Seal the Baby!

"What kind of joke is that?!"

Tsunade was furious.

Save the mother or save the baby—

The moment Sōwa Hyuga said either answer aloud,

it would become a thorn between her and the Hyuga Clan, one that could never be pulled out.

That thorn would remain in every heart.

They might thank her outwardly, but inside, they would keep reliving the cruel choice they had been forced to make.

She could not hear that answer!

She could not even let him say the words!

Sōwa Hyuga stood frozen, but Tsunade had no time to worry about him.

Her mind raced faster than it ever had before.

"Maybe... there's another way!"

Her eyes lit up.

She spun and dashed back into the delivery room, straight to the bedside.

Hoshina Hyuga lay there barely breathing, her consciousness beginning to fade.

Tsunade made her decision at once.

Whether it works or not, I have to try!

The worst outcome is still saving one of them. I'm taking the gamble!

"Move! All of you, move! You're in the way!"

She shoved aside the Hyuga medical ninja gathered around the bed.

Tsunade bent down until her lips were almost against Hoshina Hyuga's ear.

She spoke quickly but clearly, keeping her voice low:

"Lady Hoshina, listen to me!"

"Your condition is critical. The baby is lying sideways, the umbilical cord is wrapped around its neck, and you're hemorrhaging."

"With conventional treatment, I can only do my best to save one of you..."

Hoshina Hyuga's unfocused eyes struggled to settle on Tsunade's face.

Her lips moved. With the last of her strength, she forced out a few broken words:

"Save... save the baby..."

"Tsunade... please... please... save the baby..."

Tsunade's heart clenched.

Even with her life slipping away and her mind growing hazy,

this woman had chosen her child.

Was this what it meant to be a mother?

Tsunade shook her head slowly. Her voice was firm.

"I'm saving the baby. And I'm saving you!"

"I've thought of another approach."

"It's... something I've been working on lately. I've never used it in a situation like this."

"I can't predict the outcome. The risk is high."

"But in theory, it should work!"

Tsunade did her best to look confident.

A faint spark appeared in Hoshina Hyuga's dim eyes when she heard that.

But deeper fear quickly swallowed it.

She shook her head with all the strength she had left, breath rasping in her throat.

"No... don't... Tsunade... just let... the baby live... don't... worry about me..."

Hearing her offer to sacrifice herself, Tsunade snapped.

"Shut up!"

Her growl startled one of the medical ninja so badly that the gauze fell from their hand.

"When did I say the baby couldn't live?!"

"I promise you, if this fails, even if you... don't make it, I'll still make sure the baby survives! All right?!"

The words were blunt, harsh, even unpleasant.

Yet somehow, they steadied Hoshina Hyuga like a shot of medicine straight to the heart.

She stared into Tsunade's eyes, as if searching for any sign of a lie.

A few seconds later, the tension in her body eased slightly.

With immense effort, she gave one unmistakable nod.

"You... foolish woman."

Tsunade cursed under her breath, her face dark, but she gently wiped the sweat from Hoshina's forehead.

"Lie still. Leave this to me."

The next instant, Tsunade took a deep breath. Her gaze sharpened with absolute focus.

Her hands flew through signs before her chest, moving fast enough to leave afterimages.

Snake—Ram—Monkey—Boar—Horse—Tiger!

"Menstrual Sealing Technique!"

At this life-or-death moment, the technique Tsunade had thought of

was the obscure Sealing Jutsu she had developed only a few days earlier

to deal with her own period.

The Menstrual Seal!

The technique used a sealing formula

to temporarily contain the menstrual blood shed inside the uterus.

It was a Sealing Jutsu designed for the uterus.

And the baby was inside the uterus!

Tsunade's objective was frighteningly clear.

The baby was stuck and could not be delivered?

Then she would stop the delivery!

She would put the premature baby, still in the wrong position,

back into the uterus!

Then she would seal the baby as though it were menstrual blood!

With pure Yang Release Chakra, she could temporarily simulate the environment of amniotic fluid

and keep the fetus alive.

