Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Five days later.

Afternoon.

After once again performing the Shadow Clone Jutsu, a sudden wave of clarity washed over Uchiha Haruki.

At that moment, he instantly understood—his Shadow Clone Jutsu had leveled up.

Opening his panel and glancing at it, he confirmed his intuition:

The technique's proficiency had gone from Lv0 (99/100) to Lv1 (1/200).

Taking a moment to feel the difference, Haruki performed the jutsu again.

Poof—!

A puff of chakra smoke dispersed, revealing a figure identical to him standing before him.

If his shadow clones at Lv0 had been unstable and short-lived, those issues were now completely resolved at Lv1.

Haruki could clearly feel that this clone would now remain intact for a much longer time and had decent durability—it was notably more stable.

He glanced at the Sharingan in the clone's eyes and asked,

"Can you use that Sharingan?"

The clone took a moment to sense its abilities, looked around, then nodded.

"I can. But it consumes more chakra than it would for the original body."

"I see…"

Haruki drew his short sword.

"Come on. Let's have a match."

"Alright!"

The shadow clone responded, drawing its own blade from its waist.

The next second, both moved at once—swords clashing in a crisp ring of steel.

Sparks danced between the blades.

It was no wonder even a Byakugan or Sharingan couldn't always spot a shadow clone—the weapons, like the people, were recreated with remarkable precision.

After a moment of deadlock, they shifted forms, both fully engaging their kenjutsu styles.

The sound of blades striking echoed repeatedly through the training grounds as they clashed again and again. Neither used ninjutsu or genjutsu; it was a pure sword fight.

At first, the shadow clone held its ground. But as time went on, Haruki slowly began to gain the upper hand.

It wasn't that the clone's sword skills were inferior. The difference was that Haruki's Kenjutsu proficiency was actively increasing during the fight.

The clone improved slightly too—but not nearly as quickly.

That clearly meant the proficiency system was bound to Haruki's soul.

If it weren't, then the clone's Kenjutsu level would have gone up too.

This also suggested that using shadow clones to grind proficiency wouldn't be very effective.

Still, it wasn't an issue for now.

Haruki's limiting factor was chakra, not time.

So there was no need to waste chakra on creating clones just to grind skills.

Unless, of course, he somehow managed to capture a Tailed Beast and leveled his Chakra Absorption Technique enough to drain Tailed Beast chakra—then maybe it'd be worth the effort.

These thoughts flashed through his mind in a second, and Haruki re-focused on the fight.

Even after the clone finally dispersed, he still hadn't technically "defeated" it.

That alone showed how strong the shadow clone was in close combat. Its only real downside was weaker endurance and high chakra consumption.

After all, clones were made of chakra. Every move they made drained more of it—especially in combat.

That explained why most people didn't use this jutsu for direct combat—it simply wasn't efficient.

But Haruki had never planned to use it in battle anyway.

He had trained it purely for cover and deception.

Over the past few days, to make the most of his "chakra battery" in the form of Chiya, he had to travel between the underground cave and the main base every single day.

That wasted time—and worse, it risked drawing attention.

Now, with Shadow Clone Jutsu in his arsenal, he could leave a clone behind at the main base while he stayed permanently hidden in the cave.

That way, he avoided constant trips and reduced the chance of being caught.

Not only that—if something happened at the base, the clone could dispel itself and instantly send him the memory.

With this setup, Haruki wouldn't miss anything important.

"Maybe it's time to start capturing more prisoners…"

The thought crossed his mind, and he quickly packed up his things before creating another shadow clone.

Looking at the new clone, he said,

"You'll stay here. If anything happens, notify me immediately."

"OK!"

The clone gave him a casual hand sign.

Haruki chuckled, then silently slipped away from the base.

Of course, he wasn't heading out to capture anyone yet.

That would wait until his next field mission.

For now, his destination was the cave system—he hadn't collected today's chakra harvest yet.

Moving swiftly through the terrain, Haruki arrived at the site just before dusk.

He scanned his surroundings, making sure nothing seemed out of place.

Then, carefully erasing any tracks he left, he slipped into the underground tunnel.

Several breaths later, he was deep inside the cavern.

Once again, he stood before Chiya.

Unlike a few days ago, Chiya was now completely quiet. He didn't try any tricks when he saw Haruki again, though the hatred in his eyes was still unmistakable.

Haruki looked at him and calmly said,

"You know the drill. Don't resist."

Then, he formed a hand seal and activated the Chakra Absorption Technique.

A blue chakra aura enveloped his right hand.

Haruki stepped forward and pressed his palm directly onto Chiya's head.

A steady stream of chakra immediately flowed from Chiya's body into Haruki's hand and was absorbed into his own chakra system.

After about twenty seconds, Haruki withdrew his hand.

He opened his status panel—roughly 3,000 chakra points had been added.

Satisfied, Haruki nodded.

Then he took out three soldier pills and stuffed them into Chiya's mouth.

Chiya didn't say a word—he simply began chewing.

Though from the way he looked, it was clear he'd rather chew Haruki's face off.

Haruki didn't care.

As long as the guy kept producing chakra, his attitude didn't matter.

At the same time, Haruki was quietly relieved that Chiya hadn't turned out soft or useless.

Sure, he was a bit rebellious, but he wasn't someone who gave up easily.

That made him a reliable chakra source.

Of course, Haruki knew that Chiya was still refining chakra not out of compliance, but likely biding his time, waiting for an opportunity to escape.

Unfortunately for him, that chance was probably never coming.

Had Haruki not mastered Shadow Clone Jutsu, maybe Chiya could've escaped during one of his absences.

But now—Haruki was personally guarding him on-site.

There was no chance of escape.

Still, Haruki knew better than to fully crush the guy's hope.

If Chiya ever fell into despair and stopped producing chakra, Haruki would be the one to suffer.

With that in mind, he left the cave space as usual.

This time, though, he didn't return to the base.

Instead, he stayed in the underground tunnel and found a quiet spot to train "Reflection of the Heart" in solitude.