Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Once Haruki made his decision, he immediately turned his focus to the Palm Sage Technique.

Based on its current rate of physical enhancement, he estimated that raising his Physique from 13 to 14 would take at least two months.

No doubt, that was far too long for him.

Haruki didn't want to wait that long.

So, there were only two possible options:

First, increase his chakra investment.

Second, upgrade the Palm Sage Technique to a higher level.

As for the first option—

Enhancing the body with Palm Sage Technique simply took time.

With a usage interval of one cast every three minutes, and assuming he slept only four hours a day, he could at most cast the jutsu 400 times daily.

At that rate, based on past experience, it would still take at least a month to complete another physical transformation.

And that's not even factoring in chakra consumption.

If you included all kinds of interruptions and miscellaneous tasks, there was no way he could pull it off in less than a month and a half.

Which left the second option:

Leveling up the Palm Sage Technique.

All of those prior time estimates were based on the technique at Level 6.

But if he could push it to Level 7, the results would be drastically different.

Judging by how powerful the technique became when it advanced to Level 6, Haruki was certain that upgrading to Level 7 would dramatically amplify its effects.

That also meant he could accumulate the necessary foundation for another body breakthrough much faster.

Fortunately, after repeated use over the past few days, the technique's proficiency had already reached:

Lv6 (6725 / 10000)—not far from leveling up.

Haruki did a rough calculation. He estimated that he would need around 490,000 chakra points to hit Level 7.

Currently, he could regenerate about 42,000 chakra per day.

That meant—in 11 days, the Palm Sage Technique would be upgraded.

And if he could somehow gain an extra 17,000 chakra daily, that number would drop to 9 days.

If he gathered even more chakra, the time would shrink further.

Trading less than 10 days for significantly faster long-term growth—

This was clearly a no-brainer.

Most importantly, during this period, he could still use the Palm Sage Technique to gradually strengthen his body. As long as it didn't waste time, he could balance both methods at once.

This approach would accelerate both chakra mastery and physical development.

A win-win.

Now, the only thing left to consider was—

Would the Hidden Stone Village give him that much time?

According to what Uemon from the Hidden Leaf had said earlier, Iwagakure would be ready for war within a week.

That meant from today onward, a full-scale assault could begin at any time.

And once war broke out, the battlefield would descend into chaos. Trying to peacefully strengthen his body in such conditions would be impossible.

That was why he had decided to prioritize leveling up the Palm Sage Technique.

After all, grinding proficiency didn't require any special environment. Even if the surroundings were in chaos, it wouldn't matter much.

He might even get more chances to heal injured comrades, which would help him grind the technique faster.

On top of that, once war erupted, people would be far too distracted to notice the smaller things.

At that point, he could probably extract more chakra from enemy Iwa-nin without raising suspicion.

Stacking these advantages, Haruki felt increasingly confident that his Palm Sage Technique could rank up ahead of schedule.

Just as he was silently finalizing his plan, several of his squad members returned.

Haruki closed the panel and stood up. Looking at them, he asked:

"Anything to report?"

They shook their heads.

"We've checked the surrounding area. No enemy stragglers," one of them said.

"Any signs of Iwa-nin?" Haruki asked again.

"None."

Haruki fell into brief thought, then said:

"Alright, leave it. Let's get back to our patrol."

"Yes, Captain!"

They answered in unison, quickly tidied up their fallen comrades' bodies, then rejoined Haruki to resume their patrol.

Three more days passed in the blink of an eye.

That night, Haruki was resting at the western highlands outpost when a sudden and terrifying pressure swept across the area.

It was so intense that it made his hair stand on end.

Haruki's eyes snapped open. He grabbed the short sword at his side, dashed out of his tent, and leapt several times until he landed on the top of a tall tree.

With a single thought, he activated his Sharingan.

Under the moonlight, he spotted a figure surrounded by dark red chakra, radiating a ferocious and violent aura.

Just one glance, and Haruki recognized it.

It was the semi-transformed state of a Jinchūriki—someone halfway into Tailed Beast Mode.

There were only two Jinchūriki in the area:

Rōshi, the Four-Tails host, and Han, the Five-Tails host.

Haruki could still recall the distinct chakra of Han's beast, Kokuō—

This wasn't it.

Which left only one answer:

This was Rōshi, the Four-Tails Jinchūriki!

"Is Iwagakure finally launching a full assault?" Haruki guessed.

The next moment, Rōshi's actions confirmed it.

He opened his mouth wide, and in the air before him, multiple blue chakra spheres and a few purple-black ones began to form, rapidly spinning and merging.

They fused together to become a single pitch-black, high-density chakra ball.

It could only be one thing:

A Tailed Beast Bomb.

Then, the orb shot through the air—aimed in Haruki's direction.

Well, to be precise, it wasn't targeting Haruki himself.

Its actual destination was the Windwillow Town outpost, situated between Haruki and the enemy camp.

Just as the bomb was about to land—

A blonde figure suddenly appeared in midair, directly in the bomb's path.

He had striking yellow hair, a calm expression, and piercing blue eyes full of confidence.

There was no mistaking it:

Minato Namikaze.

Haruki wasn't surprised in the slightest.

He'd known since two days ago that Minato had arrived—

Or rather, every Jonin in the Leaf did.

As for why he was here?

Wasn't it obvious?

He'd come to deal with the Jinchūriki.

Konoha had already learned that Iwagakure was sending two Tailed Beast hosts to attack Windwillow Town.

How could they not be prepared?

Naturally, Minato was deployed.

Of course, aside from defending the village, Minato had another personal reason—to protect Kushina Uzumaki.

Logically speaking, if the enemy deployed Jinchūriki, Konoha should have done the same.

But Kushina hadn't been sent to the frontlines.

That meant Minato had to shoulder the burden alone.

As these thoughts flashed through Haruki's mind, his attention returned to the battlefield.

Minato, hovering midair, finished forming hand seals with lightning speed.

He pressed his hand into the void, and an enormous sealing array materialized instantly.

At the center of the seal—

A dark spatial rift appeared.

It was a special teleportation array evolved from the Flying Thunder God Technique:

Flying Thunder God: Lightning Guide.

The Tailed Beast Bomb struck the rift, and a powerful force pulled it inward.

Then, under Minato's control, it was sent hurtling into the distant plains.

BOOM—

A deafening explosion rang out, followed by a blinding flash of white light.

Everyone who saw it—whether from the Leaf or the Stone—stood frozen, mouths agape.

The destructive power of the Tailed Beast Bomb needed no explanation.

But someone who could teleport it away effortlessly?

Minato Namikaze was truly unfathomable.

Only now did everyone realize—

The Yellow Flash had arrived on the battlefield.

In an instant, the Leaf ninjas erupted in cheers.

The Stone ninjas, meanwhile, were gripped by fear.

As the saying goes—

"A person's reputation casts a long shadow."

Even if one hadn't witnessed Minato's power firsthand,

His record alone was enough to command fear and respect.