Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Inside the Iwagakure stronghold.

Uchiha Haruki was in the middle of treating an injured comrade when a sudden explosion echoed in the distance—followed immediately by a second, and then a third.

That sound was all too familiar.

It was the sharp crackle of explosive tags detonating.

"They're at it again…"

Muttering to himself, Haruki calmly finished the treatment before stepping out of the infirmary.

Looking out the window, he saw dozens of Konoha shinobi rushing from nearby buildings, heading straight toward the direction of the blast.

There was no need to guess.

They were moving to reinforce the battlefield.

As for the attackers?

Of course—it was Iwagakure shinobi again.

Today marked the seventh day since they had taken over this stronghold. And throughout the past week, Iwa-nin had never let up on their harassment.

Leaving aside the minor skirmishes, there had already been four full-scale clashes involving over a hundred fighters each.

While these battles had provided Haruki with plenty of "material" to practice his medical ninjutsu, they had also stretched their forces thin. Right now, their team was barely managing to hold the line.

But the Iwa side wasn't doing any better.

After several intense fights, their losses were just as heavy—maybe even worse.

Because their average combat strength couldn't quite match Konoha's, they had lost more ninja overall.

As a result, Iwagakure was no longer capable of organizing large-scale battles like before. Their strategy had shifted to small-unit harassment.

In short, things had reached a stalemate.

You might wonder—why doesn't Iwagakure just send more reinforcements?

The answer is simple: they can't.

This wasn't the only front.

The entire battle line was under counterattack from Konoha forces.

In fact, nearly two-thirds of Iwagakure's frontline outposts had already been retaken by Konoha. And their squads were now pushing even deeper, assaulting the second line of defense.

Naturally, those areas were in greater need of reinforcements.

And that's not all.

Konoha's sudden offensive had stirred up other hidden threats. Sunagakure and Kumogakure had both started to move.

The Sand ninja shared the Rain Country battlefield with them and had already begun probing Iwagakure's neighboring outposts.

As for the Cloud ninja—even though they were still reeling from the death of the Third Raikage and facing internal instability—that very loss had galvanized them into action.

After all, the Third Raikage had died at Iwagakure's hands. The desire for revenge was unified and unwavering.

Now, Cloud forces were attacking Iwa's border units.

With three active fronts, Iwagakure simply didn't have enough manpower to deal with everything—much less send extra forces to handle Haruki's unit.

Even their strongest shinobi, Han, had been reassigned elsewhere.

In other words, their unit had successfully stabilized. There was no need to retreat any further.

And most importantly—it was clear that they'd be stationed here for quite some time.

So, Haruki had made up his mind to return to his old profession.

What profession, you ask?

Naturally, it was secretly capturing enemy ninja and using them as "chakra batteries."

After all, the 21,000 chakra points he regained each day weren't nearly enough for his current training needs.

Only with a steady supply of external chakra could he continue to rapidly improve.

So capturing prisoners was a necessity.

Haruki glanced out toward the battlefield, his eyes sharp.

Today might just be the perfect opportunity.

As for where he'd hide the captives?

He had already scoped out several ideal locations over the past few days. All he needed now were the bodies to put in them.

With that in mind, Haruki silently left the field hospital and began making his way toward the battlefield—unnoticed.

······

In the dense forest, at the edge of the battlefield...

Two Iwa chunin had just taken down a Konoha chunin. Now, they were resting and tending to their injuries.

Just then, the sound of footsteps rustled nearby.

"Who's there?"

One of the Iwa chunin immediately stood alert and looked in the direction of the sound.

But the very next moment, he froze—completely motionless.

His partner frowned. "What's wrong?"

As he spoke, he turned toward the noise as well—and the moment he laid eyes on the newcomer, his expression changed dramatically.

He saw a boy, no older than eleven, with unmistakable Sharingan eyes, a short sword at his hip, and an air of calm menace.

"Demon Blade—Haruki!"

He cried out instinctively.

Then, without hesitation, he averted his gaze and fully activated his chakra sensing, keeping sharp attention on his surroundings—especially the blind spots.

Clearly, Iwagakure had already begun researching Haruki's combat patterns. His growing reputation meant even low-level enemies were briefed on how to counter him.

And so, the nickname "Demon Blade" had been born.

Haruki didn't particularly care.

If his techniques were that easy to deal with, he wouldn't have bested so many jonin already.

Looking at the cautious Iwa chunin in front of him, Haruki didn't throw kunai, didn't cast ninjutsu, didn't even draw his blade.

He simply used Body Flicker Technique and vanished—reappearing right in front of the target.

Then, his hands blurred through a set of seals:

Xin → Chou → Yin → Zi → Wu → Shen → Wei.

He activated a ninjutsu: Chakra Scalpel.

A faint glow of chakra coated his right hand. As his palm swept forward, it cut directly into the enemy's body—not through physical contact, but by slicing muscle fibers and chakra pathways beneath the skin.

Even though Haruki hadn't actually touched the chunin, the man's right arm suddenly went limp, completely uncontrollable.

"Ah! What the hell did you do?!"

The Iwa chunin shouted in panic, but Haruki didn't respond.

He flashed to the other side of his target and launched another chakra-infused hand strike.

This time, the enemy dodged—barely avoiding direct contact. But it was useless.

As the chakra seeped into his body, another part of him stopped responding.

His defensive posture began to falter.

Haruki closed the distance again.

The moment their eyes met, he cast a genjutsu—a hypnotic technique.

Instantly, the Iwa shinobi's eyes rolled back as he dropped into unconsciousness.

Now, both Iwa chunin were down.

That was the current reality—unless you were at jonin level, you weren't even worth Haruki getting serious.

Most ordinary chunin wouldn't last ten moves against him.

Only those on the verge of promotion could hope to put up a fight.

The rest? Just like these two—easily subdued.

Haruki glanced at them briefly, then knocked them out physically with two sharp blows.

Next, he activated Chakra Scalpel again and cut off nerve and muscle control in all four limbs, ensuring they had no chance of escape.

After that, he formed another set of hand signs and created a Shadow Clone.

He handed the two unconscious prisoners over to the clone and had it take them away.

As for Haruki himself?

He immediately began scanning the area for his next target.

That's right—he wasn't planning to stop here.

Unlike before, he now had the strength to act more boldly.

If he could capture more prisoners, he'd have plenty of chakra to train without restraint in the coming days.