Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Clang—

Uchiha Haruki's strike was blocked. He slashed again. Another block. Haruki kept attacking, and the enemy kept parrying.

The clash of steel rang out endlessly as Haruki's assault became a frenzied storm—swift and violent.

The Sand ninja he faced was like a lone boat caught in a raging sea, barely keeping afloat, one wave away from capsizing.

Seeing his comrade in peril, another Sunagakure Chunin rushed in to assist.

But even against two enemies, Haruki showed no sign of panic.

With his flawless mastery of Konoha-Style Swordsmanship, it only took moments for him to regain the upper hand.

And just when the two Sand ninja began to adapt to his rhythm, Haruki suddenly changed tactics.

His Sharingan's hypnotic ability flared to full power, and his sword technique shifted from Konoha-style to something far more lethal: Uchiha-Style Swordsmanship.

The abrupt change caught one enemy off-guard. Haruki's blade slashed cleanly across the man's left arm, cutting so deep the bone was visible.

It wasn't that Haruki hadn't aimed for a vital spot—it was simply that the other Sand ninja had intercepted just in time, diverting the blow from the neck to the arm.

Still, the injury was severe.

The wounded shinobi let out a scream and snapped out of the illusion. He immediately began to retreat.

But Haruki wouldn't allow it.

With a quick feint to push back the other ninja, he burst forward and closed the gap with the retreating target in a flash.

His short sword moved like a blur, leaving slash after slash across the fleeing shinobi's body.

The remaining Sand ninja rushed to intervene.

Sensing the kunai strike coming from behind, Haruki twisted out of the way.

He leapt backward several times, widening the distance, and raised both hands. Before his opponents could react, he completed a sequence of hand signs with blinding speed.

Opening his mouth, he unleashed a massive wave of fire that split and compressed into hundreds of fireballs, hurling toward the two wounded enemies.

Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Technique.

The two Sand Chunin were caught completely off-guard. Though they tried to dodge, several fireballs still struck their bodies, detonating on impact and leaving them seriously wounded.

Haruki immediately moved in to finish them off.

But just then—a piercing scream echoed from nearby.

Haruki turned his head and saw a nightmare unfold: Terumitsu, who had gone to engage the puppet master, had been caught by the massive spider puppet.

Its giant pincers had clamped down on him, tearing his body in half.

Blood and entrails spilled across the forest floor as Terumitsu writhed and screamed in agony.

Even someone as hardened as Haruki was stunned.

Luckily, Terumitsu didn't suffer long. Within moments, his screams stopped—lifeless.

At the same time, Kamijo Yoichi was also in a bad spot.

His opponent was the humanoid puppet.

Though it had sacrificed many of its inner mechanisms for the sake of realism, the puppet's lack of fear or hesitation made it incredibly hard to deal with.

Haruki quickly analyzed the battlefield.

There were only two of them left now. He himself was still at full power, while Kamijo Yoichi seemed to be around 70–80%.

On the enemy side, there were three Sand ninja—two of them had already been severely injured by Haruki. Yoichi should be able to handle them.

"Maybe... it's time to execute the plan."

That thought in mind, Haruki used Body Flicker Technique, reappearing in front of Kamijo Yoichi just in time to block a strike from the humanoid puppet.

Without turning his head, he said,

"Leave this to me. Go finish off those two."

Kamijo glanced at the two struggling Sand ninja. For once, he spoke up.

"Captain… be careful."

"Mm."

Haruki nodded and launched himself at the humanoid puppet.

But before he got close, the puppet suddenly opened its mouth, firing out hundreds of steel needles.

Shot by internal mechanisms, the needles lacked complexity but made up for it with overwhelming speed—faster than any human could manage.

Thankfully, Haruki had the Sharingan. He could clearly track the trajectories of every needle.

Dodging them wasn't too difficult.

Refusing to give up, Chiya, hidden nearby, launched wave after wave of steel needles with the puppet.

But Haruki dodged all of them—flawlessly.

Then he closed the distance.

His short sword gleamed coldly as he went in for close combat.

Seeing this, Chiya chuckled in his hiding spot.

"Close-quarters against a puppet? Ha… that's just—"

He never finished the sentence.

Haruki's sword pierced through the puppet's defensive shell, striking right into the narrow joint of its left shoulder.

Click. Clack. Crack—

The gears clashed for a second before the puppet's left arm detached, falling to the ground.

Chiya's grin froze. He stopped laughing.

Haruki, on the other hand, smiled.

From the moment he began thinking about acquiring puppet master techniques, he had already begun strategizing.

Traditionally, the way to defeat a puppeteer was to avoid direct conflict with their puppets and hunt down the controller hiding in the shadows.

But Haruki felt that was too passive.

Yes, puppets weren't afraid of pain or death, but they weren't invincible either. Every puppet had weak points—the joints and linkages between components.

Most people wouldn't be able to hit those during a fight, but Haruki wasn't most people.

He had the two-tomoe Sharingan with incredible perception. And his swordsmanship—both Konoha and Uchiha style—was nearly at perfection.

Precision strikes? Not a problem.

With that kind of skill, dismantling ordinary puppets was no big deal.

So Haruki had flipped the usual tactic on its head—go on the offensive.

If he could keep destroying puppets, eventually the puppeteer would have no choice but to reveal himself.

That was the plan: force the hidden enemy into the open.

Once the puppets were gone, what threat could the puppeteer pose?

Unless, of course, the puppeteer acted first—either killing Haruki before he could dismantle everything or fleeing.

At first, Chiya had chosen the former.

But when Haruki avoided the joint attacks of both puppets and disassembled the humanoid puppet's arm and leg, then sliced off three legs from the spider puppet, Chiya's resolve crumbled.

He chose to flee.

Would Haruki let him escape?

Of course not.

From the way Chiya fought and behaved, Haruki guessed his real-life combat experience was limited. He was probably young, maybe even pampered.

Judging by the humanoid puppet's teenage appearance, Haruki had a strong suspicion—it was modeled after Chiya himself.

If so, capturing Chiya could very well allow him to extract the puppet secrets through interrogation.

There was no way Haruki was letting this opportunity go.

As he saw the spider and humanoid puppets retreat into the forest, Haruki didn't hesitate for even a second.

He chased after them.

In a blink, one man and two puppets vanished from everyone's sight.