Naruto: Reborn as Sakura with Manyuu Chifusa Template

"I see… I'd hoped the news would be more favourable by the time you arrived," Tsunade sighed, after Kakashi finished updating her on the Gaara situation. "Sakura, Sasuke, Hinata— you may stay. The rest of you, dismissed."

Tsunade turned away from them and stared out of her office window. Now that Gaara was no longer Kazekage, the Hidden Leaf had little reason to risk angering the Hidden Sand to save his life— and yet, she still hoped Team Guy's rescue mission would succeed, if only for the boy's sake. And if they were lucky, they'd manage to pin Gaara's disappearance on the Akatsuki, which would be a great help with negotiations going forwards.

"My lady?" said Sakura tentatively, once everyone else in the Chūnin Exams delegation had left, save for Tenten, who remained by the door. "Was there something you wanted to ask us?"

Sakura's voice shook Tsunade out of her pensive state, interrupting her aura farming session. She turned sharply to face them, her ample chest taking a moment longer to catch up and a few moments more to stop jiggling.

"It's about the Akatsuki body doubles you fought," said Tsunade. "Or rather, one of them, whose identity is especially sensitive, considering what just happened in the Sand."

After Sakura and Sasuke had defeated Itachi's and Kisame's doubles, their corpses had reverted to their ordinary appearances. Tenten had packed them up nicely in a sealing scroll and sent them back to Konoha for an autopsy to discover how they had managed to turn into completely different people.

"We investigated their origins and discovered that one of them sat on the Suna Council," said Shizune, jumping right in. "In short, this Yūra person is very important— but most importantly, you killed him, which means the Hidden Leaf Village is responsible for his death, as far as the Sand is concerned."

It was a very bad look, especially considering that the Sand had just slipped away from the Leaf's sphere of influence. Tenten had cleaned the battlefield as best she could, but it was impossible to erase all traces of their clash. Hopefully, the Sand would never find out what had happened, because the murder of a councillor was more than enough to justify a war of retribution.

"There is a silver lining to all this, though," Tsunade concluded. "During the autopsy, I found a fine needle made of sand embedded deeply in his brain. I had the Intelligence Division run a comparative analysis on the chakra residue clinging to the grains, and the results came back a few hours ago: the chakra signature matches that of an enemy elite the Leaf faced on the Sand front during the Third Shinobi World War, years ago."

The chakra signature belonged to Sasori of the Red Sands, who was thought to have died long ago! He was the grandson of Chiyo the Puppetmaster, Tsunade's old nemesis and the Sand's most feared poison expert. Chiyo had, regrettably, died off-screen— so at least, she was spared the shame of living to see one of her family members in the Akatsuki.

"You're not telling us this for nothing," said Sasuke. "Do we have a solid lead on the Akatsuki?"

Any lead on the Akatsuki was a step closer to finding his brother and getting his revenge!

"The needle self-destructed the moment the Intelligence Division tried to examine it," Tsunade explained. "But as it did, it triggered a reaction in Yūra— at the exact moment one of the Analysis Team happened to be scanning his brain. It was just enough to extract a handful of images. It seems one of the Akatsuki's hideouts is somewhere near Kusagakure…"

It was all thanks to Tenten, who had sealed Yūra's body the instant he died, preserving his brain tissue in remarkably good condition.

"Let me go on the mission," said Sasuke brusquely. "My summoned beast is an excellent tracker."

"I want to go too, Lady Tsunade!" Sakura chimed in. "I'd like to go back to being an active-duty shinobi, if that's all right!"

"Not so fast," said Tsunade sternly. "Did you hear me say anything about a mission? And you're not even assigned to a squad yet!"

The Hidden Leaf's standard operating procedure— barring exceptions like Jiraiya, who did whatever the hell he pleased— was for missions to be conducted in four-man teams. Most teams, barring specialised teams, were composed of one medic, one sensor and two combatants ideally specialising in different disciplines.

After all, two fists can't overcome four palms. As strong as he was, even the Third Raikage had fallen to sheer numbers, and Sakura and Sasuke weren't at that level just yet, even if they were getting close.

"Listen up, you two," continued Tsunade. "Unless Jiraiya gets distracted by a brothel on the way back, Naruto should be back exactly one month for now, in the first week of September. When he comes back, you'll reform Team 7 under Kakashi and take the mission to hunt down Sasori!"

The wisdom of sending Naruto, a Jinchūriki, to the people actively seeking out Jinchūriki was debatable, but what use was having a human weapon if you couldn't use it? Naruto would get bored to death twiddling his thumbs if he was confined to the village.

"My Lady…" said Shizune, glancing at Hinata, whose face had turned pink at the mere mention of the name Naruto.

"Right, I almost forgot. Promotions are in order," said Tsunade. "Uchiha Sasuke, you are hereby promoted from Genin straight to Jōnin."

It was customary for Uchiha clan members who had cultivated a three-tomoe Sharingan to be awarded the title of Jōnin, and Tsunade could see no reason to deny him the promotion, save for his tendency to lose control when Itachi was concerned.

"Uchiha Sakura!" Tsunade then proclaimed. "Considering your mastery of all five chakra natures, your proficiency in Genjutsu, your quick wit and your ability to lead, I hereby promote you from Chūnin to Jōnin."

"Squee!"

Sakura let out a little squeal of joy. Now that she didn't have to save all her money to buy chakra metal, she could only imagine how many sweets she'd be able to purchase on a Jōnin's salary!

"As for you, Hyūga Hinata, you've more than exceeded my expectations," said Tsunade, turning to the poor girl who had remained silent all this time. "My hesitation in allowing you to remain a shinobi was clearly misplaced. In light of the Flying Jutsu you've developed, I hereby promote you to the rank of Tokubetsu Jōnin."

Special Jōnin were specialists who had attained a Jōnin's proficiency in their area of expertise.

But unfortunately for Tsunade, Hinata wouldn't be able to teach others to fly even if she tried. Thanks to the Kama that Urashiki had implanted in her rewriting her DNA, she now possessed an Ōtsutsuki's physique, granting her the innate ability to fly.