Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Picking up the scroll on the ground, Haruki dispelled the Transformation Jutsu and reverted from Ryo's appearance back to his own.

That's right — the "Haruki" and "Ryo" from earlier were both fakes.

Before revealing themselves, the two had used the Transformation Jutsu to swap appearances in order to lower Furukawa's guard. Only then could they successfully snatch the scroll from him.

However, what Haruki didn't expect was that the Furukawa they had been clashing minds with… was also fake.

Just a mere Shadow Clone had managed to toy with them effortlessly — this gave Haruki a much clearer understanding of what it truly meant to be a jonin.

Clap clap clap—

At that moment, the sound of applause approached from a distance.

The three of them looked toward the source and saw Furukawa strolling out casually from between the trees.

"Furukawa-sensei!" ×2

Still reeling from the surprise, Ryo and Shizuko immediately greeted him.

Furukawa nodded at them, then turned his gaze to Haruki. "You attacked without hesitation earlier. Weren't you afraid of hurting me?"

Haruki shook his head. "Furukawa-sensei, you're a jonin. That level of attack couldn't possibly injure you. If we didn't act with the determination to defeat you, we'd have no chance of taking the scroll from your hands."

"Not bad!" Furukawa nodded in satisfaction. He then turned to the other two. "You both did well too."

"Does that mean we passed the test, sensei?" asked Ryo eagerly, finally recovering from the tension.

"Of course," Furukawa replied with a smile. "Congratulations. You won't have to repeat a year at the Academy."

"Yeah!!"

Ryo let out an excited cheer, and even Shizuko's face lit up with delight.

Only Haruki remained calm and stoic as usual.

Once the excitement settled down, Furukawa spoke again. "To celebrate the formation of Team Seventeen, I'm treating you all to grilled meat!"

Hearing that, Ryo was over the moon.

Even Haruki couldn't help but smile slightly. After all, he'd nearly thrown up from eating military rations every day lately.

Though he'd occasionally splurged a bit on better food, grilled meat was a luxury he hadn't allowed himself — and now that someone else was paying, he was definitely going to enjoy it.

Afternoon — Uchiha Clan District

Returning home, Haruki thought back on the pained expression on Furukawa's face when footing the barbecue bill, and couldn't help but chuckle inwardly.

But that was just a trivial matter.

Having "wasted" the entire morning, it was time to focus and stick to his training schedule.

Currently, with Chakra Refinement Technique stuck at Level 2 and no changes in his physical and mental stats, the maximum chakra Haruki could utilize per day was around 2400–2500 points.

Out of that, he planned to allocate 2000 chakra points toward practicing Mirror of the Heart Technique.

This would yield about ten proficiency points per day, and in turn, increase his Sharingan awakening progress by one point daily.

At that rate, in under half a month, his Sharingan progress would reach (70/100).

As for what came after that…

That would require new planning.

Because by then, Mirror of the Heart would reach Level 2, and the chakra cost per use might change. Its effect on Sharingan awakening would likely shift as well.

Naturally, the strategy would need to adapt.

But then he remembered what Furukawa had said earlier before they parted:

"Be at the Hokage Building by 9 a.m. tomorrow. We'll officially begin taking missions."

Haruki frowned.

Just as he expected, the village had no intention of sending them to the battlefield right away, but they weren't going to let them idle either.

Most likely, they'd be doing the same kinds of tasks that older genin had done: catching cats, retrieving items, babysitting...

Sure, it was meant to help them get used to mission routines and the lifestyle of a shinobi, but it was also a huge waste of time.

And if Haruki wanted to maximize chakra usage each day, he had to meditate for at least ten hours a day to refine chakra.

Obviously, that clashed with the time required to complete missions.

There were only twenty-four hours in a day — and after factoring in eating, sleeping, and basic needs, there wasn't much left.

So, he had to find a way to solve this contradiction.

After thinking for a long while, Haruki came up with three possible approaches:

First, he could improve his natural chakra recovery rate.

That would require increasing his physical and mental attributes — something that would take too long. Not a viable short-term solution.

Second, he could increase the amount of chakra refined per unit of time.

That meant leveling up Chakra Refinement Technique. But going from Level 2 to 3 required 500 proficiency points.

Right now, it was still under 70.

Even with twelve hours of intense meditation per day (earning twelve points), it would take over a month to reach the next level.

So that was also not an immediate fix.

That left the third option…

Next Day — Afternoon

Haruki and the others, led by Furukawa, each carried a basket on their backs as they waded through a river on the village outskirts, picking up trash.

Along the way, Ryo kept grumbling.

Haruki, however, carefully stepped through the water, bending over to gather garbage — all while maintaining a subtle technique.

If one looked closely, they would notice his feet weren't touching the riverbed — he was walking on the water.

A few minutes later…

Proficiency +1Chakra Control: Lv0 (60/100) → Lv0 (61/100)!

That's right. This was Haruki's third method — improving chakra control, in order to reduce chakra consumption when performing jutsu.

For a shinobi, each jutsu required a different amount of chakra. Using too much or too little could cause failure — or at best, unnecessary waste.

So, the ability to control chakra precisely was a skill every ninja had to master.

Through constant experimentation, the shinobi world had developed a reliable training method: tree climbing and water walking.

Gathering chakra at the soles of the feet was particularly difficult, and both climbing and water-walking required very fine chakra control.

Any minor error would lead to failure.

So mastering these techniques meant having a strong grasp on chakra control.

And that's exactly what Haruki was doing.

"Status Panel."

With a thought, Haruki summoned his familiar blue interface:

[Name: Uchiha Haruki]Age: 10Physical Attribute: 6Mental Attribute: 7Chakra: 215 (862 → 910)Bloodline: Sharingan (Unawakened) (57/100 → 58/100)

Skills:

Chakra Refinement Technique: Lv2 (69/500 → 81/500)

Clone Technique: Lv2 (1/500)

Transformation Technique: Lv2 (1/500)

Substitution Technique: Lv2 (1/500)

Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu: Lv1 (1/200)

Mirror of the Heart Technique: Lv1 (65/200 → 77/200)

Basic Taijutsu: Lv2 (1/500)

Ninja Tool Throwing: Lv2 (120/500)

Chakra Control: Lv0 (61/100)

Chakra control training didn't consume too much chakra, nor did it require a dedicated time block to practice.

So Haruki had already brought it up to Lv0 (61/100) fairly quickly.

With that, the chakra cost of each jutsu decreased by about 3%.

That might seem like a small gain — but over time, it would make a big difference.

And as his proficiency improved, chakra control would continue to level up, enhancing this effect.

Being able to cast more jutsu with the same amount of chakra was essentially solving his time constraint issue in disguise.

The only trade-off might be slightly slower progress in Chakra Refinement Technique.

But that wasn't his top priority at the moment — taking it slow was fine.