As long as the umbilical cord remained intact, nutrients and oxygen could still pass from the mother through the placenta and cord.

That would buy her time to use Chakra and external massage

to adjust the fetus's position in the uterus bit by bit,

turning it from a dangerous transverse lie into a head-first or breech position for delivery.

It could take a long time.

It would also demand exceptionally precise Chakra control and prolonged medical supervision.

Her own training would suffer badly.

But...

for this little life, already struggling before it had even been born,

for the mother willing to sacrifice herself,

and for the Hyuga Clan's friendship, which would be vital in the future,

Tsunade did not hesitate.

Chakra gathered in her palm.

Complex sealing patterns seemed to come alive, spreading down her arm

until they converged at her fingertips.

"Menstrual Seal!"

Tsunade gave a low shout.

She pressed the five fingers of her right hand together, dense sealing Chakra covering them,

and placed them firmly on Hoshina Hyuga's swollen belly.

Her left hand moved below, guiding her Chakra

as she slowly pushed the tiny foot that had partially emerged back toward the uterus.

She had to be extraordinarily careful.

"Back you go... That's it, go back for now..."

Fine beads of sweat formed on Tsunade's forehead as she murmured.

At last, she managed to move the fetus from the "doorway"

back into the "room."

Then the light beneath her right hand flared!

The pale violet sealing patterns expanded,

using Chakra to create a temporarily stable environment.

She sealed the fetus, along with the little amniotic fluid that remained,

inside a safe region of the uterus.

"It worked!"

Tsunade could sense it clearly.

The moment her sealing formula was complete,

the fetus's life signs, which had been growing weaker and weaker,

stabilized.

There was little amniotic fluid around it,

but the "artificial amniotic fluid" environment formed from her pure Yang Release Chakra,

together with the steady flow of energy and oxygen from the mother through the umbilical cord,

was enough to sustain the baby's most basic needs.

"Ah..."

As the seal took hold and the fetus returned to its place,

Hoshina Hyuga let out a short cry of pain.

Her eyes rolled back, and she lost consciousness completely.

Blood loss and the strain of holding on for so long had pushed her body to its limit.

"Mother!"

Hyuga Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga saw their mother pass out and feared the worst.

They cried out in terror.

At his sons' screams, Sōwa Hyuga, already frantic with worry, could hold back no longer.

He rushed inside.

At a glance, he saw his wife lying motionless on the bed, seemingly without a trace of life.

The clan head, usually so composed, felt his vision go dark.

He swayed violently and nearly fell.

Could it be... after all...

Just as he thought the worst had happened,

a voice spoke, edged with exhaustion and irritation:

"Relax. She's fine. She just passed out."

Everyone turned toward the voice.

Tsunade rose slowly and walked to a basin.

She washed her hands, then dried them with a clean towel.

Only then did she turn to face them.

"She's stable for now, and so is the baby."

"I used a Sealing Jutsu to temporarily seal the fetus back inside Lady Hoshina."

"I also used Chakra to heal the tears in her birth canal and uterine wall, stopping the hemorrhage."

"As long as I regularly channel energy to the fetus through the sealing formula, both of them will survive."

Silence fell over the delivery room.

Everyone froze.

They looked at one another,

their faces full of disbelief and confusion.

She had... sealed the fetus?

Sealed it back inside the womb?

What kind of impossible technique was that?!

Unheard of! Unthinkable!

Medical Ninjutsu could be used like that?!

Everyone stared at her, utterly baffled.

Tsunade thought for a moment, then put it more plainly:

"Simply put, the baby got stuck during delivery."

"If she'd kept pushing, both of them would've died."

"So I... pushed the baby back in by hand!"

"I returned the mother to the state she was in before labor. Get it?"

That explanation, blunt to the point of brutality, made it click for everyone.

A medical ninja swallowed and murmured:

"The baby was halfway out... and you could still... put it back in???"

He had voiced what everyone was thinking.