Eight months had passed since Kiseki's grand performance. Fortunately, his parents had renewed their wedding vows and decided to have another child.
Kiseki, who was just waking up, saw his father carrying a breakfast tray toward his mother's room. Seeing this, he decided to accompany him.
"Dad, can I help you take breakfast to Mom?" Kiseki asked.
"Good morning, champ! Of course, come along," Kizashi said with a smile.
Still a bit drowsy, Kiseki returned the greeting and started following his father to his mother's room.
Over the past eight months, Mebuki had changed considerably. Her belly was now very large, clearly showing the late stages of her pregnancy. For her, this pregnancy had been more challenging than the first. She was no longer as young as she had been when she had Kiseki, but she gave it her best effort every day.
Lying in bed, she saw her husband enter with the breakfast tray and her beautiful son, who had grown so much.
"Thank you, Kizashi, for the breakfast," Mebuki said, receiving the tray. She watched as her son climbed onto the bed and greeted her with a bright smile.
"Good morning, Kiseki. How did you sleep?" she asked, giving him a kiss on the forehead.
Kiseki beamed at the affectionate gesture and replied, "I slept very well, Mother." Then, with a worried expression, he added, "But how about you, Mother? How have you been feeling?"
Kiseki was genuinely concerned. He had initially thought pregnancy was something simple, but seeing the difficulties his mother had faced over the past months made him anxious about her health.
Mebuki, noticing her son's concern, smiled warmly and reassured him. "It's nothing to worry about, darling. This is perfectly normal."
Still uncertain, Kiseki decided to accept her words. "If you say so, Mother…"
Kizashi placed the breakfast tray in front of Mebuki and then turned to Kiseki. "Come on, champ. Let's go make your breakfast."
Happily, Kiseki followed his father to the kitchen. Meanwhile, Mebuki watched her husband and son walk away. She couldn't hide her own worry; that morning, she had felt contractions, which deeply unsettled her. After all, she had only just reached the eighth month of her pregnancy, and she feared the baby might arrive earlier than expected.
In the kitchen, Kiseki was happily enjoying his breakfast with his father. Kizashi, seeing his son so content eating his eggs and bacon, smiled and asked, "You really like this breakfast, don't you, champ?"
Hearing this, Kiseki vigorously nodded. He truly loved eggs and bacon and couldn't help but think to himself, "This is so much better than those disgusting vegetables." His face scrunched up at the memory of eating greens.
Kizashi, noticing his son's expression, could easily guess what he was thinking. Laughing, he leaned in and whispered, "As long as I'm cooking, champ, you'll always have the best. No vegetables—deal?"
Kizashi extended his pinky finger toward his son. Kiseki, catching the gesture, leaned in as well and whispered back, "It's a promise, Dad. Don't break it."
Kizashi grinned and said, "The Haruno family never breaks a promise—"
Before he could finish his sentence, a sharp scream from Mebuki's room startled them both. Alarmed, they rushed to her room as quickly as they could.
When they entered, they found Mebuki clutching her belly, her face contorted in pain. She looked at her husband with desperation and said, "Darling, the baby's coming! I can't hold on anymore. Please hurry!"
Kizashi, realizing the urgency, acted swiftly. He scooped his wife into his arms and rushed toward the door. Before leaving, he turned to Kiseki and said, "Stay home."
Kiseki was about to protest but, seeing his mother's condition, nodded instead.
"You're the man of the house. Take care of it, okay?" Kizashi added before rushing out the door with Mebuki, closing it firmly behind him.
Kiseki, left behind, returned to the kitchen to clean up. In their haste, some plates had fallen and shattered on the floor. Carefully, he picked up the pieces and cleaned the area thoroughly. All the while, his thoughts were with his mother.
"I hope Mom's okay," he thought. Then, shaking his head, he corrected himself: "No, Mom will be fine. She's strong."
After tidying up, he climbed the stairs to the second floor. Next to his room, his parents had prepared a nursery. It was filled with a crib and toys suited for either a boy or a girl, as they didn't know the baby's gender.
As Kiseki looked around the room, he couldn't help but think: "Even though the shinobi world has chakra as a major advancement, I can't believe how outdated their technology is." He sighed. "If Konoha's technology is this old-fashioned, I don't even want to imagine how it must be in the other villages."
(This thought stemmed from Kiseki's comparison of Earth's advanced technology to the shinobi world's more primitive tools. Despite its impressive use of chakra, he found the lack of modern conveniences frustrating.)
