Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

"Whew..."

Uchiha Haruki exhaled slowly as he looked down at the corpse of Hozuki Zangetsu.

He had to admit—among all the Jonin he had faced, Zangetsu might not have been the strongest, but he was by far the hardest to kill.

Because of the many eyes watching the battlefield, Haruki couldn't recklessly use his Mangekyō Sharingan's special abilities. And without Lightning Release, he had no natural counter to the Hydration Technique.

So, taking Zangetsu down had required a serious effort.

Fortunately, Haruki possessed overwhelming strength and chakra reserves. That alone had allowed him to overpower Zangetsu in such a short time.

If he were any weaker, it might've ended very differently.

Shaking his head, Haruki dismissed the thought and turned his gaze toward the rest of the battlefield.

While he had been fighting Zangetsu, both sides had retreated from this particular area, but every ninja had been watching their duel closely.

Now that Zangetsu had fallen, the morale among the Konoha forces soared.

In stark contrast, the Mist ninjas began to panic.

Even though they still outnumbered the Konoha forces by nearly 50%, their confidence had clearly been shaken.

This was the influence of high-level shinobi in warfare.

Haruki's eyes swept across the battlefield until they locked onto Kurosaki Takeo, who was struggling to stand and make his way back toward the safety of the Mist ranks.

Takeo had been injured by Haruki's Rasengan earlier and had spent the past several minutes trying to recover—but clearly, he hadn't improved much.

Haruki had expended a fair bit of chakra taking Zangetsu down. It was time to replenish his reserves.

With that thought, Haruki vanished from sight and reappeared right in front of Takeo.

Startled, Takeo froze at the sudden appearance. A glint of despair flickered in his eyes.

But despair quickly gave way to madness.

With a shout, he raised his kunai and lunged at Haruki.

But Haruki didn't move.

Just as the kunai was about to touch him, Takeo froze. The fierce look on his face was replaced by confusion.

Genjutsu: Sharingan.

During that brief moment of eye contact, Haruki had already trapped Takeo's consciousness in a genjutsu illusion.

With Takeo now immobilized, Haruki wasted no time. He raised a hand, ready to cast Chakra Absorption Technique to drain his chakra dry.

But just then, two voices rang out almost simultaneously.

"Captain Kurosaki!"

"Stop right there!"

Haruki paused mid-seal and looked toward the source of the voices.

Two Mist ninja were rushing toward him at high speed.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Several kunai flew through the air toward Haruki.

He tilted his body slightly, easily dodging the attack.

But that was only the beginning.

Both Mist ninja completed hand seals in rapid succession, each unleashing a Water Release jutsu:

Water Style: Water Jet Spear!

Water Style: Water Pellet Barrage!

A spear-like stream of water shot directly at Haruki's chest for a lethal strike, while a barrage of smaller water pellets fanned out to block any escape routes.

Their coordination was seamless—clearly, they'd trained together often.

But that level of cooperation might work on others—not on Haruki.

Without hesitation, Haruki changed his hand seals. He abandoned Chakra Absorption and instead activated Water Style: Water Formation Wall!

Instantly, a solid wall of water surged up in front of him.

The spear and water pellets splashed harmlessly against it, unable to harm him.

The two Mist Chunin's expressions tightened. But glancing at the motionless Kurosaki Takeo behind Haruki, they gritted their teeth and charged forward anyway.

"Hmph."

Haruki snorted coldly, then rapidly formed a new set of hand signs.

Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!

Roar!

A massive dragon formed from water exploded into view, roaring as it hurtled toward the two attackers.

"Watch out!" the one on the right shouted.

He immediately dove farther right to avoid the attack, while the other ninja leapt left.

The water dragon crashed into the ground between them, sending up an enormous spray and momentarily separating the two.

They breathed a sigh of relief, having narrowly avoided a direct hit.

But then—

A transparent wind blade sliced through the air toward the neck of the ninja on the right.

He dodged just in time—but not without cost. The blade sliced cleanly through one of his arms.

"Aaagh!"

A pained, choked scream escaped his lips.

The other Mist ninja cried out in alarm: "Keita! What happened—"

But before he could finish, a chill ran down his spine.

Haruki had vanished.

He glanced back—and saw a figure behind him, sword in hand.

Who else could it be but Uchiha Haruki?

Panic surged in his chest. He tried to leap forward, but it was too late.

Before his legs could move, a gleaming blade pierced his chest—straight through his heart.

Splurt!

A large gush of blood erupted from his mouth.

His life force faded rapidly.

Without the slightest hint of mercy, Haruki twisted and yanked the blade free.

The ninja's body went limp, then collapsed.

Haruki turned next to the remaining Mist Chunin—Saltzawa Keita.

The man was pale, missing an arm, and clearly in shock.

Blue chakra shimmered around Haruki.

In the blink of an eye, he vanished again.

Keita's eyes widened. He didn't even have time to react before a sword pierced through his abdomen.

He looked down at the blade embedded in his gut, then up at Haruki, who had appeared right in front of him.

A crazed expression crossed Keita's face.

Swallowing back the blood rising in his throat, he screamed, "Monster! Then let's die together!"

He tried to activate the explosive tag hidden in his palm.

But before he could make a move, his eyes glazed over—his mind frozen.

The last thing he saw was a pair of blood-red Sharingan.

Haruki looked at his opponent, now trapped in genjutsu, and shook his head.

He formed a hand seal.

Chakra Absorption Technique!

Chakra surged from Keita's body, flooding into Haruki's palm, then through his chakra network—converted into Haruki's own.

At level 6, Haruki's Chakra Absorption Technique could draw 2,000 chakra points per second and convert every bit of it with perfect efficiency.

Once the target's chakra was depleted, the jutsu would forcibly extract physical and spiritual energy to synthesize more chakra.

Every ninja who fell to Haruki's jutsu ended up completely drained.

Saltzawa Keita was no exception.

Poof!

Moments later, his withered body crumpled to the ground.

Haruki lowered his hand and began walking back toward Kurosaki Takeo.

This time, no one dared try to stop him.