Madoka is about to leave for his training when a crow flies into his bedroom and demands his attention. Madoka takes the message strapped to the bird's leg and reads it. Puking up my guts. Training cancelled until further notice. Itachi. Madoka sighs. He is beginning to sympathize with Lord Fugaku's desire to castrate Shisui.

Now, what to do with his day in order to avoid being roped into a pile of chores? There is independent training, but that is not always a good idea, especially for Madoka, who is prone to making mistakes in his training.

Madoka wonders if there is anyone he could train with. He is not allowed to train with anyone else who is participating in the finals, to avoid giving himself and whoever he trains with an unfair advantage. Madoka considers what he might do. Oh yes! Karin is still in hospital. Madoka will visit her, maybe take her a flower or two. Come to think of it, that Rock Lee boy is in hospital too. Maybe Madoka should pay him a visit as well.

Madoka heads off to the Yamanaka flower shop. He enters to see Ino standing behind the counter. "Hey, Ino," Madoka smiles.

"Hey Pinky," says Ino. "Are you going to the hospital?"

Madoka blushes. "Yes," he admits. "I am going to visit Karin, and then see how Lee is doing."

"Oh." Ino looks thoughtful. "Did you hear about Lee? His days as a ninja are over."

"I know," sighs Madoka. "But I think I'll take him a daffodil to show him that I care." he bends down by one of the flower beds and takes a daffodil.

"We barely know him, Madoka."

"I know, but can't ignore a fellow Leaf ninja who worked his hardest to be strong, only to have his dreams crushed."

Ino sighs. "I'll come too. It would look a bit weird for a boy to give another boy flowers at the hospital. Besides, I wanna see Karin too."

"Aren't you supposed to be minding the shop, though?" asks Madoka.

"Oh yeah," Ino says, and turns to the back of the shop. "MUM! I'M GOING TO THE HOSPITAL WITH MADOKA TO VISIT KARIN! CAN YOU COVER FOR ME UNTIL I GET BACK?"

"OKAY. DON'T TAKE TOO LONG!" Ino's mum yells back.

"See? I can come with you," grins Ino. "I think I'll take Karin a daffodil too. They are a great 'get well soon' flower. What are you going to take Karin? A rose bouquet?"

Madoka takes a step back and hold his hands up. "No, no, no!"

Ino grins.

"Just one red rose," says Madoka, picking one. "And a red-tipped yellow rose, and...a red chrysanthemum."

"Is that all?" asks Ino, grinning.

"Yes- NO! A white carnation to balance the colour palate," Madoka finishes, picking his chosen flowers.

Ino starts giggling. "Do you realize what that bouquet means?"

Madoka glares at his friend. "Of course I do!"

"So what colour ribbon do you want to tie them together with?" asks Ino, still grinning.

Madoka considers his options. "Blue," he decides. "To mean protection and healing."

Once the flowers are tied together with a blue ribbon, and the two daffodils are wrapped in clear plastic and all the flowers are paid for, Madoka and Ino go to the hospital to visit Karin. A nurse shows them to Karin's room, telling them not to stay too long, as Karin has severe chakra exhaustion and needs rest.

Karin is sitting up in bed, staring out the window, her shoulder bandaged and her arm up in a sling to take the strain off the wounded shoulder. She turns to look at Madoka and Ino, and smiles. "I thought you would never come. I am so BORED!"

Madoka smiles and gives Karin the bouquet. "I brought you some flowers…"

Karin blushes, takes the bouquet and says, "Thanks…"

Ino laughs at them. "Madoka and Karin in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g!"

"SHUDDUP!" shout both Madoka and Karin, glaring angrily at Ino and blushing something fierce.

Ino giggles some more, finds a couple of vases and puts one of the daffodils in the smaller vase. "When you're done being all lovey-dovey, there's a vase here for that bouquet," she says. "And this daffodil is from me, since you need someone to give you a platonic gift, and it certainly ain't coming from Madoka."

When Madoka and Ino are finished visiting Karin, they head to the boys' wing to visit Lee. But Lee is not in his bed.

"He hasn't left, has he?" asks Ino.

Madoka runs over to the window. Maybe he climbed out it, like most other bored shinobi do. Sure enough, Lee is outside. However, instead of trying to escape, he is trying to train. Madoka is out that window faster than greased chidori. "Lee, stop! You can't train until you are fully healed, or you will never heal!"

