Chapter 55: Visiting
Yamanaka Flower Shop.
"Yo, what a rare sight, you two! Here to buy flowers?" Ino greeted them with a professional smile.
While Hinata was still choosing, she grabbed Sakura and pulled her aside.
"Sakura, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do? Sasuke-chan isn't paying any attention to me!"
Sakura secretly rolled her eyes at Ino's distressed expression.
On the day of the Chunin Exams, in order to win over Ino and her team, she had made many promises to Ino to help set her up with Sasuke.
Afterwards, she did not break her promise and did exactly as she said, putting in many good words for Ino in front of Sasuke and helping to create opportunities for her to be alone with him. As a result, Ino's opinion of Sakura had greatly improved.
However, just as Sakura had perfectly predicted—
It was completely useless.
Sasuke was not moved in the slightest by Ino's painstaking efforts.
If the one doing it had been Sakura, perhaps it would have been a different story. In Sasuke's mind, Ino was just a boring fangirl. The romantic and touching scenarios that Ino thought up would not move Sasuke's heart at all. It was precisely because Sakura was very clear on this point that she had readily agreed to Ino's many requests.
Ino's painstaking efforts to cultivate a relationship with Sasuke were destined to be a one-sided affair.
Although Sakura was watching Ino's efforts like a joke with a rather malicious sense of fun, she had not held back on her end of the bargain. Therefore, Ino's failure in pursuing Sasuke was not blamed on Sakura. Instead, she felt that Sakura had secretly formed an offensive and defensive alliance with her.
With the advantage of this secret alliance with the insider, Sakura, Ino was full of confidence that she would definitely win Sasuke over.
However, her continuous offensive against Sasuke had not made any progress, and Ino was also at a loss.
So when she saw Sakura, she immediately seized the opportunity to ask her secret ally for advice.
To this, Sakura didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"About that, I'm not sure either..."
She answered vaguely. Although she knew the truth, she decided to leave a little bit of beauty for the still-daydreaming Ino. It would be too cruel to shatter a young girl's beautiful dream.
"Sasuke is usually like that, lukewarm to both of us. I'm not too sure what he's thinking either!"
Another lie.
Sasuke usually liked to wear a poker face, but with the efforts of Naruto and Sakura, that face, which could only put on a cool act, would often break. Secondly, whether from the manga in her past life or from their daily interactions in this life, Sakura had a deep understanding of Sasuke.
Ino didn't notice that Sakura was telling a bald-faced lie.
Just as she was about to press Sakura further, Hinata's voice came over.
"Sakura-chan, Ino-san, what are you two talking about? Come and help me choose some flowers. There are so many, I don't know how to choose!"
Ino quickly put on her professional smile and went over, followed by a secretly relieved Sakura.
"There's a lot of etiquette when it comes to buying flowers, you know. The flowers used for different occasions are different and can't be mixed up. Hinata, are you buying flowers to give to someone?"
"Hn, we're buying flowers to visit Kiba-kun, Choji-kun, and the others. They're still injured and in the hospital!" Hinata said, fiddling with a bouquet of red roses.
"Oh—for visiting the sick, it's best not to choose flowers with roots, because it makes people think of 'the root of the illness won't go away' or 'a long illness becomes rooted'."
When it came to knowledge about flowers, Ino was an expert, far more professional than when she was being a ninja.
"To express care and sympathy, it's best to choose fresh flowers with elegant colors and light scents, but you must never give white, blue, or black flowers."
"Look—" Seeing that Hinata was still undecided, Ino led her to the side. "The orchids, daffodils, calla lilies, and lilies here are all very suitable for visiting the sick. And over here..."
Ino chattered on, pointing to the gladiolus, orchids, kumquats, alstroemeria, roses, and carnations, explaining everything from their habits to their flower language. Sakura, on the other hand, didn't have the patience for such things. She casually picked up a few elegant flowers, smelled their fragrance, and decided what to buy.
As for their flower language, she neither knew nor had any interest in finding out.
What is flower language anyway, but attributes that humans have forced upon the reproductive organs of plants... Today you can say its flower language represents nobility and elegance, tomorrow you can change it to crude and vulgar.
Alright, Sakura was just that unromantic of a person. This point hadn't changed even after transmigrating and transforming.
In contrast, Hinata chose very carefully, finally picking a few freesias.
Orchids—the beauties of the empty valley, with a flower language of indifference, elegance, and purity. And the freesia also had the meaning of deep affection, fragrance, and happiness—or so Ino said.
