Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

"Takuya! Damn it!"

Watching Miyahara Takuya get cut down by Uchiha Haruki in a single strike, Yamada Shinichi cursed under his breath. He quickly formed hand seals and unleashed another jutsu against Haruki.

"Lightning Style: Lightning Binding!"

In an instant, a flash of electricity shot forth like a rope, rapidly twisting through the air to ensnare Haruki.

Already familiar with the power of his opponent's lightning-style techniques, Uchiha Haruki was not about to let himself be caught so easily. With a swift sidestep, he dodged the incoming lightning rope.

However, the lightning rope didn't dissipate. Like a venomous snake, it suddenly veered in another direction and continued its pursuit.

Haruki frowned slightly. Planting his feet firmly into the ground, he shifted direction several times within the span of a few breaths.

Even so, he couldn't shake off the lightning rope—it clung to him like a curse, relentlessly chasing him down.

"Tch."

Haruki, growing impatient with the pursuit, let out a cold snort and abruptly halted his movement, ceasing all attempts to dodge.

Turning his head, he faced the oncoming lightning rope head-on. With a swing of his long sword, he infused a massive amount of Wind Style chakra into the blade, sharpening its edge even further.

Crackle—!

Zzzrrpp—!

The sound of electricity exploding filled the air. Though the lightning rope offered some resistance, Haruki's wind-infused blade sliced through it cleanly.

In the hierarchy of chakra nature transformations, Wind is a poor conductor for Lightning—Wind Style naturally counters Lightning Style.

Moreover, Haruki's chakra output in a single burst far exceeded his opponent's. Even without additional leverage or enhancement, he was able to cut through what was at least a B-rank jutsu.

Yamada Shinichi's pupils shrank. He hadn't expected his jutsu to be broken so easily, and the shock showed clearly on his face.

But he quickly recovered and began forming hand seals again, this time for a more advanced jutsu:

"Lightning Style: Twin-Headed Wolves!"

Crack!

With a burst of flashing electricity, two wolf-shaped beasts of lightning, each as large as a grown man, appeared beside him.

Pointing at Haruki, Yamada shouted, "Go!"

In the next instant, the two lightning wolves shot forward like caged beasts set free, racing toward Haruki from the left and right.

This jutsu—"Lightning Style: Twin-Headed Wolves"—was an evolved version of the lightning beast summoning technique Yamada had used earlier.

Not only had the once-vague lightning creatures taken on more defined, wolf-like shapes, but their number had also doubled, drastically increasing their threat level.

Haruki knew well that these lightning beasts would explode upon contact—so there was no chance he would let them get too close.

Without hesitation, he sheathed his blade and formed hand seals, releasing a wind-style jutsu in an instant:

"Wind Style: Blade of Wind!"

Whoosh—!

A nearly invisible wind blade flew from his hands and aimed directly at the lightning wolf charging from the right. One glance told Haruki the creature wouldn't be able to evade it in time.

Satisfied, he stopped paying attention to that one and leapt backward to put distance between himself and the second wolf charging from the left.

Wasting no time, he formed another set of hand seals:

"Water Style: Giant Shark Bullet!"

A massive, shark-shaped projectile of water materialized in front of him and lunged straight at the lightning wolf.

Relying on the insight granted by his Sharingan, Haruki predicted the wolf's evasive maneuvers with pinpoint accuracy. The water shark clamped down on it with its jaws.

Due to the nature of this jutsu, which absorbs chakra from its target, the moment the two met, the lightning wolf lost the ability to resist. The shark began to devour its chakra.

As the chakra was siphoned away, the shark grew larger while the wolf shrank—an inverse relationship with an inevitable conclusion.

"Damn it! Detonate!"

Not far away, Yamada Shinichi cursed and changed his hand signs. The captured lightning wolf exploded.

In the next instant, blinding flashes of lightning burst forth, crackling and buzzing as powerful currents surged. The entire water shark was enveloped by the explosion before vanishing into thin air.

While the Giant Shark Bullet could, in theory, absorb any amount of chakra and counter most jutsu, it was still just an A-rank technique. Both the speed and volume of chakra it could absorb had their limits.

The self-destruction of the lightning wolf had surpassed that threshold, causing the jutsu to collapse and vanish along with its target.

Meanwhile, the other lightning wolf had already been cleaved in two by Haruki's wind blade.

With both threats eliminated, Yamada Shinichi's offensive had been fully neutralized.

Haruki didn't hesitate. He immediately unsheathed his sword and used his Instant Blade Technique to close the distance between them at incredible speed.

Shing—!

A flash of cold steel burst through the air as Haruki aimed his slash at Yamada's neck.

Sensing the bone-chilling aura from the blade, Yamada didn't hesitate—he threw his head back to narrowly avoid the strike.

Zzrrrp—!

The blade tore through the air in front of him, its Wind-style chakra slicing through his clothes and leaving a shallow cut across his chest.

Wincing from the sharp sting on his chest, Yamada pushed off the ground and retreated at an angle.

Haruki pursued immediately, stepping forward and swinging his sword again—this time toward his opponent's chest.

Yamada dared not take it head-on. He twisted his body and dodged to the side.

Again, Haruki's blade missed. But he didn't let up, continuing his relentless strikes, while Yamada focused solely on evading.

For a time, the two clashed back and forth in a fast-paced exchange.

However, a closer look revealed that Haruki was clearly the aggressor, with Yamada constantly on the defensive.

Despite being a full-fledged Jonin with balanced abilities in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu, Yamada was clearly being suppressed.

There was no room for ninjutsu—Haruki's relentless close-quarters pressure kept him from casting.

As for genjutsu, with Haruki's Sharingan in play, even avoiding genjutsu traps was an achievement—there was no opportunity to use his own illusions.

That left only taijutsu.

Fortunately for Yamada, he was proficient with Lightning Style and could use it to enhance his neural reflexes. Otherwise, he would have already fallen to Haruki's blade.

But the tide was turning.

After several minutes of intense fighting, Haruki had started to recognize his opponent's habits and patterns.

With the power of the Sharingan, it was only a matter of time before he found the perfect opening.

When that happened, not even Lightning-enhanced speed would save Yamada Shinichi.

Resolving to end it, Haruki stopped holding back and launched a full-force assault.

In an instant, Yamada's situation became perilous beyond measure.