Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

"Calling all Jonin to a meeting... Could it be related to the Iwa-nin?"

Staring at the fading silhouette of the Konoha Chunin who had just delivered the message, Uchiha Haruki muttered to himself.

As for why he suspected it involved the Iwa-nin—

It was simple. Given the current situation, if it weren't something serious involving Iwa, Captain Oomura Tadanobu would never summon all the Jonin together.

Moreover, in recent days, rumors had already begun circulating—whispers that the Iwa-nin were considering restarting hostilities.

Haruki had also picked up signs during patrols and in reports from his subordinates. There had indeed been a noticeable increase in the activity of Iwa infiltration squads.

All signs pointed to one thing: Iwagakure was likely preparing to launch another offensive.

And for Haruki, this was not good news. War meant chaos, and chaos disrupted the peace he desperately needed. His training would inevitably suffer.

He closed his eyes and focused inward, carefully sensing the state of his body. By his estimation, he still needed another three to four days to complete the accumulation of physical energy required for his next transformation.

"What a pity..."

Sighing inwardly, Haruki set the thought aside.

He formed hand seals and skillfully performed Mystic Palm Technique, allowing pure Yang-nature chakra to flow smoothly through his body.

After several rounds, and judging that the time was just right, Haruki left his hut and found Yamano Kiku, assigning him a few tasks before heading down the mountain to the meeting site.

Upon arriving at the Windwillow Town outpost, Haruki entered the conference room right on time. Not long after, Captain Oomura Tadanobu also arrived.

The meeting began quickly, and—just as Haruki had expected—it was indeed about the latest developments involving the Iwa-nin.

What surprised him, however, was that the Iwa-nin weren't planning to make Windwillow Town their primary attack target.

Instead, they planned to split their forces and attack several neighboring outposts.

"Is this information accurate?"

One of the Jonin voiced their skepticism after listening to Oomura Tadanobu's briefing. Others also turned to him for clarification.

Seeing this, Oomura nodded firmly and said in a deep voice, "This intel is absolutely reliable."

Though he didn't reveal the source, everyone present was a Jonin—not fools. They instantly realized: Konoha had a spy embedded deep within Iwa's ranks.

And not just any spy, but someone trusted enough by Tadanobu or the higher-ups that he could speak with such confidence.

In other words, Iwa splitting their forces was practically guaranteed.

But why would they do that? the Jonin all wondered.

Haruki, however, instantly grasped the reason. It wasn't because he was especially quick-witted—it was because he'd seen this exact tactic before.

Back then, the reason they had to retreat from their front-line outpost was that nearby strongholds were taken down, leaving them isolated and vulnerable, forcing a withdrawal.

Now, this was unfolding all over again.

Clearly, the Iwa-nin intended to use the same trick—eliminate the outposts near Windwillow Town, isolate it, and then apply pressure.

If they succeeded, Windwillow's current situation might indeed force another retreat.

Haruki even began to suspect that the commander behind these Iwa operations might be the same person who led the earlier strategy.

Otherwise, how could they execute it with such precision?

But that wasn't the point. What mattered now was—what should they do next?

Though the other Jonin might not have immediately reached the same conclusion as Haruki, a bit of thought led them to similar suspicions about Iwa's intentions.

So everyone began thinking up countermeasures.

Truthfully, the reason they were in such a passive position was simply because of a shortage of manpower.

The past two years of war had severely depleted Konoha's forces, and nearly every front was suffering.

If they had enough people, each outpost could have been reinforced with hundreds—then it wouldn't matter how much Iwa split their troops.

But Konoha didn't have that luxury.

In fact, in the past month alone, several nearby outposts had transferred personnel to support Windwillow Town. As a result, those places were now left undermanned and vulnerable.

So in the end, they came up with a solution that, while not ideal, was the only feasible option: split up their own forces as well, and protect as many nearby outposts as possible.

That was the only way to prevent Windwillow from becoming isolated and cut off.

The meeting concluded. Haruki returned to the West Mountain outpost, selected a few trusted subordinates, and combined them with the team assigned to him by Oomura Tadanobu.

Altogether, they formed a unit of roughly one hundred and immediately set off toward an outpost southeast of Windwillow Town—approximately twenty kilometers away.

Haruki had been assigned a support mission.

He wasn't alone. Several other capable Jonin had also been tasked with reinforcing neighboring strongholds.

It was clear that Oomura was hoping to use these elites to balance out Konoha's numerical disadvantage.

Haruki didn't comment on the strategy.

He led his support team on a long detour and, under the cover of night, secretly arrived at the target outpost.

The place was known as the Kogamura Outpost, built inside a village named Kogamura.

Kogamura was a mid-sized settlement, able to house 700–800 people.

But ever since the start of the Great Ninja War, there were no more villagers—only about 150–200 Konoha shinobi stationed there.

Now, with Haruki's team added, the outpost had roughly 300 personnel.

If the Iwa-nin hadn't already received intel about the reinforcement, then once they began their offensive, they'd be in for a nasty surprise.

This was the value of timely intelligence.

Time passed quickly, and the next day arrived.

Haruki and the other reinforcements stayed hidden. Patrols, guard duties, and other routine tasks were handled by the original stationed troops.

From the outside, nothing had changed.

Now it was just a matter of whether the Iwa-nin would take the bait.

Time ticked by. The sun rose and fell. A full day passed, and still no sign of the Iwa-nin.

But Haruki wasn't anxious.

According to Oomura's intelligence, the Iwa forces were expected to launch their attack within three days. All he had to do was wait patiently.

And in the meantime, he could continue using this window of calm to strengthen his body and build his reserves.

In the blink of an eye, another day passed.

Just when everyone was beginning to think it would be another uneventful night—

Boom!

A sudden explosion shattered the silence and jolted the entire outpost to life.

The village instantly descended into controlled chaos.

But thanks to prior preparation, no one panicked.

At the same time…

Just outside the village, an Iwa Special Jonin stared darkly at the corpse of the Konoha Chunin who had just been blown to pieces by an explosive tag.

His mission had been to take out this scout silently. It should've been a guaranteed kill.

But unexpectedly, his target had remained highly alert and reacted at the last possible second, denying him the clean kill.

Worse yet, the Chunin had ignited an explosive tag, attempting to take the Iwa-nin with him.

Only thanks to his quick reflexes had the Special Jonin escaped unscathed.

But the explosion meant their presence was now exposed.

Fortunately, they had prepared thoroughly. Their forces were twice the size of the enemy's and could overwhelm them with sheer power.

With that thought, the Iwa Special Jonin gave the order for all squad members to advance at full speed.

Other Iwa squads, having heard the blast as well, realized their cover was blown and likewise rushed forward, converging on Kogamura.