Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

The next day.

Morning.

Uchiha Haruki, along with a group of fully-prepared Konoha Jonin, led hundreds of Chunin and Genin toward the front-line stronghold in their confrontation with Iwagakure.

Besides the soldiers, the caravan also included over a dozen supply carts, most of which were loaded with standard-issue ninja tools like kunai and shuriken.

It was clear these had been prepared by headquarters specifically for the counterattack.

However, truth be told, Haruki didn't feel very optimistic about the outcome of this counteroffensive.

Why?

The reason was simple.

After two years of war, Konoha's manpower had been stretched thin. Even if they managed to capture a few strategic points, once Iwagakure's reinforcements arrived, they would likely fail to hold them.

As for eliminating a portion of the enemy's combat-ready forces?

That might be feasible—but Iwagakure had a massive number of ninja. Losing a few cannon fodder wouldn't faze them in the slightest.

In the end, the exchange rate would still hurt Konoha more.

Still, they had to attack.

If they hesitated any longer and allowed Iwagakure to redeploy the more than ten thousand shinobi who had surrounded the Third Raikage, the front lines would be in serious trouble.

Even if only a third of those troops were sent against Konoha, it would be enough to strain their defenses to the breaking point.

If that happened, the situation would revert to what it was before: Iwagakure slowly consuming Konoha's territory with superior numbers.

That would be a slow and painful death.

Orochimaru clearly recognized this danger—that's likely why he decided to take a gamble.

If they could take advantage of Iwagakure's temporarily vulnerable frontlines and inflict heavy losses, even if they were later pushed back, the battle line would be stabilized.

But Haruki, with memories of his past life, knew full well that things wouldn't go the way Orochimaru hoped.

If they did, Konoha wouldn't have been pushed to the gates of their own village just a few months later.

Thinking of this, Haruki silently warned himself to be extremely cautious in the coming battle. He had to remain alert for any surprises—Iwagakure might very well be hiding some kind of secret weapon.

Dying on the battlefield because he let his guard down?

That would be the ultimate regret.

The wheels of the carts rumbled on as the Konoha shinobi moved like silent phantoms, surrounding the wagons in tight formation as they advanced in eerie silence.

Sunrise to sunset.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

Marching as part of a large force was very different from traveling solo.

When Haruki had returned from the front lines before, it had taken him about a day. But this time, the plan estimated a three-day journey.

And that was because they were ninja—trained to endure high-speed movement for long periods. If this had been a regular army of civilians, it would've taken at least ten days to two weeks.

Haruki glanced at the terrain around them and estimated that they were half a day away from their target outpost.

Once they arrived, they would only get two days of rest before launching the assault.

Time was tight.

Fortunately, over the last two days, there had been no ambushes or raids. Otherwise, they might've fallen behind schedule.

The final half-day of marching passed uneventfully.

Before they even reached the outpost, their arrival had already been anticipated, and a contact team was sent ahead to guide them in.

This wasn't Haruki's concern—it was handled by a Jonin from the Nara clan, who also happened to be the overall commander of the mission.

After the two commanders exchanged updates, the full group moved forward again.

About ten minutes later, Haruki and the rest finally arrived at the destination.

It was a small village, and as hundreds of Konoha ninja flooded in, the place was immediately packed—barely enough space to rest, let alone live comfortably.

Yet not a single person complained.

Or rather, there wasn't time to complain.

They were attacking in two days—every moment of rest mattered.

Once everyone was settled, the Nara Jonin convened a meeting of all Jonin, assigning roles and responsibilities for the upcoming battle.

Haruki was placed in the combat group, tasked with targeting high-risk enemy units—in other words, enemy Jonin.

Clearly, compared to his other abilities, the Nara Jonin trusted Haruki's frontline combat power the most.

Haruki had no objections.

In fact, he welcomed it.

He needed battles against opponents of equal or greater strength to hone his swordsmanship.

After all, swordsmanship was meant for killing. Sure, he could improve it through practice alone, but there was no substitute for live combat experience.

During his time in the Land of Earth, he hadn't had much time to train his swordsmanship directly—but even so, thanks to the battles he fought, his proficiency soared.

Of course, his shadow clones had also helped farm experience, but the fact remained: real combat accelerated growth far more than training dummies ever could.

Now, with his Three-Tomoe Sharingan nearing its limit, most regular Jonin were no longer a threat to him.

With nothing to fear, Haruki could throw himself into battle and use it as a whetstone for his blade.

A win-win.

Time passed quickly.

Two days later—evening.

After dinner, Haruki and the others began checking their equipment.

No one spoke.

Only the clinks and clatters of ninja tools being checked filled the air.

The tension was suffocating.

After about ten minutes, everyone finished their prep.

The Nara Jonin gave the order to move out.

The Konoha forces split into four squads, each led by several Jonin, fanning out in a wide formation and advancing toward the Iwagakure outpost.

According to plan, they were to begin the assault at 8:00 PM sharp.

They had to depart early to position themselves.

The timing wasn't arbitrary.

This counterattack involved multiple outposts all along the line confronting Iwagakure.

Each one would launch an offensive at the same time.

However, most of those attacks were feints.

Only their outpost was carrying out the main assault.

Once they achieved a decisive victory, the other outposts would follow based on the situation—applying full pressure on Iwagakure's front.

In other words, they were the tip of the spear.

If they couldn't break through, the entire counterattack strategy would fall apart.

The weight of the mission was immense.

Under the cover of night, Haruki and his squad moved into position, stopping about five kilometers from the enemy's outpost.

According to intel gathered over the past few days, the Iwagakure forces had a habit of contracting their perimeter at night.

The reason was obvious: low manpower.

They couldn't afford to spread out, so they chose to hunker down after dark.

That meant that once they dealt with the perimeter scouts, they could sneak in to within one kilometer of the enemy outpost.

From there, they could launch a full assault.

Time ticked by.

All four Konoha squads moved together, silent as shadows.

Iwagakure's perimeter scouts were spotted in advance using Byakugan, and eliminated by elite Special Jonin trained in silent assassinations.

It was surgical.

Clean and efficient.

After about half an hour, the Konoha forces finally reached the one-kilometer mark from the enemy outpost.

At this range, staying hidden became increasingly difficult.

Sure enough, within minutes, one squad's position was exposed.