Chapter 175: Haku
Konoha Hospital.
"Your life has been pretty carefree recently."
Haruno Sakura said with a smile, casually chatting with the young woman beside her.
"Carefree?" The girl tilted her head cutely, a look of confusion in her clear, translucent eyes. "It's alright. It's just that I haven't been as busy recently, so it's been a little more relaxed."
"That's not what I mean..." The pink-haired girl gave her an ambiguous look, a smile in her eyes, but she said no more.
The pretty, rosy-lipped, white-toothed young woman walking beside her was Haku, whom she had met back in the Land of Waves.
Sakura had always called her Haku Yuki, but she had been seriously corrected by Haku.
Haku's original surname was from her father: Asano Haku. Her mother's surname, Yuki, had not been passed down. However, after leaving her village and starting to wander, she had never used the surname Asano again.
It was probably to make a clean break with her tragic past.
Therefore, Haku's full name was just Haku. She hadn't filled in a surname on the ninja registration form, so it was actually inappropriate for Sakura to arbitrarily add the surname Yuki for her.
However, after the Chunin Exams, when the new batch of Genin were promoted to Chunin, Haku was also promoted along with them. When her information was updated, her name became Yuki Haku.
It was only later, when Haruno Sakura had gone to find her to research the Ice Clone, that she had learned that Haku had changed back to this surname.
That was probably a few months ago, about a month before the Land of Snow mission.
On that day, when Haruno Sakura had gone to find Haku, she had even teased her about this.
"If that uncle at the front desk hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have even known you had officially changed your surname back to Yuki," Haruno Sakura said, smiling with narrowed eyes, just like a little kitten that had found something interesting.
When she had mentioned to the front desk uncle that she was looking for Dr. Haku, the latter had shrugged and told her that there were too many medical ninja named Haku. If she was looking for the new, prettiest one, Dr. Yuki Haku, she was in the third department.
Only then did Sakura know that Haku had changed back to this surname.
"It's very inconvenient without a surname. There are seven or eight people in the hospital with the same name as me. They often call the wrong person," the white-robed girl said with a helpless, light laugh.
"So everyone calls you 'the prettiest Haku'?"
"So I changed back to the surname Yuki," this pretty young woman said, changing the subject. "Lady Tsunade also suggested that I inherit the name of Yuki before."
There was no sadness on the gentle, flower-like smiling face. The surname Yuki, unlike Asano, did not touch upon her sensitive memories or remind her of that unbearable childhood past.
It seemed that she did not reject the name of Yuki. After all, it was the surname of her mother, who had loved her deeply.
This suggestion from Master Tsunade seemed to imply the idea of re-establishing the Yuki clan in Konoha. After she had taken over the position of Hokage, she had begun to carry out drastic reforms in many areas. This plan to pass down the name of Yuki in Konoha was one of them.
For this reason, Haku's treatment had also been greatly improved.
She was promoted to Chunin, became a formal doctor, and later, she also got...
Hn, a handsome ninja and preparatory doctor as her assistant and disciple.
This was the reason she said Haku had been very carefree recently!
"A newly accepted disciple? Or...?" Sakura leaned close to Yuki Haku, her elbow bumping her waist, and said in a mysterious whisper.
Could it be that spring has come for my Yuki Haku?
Is a good cabbage finally going to be ruined by a pig?
"Of course not!" The long, black-haired girl turned her face sideways and rolled her eyes at her. "He's a preparatory doctor sent by the hospital to study under me. He used to be an Anbu on field duty."
Oh, an Anbu person. No wonder when Sakura had first seen him, both of them had subconsciously become a little wary of each other.
So we're from the same department.
His strength seems pretty good, too. Even with just a glance, Sakura could feel it. The clear and sharp texture of his chakra, his steps as precise as if measured by a ruler when he walked—these were all just the tip of the iceberg of his strength.
Hn... this move by Master Tsunade, it's both surveillance of Haku and protection. And perhaps it's also a case of 'the tower closest to the water sees the moon first'?
I really don't know where Master found such a ninja who fits the conditions—handsome, strong, and even willing to switch to being a medical ninja—such Anbu are rare.
