It always pleases me to see people discussing things.

23

Shikaku walked slowly, a completely casual wander down the streets of Konoha.

I rested on his shoulder, doing my best to look completely uninterested.

I was anything but completely uninterested.

Shikaku only looked casual on the outside, but inside?

His Chakra, normally like a calm river, was almost chaotic, with only his tight and honed control preventing it from leaking out of his coils. His Heart stormed with emotions, anger the most obvious.

It was surprising, to see the unfailingly calm and collected Shikaku Nara angry.

Shikaku wasn't the only one who was angry, either. As we walked closer to the Yamanaka flower shop, I could easily sense the restrained emotions coming from inside, blatantly obvious even when I wasn't trying to sense it.

My vision of the world faded away, replaced by the sight of Hearts and Darkness. Sure enough, directly underneath the flower shop were several Hearts. Three of which I recognized, actually; the Hokage, Inoichi and Chouza.

All of them were angry, though it seemed like the Hokage was also... disappointed?

I had a sinking feeling that I knew what it was about, too.

The world returned as Shikaku opened the door to the flower shop, closing and locking it behind him.

The shop... was pretty cool, actually. Several rows of a variety of flowers, arranged in eye-catching configurations. Over in the corner were a few plants that were absolutely saturated in Chakra, but everything else seemed normal.

We passed through the back hallway, turning left down a set of stairs that led to another door. It opened, showing a normal basement area, filled with boxes stacked up to the walls.

Apparently normal, anyway. I could see tiny lines of Chakra forming complex symbols and patterns stretching across the walls, the floor and the ceiling, leading to the corner of the room. At second glance, the corner also possessed more lines of Chakra, closer together and more complex in design.

I stared at it, admiring the artistic design. Were they seals?

Shikaku sighed, before saying. "You know, the ANBU have a fit whenever you do that, managing to effortlessly locate hidden things that most people would spend days trying to find. Usually the ANBU themselves, for that matter."

I gave the ANBU fits?

Heh, I hadn't even been trying.

I looked at him and shrugged.

There was a pulse of Chakra as he walked at the corner, right before we passed straight through the wall as if wasn't there.

An illusion?

No... Something else, as an illusion would have been obvious to me. I looked back, seeing a pale blue aura of Chakra where the rock had been, but the solid wall was no longer there.

On a hunch, I looked outside the world.

Ah, there! A storage seal, with an illusion in place to ensure that nobody would see the sealing and unsealing occur.

I turned around as the wall shimmered back into reality, seamlessly replacing the illusion.

We descended down another long and twisting flight of stairs (Really, how many of these did you need?), before arriving at another door, this one also covered in an intricate web of Chakra.

It opened, allowing me to see the inside.

Immediately obvious were the occupants; the Hokage, Chouza Akimichi, Inoichi Yamanaka, four ANBU, one of which was quietly conversing with the Hokage and the clan heads, the other three speedily drawing a complex series of seals along a part of the floor. The final occupant was a man in a tan, high-collared coat with a gourd attached, wearing dark glasses that obscured his eyes, with a shock of black, spikey hair.

Shibi Aburame, the head of Aburame clan.

The place itself was huge, easily 15 something meters between the walls, all of which were glowing with faint lines of Chakra, seals even more densely packed and complex as the ones upstairs. A part of the floor descended into the ground, forming a small basin lined with even more seals.

Nearby was a table that the Hokage, Inoichi, Chouza and the ANBU stood by, with what appeared to be detailed maps of Konoha strewn out upon its surface.

A gigantic secret room underneath a flower shop.

Well, I suppose nobody would suspect that.

"Good to see you, Shikaku."

Shikaku nodded back.

"Time to get to business then."