Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

In a flash, another two days passed.

The incident from that night didn't cause any major waves—neither on Konoha's side nor in Kirigakure.

As for Kirigakure, it's understandable. A failed operation doesn't need to be widely broadcast.

And on Konoha's side, they might even wish for Haruki to pull off a few more such stunts to keep Kirigakure occupied and stretched thin.

Unfortunately, after that night, Uchiha Haruki became far more cautious.

Even though he had the protection of "Heavenly Guard", making it nearly impossible to trap him, charging head-on into a known ambush isn't bravery—it's recklessness.

So even when Commander Sano Nobuhisa of the Blackstone Outpost repeatedly hinted at him to make another move, Haruki played dumb and pretended not to understand.

And really, Sano Nobuhisa couldn't order him outright either.

After all, nobody else knew Haruki had the "Heavenly Guard" safeguard, so any such order would seem like forcing someone to their death.

Sure, people could die for the village—but not meaninglessly.

So even with his authority, Sano Nobuhisa didn't dare push too far.

Even if he wanted to, he wouldn't be able to.

Forget Haruki's personal resolve—the Uchiha clan would never tolerate it.

Uchiha Haruki was one of their prodigies. If he were to be ordered into a suicide mission, what pride would the clan have left?

Thus, after a few feelers, Sano Nobuhisa gave up.

Afterward, Haruki behaved by the book. Every day, he still made a routine flight to Flying Fish Town to observe Kirigakure's movements and submit intel reports.

Over these days of observation, he could clearly sense that Kirigakure was getting ready to move.

And not just them—Konoha was nearly ready too.

It was obvious. With both sides making intense preparations, the great war was right around the corner.

But Haruki wasn't particularly bothered by that.

Compared to war and bloodshed, he cared more about self-improvement.

Another night.

It was late into the night when Haruki finished his routine reconnaissance and returned to the reef beach.

Just as he wrapped up another round of training, his eyes lit up.

Because—he had successfully awakened the Earth chakra nature, thanks to the accumulated experience from his shadow clones.

In his palm, he summoned a lump of chakra. It didn't seem all that special to the naked eye, but Haruki knew exactly what it was: Earth Release chakra.

And with that—he had taken another major step toward mastering all elemental chakra natures.

Forcing himself to remain calm, he dispelled the chakra in his palm.

Unlocking a new chakra nature is only the first step. To truly wield it, he still had to master shape transformation and nature transformation.

That was the real challenge.

Most Jonin, if they dedicated the time, could unlock additional chakra natures.

But mastering shape and nature transformation? That was a different beast altogether.

A jutsu's full potential depends on those transformations. Without them, it's nothing but a party trick.

That's why most Jonin specialize in two or three chakra natures max, rather than spreading themselves thin.

But Haruki was different.

He didn't need to go through traditional training to master shape and nature transformation.

Because—once he trained a jutsu enough through raw repetition and grind, he would automatically gain mastery of the necessary transformations.

It was like working backward:

Others couldn't advance their jutsu without first mastering the transformations.

But Haruki advanced the jutsu first—and the transformations naturally followed.

Bugged? Maybe.

Useful? Absolutely.

Haruki loved it.

With that, he recalled the techniques and training methods for:

Earth Release: Earth Lance Jutsu

Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall

Earth Release: Hardening Technique

He quickly formed hand signs and cast Shadow Clone Jutsu.

This time, he created twelve clones.

Nine clones continued working on their existing skill trees.

The other three began training the Earth-style techniques.

Time passed.

Two hours flew by.

When Haruki dispelled the clones and absorbed their experiences and memories, his interface showed a new skill:

Earth Release: Earth Lance — Lv0 (1/100)

Seeing the new skill added to the panel, Haruki couldn't help but smile.

It wasn't even beginner level yet—just 1 point in—but he was genuinely happy.

Because now that the skill was recognized by the interface, it meant he had officially begun down that path.

From here, all he needed was chakra and time, and the skill would level up smoothly.

No bottlenecks, no plateaus.

How could he not be thrilled?

The only downside:

Earth-Style Wall and Hardening Technique hadn't made it onto the panel.

Despite pouring in enough chakra over two hours, they still didn't register.

Haruki wasn't surprised though.

Earth Lance was a C-rank jutsu.

The other two were B-rank, and naturally harder to imprint.

That said, with Earth Lance as a foundation, it was only a matter of time before the others followed.

No need to rush.

After contemplating the core insights behind Earth Lance, he formed the hand signs again.

Twelve new shadow clones appeared, picking up where the last batch left off.

Almost another hour passed.

The sky was starting to brighten.

It was almost time for Haruki to return to the Blackstone Outpost.

Just then—

his shadow clones alerted him.

Far on the horizon, just above the ocean, black dots appeared.

Haruki immediately activated his Sharingan and peered toward the source.

"Are those... ships?"

He was uncertain, but on guard.

He quickly formed hand signs and cast Wind Release: Wings of the Wind.

In the next moment, wings unfurled behind his back, and he soared into the sky.

This time, he didn't take any chances—he rose several hundred meters to avoid being spotted, then flew toward the dark silhouettes.

It didn't take long before the black dots came into clear view.

Just as he suspected—they were Kirigakure warships.

Looking at the decks, Haruki recognized several familiar Mist ninja faces.

These were the same people stationed in Flying Fish Town.

"If that's the case, then..."

Suddenly, Haruki's expression changed.

A chill crept down his spine.

"This is bad."

Without hesitation, he turned and raced toward the Blackstone Outpost.

If his guess was right, Kirigakure was about to launch a naval assault on the outpost.

It made sense.

On paper, launching a ground attack would've been easier, given Flying Fish Town's position relative to Blackstone.

After all, the outpost's defenses were originally built facing the sea, to guard against naval invasions.

But since Flying Fish Town had fallen, the outpost had reoriented its defenses toward land.

Kirigakure, it seemed, intended to exploit that vulnerability.

This was no spur-of-the-moment decision.

Even the timing was precise.

Based on the ships' travel speed, they had set out right after Haruki's nightly reconnaissance, banking on the time gap.

Haruki didn't believe it was coincidence.

Clearly, Kirigakure had done their homework, knew his routine, and launched their operation accordingly.

But what they didn't know was that—

Haruki always spent time training afterward at the reef beach.

Because of that, he caught their movements red-handed.

"Talk about... timing," Haruki muttered.

He didn't know whether to call himself lucky or his enemies unlucky.

Either way—

this achievement was his.

No one was going to take it from him.