Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Haruki stood in place, lost in thought for a moment. Then, shaking his head, he pushed those thoughts aside and made his way toward the area where the injured were being treated.

There was still an hour until the meeting began, and he planned to use the time to grind some proficiency for Mystic Palm Technique.

Currently, his Mystic Palm Technique had reached level 6, but to advance to level 7 required a whopping 10,000 proficiency points.

If he relied on simple training alone, the pace would be far too slow.

So whenever an opportunity for hands-on application appeared, he wouldn't let it go to waste.

Although this meant he couldn't use the Yang Release chakra he'd gathered to enhance his physical body for now, sharpening the blade before chopping wood always pays off. The sooner he leveled up his Mystic Palm, the greater the benefit of the body enhancement would be.

When he arrived at the triage zone, the medics were already busy treating the wounded. Haruki slipped into the group with practiced ease and began tending to patients.

The other medical-nin barely looked up when he joined them. A few nodded at him politely, then returned to their work.

Clearly, they were used to Haruki lending a hand from time to time.

Minutes passed. Then tens of minutes.

Roughly fifty minutes later, Haruki wrapped up his last patient. After exchanging a few words with the medical squad leader, he turned and left.

On his way to the meeting room, he opened his system panel for a quick glance.

His Mystic Palm Technique proficiency had increased by 120 points.

"Not bad."

Murmuring to himself, he closed the panel and headed toward the conference room.

By the time he arrived, the room was already filling up. All the attendees were Jonin.

As Haruki walked in, the others nodded in greeting—some even initiated friendly conversation.

Haruki noticed immediately that their attitude toward him had subtly shifted.

They seemed… warmer?

Not only that, but in their eyes, Haruki could sense a hint of wariness.

What's going on here?

Haruki frowned slightly, puzzled.

But after a bit of thought, he understood.

There's only one thing that could make Jonin uneasy: power.

And this battle had given Haruki plenty of opportunities to show his.

Though he hadn't contributed much during the later mop-up phase—just collecting stray chakra and keeping his head down—in the earlier stages, he had held his ground against multiple Iwa Jonin, killing four and seriously injuring another.

Granted, only two of those four were full-fledged Jonin; the other two were Special Jonin with specialized skills.

But still, the results spoke for themselves.

It made perfect sense that the others had taken notice.

And it confirmed for Haruki that holding back at the end had been the right decision.

Even with his restrained performance, he'd already drawn some wariness. If he'd finished off the last two Iwa Jonin as well, it might not have stopped at mere caution.

These Jonin might not have done anything to him…

But what about the clans hostile to the Uchiha?

Who knew what kind of moves they'd make behind the scenes?

With that in mind, Haruki suddenly found himself far less interested in this meeting.

What he really wanted was to get back to grinding skills and improving his strength.

Because in this world, only power brings peace of mind.

Still, it would be inappropriate to leave now, so Haruki sat quietly and waited for the meeting to begin.

Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long. Just a few minutes later, Nara Suiwa, the one in charge, arrived and called the room to order by knocking on the table.

"Let's begin."

He opened the meeting by summarizing the results of the battle.

The logistical gains and equipment losses weren't his focus. What mattered most was the casualties on both sides.

According to post-battle statistics, they had successfully eliminated 93 Iwa shinobi:

18 Jonin (including 11 Special Jonin)

63 Chunin

12 Genin

For a single outpost like theirs, that was a massive achievement.

In fact, only this particular outpost could have pulled it off.

Any other base would've considered it a miracle just to survive such an assault.

That was because their base was made up of the very same elite units that had spearheaded the counteroffensive more than a month ago.

After multiple rounds of brutal battles, the surviving members had been hardened and refined.

That was the only reason they were able to wipe out Iwagakure's strike force.

Even so, the cost was steep.

"We lost eight Jonin, forty-six Chunin, and thirty-two Genin. In addition, about sixty were wounded to varying degrees."

The room went silent.

Eighty-six dead.

Numerically, they had lost nearly as many as the enemy. It was, at best, a pyrrhic victory.

Of course, if one looked more closely, Iwa's losses were heavier, especially in the Jonin tier—the difference was double.

But it didn't change the fact that Konoha's side had suffered serious damage as well.

After a long silence, Nara Suiwa continued:

"We owe a great deal to Jonin Haruki for this outcome."

All eyes turned toward Haruki.

What does this have to do with me?

I was just doing my job…

Haruki blinked in confusion.

Then Nara Suiwa added:

"If Jonin Haruki hadn't held the line at the beginning, killing several enemy Jonin and locking down two more, our casualties could've been much worse."

Everyone in the room nodded silently.

It was true—the period with the highest casualty rate had been in the initial engagement. Over 80% of the deaths had occurred then.

During the later encirclement, Konoha had the advantage in numbers, so even wounded shinobi were quickly rescued. The death toll afterward had been much lower.

And the one who made the biggest contribution early on?

Haruki.

So the credit was fair.

Still, the way Nara Suiwa worded it… Haruki couldn't help but feel like it was a backhanded compliment—praise that bordered on pressure.

He glanced at Suiwa's expression at the head of the table but couldn't read anything from his face.

Hopefully I'm just overthinking this...

With that thought, Haruki calmly responded:

"I only did what I was supposed to do.

If anyone deserves the credit, it's the eighty-six comrades who gave their lives for this victory."

His words were perfectly measured—politically correct, even.

And they had the desired effect: everyone who was about to chime in with support fell silent.

Nara Suiwa looked at him with a hint of surprise, then nodded and moved on to the next item.

The second topic was defense strategy going forward.

After suffering such a devastating loss, there was no way Iwa would let this slide.

If they launched one surprise attack, they could launch a second. Or a third.

Defense was now a top priority.

The others knew this as well. Soon, ideas were flowing, and a solid plan took shape.

"Very good," Nara Suiwa concluded. "Let's stick to the plan moving forward."

As the meeting approached its end, he finally addressed the reason behind Iwa's sudden large-scale assault.