Enchū Nara

Tall and lean, Enchū carries his years in the deep lines of his face. His hair has gone white, kept alongside a trimmed moustache and a small beard at the chin, and he is most often seen in grey robes topped by a cap of the same shade.

The advancement of his clan is Enchū's chief concern, and his devotion runs deep enough that he can be sharply critical of the image it presents. Long experience has taught him that raw combat strength is far from the only route to influence, and he works to drive the family's most gifted members as hard as they can bear.

Enchū has counselled the Nara since the days before Shikaku headed the family. Convinced that Shikamaru's sharp mind belonged in diplomacy, he once urged the young man toward a political life, only for Shikamaru to refuse, finding the prospect far too taxing. Years later he made no secret of his displeasure when Shikamaru chose not to accompany Temari to the Wind Daimyō's banquet, a slight that fed the Land of Wind's grumbling that he had been an unworthy match for the eldest sister of the Fifth Kazekage. Shikamaru argued that he was already stretched between building up the clan and serving the Hokage, but the elder countered that spreading himself so thin was neglecting the growth of his son, Shikadai.

Shikadai caught that exchange without his father's knowledge and threw himself into the clan's signature arts to avoid shaming it, which soon dragged down his mission work. Sensing an opening, Enchū dangled a two-year apprenticeship with the Fire Daimyō, Ikkyū Madoka, framing the chance to study politics as a rare honour. The boy weighed it seriously before turning it down, deciding instead to prove the family's worth to the Kazekage's line by mastering both the Nara Hiden and Wind Release. Enchū's own techniques are unrecorded, though Shikamaru has said the clan owes him a debt built over decades, and a figure of his standing would be deeply schooled in its shadow arts.