Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Flap flap~ flap flap~

A flurry of wings stirred the air.

A brilliantly colored parrot descended from the sky and landed on the shoulder of a Konoha Chūnin, whispering something quickly in his ear.

The Chūnin immediately turned to a nearby eleven or twelve-year-old shinobi and said, "Captain, Little Hachi says the enemy is just up ahead."

The boy wasn't just any shinobi—he was Uchiha Haruki, and the Chūnin who spoke was his subordinate, Kamijō Yōichi.

As for Little Hachi, that was, of course, the parrot.

There were two other people in the group as well: a Konoha Chūnin around sixteen or seventeen, and a fresh graduate Genin straight out of the Ninja Academy.

That's right—just graduated.

Haruki recalled that in last year's graduating class, the students had a buffer period of over two months before being deployed to the front lines in the Land of Rain, arriving with support forces at the end of January.

But this year…

Haruki calculated the time. It had been ten days since their last "break," meaning it was now late October.

In other words, the new graduates had been thrown straight into the war zone right after graduation.

That alone spoke volumes about how desperate Konoha had become for manpower.

Yet sending rookies to the battlefield couldn't solve the core problem.

Their strength was too weak, and their numbers too few—they couldn't change the tide of battle. Aside from acting as cannon fodder, they were almost useless.

Take the Genin Simuto in their current squad as an example. He'd only been in one battle, and his Chūnin instructor and two teammates were already dead.

That was why he had joined Haruki's team—or rather, had been reassigned to them by headquarters.

Haruki's peripheral vision caught sight of Simuto's pale, anxious face, but he didn't say much. Instead, he turned to Kamijō Yōichi and asked directly, "How many enemies? Four?"

Their mission here was to track a small team of Sand shinobi.

The parrot had just returned from reconnaissance.

Upon hearing Haruki's question, Kamijō Yōichi looked at the parrot, who nodded in confirmation.

Haruki didn't waste another word. "I'll take point. Kamijō, you'll cover the rear. Simuto, Harui Mori, you two will stay in the center and watch the flanks."

"Yes, Captain!" ×3

The three responded in unison.

"Good. Let's move."

Without hesitation, Haruki sprinted ahead.

Simuto and Harui Mori followed side by side, eyes alert and scanning both sides. Kamijō Yōichi brought up the rear.

A few minutes later, they reached the target zone.

According to Little Hachi, the four Sand shinobi were hiding in the forest up ahead.

Haruki signaled the squad to slow down and carefully advance.

At first, everything went smoothly.

But as they got within thirty meters of their targets, Simuto accidentally triggered a trap set by the enemy.

Swish swish swish~

Several kunai flew out from the side with deadly speed.

Simuto was about to be cut down on the spot—when Haruki suddenly threw three kunai, using the momentum of the projectiles to deflect the incoming ones mid-air.

Only then did Simuto snap back to reality and stammer out, "I-I'm sorry!"

But Haruki ignored him.

His expression turned serious as he looked toward the forest ahead.

Through the gaps in the trees, he could just barely make out four Sand shinobi staring in their direction.

They had clearly noticed the commotion.

Haruki knew at that moment—stealth was no longer an option.

Without hesitation, he raised his hands into a seal and activated a ninjutsu:

Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!

That's right—Wind Style.

Over the past few days, Haruki had unlocked a second chakra nature and grinded Great Breakthrough up to Lv2 (125/500).

Where did the chakra come from?

Simple.

He had secretly captured two more Sand Chūnin in the last ten days, gaining an extra 6,000 chakra points.

Using that, he had quickly learned Wind Style: Great Breakthrough and leveled it to Lv2.

While the level was still low, Great Breakthrough was a jutsu whose power scaled directly with the amount of chakra infused.

And Haruki had plenty of chakra to spare.

With one sharp breath, a violent whirlwind erupted from his mouth, sweeping forward and expanding in scope as it advanced.

By the time it reached the hiding place of the Sand shinobi, it had cleared a 100-meter radius of anything in its path.

Traps, debris—gone.

And that was exactly what Haruki had intended.

From Simuto's near-death experience, it was obvious that the area was riddled with traps.

Sure, Haruki could dodge them, but why fight on the enemy's prepared battleground?

Much better to wipe it clean.

A few heartbeats later, the dust settled.

Kamijō Yōichi and the others stood behind Haruki.

Not far away stood the four Sand shinobi—one man and three women—looking disheveled.

The leading male narrowed his eyes and scanned the Konoha team before landing his gaze on Haruki.

With a stern voice, he asked:

"Uchiha Haruki?"

Haruki blinked.

Since when did I become so famous? he thought. They recognized me right away.

Could it be because of that last battle?

He recalled the recent ambush where he'd taken out nine Sand ninja on his own, and even held off a Sand Jōnin for over half an hour.

Of course Sand Village would have their eyes on him.

But that wasn't the only reason.

Haruki had apparently forgotten that he still had eleven Sand shinobi imprisoned in his underground cave.

As far as Konoha knew, those ninja had "escaped" back to their village.

But Sand Village knew the truth—they had simply disappeared.

And every one of them had last been seen in Sector E11.

Add that to the number of enemy shinobi Haruki had been forced to kill during his secret captures, and the list of missing personnel in his area grew even longer.

Although Haruki wasn't the only one patrolling E11, his power rivaling a Jōnin made him one of the most watched targets.

Sand's infiltration teams were well-informed.

Which is why they recognized him at a glance.

Haruki hadn't figured all that out yet—but it didn't stop him from acting.

He subtly gestured to his team, then raised his hands, preparing to form a seal.

At the same time, his Sharingan activated, the three tomoe spinning rapidly—clearly ready to unleash a genjutsu.

The Sand leader immediately shouted, "Don't look into his eyes!"

The other three quickly averted their gaze.

But it was just a feint.

Haruki didn't actually cast a genjutsu.

He merely formed a Ram seal, then suddenly activated:

Body Flicker Technique!

His speed exploded.

In the blink of an eye, he was in front of them.

The Sand leader, Yellow Sand, realized he had been tricked and drew his longsword to strike.

But Haruki had already predicted his move.

Even before the blade came down, Haruki had sidestepped it effortlessly.

At that moment, another Sand ninja glanced up, apparently intending to help.

But just one look was enough.

Haruki's Sharingan locked in, and its hypnotic powers went into overdrive.

The enemy froze in place.

Haruki flipped his hand—a shuriken appeared—and with a flick of his wrist, sent it flying.

Shunk—!

The sound of metal piercing flesh echoed.

The blade embedded cleanly into the Sand ninja's throat, killing her instantly.

In just one instant, the Sand team was down one member.