Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

"Stop!"

In the forest, Terumitsu and Kamijo Yoichi were rushing forward when suddenly Uchiha Haruki's warning rang out. They immediately came to a halt.

Haruki scanned the surroundings, his Sharingan glowing an even deeper crimson.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

A faint sound of cutting through the air rang out.

Haruki's ears twitched. In a flash, he turned his head toward the dense woods ahead on the right.

The next moment—a hail of tiny steel needles shot out from the forest. Their speed was far beyond what a human could throw.

"Watch out!"

Haruki warned in a low voice, instantly unsheathing his short sword. His Sharingan spun rapidly, capturing the flight paths of every single incoming needle.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

A crisp chain of metallic impacts echoed out as Haruki swung his short blade, intercepting and deflecting all the needles headed his way.

Even with his skill, such an intense flurry of movement left him breathing heavily. The glow of his Sharingan had visibly dimmed.

Clap… clap… clap…

Suddenly, the sound of slow, mocking applause echoed from the distance, growing closer.

Then a slightly sarcastic voice followed:

"Well, well… as expected from the famed Sharingan. To block all that—impressive. Truly enviable."

Haruki turned his gaze in the direction of the voice and saw a giant spider, easily two meters long, crawling forward from the trees. Upon its back sat a young Sunagakure shinobi, about fifteen or sixteen years old.

Haruki's gaze swept past the boy, briefly lingering on the spider, then returning to the so-called puppeteer.

With a calm tone, he said,

"If you've heard of the Sharingan, then you should know—it can see through cheap tricks like these."

The boy—Chiya—froze, the smirk on his face vanishing instantly. His voice stammered,

"What… what do you mean?"

"Heh…"

Haruki gave a light chuckle but didn't explain. Instead, he turned to his teammates and said,

"Be careful. Both of them are puppets."

That's right—neither the giant spider nor the "boy" riding it was real. They were both puppet constructs.

The whole appearance was meant to mislead—an elaborate setup.

Most people, after realizing the spider was a puppet, would naturally assume the one riding it was the puppeteer.

But Haruki was different. With his Sharingan, he saw through the deception instantly. There was no chakra in the "boy's" body—therefore, he couldn't be a living person.

"What?" ×2

Both Terumitsu and Yoichi were stunned. They stared hard at Chiya, who looked completely lifelike.

But upon closer sensing, they could faintly detect it—his presence as a living being was too weak.

Having been exposed and scrutinized like merchandise, Chiya couldn't keep up the façade. He prepared to command his puppets to attack.

But someone moved faster than he did.

'Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Technique!'

Haruki completed the hand seals at lightning speed—faster than the eye could follow. He opened his mouth, exhaling a wave of fire that rapidly split into hundreds of fireballs, each forming a searing sphere.

Under Haruki's will, the fireballs split into groups, each volley targeting a different leg of the giant spider and the puppet Chiya above it.

Chiya was quick to react. Upon seeing the flames, he immediately commanded the spider puppet to dodge.

What could be said?

With eight legs, the thing was naturally fast.

Even though Haruki had used his most practiced technique, aided by the Sharingan, more than half of the fireballs missed their targets.

And those that hit failed to strike vital areas, inflicting minimal damage.

Seeing this, Haruki was about to call Terumitsu and Yoichi to engage together—

—but just then, a volley of kunai flew in from the surrounding trees.

After dodging them, the trio saw three Sunagakure Chunin emerge from the forest, closing in with the spider puppet to form a loose encirclement.

"Captain?"

Terumitsu asked cautiously.

Haruki knew what he was wondering. He swept his eyes across the newcomers and replied,

"They're all real."

With that, he made a quick hand signal to the other two.

Before they could respond, Haruki activated his Body Flicker Technique, disappearing in a blur. In the next instant, he appeared right in front of one of the enemy Chunin and slashed his short sword directly at the man's neck.

If this had been a typical Chunin, such a sudden strike would've meant instant death, or at the very least a crippling wound.

But this Suna-nin reacted in the nick of time, leaning his body back and narrowly avoiding the killing blow.

He immediately counterattacked, stabbing his kunai straight toward Haruki's heart.

Unfortunately for him—Haruki saw everything.

Even before the enemy raised his arm, Haruki could tell by the way the muscles on his forearm tensed what was coming.

With a simple sidestep, Haruki dodged cleanly.

Not only that—because he had anticipated the move, he had just enough time to cast 'Genjutsu: Sharingan'.

The enemy didn't have time to respond and was caught in the illusion, dazed for a split second.

That moment was enough. Haruki's blade flashed again, and his sword cleanly slit the ninja's throat.

All of this took only a few breaths. By the time the others registered what had happened, Haruki had already taken one of them out.

"Sunashi!"

One of the other Sunagakure Chunin cried out in pain, seemingly having had a close bond with the fallen comrade.

Haruki, however, remained indifferent.

He once again formed the Ram hand seal, activating Body Flicker, and appeared before the one who had shouted.

This time, though, his opponent was fully alert. Having seen how fast Haruki could strike, he was prepared.

Although Haruki's speed was impressive, it wasn't actual teleportation. So when he appeared and slashed down with his short sword, the enemy was already raising his kunai.

Clang!

Their weapons clashed with a sharp metallic ring.

That sound seemed to act like a trigger—everyone sprang into action.

Terumitsu and Yoichi moved first. Without hesitation, they charged straight at the giant spider puppet, just as Haruki had signaled earlier.

Haruki's earlier hand sign had been simple:

Keep the puppeteer occupied.

Things had moved so quickly that the two hadn't even processed it fully before Haruki had acted.

Frankly, even Chiya hadn't expected Haruki to be so decisive and so strong.

In just a few seconds, one of his men was dead. It was shocking.

He had only heard rumors of the Sharingan's power, never fought an Uchiha before.

Now, it was clear—the stories weren't exaggerations.

But to be fair, Chiya was overestimating the power of the Sharingan—especially the two-tomoe Sharingan.

Not every Uchiha Chunin with a two-tomoe Sharingan could wield Body Flicker to this extent, or possess Haruki's level of battlefield experience.

Without those two traits, even possessing a Sharingan wouldn't allow someone to replicate what Haruki had just done.

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