Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Time always seemed to fly when it came to training.

In the blink of an eye, ten days had passed.

That evening.

Inside the Uchiha Clan grounds, in one of the training fields, Uchiha Haruki stood silently beneath a tall tree, his eyes closed.

Suddenly, a gust of wind swept through, shaking the tree violently. Branches swayed, and leaves rained down like a green storm, surrounding Haruki on all sides.

His ears twitched.

The moment the leaves were about to touch him, Haruki's eyes snapped open.

Within his scarlet irises, a single black tomoe spun rapidly. With just a casual glance, Haruki memorized the position of every falling leaf.

Clang—!

With a sharp metallic sound, he drew the short sword from his waist.

In the next instant, silver flashes of cold steel sliced through the air. His blade left afterimages as it danced through the falling leaves—each one was split in half, and none so much as brushed against his body.

He moved with absolute precision within the tight space around him, dodging and cutting, never letting a single leaf land on him.

After a while, the wind died down. The tree settled, and the last bisected leaf drifted to the ground.

Haruki sheathed his sword.

He stood motionless with his eyes closed, silently savoring the moment. After a while, he let out a breath and murmured,

"So this is what Lv4 Uchiha-Style Kenjutsu feels like..."

Yes—his Uchiha-Style Kenjutsu had finally reached Level 4.

Over the past ten days, Haruki had poured nearly all his free time into practicing this technique.

To speed up the process, he had even temporarily stopped training Leaf-Style Kenjutsu and Ninja Tool Throwing.

Since his Leaf-Style Kenjutsu had already reached Level 4 earlier, he now had a strong foundation—and finally managed to push Uchiha-Style Kenjutsu to Lv4 (1/2000).

He had to admit: Uchiha-Style Kenjutsu truly lived up to its legacy.

Once it reached Lv4 and was combined with the Sharingan, the power it unleashed already surpassed that of Leaf-Style Kenjutsu at the same level.

Not because Leaf-Style was weak—it wasn't.

But Uchiha-Style was simply tailored for shinobi with awakened Sharingan.

Unfortunately, due to the Uchiha clan's heavy reliance on the Sharingan's visual prowess, few had truly mastered the sword art itself, and so the technique remained obscure.

Looking back at memories from his previous life, Haruki could recall only one person in recent years who had brought this technique to its peak—Uchiha Shisui.

Shisui combined the blade technique with Genjutsu and Body Flicker to earn the legendary nickname "Shisui of the Body Flicker."

Haruki murmured,

"Come to think of it… I think Shisui will also be participating in this Chūnin Exam."

Though Haruki had focused on his own training and paid little attention to the outside world, he'd still caught wind of the buzz around a young genius in the Uchiha clan.

Uchiha Shisui, nine years old, had spent only two years in the Ninja Academy before applying for early graduation.

Soon after, he went straight to the battlefield—and within just three months, he awakened the Sharingan. And not just a single tomoe—it was dual tomoe right from the start.

He was promptly recalled from the front lines to participate in the upcoming Chūnin Exams.

Truthfully, Haruki owed a great deal of his peaceful training period to Shisui. The prodigy had drawn all the clan's attention to himself, leaving Haruki relatively free to improve in peace.

But Haruki didn't mind having his light dimmed by someone else.

In fact, he welcomed it.

If he could fly under the radar, he could focus entirely on growing stronger.

Unfortunately, being a Uchiha with an awakened Sharingan, it was nearly impossible to become invisible—even if he tried.

And tonight… his Sharingan was about to evolve into dual tomoe.

Yes, after all his effort over the past few days, Haruki's Sharingan evolution had reached (992/1000). All he had to do was complete tonight's training, and the evolution would be complete.

But once that happened… he knew he'd draw attention again.

He even briefly considered delaying the evolution until after the Chūnin Exams.

But in the end, he shook off the idea.

Because for Haruki, evolving the Sharingan wasn't just about gaining an extra tomoe. It also meant an overall increase in potential.

Just like the first time he awakened the Sharingan, evolving it would likely boost both his Physique and Spirit attributes.

And those base stats would directly increase his chakra reserves and chakra recovery speed.

That, in turn, would let him train skills even faster.

Each improvement triggered the next—so Haruki didn't want to delay even for a second.

Besides, it was only a single-to-double tomoe evolution. It wasn't like he was awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan. There was no real need to hide it.

Not to mention—he still had Shisui as a lightning rod.

Shisui was two years younger than him and had awakened the Sharingan at dual tomoe from the start. No matter how you looked at it, Shisui's potential was more terrifying.

So with that reasoning, Haruki figured no one would pay too much attention to him.

With that in mind, he packed up his gear and hurried back home.

He did, however, forget one thing:

Once his Sharingan evolved, it would look like he'd gone from one tomoe to two within just two months.

While that might not compare to someone like Shisui, it was still a remarkable leap—and would absolutely catch the attention of the clan.

That night.

Within the Uchiha clan district.

Inside Haruki's house.

After fully restoring his chakra, Haruki didn't immediately jump into training Mind Reflection Technique.

Instead, he stuck to his plan and focused on Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes.

Thanks to his training over the past several days, the jutsu was already at the brink of leveling up. Haruki intended to push it to Lv3 tonight.

His hands formed seals at lightning speed.

His Sharingan snapped open as he locked eyes with a rabbit—bought specifically for Genjutsu practice.

The moment their eyes met, the rabbit froze in place.

Even though the creature couldn't express pain with words, Haruki could feel the torment reflected in its trembling body. The illusion technique was working.

A moment later, the panel displayed +1 proficiency, and Haruki deactivated the Genjutsu.

He gave the rabbit a moment to recover before forming seals again and activating the jutsu a second time.

Compared to before, his movements were slightly faster, and his mental grasp of the illusion deeper.

This was the benefit of a single +1 proficiency.

Haruki didn't have monstrous talent. He wasn't the kind of genius who could master a jutsu just by watching it once.

But every time he trained, he gained something.

So as long as he had enough time, Haruki feared no genius.

Minutes ticked by.

Finally, after casting Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes for the fourth time, Haruki felt something click.

His understanding of the jutsu had leapt to a new level.

When he cast it again, both the speed and power had improved significantly.

He opened his panel and took a glance—sure enough, the jutsu had reached Lv3 (2/1000).

With that, Haruki had completed two of the three goals he'd set ten days ago.

All that was left now...

was the evolution of his Sharingan.