Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

"Squeak squeak~"

Just after Uchiha Haruki gravely wounded the summoned beast—

a rat—two more rats darted out from under the bodies of the other two Iwagakure shinobi.

They bolted toward the cave entrance at astonishing speed.

Haruki focused his senses on the rats and quickly discovered that unless he was directly watching them, they were nearly impossible to detect.

That was only partially due to their weak chakra signatures.

More importantly, it was due to their inherent talent.

They seemed capable of actively suppressing their own presence, making them nearly invisible to the senses.

That explained how they had slipped past him unnoticed while he was training.

Realizing the root of the issue, Haruki breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

Then, with a flick of his wrist, two shuriken flew from his hand—

nailing both rats just before they could disappear from view.

The air filled with squealing shrieks as Haruki dashed out of the cave.

He could have lingered and drained the rest of the Cloud and Stone ninja of their mental and physical energy, but just to be safe, he chose to exit immediately.

And that caution turned out to be the right call.

The moment he stepped outside—

a barrage of kunai flew straight at him.

The scarlet tomoe in his Sharingan whirled to life.

With a single glance, Haruki spotted the explosive tags attached to several of the kunai.

Without hesitation, he blurred sideways, narrowly avoiding the ambush.

His feet struck the ground hard, instantly widening the distance.

Moments later—

a series of explosions rocked the area, fire flashing violently as the entrance to the cave collapsed in.

Had he stayed just a moment longer, believing the enemy wouldn't act rashly with hostages in hand—

he would've been buried alive.

Clearly, whoever was targeting him didn't care one bit about the two Cloud or three Stone ninja he'd captured.

"Just who are these people hiding in the shadows?"

Haruki narrowed his eyes and looked toward the direction the kunai had come from—

and spotted a figure approaching.

A dust-covered Iwagakure jōnin.

It was obvious he had just arrived.

Most likely, he had hung back to avoid alerting Haruki and had sent the summoned rat ahead to scout.

But once the rat was injured and sent a distress signal, he'd rushed over.

Too late though.

He hadn't been able to trap Haruki in the cave.

As the two faced off in silence, about a dozen rats scurried up behind the Iwa jōnin, squeaking rapidly and circling around him.

Somehow, the man seemed to understand what they were saying.

His expression grew darker and darker as the rats reported.

At last, his face turned completely grim.

Gritting his teeth, he stared at Haruki and growled,

"Uchiha brat, you've got guts. You actually killed Little Seven…"

"Little Seven? Killed?"

Haruki blinked, then realized the man was referring to the summoned rat he'd stabbed earlier.

"Wait… that rat actually died?"

Honestly, he was a bit surprised.

After all, the summoning had already been dispelled when he struck it, and it had seemingly returned to its summoner.

He'd assumed it had survived.

But clearly, his sword strike still managed to kill it.

Still—

"Three of your village's shinobi are buried in the collapsed cave, their fate unknown, and you're upset over a dead rat?"

Haruki shook his head.

"Typical Iwagakure priorities."

Iwa's Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, had always followed the principle of "quantity over quality,"

lowering academy entry and graduation standards to rapidly grow their military force.

As a result, while they had the largest ninja population, it led to two major side effects:

The overall skill level of Iwa shinobi was wildly inconsistent.

Low-ranking Iwa ninja were treated as disposable.

This had made high-ranking Iwa ninja completely indifferent to the deaths of their subordinates.

Some even deliberately sent them to die to exhaust the enemy's chakra and stamina,

then finished the job themselves when their opponent was weakened.

Clearly, the jōnin in front of Haruki was that kind of person.

To him, the lives of the three captured Iwa shinobi meant less than that of the summoned rat.

But honestly—

"That's not my problem. I'm not an Iwa shinobi. Why should I care?"

What Haruki needed to focus on now was how to quickly defeat this guy and get out of here.

With that thought, he activated his Sharingan, attempting to hypnotize the enemy and create an opening.

But the Iwa jōnin wasn't easy to fool.

Though he looked enraged, he never let his guard down.

The moment Haruki's Sharingan pulsed with power, the man averted his gaze.

Then, without warning, he flung two senbon directly at Haruki's eyes.

"Hmm~"

Haruki let out a soft sound of surprise and tilted his head to avoid the needles.

Without pausing, he whipped his hand around and hurled several shuriken—

each one precisely cutting off the enemy's retreat.

That's right—retreat.

Everything the man had shown before—

his anger, his threats, his desire to avenge the rat—

it was all an act.

From the very start, he had no intention of fighting head-on.

That's why he began fleeing the moment Haruki activated his Sharingan.

Thinking back, Haruki recalled a momentary flicker in the man's expression when he first saw his three-tomoe Sharingan.

Clearly, that was when the escape plan had taken root.

Haruki figured if the guy had known ahead of time he was fighting a Uchiha with a fully-evolved Sharingan,

he probably wouldn't have shown up at all.

But now that he was here—

Haruki had no intention of letting him walk away.

Without hesitation, Haruki surged forward, short sword flashing, and engaged him in close combat.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Their weapons collided, sparks flying from every strike.

Haruki pressed the attack with full force.

With his Sharingan and Level 5 Swordsmanship in perfect sync, it only took a few moments for him to gain the upper hand.

Which was to be expected.

Though this Iwa shinobi was ranked as a special jōnin, his specialty was tracking, not direct combat.

In terms of fighting ability, he was only a bit stronger than a standard chūnin.

Against Haruki going all out, he barely had time to react—let alone retaliate.

He couldn't even form hand seals for jutsu.

And that was something most enemies weaker than Haruki faced.

Against his Level 5 Swordsmanship and three-tomoe Sharingan,

they simply didn't have time to perform ninjutsu.

If they tried, Haruki could take advantage of the delay to strike them down instantly.

In this way, he resembled the samurai of the Land of Iron.

Of course, the samurai relied on their vast experience to read enemy openings.

Haruki had the Sharingan.

But the result was the same—

Any shinobi without enough power… wouldn't last more than a few moves against him.