Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

The next day.

Afternoon.

Uchiha Haruki completed his routine patrol and found an opportunity to enter the cave chamber.

"You're here."

Seeing Haruki approach, the shadow clone stationed inside greeted him.

"Yeah."

Haruki nodded casually in response, then signaled the clone to dispel the Shadow Clone Jutsu.

In the next instant, a surge of chakra flowed into his body through their mental link.

Along with it came all the memories the clone had accumulated during this time.

Haruki quickly read through the memories. After confirming there was nothing unusual, he once again used the Shadow Clone Jutsu and created another clone.

Without needing instructions, the new clone left the cave chamber and headed straight toward the team's base.

From here on, the clone would take his place there.

With everything ready, Haruki didn't waste any more time and turned to head deeper into the cave to begin his first round of chakra harvesting.

But after just two steps, he seemed to remember something and suddenly murmured, "Status Panel!"

The familiar light blue panel appeared before his eyes.

[Name: Uchiha Haruki]

Age: 11

Constitution: 10

Spirit: 11

Chakra: 4120 (11201 → 12497)

Bloodline: Sharingan - Two Tomoe (652/5000) → (799/5000)

Skills:

Chakra Refinement Technique: Lv4 (1008/2000) → Lv4 (1089/2000)

Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu: Lv2 (125/500)

Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu: Lv4 (381/2000) → Lv4 (621/2000)

Fire Style: Dragon Fire Jutsu: Lv2 (118/500)

Shadow Clone Jutsu: Lv1 (1/200) → Lv1 (15/200)

Chakra Absorption Technique: Lv2 (250/500) → Lv2 (435/500)

Healing Jutsu: Lv2 (161/500) → Lv2 (224/500)

Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes: Lv3 (625/1000) → Lv3 (715/1000)

Genjutsu: Sharingan: Lv3 (190/1000) → Lv3 (280/1000)

Mind Reflection Technique: Lv5 (1832/5000) → Lv5 (2192/5000)

Kenjutsu: Lv5 (1/5000) → Lv5 (190/5000)

Chakra Control: Lv3 (602/1000) → Lv3 (685/1000)

Clone Technique: Lv3 (0/0)

Body Flicker Technique: Lv4 (0/0)

Ninja Tool Throwing: Lv5 (0/0)

Skipping over the earlier sections, Haruki focused directly on the Chakra Absorption Technique.

Just as he remembered, after about ten days of practice, its proficiency had reached Lv2 (435/500)—only 65 points away from Lv3.

Considering the massive amount of chakra he was about to harvest, even a small improvement in conversion rate would yield significantly more chakra.

So, Haruki decided to invest some chakra and level the technique up to Lv3 first.

Without wasting time, he returned to the room that his shadow clone had cleared for him and began to cultivate.

An hour quickly passed.

After performing the Chakra Absorption Technique once more, a new wave of understanding suddenly surged within him.

Moments later, Haruki opened his eyes, a look of realization flashing within them.

He checked the panel again, and sure enough, the Chakra Absorption Technique had advanced from Lv2 (435/500) to Lv3 (1/1000)!

"I wonder how effective this is now..."

Muttering to himself, Haruki stood up and headed deeper into the cave.

By now, he was no longer alone with Chiya.

Besides Chiya, there were six others—Sand Ninja Commander Shafu, his three Chunin subordinates, and two unfortunate stragglers captured during Sunagakure's retreat.

Facing their gazes—ranging from hatred and fear to curiosity—Haruki calmly walked up to Chiya's side.

Under the intense, predatory glare of Shafu's puppet master subordinate, Haruki formed hand seals for the Chakra Absorption Technique and placed his hand on top of Chiya's head.

A strong suction force emerged from his palm, quickly draining chakra from Chiya's body.

Haruki analyzed the effect of his Lv3 Chakra Absorption Technique.

It could now absorb around 300 chakra points per second, a slight increase over Lv2's 200 points—not quite a qualitative leap.

However, the conversion rate had improved significantly, rising from 60% to 70%.

That alone made the 1500 chakra points he had just spent entirely worthwhile.

He was even tempted to level the technique up again to further improve it.

But seeing the required proficiency—1000 points—he cooled down.

Based on his earlier calculation, it took 1500 chakra points to gain 65 proficiency. That meant 1000 proficiency would require roughly 23,000 chakra points.

A significant amount—but not impossible.

In fact, it was quite achievable.

Thinking this, Haruki looked at the six remaining Sand Ninjas. The three tomoe in his scarlet Sharingan eyes spun slowly.

A moment later, he withdrew his gaze.

By his estimation, those six had a combined total of about 28,000 chakra points. Including Chiya's 5,000 points, that was 33,000 in total.

At a 70% conversion rate, that would yield about 23,000 chakra points—enough to level the Chakra Absorption Technique to Lv4.

Of course, there could be a margin of error.

But with his current chakra reserves, Haruki could easily make up the difference.

The only concern was that this would delay the evolution of his Sharingan and slow down his mastery of fire nature chakra transformations.

Originally, he planned to use the harvested chakra to train Mind Reflection Technique and Phoenix Fire Jutsu.

Reallocating that chakra would inevitably slow down those techniques.

But as the saying goes—sharpening the axe won't delay chopping wood.

If he could raise the Chakra Absorption Technique to Lv4, the increased conversion rate would more than make up for today's delay.

Besides, reallocating 23,000 chakra points wouldn't drastically impact his plans.

With that settled, Haruki decisively walked over to Shafu.

He once again activated the Chakra Absorption Technique and drained all the chakra that Shafu had just barely recovered.

Immediately, Haruki's chakra surged past 11,000, nearly reaching the maximum his chakra pathways could handle.

Fighting off the physical discomfort, he ripped the tape off Chiya and Shafu's faces.

Before either of them could say a word, he shoved a few soldier pills into their mouths and resealed them with tape.

After that, he returned to the room and resumed grinding proficiency in the Chakra Absorption Technique.

Two hours later, it reached Lv3 (350/1000) and his chakra had dropped to the safety threshold of 4000.

After a short rest, Haruki returned to the cave chamber.

This time, without saying a word, he targeted the three Sand Chunin and drained them dry as well.

Once again, his chakra was nearly overflowing.

Following the usual procedure, he fed them soldier pills and went back to his room to continue grinding.

This cycle continued, and after a total of six hours—having drained all seven Sand Ninjas dry—Haruki finally leveled the Chakra Absorption Technique to Lv4 (1/2000) late at night.

Without bothering to test the new effect, Haruki collapsed into bed.

After performing the technique over a thousand times, even with the positive feedback from the system, he was exhausted.

Soon, the sound of snoring filled the room.

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