Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

A dozen minutes later, Uchiha Haruki arrived at his destination.

Stepping into the cave, he was immediately greeted by the sight of three shadow clones—his own.

The fourth had already dispelled itself earlier to transmit intel.

Haruki nodded at the trio and asked,

"What's your chakra level right now?"

The three clones answered one after another:

"2,100."

"2,000."

"2,300."

Haruki frowned slightly.

"That's a bit low…"

After murmuring to himself, he said,

"Alright, dispel yourselves."

"Understood."

Without further discussion, the three clones immediately released the Shadow Clone Technique.

As they did, over 90% of their chakra surged back into Haruki's body through a mystical connection—

his chakra level instantly returned to overflowing.

At the same time, the memories of all three clones flooded into his mind.

Haruki quickly scanned through the new intel, confirmed there were no issues, then formed a new set of hand seals to cast the Shadow Clone Technique once again.

Poof, poof, poof—!

Clouds of chakra smoke puffed out, and four new clones identical to Haruki appeared in the cave.

Thanks to his now overfilled chakra reserves, each clone had over 4,000 points of chakra.

With their chakra status freshly "refreshed," Haruki sent the clones out again.

Their next task was to continue hunting and capturing enemy shinobi.

Haruki himself stayed behind—to train.

But before training, he needed to top off his chakra again.

With that thought, Haruki approached the unconscious Cloud and Stone shinobi lying nearby.

Forming hand seals, he used Chakra Absorption Technique.

In less than half a minute, he had drained all five shinobi completely—

his own chakra jumped from just over 4,000 to slightly above 20,000.

Haruki gave a satisfied nod.

He found a spot, sat cross-legged, and began practicing the "Mind Reflection Technique."

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Three minutes…

An hour passed in a flash.

In that time, Haruki had cast the technique sixty times, raising its proficiency from

Level 6 (9895/10000) to

Level 6 (9955/10000).

Looking at how close he was to Level 7, Haruki felt a surge of anticipation.

But he suppressed the urge to continue.

Right now, he only had half of his full chakra left.

With the situation outside unclear, he didn't want to risk draining himself dry.

Thinking this, Haruki once again approached the five unconscious shinobi.

This time, he didn't absorb chakra—they had none left.

Instead, he drained their mental and physical energy, converting it into chakra and restoring himself to full.

Once topped off again, Haruki resumed his training.

Time passed.

Half an hour later—

On his 45th cast of the technique, a sudden wave of clarity bloomed in his mind.

He knew immediately—his Mind Reflection Technique had leveled up.

"Status panel."

With a single thought, Haruki summoned his proficiency screen.

A faint blue screen appeared before his eyes:

[Name]: Uchiha Haruki

[Age]: 11

[Physique]: 11

[Spirit]: 14 → 15

[Chakra]: 13,520 (from 19,828 → 20,980)

[Bloodline]: Sharingan – Three Tomoe (1702/10000 → 5115/10000)

[Skills]:

Chakra Refinement Technique: Lv4 (1449/2000 → 1674/2000)

Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu: Lv4 (7/2000)

Fire Style: Dragon Fire Jutsu: Lv4 (6/2000)

Wind Style: Great Breakthrough: Lv3 (415/1000)

Shadow Clone Technique: Lv2 (16/500)

Chakra Absorption Technique: Lv5 (300/5000 → 810/5000)

Healing Technique: Lv3 (70/1000)

*Rasengan: Lv1 (5/200)

Genjutsu – Sharingan: Lv6 (13/10000)

Mind Reflection Technique: Lv6 (3175/10000) → Lv7 (1/20000)

Kenjutsu: Lv5 (490/5000 → 1025/5000)

Chakra Control: Lv4 (146/2000 → 410/2000)

Clone Technique: Lv3 (0/0)

Body Flicker Technique: Lv4 (0/0)

Ninja Tool Throwing: Lv5 (0/0)

Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu: Lv5 (0/0)

Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique: Lv5 (0/0)

"So it really did increase…"

Haruki murmured as he looked at his Spirit stat, which had just risen from 14 to 15.

He had felt a boost in his mental strength the moment the skill leveled up and guessed this might happen.

Now it was confirmed.

Last time, when the technique had gone from Level 5 to 6, his Spirit stat had increased by one point as well.

He hadn't expected it to happen again.

"What a pleasant surprise."

He sat quietly for a moment, focusing on the changes this extra Spirit point had brought.

Moments later, Haruki opened his eyes—his expression a mix of joy and concern.

He was happy because the increased Spirit stat would raise his chakra capacity by about 6,000 points.

Soon, his maximum chakra would hit 35,000.

More importantly, the increase in Spirit would boost his chakra recovery speed.

With Spirit rising from 14 to 15, his daily recovery jumped from 17,000 to 21,000 points.

All good news.

But there was a worrying downside too.

This rise in Spirit widened the gap between it and his Physique stat.

Back when his Sharingan evolved into Three Tomoe, his Spirit stat had already been three points higher than his Physique.

Now it was four points.

And it was easy to predict—

When his Sharingan evolved again, that gap would only widen.

The consequences of such an imbalance?

Haruki remembered clearly the fate of Uchiha Itachi.

Itachi awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan too early, and his rapidly growing mental strength put unbearable pressure on his body, eventually triggering a genetic illness.

Haruki had no intention of ending up the same way—relying on medication to stave off a sickness born from his own potential.

Not all bloodline-limit shinobi develop "bloodline illnesses," but the more gifted one is, the higher the risk.

Haruki glanced at the current evolution progress of his Sharingan:

(5115/10000).

And just as he had hoped, after Mind Reflection Technique hit Level 7, it once again gave an enhanced boost to his Sharingan evolution.

Now, every single use of the technique gave 1 point of evolution.

That meant he only needed to practice the technique under 5,000 more times to evolve to the Mangekyō Sharingan.

And 5,000 casts would require just 800,000 chakra.

Even without external chakra sources, Haruki could reach that total in forty days, thanks to his new recovery rate of 21,000 per day.

If he had outside sources of chakra?

The time would be even shorter.

By all metrics, he was a genius.

But being a genius meant greater risk of illness—and Haruki wasn't willing to gamble.

So now, more than ever, it was critical that he increase his Physique stat to match.