Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

In the blink of an eye, another week had passed.

After half a month of back-and-forth struggle, the Leaf Village had finally managed to reclaim those two forward strongholds five days ago. But this also highlighted Konoha's current weakness—after all, if they weren't so stretched thin, it shouldn't have taken this long.

As a result, Sunagakure intensified their infiltration efforts again.

Even Uchiha Haruki found an opportunity and successfully captured two more Sand chunin alive, expanding his chakra battery reserve to a full forty thousand points.

With an 80% conversion rate, that meant he could now convert up to thirty-two thousand chakra points—a full 5,600 points more than the previous total of 26,400.

Those extra chakra points, along with the 8,800 chakra previously allocated to Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Technique, added up to 14,400 points. Haruki dumped all of it into training Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique and Genjutsu: Sharingan.

He'd already felt during earlier battles that the level of those two genjutsu techniques was starting to lag behind. Naturally, this made them a priority.

As expected, with such a massive influx of chakra, the effects were immediate.

Previously, each technique could only gain about 10 proficiency points per day, but now that number had shot up to nearly 100.

Twenty days ago, Shackling Stakes Technique was still stuck at Lv3 (715/1000)—but now, it had already reached Lv4 (393/2000).

And that was with only a short period of concentrated training. If he had started sooner, it would've been even further along.

As for Genjutsu: Sharingan...

Its proficiency had been at Lv3 (280/1000) twenty days ago, but now it had soared to Lv3 (958/1000)—just a hair away from leveling up.

Speaking of leveling up reminded Haruki of another key ability: Chakra Control.

About a week ago, after acquiring advanced puppet knowledge from Kurosuna—specifically regarding the creation, division, and manipulation of chakra threads—Haruki had begun applying those concepts to his Chakra Control training.

And the results were nothing short of astounding.

The techniques passed down from the Second Kazekage, the founding master of puppet arts, were as exceptional as expected.

Previously, after his Double Tomoe Sharingan had lost its boosting effect, his progress with Chakra Control had slowed noticeably. But now, with the application of Kurosuna's insights, his training speed had not only returned to normal—it had surpassed his earlier pace.

He was gaining around 15 proficiency points per day.

In just one week, his Chakra Control had already reached Lv3 (915/1000). At this rate, it would likely level up in another five or six days.

There was also his signature genjutsu, Impression Heart Technique.

After nearly twenty days of continuous practice, it had finally approached the threshold of a new level. Its current progress was at Lv5 (4932/5000), meaning it would likely level up later today.

Thanks to this, Haruki's Sharingan evolution had also made tremendous progress.

Opening his status panel, he checked the bloodline section and saw:

Sharingan Evolution: Double Tomoe (1772/5000)

Over the past 20 days, he'd gained nearly 1,000 evolution points, a massive increase compared to when he first started.

And this wasn't even his limit. Once Impression Heart Technique hit Lv6, the speed would increase even more.

Without hesitation, Haruki closed the panel and resumed training.

Rather than going straight to Impression Heart, he decided to finish leveling up Genjutsu: Sharingan first—it only needed 42 more proficiency points.

Fifteen minutes later.

As Haruki cast Genjutsu: Sharingan for the 42nd time, a sudden realization washed over him. His understanding of the technique had reached a new level.

This time, it wasn't just the hand seal speed and genjutsu potency that improved—he also gained the ability to perform finer, more complex operations.

For instance—memory reading.

That's right. Memory reading.

Now, by casting Genjutsu: Sharingan at the precise moment when a target's mind faltered, Haruki could cause them to involuntarily recall specific images or experiences—essentially simulating a kind of memory extraction.

Though for his current needs, this was of limited use.

A week ago, this would have been an incredible breakthrough—he had been racking his brain trying to extract puppet techniques from Chiya and Kurosuna.

If he'd had this power then, he wouldn't have needed to threaten or negotiate—he could've just dug the secrets right out of their heads.

But now, that goal had already been accomplished.

"Still… better to have it than not," Haruki muttered with a sigh.

He shook off the thoughts and switched over to training Impression Heart Technique.

It only needed 68 more proficiency points. Haruki was looking forward to seeing what the technique could do at Lv6.

Time passed quietly.

Before he realized it, a full hour had gone by.

When he cast Impression Heart again, a powerful sense of clarity surged through his mind. A new layer of insight unfolded within him.

He didn't even need to open the status panel—he knew the technique had leveled up.

But that wasn't the most shocking part.

The real surprise was that his Spirit stat had increased by one point.

That's right—his Spirit, which had been sitting at 11 for ages, had just climbed to 12 thanks to this upgrade:

Impression Heart Technique: Lv6 (1/10000)

Spirit: 12 (+1)

A look of joy flashed in Haruki's eyes—followed immediately by a flicker of confusion.

Up until now, he had assumed that only his Constitution stat would increase with skill progression. He had never considered that Spirit could grow too.

What gave me that assumption? he wondered.

After thinking it over, he realized the cause: His Spirit stat had always been ahead of the others, and he'd spent all his time trying to get Constitution to catch up.

Because of that, he had overlooked the possibility that long-term focused mental training could also accumulate and trigger Spirit growth.

In this case, the breakthrough from Impression Heart had stirred up that hidden foundation, pushing his Spirit from 11 to 12.

And that 1-point increase brought more than just a number change—it unlocked new chakra limits for him.

Of course, due to his still-low Constitution, the extra Spirit wouldn't allow a massive expansion, but it was enough to increase his chakra cap by about 4,000 points.

Currently, his max chakra was 14,500.

After this, it would climb to 18,000 or even 19,000—approaching the Two-Kage level range.

Even his chakra regeneration rate would increase—from 10,000 per day to around 12,000.

In other words, he'd now have 2,000 more chakra points to spend each day.

Where he would allocate that extra energy still depended on the results of testing Impression Heart Technique at Lv6.

At that thought, Haruki steadied himself, raised his hands, and began casting the technique once more.

What followed was an intense surge of stimulation.

The special chakra formed by the technique exploded in his mind, swelling from a slow trickle to a raging river in an instant.

As the chakra rushed into his eyes, Haruki felt as if his Sharingan had been supercharged, evolving at breakneck speed.

One minute later, the technique's effects faded.

Haruki opened his status panel to check the Sharingan's progress.

And then—he froze.

Because his Sharingan Evolution had increased by one point—in one go.

That meant from now on, every single point of proficiency gained from Impression Heart Technique at Lv6 would directly contribute to his Sharingan's evolution.

The speed… was insane.