Summary: Armed with his limited education in Herbology and papers stating that he is a gardener, Harry has no problem getting a job in Konoha. As it turns out, even gardening has it's own set of problems.

"I didn't actually believe them when they said your plants were the best in Konoha," the black haired woman, Shizune, said as she rubbed a leaf between her fingers and scrutinized it with narrowed eyes. "Izumo and Kotetsu have a habit of exaggerating. But this is a strange thing to exaggerate about so I couldn't help being curious."

Harry smiled politely, still reeling from having the woman demand to see his plants so early in the morning.

Shizune straightened to look at him. "I'd like to buy this plant." Then she looked around and said, "Actually, I'd like to buy all of your plants."

"All of my plants?" Harry repeated in confusion.

"They are in the prime of health," Shizune said, looking around with sharp eyes. "I've never seen indoor plants so full of life. Not even inside our optimized greenhouses."

Harry blinked.

"They would make good additions to the official hospital greenhouses," Shizune said with a thoughtful look. "I know for a fact that we were having issues with our low yield..." she paused, as though realizing the tangent she was going off on. "I think these plants can be used for medicine production immediately."

"Okay," Harry said.

"Okay?"

"If you need to make medicines, then, it doesn't make sense for me to keep them here," Harry said with a shrug. "I'm not using them for anything."

"Our greenhouses could do with improving our plants' conditions..." she said with a pointed tone.

"I'm not," Harry shook his head, "I can't do anything like that. I just take care of the plants. Nothing else." He wasn't like Professor Sprout or even Neville. He couldn't assess what a plant needed to grow better. He could just prune, water and use magic to keep his plants alive. That strategy wouldn't work on magical plants.

"And yet, you've managed to make a potted snakeroot plant thrive outside of a greenhouse. What's your secret?"

Harry shrugged. "Just the usual."

Shizune looked almost amused. "It's obvious that you use techniques that are different from Konoha's, techniques that seem very effective" Shizune said. "Why haven't you applied to work at one of our greenhouses already?"

Harry searched for a suitable answer. "I was thinking about a career change, really."

"I don't see why you would want a different career when you have such talent with plants," Shizune said.

"I really don't," Harry said with a touch of desperation. "Really. These plants were healthy to begin with."

Shizune shot him a considering look. "You should come work at the hospital greenhouses. We could use all the healthy productive plants we can get. I'll even put in a good word for you, with these plants of yours."

Two days later, Harry stood in front of a three storey building with a circular red sign that read 'healing' above the glass doors.

With his first step though the glass doors, Harry reeled at the thick smell of disinfectant in the air and almost turned to leave. But he followed the small arrowed garden signs past the lines of waiting patients, the busy nurses and through numerous narrow corridors and out into a much quieter garden area.

Filled with neatly trimmed grass, fragrant pastel flowers and benches around a sparkling fountain, the garden was a welcome change from the busy hospital. But there were no greenhouses or helpful signs on where he could find the greenhouses.

However, there was a blonde girl seated on a bench and watching the sky.

Harry cleared his throat. "Excuse me?"

The blonde turned and stared with a curious tilt of her head, her very blue eyes scanning him with unabashed interest.

Feeling more than a little self-conscious at the intense scrutiny, Harry said, "Uh, I..." the words seemed to get stuck in his throat.

She stood, brushed her short purple skirt and smiled with gentle encouragement. "Do you need some help?"

Relieved at the opening, Harry nodded and kept his gaze on her eyes as he said, "Can you tell me where the hospital greenhouses are?"

The blonde girl's bright smile twisted into a grimace. "You're the new gardener. The one that Shizune-sempai was so fixed on bringing in without going through our interviews," she said, her pupil-less blue eyes narrowed in annoyed slits.

Harry nodded uneasily. "Shizune-san said I could work at the greenhouses."

If anything, her fierce blue eyes narrowed even further. "The Yamanaka have been taking good care of these plants since the Senju put them here. We don't need anyone telling us how to do our jobs."

Harry frowned. "What? I'm not here to..."

"So what if your plants are much healthier?" the blonde said, her voice rising. "It doesn't mean that you're better than us. We've been taking care of all sorts of plants for generations. Just because my father is away from the village at the moment, doesn't mean I can't handle the hospital's plants."

"I'm not," Harry tried to explain once again, struggling to stay polite.

But she was having none of it. "I bet you don't even know the first thing about working in a greenhouse. Like having to check the soil composition or..."

Considering Harry had to take classes and exams in greenhouses for the past five years, Harry had no problem interrupting her with a stronger and less polite voice, "Soil Ph, compaction, plant spacing and all those other important details, you mean?"

Unimpressed, the blonde proceeded to quiz him.

With each question she shot at him, Harry found it much easier to speak especially when he got the answers he needed by recalling Hermione's garish colour coded O.W.L revision charts.

And with each correct answer Harry gave, the blonde got even more annoyed at him. Harry was tempted to give a wrong answer just to make her stop, but he didn't want to lose to her.

"Well," she flicked her hair back with a careless ease after he had answered a question about water drainage. "At least you do know your basics." She sighed and turned away from him. "You could go to one of the smaller greenhouses we have. Fumiko-san is on leave and there aren't many people who can work on that greenhouse exclusively."

"Okay," Harry said.

She stared at him. "You're okay with that?"

Harry shrugged, "I'm here to work. Doesn't really matter where."

"Fine, I'll show you the greenhouse." She turned, her long ponytail swaying as walked forward. "The plants in there are healthy enough and don't need any specialized care. No hybrid..."

Harry tuned out most of her words as they walked through a small gap in the garden hedges that he hadn't noticed before. They passed four big greenhouses that had people working inside and finally stopped in front of a smaller greenhouse.

"Think you'll be able to handle this greenhouse by yourself?" She stood by the door and motioned at the plants inside. "I won't be able to spare the time to check on your work."

Harry just smiled at her and walked past her. "Thank you for showing me the way here, Yamanaka-san."

A huff and flutter by the door told him that the blonde had left. A quick check with the Homenum Revellio spell confirmed that Harry was quite alone.

Harry walked around, looking for any plants that needed immediate help. When he found a thin drooping plant, Harry patted the soil beneath it and murmured, "Herbivicus."

The colourless spell seeped deep down releasing the scent of rain-drenched soil. The plant perked up and it's overall colour brightened as Harry moved to the next plant.

-x-x-x-x-x-

On the roof of the building opposite the greenhouse, a masked watcher followed his target's movement with a much closer eye.

At the next plant, the normal looking plant straightened and it's leaves fanned out the moment the target touched the soil.

Even if it was a small change for the plant, there was only one known ability that could do such a thing.

But before he could report anything, he needed to gather as much information as possible. After that, the higher ups could deal with things as they saw fit.