Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Tap tap tap—

A burst of frantic footsteps echoed through the forest.

An Iwagakure shinobi was sprinting for his life through the woods, glancing nervously over his shoulder. His eyes were filled with unease and fear.

His name was Andino, a mid-level chunin. Today, he'd been sent by his superiors, along with three teammates, to harass the Konoha forces that had seized one of Iwagakure's strongholds.

At first, everything had gone smoothly.

They paid only a minor cost—one teammate lightly injured—and managed to surround and kill one Konoha chunin and one genin on the battlefield's outskirts.

But just as they were about to clean up and retreat, a figure suddenly appeared in the middle of the field.

With a single move, that figure took down their strongest teammate.

Then, like a phantom, he closed the distance. Despite their coordinated attacks, the intruder slipped through every blow with eerie ease and quickly defeated two more.

In the end, only Andino escaped.

Just remembering that encounter made him shudder.

He gritted his teeth.

"They say you can call someone by the wrong name, but never give them the wrong title…"

"Demon Blade Haruki…"

He hissed the name with a mix of hatred and terror.

"Hmm? Looking for me?"

A teasing voice floated down from above, lighthearted and mocking.

"What?!"

Startled, Andino screeched to a halt and instinctively looked up.

And there, he saw a pair of blood-red Sharingan staring right back at him.

Bang—

His mind collapsed into illusion.

Trapped in a genjutsu, Andino dropped flat to the ground.

Haruki landed beside him in a blur, quickly forming hand seals. His chakra flared as he activated Chakra Scalpel and skillfully severed the muscle tissue and nerve signals in all four limbs—completely stripping away Andino's ability to flee.

Once done, Haruki called out toward the trees behind him.

"All right, come on out."

As his voice fell, two shadow clones appeared, each carrying captured Iwa-nin. One had a ninja in each hand, while the other held a single captive.

Clearly, these were Andino's three teammates—the full squad of four, neatly captured.

Haruki tossed Andino to the second clone and said, "You guys know the drill. Be careful not to get spotted."

"Understood."

Without another word, the two clones departed with the prisoners.

After they were gone, Haruki surveyed the area, ensuring no one had been watching and no traces remained. Once satisfied, he vanished silently into the night.

Later that night, inside the stronghold...

Haruki left a shadow clone behind to handle any unexpected issues and stealthily slipped past the Konoha patrols, making his way toward his hidden base.

Well—"base" was a bit of an exaggeration.

It was actually just a concealed cave in the mountains. He had cleaned it up, giving himself about 70–80 square meters of usable space.

He wasn't aiming for comfort—just a place to work undisturbed.

As he approached the cave, a figure stepped out of the shadows.

It looked exactly like him—one of his shadow clones.

Their eyes met. The clone released its jutsu and dissolved into a wave of chakra, carrying its memories directly into Haruki's mind.

After reviewing the memories and confirming there were no issues, Haruki stepped inside.

On the ground, seven unconscious Iwa chunin lay sprawled in a row.

He nodded in satisfaction.

This was today's haul. Seven full Iwa chunin. If he pushed them to the limit, each could yield 7,000 to 8,000 chakra points per day.

Of course, he wouldn't drain them dry.

Even with sustainable extraction in mind, he could still safely draw about 5,000 chakra from each of them daily.

That added up to 35,000 chakra per day—over 50% more than the 21,000 he naturally regenerated.

Not a massive amount, but significant enough to visibly accelerate his growth if managed properly.

Still, chakra distribution could wait.

Right now, Haruki had something more pressing.

It had been ten days since he'd learned Mystic Palm Jutsu and Chakra Scalpel. His Chakra Refining Technique was now on the verge of upgrading. Haruki decided to break through to Level 5 before redistributing chakra usage.

With that thought, he entered the training chamber carved out by one of his shadow clones, sat down cross-legged, and began channeling Chakra Refining Technique.

As a core skill he had practiced since the very beginning, Haruki's mastery of it was now flawless. Every motion was smooth, as natural as breathing.

Tiny strands of physical energy were drawn from his cells, guided by his will, and merged with mental energy to form chakra.

One strand after another, again and again.

The refined chakra flowed through his chakra network, joining the rest in a constant, circulating stream.

In that moment, Haruki was like a passive observer—watching the process with a still mind, utterly focused, his thoughts empty and clear.

Time slowed.

At some point, a subtle shift occurred.

Haruki's awareness snapped into sharp focus as a new clarity emerged in his understanding of chakra refinement.

He instinctively adjusted his technique, and suddenly, the entire process accelerated—he was now forming chakra at twice the previous speed.

Haruki immediately opened his status panel.

As expected, his Chakra Refining Technique had advanced:

From Level 4 (1998/2000) to Level 5 (1/5000).

He recalled the refining process and confirmed it—his active chakra regeneration rate had doubled or more.

Translated into numbers, that meant going from 800 chakra per hour to a whopping 2,000 chakra per hour.

In tandem, his Chakra Absorption Technique had also improved. The hourly upper limit had risen from 16 to 32 chakra points per hour.

The only downside?

Level 5 refining imposed a heavier strain on his body.

Without improving his Physique and Spirit stats, he could only maintain peak chakra generation for about six hours a day.

Still, this was a huge gain.

His total daily regeneration had gone from 21,000 chakra to 27,000 chakra—a boost of 6,000 points.

His maximum chakra capacity, too, had jumped—from 144 per day to 192.

At this rate, he estimated that within a month and a half, he'd reach his body's current maximum chakra potential—about 35,000 points.

But that assumed his potential didn't grow further.

And frankly, that was unlikely.

Why?

Because after a week of dedicated training, his Mystic Palm Jutsu and Chakra Scalpel had both reached Level 4.

Mystic Palm: Level 4 (350/2000)

Chakra Scalpel: Level 4 (25/2000)

Now, every time he used Mystic Palm to channel Yang Release chakra into his cells, he could feel a tangible improvement.

All that was left was for his Physique stat to catch up.