Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!

More kunai came flying.

The loud shout from that Mist ninja just now had drawn the attention of others. The moment they spotted Uchiha Haruki preparing to take off, they immediately hurled their kunai and shuriken at him from all directions.

But Haruki moved through the air like a fish in water—slippery and agile. With just a few fluid twists of his body, he dodged every incoming attack with ease.

He was just about to soar away into the sky when—

A sudden jet of water shot out from one of the other Mist Village warships nearby, aiming straight for his chest at blistering speed.

Sensing the danger, Haruki's brow furrowed. He abruptly shifted to the side and narrowly avoided the strike.

But that brief pause gave the Mist ninjas time to flood out from the cabins.

Those closest to him launched attacks without hesitation—throwing kunai and shuriken, unleashing ninjutsu and genjutsu. Their goal was singular: to slow him down at all costs.

Meanwhile, those positioned farther away leapt directly off the ships, running across the surface of the water as they charged toward him.

Seeing all this unfold, Haruki's expression grew colder.

Raising his left hand, he quickly formed a series of seals, took a deep breath, and unleashed a jutsu:

Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!

In an instant, the sky darkened and the sea churned.

A violent gale blasted forth from Haruki's mouth like a passing typhoon, sweeping across the Mist shinobi below.

At that moment, forget about approaching him—even the four warships were rocked violently by the force, teetering on the verge of capsizing.

"Watch out!"

"Hold steady!"

"Don't leave the ship!"

The chaos was deafening—shouts and warnings echoed from all four ships as the Mist ninjas scrambled to maintain control.

A few seconds later, the raging wind died down.

Taking advantage of the confusion, Haruki flared his Wind Style: Wings of Wind, and with the Mist chunin still in his grasp, he shot high into the sky at full speed.

A few of the Mist jōnin made a final attempt to attack.

But none of it worked. They couldn't touch him.

All they could do was watch in frustration as he slipped away.

Still, while they gave up the chase, Haruki wasn't in a rush to leave.

Instead, he circled above the four warships for quite a while, scanning every inch of the ships and carefully observing the Mist shinobi aboard.

Only once he'd seen enough did he leisurely fly away.

As his figure finally disappeared into the distance, the Mist shinobi below couldn't help but breathe a collective sigh of relief—even if none of them said it out loud.

They couldn't help it. Haruki was just too slippery.

If he had chosen to stick around and keep harassing them, it would've been a nightmare.

Thankfully, he left.

With that confirmed, the leading Mist jōnin immediately began organizing medics to tend to the wounded.

Though the clash had only lasted a short while, Haruki's Wind Style: Great Breakthrough had caused no small amount of damage.

Not only were many injured from falling during the ship's violent swaying, but quite a few were also struck by their own kunai and shuriken that had been blown back toward them.

In a way, they had brought it on themselves.

If they hadn't all thrown so many weapons at once, Haruki's jutsu wouldn't have had such devastating effect.

But now it was over.

Elsewhere.

Once out of sight from the Mist forces, Haruki flew for another twenty to thirty kilometers before landing on a coral reef.

Shing—

He drew the longsword from his waist, infused it with wind chakra, and after a few quick sweeps, flattened a spot on the reef to stand on.

Thud—

Haruki dropped the Mist chunin he had been carrying.

The impact jolted the captive awake.

His eyes were initially filled with confusion, but the moment he saw Haruki standing before him, he immediately snapped to attention and asked warily, "What are you planning to do?"

As he spoke, his right hand reached for his ninja pouch.

But in the next instant—flash!

A blade gleamed, and his right hand was severed, dropping to the reef with a splatter. Blood gushed out like a fountain.

"AAAAHH—!"

The intense pain made the Mist ninja scream in agony.

But the scream was cut short.

Haruki's Sharingan began to spin slightly, and in the next second, he cast Genjutsu: Sharingan, directly plunging the man into an illusion that began extracting the memories Haruki needed.

Time ticked by.

Roughly half an hour later, Haruki finally released the genjutsu.

The Mist ninja regained awareness—but his face had gone deathly pale.

It was obvious he realized what information he had just divulged.

"You…"

He tried to speak again.

But Haruki had no interest in wasting words.

He quickly formed a seal, extended his right hand, and gripped the man's throat.

The next moment, an immense flow of chakra surged out from the captive's body, traveling through Haruki's palm and converting into his own chakra, refilling his reserves.

"Grrkk… grrrkk…"

The Mist chunin could only let out garbled noises as his eyes widened in horror. His left hand clutched Haruki's wrist, trying to pry him off.

But the rapid chakra drain had already sapped him of all strength.

He couldn't do anything.

Seconds later, Haruki released his grip.

The man collapsed lifelessly to the reef.

"Six thousand chakra points… decent, I guess," Haruki muttered, sensing the boost inside himself.

Then, with a single seal, he activated:

Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!

A fireball the size of a clenched fist landed on the corpse, and with a boom, flames engulfed the body.

Watching the body burn, Haruki reviewed the intel he had extracted from the man's memories.

Comparing it with his earlier observations from the short battle, he was now confident about the size and strength of the Mist reinforcement unit.

That meant his mission was now complete.

He waited until the body was completely reduced to ashes, then formed another seal and summoned:

Wind Style: Wings of Wind!

His chakra wings flared open once more, and with a single flap, Haruki soared toward the Blackstone Outpost.

Thirty minutes later.

Near the outpost. High in the sky.

Haruki suddenly remembered something, turned sharply at a ninety-degree angle, and flew off in a different direction.

A few minutes later, he discovered a cluster of reefs.

Haruki scanned the surroundings. Once he confirmed there were no other people nearby, he descended and activated:

Wind Style: Blade of Wind!

Whoosh—

A massive wind blade appeared and sliced flat a section of reef.

Haruki landed on the newly leveled surface and nodded in satisfaction.

Then he formed another seal and unleashed:

Shadow Clone Jutsu!

Poof!

Several shadow clones emerged from a puff of chakra smoke.

Haruki didn't waste words. He immediately gave them their orders—to stay and train here.

As for himself, he returned to the outpost.

Clearly, he planned to resume his old routine—using shadow clones to accelerate his training.

Over the past two days, he hadn't done so.

Partly because a major battle was looming and he couldn't afford distractions.

And partly because the outpost was too crowded and inconvenient for clone training.

But now, after probing the Mist chunin's memories, he knew for sure: there would be no major battle for the next few days.

On top of that, he had recently mastered the Telepathy Jutsu, allowing him to communicate with shadow clones over long distances.

With that, he could now fully leverage his chakra reserves.

That was his plan—and he had already begun putting it into motion.