Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

"Captain!"

Seeing their Iwagakure jōnin nearly run through by Uchiha Haruki's sword, a few Iwa chūnin immediately cried out in alarm and leapt to attack together.

However, Haruki didn't even need to raise a finger. He simply met the eyes of the first one to move—and the man collapsed instantly.

Before the dazed ninja could recover from the sudden hypnosis, a shuriken flashed through the air.

Thwip!

It traced a graceful arc and struck squarely in the chūnin's lower abdomen. It didn't kill him, but it took him out of the fight entirely.

That clean, calculated move stunned the other two chūnin into stillness. They halted their charge on the spot.

"Be careful—don't look him in the eyes!" the injured Iwa jōnin shouted urgently.

"Heh…" Haruki chuckled softly and lunged forward to continue his attack.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The crisp ring of metal echoed through the trees as weapons clashed again and again.

Haruki fought one against three without the slightest hint of strain.

No—more accurately, he was completely overpowering them.

Two regular chūnin and one badly injured special jōnin weren't enough to pose any real threat to him. Had he not been deliberately avoiding fatal strikes, he could've ended the fight in seconds.

But it was time to wrap things up.

Haruki's eyes flicked toward the deeper part of the forest.

There, he saw several bandaged figures approaching through the trees—and more, struggling to rise behind them.

So that's where the groaning sounds he'd heard earlier had come from—wounded Iwa shinobi.

Clearly, the jōnin and the three chūnin before him were assigned as their escorts.

To avoid unexpected complications, Haruki decided to reveal one of his trump cards and finish the battle quickly.

Clang!

Another clang rang out as his kunai locked against the jōnin's short sword.

Then, without warning, Haruki raised his left hand and, under the stunned gaze of the Iwa jōnin, formed a one-handed seal.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!"

Haruki's mouth opened, releasing dozens of small fireballs, each shaped like phoenix flower seeds, that streaked through the air toward his opponent.

They were far too close for the jōnin to evade fully. Despite retreating the instant he sensed danger, two fireballs struck his legs, scorching him with searing heat and leaving him unable to move.

The other two chūnin didn't fare much better.

Haruki controlled the trajectory of over a dozen fireballs, forcing them into a dead-end position.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two more shuriken flew out, burying themselves in their lower abdomens—again, non-lethal but debilitating.

Meanwhile, the footsteps of the injured Iwa-nin drew nearer.

Haruki didn't hesitate.

He crossed his fingers and performed the Shadow Clone Jutsu—splitting into six identical bodies.

Haruki looked at the four new clones and said calmly, "I'm leaving them to you."

"Understood," the clones replied with nods before sprinting off toward the injured shinobi in the woods.

Given their strength, they'd have no trouble handling wounded enemies.

Fifteen minutes later.

The fight was over.

All the prisoners were knocked unconscious and gathered in one place.

Haruki stood over the Iwa-nin sprawled across the forest floor, his face barely able to hide his satisfaction.

"Heh… looks like I picked the right direction after all."

He muttered this to himself, then began counting heads.

Once the tally was complete, his grin deepened.

There were thirty-four captives—the most he'd ever taken at once.

Among them were:

1 jōnin

27 chūnin

6 genin

Based on his past experience, if he were to fully extract their chakra without caring about their lives, each genin would yield around 3,000 chakra points, a chūnin between 6,000 to 10,000, and a jōnin usually 15,000 or more.

Granted, these were wounded shinobi, and their chakra reserves wouldn't be at full capacity—but even so, the total was no small sum.

A quick calculation told him:

If he drained all thirty-four to their limits, he could gain around 200,000 chakra points.

If he devoted all that chakra to practicing his Mind Reflection Technique, he would gain approximately 1,250 proficiency points—which in turn would also advance his Sharingan's evolution by the same amount.

That would be a massive breakthrough.

But… Haruki knew he couldn't go that far.

Why?

Because there simply wasn't enough time.

Each use of the Mind Reflection Technique produced a special chakra effect that lasted for about one minute. Only after it faded could he repeat the technique.

That meant 1,250 uses would take a full twenty hours.

And there was no way he could stay here for twenty hours.

How long could he stay?

Haruki walked over to the Iwa jōnin he'd fought earlier.

Slap! Slap!

Two sharp smacks roused the man.

Then Haruki used Genjutsu: Sharingan to dig through the man's mind and extract useful intel.

Soon, he had the answer: three hours at most.

In three hours, someone would arrive to collect the wounded. He needed to leave before then.

Which meant: he had only three hours to practice the Mind Reflection Technique.

At best, he could use less than 30,000 chakra points in that window.

Naturally, Haruki also considered using shadow clones to accelerate the process.

But it wouldn't work.

The Mind Reflection Technique directly stimulates the brain to produce a special chakra that fuels the evolution of the Sharingan.

Even though shadow clones are physical entities, they can't replicate this effect. So their training wouldn't count.

At that moment, Haruki regretted not learning a chakra storage technique like Yin Seal.

But regret wouldn't help now.

He'd have to make do.

While clones couldn't help him train Mind Reflection, they could practice other jutsu—albeit at lower efficiency.

In the end, proficiency boiled down to understanding a jutsu. Clones didn't share his skill panel, so they'd hit bottlenecks during practice. But they could still gain experience.

All Haruki had to do was absorb their experience into his own, convert it to proficiency, and then re-summon clones with refreshed understanding—effectively bypassing limitations.

That was the workaround he'd developed after discovering that clones didn't inherit his skill stats.

In the past, he hadn't bothered—it would've drained too much chakra.

But now, things were different.

He decided to test the method.

Haruki summoned four shadow clones, dividing them into two pairs:

One pair to train Genjutsu: Sharingan

The other to train Rasengan

As for Haruki himself, he focused solely on the Mind Reflection Technique.

The fifth clone was assigned to stand guard.

Even though Haruki had extracted information from the jōnin's mind, war zones changed rapidly. Who could say whether the retrieval squad might arrive early?

He couldn't risk being caught off guard.

A sentry was essential.

With everything prepared, Haruki wasted no time.

He activated Chakra Absorption Jutsu, draining the jōnin's chakra until his own was fully replenished—

—and immediately began his secluded training.