
Nobody's all that cut up about his refusal- after all, this means that he can graduate with Ino and Choji. The Hokage just smiles and nods when he explains his reasoning (His father tells him, years later, that Sandaime-sama congratulated him on raising such a wise boy.)
When Shikamaru does enter the Academy, he ends up skipping school a lot. It's not really a lack of motivation, it's just that there's nothing that he doesn't really know already. Most of the stuff in the first year is just logic- a shinobi is required to serve his village, the Hokage is leader of the village, and so on and so forth, and chakra control (which he has in abundance. Perhaps due to his lack of large amounts of chakra.)
It's about halfway through his first year that Uchiha Itachi massacres his clan. His father solemnly informs him the night that the information is released (they couldn't cover it up for long.)All sorts of rumours are flying around school the next day, but he knows the truth, and when Sasuke returns to the Academy after a week, Shikamaru's stomach lurches at the haunted look in his eyes. If this is what a genius does, then he doesn't ever want to be one.
Shikamaru gets lazier. He says 'troublesome' a lot (only idiots like Naruto have a catchphrase) and skips school, even though they're now learning stuff which he doesn't know. He doesn't even bother to turn up for tests anymore. And it seems to work- nobody in his class calls him 'that genius'. They call him 'lazy-ass' or 'slacker' instead. He likes those titles a lot better, because they're true. And they're something that he chose to be.
He falls asleep after one look at the Academy graduation exam, but they pass him anyway, on the grounds of his 'excellent ninjustu and high intelligence.' (Really, it's just code for 'we're making an exception because you're the Nara clan heir, now get out there and start risking your life, sucker.') Asuma-sensei snorts when he mentions this to him (he doesn't know why, it's not funny.)
There was never any question about whose team he would be on. There were plenty of speculators, but that was the one thing they all agreed on. (I suppose they'll put Sasuke with the dead-last, and of course they'll be re-forming the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.) This is one thing that he doesn't mind- he genuinely likes Choji, and Ino isn't too troublesome when you know how to appease her.
His sensei is Asuma Sarutobi, and he doesn't seem to mind too much when Shikamaru basically refuses to do anything except play shogi. Instead he slips an IQ test into his ninja registration paperwork (sneaky bastard), and never again shuts up about his score. (The low-two hundreds is pretty high, of course, but still. It's not as though his high intelligence has anything to do with his sensei.)
Shikamaru winces slightly every time Asuma pulls out the word 'genius', when he's bragging to Kurenai-sensei about his team.
Shikamaru makes his first kills during his second C-rank mission. It's kind of scary that it doesn't affect him more, but at the same time, he guesses that, one; he's been prepared for being a shinobi for his entire life, and killing people's a pretty integral part of the job, and two; chucking an exploding tag into a bunch of bandits, and then running like hell from your team mate's giant spinning body doesn't produce the same basic psychological response as, say, stabbing somebody in the chest with a kunai.
He doesn't actually experience real danger until Asuma-sensei nominates his teams for the chuunin exams. That Gaara kid is seriously messed up. Still, his team do well- the first and second exams were pretty much made for them, considering they're a cell specialised for reconnaissance and team combat.
When he finds out that they're having preliminary rounds for the third exam, he kind of wants to quit. But Asuma put himself out on a limb nominating them, and he owes it to him to at least try, especially if his sensei ever wants to impress Kurenai with his teaching prowess. As it turns out, his opponent isn't too hard to beat- most genin-level ninja are weak to strategic attacks. In the final, he also basically defeats his opponent (before forfeiting). He's fairly certain he hasn't done enough to stand out too much, but he might have earned his sensei some 'good teacher' points.
(Which was probably the aim of entering team ten in the chuunin exams anyway. Honestly, he respects Asuma, but his crush is getting a little ridiculous.)
Asuma-sensei's proud of him and his half-victory, but he does sort of wish he hadn't expended all his chakra when he's facing down a patrol of Oto-nin.
Despite making his sensei proud, Shikamaru is absolutely furious when he gets promoted to chuunin, on the basis of knowing that his chakra reserves are pathetic and how to utilise his one shadow technique. Ino and Choji think it's pretty funny. Shikamaru thinks that it's yet another blatant assumption- that he must have a high enough strategic ability to justify promoting a twelve year old, despite him not displaying that much tactical genius, certainly not enough to even out his blatant lack of any actual fighting skills.
Damn.
It's his first ever mission as a chuunin which really changes his outlook on life, though. Having to be rescued by that crazy Suna girl with the fan stings, but what scares him more than anything is that they almost didn't get there until it was too late.
Two of his comrades (friends) are in the Intensive Care Unit because of danger that he put them in. Sure his Dad and Asuma-sensei tell him it's not his fault, but Shikamaru knows it is. Because if he'd just fought stronger, thought faster, led better, maybe things wouldn't have turned out the way they did. It was him trying to be an average shinobi, an average guy, which nearly got the people under his command killed.
Shikamaru thinks that maybe, if it helps him to protect his friends next time (even if he's starting to sound a bit like Naruto), being a genius isn't such a bad thing.
.
(He feels vindicated in this decision when he hunts down the bastard who murdered his sensei and destroys him. An average guy wouldn't have been able to do that.)
