Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Without the slightest hesitation, Uchiha Haruki pushed his Three-Tomoe Sharingan to its limit.

In an instant, everything in his vision seemed to slow down.

Haruki raised both hands, quickly formed hand seals, and activated a ninjutsu:

Water Release: Water Formation Wall!

A thick wall of water rose from the surface of the sea and stood firmly in front of him.

Almost simultaneously, the corrosive Lava Release mucus Mei Terumi had spewed splashed onto it.

Ssss—!

An ear-piercing, tooth-gritting sound erupted.

In the blink of an eye, the water wall was corroded and melted away completely.

However, it had bought Haruki just enough precious time.

Without hesitation, the moment he finished casting the Water Formation Wall, he leapt backward to escape.

But would Mei Terumi—who had waited so long for this opening—let him get away so easily?

The instant he started to retreat, she gave chase. While closing in, she formed another set of hand seals and released a Water Release technique Haruki had never seen before.

She channeled a massive amount of water chakra through her palms and injected it into the ocean, causing countless water arrows to rise and shoot straight toward Haruki.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

As the sharp whistling sound of piercing air filled his ears, Haruki's expression remained calm.

With his Sharingan at full power, he spun his longsword like a windmill.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

A storm of metallic collisions rang out as he deflected every incoming arrow.

"Hmph!"

Seeing this, Mei snorted coldly. Without pausing, she formed more hand seals and unleashed another Water Release technique.

This one resembled Tobirama Senju's high-level jutsu—Water Release: Severing Wave, a high-speed jet of piercing water shot from the mouth.

However, unlike Tobirama's version, this stream lacked continuous flow.

Thanks to the advanced insight of his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Haruki easily dodged the attack.

But before he could counterattack, Mei had already formed another sequence of seals and cast:

Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!

Clearly, she intended to replicate her tactics from earlier against Haruki's shadow clone—using wide-range, continuous assaults to force evasive movement, expose openings, and then deal a lethal blow.

But Haruki had inherited all the memories of his clone—how could he fall for the same trick?

More importantly, unlike the clone, which had limited chakra and couldn't hold out for long, Haruki's real body had multiple advantages:

Although slightly fatigued from the long journey, he still had chakra reserves.

Surrounded by Mist ninja, he could rely on Chakra Absorption Technique to restore stamina as needed.

He wasn't afraid of injury—his Lv. 8 Mystic Palm Technique allowed him to recover quickly and even ignore most minor damage.

Given all this, trying to defeat him using the same method used on his clone was wishful thinking, even if Mei employed both Lava and Boil Release.

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Haruki saw the water dragon hurtling toward him.

He didn't dodge.

Clang!

He sheathed his blade and raised both hands, rapidly forming hand seals.

Then he opened his mouth—

Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!

A thin jet of flame shot from his lips, quickly expanding into a fire dragon, roaring into the sky and colliding with the oncoming water dragon.

Boom—!

A heavy impact rang out.

Fire and water clashed, exploding in midair. A rain of flames and water droplets fell across the battlefield.

Evenly matched!

Everyone present—both Mist and Leaf shinobi—had the same thought.

Then, shock rippled through their hearts.

Because theoretically, Water chakra counters Fire chakra.

When ninjutsu of both elements clash, the one with the elemental advantage usually dominates—

Unless the Fire Release is of a higher rank or imbued with more chakra.

Just like water can extinguish fire, and fire can evaporate water—when enough volume or force is present, either side could prevail.

But here's the strange part:

Haruki's Dragon Fire Technique wasn't higher ranked than Mei's Water Dragon Bullet. If anything, it was lower.

Their chakra output seemed about equal too.

By all logic, Haruki's fire dragon should have been suppressed.

But they clashed equally.

That wasn't normal.

And that's why everyone was stunned.

But the reason for this result was simple: Haruki's mastery over Dragon Fire Technique was absolute.

Mei may have been a genius, capable of quickly grasping new jutsu,

but unless she was a once-in-a-generation prodigy with a lot of luck, she couldn't possibly have trained her jutsu to perfection.

Haruki, however, had something else—his Proficiency Panel.

He might not master a technique in just a few tries, but given enough time and effort, he could grind any ninjutsu to perfection.

And the difference between a mastered jutsu and a regular one was not just a numerical level—it represented an entirely different ceiling of performance.

For example, casting speed.

With mastered C-rank jutsu or lower, Haruki could almost cast instantly, giving him an edge even when reacting second.

Moreover, perfect mastery meant he understood every trick behind the technique—

which allowed him to fight with leverage, using small efforts to achieve big effects.

Because of all this, even though he attacked second, he still managed to stand toe-to-toe with Mei.

All of this flashed through Haruki's mind in an instant.

And what he could perceive, Mei Terumi could also figure out.

So, unlike the other stunned spectators, Mei's expression turned grim.

She had originally assumed Haruki's swordsmanship was already overwhelming—

after all, someone nicknamed "Demon Blade" wouldn't be weak.

But now, she realized even his ninjutsu was refined to an absurd degree.

Previously, she had only been surprised by his single-handed seals.

But now that Haruki had gone all out, his depth was becoming clear.

"Should I retreat…?"

That thought suddenly crossed Mei's mind.

But the Mist forces had spent a long time preparing for this ambush on Konoha's forward base in the Land of Waves.

If they retreated now, and Haruki flanked the main Mist unit and performed well, the consequences would be disastrous.

For a moment, Mei was caught in a painful dilemma.