Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Time passed quickly, and soon it was late afternoon.

Inside the room, Uchiha Haruki let out a wide yawn, looking utterly exhausted. His eyes were glazed over, and his face showed obvious signs of fatigue—as if he could fall asleep at any moment.

And in truth, he really was that tired.

Over the past dozen or so hours, aside from stepping out to eat, all his time had been consumed by intense training. This not only drained a significant amount of chakra but was also mentally taxing.

That's why he looked so worn out.

With a thought, Haruki raised his hand and dispelled the Shadow Clone Technique.

In the next moment, three streams of chakra accompanied by three sets of memories rushed into his mind, giving his spirit a brief jolt of energy.

But that only addressed the symptoms, not the cause.

After fully digesting the memories, Haruki felt even more mentally drained. He glanced outside the window.

The sun was already dipping toward the western horizon. Seeing that it would soon be dark—and knowing he had a mission tonight—Haruki decided to stop training for the day.

He stood up and staggered over to his bed. The moment he let his mind relax, his body collapsed onto the mattress, and within seconds, he was sound asleep.

Time ticked by. Night had fully fallen.

Suddenly, Haruki's eyes snapped open.

Just then—knock knock knock!—came the sound of someone knocking at the door.

Haruki expanded his sensory perception and immediately detected someone standing outside. Judging from the chakra signature, he recognized the person as one of the messenger chunin assigned to the commanding jonin.

Satisfied, he relaxed a bit and got up to neaten his appearance before opening the door.

Staring at the visitor, Haruki asked calmly, "What is it?"

The Konoha chunin standing outside handed him a mission scroll. "Jonin Haruki, Captain Nobuhisa has asked me to inform you that tonight's mission has changed."

Haruki took the scroll without any change in expression. As he unrolled it, he said slowly, "Go on."

Seeing how composed Haruki was, the messenger, Ichiro Nakagawa, couldn't help but admire him silently.

But he didn't dwell on it and quickly relayed the rest of Captain Nobuhisa's message.

"The village just received intel that a Mist Village reinforcement unit might be arriving tonight. The captain wants you to verify the truth of this report. If it's accurate, you're to assess the number of enemy forces and their strength."

He paused for a moment and added, "Their marching routes are included in the scroll."

Haruki remained silent for a while, scanning the scroll carefully.

It matched what Nakagawa had described. According to the intel, a Mist ninja unit was expected to arrive from the Forward Base tonight, but the exact number was unclear. That's why Haruki, with his flying advantage, was tasked with scouting.

As for the route—they listed three possibilities.

Clearly, the spy embedded by Konoha wasn't very high-ranking, and the intelligence was vague at best. Among the three routes, most likely only one was real.

Since the paths were far apart, only someone like Haruki—who possessed flight—could realistically check all of them within a short window.

For others, there'd be no option but to fan out and spread thin.

Haruki also had another advantage: even if discovered, it wouldn't be too dangerous. Thanks to his mobility, he could just fly away without worrying too much about his safety.

As for the ballistae?

True, last night's setup at Flying Fish Town caught him off guard. But tonight's scenario was different—the reinforcements could only arrive by sea.

In other words, by boat.

That meant even if they had ballistae on board, it would be difficult for them to operate effectively on the water. Haruki didn't need to be overly concerned about safety.

These thoughts raced through his mind and vanished in an instant.

Rolling up the scroll, Haruki nodded toward Ichiro Nakagawa. "Understood. You may return and report."

"Yes, Jonin Haruki!"

With a firm nod, Nakagawa turned and left.

Once he was gone, Haruki returned inside. He freshened up quickly to clear his mind, then grabbed a bite to eat before setting off.

An hour later.

Above one of the sea routes connecting Flying Fish Town to the Land of Waves, Haruki soared through the air. His three-tomoe Sharingan was fully active, and under the bright moonlight, he scanned the vast ocean below.

He'd already been searching for nearly half an hour, covering several kilometers in all directions—but there was no sign of any Mist ninja forces.

"Looks like this route is a decoy," Haruki muttered.

He was just about to leave when something occurred to him.

Abruptly, he descended onto the sea's surface.

In the next moment, the chakra wings behind him vanished as he dispelled Wind Release: Wings of Wind.

Then, raising his hands, he formed the "Rin" seal and activated the Shadow Clone Technique.

Poof!

A puff of chakra smoke filled the air, and a shadow clone appeared before him.

Haruki gave the clone a quick nod. The two of them then simultaneously formed seals once more.

In an instant, both had a pair of chakra wings sprouting from their backs—Wind Release: Wings of Wind once again.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two sonic booms rang out as the real Haruki and his clone took to the skies again.

The clone remained in the area to monitor for any incoming Mist reinforcements, while the original Haruki headed off toward the second sea route.

That was the entire reason he'd descended—to leave a shadow clone behind.

He couldn't create flying clones mid-air yet, since his Wind Release: Wings of Wind wasn't fully mastered.

Though his flying technique had nearly reached Level 4 thanks to last night's extended flight, he still couldn't replicate the wings on clones unless grounded.

It was inconvenient, but once he pushed it to Level 4 or 5, it should become much easier.

Thinking this, Haruki flapped his wings and soared toward the horizon.

Half an hour later.

Haruki had completed a rough sweep of the second route—and still found nothing.

This time, he didn't hesitate. Just like before, he dropped down, left a clone behind for surveillance, and moved on to the third route.

Still nothing.

But this time, Haruki wasn't in a rush.

With all three possible routes now under surveillance by his clones, he just had to wait patiently.

Now that he had some downtime, he decided to use it to continue studying the Telepathic Mind Link Technique. He was close to a breakthrough.

Once he succeeded, communication with his clones would become much simpler. There'd be no need to wait until they dispelled themselves to retrieve their intel.

With that thought in mind, Haruki focused and began retracing the steps his previous clones had carved out.

He pressed onward, step by step.