Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

"As I thought—three tomoe! You're Uchiha Haruki, right? Excellent. Absolutely excellent!"

Inside a large tent at the main camp, a Uchiha jōnin looked into Haruki's eyes with excitement.

At this point, ten days had passed since Haruki awakened his three-tomoe Sharingan. Word of the young Uchiha prodigy had already begun to spread.

So, on the very first day he returned to headquarters, the Uchiha clan sent a jōnin to verify the news.

Haruki recognized this jōnin—it was the same one who had delivered the Uchiha-style sword techniques and instructions on using the Sharingan when he first exposed it.

"Hahaha!"

The man let out a hearty laugh and said enthusiastically:

"The Uchiha Clan has produced two geniuses at once. Truly worth celebrating!"

"Two?"

Haruki raised a brow and gave a perfectly-timed look of confusion.

The jōnin froze for a second, then quickly realized:

"Oh, right! You've been stationed on the western front all this time, so it's normal that you haven't heard."

"Up north, there's a kid named Uchiha Shisui—he also awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan not long ago."

At that, as if suddenly remembering something, the jōnin said:

"Come to think of it, didn't that kid arrive on the battlefield around the same time as you? Do you two know each other?"

So it was him after all…

Internally, Haruki wasn't surprised in the slightest. But outwardly, he feigned shock:

"He awakened three tomoe too?"

"Hahaha!"

Clearly pleased with Haruki's reaction, the Uchiha jōnin patted him on the shoulder and smiled:

"Now you understand—there's always someone stronger. That kid…"

"Tsk tsk…"

He shook his head, his expression becoming complicated as he sighed:

"That kid's something else…"

Haruki could empathize with the man's feelings.

After all, anyone would feel frustrated seeing a kid several years younger than them suddenly rise to the same level.

It gave people that "Have I been wasting my life?" kind of feeling.

...Though maybe my progress also contributed to that blow…

Haruki nearly chuckled to himself at the thought.

After a long pause, the jōnin spoke again:

"Since you've awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan, it's time to start preparing for your promotion to jōnin."

"You don't need to worry about the logistics. Just get ready. They'll probably assign you a mission that won't be easy."

"A trial mission?" Haruki asked.

"Yeah, something like that."

The jōnin nodded:

"Technically, to be promoted to jōnin, you only need recommendations from three current jōnin. But in practice, the village usually arranges a mission to assess the candidate's ability."

"You can treat this assignment as your jōnin exam."

"I see…"

After thinking for a moment, Haruki bowed slightly and said sincerely:

"Thank you for the guidance, Clan Uncle."

The jōnin waved his hand dismissively.

"No need to thank me. The mission should arrive in three to eight days. Just make sure you're ready."

"Understood, Clan Uncle."

"Good. I've got things to handle, so I'll take my leave."

With that, the Uchiha jōnin turned and walked toward the exit.

Seeing this, Haruki quickly followed:

"Allow me to see you off."

He escorted the jōnin out of the tent and stood watching his silhouette gradually disappear into the camp distance. Haruki stood still for a while, deep in thought.

After a long pause, he finally returned to the tent.

Without hesitation, he formed a seal and performed the Shadow Clone Technique, leaving behind a clone to hold his place while he quietly slipped away from headquarters, heading back toward the western front.

Yes—during this "leave," Haruki had returned in person, not just sent a clone to fake it.

Why? Because he had anticipated that awakening the three-tomoe Sharingan would attract attention.

And as expected, the Uchiha Clan immediately sent a jōnin to investigate.

Though the Sharingan couldn't see through a shadow clone, the clone's manifested Sharingan was still a major flaw. A short conversation might pass without issue, but prolonged contact could easily reveal something to a fellow three-tomoe user.

So, to be safe, Haruki had returned personally.

Thankfully, he'd pulled it off without a hitch.

Now that everything was handled, it was time to return to the underground cave and tie up loose ends.

Several hours later, Haruki arrived at the familiar stone cavern.

It was clear that he wouldn't be returning here for a long time. Since that was the case, the eleven captured Sand ninja imprisoned deeper inside couldn't be left alive.

Not that he had to kill them immediately—there were still a few days before his next mission. He could keep extracting chakra in the meantime.

It hadn't been easy gathering this many "chakra batteries," after all. No reason to let them go to waste.

With that in mind, Haruki ramped up chakra extraction over the next few days, increasing his output by nearly 30%.

But as a result, the Sand ninja's life force was rapidly fading. At this rate, even without Haruki directly executing them, they'd die on their own within a few more rounds.

Haruki gave them a passing glance—and then simply ignored them.

Time passed.

Before he knew it, a full week had gone by.

That afternoon, Haruki was meditating, cultivating his Mind Reflection Technique, and silently observing the changes in his Sharingan.

Suddenly, a wave of foreign memories surged into his mind.

He frowned slightly and quickly scanned through the memory.

A moment later, he opened his eyes and muttered:

"So he's already left headquarters…"

The memories came from the shadow clone stationed back at the main camp.

That clone had already received the mission assignment and left on the surface-level journey to the designated location.

Of course, that was just for show.

In reality, the clone had dissolved shortly after leaving, transmitting all relevant memories back to the real Haruki.

From this point forward, Haruki would carry out the mission himself.

"Travel to the Land of Earth, gather intel on the battle between Iwagakure and Kumogakure, document losses on both sides—especially Iwagakure's—and use that data to help headquarters formulate a counterattack strategy."

Haruki repeated the mission aloud, a strange expression flickering on his face.

"A counterattack? You've got to be kidding."

If he remembered correctly, this war appeared, on the surface, to be Kumogakure ambushing Iwagakure, storming their way to the doorstep of the village.

But in reality, Iwagakure had known all along—they were luring the enemy deep into a trap.

Most likely, Ōnoki had already mobilized his full forces, preparing to encircle the elite Kumo troops led by the Third Raikage.

If Haruki's butterfly effect hadn't disrupted things too much, then soon…

The Third Raikage would be forced to fight to the death, clashing with ten thousand Iwa-nin, sacrificing himself to buy time for his forces to retreat.

Kumo's elites would escape—but their leader would never return.

That loss would cause morale in Kumogakure to plummet.

Meanwhile, Iwa's morale would soar, and they'd quickly launch a massive offensive on the front lines.

"In a situation like that, counterattack? You'd be lucky just to hold the line."

Haruki shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

Instead, he turned toward the back of the cave to deal with the captured Sand ninja.