Save the Mother or the Baby

Tsunade's hand was inside Hoshina's abdomen.

The longer it remained there, the darker her expression grew.

The feedback from her chakra was a hundred times worse than she had expected.

The baby wasn't just lying sideways.

Its head was wedged at an extraordinarily awkward angle.

The pelvis held it fast. She couldn't turn it at all!

This was no ordinary difficult birth.

It was a textbook case of life-threatening obstructed labor.

With the medical care available in this era, there was almost no solution.

Tsunade tried to nudge the baby's body with her chakra.

But every time she applied force, Hoshina's moans grew more agonized.

And the baby's vital signs grew weaker.

If she forced it to turn, the umbilical cord would very likely tighten completely around it.

Or Hoshina Hyuga's uterus could rupture.

Then the baby would die in the womb.

And Hoshina Hyuga would likely bleed to death!

Cold sweat streamed down Tsunade's temple.

In a situation like this, with medical care like this... do I really have to face that final choice?

A line she had heard overused in countless films and dramas in her previous life, one she had always scoffed at,

rose unbidden in her mind:

Save the mother or the baby!

Whenever she watched those shows, she had thought the dilemma was contrived and stupid.

Reality had just slapped her hard.

In the ninja world, with its limited resources,

there were no precision instruments.

No modern operating rooms.

No adequate blood banks or antibiotics.

Faced with a birth this complicated,

the choice was often cruel, with only two possible answers!

"Lady Tsunade! Please! You have to save our mother!"

Two young voices, thick with tears, suddenly sounded beside her.

The voices pulled Tsunade back to reality. She turned.

Two boys of seven or eight stood there, almost identical in appearance.

She hadn't even noticed them rush to the birthing bed.

With a thud, they dropped to their knees at her feet.

Both had the distinctive features of the Hyuga clan.

Their pale eyes stared up at her through tear-streaked faces.

In those eyes, Tsunade saw the last flicker of hope amid despair.

"You're..."

"I'm Hyuga Hiashi! This is my younger brother, Hizashi Hyuga!"

One of the boys shouted through his tears.

"Please, Lady Tsunade! Save our mother!"

The two boys who would one day become the Hyuga twins were crying like helpless children.

Tsunade's heart jolted.

Hyuga Hiashi. Hizashi Hyuga...

The woman struggling through this birth was the mother of the Hyuga clan's future leader?!

A moment later, she nearly laughed at herself.

Hoshina Hyuga was the wife of the current clan leader, Sōwa Hyuga.

Of course she was the future leader's mother.

Why was that a surprise?

Yet that obvious fact sent Tsunade's heart sinking.

If it's her... then this birth probably ends very badly.

She quickly searched her memory for what little she knew about the Hyuga clan.

In the original story, Hyuga Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga were twins.

As far as she remembered... there had been no mention of a younger brother or sister.

Which meant this birth

had probably failed.

Either they saved the mother and lost the unborn child,

or something even worse happened.

Mother and baby both died!

Tsunade's face turned grim. Cold sweat dampened her palms.

She had made things sound too simple.

The first assignment she had taken as the "Friend of Women"

was a nightmare she could barely handle!

How was this supposed to win anyone over?

One wrong move, and she would make an enemy of them!

The words of Hiruzen Sarutobi came back to her.

Tsunade took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. She slowly withdrew her hand from Hoshina's body.

It was coated in a sticky mixture of blood and amniotic fluid.

She rose, stepped aside, and quickly washed her hands with water and alcohol.

Then she turned to Sōwa Hyuga, who had been waiting outside but had now come in.

His face was deathly pale, with a grim, ashen cast.

He looked at Tsunade's grave expression.

Then at his wife, whose breathing was faint as she lay on the bed.

His fists clenched until his knuckles cracked.

Tsunade walked up to him and opened her mouth, but no words came out.

Seeing her hesitate, her expression so heavy,

Sōwa Hyuga understood at once.

As the head of his clan, he had seen plenty of death. He had even imagined the worst.

But now that it might truly happen, the pain seized him so fiercely he could barely breathe.

He forced his feet to move and motioned for Tsunade to follow him to a corner of the outer room,

away from the bed.

"Tsunade..."

Sōwa Hyuga's voice was low and hoarse, with a slight tremor.

"Can... can you save one of them?"

Tsunade flinched.

She looked up into Sōwa Hyuga's bloodshot eyes.

Despair and anguish churned there, along with one last, humble plea.

He hadn't asked, "Can you save them?"

He had asked, "Can you save one of them?"

The moment he had entered and seen Tsunade's expression,

the clan leader had prepared himself for the worst.

And he had been forced to consider that terrible choice.

Tsunade's throat went dry.

She met his gaze.

After a moment's hesitation, she gave a slow, heavy nod.

"Yes."

The word seemed to drain all the strength from her body.

Sōwa Hyuga's expression shifted.

As if her answer had confirmed his worst fears, some of the life seemed to leave him.

He turned his head with difficulty.

His gaze passed Tsunade and settled on the woman who had shared his life for so many years, lying on the bed in the inner room.

Several seconds passed before he forced the broken words through clenched teeth:

"Then... save..."

Just as Sōwa Hyuga was about to say the word that would decide who lived and who died—

"Wait!"

Tsunade's head snapped up, and her voice rose sharply.

She cut Sōwa Hyuga off.