Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Creak—

The door swung open.

Uchiha Haruki and his team of four stepped out, walking through the charred corridor until they reached both sides of Room 107's entrance.

Yamanaka Ichiryo gave a quick hand signal.

Haruki and the others nodded in unison.

Each of them drew a kunai, carefully wrapped an explosive tag around it, and, following Ichiryo's silent countdown—3, 2, 1—they all hurled them into Room 107 simultaneously.

"Look out!"

A panicked warning came from within—an Iwagakure shinobi's voice, filled with urgency.

But it was too late to stop what came next.

BOOM—BOOM—BOOM!

A series of deafening explosions shook the building.

Crimson flames burst from the doorway, the wave of heat so intense that it seared the skin on Haruki and his teammates' faces.

The walls on either side of the room visibly trembled under the impact of the blast.

In such a confined space, the destructive power of explosive tags far exceeded what they could do out in the open.

I wonder if any of them survived... Haruki thought briefly.

Without hesitation, he surged forward the instant the flames began to fade, short blade in hand, and darted into the smoke-filled room.

From within the haze, several shuriken came whistling toward him.

Haruki remained calm, swiftly slicing them down mid-air with a flurry of metallic clangs.

His teammates followed closely behind him.

"Two o'clock!"

Yamanaka Ichiryo immediately called out the enemy's location.

The other two charged forward without pause, sprinting to the right-front corner of the room.

There, an Iwa Chūnin was halfway out of a hole in the ground, preparing a second ambush.

One glance told Haruki what had happened—this one must've avoided the explosion by slipping into the underground storage room.

Otherwise, in such a cramped space, if he'd taken a direct hit from those tags, he would've at least been seriously injured—if not dead—like the Genin lying nearby, his body twisted on the floor.

That Genin had likely avoided the main blast but still took the brunt of the shockwave, enough to damage his organs.

No way he'd be in any condition to fight back otherwise.

Haruki shook his head subtly, pushing those thoughts aside and refocusing on the battle.

By now, the Iwa Chūnin had fully emerged from the underground entrance and was engaged in combat with the two Konoha Chūnin.

Meanwhile, two more Iwa Genin had crawled out of the tunnel and clashed with Yamanaka Ichiryo.

Seeing this, Haruki pulled out six shuriken and spaced them between the fingers of both hands. His eyes locked onto the Iwa shinobi.

Then—with a flick of his wrists—he launched them.

Some flew fast, others slower. Two of them even collided mid-air, changing trajectories to catch the enemy off guard.

Moments later, the room was filled with the grunts of pain from the Iwa shinobi.

Four of the six shuriken hit their marks. Though none struck fatal points, the injuries were enough to break their focus.

That was all Haruki's teammates needed.

Seconds later, with a series of sharp, short screams, all three Iwa shinobi fell lifeless to the ground.

With the enemy squad wiped out, Haruki and his team wasted no time. They slipped through the tunnel entrance and entered the enemy's supply cache.

It was a massive underground chamber, at least 200 square meters in size—clearly dug out using Earth Style jutsu.

Shelves were lined up across the space, stocked with a wide range of supplies: food, ninja tools, medicine, and explosive tags—everything a shinobi unit might need.

Especially the explosive tags—saving them a ton of effort.

The group discussed quickly and decided to take every last tag, placing them strategically in all four corners of the storage chamber.

Once that was done, they cautiously exited the underground space.

At the entrance, Yamanaka Ichiryo set several layered traps and seals to ensure everything would go off properly.

Once satisfied, he said, "Alright. In three minutes, the mechanism will activate. Let's get out of here."

The others exchanged a glance, then immediately dashed out of the building.

Truth be told, standing above a giant powder keg—even one you rigged yourself—was not a comforting experience.

If those tags went off prematurely, no amount of distance might save them.

So, the faster they left, the better.

Now, their sole objective was to make it back to the outpost in the town as quickly as possible.

As for signaling mission success?

Come on.

With a bomb that size? What more signal did they need?

Tick… Tick…

Time crept forward.

Three minutes later—

A massive explosion ripped through the center of the village. Crimson fire shot skyward through cracks in the earth, lighting up the entire area in a hellish glow.

Even more dramatic, the ground for two to three kilometers around shook violently with the force of the blast.

At the perimeter, Konoha shinobi stationed in all four directions saw the flames and immediately understood: one squad had completed their mission.

They began retreating while continuing to engage the enemy.

But the Iwa shinobi weren't backing down—they pressed the attack with wild aggression, making the retreat far more difficult than expected.

It became a brutal chase. Fights broke out in pockets. Life-and-death clashes littered the battlefield.

By the end of this phase, both sides suffered more casualties than in the initial chaos.

Haruki's team wasn't spared, either.

Even with Ichiryo's sensory skills, they still ran into several ambushes.

And one of their own companions—who had shared this mission—was killed in the process.

By the time they finally made it back to the town's outpost, deep into the night…

Haruki realized the losses were far worse than he had imagined.

The number of returning shinobi was nearly half of what they'd started with.

Heart heavy, Haruki made his way to his team's quarters.

The first thing he saw was Shizuko Mizutani, eyes red with tears.

His stomach dropped.

A cold dread swept over him.

And sure enough, the next words confirmed his worst fears.

"Haruki… Ryosuke, Ryosuke and Sensei—they're all dead… hic… sob sob…"

With that, Shizuko broke into full tears.

Haruki stood frozen.

Memories of their time together flashed through his mind.

He hadn't known Ryosuke that long. He often turned down his invitations, choosing to train alone.

But Ryosuke's optimistic and upbeat nature had still left a mark on him.

Now, hearing that he was gone… it didn't feel real.

And Sensei—Furukawa-sensei—

He hadn't taught Haruki much about ninjutsu, but he'd given him invaluable combat experience. He always helped when he could, answering requests without hesitation.

Those two were among the few people Haruki truly cared about in this world.

Inhale—exhale…

Haruki took a deep breath, trying to steady himself.

Then he looked at Shizuko.

"How did Sensei… and the others… die?" he asked.