Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Half a minute earlier…

A seven-man Iwagakure team was sprinting through the forest.

Suddenly, the one in front—Han—came to an abrupt stop.

The others halted as well.

"What is it, Han?" one of them asked.

Han raised his hand to signal for silence. Then, he closed his eyes and focused, carefully sensing the chakra fluctuations within his body.

A few seconds later, a dark red stream of chakra suddenly emerged from his body. The aura it exuded was so ominous that the six others instinctively took a step back.

In fact, the four special jonin among them were already preparing to use their sealing jutsu—specifically designed to deal with the Five-Tails.

But in the end, it was just a false alarm. The dark red chakra vanished just as quickly as it had appeared, lasting only a few seconds.

Han opened his eyes again, subtly glancing at the four teammates who had nearly activated their hand seals. Then, he calmly said,

"Someone was watching me just now. It pissed off the beast inside."

Without waiting for a response, he activated Boil Release mode.

In an instant, he raised his chakra to boiling point, channeling steam to propel the armor on his body, launching himself at high speed toward the location of Uchiha Haruki.

Using the Five-Tails' chakra moments ago, he had sensed the direction from which that prying gaze came.

So without a second thought—he charged forward.

As Han dashed off, the other six exchanged glances and followed right behind.

Although their primary mission was to assist Han in preventing Uchiha Haruki's team from escaping, they had another crucial task: keep an eye on Han himself.

Even though Han's condition was stable and he showed no signs of rebellion, he was still a Jinchūriki—and such individuals could never be left completely unsupervised.

So they shadowed his every move closely.

A few seconds later…

From afar, Haruki saw the towering figure charging straight at him, steam billowing all around, and muttered to himself,

"So that's Boil Release? What an overwhelming force…"

He quickly calculated his own speed and Hyūga Renga's, then estimated their distance from Han.

The result was clear: they wouldn't make it back to the main group before Han caught up.

Since escaping was pointless, there was no reason to run blindly.

And besides—Haruki had been meaning to test Han's strength.

With that in mind, he turned to Renga and said, "He's too fast. I'll stay and hold him off. You go report this to the squad immediately."

"But…" Renga hesitated, concern flashing across his face.

Haruki didn't give him a chance to argue. "Go. Don't waste time."

Seeing Haruki's firm resolve, Renga cast one last glance at the fast-approaching Han. Then he clenched his jaw and nodded.

"Fine. Don't fight him head-on. He's got six others behind him. I'll bring reinforcements as soon as I can."

With that, he vanished using Body Flicker Technique.

As Renga disappeared, Haruki cracked his neck.

"Let's see just how powerful the Five-Tails Jinchūriki really is."

His hands formed seals. The three tomoe in his Sharingan began to spin rapidly, as if preparing to launch a genjutsu.

By now, Han was less than thirty meters away. Seeing Haruki's pose, Han lowered the brim of his red hat, shielding his line of sight.

Haruki smirked. Suddenly, instead of casting a jutsu, he dropped the hand seals and quickly drew six kunai from his gear pouch—throwing them in two rapid volleys at Han.

Han, sensing something off, raised his right arm just in time.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Three of the kunai struck his arm and were instantly deflected. The sound of metal on metal rang out.

Haruki's pupils contracted slightly. He hadn't expected Han's armor to be so incredibly durable.

He could've sworn he saw sparks where the kunai scraped against the armor.

"Standard kunai won't work…"

"Good thing I planned for this."

With a flick of his hands, three fine wires became visible—attached to the second volley of kunai.

A pulse of chakra surged through the wires, guiding the kunai as they swept past Han's sides.

"Hmm?"

Han was puzzled. He wasn't sure what Haruki was planning.

But in the next moment, his expression darkened.

The three kunai, after passing him, crossed behind him, looped around, and snapped back inward, forming a crisscrossing trap that bound his movements.

The wires weren't much threat to him physically—his armor could handle that.

But Haruki had already resumed hand seals. Clearly, he was about to unleash a jutsu.

Without hesitation, Han pushed his chakra output to its boiling point, releasing a surge of scalding steam.

His armor expanded slightly under the pressure, pushing the wires just far enough apart.

Then, using the gap, Han formed seals and used Substitution Jutsu—slipping free like a fish, leaving only a stone in his place.

Though lengthy in description, all of this occurred in the span of mere seconds.

Almost simultaneously, Haruki launched his technique:

Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!

Three blazing fire lines shot down the guiding wires, roaring toward Han's last location.

The flames surged forward in an instant—but Haruki didn't hold the jutsu for long. He abruptly cut it off.

A low "whoosh" came from the side. A gust of wind and a loud sound followed.

Out of the corner of his eye, Haruki saw a towering red figure charging straight at him.

The pressure was suffocating—it was as if Han intended to ram him to death.

And if the hit landed, Haruki honestly might not survive.

But would he let that happen?

Of course not.

The moment Han dodged the fire technique with Substitution Jutsu, Haruki had already locked onto his movement.

He was ready.

With a burst of chakra from his feet, Haruki leapt backward—just in time.

Han smashed through his afterimage, missing him by inches.

As Han sped past, Haruki swiftly drew his short sword. The tomoe in his Sharingan spun furiously, locking onto the tiny gap in Han's armor.

He struck.

If that blow had landed, Han would have been seriously injured, maybe even fatally.

Sensing the danger, Han instinctively expelled chakra using Boil Release—releasing a jet of steam from his armor.

Shhhhhh—

The sound was like gas leaking at high pressure.

Scalding steam erupted from the armor's gaps—rushing straight toward Haruki's face.

Feeling the intense heat, Haruki's expression shifted. He had no choice but to abort the attack and leap back immediately.

Still, a portion of the superheated steam grazed him.

In the blink of an eye, blisters formed on his cheeks and forearms.

As the burning sensation radiated from his wounds, Haruki furrowed his brow.

"This guy... is way more troublesome than I expected."