The sky outside was silver.
Inside the Sanctuary of Life, warm light glowed in rhythmic pulses from the seal runes carved into the floor.
Hinata lay against Naruto's chest — nude, glowing, her heavy belly rising and falling with slow, shuddering breaths.
Her legs were spread over soft cushions.Her body trembled.Her lips parted.
Another contraction hit.
She cried out — not in pain, but pressure.
"I-it's happening," she whispered.
Naruto wrapped his arms around her.One hand on her breast.One hand low on her belly.Chakra flowing warm and slow.
"I'm here," he whispered against her ear."Breathe with me."
A midwife knelt nearby — silent, glowing, respectful.
No interruptions.Just gentle chakra monitoring and sacred seal activation around Hinata's hips.
She was dilated.
The baby was coming.
Hinata moaned again, this time louder, deeper — her thighs twitching, the first signs of stretching beginning between her legs.
Naruto moved lower.
Placed his lips on her inner thigh.
Kissed her trembling skin.
"You're doing so well," he said."She's almost here."
Hinata reached for him blindly — one hand tangled in his hair, the other gripping his wrist.
"Don't leave me—"
"I'm not going anywhere."
The next contraction hit like a tide.
Hinata cried out, her hips arching.
And this time, Naruto saw it—
A bulge.
Their child beginning to crown.
His breath hitched.
He swallowed a sob.
"You're almost there," he whispered."She's so close, Hinata—push."
She did.
Her eyes clenched shut.
Tears slid down her cheeks.
Her whole body trembled.
And with a low, open-mouthed cry—
The head emerged.
Dark hair.
Warm chakra.
Alive.
Naruto reached out.
Hands trembling.
Eyes wide.
"She's… beautiful."
Hinata pushed one last time.
And their daughter slid free into Naruto's hands — slippery, warm, and screaming her first breath into the sacred air of the Sanctuary.
He held her to his chest.
Wrapped her in silk.
And looked up at Hinata, tears in his eyes.
"She has your eyes."
Hinata wept.
And whispered:
"Her name is Himeko."