He also found it ironic that medical ninjas couldn't determine the baby's gender before birth, something so simple in his previous world.
Meanwhile, at Konoha's hospital, Kizashi entered carrying Mebuki and urgently called for help.
"Please, someone help! My wife is about to give birth!"
The receptionist, who had been having a quiet morning, was startled by the commotion. She quickly summoned the medical ninjas while trying to calm the frantic Kizashi.
"Please, stay calm. You've made it to the hospital. She'll be taken care of right away," she said gently.
Two medical ninjas soon arrived with a stretcher and rushed Mebuki to the delivery room. Another ninja, Ryota Hyuga, approached Kizashi to collect some information.
"Hello, I'm Ryota Hyuga, the director of Konoha's medical hospital. I need some details about the patient."
Kizashi provided everything he needed—his wife's age, the stage of her pregnancy, and how the contractions had started that morning.
After listening carefully, Ryota nodded. "Thank you for your cooperation."
Kizashi interrupted him, his worry evident. "Will everything be okay? She's only eight months along."
Ryota, noticing his anxiety, offered a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. Your wife is in excellent hands. However, since the baby is premature, it will likely need to stay in the hospital for some time. It seems someone was a little too eager to meet the world."
Kizashi couldn't help but chuckle lightly. "Thank you," he said, feeling slightly more at ease.
In the delivery room, Mebuki's cries filled the air as the medical ninjas coached her through the final stages.
"Come on, Mrs. Mebuki, we can see the baby's head!"
With one last push and a scream that echoed through the hospital, Mebuki delivered her child.
One of the ninjas gently held the newborn and, after a quick examination, announced with a smile, "It's a girl!"
The other ninja added more seriously, "However, since she's premature, she'll need to stay in an incubator for at least a month to avoid complications. She's smaller than average."
Hearing it was a girl, Mebuki smiled despite her exhaustion. Kiseki had guessed correctly about the baby's gender. But her smile faltered as the second ninja's words sank in.
"Will my daughter be okay?" she asked, her voice filled with worry.
The ninja quickly realized her mistake in speaking so bluntly and tried to reassure Mebuki. "Yes, she'll be perfectly fine. We just want to ensure she gains strength before going home. Would you like to hold your daughter?"
Mebuki relaxed at those words. Smiling tenderly, she replied, "Yes, I'd love to hold her."
Unlike Kiseki, who had been calm and barely cried when he was born, the new baby announced her arrival with loud wails that echoed through the room.
When they placed her in Mebuki's arms, she couldn't stop the tears that welled in her eyes. Looking at her daughter with overwhelming love, she whispered, "You're beautiful, my little one. I'll call you Sakura… Sakura Haruno."
Back at home, Kiseki stood in the nursery. Even though he already knew it would be a girl, a mix of emotions swirled inside him. On the one hand, he was excited about becoming a big brother. On the other, he couldn't help but worry about his mother and the baby.
To distract himself, he began rearranging the toys and small items in the room. A smile crossed his face when he found a wooden star he had painted himself at the age of two. "Maybe the baby will like this," he thought, carefully placing it next to the crib.
Time crawled by for Kiseki. As the evening shadows began to stretch across the walls, he finally heard the sound of the front door opening. He rushed downstairs, filled with anticipation and questions.
There stood Kizashi, exhausted but wearing a broad smile. "Champ, come here," he called out to Kiseki, who ran into his arms. Picking him up, Kizashi said, "You have a little sister now, Kiseki. A small but strong little girl."
Kiseki's eyes sparkled with excitement. "A sister? How is Mom? And the baby?" he asked quickly, looking at his father with concern.
"Both are doing well. Although the baby will need to stay in the hospital for a while. She's a bit small, but the doctors are confident she'll grow strong soon," Kizashi explained gently, stroking his son's head.
Kiseki nodded, feeling relieved. "What's her name?" he asked curiously.
"Your mother chose the name: Sakura. Sakura Haruno," Kizashi replied with pride.
Kiseki smiled widely. "I love her name, Dad," he said sincerely. His small heart was already filled with affection for the sister who had just come into the world.
Meanwhile, he thought to himself: "At last, I can relax. With Sakura's birth, there shouldn't be any more disturbances to the original story due to my presence. But that also means there are less than four months left until the Kyubi attack." Finishing the thought, his expression turned somber.