Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Inside the water prison, a suffocating sensation pressed down on Uchiha Haruki. He held his breath, forcing himself not to inhale, and glanced backward out of the corner of his eye—only to meet Kisame Hoshigaki's expressionless face.

At the same time, Kisame also saw Haruki's expression.

Logically speaking, as the one now trapped and at the mercy of his captor, Haruki should have shown regret or unwillingness—especially after falling from the heavens straight into hell.

And yet, Kisame saw no such negative emotion on Haruki's face. Instead, deep within his eyes, he noticed a glimmer of smug satisfaction—as though a scheme had succeeded.

And indeed—it had.

Although Haruki's vision had been blocked by the downpour when the water clone appeared, and he couldn't clearly see what was going on at the time, the minute or so of combat that followed gave him more than enough time to discern the clone's reality.

Not only were the clone's instinctive movements overly cautious—differing from the combat habits Kisame had shown earlier during their clash—but more importantly, the chakra within the clone was abnormally sparse, which instantly raised Haruki's guard.

Even so, he pretended not to notice—because he had only one goal: to lure out Kisame's real body.

And now, he was certain—the man behind him was indeed the real Kisame Hoshigaki.

In other words, his plan had worked.

All that remained was to take down Kisame.

Haruki discreetly glanced toward the distant Hidden Mist and Leaf ninjas, confirming that they were too far to see what was happening here in detail. Then, he prepared to activate "Heavenly Dominion", the ocular technique in his Mangekyō Sharingan, to escape while simultaneously subduing Kisame.

But just as he was about to activate his Mangekyō, he suddenly sensed a faint chakra fluctuation beneath the water at his feet.

At that same moment, a look of relief flickered across Kisame's eyes.

"Don't tell me…"

A terrifying thought flashed across Haruki's mind. Without hesitation, he unleashed a Great Spiraling Sphere (Ōdama Rasengan).

This jutsu didn't require hand seals—perfect for his current situation.

Chakra surged in his left palm, forming a ball that rapidly expanded, stirring the surrounding seawater into a violent vortex.

In that instant, he felt as though he was back to his early days, practicing the Rasengan with a balloon—pouring all his chakra into the palm of his hand, molding and controlling it with precision.

Finally—

Boom!

The water dome could no longer withstand the internal pressure and burst apart, breaking the prison.

Freed from the Water Prison Technique, Haruki didn't even stop to breathe. He stomped with all his strength and lunged forward with his entire body.

A split second later, a razor-sharp ice spear shot upward from below, slicing across his back and piercing high into the sky.

Had he stayed in place even a moment longer, the spear would have impaled him completely.

And even if he had reacted fast enough to activate Heavenly Dominion and dodge the strike, it would've exposed his biggest secret.

Yes—Heavenly Dominion might've allowed him to instantly counter or even kill Kisame…

But it couldn't guarantee he'd be able to take out both Kisame and Yukikaze at the same time.

That's right—both of them.

Splash—!

The sea split open as a massive shark, two to three meters long, surfaced. From its gaping mouth emerged none other than Yukikaze, who had previously escaped Haruki's grasp.

Unbeknownst to him, she had already formed an alliance with Kisame and was hiding inside his summoning beast, ready to deliver a fatal surprise attack.

That shark wasn't a chakra construct—it was a real, living creature, Kisame's summoned beast.

The chakra fluctuation Haruki sensed earlier had been Yukikaze emerging from inside the shark.

Thankfully, his sharp senses had caught the disturbance in time, allowing him to cancel his Mangekyō Sharingan activation. Otherwise, the consequences could have been dire.

Haruki stared at Kisame and Yukikaze standing side by side, his expression grim.

Just moments ago, he had been gloating about outsmarting Kisame.

Now? It was clear that he'd been played instead.

Perhaps Kisame hadn't known Haruki planned to capture him alive—but once he used a water clone, he must have suspected that Haruki could see through it.

After all, the Sharingan's power wasn't exactly a secret. Anyone in Kisame's position, considering the situation, could have deduced that Haruki might see through the trick.

And Haruki's act of playing dumb? It was just too suspicious.

Kisame likely realized then that Haruki was up to something.

So, he played along—using the Water Prison Technique to trap Haruki, pretending to fall into his plan.

Of course, Kisame must have guessed that such a basic jutsu wouldn't hold Haruki for long. If Haruki was bold enough to use himself as bait, he must have had strong backup plans.

And indeed—he did.

If Yukikaze hadn't interfered, Haruki would've activated Heavenly Dominion, escaped the prison, and subdued Kisame instantly.

But Yukikaze's sudden entrance ruined everything.

Then again, without Yukikaze's assistance, Kisame might not have even given Haruki the opening in the first place.

In this battle of schemes, Haruki had been on the third floor, but the enemy was already on the fifth.

It was only thanks to his quick thinking and powerful chakra control that he'd managed to escape from the water prison unscathed—otherwise, things would've gone very badly.

But now, his goal of capturing Kisame alive… had become much harder.

"Damn it…" Haruki cursed inwardly, glaring at Yukikaze.

After a long moment, he collected his thoughts and began considering his next move.

Kisame was an obvious threat—an elite enemy that required his full attention.

As for Yukikaze…

Though she had been injured in their previous fight, judging by her current state, she had clearly recovered after some medical treatment.

At a conservative estimate, she was still operating at 60–70% of her full power.

With the two working together, they would be very hard to deal with.

Meanwhile, as Haruki was strategizing, the two enemies were also thinking about how to deal with him.

A tense silence fell over the battlefield.

Time ticked away.

Suddenly, a sea breeze blew by, kicking up waves several meters high, crashing toward the three.

In that instant, all three moved at once, charging at each other.

Clearly, none of them had figured out a better strategy yet—so they chose the simplest solution: fight head-on.

In close combat, neither Kisame nor Yukikaze was confident they could defeat Haruki alone.

But together? They believed he wouldn't be able to beat them easily either.

So—they launched their assault.

Haruki, facing their joint attack, remained completely unshaken.

He had Lv4 Instant Sword Technique, Lv6 Illusory Sword Technique, and Lv7 (0/0) Swordsmanship.

The first could be ignored—it wasn't particularly threatening to enemies at their level. But the latter two? In the hands of any regular Jonin, they'd be considered trump cards.

Haruki had no fear.

He stepped forward and chose to fight back directly.