Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

The next day.

9 a.m.

Haruki arrived on time in front of the Hokage Building.

Before he could get close, Ryosuke's voice rang out from afar.

"Haruki, over here!"

Following the sound, Haruki quickly spotted Ryosuke waving his arms enthusiastically, with Shizuko Mizutani standing quietly beside him.

He walked over quickly.

"Haruki-kun," Shizuko greeted softly upon seeing him.

"Morning, Shizuko," Haruki nodded in response.

"Haruki, why do you always cut it so close? Can't you come a bit earlier for once?" Ryosuke asked, half-complaining, as he glanced at Haruki's calm demeanor.

Haruki knew Ryosuke meant no harm, so he casually replied, "You guys are just early. Sensei said to meet at nine, and it's not even nine yet."

"Sigh…" Ryosuke let out a frustrated breath and mumbled, "Always so mysterious. You finish the mission and disappear right away. Who knows what you're off doing?"

What am I doing? Obviously training, Haruki thought to himself.

But there was no need to say that aloud.

So, he pretended not to hear and simply stood silently, waiting for Furukawa to arrive.

While he waited, he didn't forget to gather a small amount of chakra under his feet, subtly grinding proficiency in Chakra Control.

Although this method wasn't as efficient as tree-climbing or water-walking, it had the advantage of being doable anywhere, anytime, so the progress was decent.

Haruki estimated that within another four or five days, he could level it up to Lv3.

At that point, he'd be able to conserve 15% of his chakra.

However, going beyond that would be considerably harder.

Haruki was beginning to sense the limitations of gaining proficiency through simply gathering chakra at his feet. Once it reached Lv3, continuing this method might yield little to no results—and even if it did, it would be far less efficient.

Eventually, he'd need to find alternative training methods.

He already had a target in mind—chakra threads used by puppet masters in the Hidden Sand Village.

Condensing chakra into fine threads and controlling them with precision required extremely high chakra control. If he could obtain training methods related to that, he could definitely level up his Chakra Control further.

But that was a matter for the future.

Right now, his main priority was still awakening the Sharingan.

Exactly 9:00 a.m.

A figure silently appeared—it was none other than Furukawa.

"Sensei!" ×3

All three of them immediately greeted him.

"Mm." Furukawa nodded, briefly glancing at Haruki's feet before saying, "Since everyone's here, let's head in."

With that, he walked toward the Hokage Building.

Haruki and the others quickly followed.

They passed through the entrance and entered a spacious hall.

The hall was surrounded by wooden counters, behind which sat several chunin, responsible for reviewing and distributing missions.

Haruki's group approached the counter.

Along the way, Ryosuke asked with a sigh of boredom, "Furukawa-sensei, what kind of mission is it this time? Picking up trash? Babysitting?"

"No," Furukawa replied without looking back. "This time it's a C-rank mission."

"What?"

Not only Ryosuke, even Haruki showed signs of surprise.

In the Hidden Leaf Village, fresh genin were usually required to complete at least eight D-rank missions before they were even allowed to accept C-rank tasks.

This was also the minimum requirement to participate in the Chunin Exams.

Typically, D-rank missions didn't involve combat and were mostly trivial errands, meant to let newbie genin build basic teamwork and responsibility.

C-rank missions, however, involved actual combat scenarios.

While they didn't pit ninja against other ninja, they often entailed encounters with bandits, robbers, smugglers, or criminal syndicates—none of which were safe by any means.

So why were they being allowed to take on a C-rank mission already?

Seems like the Leaf Village is accelerating the growth of our generation, Haruki concluded instantly.

That realization stirred the sense of urgency he had just barely managed to suppress in recent days.

Konoha might not be throwing them straight into the battlefield, but it clearly wasn't taking a step-by-step approach to nurturing them either.

If his guess was correct, it wouldn't be long before they were sent to the frontlines.

"Awesome! We finally get to leave the village!" Ryosuke exclaimed, still excited.

Haruki didn't say anything. He simply followed quietly behind Furukawa.

Even though Ryosuke was his teammate, Haruki didn't feel the need to explain everything to him. Everyone had to grow on their own.

At the counter, Furukawa exchanged a few words with the chunin behind the desk, then received a scroll.

Upon opening it, the mission details were revealed:

Mission: Bandit EliminationDetails: A group of bandits has taken control of Mount Kurokuro, severely disrupting the trade route below. Immediate extermination is required.Rank: C-RankObjective: Eliminate all bandits.Reward: 75,000 Ryo

It's a direct combat mission… As expected, this is about testing real combat ability, Haruki thought as he peeked at Furukawa, silently analyzing his intentions.

Back during their survival exercise, it was already evident that unlike other instructors who valued character development, Furukawa placed greater importance on actual combat power.

Even among C-rank missions, direct combat missions were clearly more difficult than escort missions.

The latter might allow for peaceful resolution—the presence of a ninja escort might even scare off enemies.

But combat missions guaranteed a fight. Blades would clash, and blood would be spilled.

Under normal conditions, even when giving genin C-rank missions, instructors would start them off with the easier types first.

Furukawa clearly didn't believe in that.

This naturally created intense psychological pressure on the team.

Sure enough, the moment Ryosuke read the mission details, the excitement vanished from his face. He fell completely silent.

Shizuko Mizutani, too, turned pale, her delicate face devoid of color.

They were, after all, only ten years old.

Even though they had learned how to kill in the ninja academy, when it came time to do it for real, hesitation was natural.

Even Haruki, despite having the mindset of an adult, couldn't help but feel a ripple of emotion upon realizing what he was about to do.

Having grown up in peacetime, Haruki had an instinctive reverence for life.

Even after crossing into this world and integrating with his predecessor's memories, his core values remained difficult to break.

But he also knew one thing:

In this world—where life was as fragile as grass—if you couldn't overcome psychological barriers, you'd be the first to die.

To protect himself, it was "kill or be killed."

Besides, these bandits weren't innocent villagers. Killing them was a service to the people—there was no need to feel guilt.

Having convinced himself of this, Haruki let out a slow breath and gradually calmed his emotions.

Furukawa didn't try to comfort the three of them. He simply said:

"Go home and pack your gear. We meet at the village gate at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Don't be late."

With that, he used the Body Flicker Technique and vanished from the hall.

As Haruki stared at the now-empty space where Furukawa had stood, he slowly turned to his two overwhelmed teammates.

He didn't offer them comfort either. He simply said, "I'm heading off," and walked away.

Ryosuke raised his hand slightly, as if he wanted to say something. But when the words reached his lips, he swallowed them and said nothing.