Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

In the blink of an eye, three more days passed.

The commotion caused by the Sand Village puppeteer Chiya had finally died down. The mission report—ending with the conclusion that the enemy had escaped—was submitted by Uchiha Haruki and passed the review.

Unless someone actively investigated him, or Sunagakure launched a large-scale search, Chiya would essentially be considered as having vanished from the face of the earth.

And frankly, during wartime, this was far from unusual.

No one would waste time on a "nobody." At most, perhaps his clan might look into it.

Yes—thanks to information Haruki had extracted from Chiya, he had confirmed his suspicion: the man wasn't just some random civilian ninja. He came from a declining clan within the Sand Village.

Allegedly, the clan's head had once been a disciple of the Second Kazekage, Shamon, inheriting his skills in the crafting and control of mechanical puppets.

Unfortunately, after two ninja world wars, the clan had suffered heavy losses and fallen into decline.

Only in recent years did they begin to see a glimmer of revival—thanks to Chiya, a "not-quite-genius" talent.

But because of his potential, Chiya had never truly been free.

Wherever he went, someone monitored him. Most of the time, he was confined within the clan compound, focused entirely on learning puppet techniques.

To his credit, Chiya had lived up to their hopes—able to design and build his own puppets at a young age. The giant spider puppet and human-shaped puppet were his proudest creations.

Those were also the reason he had finally been granted permission to move about freely.

Perhaps because of the years of repression, Chiya had become a bit reckless. On missions, he often took risks to prove himself.

Just like this time—he could've let Kamiki go. But seeing that he was alone, Chiya acted without hesitation, and that led to Haruki's squad tracking him down.

He even tried to set an ambush, hoping to take out the entire team.

Unfortunately for him—walk the night road long enough, and eventually, you'll meet a ghost.

Had the squad been led by an ordinary Leaf chunin, he might've succeeded.

But fate had him cross paths with Uchiha Haruki.

And Haruki's strength? Let's just say he wouldn't hesitate to trade blows with even a jonin. Chiya clearly didn't have that kind of power.

So it was only natural that he failed and was captured.

"Captain, are we splitting up here?"

Haruki was lost in thought when Kamijo Yoichi spoke up from nearby.

Haruki glanced around the area and nodded. "Yeah, here's good."

He looked at Yoichi and another chunin who'd been temporarily assigned from another squad and gave instructions:

"Stick to the plan. Check the markers and traps along the way. If anything seems off, signal immediately."

"Yes, Captain!"

With a sharp nod, the two men turned and left.

Haruki also pretended to patrol the area he was "assigned."

But soon enough, he made his way to a secluded corner and stopped beneath a low, twisted tree.

After checking both sides to make sure no one was watching, he brushed aside the weeds, revealing a pitch-black hole in the ground.

With a leap, Haruki jumped down—falling three to four meters before landing on solid ground.

Without delay, he adjusted his footing in the dark and began moving through the tunnel.

Eventually, he arrived at a wide underground cavern.

This was the place Haruki had stumbled upon during a routine patrol days earlier. The cavern had formed naturally, but the passage leading into it was clearly manmade.

Inside, he'd found leftover supplies—probably from over ten years ago.

That confirmed it: someone had deliberately carved this place out during the last ninja world war to use as a hideout.

"Wonder if that guy's still alive?" Haruki mused silently.

But even if he was, as long as he wasn't using the hideout now, odds were he'd forgotten it existed.

Which meant Haruki could use it temporarily without issue.

He made his way to the deepest part of the cavern.

There, bound to a pillar, was the now-handless Chiya.

Haruki spoke calmly:

"Alright. Quit pretending to sleep. You should know exactly what these eyes of mine are capable of."

The moment he finished speaking, Chiya opened his eyes—filled with hate.

"Forget it. I'm not saying anything," he hissed, teeth clenched.

Haruki smiled faintly. "I know."

With that, he raised his hands and formed seals, activating Chakra Absorption Jutsu.

His palms lit with chakra. He placed one hand firmly atop Chiya's head.

Immediately, chakra surged out like a dam breaking, flooding straight into Haruki's body.

At first, Chiya struggled fiercely.

But as more chakra drained away, his resistance faded, and his whole body slumped.

Say what you will about Chiya—his talent wasn't average.

The typical chunin had a chakra reserve of about 2,000–3,000 units.

Chiya had over 5,000—and that was without full physical development.

Given a few more years, his clan could've had a new jonin on their hands.

Too bad Haruki got to him first.

With a 60% conversion rate, Haruki absorbed 3,000 units of chakra.

Just like before, he split the chakra into two parts:

2,000 units were used to train "Reflection of the Heart Jutsu"

1,000 units went into upgrading "Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu"

This gave each technique 12 proficiency points.

For "Reflection of the Heart," that translated to a 4-point boost in Sharingan evolution, plus another 10 points from Haruki's own chakra supply, totaling 14—a 40% increase in speed compared to before.

A huge improvement.

As for Phoenix Fire, the training speed more than doubled, which was even more impactful.

In short, even if Chiya never revealed his puppet techniques, Haruki still came out ahead.

Having a living chakra battery like this saved a lot of time.

But… one "battery" wasn't enough.

Haruki was already planning: once he mastered Shadow Clone Jutsu, he would start capturing more prisoners.

Yes, Haruki had decided it was time to learn Shadow Clone.

Only then could he stay here for long periods without raising suspicion from other Leaf shinobi.

Only by being physically present could he justify holding multiple captives.

Otherwise, if one escaped while he was away, he'd be in serious trouble.

Like now—with Chiya, Haruki had resorted to extreme measures: he'd severed the man's hands, making it impossible for him to form seals or control chakra threads.

And still, Haruki had to check on him regularly, worried the guy might try something else.

If he started holding multiple captives in the future, he couldn't exactly cut all their hands off.

Even if he did, it wouldn't be secure.

The ninja world was full of secret techniques—who knew if someone might try foot-seal jutsu like Jiraiya?

That's why, to ensure absolute security, Haruki needed to personally supervise.

After checking the bindings one more time and making sure everything was secure, Haruki turned and swiftly exited the cavern.

He hadn't forgotten his mission. If anything happened topside while he was gone, he'd have a hard time explaining himself.