Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Seeing Uchiha Haruki charging straight at him, Shinya Shimazu felt a chill run down his spine and instinctively turned to flee.

But when he caught sight of Nobunaga Kamihara rapidly approaching from the distance, he steadied himself, gripped his kunai tightly, and moved to confront Haruki head-on.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Crisp metallic clashes rang out as Haruki wielded his short sword like a phantom, relentlessly pressing his attack around Shimazu.

Now that he no longer had to worry about interference from others, Haruki could finally bring his line-of-sight disruption tactics into full play.

Still, Shimazu had fought him several times before and had accumulated some experience. For the time being, he managed to hold his ground without making any major mistakes.

But just as Haruki found a potential opening, Kamihara arrived once more.

Helplessly, Haruki had to abandon the opportunity and deal with both of them simultaneously.

He could clearly feel that Kamihara was fighting with everything he had. His moves were fiercer than ever, and he was even starting to use Shimazu as bait to try and set traps.

Unfortunately for them, such tricks were as obvious to Haruki as fireflies in the dark. Naturally, there was no chance he'd fall for them.

As the saying goes: The first strike carries momentum, the second weakens, the third is exhausted.

They were trying to go all in, but Haruki deliberately slowed the pace, waiting for their burst of energy to fade—that's when he would strike.

Seconds ticked by.

Kamihara grew increasingly anxious. As a seasoned Jonin, he knew that kind of mentality was dangerous in combat.

But watching Haruki effortlessly block and counter, he couldn't help but feel pressured.

And when a person becomes desperate, mistakes happen.

Haruki had been planning to wait until their stamina was drained, but then—he suddenly spotted a perfect opening.

"A trap?" he wondered, his mind racing.

His three-tomoe Sharingan spun at full speed, scanning the expressions, actions, and micro-reactions of the two men.

In that instant, time seemed to stand still.

In Haruki's eyes, he caught a flicker of panic in Kamihara's gaze, and an even more obvious urgency in Shimazu's expression.

His initial judgment: this wasn't a trap—but a genuine mistake in their coordination.

With that in mind, Haruki didn't hesitate. He ducked low, dodging Kamihara's strike, then swung his short sword to the right, parrying Shimazu's incoming kunai.

Both attacks missed. Because they happened at nearly the same time, neither of the two Jonin had time to adjust—giving Haruki a golden chance to counterattack.

Better yet, due to their positions, Haruki ended up face-to-face with Kamihara.

Normally, that wouldn't be a big deal. Even if Haruki hypnotized Kamihara using his Sharingan, Shimazu could immediately follow up with an attack and force Haruki to abandon his kill.

But this time was different—

Their attacks had overlapped!

This meant that if Kamihara fell into a genjutsu, Shimazu wouldn't have time to stop Haruki from landing the finishing blow.

And that was the key difference between two-man coordination and four-man encirclement—the margin for error was vastly different.

With four, this situation could've been defused easily.

With two—it was a fatal mistake.

Haruki didn't care about their miscalculation.

Staring into Kamihara's eyes, he triggered a thought.

His three-tomoe Sharingan began to transform.

The tomoe rapidly elongated, and the black dot at the center fused with the rounded tips of each tomoe, expanding outward in a sudden burst.

The tails of the tomoe split into six black lines, extending outward toward the edge of the pupil.

In the end, a black, abstract, sun-like pattern emerged in Haruki's pupil.

This was it—

Haruki's Mangekyō Sharingan.

It was the first time he had ever revealed it to an outsider.

Kamihara's pupils trembled as he stared into Haruki's transforming eyes.

He didn't understand what it meant, but his instincts screamed: Don't look!

Immediately, he tried to shut his eyes and retreat.

But—

Too late.

Though it sounds like a lot, everything had happened within a heartbeat.

Before Kamihara could close his eyes, Haruki simply raised his left hand. Without another gesture—

Kamihara froze in place.

In the next instant, his consciousness was pulled helplessly into a powerful genjutsu.

"You—"

Beside him, Shimazu's expression twisted in horror. He barely managed to speak a single word.

But before he could say more, Haruki raised one finger and—

Pointed.

Just like with Kamihara, Haruki's Sharingan Genjutsu activated in an instant, dragging Shimazu into an illusory realm.

Now, both men were frozen, completely motionless.

The black sun in Haruki's eyes faded, returning to the familiar three-tomoe state.

Looking at the two immobilized Jonin before him, Haruki was silently thrilled.

He had always known that the Mangekyō enhanced genjutsu would be incredibly powerful, but even so—he never imagined it would be this easy to take down elite Jonin.

Haruki was certain: as long as he didn't dispel the genjutsu, neither Kamihara nor Shimazu would be escaping anytime soon.

"As expected of the Mangekyō Sharingan," Haruki thought, impressed.

With a casual swing of his short sword—

He slit both of their throats.

Kamihara, under immense pain and suffocation, managed to break free from the illusion at the last second.

But Shimazu died still trapped inside.

That alone showed just how terrifying Haruki's Mangekyō genjutsu was.

Ignoring Kamihara's wide, death-glazed eyes, Haruki pulled out several kunai and flung them swiftly.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The kunai flew over ten meters and embedded themselves in Kawachi Onima, who was severely wounded, and another Iwa Jonin whose fate was uncertain.

Onima tried to resist, but his injured body was no match for Haruki's precision throwing technique.

In the end, he could only collapse to the ground in unwilling defeat.

By now, Kamihara had also drawn his final breath.

Haruki looked at the four corpses on the ground and paused for a moment.

Then he formed hand seals and unleashed four massive Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu, incinerating the bodies completely.

This wasn't some act of cruelty or obsession—this was precaution.

In the shinobi world, there were countless forbidden techniques. Who knew if someone might extract information from these corpses?

If someone had abilities like Inoichi Yamanaka, who could read memories from the dead, Haruki's secret—the Mangekyō—might be exposed.

So, burning the bodies was the safest move.

Of course, there was still one hidden danger—their souls still existed.

If someone used Edo Tensei or some other secret jutsu to summon their souls from the Pure Land back to the world of the living…

Then theoretically, the Mangekyō could still be exposed.

But that scenario was highly unlikely, and no one would go out of their way to resurrect such minor players.

More importantly, Haruki didn't yet have any techniques to seal or destroy souls.

Even if he wanted to eliminate that hidden risk, he couldn't—not yet.

So, for now…

He would let it be.