Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

"We can't go to the Tiger Mountain Encampment."

Amid a heavy silence, one person finally spoke.

His voice was muffled, as if his mouth were being covered by something.

That was exactly the case. The speaker was a tall man wearing a red war mask over his mouth, a red helmet, and red armor.

It was this mask that made his voice sound so muted.

This man was no ordinary ninja—he was the leader of this seven-man Iwagakure squad, an elite jonin known as the "Steam Ninja" and also the Five-Tails Jinchūriki—Han.

Upon hearing Han's words, another ninja nodded and added, "He's right. We can't go to the Tiger Mountain Encampment.

It's already been taken by Konoha shinobi. If we go there, we'll risk exposing our position and inviting unnecessary trouble. And more importantly, that location was merely assumed by HQ as the rendezvous point.

If these Konoha shinobi didn't actually head there, then we'd be wasting our time completely."

"In that case," another ninja chimed in, "why don't we intercept them directly? We already know their direction of travel. We can take a shortcut and cut them off in advance."

The others thought for a moment and eventually all nodded in agreement.

"Also..."

Someone added thoughtfully, "We need to alert the search parties to converge on our position immediately. Just the few of us alone won't be able to hold them all off."

The Iwa shinobi who had been monitoring enemy intel nodded. "You're right, Yamie. We need to get them here ASAP."

As he spoke, he pulled out a small slip of paper from his chest, quickly scribbled a long string of numbers, rolled it up tightly, and placed it into a scroll tube attached to the leg of a messenger hawk.

Then, he gently stroked the hawk's back feathers, raised his arm, and said, "Go."

With a powerful flap of its wings, the hawk shot into the sky like a sharp arrow. After circling twice and releasing a loud cry, it disappeared into the horizon.

Afterward, the Iwa ninjas briefly discussed some operational details, then adjusted their route and pressed forward.

Meanwhile…

After separating from Hyūga Renga, Uchiha Haruki returned to the main force at high speed. Within minutes, he found Nara Shisui.

"Haruki, what's going on?" Shisui asked immediately, noticing Haruki's rushed return.

"For now, nothing," Haruki replied, shaking his head.

However, that answer only made Shisui more serious.

"What do you mean for now? Did you notice something?" he asked, locking eyes with Haruki.

"Yeah."

Haruki nodded and proceeded to tell him everything—his ominous gut feeling, the strange sense of being watched over the past two days, and every subtle clue he had picked up.

Shisui fell into deep thought, not dismissing it as mere paranoia.

In the world of shinobi, sixth sense was a powerful and mysterious phenomenon. Sometimes, it could allow a person to skip logical steps and intuitively sense danger or truth.

The more experienced and skilled the ninja, the sharper that intuition became.

Was Uchiha Haruki such a ninja?

Absolutely.

Especially with his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Shisui couldn't believe this was merely Haruki's imagination.

If his instincts were real, then it meant their every move might be tracked by an unknown enemy.

If that person was from another hidden village, it would simply add some risk.

But if they were from Iwagakure... then the danger was on a whole different level.

After all, they hadn't encountered any major ambushes from Iwagakure over the past two days.

At first glance, that would suggest Haruki's feeling was off, and that there were no hidden enemies at all.

But if you reversed the logic—it could mean the enemy had deliberately held back, allowing them to break through encirclements over and over again, just to lull them into a false sense of security—so that when the time came, they could deliver a devastating strike.

That would mean Iwagakure had already finished its preparations, and could attack at any moment.

In other words... today could very well be the day they made their move.

Which fit perfectly with the ominous feeling Haruki had been carrying.

All these thoughts flashed through Nara Shisui's mind in an instant.

As expected of someone from the genius Nara clan—he managed to infer nearly the entire situation from just Haruki's brief description.

Realizing this, Shisui broke out in cold sweat. Without wasting a second, he called an emergency meeting with several senior jonin who had authority over battlefield decisions.

Once everyone had gathered, Shisui shared Haruki's observations and his own deduction without any sugar-coating.

The jonin present all frowned deeply.

Not because they didn't trust Haruki—but because they understood how unpredictable the shinobi world was. With strange jutsu and summoning techniques, it was entirely possible for an enemy to hide near them without detection.

If Haruki's senses were accurate and Shisui's deduction was right, then their current situation was far more dangerous than they had imagined—and changes would have to be made immediately.

That was what really concerned them.

Finally, one jonin asked, "So what do we do now? Should we halt and begin searching for the hidden enemy?"

"Absolutely not."

"Out of the question."

Before he could finish, two other Konoha jonin spoke up to object.

One of them said, "Haruki must've already investigated after sensing the anomaly, right?"

Haruki nodded. "Yes. After I felt that gaze, I searched multiple times—but found nothing."

The jonin continued, "You all know Haruki's strength—and with the Sharingan, no less. If even he couldn't uncover anything, then continuing the search would likely be a waste of time."

"Maybe Aoyama could try using the Byakugan?" someone suddenly suggested.

But Hyūga Aoyama shook his head.

"No good. If the enemy really exists and has managed to stay undetected for this long, they likely understand the capabilities of the Byakugan. Most likely, they only get close briefly, just long enough to gather intel, and stay out of our range the rest of the time.

And we can't afford to sit in place and wait for them. So even I wouldn't be able to find them."

"Then should we change our route and avoid going to Tiger Mountain Encampment?" another asked.

"No," a jonin responded with a shake of his head. "If we're being watched, then it doesn't matter where we go. If Iwagakure is prepared to move against us, they will strike regardless. We can't afford to throw our plans into disarray."

"So... what should we do? Still head for the Tiger Mountain Encampment?"

The group discussed intensely.

Finally, a consensus was reached: they would continue toward the Tiger Mountain Encampment.

However, their pace would increase, and more personnel would be dispatched to scout the surrounding area in case of a sudden Iwa ambush.

They also sent a message to their allied force stationed at the encampment, urging them to move forward to rendezvous sooner.

As for the hidden enemy, they didn't give up on locating them either. Hyūga Aoyama was specifically tasked with this job.

He and a few other Hyūga shinobi began roaming around the perimeter of the group, regularly activating their Byakugan to sweep for threats.

Meanwhile, as orders were swiftly issued, Uchiha Haruki could clearly feel a dramatic shift in the squad's energy.

Gone was the relaxed, casual atmosphere. Everyone was now alert—highly focused, like sharpened blades.

Haruki was very pleased with this result.