Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

"Hm?"

Uchiha Haruki, who had been immersed in refining his swordsmanship, suddenly sensed something off.

With a flicker of thought, the three tomoe in his Sharingan spun rapidly, instantly reading Daito Toyama's intentions.

"Trying to take me down with you? Foolish."

He muttered to himself as he suddenly pulled back his arm. The short sword he had just thrust forward was forcefully withdrawn before it even reached Daito.

In the next instant, Haruki's figure flickered and dodged Daito's desperate counterattack with perfect timing.

"Damn it!"

Realizing his fatal blow had missed, Daito Toyama's heart trembled.

Before he could react further, he heard the sharp sound of the air being pierced nearby.

"Danger!"

His senses screamed in alarm. He immediately tried to evade, but he was too late.

Slash—

The sound of a blade tearing through flesh rang out.

Haruki's short sword sliced across Daito's chest, shredding his clothes and leaving a deep, bone-revealing wound.

"Ugh—"

The intense pain made Daito groan as he instinctively clutched at the wound on his chest.

But blood gushed uncontrollably from the cut, making his vision go black in waves.

Daito knew—if he didn't act fast, the blood loss alone would kill him.

However...

He looked around, but Haruki was nowhere to be seen.

How could he possibly feel safe treating his wound in that situation?

But it didn't matter anymore.

Because in the next instant, a short sword pierced through his back, stabbing straight into his heart and exiting from the front.

Splurt—

A mouthful of blood sprayed out from Daito's lips.

He lowered his head and saw the blood-covered tip of a blade protruding from his chest.

"Is it... over?"

As the strength drained from his body, Daito murmured.

In his final moments, he thought of his family and couldn't help but think:

"If only there were no war..."

Shhk—

Haruki pulled the sword free, taking with it Daito's final breath of life.

His keen senses had clearly detected the emotional shift in Daito just now, but he neither dwelled on it nor cared.

After all, they were enemies. Haruki wasn't sentimental enough to pity someone he fought to kill.

He sheathed his sword and looked out over the battlefield.

By now, the fighting here was mostly over. Only a few scattered Iwa shinobi were still resisting.

From the sounds coming from the other directions, those fights were also nearing their end.

Seeing that, Haruki didn't waste time looking for new enemies. Instead, he turned to assist the allied medical ninja with treating their wounded.

It was a good opportunity—his Healing Technique needed experience to level up, and these injured comrades were perfect for it.

Of course, this was Haruki's personal thought.

To the other Konoha ninja watching, his behavior was the very image of a model shinobi—shouldering the most dangerous enemies during battle, then immediately helping treat the wounded afterward.

If that wasn't model behavior, what was?

As a result, many of the surrounding ninja looked at Haruki with newfound admiration.

Though Haruki didn't care about his reputation, sometimes a good reputation served as its own shield.

So, he let them talk.

Time ticked on.

Half an hour later.

The battle was completely over.

According to the reports, they had wiped out 105 enemies, with 75 casualties on their side.

Of those 75, 22 were confirmed dead even after treatment.

The battle-loss ratio was nearly 5 to 1.

It was an astounding figure.

But that disparity wasn't because Iwa shinobi were drastically weaker than Konoha ninja—it was mostly due to sheer numbers.

Konoha had deployed nearly 500 troops in this assault, the majority being chunin and jonin, with very few genin.

And Iwagakure?

Just over 100 in total, most of whom were genin.

Even setting aside differences in individual strength, the numbers alone meant that on average, four to five Konoha ninja were ganging up on one Iwa shinobi.

How could the losses not be lopsided?

In fact, if not for a few Iwa shinobi launching desperate final attacks before death, Konoha's casualties would have been even lower—and the kill ratio even more absurd.

Of course, not all the Iwa shinobi were killed.

After all, there hadn't been a full encirclement at the start. Some escapees were to be expected.

Even if they had managed to surround the entire Iwa stronghold from the beginning, it would've been impossible to eliminate every last enemy.

This was the shinobi world—full of jutsu and escape techniques. No one could predict what someone might use to slip away.

So yes, some would inevitably escape.

Once this battle broke out, intel leaking was basically guaranteed.

Now it would come down to whose preparations were better—and who could seize the next opportunities faster.

After resting for about an hour, Haruki and the team set off again.

As planned, their next move was to advance on a secondary base belonging to Iwagakure.

Like Konoha, Iwa's defense system had multiple layers. Their mission was to push through layer by layer, forcing the other Iwa outposts to divert reinforcements.

Meanwhile, the Konoha unit that had been staging a diversionary attack would begin a real offensive—pressuring Iwa across the entire frontline.

The strategy was simple.

In the world of shinobi—where power reigned supreme—tricks and tactics were only supplemental.

Victory depended more on the overall strength of a shinobi village.

That's why Orochimaru hadn't bothered with an overly complex plan. He'd simply ensured that the first wave would have overwhelming superiority.

The rest depended on their performance.

One and a half hours later.

Haruki and his team reached the target camp.

Just as he had predicted, word of their assault had already leaked. The Iwa shinobi here were prepared and in full defensive posture.

But it was useless.

There hadn't been enough time for reinforcements to arrive. With only about a hundred shinobi in the camp, they couldn't possibly stop the Konoha assault.

The battle ended in just over half an hour.

This time, Haruki only killed one Special Jonin.

It wasn't that he didn't want to kill more—there simply weren't that many high-ranking ninja stationed here.

With too many Konoha fighters and too few elite enemies, it was already lucky he'd secured that one kill.

Being part of the combat squad, it was his responsibility to handle the most dangerous targets, which was the only reason he'd even gotten that one.

Most of the other jonin at the Iwa camp had clearly planned their retreat in advance.

As soon as they saw the tide turning, they immediately took their squads and fled.

Well... they didn't manage to take many with them.

Still, from their behavior and who they took, it was clear: Iwagakure was deliberately preserving its elite forces.

This could only mean one thing—a major battle was coming soon.

And those preserved elites would surely form the backbone of that future clash.

Haruki thought to himself:

"Looks like in the battles to come, I'll need to take out as many enemies as possible."

He kept that thought to himself as he once again helped the medics treat the wounded.

As for the problem of chakra depletion leading to diminished combat effectiveness?

That wasn't an issue at all.

Thanks to his Level 5 Chakra Absorption Technique, Haruki could absorb 1,000 chakra points per second, converting 90% of it into his own chakra.

All he needed was to touch an enemy for a few seconds before they died, and he could fully recharge.

So no—chakra exhaustion was never a concern.