Seal the Baby!

"What kind of joke is that?!"

Tsunade's face twisted with anger.

Save the mother or save the child.

Once Sōwa Hyuga said his choice aloud,

it would become a thorn that she and the Hyuga Clan could never pull free!

That thorn would lodge in everyone's heart.

They might thank her to her face, but deep down, they would keep returning to the cruel choice they had been forced to make.

She could not hear his answer!

She could not even let him say the word!

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

Her mind raced faster than ever before.

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

Her eyes suddenly lit up!

She spun and rushed back into the delivery room, heading straight for the bed.

Hoshina Hyuga lay there barely breathing, her consciousness already fading.

Tsunade made her decision at once.

"I won't know until I try!"

"The worst that can happen is... I save one of them! I'll take that chance!"

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

With a shout, she pushed aside the Hyuga medical ninja gathered around the bed.

Tsunade bent down until her face was almost against Hoshina Hyuga's ear.

She spoke quickly but clearly, her voice low:

"Lady Hoshina, listen to me!"

"You're in serious trouble. 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 gaze struggled to settle on Tsunade's face.

Her lips moved, forcing out broken syllables with the last of her strength:

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

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

Tsunade's heart clenched.

Even at death's door, barely conscious,

this woman still chose her child.

Was this what it meant to be a mother?

Tsunade slowly shook her head, her voice firm:

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

"I've thought of a way."

"It's... something I developed recently. I've never used it in a situation like this."

"I can't predict how it'll turn out, and the risk is high."

"But in theory, it should work!"

Tsunade tried to make herself look confident.

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

But deeper fear soon swallowed it.

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

"No... don't... Tsunade... I just want... the baby to live... Don't... worry about me..."

Hearing her all but offer up her own life, Tsunade snapped!

"Shut up!!"

Her growl startled a nearby medical ninja so badly that the gauze fell from his hands.

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

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

Her words were blunt and harsh, almost painfully so.

Yet somehow, they worked like a shot of adrenaline.

They steadied Hoshina Hyuga's mind just as it was about to give way.

She stared into Tsunade's eyes, as if searching for proof that she meant it.

A few seconds later, her rigid body relaxed slightly.

With great difficulty, she gave one unmistakable nod.

"You really are... a foolish woman!"

Tsunade scolded her with a dark expression, but her hand was gentle as she wiped the sweat from Hoshina's forehead.

"Lie still. Leave this to me."

The next moment, Tsunade drew a deep breath, her gaze sharpening with absolute focus.

Her hands flew through signs before her chest, moving so fast they left afterimages.

Snake-Ram-Monkey-Boar-Horse-Tiger!

"Menstrual Sealing Technique!"

At this life-or-death moment, Tsunade had thought of one thing.

It was the technique she had developed only days ago.

An obscure Sealing Jutsu meant to deal with her periods.

The Menstrual Seal!

The technique used a sealing formula

to temporarily contain the menstrual blood shed from the uterus each cycle.

It was a Sealing Jutsu designed for the uterus.

And the baby was inside the uterus!

Tsunade's goal was startlingly clear.

The baby couldn't be delivered because of the difficult birth?

Then she wouldn't deliver it yet!

She would put the premature baby, malpositioned as it was,

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 an amniotic environment

and keep the fetus alive.

As long as the umbilical cord remained intact, nutrients and oxygen from the mother could continue reaching the fetus through the placenta and cord.

Once she had bought some time, she could use Chakra and external massage

to gradually adjust the fetus's position inside the uterus.

She could turn it from a dangerous transverse lie to a head-first or breech position suitable for delivery.

The process might take a long time.

It would demand extraordinarily precise Chakra control and prolonged medical supervision.

It would seriously cut into her own training time.

But...

For this little life that had suffered so much before even being born.

For this mother who was willing to sacrifice herself.

And for the friendship of the Hyuga Clan, which would be crucial in the future.

Tsunade did not hesitate.

Chakra gathered in her palm.

The intricate sealing patterns seemed to come alive, spreading along her arm.

At last, they converged at her fingertips.

"Menstrual Seal!"

Tsunade gave a low shout.

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

Her hand settled firmly against Hoshina Hyuga's swollen belly.

Meanwhile, her left hand guided Chakra from below.

She slowly pushed the baby's little foot, which had already emerged partway, back toward the uterus.

She had to be exceptionally careful.

"Go back... Come on, back you go..."

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

At last, she managed to push the fetus, already at the "door,"

back into the "room."

Immediately, brilliant light flared from the right hand pressed against Hoshina's belly!

The pale violet sealing patterns expanded.

Chakra formed a temporarily stable environment within the uterus.

The fetus, together with the little amniotic fluid that remained,

was "sealed" in a safe area inside the uterus.

"It worked!"

Tsunade could sense it clearly.

The moment her sealing formula was complete,

the fetus's vital signs, which had been growing steadily weaker,

suddenly stabilized!

There was little amniotic fluid around it.

But the "pseudo-amniotic fluid" environment formed from her pure Yang Release Chakra,

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

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

"Ah..."

As the seal took hold and the fetus returned to the uterus,

Hoshina Hyuga cried out briefly in pain.

Then her eyes rolled back, and she lost consciousness entirely.

Blood loss and prolonged strain had already pushed her body to its limit.

"Mother!!!"

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

They screamed in terror.

At the sound of his sons' screams, Sōwa Hyuga, already frantic with worry, could bear it no longer.

He rushed in.

At a glance, he saw his wife lying motionless on the bed, as though all life had left her.

The clan leader, normally so composed, felt his vision go dark.

His body swayed violently, and he nearly collapsed.

Could it be... after all...

Just as he thought the worst had happened,

a voice rang out, plainly exhausted and impatient:

"Relax. She's fine. She only fainted."

Everyone turned toward the voice at once.

Tsunade slowly rose and went to the basin.

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

Only then did she turn to face them.

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

"I used a Sealing Jutsu to seal the fetus back inside Lady Hoshina's body for the time being."

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

"As long as the fetus receives regular infusions of energy through the sealing formula, neither of them will die."

When she finished, the delivery room fell silent.

Everyone stood stunned.

They looked at one another.

Disbelief and confusion were written across every face.

She had... sealed the fetus?

Sealed it back inside her belly?

What kind of miracle was that?!

Unheard of! Unbelievable!

Medical Ninjutsu could be used like that?!

Tsunade looked at everyone's bewildered faces.

After a moment's thought, she put it more plainly:

"Put simply, the baby got stuck during delivery."

"If she'd forced it out, both of them would've died."

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

"I returned the mother to her pre-labor state. Understand?"

The explanation was almost brutally blunt, but everyone understood at once.

One 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.