"Don't let your guard down," Kakashi said in hushed tones, as Team 7 exited the castle keep and stepped into the courtyard. "Sasuke, keep an eye on Sakura and Naruto, and make sure they stay out of trouble. These people might be Sakura's clan members, but we've no idea yet what they're truly capable of."
Sasuke gave Kakashi a curt nod, while Naruto did his best to look affronted. Kakashi ignored him and flickered out of the courtyard to fetch the Hidden Leaf's negotiators, whom they had left behind on the cliff overlooking the valley until they could be certain the Manyū weren't hostile.
"Have you figured out anything, Sakura?" asked Sasuke, noticing Sakura's conflicted expression.
Sakura had just recalled an additional titbit from the original Manyū Hikenchō timeline. They all had the same father, but of the four Manyū children, only two— Muneyuki and Kagefusa— were full-blooded siblings. Kyōka and Chifusa each had different mothers, both from one another and from the other two.
Earlier, Sakura had got fixated on the lie concerning Chifusa (since she was the main character) and so, had completely overlooked the fact that Kyōka had been roped in as a full-sibling as well!
"But why would he lie about such a seemingly pointless detail?" Sakura muttered to herself. "It doesn't make any sense…"
Was the Lord Munenori she had just met… Kyōka's full-blooded brother? That would certainly explain how he'd ascended to the position of clan head, but the old man himself had clearly said that the previous patriarch had sent away his first wife because she couldn't give him a male heir…
"Gah, I don't understand!" groaned Sakura, pulling on her pink hair in frustration. "This is so confusing!"
To make matters worse, the former patriarch and the current patriarch both had the same name: Munenori. Seriously, how unoriginal could you be, Lord Munenori's parents!
Hang on, the original Kyōka had a father complex. Could it be…?
But just as Sakura was about to rub together her last two remaining braincells— those not already storing terabytes of softcore— to spark an idea, the guard who'd first let them into the courtyard came running, breaking her train of thought.
"I apologise for the wait, honoured guests from afar!" said Munekichi breathlessly as she stopped in front of them, chest heaving. "But I'm afraid you'll have to wait until a later date to meet Lady Kyōko, because she has just entered labour!"
"Is it not going well?" asked Sakura, pointing at the mansion next to the castle keep.
For a while now, Sakura had been noticing people running in and out of the building like headless chickens. It certainly seemed like something big was going on…
"I'm not too clear about the details," said Munekichi hesitantly, "but I've overhead that the baby is coming the wrong way out?"
"Whaddya mean, wrong way out?" asked Naruto in confusion. "Like… the baby's trying to come out of her butt, ya know?"
It had to be known that Naruto understood next to nothing about the female body. Whenever he used the Sexy Jutsu, it was not out of any sense of modesty that he covered his privates with clouds of white smoke, but because he had no idea what a woman looked like down there.
After all, it was still his own twig and berries beneath the veil of smoke… which was something Ino once had the misfortune to discover.
"She means the baby is in breech, Naruto," said Sakura worriedly. "If a baby comes out feet first, it can be very dangerous for both mother and child. If push comes to shove, they might have to cut the baby out of the mother's belly… or risk losing them both."
"Sakura, you know how to deliver babies, don't you?" Sasuke pointed out. "I know you worked at Konoha General Hospital for two and half years while we were training outside the village."
Sakura grinned sheepishly.
She knew the theory, since Tsunade had taught her all sorts of things…but to say she had practical experience wouldn't be entirely accurate. Once, Tsunade had brought Sakura along for a delivery, but the expectant mother had complained that she was creeping her out with her staring, so Sakura had been promptly kicked out to give the woman some peace of mind while she pushed a little human out of her butt, as Naruto would put it.
"You're a doctor, Sakura-sama?" asked Munekichi excitedly. "Would you help Lady Kyōko?"
It suddenly occurred to Sakura that, because Manyū Village had existed inside an isolated bubble all this time, they'd never had access to any of the revolutionary medical techniques the outside world had developed after years of warfare. Medical Ninjutsu didn't exist here!
"I'm also a battlefield medic and a surgeon, but that's neither here nor there," said Sakura urgently. "Come on, take me to her, there's no time to lose."
…
Barely a minute later, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were sprinting through the mansion's corridors, while Munekichi shouted battle cries and spun her massive naginata over her head (forcing Sakura and company to duck every so often), carving a swathe through the crowd of clan members who'd gathered to welcome a potential future clan head into the world.
"Oraaa, get out of the way!" Munekichi shouted. "Medic comin' through!"
At last, they reached Lady Kyōko's room, and Munekichi kicked the door open, prompting the midwife inside to scream in fright. A man stepped forwards menacingly, raising his fists at Sakura.
"What is the meaning of thi— Waugh!?"
Sakura grabbed the man by the collar and hurled him out of the room, sending him skidding across the polished floor until he struck his head against the corridor wall outside, knocking him out cold.
"Oh," said Munekichi in a small voice. "That was Munakata-dono, Lady Kyōko's husband."
"Naruto, Sasuke— outside," said Sakura authoritatively, pointing at the door. "This is no place for men— and Munekichi, would you please put that polearm away before you hurt someone!?"
Lady Kyōko wasn't exactly presentable in her current state: an enormously swollen figure with her legs propped up in the air, squirming and screaming as she lay in a pool of water, urine, and blood. Naruto looked as if he might hurl, and even Sasuke appeared slightly off put.
"Focus on my eyes," said Sakura soothingly, as she sidled over to Lady Kyōko's side and activated her Sharingan, dulling the poor woman's pain through hypnosis. "I'm going to send my chakra into your uterus to try and turn your baby the right way around, all right?"
Lady Kyōko nodded, her eyes swimming.
"Good," said Sakura gently. "Then, let's begin…"