Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

BOOM!

A violent explosion echoed through the air.

Immediately after, a blazing red fireball lit up the night, dispelling the surrounding darkness.

From within the Iwagakure defensive perimeter ahead, shouts and the sound of rapid movement erupted in response.

Judging from the direction of the voices, they were clearly rushing toward the explosion site.

Haruki's squad didn't move.

Neither did the other two hidden squads.

This kind of "accidental exposure" had already been accounted for in the plan.

According to the strategy, if one squad was exposed prematurely, the remaining ones were to remain in hiding, waiting for the perfect opportunity.

If Haruki remembered correctly, that exposed team would now go all-out, drawing enemy fire and attention.

Meanwhile, the rest of the concealed squads—his included—would burst in from multiple directions, striking deep into the enemy stronghold and completely disrupting Iwagakure's defensive rhythm.

This method aimed to complete the mission with maximum speed and minimum losses.

Seconds ticked by.

The shouting, clashing, and explosions of paper bombs grew louder and more chaotic.

Just from the sounds alone, Haruki could tell how intense the battle had become.

Five minutes later, Haruki's 100-man squad began their assault, charging directly toward the Iwagakure outpost ahead.

At the same time, the other two previously undetected squads launched their attacks from separate directions, forming a three-pronged offensive.

Because they no longer bothered to hide, their movements were soon detected by Iwagakure.

The enemy scrambled to respond, rushing reinforcements to intercept the attackers.

They even revealed some hidden traps and tactics in their desperation.

It was only now that Haruki realized—there were far more enemy ninja at the outpost than anticipated.

Under normal circumstances, Konoha's front-line outposts were staffed with about 100–120 personnel, usually led by 3–5 Jonin (including Special Jonin), with two-thirds of the unit made up of Chunin and the remaining third Genin.

Iwagakure, known for having the largest ninja population in the Shinobi World, usually staffed their posts with 150–180 personnel.

Their number of Jonin was about the same as Konoha, but the ratio of Chunin to Genin was 50–50.

According to prior intel, Ōnoki had supposedly pulled 100 troops from this post for another task, leaving only 50–80 behind.

But now?

The enemy forces currently on-site outnumbered those reports by at least 50.

Clearly, they had returned in secret, likely as a countermeasure in case Konoha made a move—and maybe even to set a trap for them.

No doubt about it—Iwagakure's commanders were playing dirty.

If this same tactic had been applied to the other outposts Konoha was using as decoys, those teams were probably in trouble right now.

Still, Haruki wasn't too worried. Even if those reinforcements were hidden, the total enemy numbers were still on par with Konoha's.

And Iwagakure's average combat strength was lower than Konoha's.

At worst, their attack would stall.

No one would suffer a devastating loss.

Plus, those other squads were only decoys.

Their real job was to keep Iwagakure's reinforcements from moving.

The true outcome of this battle would be decided by Haruki's assault group.

These thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant.

Without hesitation, Haruki shot forward from his formation, heading straight for an Iwagakure Jonin who was leading a charge on the frontlines.

Seeing Haruki rush in, the Iwa Jonin didn't even think—he immediately raised his hand and shouted a command, signaling the Iwa ninja behind him to attack.

In an instant, a storm of kunai flew through the air like a deadly rain.

Any ordinary Jonin would've backed off—but not Haruki.

He didn't slow down at all.

Just as the kunai neared, he activated his Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

Immediately, the kunai seemed to move in slow motion—every trajectory and angle clearly visible to his eyes.

Haruki sidestepped and weaved through some of them with ease, then drew the short sword at his waist.

A few swift slashes later, he deflected several kunai back toward their throwers.

Thud! Thud!

The sound of steel piercing flesh rang out.

The deflected kunai spun back and embedded themselves with deadly precision in the chests of several Iwagakure Genin.

Haruki's Sharingan caught every detail—the shock on their faces, the rising panic and fear, and the reluctant despair in their final moments.

But he felt nothing.

This was war.

Everyone had to take responsibility for their own lives.

That included both himself and them.

He turned away without another glance.

By then, he had already reached the Iwa Jonin face-to-face.

His Sharingan's tomoe spun rapidly as he unleashed his genjutsu-based hypnosis.

"Sharingan?!"

The enemy Jonin reacted instantly, gasping in recognition and snapping his eyes shut, even as he retreated into the formation behind him.

Haruki clicked his tongue.

He had no choice but to turn his genjutsu on the lower-ranking Iwa ninja who hadn't reacted in time.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Several of them immediately collapsed, completely entranced and unconscious from Haruki's genjutsu.

If not for the quick reactions of their allies, they might've been trampled to death by their own side.

Even so, collapsing in the middle of battle wouldn't end well.

After all, Haruki wasn't fighting alone.

Over a hundred Konoha shinobi surged forward behind him, slamming into the now-scattered enemy formation.

As the melee broke out, Haruki quickly re-locked his gaze on the fleeing Iwa Jonin.

This time, the Jonin had grouped up with several Iwa Chunin, clearly intending to team up against Haruki.

He understood the weaknesses of the Sharingan well enough to try this.

But it was useless.

Unless he had someone of similar strength to Haruki on his side, there was no way to counter the Sharingan effectively.

A few Chunin? Please.

"Heh..." Haruki chuckled softly.

With a flash, he activated Body Flicker Technique (Shunshin no Jutsu)—his figure disappeared in an instant.

"Ichiki, to the right!"

The Iwa Jonin barked a quick warning.

The named Chunin immediately turned to his right, raising his kunai.

But no attack came.

All he saw was a blurry afterimage.

Whoosh!

A shuriken sliced through the afterimage Haruki had left behind.

"Ishihana, to the left!"

Another shout. Another feint. Another afterimage. Another kunai wasted.

This was just the beginning.

Haruki chained together multiple Shunshin, weaving between the Iwa ninja like a ghost.

The Chunin, wary of his Sharingan genjutsu, were too slow to react and relied entirely on the Iwa Jonin's shouted commands.

But that kind of indirect coordination? It could only go so far.

Eventually, mistakes would happen.

Just like now.

Haruki appeared beside one of the Chunin—the Jonin shouted a command, but their coordination was just slightly off.

Haruki seized the opportunity, triggering genjutsu with his Sharingan and instantly knocking the target out.

He then raised his short sword, parrying the incoming attack from the Iwa Jonin.

This was exactly why you needed someone on Haruki's level to handle the Sharingan.

If everything depended on shouted commands, it was only a matter of time before a mistake exposed a weakness.

And once Haruki spotted it—the fight was over.

Haruki repeated the process, taking out the rest of the Chunin one by one.

Now with less resistance, his movements grew even more fluid and relaxed.

In less than five minutes, all the Chunin that the Iwa Jonin had gathered had collapsed to the ground.

Haruki turned to the lone remaining Iwa Jonin, grinning widely and faking an excited look.

"Now it's just the two of us," he said cheerfully.

"Time for the real fight to begin!"

He didn't give the Jonin a chance to respond.

Kicking off the ground, Haruki launched forward like a bullet.

As he appeared right in front of him, the Iwa Jonin—Ishida Shinsuke—hurriedly raised his kunai to block the strike.

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