Until You

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Sakura and the girls also split up, running back to their homes to change into ninja clothes before heading to Hokage office. When Sakura, Ino and TenTen arrived at the office, Naruto, Sasuke and Shikamaru were already there, waiting for them. Kakashi was also in his chair, leaning to the desk and supporting his chin with both hands. Sakura's heart skipped a beat as they made an eye contact. It's so unfair how he's having such intense effect on her, even when Uchiha Sasuke is in the same damn room.

"Since everybody's here, Shikamaru..." Kakashi nodded at his assistance and the Nara opened a file in his hand, withdrawing a paper from it.

"The decoding was completed last night. We've got the location of the stone. Or a clue," Kakashi said.

"Clue? What does it mean?" Asked Naruto.

"Shikamaru, tell them."

The Nara nodded and held the paper, "I've copied the result. Kakashi had already seen the original yesterday. It said...," he paused, finding words to articulate. "The stone is.... Um. What Tobirama-sama wrote is that 'Home is where the heart is'."

" 'Home is where the heart is' ?" Naruto frowned, "What? Is that some kind of a riddle?"

Shikamaru sighed, "Sounds like one. But I've no idea what it means."

"Even you don't know. How are we supposed to figure it out?" Ino snorted, folding her arms.

"The heart means the stone," Sasuke spoke, "The Amethyst was born in the very center of the world which means it's the heart of the earth. And there's only one place what Tobirama could mean by home."

Naruto's eyes widened and he said in awe, "in Konoha. You mean that whatever stone is in Konoha the whole time?"

Sasuke nodded firmly and leaned against the wall, "Actually, I've already guessed it couldn't be anywhere other than here. Tobirama is such a mischievous brainy man. He must've found a secure place to hide the treasure in the village."

"So where should we exactly start searching? Konoha is a large village. It could be anywhere," Sakura said.

"Maybe in Hokage mountain?" Naruto wondered, "How about starting with that old man's face?"

"No. You'll destroy the rock faces and if the mountain fell off, half of the village will be demolished. I can't allow that." Kakashi claimed, "Besides, I don't think Tobirama-sama would hide the stone in a dangerous place like this if he knew there'd be people searching for it in future.That's too risky."

"Then, where do we look for it?" The whiskered blond grumbled, sighing dramatically. 

Kakashi looked at Shikamaru, wordlessly asking if the 200 IQ boy had any clue about this puzzle. The Nara scratched his head and loosened his shoulders, trying to think best possible place to start their search. Everyone fell silent as none had any idea where the stone might be. Sakura peered at Kakashi, he was touching his chin as if every single cell of his brain is processing to solve the puzzle. Suddenly, his eyes lifted and they met hers, instantly causing a faint blush across her cheeks. Sakura looked away with a silent curse, biting her lips hard. Nothing's more embarrassing than being caught when you're looking at your crush. But Kakashi is not her crush, isn't he? Sakura scolded herself for letting in these thoughts in the middle of the serious matter, now's definitely not the time for her crazy feelings.

"Well... let's think simple," Shikamaru finally said. "Home could probably mean his actual house. The house that Senjus once lived. It's the best clue we have, at least for now."

"Yes! I was also thinking about it. The Senju house! Why don't we check it out?" Ino perked up.

"Okay! So where is it? Let's not waste time and find that whatever stone 'ttebayo."