Sakura, of course, would not say these thoughts that had surfaced in her mind to Haku in front of others.
She was just routinely teasing this little beauty.
"Eek, spending your days together, haven't you two... you know... sparked anything?" The pink-haired girl lowered her voice and said, leaning close to Haku's face, almost whispering in her ear.
If the one being asked was Hinata, it was hard to say whether Sakura's waist or her forehead would have been in trouble. The white-eyed girl would definitely have had an "itching for a beating again," "no, get lost! next!" attitude, right?
But Haku just blushed slightly.
Being so close to Sakura, her orchid-like breath puffing on her earlobe, she subconsciously shrank her neck.
"It's not like that at all!" Haku hurriedly clarified, afraid that her close friend would misunderstand.
"Aren't you here to find Sasuke? He's just ahead. He's completely recovered and is being discharged today."
She stiffly changed the subject.
Sakura admired her close friend's embarrassed, pretty face for a good while before saying with a playful smile, "Oh~ I understand..."
The routine girl-flirting was over. She got down to business and stuffed a scroll into Haku's arms.
"Take it. This is the improved next stage of the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals..."
This was her returning the favor, a small reward for Haku teaching her Ice Style.
"Hn? What are you giving this to me for..." Yuki Haku turned her head and glanced at Sakura, not understanding. "You don't have to. I'm not going to the front lines to fight!"
Indeed, Haku's personality was such that she would even hold back in a life-or-death battle. Whether you called it gentle, soft-hearted, weak, or foolish, such a mentality was not suitable for a warrior to go onto the battlefield.
Even though she had a Kekkei Genkai, even though her strength was quite good.
Konoha would not let her enter the front lines to engage in life-or-death battles. Of their only two Ice Style ninja, one had already become an Anbu who brushed shoulders with crisis every day. The other, of course, had to be carefully protected. If something unexpected were to happen, the Yuki bloodline could still be passed down by Haku.
Therefore, Haku's gentle personality was very much to the liking of the higher-ups. If she wanted to be a medical ninja, that was even better. The medical corps was very safe, and they were always short of people. A medical ninja with the ability to protect herself was naturally even more welcome. On the contrary, the front-line troops, it wasn't a big deal if they were short one Ice Style ninja—what the higher-ups and the Hokage needed was an entire, strong Ice Style clan, as another solid foundation for Konoha, not just one or two strong individuals with Ice Style.
Yuki Haku had been in Konoha for almost a year. In all this time, she had barely fought with anyone. If not for Team 7 occasionally pulling her into a spar, her skills would have long since rusted away.
Haruno Sakura was happy to see Haku join the Konoha Hospital, but she did not approve of her overly resistant attitude towards fighting.
Becoming a ninja meant that battle could descend at any time. Even a medical ninja hiding at the very back and heavily protected was not in an absolutely safe position. In fact, tactics on the battlefield that specifically targeted medical units were common, and there had even been cases where the casualty rate of the medical corps was higher than that of the combat units!
"This isn't a ninjutsu for you to fight with," Sakura said, taking her hand and forcing the scroll into her palm, staring fixedly into her black, water-like eyes. "This is a ninjutsu used to protect comrades and important people...!"
Having been in contact with her for so long, Sakura knew what kind of words she would listen to.
Indeed, this sentence instantly broke through Haku's heart's defense.
She immediately thought of a person.
"Ah... then I'll accept it," Haku said in a low voice, her eyes turning slightly red, her lips trembling slightly.
Watching as Haku put the scroll into her pocket, she finally nodded and said with a smile, "There are also a few other Ice Style ninjutsu inside, the Ice Clone, Absolute Defense, and such. I prepared them especially for you. You should take some time to practice them. They are all very suitable for you! Also, the hospital isn't busy recently, is it? My mom really misses you. Come to my house for dinner when you have time!"
"Alright, alright, I will~"
After chatting a bit more about Sasuke's condition, Sakura's face relaxed.
Before long, the three of them had reached Sasuke's hospital room.
"I won't go in. See you later~"
"See you later!"
Waving goodbye to Yuki Haku and watching them walk away, Sakura vigorously pushed open the door.
"Sasuke, are you trying to get yourself killed?!"
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