"By my count, Kushina-sensei's due date should be within the next couple of days…"
"I just hope everything I prepared in advance will actually make a difference."
Morning sunlight crept past the window frame, spilling faintly across the tatami.
Hyuga Satoru lay still for several minutes, staring at the brightness through half-lidded eyes before finally rising.
A glance at the wall calendar confirmed what he already knew. He turned toward the window.
The Hyuga compound sat near the very heart of Konoha, where the surrounding buildings were low and unobstructed. From his room, he could clearly see the carved faces of the Hokage Rock.
His gaze lingered on the freshly chiseled visage of the Fourth Hokage—Namikaze Minato.
His brows drew together slightly.
Not long ago, Hyuga Hiashi's younger brother, Hyuga Hizashi, along with several elite members of the clan assigned to guard Kushina's childbirth, had briefly returned to the compound.
Using a "family dinner" as pretext, Satoru had invited Hizashi's family to his home—and over the meal, subtly steered the conversation toward the details of the guarding mission.
Against a prodigy like his nephew, Hizashi had little reason to keep secrets. Even for what was supposed to be a confidential assignment, he spoke openly.
After all, to the Hyuga, the clan's law outweighed the village's.
But what Satoru heard left him uneasy.
The Hyuga were not stationed directly around Kushina's birthing chamber. Their post was outside the sealing barrier—meaning that if something went wrong, they would never reach her in time.
And with Uchiha Obito now confirmed to possess Kamui, a high-tier space-time jutsu, Satoru couldn't shake the sense of foreboding.
He didn't know how Obito could possibly acquire the spatial coordinates of Kushina's secret chamber, but if he could, and if no Hyuga were placed near her for immediate response—then disaster was inevitable.
So Satoru had acted.
He told Hizashi everything he could safely share: the masked man he had seen at Minato's house, the strange chakra he had sensed, and Obito's ability to manipulate space itself.
He had emphasized the danger and pleaded with Hizashi to insist on having Hyuga shinobi assigned to close-range protection.
The details had shocked Hizashi.
Though he didn't understand how his young nephew knew such things, the boy's calm, clear eyes left no doubt—Satoru wasn't guessing; he knew.
This nephew of his had shown monstrous talent from the moment he could walk, and under Kushina's tutelage had even begun learning the Flying Thunder God Technique.
He would one day be the Hyuga clan's banner, their prodigy—their thousand-li horse.
So Hizashi nodded solemnly, promising to take the matter to heart.
Besides, if what Satoru said was true, this guard mission might be far more dangerous than anyone anticipated.
And Hizashi… had a son still small enough to cling to his mother's sleeve.
He couldn't bear the thought of that child growing up fatherless.
Before they parted, Satoru pressed eight specially marked Flying Thunder God kunai into Hizashi's hands—each engraved with his personal seal.
"These," he said, "give to the other Hyuga on the mission. Just in case."
From that moment on, Satoru had done everything he could.
The rest would be left to fate.
Do your best, and leave the rest to heaven.
That was all he could do now.
He stood before his door, closing his eyes, extending his senses to feel the faint ripples of the space-time marks he had left.
His grasp of the technique was still at the beginner level. For distant coordinates, he had to concentrate deeply to locate them, tracing each flicker of his seals through the layers of space.
He wasn't yet on the level of the Fourth Hokage—but compared to the Hokage's future grandson-in-law, his mastery was roughly equivalent.
"Three Flying Thunder God coordinates… gathered together."
"Looks like at least two Hyuga have been permitted to guard close to Kushina-sensei after all."
A faint smile tugged at his lips as he opened his eyes.
Ever since he'd distributed those marked kunai, he'd checked every morning to sense their positions. Until yesterday, the clan's guards had all been stationed far outside the inner barrier.
But today, something had changed.
And that subtle change allowed Satoru to finally breathe a little easier.
Compared to the Hokage's ANBU, he trusted the Hyuga far more to react quickly and decisively.
Deep underground, in a stone chamber illuminated by dozens of flickering candles, the air was tense.
From around midday, Kushina had begun to feel the difference—her body heavy, chakra roiling.
Though her waters hadn't broken yet, and there was no sign of imminent delivery, the Nine-Tails inside her had grown restless.
Even the reinforced Four Symbols Seal Minato had laid could not completely suppress the leakage of tailed-beast chakra.
"Minato—quickly!"
"We need you to reinforce the seal again! You can't let the Nine-Tails' chakra keep spilling out like this! The newborn won't survive that level of exposure!"
The command came from Sarutobi Biwako, the experienced medical-nin in charge of the delivery.
Beside her stood a younger kunoichi, a medic named Tian Lu, assisting with the preparations.
Both women had sensed the violent pulse of demonic chakra surging through the chamber, and their bodies tensed instinctively.
Biwako, long used to the pressures of high-risk missions, remained composed. But young Tian Lu was pale, her hands trembling slightly as she stared at the red chakra swirling around Kushina's form.
In that moment, Minato appeared beside them in a flash of light—his presence alone enough to steady the air.
He spoke gently, easing the tension in the room, even teasing his wife softly to distract her from the pain.
Then he pressed his glowing hands to her abdomen, layers of sealing script igniting in response.
In an instant, the surging red chakra began to retract, drawn back into Kushina's body.
His calm and composure were infectious.
Watching him, Tian Lu's panic slowly faded, replaced by a quiet awe.
This was the Fourth Hokage—the man who truly lived up to the title of Yellow Flash.
Across the chamber, two Hyuga shinobi exchanged grave glances—Hizashi and Hyuga Daiki.
They could both feel it. The chakra in the air was thick enough to make their skin prickle.
If this was only the beginning of the childbirth process, then what would happen when the actual delivery began?
The thought made both of them tighten their stances.
Inside the sealed chamber, they and four ANBU made up the six-man inner guard.
When Hizashi had first requested permission to station Hyuga inside the birthing room, Minato had hesitated.
After all, the Byakugan's penetrating vision was… sensitive, especially concerning Kushina's privacy.
But when it came to protecting her life, such concerns had to be set aside.
Besides, after working with Hizashi and Daiki for weeks, Minato trusted their discipline completely.
So he had relented—and it was a decision that might soon prove crucial.
The faint hum of the sealing barrier reverberated through the chamber as everyone took their places, alert and ready.
Outside, the candles flickered.
And as time quietly flowed forward, the tension in the air only deepened—like the silence before a storm.
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