Reborn!

45: "Sai" of Team 7

Team Kakashi returned, somewhat triumphantly, to Konohagakure after escorting Chiyo and Gaara to Suna.

Rasa welcomed his son home with open arms, not once mentioning how Gaara lost Suna's greatest tactical weapon. He expressed his genuine relief that his son had escaped the situation relatively unharmed. No one knew what to make of a jinchūriki bereft of his bijū -- was this to be considered an affliction of some sort?

They chalked up Gaara's survival to Naruto's intervention -- which was true, to some extent.

As the first jinchūriki was widely known to have hailed from the Uzumaki clan, people had no choice but to awkwardly conclude that the fabled clan of sealing had some secret method to safeguard the life of a jinchūriki during the extraction of their bijū. It was possible, even, that the Uzumaki knew a technique to resuscitate such a victim. Naruto had admitted to having a role in sneaking Gaara out of that place, and Deidara would back up his claim if necessary.

They flew back to Konoha on the Hikōki invented by Naruto, where Kakashi was sent to the hospital by the combined verdict of Sakura and Shizune. Even with no detrimental injury due to the lack of intent to maim or kill, the accumulated damage from the countless wounds he received (as well as the exhaustion) from fighting for three consecutive days against an S-rank missing-nin left Kakashi bedridden despite Sakura's work to patch him up along the way. Naruto's flight pattern had been adjusted according to the condition of the patient on board, much to Sakura's relief, and she had taken care of all of the flesh wounds and the most severe internal injuries that she could treat without the proper facilities.

That left Naruto, Sakura and Sōjirō to go report on their mission in Sunagakure.

The three were greeted by Neko at the door to the Hokage's Office, which opened as the ANBU agent saluted the off-duty Kitsune.

"Just leave the report on the table," Tsunade instructed, sending Neko back with a newly-penned note.

Neko left the room with a bow to the village leader as Sōjirō stepped forward to set a scroll on the desk.

Naruto sensed her making a beeline for the hospital from her chakra signature, and he guessed it included instructions for the medic in charge of healing Kakashi.

"So," Tsunade began, "Team Kakashi is now down to two people. You presently have two choices. One is to disband the team. With your abilities, you can easily be integrated into Konoha's medical and sealing departments. If that doesn't suit your tastes, I'll bet that no team will refuse you. Your respective skills are in tragically low supply in the Konoha of today, and no sensible team will refuse a medic-nin or Uzumaki sealing expert."

Neither Naruto nor Sakura reacted to that proposition, and Tsunade sighed heavily.

"The other option," she continued, "will be a more bumpy route. I will have two shinobi likewise without teams to join you, forming a new four-man unit you will have to learn to work with. In this case, I cannot choose who will become your team member. My authority will only allow me to pick a qualified leader for Team Seven, and the fourth will depend on who is available -- it's all up to luck. You have no freedom of choice in this scenario."

Naruto grinned. "You know which one we'll pick, Tsuna-baa-chan. There's no way Sakura and I will be separated. If we were so easily split up, we wouldn't have formed a three-man team when I returned to Konohagakure."

Tsunade rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, the TLDR version of the report is: 'We did our job and saved Suna. We fought four members of the Akatsuki to do it. The Kazekage lives, but Suna does not have the Ichibi anymore," summarised Naruto concisely.