Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

"You all?"

Upon hearing Uchiha Haruki's words, Kurozawa Shigeki paused briefly in thought before replying,

"The higher-ups don't know you've arrived yet. Until new orders come down, you should stay here for now."

He paused again, then added,

"Coincidentally, I'm really short on manpower at the moment. You staying here can help with the defense."

"So that's how it is…"

Haruki nodded in contemplation. Since they had nowhere else to go and no orders from above, staying here seemed like a reasonable plan.

Afterward, the two discussed defensive zone assignments and some additional matters. Once everything was settled, they parted ways.

Leaving the command tent, Haruki made his way toward the temporary encampment where his subordinates were resting.

Upon arriving, he didn't sugarcoat anything. He directly shared the news of the Forward Base's fall.

"What?!"

"Impossible!"

"Captain, is that information accurate?!"

The reactions were swift and chaotic—shock, disbelief, and concern erupted from the gathered shinobi.

Haruki's brow furrowed slightly.

"Silence."

The scene went quiet instantly.

Then Haruki relayed all the intel that Kurozawa had just told him—every detail about the fall of the Forward Base.

The team members fell into a stunned silence, disbelief still written across their faces, but no one said anything more.

Haruki let the silence linger, giving them time to digest the devastating news.

Finally, after a long pause, someone asked:

"So Captain… what do we do next?"

Haruki answered directly:

"Until we receive updated orders, we'll be stationed here and help defend this sector."

He then explained the agreement he'd made with Kurozawa.

As for the specific assignments, he left those for the squad to sort out among themselves.

Once that was done, Haruki turned to leave—but just as he did, something occurred to him. He turned back toward Uchiha Tekka and said:

"Come with me."

Tekka didn't question it—he immediately followed.

The two soon left the encampment and made their way to another section of the camp.

This part was lined with tents bearing red crosses, and medical ninja in white uniforms walked back and forth.

From within the tents, muffled groans of pain could occasionally be heard.

Tekka looked around and asked cautiously,

"Haruki, is this…?"

Haruki nodded.

"Yeah. This is the temporary hospital for the northern defense line."

"I thought so."

Tekka fell into a brief silence before asking again,

"So… what are we doing here? Did Commander Kurozawa ask for help treating the wounded?"

Haruki shook his head.

"No. I brought you here to meet someone."

"Who?"

Tekka immediately grew curious.

He knew Haruki's temperament well—calm and polite on the surface, but extremely prideful inside. He rarely took the initiative to approach others, let alone bring someone along.

The fact that Haruki was doing so now was… surprising, to say the least.

Haruki didn't answer Tekka's question, only saying:

"You'll know when you see him."

Without another word, he continued forward until they reached a particular tent.

The two had already shown their identification at the entrance to this section, so no one came to stop them.

Haruki paused briefly at the entrance—giving the person inside time to react—then lifted the flap and entered.

Inside, there was a single bed.

Lying on it was a young man, his face pale, with an IV drip in his arm. Clearly, he had recently suffered a serious injury.

The moment Tekka saw him, his eyes widened in recognition.

"Uchiha Shisui?!"

That's right—the one lying in bed was none other than Uchiha Shisui.

He had been deployed to the northern front while Haruki was assigned to the Forward Base. Although this position was originally considered relatively safe, Kirigakure's sudden ambush had changed everything.

Shisui had fought desperately to defend the line and had been severely injured in the process—having become a prime target for the enemy.

Haruki had learned of this from Kurozawa Shigeki, which is why he had come here.

As for why Tekka recognized Shisui—

That was simple. As one of the so-called "Twin Stars of Konoha," Shisui was only slightly less famous than Haruki himself.

Naturally, as a fellow Uchiha of the same generation, Tekka was quite familiar with him—just as Shisui was familiar with Tekka.

"Haruki, what are you…"

Shisui looked surprised to see Haruki and was about to say something when he heard his name being called.

Turning toward the voice, he spotted Uchiha Tekka and corrected himself:

"And this is…?"

"Uchiha Tekka. He was stationed at the same base as me," Haruki answered calmly.

According to his memories from his previous life, Shisui and Tekka had a good relationship, so Haruki had decided to bring Tekka along as well.

With Haruki's brief introduction, the two officially greeted each other.

Then Haruki got straight to the point.

The first topic was an intelligence exchange.

Although Kurozawa had told Haruki the general situation, Haruki hadn't forgotten that the Kirigakure ambush unit that had attacked them had broken through from this very area.

In fact, from the mind of Aburame Ryoma, Haruki had extracted intel indicating that Root operatives had coordinated with Kirigakure.

Because of that, Haruki had always harbored a mistrust of Kurozawa.

So now, he needed Shisui to give him a more accurate account. By comparing the two sides, he could get a better picture of what actually happened.

Time passed as they talked, and after nearly fifteen minutes, Haruki finally noticed Shisui looking tired and stopped.

After this thorough exchange, Haruki felt mostly reassured—there didn't seem to be any major issues with Kurozawa's story.

Likewise, Shisui's injuries didn't appear to be caused by any external sabotage—he had simply fought too hard.

That allowed Haruki to finally let out a quiet sigh of relief.

"Looks like Danzo's influence here isn't too strong."

With that, Haruki's objective for the day was complete.

Before leaving, he also gave Shisui a brief check-up and confirmed that his condition was due to overexertion, not anything serious.

In this state, medical ninjutsu would be ineffective—or possibly harmful.

So Haruki chose not to interfere.

"Alright, Shisui. We won't bother you any longer. Rest up and recover quickly."

Seeing that it was time to go, Haruki stood to leave.

"Mm."

Shisui gave a small nod in response.

With that, Haruki didn't waste any more time.

He turned and left the tent with Uchiha Tekka following behind.