Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

The sun rose and fell.

Just like that, a week passed.

That afternoon, on the western side of the outpost, deep within a forested area…

Uchiha Haruki held a short sword in hand, facing off alone against three Konoha chunin.

At first, the three chunin managed to hold their ground against him in an evenly matched battle.

But as the fight wore on, one of them suddenly froze, standing stiffly in place, eyes wide open, watching Haruki's short sword stabbing toward him—unable to move.

Seeing this, the second chunin immediately rushed forward and blocked the strike for his immobilized teammate.

At the same time, the third Konoha chunin came at Haruki from behind, kunai in hand, aiming straight for his back.

A faint sense of danger rose in Haruki's heart.

His peripheral vision caught the movement behind him. Without hesitation, he channeled a surge of Wind Release chakra into his short sword.

Bzzzt—

A soft blue light flickered along the blade's edge, then expanded outward to envelop Haruki entirely.

In that moment, his body and the blade seemed to merge into one.

Then, Haruki's right hand tensed. The tip of the sword pointed forward.

The next second—

The blue light burst into brilliance, and Haruki, along with his blade, vanished on the spot.

When he reappeared, he was standing directly behind Seita Oyano, the third chunin—his sword now pressing lightly against the back of Seita's heart.

The other two Konoha chunin, stunned, quickly dropped their weapons in surrender.

One of them let out a helpless sigh and said,

"Captain, your Flash Sword Technique is even faster now. We can't keep up anymore."

"Yeah, not to mention your Genjutsu Sword Technique, either. Seita still hasn't snapped out of it," the other added, glancing toward Seita, who remained frozen and unresponsive.

They were right.

After a week of trials and refinement, Haruki had successfully developed both the Genjutsu Sword Technique and the Flash Sword Technique.

The unresponsive Seita was currently trapped in Haruki's genjutsu.

And the moment Haruki vanished and reappeared behind him—that had been the Flash Sword Technique in action.

As the first chunin noted, Haruki's speed had greatly increased thanks to the Wind Release chakra enhancement. But it wasn't true teleportation.

While most genin or lower-tier chunin couldn't tell the difference between high speed and actual teleportation, Jonin could.

Teleportation meant space manipulation—something far harder to counter unless one had specific tools or abilities.

Even if Haruki continued to level up the Flash Sword Technique and enhanced its speed to match true teleportation in short-range combat…

The two were still fundamentally different concepts.

Haruki sheathed his blade and calmly replied to his subordinates' comments:

"I'm still a long way off. These techniques are fine against you three, but they won't work so easily against a Jonin."

With that, he waved a hand and released the genjutsu on Seita.

Seita immediately snapped back to awareness. Instinctively raising his kunai, he looked ready to fight.

But upon seeing his teammates relaxed nearby, he let out a bitter chuckle.

"I got caught again, huh?"

The other two shrugged—it was obvious.

Haruki nodded toward them and said,

"Alright, that's enough for today. Go train on your own now."

"Got it, Captain," they replied, then walked off, chatting and laughing with arms slung over each other's shoulders.

Once they were gone, Haruki focused his thoughts and opened his proficiency panel.

A moment later, the familiar soft blue light unfolded before him.

[Status Panel]

Name: Uchiha Haruki

Age: 12

Physique: 12

Spirit: 15

Chakra: 27,100 (31,700 → 33,268)

Bloodline: Sharingan – Three Tomoe (9999/10000)

[Skills]

Chakra Refinement: Lv5 (261/5000)

Wind Release: Wind Blade: Lv2 (112/500) → Lv4 (750/2000)

Shadow Clone: Lv3 (180/1000) → Lv3 (290/1000)

Chakra Absorption: Lv5 (1815/5000) → Lv5 (1920/5000)

Rasengan: Lv4 (640/2000) → Lv4 (1390/2000)

Mystical Palm: Lv6 (1865/10000) → Lv6 (3727/10000)

Chakra Scalpel: Lv4 (495/2000) → Lv4 (702/2000)

Mind Reading Technique: Lv7 (4885/20000)

Kenjutsu: Lv6 (512/10000) → Lv6 (1350/10000)

Genjutsu Sword Technique: Lv2 (20/500)

Flash Sword Technique: Lv1 (160/200)

Chakra Control: Lv4 (1574/2000) → Lv4 (1805/2000)

[Perfected Skills:]

Looking at the panel, Haruki could clearly see two new techniques had been added—Genjutsu Sword and Flash Sword.

Just as he had predicted, once he successfully created them, the panel recognized the skills and allowed him to level them through proficiency gain.

That was the only reason he had been able to put them to use in actual combat within just a few days.

For most shinobi, developing a new jutsu takes months or even years.

Forget using it in battle—just learning to cast it stably is already impressive.

But Haruki?

In just a few days, he had raised them to Lv2, already a competent level of mastery.

The difference was enormous.

With this advantage, Haruki could create custom techniques based on his needs and forge a unique path of his own.

A flood of creative ideas bubbled up in his mind—but he quickly reined them in.

The reason was simple—his knowledge base was still too limited.

The only reason he'd managed to invent Genjutsu Sword and Flash Sword was because of his foundation in:

Genjutsu: Sharingan

Swordsmanship

Wind Release: Great Breakthrough

Without those, such techniques would have been out of reach.

Trying to invent anything deeper or more complex now would be nothing but a fantasy.

"A thousand-mile journey begins with a single step."

"A mighty river comes from many small streams."

Without enough accumulation, even the grandest ideas are castles in the sky.

So for now, Haruki wouldn't chase illusions.

Instead, he would learn from those who came before, steadily building his knowledge and foundation.

Only once his basics were solid could he truly carve out his own ninja path.

Inhale… Exhale…

Haruki drew in a deep breath, slowly let it out, then opened his eyes.

He closed the panel and, once his mind was calm again, resumed training the next skill in his plan.

About half an hour later, his break ended.

Haruki wrapped up his personal training, then led his three subordinates on their patrol shift.

By the time they returned to the outpost, the sky had begun to darken.

Haruki checked in to confirm there were no immediate tasks needing his attention.

Then, he created a shadow clone to stay behind as a stand-in, while his real body returned to the secret base to resume intense training.

Although several of his techniques had reached perfection recently and no longer needed time investment…

His daily chakra reserves hadn't decreased.

And he wasn't about to waste any of it.

All that extra chakra had simply been reallocated to other jutsu.

Naturally, that meant the total time he had to spend on daily training hadn't really changed.

So even now, time remained tight, and his average sleep was still only about four hours a day.

But Haruki had already grown used to this busy and fulfilling lifestyle.

And he didn't mind it at all.