Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

"Jonin Haruki!"

"Captain!"

"."

As soon as Uchiha Haruki appeared, all the surviving Konoha ninja in the area stood up, calling out to him in greeting.

Haruki gave them a brief nod, instructing them to take advantage of the time to rest and prepare for the next wave of attacks from the Hidden Mist.

Then, he found a quiet spot to begin treating his injuries.

Haruki first examined his left shoulder, right waist, and thigh—he had sustained three wounds in total: one from a senbon and two from kunai. While the injuries weren't severe, the toxins embedded within them were not to be underestimated.

Fortunately, his current Constitution stat was at 19, which significantly enhanced both his natural recovery and self-healing capabilities. Combined with the presence of chakra, he was able to suppress the spread of the poison.

Without that, it would've been much worse.

Forming hand seals, Haruki activated the Minor Toxin Extraction Technique, carefully sensing the distribution of toxins within each wound.

After a few moments, he began extracting the poison.

Soon, a glob of pitch-black blood was pulled from the wound on his shoulder and splattered onto the ground, releasing a strong, foul stench.

Haruki frowned slightly. He flipped his palm, summoned a ball of Fire Style chakra, and burned the poisoned blood into vapor with a whoosh.

The offensive smell disappeared, and Haruki resumed using the toxin extraction technique to remove more of the contaminated blood.

Within minutes, he had removed several more clots of blackened blood and burned them away.

"Whew…"

Feeling the numbing sensation in his shoulder fade, Haruki exhaled in relief.

He used the technique once more to confirm the toxins were completely gone. Then, casting Mystic Palm Technique, he quickly healed the wound.

Without pause, he moved on to the wounds on his right waist and thigh.

Unlike the senbon injury on his shoulder, these two had been caused by kunai and were somewhat more severe. They also carried more poison.

However, since these wounds were more recent, the poison hadn't yet spread too far. That made treatment easier.

Together, healing both wounds took about the same time as the shoulder.

Once all three were handled, Haruki felt a noticeable relief.

But now wasn't the time to relax.

Earlier, to avoid being caught by a sealing technique used by several Mist Chunin, he had forcefully endured a Water Arrow Jutsu from a Mist Jonin in order to unleash his Wind Style: Great Breakthrough technique.

That wound was still untreated.

Haruki looked down at his abdomen.

There, a hole as wide as three fingers was still oozing blood—clearly the result of that Water Arrow.

Though small, the injury had damaged his internal organs. In terms of severity, it was much worse than the previous wounds.

Anyone else in his place probably wouldn't even be standing, let alone ready to fight.

Fortunately, Haruki's Mystic Palm Technique had already reached level 8—far more effective than standard medical ninjutsu.

Even with an injury like this, it wasn't a serious problem.

With that thought, Haruki raised his hands and formed seals, activating the technique again.

He didn't hold back with chakra, either. He gathered a dense mass of Yang Release chakra in his palm and pressed it into his body.

While not the most chakra-efficient method, it dramatically increased healing speed.

He repeated this process multiple times, and thanks to his 19-point Constitution and strong regeneration, the wound began healing rapidly.

Just then, a flurry of footsteps approached.

Haruki's eyes snapped open.

A Konoha Chunin who had been standing guard next to him quickly reported, "Captain, the scout team just returned—Mist ninja are on the way."

"Understood," Haruki replied calmly with a nod.

He wasn't surprised.

Although he'd killed one of the enemy scouts on the way back, that wasn't the only one they'd sent. The Mist had surely already gathered intel on their position.

If anything, it was Haruki's prior actions that had delayed their approach.

Had it not been for that, they likely would have attacked sooner.

Haruki stood up, motioning for the nearby Chunin to fall back. Then he formed hand seals and used Wind Style: Wings of Wind, soaring into the sky.

Mid-air.

Haruki looked down.

Sure enough, he spotted the Mist forces.

They had already reached the front line of Konoha's defense. Both sides had their kunai drawn, watching each other intently. The air was thick with tension.

Haruki's arrival drew everyone's attention instantly.

On the Konoha side, morale visibly rose.

On the Mist side, the opposite happened—there was unease in their formation.

Oddly, a few Mist Jonin even looked relieved at his appearance.

Using the enhanced perception of his Sharingan, Haruki could clearly see it.

They had been waiting for him.

Almost immediately, they gave the command—and a rain of kunai was launched.

But the attack wasn't aimed at him.

It was directed at the Konoha line in front.

Clearly, they had waited to confirm his position so they wouldn't be ambushed. Now that they had it, they launched the real battle.

Haruki stayed aloft, watching as the two forces clashed almost instantly.

He made no move to engage.

He was waiting—for the Mist ninja to shift their focus away from him.

Right now, at the start of the battle, they still had attention to spare.

But in a few more minutes, once the fighting grew more intense, they wouldn't.

That would be his moment.

Until then, he needed to apply pressure—harass them, keep them off balance.

The current force ratio was about 3.5 to 1—not something he could ignore.

With a thought, Haruki flapped the chakra wings on his back and glided closer to the rear of the Mist formation.

Several Mist ninja, preparing to join the frontline, froze and looked up at him warily.

But before they could act, Haruki swept upward again in a graceful arc, soaring back into the sky.

Over the next few minutes, he repeated this maneuver—diving down as if to strike, then pulling back.

This constant feinting distracted a considerable number of Mist forces.

Just as he was preparing for a real attack, he caught a movement in the distance—reinforcements from the Konoha base were approaching, dispatched by Sanosuke Nobuhisa.

Haruki immediately stopped his attack, choosing instead to maintain pressure while waiting for the reinforcements to arrive.

There was no need to take risks when a simpler path to victory had just appeared.

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