Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Squelch—

Uchiha Haruki pulled his short sword from Shinsuke Ishida's chest and watched the man's body slowly collapse to the ground. He then swept his gaze across the battlefield.

At this moment, the Iwagakure shinobi were already surrounded and cut off by the Konoha forces, locked in a fierce and hopeless struggle.

After all, even though Iwagakure had hidden some of their forces, their total numbers were barely over a hundred. And on the Konoha side?

Nearly five hundred!

The difference in numbers alone was staggering.

So Haruki wasn't particularly worried about the outcome of the battle—his concern was more about whether the follow-up operations would proceed smoothly.

But that was something to deal with later. For now, he wanted to see what he had gained from this battle.

Haruki hadn't forgotten why he had joined the combat squad in the first place. If the results didn't meet his expectations, he wouldn't be putting in much extra effort moving forward.

Opening his status panel, Haruki's eyes immediately locked onto the "Kenjutsu (Swordsmanship)" skill.

There it was—his proficiency had increased by more than twenty points, nearly equal to what he could achieve from half a day's training.

Haruki was very pleased with this.

Looks like I can't afford to slack off anymore…

With that thought, he closed the panel and began scanning the battlefield for a new target.

Before long, he spotted an Iwagakure jonin wielding a sword.

Haruki studied him closely for a moment and judged his swordsmanship to be average.

Still, even the tiniest bite of meat is still meat. Haruki didn't mind—he flickered forward several times and arrived right in front of the Iwagakure jonin.

Clang—

A sharp metallic clash echoed out.

Haruki raised his short sword and blocked the Iwagakure jonin's incoming strike.

Without even glancing behind him, he spoke calmly, "I'll take this one. You go and command the rest of the battle."

The Konoha jonin who had been fighting the Iwa shinobi turned and glanced back at where Haruki had been a moment ago.

When he saw the corpse of Shinsuke Ishida, he swallowed hard and nodded decisively. "Got it!"

Just one simple word—but it conveyed complete trust.

After all, he was only a special jonin, and so was the Iwagakure shinobi he had been fighting.

But Shinsuke Ishida—the one Haruki had just killed—was no mere special jonin. The Konoha ninja had taken a glance or two during their fight and could tell that Ishida had been a full-fledged jonin.

And yet, that jonin had died by Haruki's hand in just a few short minutes.

There was nothing left to worry about.

Now, the one who should be afraid was this Iwagakure jonin standing before Haruki.

And indeed, that was exactly what happened.

The moment Daito Fuyama (the Iwagakure jonin) followed the Konoha ninja's gaze and saw Shinsuke Ishida's corpse, his heart skipped a beat—and he immediately had the urge to flee.

That impulse only grew stronger when he saw Haruki's blood-red Sharingan staring him down.

But now that Haruki had shown up, whether Daito fought or ran wasn't his choice anymore.

Without giving him time to think, Haruki loosened his grip, retracted his short sword, and in the blink of an eye, appeared at Daito's side.

Then, with one swift motion, he slashed toward Daito's neck.

Sensing imminent danger, Daito forcibly steadied his nerves and dodged to the side, simultaneously counter-slashing with his own blade.

However, the instant Daito's arm muscles tightened and his footwork subtly shifted, Haruki had already predicted his move.

He preemptively dodged—causing Daito's counterattack to miss entirely.

Before Daito could recover his balance, Haruki's second strike was already incoming.

Once again, it came from his opponent's blind spot—leaving Daito with almost no time to react. He could only make a large, awkward evasive move.

This, in turn, greatly limited his window for counterattacking.

Haruki seized the opportunity, staying in Daito's blind spot and launching a flurry of attacks.

Within moments, Daito found himself in the exact same situation as Shinsuke Ishida—completely on the defensive, unable to do anything else.

But Haruki didn't rush to finish him off. Instead, he used this as a chance to refine his tactical approach.

What's that?

You're wondering—why bother refining such a simple tactic?

Isn't it just using the Sharingan to pressure the enemy, disrupt their ability to fight properly, and then exploiting their blind spots?

If you really think that's all there is to it, Haruki could only say—you're underestimating the enemy far too much.

What jonin doesn't have extensive battle experience?

If Haruki simply relied on blind-spot strikes in a rigid, mechanical way, it wouldn't take long for his tactic to be countered or even turned against him.

This strategy might seem simple, but it's actually extremely sophisticated.

Not only does it require Haruki to continuously read his opponent's movements, he also has to make instantaneous decisions in response to those movements.

And those decisions can't stop at dodging.

They must also include plans for the follow-up counterattack after evasion.

Only by doing so can he force the enemy to fall into his rhythm—and if he makes even one mistake, the opponent might seize the opportunity.

If that happens—whether the enemy runs or fights back—Haruki has to start all over again.

That's why if you want to completely trap your enemy, you can't afford even a single mistake.

Obviously, this level of control is impossible without the assistance of the Sharingan.

But even with the Sharingan, it's not enough—you still need rich combat experience.

Otherwise, a simple feint would be enough to throw you off completely.

On top of that, to make the tactic effective, you also need a solid close-combat skill. For Haruki, that was his Level 5 Swordsmanship.

Even with all these advantages, Haruki had practiced for a long time before finally grasping the essence of the technique.

When he was still inexperienced, his enemies often broke free from his rhythm.

While he still managed to finish them off with ninjutsu in the end, it showed just how difficult this tactic was to truly master.

Even now, Haruki could only use this approach on relatively average jonin. Against stronger opponents, it became much harder to control the flow of battle.

Moreover, this strategy had another major flaw—it couldn't handle multiple enemies. It was only viable in one-on-one situations.

So yes, it had its limitations.

But for honing his swordsmanship, it was perfect.

Even now, without opening the panel, Haruki could clearly feel his swordsmanship improving.

In fact, it wasn't just him—Daito could vaguely sense it as well.

Although Haruki had rated Daito's sword skills as mediocre, they were still considered above average among ninja.

To reach that level, Daito clearly had some natural talent.

And because of that, he could perceive the steady growth in Haruki's skill.

Which only made him more hopeless—because it meant Haruki wasn't even fighting seriously. He was just using Daito as target practice.

Daito's expression twisted again and again. His gaze swept across the battlefield, where more and more of his comrades had fallen.

Finally, he clenched his jaw and made up his mind.

He ignored Haruki's incoming strike and launched a desperate counterattack.

And the moment his movement changed, Haruki noticed something was off.