Lee looks up from his press ups and says, "Leave me! I can do this!"

"If you want to spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair, feel free to continue," snaps Madoka. "If you want even half a chance at being a shinobi again, you better get your ass back in that hospital bed!"

"But I must train!" insists Lee. "I must not disappoint Gai sensei!"

"Gai sensei will be more disappointed in you for leaving your hospital bed than for suspending your training until you are fully healed!" snaps Madoka.

"But…!"

"If you are going to be difficult, then I have no choice," sighs Madoka, and knocks Lee out with a well-placed chakra sedative. Then Madoka picks Lee up in the proper 'no stretcher is available but the patient must be moved' way, jumps back into Lee's hospital room through the window and puts him back in bed.

Ino just stands and stares.

Madoka takes Lee's daffodil from Ino's hands, puts it in a vase and places it on Lee's bedside table.

"What is with this guy?" wonders Madoka.

"Don't ask me," mutters Ino.

Itachi's crow flies in the open window and demands Madoka's attention. Madoka reads the note attached to its leg. Come to my house. My mum will help you train while I puke up my guts. Itachi.

"Who's Itachi?" asks Ino.

"Sasuke's big sister," Madoka tells his friend. "The chick Shisui knocked up. Also a master of genjutsu. I'm training under her for the finals - in between her morning sickness, that is." Madoka sighs. "I now believe Lord Fugaku is totally justified in his desire to kill and/or castrate Shisui."

Ino laughs.

While Naruto attempts to summon something - anything - bigger than a tadpole, Pervy Sage crouches in the bushes nearby and spies on some young ladies in bikinis. Naruto considers telling the two girls that a pervy old man is watching them play in the river, but decides that if it was Hinata, he'd knock Pervy Sage out and spy himself, so he's really just as bad.

Naruto summons another toad. Tadpole. This one's just a tadpole. Naruto un-summons it and tries again.

"PERVY SAGE! LOOK!" Naruto yells.

Pervy Sage turns to Naruto, takes one look at what Naruto summoned and yells, "IT'S STILL A TADPOLE!"

"BUT IT HAS TWO LEGS!"

"OH YEAH? GIVE IT TWO ARMS AND A BRAIN AND THEN MAYBE I'LL TRAIN IT! IT'S PROBABLY SMARTER THAN YOU, ANYWAY!"

"WELL SORRY I'M NOT A GENIUS!"

"DON'T GIVE ME ATTITUDE, BRAT!"

"I'LL STOP GIVING YOU ATTITUDE WHEN YOU STOP MAKING FUN OF ME, DATTEBAYO!"

"AND I'LL STOP MAKING FUN OF YOU WHEN YOUR LACK OF TALENT STOPS BEING ANNOYING!"

"MAYBE IF YOU EXPLAINED THIS BETTER, I WOULD BE ABLE TO DO IT!"

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR BRAIN!?"

"NOTHING IS WRONG WITH MY BRAIN! YOU'RE JUST A LAME TEACHER! IRUKA-NII COULD TEACH BETTER WHEN HE WAS 15!"

"WELL YOU…" Pervy Sage tries to think of a comeback. "YOU HAVE SILLY HAIR!"

Naruto falls over laughing and pointing at Pervy Sage. "I got you good!"

Pervy Sage huffs and turns back to the river to continue spying on the girls. "Aw, they're gone. Let's call it a day," says Pervy Sage.

"But we still have an hour left before Grandma wants me to stop!" whines Naruto. "You just don't want to teach me cause you know you suck at it."

"I DON'T SUCK AT TEACHING!" yells Pervy Sage.

"THEN TRAIN ME ALREADY!" retorts Naruto, twice as loudly and with a much more fierce glare.

"FINE!"

"FINE!"

"BRAT!"

"GEEZER!"

"SNOT NOSED LOUDMOUTH!"

"WITHERED OLD CREEP!"

The argument continues for some time before they run out of things to call each other.

Roughly three hours later, Naruto's Grandmother arrives at the training ground to find Pervy Sage and Naruto scraping the bottom of the barrel for insults to throw at each other.

"Stupid white haired freak!"

"Stupid faced idiot!"

"Old fart!"

"Will you two SHUT UP!" demands Naruto's Grandma. "You are both idiots!" She grabs each of them by the ear and drags them to Naruto's house, and forces them to eat dinner, before kicking Jiraiya out to 'go be a bad role model somewhere else!'