Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

While Konoha was monitoring the movements of the Mist ninja and had already noticed Mei Terumi and the others returning, the Mist side naturally had ways of tracking Konoha's activities too.

So, the moment Uchiha Haruki and his group made a move to support the Eastern front, they were immediately discovered—and intercepted.

Though the Mist ninja who came to block them weren't of Hotaro Kaguya's level, their leader was still a true Jōnin.

Haruki spent a good amount of time and effort to deal with the enemy.

Afterward, he pushed back several more waves of attackers before finally arriving at the Eastern front of the base.

And he had to admit—this was clearly the Mist Village's main offensive front. The chaos here was on an entirely different level.

As soon as he got close, he could hear the fierce clashes of combat all around.

The explosive sounds of detonation tags rang constantly through the air, frequently lighting up the night sky in flashes of flame.

If there had been forests near the base, they would've gone up in flames long ago.

Still, this worked in their favor. While the moonlight tonight was bright enough not to hinder battle, it was still better than fighting in broad daylight.

Besides, Haruki had the Sharingan, which allowed him to ignore most visual interference altogether.

His gaze quickly swept across the battlefield.

Although the number of Mist ninjas and Konoha ninjas wasn't far apart, the fight was clearly one-sided.

The front hadn't collapsed entirely yet, but it was on the verge—Konoha's casualties were going to soar if things continued this way.

"No wonder they rushed to get me here so urgently… They really were about to fall apart,"

Haruki muttered to himself, but didn't waste any more time.

He locked onto a Mist Jōnin and dashed toward him.

Just as he had expected, the crisis at the Eastern front was due to Konoha's lack of high-level combatants compared to the Mist side.

Because of this, several Konoha Special Jōnin—who were meant to coordinate and command—were forced into frontline battles just to hold back the Mist Jōnin.

With that key middle-tier leadership missing, the remaining Chūnin and Genin of Konoha became disorganized and were easily overwhelmed by the better-trained Mist troops.

So Haruki's task was simple—hold off a few Mist Jōnin and free up the Special Jōnin so they could return to their intended roles.

Once that happened, the battlefront would naturally stabilize.

That's why his first target was a Mist Jōnin who was currently being double-teamed by two Konoha Special Jōnin.

Swish—

A blue flash streaked across the air.

Haruki used Shun Sword Technique to arrive instantly in front of the Mist Jōnin, raising his long blade and—clang!—deflecting an attack from the opponent's kunai.

"Jōnin Haruki!" ×2

The two Special Jōnin from Konoha let out sighs of relief as soon as they saw him and quickly called out.

Haruki didn't even look back. "I've got this. You two, go help elsewhere."

"Understood."

They both nodded and, fully confident in his strength, turned and left without hesitation.

The Mist Jōnin didn't try to stop them.

Looking at Haruki's still somewhat youthful face, he asked,

"So you're the Ghost Blade… Haruki?"

Though it was phrased like a question, his tone was filled with certainty.

But Haruki didn't bother to respond.

Yes, he was here to buy time, but not just to stall one person.

So, he needed to display a certain level of strength.

That way, he would attract the attention of other Mist Jōnin, drawing them toward him and relieving pressure elsewhere.

With that in mind, Haruki gave the Mist Jōnin a faint smile—then suddenly unleashed Genjutsu: Sharingan!

The Mist Jōnin, clearly familiar with Haruki's intel, immediately closed his eyes and leaped backward the moment the Genjutsu triggered.

But Haruki wasn't going to let him off that easily.

His long blade swung in a relentless barrage, slashing at the retreating Mist Jōnin.

Clang clang clang!

The enemy clearly had vast battlefield experience—even without sight, he managed to parry Haruki's strikes by relying on instinct and sound alone.

But this… was just the beginning.

Clang—

After another blocked strike, Haruki suddenly pulled back his blade and formed a seal with one hand—his mouth opened wide:

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

A massive fireball burst from his mouth.

The sudden change in tempo caught the Mist Jōnin off guard, but he managed to dodge at the last second.

Yet before he could steady himself, a new volley of flaming fireballs came hurling toward him—Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu.

Each one looked like the seed of a blazing flower.

Feeling the searing heat radiating from them, the Mist Jōnin knew better than to take them head-on. He quickly sidestepped—

But then, whoosh!

"What?!"

To his horror, several glowing red-hot shuriken burst forth from the fireballs, flying directly at him.

Haruki had hidden the shuriken within the Phoenix Fire Jutsu, catching his opponent off-guard.

Slish—

The sound of flesh being cut rang out, followed by the bitter stench of burned blood.

The Mist Jōnin clutched his left arm, his expression dark.

Though he had sensed the ambush at the last moment and tried to dodge, Haruki had predicted his movement—one shuriken still sliced his arm.

"Damn brat…"

The Jōnin shot Haruki a wary glance, now deeply cautious.

Meanwhile, Haruki, having landed a clean hit, began to form a clearer picture of his opponent's abilities.

Wasting no time, he launched his second wave of attacks.

No fancy tricks—just Shun Sword Technique to close the gap, followed by relentless sword combos.

Since they were fighting one-on-one, the Mist Jōnin didn't dare make eye contact. He was quickly pushed onto the defensive.

That gave Haruki openings to use ninjutsu. Whether it was Wind Style, Fire Style, or Water Style, every jutsu he launched put pressure on the enemy.

With each cycle of attacks, Haruki found more and more gaps to exploit.

Before long, the Mist Jōnin was covered in wounds—some from Haruki's blade, some from kunai and shuriken, and others from direct hits by jutsu.

He looked battered and miserable.

Of course, the Mist Jōnin tried to fight back a few times, but his efforts were either easily dodged or deflected by Haruki.

In short, nothing he did worked.

Finally, seeing that his opponent's condition was deteriorating, Haruki decided to finish it.

He unleashed a sequence of Swordsmanship, Shun Sword Technique, and Phantom Sword Technique in a rapid barrage.

In mere moments, the Mist Jōnin was in a dire state, cornered and flustered.

But just as Haruki was about to go for the finishing blow—

Several shuriken suddenly shot in from the side.

Haruki spotted them out of the corner of his eye and instantly aborted his attack, his body flickering several times as he narrowly dodged them all.