Two years after the Great Ninja War, Shikamaru spends his days racing around, hands full as one of Konoha’s key protectors. Then one day a large number of ninja from every region are reported missing. Even Sai disappears. And the place where the missing shinobi end up is the mysterious empire, the Land of Silence
This story features brief but faithful interactions with Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura, Ino, Choji, Sai, Temari, Gaara and Kurenai, and plants seeds for some of the other novels in this series, making it enjoyable for fans. The translator still goofs on calling his "Shadow Strangulation" jutsu "Suffocating Darkness", and, while I know the anime dub translates his catchphrase as "What a drag," I'm used to subs that always prefer "How troublesome". (Just a personal nitpick.) One other nitpick is that the author incorrectly says Shikamaru became a Chunin because "the examiners handed down top marks for Shikamaru's sportsmanlike admission of defeat." That's such a basic storyline mistake, it's cringeworthy, but oh well.
