Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

"Haruki, something on your mind?"

Noticing Uchiha Haruki walking straight toward him with a serious look, Uchiha Shisui immediately stood up and asked.

"Yeah."

Haruki nodded, then pointed not far away. "Over there."

Seeing this, Shisui instantly understood—it had to be something serious, or Haruki wouldn't have gone out of his way to speak privately.

He didn't refuse. After a moment's thought, he followed Haruki to the indicated spot.

The other teammates didn't pry. Everyone had their own secrets, after all. Besides, both of them were from the Uchiha clan—maybe they had something to discuss about the Sharingan. Eavesdropping might just bring trouble.

That said, they still kept an ear out, just in case.

The two stopped beside a large tree. Haruki turned to face Shisui with a serious expression and asked,

"Did anything unusual happen during your battle?"

"Unusual?"

Shisui's eyes flickered slightly, but he feigned confusion. "What kind of unusual thing?"

Haruki caught the subtle shift in his expression. That one moment of unnatural reaction told him everything—Shisui had also been attacked by ROOT.

Though Shisui had clearly sensed something was wrong, without understanding the full picture, he had chosen to keep quiet for now.

It made sense.

If Danzo had already come after Haruki, then there was no reason to let a more gifted Uchiha like Shisui go unscathed.

Unfortunately for them, they underestimated Haruki's strength—and also underestimated Uchiha Shisui.

Haruki shook his head slightly, brushing those thoughts aside. Without dragging things out, he asked directly:

"Someone tried to attack you too, didn't they?"

"'Too'?"

Shisui caught onto Haruki's word choice and narrowed his eyes. "You were attacked as well?"

That question confirmed Haruki's guess—Shisui had indeed been targeted.

With no need to hide, Haruki quickly recounted his earlier encounter—including the eerie and dangerous Blood Demon Barrier.

Once he finished, he turned to Shisui again. "And you?"

Shisui hesitated briefly, then nodded.

"I didn't run into that 'Blood Demon Barrier'... but yes, two people came after me. Just like yours, they fought with no regard for their own lives."

"I see…"

Haruki fell into thought for a moment, then followed up,

"Anything else? Like something odd about them—say, their aura or presence?"

When Haruki mentioned the word 'aura', Shisui finally confirmed it in his heart—Haruki had definitely encountered the same type of people.

There was no mistaking it. These people had a distinctive, deathly aura—if Haruki had noticed the same thing, then their attackers were likely from the same group.

Thoughts raced through Shisui's mind, but he answered seriously:

"Yes, their aura was… unusual. They gave off this cold, lifeless feeling the whole time."

"Knew it."

Haruki murmured under his breath, as if his suspicions had been confirmed—just enough to bait Shisui into asking more.

And sure enough—

"What do you mean, 'knew it'? Haruki, you know who those people were?"

Haruki acted like he was hesitating, then after a moment of pause, he finally said,

"If I'm not mistaken… they were from ROOT."

"ROOT?"

Shisui frowned. It was the first time he'd heard the name. "What's that?"

"They're a covert training division of Konoha's ANBU."

"What?!"

Shisui's voice rose several notches in surprise, drawing attention from a few teammates in the distance.

He quickly waved them off, signaling that everything was fine.

Once their gazes shifted away, he turned back to Haruki with disbelief.

"Why would ANBU attack us? Was it ordered by the Third Hokage?"

"Maybe."

Of course, Haruki knew full well it was Danzo who gave the orders. But that didn't stop him from throwing some shade at Hiruzen Sarutobi.

The man always presented himself as noble and righteous—but without his tacit approval, Danzo could never have gotten away with so much.

In Haruki's opinion, whatever blame Danzo carried, Hiruzen deserved at least half.

And that wasn't all…

As Haruki thought about the future pain that Naruto would suffer, about Hyuga Hiashi being forced to sacrifice his own brother, a cold shadow passed through his eyes.

He couldn't allow Shisui to fall completely into Hiruzen's camp.

So, he deliberately gave a vague response.

Still, he didn't leave Danzo out of it either.

"The one directly in charge of ROOT is Shimura Danzo. It's also possible he bypassed the Hokage entirely and gave the order on his own."

"Shimura Danzo?"

Another unfamiliar name to Shisui.

"Who is that?"

"He's one of the village's senior elders," Haruki explained. "A classmate of the Third Hokage."

Shisui fell silent at that.

After a moment, he asked again,

"But why? Why would they target us?"

Haruki chuckled faintly in response.

He didn't say a word—he just pointed to his own eyes.

"…The Sharingan?"

Shisui murmured as he followed Haruki's gesture.

Seeing his teammate fall into a daze, Haruki decided there was no need to continue the conversation.

With a final, cautionary tone, he said,

"Just… be careful from now on. There are more than a few people keeping their eyes on those eyes of ours."

With that, he turned and started walking back toward the nearby Konoha shinobi.

"Wait."

Shisui suddenly called after him.

His expression was serious.

"How do you even know all of this?"

Haruki smiled—but didn't answer.

To be honest, he didn't know how to explain it even if he wanted to.

So why bother?

Let Shisui imagine what he will.

What mattered was that everything Haruki had said was true—and once Shisui started digging, he'd find the same thing.

At that point, how Haruki knew wouldn't matter anymore.

No, Haruki never expected Shisui to believe him completely right away.

He said all this for one reason only: to plant a seed of distrust.

From now on, whether Shisui was dealing with the village's upper echelon or Danzo himself, he'd always keep a bit of caution in his heart.

And if even after all that Danzo still managed to take his eyes—then honestly, he'd deserve it.

That said… Haruki didn't think Danzo would live that long.

After what he tried today, Haruki had no intention of giving him the chance.

Haruki wasn't one to forget a grudge—and since Danzo had made the first move, he shouldn't expect mercy.

With that thought, Haruki returned to the group.

About an hour passed, but no more enemies showed up. Eventually, Takigawa Maki announced that the mission was officially terminated and led the team to regroup with the main forces.

And so, the ambush operation came to a close.

Konoha had dispatched eleven shinobi—one Jonin, two Special Jonin, and eight Chunin.

In the end, only six returned alive.

One Special Jonin and four Chunin had died—a 45% casualty rate, nearly half the team.

Fortunately, Uchiha Haruki had survived once again.