The old woman opened her eyes and immediately smiled.
At the Nara Clan residence, Shikamaru returned home and saw Shikaku Nara sitting on the balcony reading the newspaper.
Shikamaru was somewhat surprised. After all, with the Hokage gone, he knew that his father needed to step in and handle the village's affairs.
Yet even so, it was truly rare to see Shikaku back at home.
Seemingly seeing through Shikamaru's thoughts, Shikaku explained, "Work is indeed very busy, but at this critical time, Konoha has turned down many missions recently."
"With other people helping out as well, things can still be wrapped up quickly. In the afternoon, Shizune and Inoichi hold down the fort at the Hokage Building. At night, Choji and I take over."
"So it isn't really strange for me to be home at this time, is it?"
Shikamaru smiled and strolled over to Shikaku, seemingly casually. In an equally casual tone, he said, "Dad, can you tell me about these matters?"
Shikaku glanced at Shikamaru. How could he not understand his own son? He said bluntly, "Didn't you used to hate this sort of thing? Why do you suddenly want to know about it now?"
Shikamaru fell silent for a moment. "I want to know the truth."
Shikaku said nothing and seemed to lapse into silence.
But in the end, he set the newspaper aside and said, "Go on. What exactly do you want to know?"
Shikamaru did not stand on ceremony. Logically speaking, these things should not be discussed freely, but in truth, it was not that big a deal.
What they were hiding it from were those with ulterior motives, those prone to panic, and to avoid making a big fuss and alerting the enemy.
So there was nothing wrong with telling him. Still, there were