Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

One day later.

Dusk.

In a dense forest somewhere between the borders, two squads—one from Iwagakure and one from Kumogakure—were engaged in a fierce battle.

Before long, only five shinobi were left standing—three Iwa-nin and two Kumo-nin.

The Iwa-nin were in worse condition, while the Kumo-nin were holding up slightly better.

Just as they stood in a standoff, three sudden figures appeared in the battlefield.

These figures wore black cloaks and masks, hiding their identities. It was impossible to tell which village they belonged to.

Immediately, both the Iwa and Kumo shinobi raised their guard.

But caution was meaningless.

Without uttering a single word, the masked trio launched a silent and precise assault on the five remaining combatants.

Their coordination was seamless, their swordsmanship sharp.

Relying on agile movements, they never fought head-on.

Within moments, two shinobi were taken down.

Seeing this, the remaining three survivors began to feel panic rise in their chests.

They were already considering retreat.

But before they could act, the masked enemy they were each fighting suddenly leapt back, forming hand seals as if about to use a ninjutsu.

Sensing an opening, the three survivors quickly began preparing to cast jutsu of their own.

They had been pressured so much just moments ago that they had no chance to use ninjutsu.

Now, with the enemy pulling away, this seemed like their best chance to turn the tide.

However—

As soon as they raised their hands, they caught sight of the eyes behind the masks.

Suddenly, those eyes turned from black to blood red, with three pitch-black tomoe spinning in each.

"The Sharingan?!"

The realization hit all three like a thunderclap.

They tried to avert their gazes—but it was too late.

A wave of searing pain crashed through their bodies, as if giant iron spikes were driven through their limbs.

They couldn't move.

They had fallen into the Uchiha Clan's infamous genjutsu—Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique!

"Are you Uchiha clan shinobi? Why are you attacking us?!"

One Kumo-nin gritted his teeth through the pain and managed to speak.

But the masked figures didn't answer.

With the situation under control, they flashed forward, appeared behind the stunned shinobi—

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Each target was knocked unconscious.

The two previously downed Iwa-nin were also quickly incapacitated.

Only then did the black-robed trio release their transformations, revealing their true forms—all three were shadow clones of Uchiha Haruki.

And they weren't alone.

High in the branches of a tree, another shadow clone stood silently.

This clone had been observing from the start, Sharingan active, keeping watch for any unexpected interference.

Whoosh—

The clone standing in the tree used the Body Flicker Technique and appeared on the battlefield in an instant.

He looked at the other three Haruki clones and said coldly:

"Clean up fast. Someone might already be on their way. We have to move."

"Got it."

The three clones nodded and moved swiftly to clear the battlefield.

Their movements were clean and practiced—it was clear this wasn't their first time.

And it wasn't.

Originally, Haruki had tasked his clones with only identifying potential targets, while he handled the capture personally.

But after several captures, his number of prisoners had grown.

With more chakra available each day, training sessions took longer, and he began running out of time.

Eventually, he delegated the entire capture process to the clones.

Since they inherited all of his memories, combat instincts, and jutsu skills, they operated with near-perfect efficiency.

Haruki had always specialized in speed and precision, avoiding direct confrontation—

so his clones rarely had to worry about their durability in battle.

The result?

Flawless cooperation, and highly efficient missions.

A few minutes later.

The battlefield was fully cleared.

The four clones wiped away all traces of their presence, then carried off the five unconscious shinobi—three Iwa-nin and two Kumo-nin—before disappearing into the trees.

What they didn't know was—

Shortly after they left, an Iwa elite jōnin arrived at the site.

He frowned slightly as he observed the unusually "clean" battlefield—something about it seemed familiar.

Haruki's increasingly bold abduction operations had finally begun to draw suspicion from Iwagakure's upper ranks.

This elite jōnin had been sent to investigate.

He examined the scene carefully, but found nothing suspicious.

Then, biting his thumb, he swiftly formed the seals Boar → Dog → Rooster → Monkey → Ram, and slammed his palm to the ground.

With blood as the catalyst, he activated the summoning technique—Kuchiyose no Jutsu.

A moment later, over a dozen small, palm-sized black mice appeared.

They had glossy fur, gleaming eyes, and moved with keen intelligence.

The jōnin crouched and picked up one of the mice, placing it in his palm.

"Number Seven, smell the area and tell me how many people were here."

The mouse called Number Seven twitched its nose vigorously, then squeaked several times.

The jōnin seemed to understand it. He glanced around at the corpses and counted.

"Can you track where they went?"

"Squeak squeak~"

Number Seven squeaked again and pointed its paw toward a direction—

Exactly where Haruki's four clones had gone.

The jōnin's eyes lit up.

"Good job, Number Seven! Here, take this."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a few peanuts, handing them to the mouse.

The mouse gobbled them happily.

"Alright. Number Seven, take the lead. Follow the trail. Let's see if we can find them."

"Squeak squeak~"

Number Seven called out and dashed forward, leading a pack of its mouse companions.

The elite jōnin quietly followed behind.

At the same time—

Inside a hidden mountain cave,

Uchiha Haruki had just finished draining the last bit of chakra from a captured Kumo-nin.

Finding his own chakra still not quite full, he also extracted some of the target's mental and physical energy, converting it into chakra to top off his reserves.

Only after that did Haruki nod in satisfaction and resume training—

casting the "Mind Reflection Technique" to continue evolving his Sharingan.

One hour later.

Haruki ceased his training.

His chakra had now fallen to half of his full capacity, but his technique's proficiency had climbed to:

Level 6 (9895/10000).

After more than a day of effort, he had once again moved closer to Level 7.

Not wanting to waste time, he checked the condition of the cloud and stone shinobi imprisoned in the cave.

Confirming they wouldn't be waking up any time soon, he stood and left.

After checking his bearings, he made his way to another hidden cave.

Earlier, while he was cultivating, a shadow clone had already transmitted new memories—

Three more Iwa-nin and two more Kumo-nin had been secured and were waiting for him there.

He had chosen not to bring all the prisoners to a single location for safety reasons.

After all, Haruki knew better than anyone how insane this entire operation was.

If Iwagakure or Kumogakure's upper echelon ever discovered what he was doing…

By separating the captives into multiple locations, even if he was found out, it wouldn't be a total loss.