Chapter 129: Chapter 129
Night fell.
Roughly seven to eight kilometers from the main battlefield, deep in a mountainous forest, two squads—one from Kumogakure, the other from Iwagakure—were locked in fierce combat.
If daytime battles were clashes between the main forces, then nighttime belonged to the roaming patrol units.
To secure their flanks and prevent ambushes, both Kumo and Iwa had dispatched a large number of scouts—some to protect their own movements, others to spy on enemy positions.
In short, nightfall meant activity. And when patrol teams from opposite sides crossed paths, it almost always ended in a fight to the death.
Just like now.
As soon as the Kumo-nin and Iwa-nin teams bumped into each other, chaos erupted. In just over ten minutes, more than half of them had been killed or injured.
Now, only three Kumo-nin and two Iwa-nin remained alive—and none of them were in good shape.
Seeing that the timing was just right, Haruki decided to act.
That's right—Haruki had been present the entire time, hidden in the shadows.
Long before the fight began, he'd marked this Iwa squad and had subtly guided them straight into the path of the Kumo-nin.
In other words—he had orchestrated the entire encounter.
And now it was time to reap the rewards.
Haruki formed the "Ram" seal with one hand, then activated the Body Flicker Technique. In a flash, his body blurred into a streak of motion and reappeared behind one of the Kumo-nin.
A gust of wind hit as Haruki closed in. The Kumo-nin sensed something was wrong and tried to dodge, but Haruki was too fast—his palm landed squarely on the back of the ninja's neck.
Thud.
The man's eyes rolled back and he collapsed, unconscious.
"Who's there?!"
The other two Kumo-nin instantly widened the distance between them and shouted in alarm.
Haruki turned toward the voice. The moment he locked eyes with one of them, his Sharingan activated, and he unleashed the full power of its hypnotic ability.
A second later, the Kumo-nin dropped like a stone.
"What?"
"Sharingan?!" ×2
Three voices rang out at once.
The first came from the last Kumo-nin, who hadn't seen Haruki's eyes due to the angle. All he saw was Haruki glance at his comrade—and then that comrade suddenly crumpled to the ground.
Panicked, he blurted out instinctively.
The other two voices came from the surviving Iwa-nin, who had clearly seen Haruki's crimson eyes and instantly recognized the bloodline limit.
Thanks to Uchiha Shisui's terrifying reputation on the frontlines, Iwa-nin had become very aware of the Sharingan's power.
They reacted immediately—closing their eyes to avoid falling victim to genjutsu.
But avoiding genjutsu didn't mean they could dodge kunai.
Haruki didn't hesitate. The moment they shut their eyes, he flicked his wrist—four kunai shot through the air and pierced each of their arms with perfect accuracy.
"Aagh!!" ×2
Both men cried out in pain and instinctively opened their eyes.
And what they saw were two scarlet, three-tomoe Sharingan, glaring back at them.
Their cries stopped mid-scream. Their gazes froze.
Haruki's genjutsu took hold instantly.
Only now did the final Kumo-nin realize what the two Iwa-nin had meant when they shouted "Sharingan."
So the man who had suddenly appeared was actually from the Uchiha clan!
Realizing the danger, he turned and bolted in the direction of the main Kumo forces.
But—
The moment he turned around, he was met with another pair of three-tomoe Sharingan.
Thump!
A heavy body hit the forest floor. He had no time to resist—just a glance at those eyes, and he collapsed under a genjutsu spell.
But this time, it hadn't been Haruki who made the move.
Though fast, even he couldn't act that quickly.
The attacker had been one of his shadow clones.
To prevent any escapes, Haruki had prepared in advance by creating two clones and hiding them nearby—specifically to cover any blind spots or loose ends.
In short, unless a jōnin was present, no one from this group was escaping the forest alive.
Haruki walked over to the two Iwa-nin still caught in genjutsu and chopped them at the neck with a hand strike, knocking them unconscious.
Three Kumo-nin. Two Iwa-nin. All captured.
Looking down at the five bodies lying on the forest floor, Haruki felt that his decision to shift targets had been absolutely the right call.
Why bother hunting elite ANBU when ordinary chūnin were this easy?
Just as he was calculating how much chakra these five could provide, a stream of memories suddenly flowed into his mind—it was from the shadow clone he'd stationed as a sentry.
In the memory, a squad of Iwa-nin was rapidly approaching the area.
The clone had sent the memory to warn him.
Without wasting a second, Haruki quickly created two more shadow clones using the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Now there were three clones on the field.
He ordered them to take the five captured ninja and return to his hidden base. Meanwhile, Haruki stayed behind to clean up the battlefield and erase all traces of his presence—just in case.
A few minutes later, the Iwa squad arrived.
They scanned the scene quickly but found no sign of Haruki.
As for the two missing Iwa-nin, they assumed they'd been captured by the enemy.
Though such cases were rare—especially for Kumo-nin who rarely took prisoners—there were still precedents. So the Iwa-nin convinced themselves this was just one of those times.
With that assumption, they didn't linger long and moved on after a brief investigation.
Not long after they left, a Kumo reinforcement team arrived as well.
Just like the Iwa squad, they examined the scene and came to a similar conclusion: their three missing comrades had probably been captured.
So they didn't probe further either.
And just like that, Haruki had gotten away with it. Five prisoners, secured without a hitch.
However, it was clear that the more prisoners he captured, the greater the suspicion he would attract.
Eventually, someone would start investigating seriously—and Haruki would become a target.
But he wasn't worried.
Soon, Iwa's main forces would begin forming an encirclement of the battlefield.
At that point, neither Iwa nor Kumo would have time to care about a few missing lower-ranked shinobi.
That would be his next window—an opportunity to capture even more prisoners.
And by doing so, Haruki could speed up the evolution of his Sharingan.
Yes—from now on, Haruki had no intention of training any other skills.
All his chakra would be funneled into practicing the "Mind Reflection Technique."
If things went smoothly, he even planned to push it from Level 6 to Level 7 within the next few days.
That goal wasn't out of reach.
After twenty days of relentless practice, his technique had already gone from Level 6 (3175/10000) to Level 6 (6975/10000).
Now, he needed just 3025 more proficiency points to level up.
And based on his calculations, earning those 3025 points would require roughly 484,000 chakra.