This is like a filler chapter, no action but lots and lots of dialogue. And for some reason, the spell checker says I spelled dialogue wrong...It's spelled that way, really.

Chapter 5

Haruno Residence – Early Morning

Sakura opened her eyes when she heard the knocking downstairs. She could hear her mother going down the stairs to answer the door. She yawned and turned over, looking at her clock on her desk across the room. It was 3AM in the morning. There could only be one reason that someone would be at their door at this time.

"Sakura! Someone from the Hokage is here to see you!" Sakura's mother whispered through her door.

"Alright, I'll go down and meet him. You can go back to sleep." Sakura replied, pulling on clothes.

She climbed down the stairs and to the front. Izumo and Kotetsu stood in the moonlight, both of them looking tired but alert.

"Ah, is there something wrong?" She asked.

Kotetsu nodded while Izumo yawned.

"The Hokage needs you at her residence as soon as possible. The rest of your team will meet you there." Kotetsu answered, rubbing his eyes.

Sakura nodded and the two vanished in smoke.

Shadow clones? They must have already told Naruto and Sai then.

Sakura ran back upstairs and into her room.

"Mom, I'm leaving. Something's happened." She called out.

Sakura's mother peeked into her room. "You'll be back soon?" she asked.

Sakura shook her head, pulling on her vest.

"I don't know."

"What's happened?" Sakura asked, walking into the Hokage's office.

Tsunade looked up from her desk. Before her, Naruto, Yamato, Sai, Izumo, Kotetsu, and Shizune stood in a line. Naruto took a step towards Sakura, his arm lashing the air in anger.

"Someone took Kakashi!" he yelled.

Sakura froze. Kakashi was in the hospital, in the middle of Konoha. There was no way someone could take him without other people noticing.

"But…how?" she asked, her brain flooded with possibilities.

Tsunade shook her head. "We don't know. I have ANBU investigating right now but their initial findings turned up nothing. They're tearing apart the recovery room as we speak."

Shizune nodded in confirmation. "But they did find one thing."

"What?" Yamato asked.

"There was the scent of blood and ammonia." She responded.

"Blood?!" Sakura gasped.

Tsunade nodded, her eyes narrowed with worry. "It was only a slight scent though so we can assume that if they wounded Kakashi, it wasn't a very big wound. Most likely a scratch."

"And the ammonia?" Sai asked, speaking for the first time.

Shizune shrugged. "We have no idea. More ANBU are being dispatched to investigate throughout the entire village for any clues."

Yamato looked at Tsunade. "Are there any initial suspects?" he asked.

Tsunade shook her head in response.

"Could it be Akatsuki?" Naruto asked, putting his suspicion into words.

Tsunade looked Naruto in the eye. "That's what I thought at first but the only reason I could see them for taking him would be because he knows about Akatsuki. But now, almost every village knows about them so that reason is moot. Plus, there haven't been any sightings of Akatsuki since you fought them."

"Could it be an enemy village?" Izumo asked, speaking from experience.

"It's within the realm of possibility." Tsunade replied, "I know the Rain have Kakashi in their Bingo Book."

"What about Orochimaru?" Sakura spoke with heat in her voice.

Everyone fell silent. Orochimaru affected everyone, his attack three years ago almost destroyed the village and he still had Sasuke.

Tsunade gave a small nod. "That's also possible. But I don't see any reason why expect that he has the Sharingan. Orochimaru wouldn't want info from him because Kakashi only knows so much and he wouldn't want his body because he has Sasuke."

"Then why would he want Kakashi's Sharingan?" Naruto asked.

"Maybe he heard about Kakashi's Mangekyo Sharingan?" Yamato offered, "And wanted to see it in person?"

Tsunade kneaded her forehead with a hand as she thought it over.

"It's possible." She said finally.

"What about those two?" Sai asked.

"Who?" Shizune replied.

"The two that came in two days ago. Kakashi's friends." Sai clarified.

Sakura gasped. "You're right! They could have taken Kakashi!"

Naruto thought it over. "But the guy said he was a retired ninja. And that girl looked pretty weak."

Tsunade looked up at the three. "Kakashi's friends?"

"There were two people who came into Konoha two days ago." Sakura informed her, "We asked them their business and they said were here to see Kakashi."

"Where are they now?" Shizune asked.

"Um…We don't know." Sakura answered, her face filled with disappointment.

Tsunade nodded and looked at Izumo and Kotetsu. "Go to the gate and detain anyone who tries to leave. Make sure the wall sentries also keep an eye out."

The two nodded and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Tsunade turned back to Team 7.

"We'll look for those two but we still have to consider the possibility that they're working for enemy ninja or even Orochimaru."

The team nodded their agreement. Tsunade sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"Do you have any information on the two?"

"What they look like and their names. Both of them had Konoha headbands and cloaks." Naruto responded curtly.

"One was a male, around 6'0" with black hair, brown eyes, and a mask. The other was a female, around 5'0" with black hair and green eyes." Sakura added.

"Yasuko Hitomi and Shimizu Ko." Sai chipped in.

Shizune started for the door. "I'll go see if their names are in our records."

"Concentrate on Konoha's missing nin." Tsunade called to Shizune as she left, "If they had the headbands, it'd be more likely they went rogue sometime."

The door shut behind Shizune and Tsunade looked back the others.

"There's nothing else to do then. You all can return to your homes and await further orders. If something turns up, you four will be the first to know." She sighed tiredly.

Naruto, Sakura, Sai, and Yamato all nodded and walked out. Naruto growled in frustration and slammed his fist against the wall. Sakura leaned against the door and slid down until she was sitting. Yamato walked away, thoughts and suspicions stirring his mind.

"Don't worry."

Sakura and Naruto looked up at Sai who had spoken.

"What?" Naruto asked, his anger still apparent in his voice.

Sai looked at the two. "I said don't worry. We'll find him."

Sakura bit her lip and then smiled. Standing up, she nodded at Sai. "You're right. We'll find him."

Naruto grunted his agreement with Sakura and Sai smiled at the two.

Thank you…Yasuko.

I'm two chapters ahead currently but because of the Christmas season and I have another story to work on for work, I probably won't release another chapter for a couple weeks. Or sooner, my schedule is so erratic. Review, review, review.