Many Naruto fans believe that Shikamaru could be a great choice for the position of Hokage, but he is not even fulfilling his role as the Hokage’s arm. The end of Naruto was marked with the revelation that Shikamaru would be Naruto’s right hand man when he took over as Hokage, which made fans happy seeing everything that both characters had already gone through.

Shikamaru’s work is certainly crucial to the well-being and development of the Leaf village in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, but the story appears to be completely different according to the Naruto: Shikamaru’s Story–Mourning Clouds novel.

The book shows in detail that Shikamaru is far from the best suited to assist the Hokage, let alone be a Hokage, showing an unstable side to the character that fans would never imagine he had.

Naruto: Shikamaru’s Story–Mourning Clouds explains that many of Shikamaru’s work problems stem from his personal life. He doesn’t provide adequate growth for his son, drinks a lot, smokes and has stress with his marriage.

During a meeting at the Kage summit, for example, Shikamaru thought that the Kage wanted to appropriate Konoha’s technology and this led him to attack important leaders, which could result in a war.

Furthermore, Shikamaru’s behavior continues in matters of executing secret missions without informing Naruto. Eventually, Naruto figures it all out and berates his friend. He knows that Shikamaru means well, but despite them, the genius of the Nara clan breaks his friend’s trust several times.

This goes to show that Shikamaru might not be playing his role the way fans had hoped, due to various family issues that fans also didn’t even know Shikamaru had.