"Excuse me, which of the macho guys we're going to visit deserves the term 'beauty of the empty valley'? And which part of its flower language has anything to do with visiting the sick?" Sakura complained silently.
So, this is all just nonsense.
However, there was something else even more worthy of complaint.
"Little Ino, may I ask why you're following us? Don't you need to watch the shop?" Sakura said, a little helplessly.
"I'm going to visit Sasuke too," Ino said with a love-struck smile, "and Choji!"
The Choji she added at the end seemed like an afterthought, something that could be there or not.
She picked up two daffodils and held them to her cheeks, as if she were holding Sasuke's hand, a faint blush of a budding romance on her face.
"I chose this 'daffodil' because even in the cold winter, the daffodil still faces the wind and snow with its proud posture, waiting for the hopeful arrival of spring..."
"As soon as Sasuke sees it, his heart will be warmed by the hope contained within the flower."
Sakura let out a sheepish laugh.
"I actually think Sasuke won't be able to appreciate your deep meaning at all. It would be better to choose a prettier one; he might be happier..."
The three of them bickered all the way and soon arrived at the Konoha Hospital. We'll skip the interlude in between.
Unfortunately, when the three of them arrived at Sasuke's hospital room, he was still lying in bed, unconscious.
After putting down the flowers, Sakura forcefully pulled away Ino, who still wanted to cling to Sasuke's side. The three of them then visited Kiba, Choji, and the others in turn. Finally, they arrived on the first floor to visit Lee.
"It's the second room on the right," the nurse that Hinata had stopped said with a smile.
After thanking the nurse, they followed the corridor, turned right, and arrived in front of Lee's room.
On the hospital bed, Lee was sleeping very quietly. But the expression on his face would twitch ferociously from time to time.
As if he could feel the bone-deep pain even in his dreams!
Hinata and Ino gently placed the flowers in the vase on the windowsill, moving lightly so as not to disturb Lee's sleep.
Sakura stood at the door, looking at Lee from a distance, and did not enter for a long time.
A thousand thoughts ran through her mind.
She thought of the preliminary match that day.
Lee's opponent had not changed; it was still Gaara. And the two of them had contributed the most brilliant battle of the entire preliminary round.
It was also the most brutal battle!
Lee, who had opened the Eight Gates up to the Fifth Gate—the Gate of Closing—had beaten Gaara, a Jinchuriki, with a ferocious and irresistible posture!
The sand, which could defend on its own, couldn't keep up with Lee's speed at all. The so-called absolute defense, the Sand Armor that was immune to physical attacks, was forcefully pierced, shattered, and broken by Lee's savage fists and feet!
Just the aftershock of the battle had crushed the entire floor of the hall and made the distant viewing platforms shake precariously.
On the viewing platform, Sakura's face had turned slightly pale. The Lee fighting below, with his devastating and unstoppable power, deserved to be called "terrifying."
Even if I used my ultrapure water, I couldn't be careless!
If the water layer was too thin, it might even be shattered by a single one of those thunderous blows.
However, to obtain this astonishing power, Lee had also paid a heavy price.
When he opened the Fourth Gate—the Gate of Injury—the capillaries on the surface of his entire body had all ruptured, dyeing him the color of a cooked lobster!
After opening the Fifth Gate—the Gate of Closing—after just two punches, most of the muscles in Lee's arms had torn!
Lee's final blow did not take down Gaara, and so he lost.
Just like fireworks blooming with the most dazzling splendor in the night sky, and then shattering into pieces...
His entire body's muscles were strained, some torn. He had multiple fractures, and his left arm and left leg had suffered comminuted fractures.
What was more terrifying was that the bone fragments were embedded deep in his nervous system. Strenuous exercise was very likely to cause the bone fragments to further press on or even damage the nerves, leading to irreparable injuries.
This meant that Lee could no longer fight... could no longer continue to be a ninja.
"I didn't expect Lee-san's injuries to be so severe," Hinata said softly. "He still hasn't woken up..."
Sakura leaned against the door and let out a long sigh, but did not answer Hinata's question.
"Hinata, I heard that because Lee-san's injuries are very serious and he can't recover," Ino said in a low voice, "his body is already unable to let him continue being a ninja..."
Hinata's eyes widened.
Sakura lowered her head and clenched the last fresh flower in her hand.
Was it worth it, Lee?
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