Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

"Captain, what should we do next?"

As Uchiha Haruki was deep in thought, the voice of Yamanaka Kiku echoed in his mind again.

Upon hearing it, Haruki pondered briefly before replying, "Organize the team immediately and build a second line of defense. Also, send someone to report the situation here to Jonin Commander Yuito."

"What about the Four-Tails' Jinchuriki?"

Yamanaka Kiku asked again.

The fear in his voice was clear—and Haruki could hear it without effort.

Looks like expecting them to take him on directly is unrealistic... I'll have to go myself.

With that thought, Haruki said calmly, "Leave him to me. You all focus on your tasks. Don't engage the enemy head-on for now. I'll be back soon."

"Understood, Captain!"

Relieved by Haruki's answer, Kiku ended the telepathic connection.

Haruki stood still, weighing the specifics of his next move.

First of all, he didn't need to defeat or kill the Four-Tails host—not only was it beyond his current ability, it wasn't necessary.

As long as this situation was reported to the higher-ups, Minato Namikaze would arrive soon. Once he did, Haruki could pass the problem onto him.

His consistent principle was to never bite off more than he could chew. No pointless effort, and no taking on tasks beyond his limits.

After all, Minato's assignment here was specifically to handle the Four-Tails and Five-Tails. Haruki had no reason to act brave.

Honestly, even stepping in at this stage was a risk. If not for the fact that abandoning the position without a fight felt dishonorable, he might've chosen to simply walk away.

Fortunately, the risk was manageable. He could treat it as doing Minato a small favor.

With that in mind, Haruki darted to the left, heading straight toward the Iwa formation.

He had already been circling around, and now his position placed him directly in the center of the Iwa left-wing unit. By cutting across, he could easily sever their formation.

That's right—Haruki had no intention of engaging Rōshi, the Four-Tails' host, directly.

There were two reasons:

First, the distance was too far. By the time he got there, it'd be too late to change anything.

Second, fighting one-on-one with a Jinchuriki was far too risky.

Instead, he'd stir up chaos within Iwa's ranks. If he fought Rōshi amid the enemy forces, Rōshi would be forced to hold back when casting Lava Release jutsu, lest he hit his own men.

At the same time, this would force Rōshi to turn around.

There was no one else in the Iwa unit who could take on Haruki. As long as he avoided getting surrounded, he could deal massive casualties to the enemy.

If Rōshi didn't want to end up as a lone commander without any troops, he'd be forced to return.

From there, Haruki could slowly close the distance during battle—a far better approach than chasing after Rōshi directly.

One minute later.

Haruki spotted the Iwa formation.

They were rapidly assembling toward the mountaintop.

Without a word, Haruki flung several shuriken.

Whizz whizz whizz—

A series of sharp, slicing sounds echoed.

Moments later—screams erupted from the Iwa shinobi.

Haruki had deliberately targeted the chunin and genin, creating chaos from a sneak attack. These lower-ranked shinobi had no time to react and were immediately hit.

"Enemy attack!"

"Watch out! There's someone here!"

"Where is he?!"

". . ."

The formation broke into panic—just as Haruki had planned.

But this isn't enough yet!

If the Iwa jonin regained control and organized a defense, the panic would settle quickly—something Haruki could not allow.

So, immediately after launching his shuriken, he moved through the trees with expert precision, skillfully using terrain and foliage to stay hidden.

Through his Sharingan, Haruki located a jonin based on his chakra reserves. From what he could tell, the man was a Special Jonin, not overly strong—perfect for causing more chaos.

"Everyone, quiet down!"

Yamamoto Kenichi stepped forward, shouting over the commotion.

"Next, we—"

Before he could finish, several nearby shinobi suddenly looked behind him with horrified expressions.

A dreadful premonition surged through him.

An overwhelming sense of danger gripped his heart.

Without hesitation, Kenichi dived forward, narrowly escaping the spot he'd been standing.

Swish—!

A short sword sliced through the air just above his head.

A burning sting seared his scalp—blood and flesh flew, and he realized he had just barely dodged death.

Heart pounding, Kenichi was still trying to figure out how the enemy had managed to sneak up behind him without a sound.

"Huh?"

Haruki let out a surprised grunt.

Kenichi had actually dodged his well-timed assassination strike. But he didn't let it stop him.

With a swift motion, Haruki formed hand seals with his left hand.

Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!

A massive fireball burst forth from his mouth and surged toward Kenichi's back.

Sensing the incoming heat, Kenichi glanced around quickly, his eyes pausing on a large tree to his right.

Without wasting time, he launched himself like a cannonball toward the tree, ducking behind it just as the fireball closed in.

BOOM!

The fireball exploded on impact. Flames engulfed the tree in a roaring blaze.

Cough cough—

A charred, scorched figure stumbled from behind the tree—none other than Kenichi himself.

In a flash, Haruki appeared before him, slicing cleanly across his throat with his short sword.

But—no blood spilled.

Haruki's movement faltered ever so slightly.

In that instant, a sudden threat surged from the side. A kunai shot out from behind a nearby tree, aiming straight for his neck.

"Die!" roared the blackened Kenichi from behind the tree.

But the expression he expected—fear, panic, or resistance—didn't appear.

All he saw was a cold, indifferent face, and a pair of blood-red Sharingan eyes.

In the next moment, the Sharingan filled his vision—dragging his consciousness into an abyss.

Haruki lifted his hand and easily caught Kenichi's wrist, then pushed it downward.

The kunai reversed course and plunged into Kenichi's own chest—right through the heart.

Grievously wounded, Kenichi snapped out of the genjutsu. He looked down at the weapon in his chest, then back up at Haruki—trying to speak—but no words came.

A second later, life left his eyes.

The figure in front of Haruki dissipated into chakra smoke, vanishing instantly.

It had been a Shadow Clone.

To be fair, Kenichi's reflexes were impressive. He had managed to formulate a bait-and-counter strategy in the blink of an eye.

Had it been anyone else, they might've fallen for it.

But Haruki was different.

Even though the Sharingan couldn't directly identify clones, the sudden drop in chakra levels was too obvious.

He had seen through the trick at once and used it against Kenichi to complete the kill.

"Captain!"

"Captain Yamamoto!"

". . ."

Only now did the Iwa chunin and genin react—calling out one after another.