Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

"What?!"

Not far off, the young Iwagakure Jonin, though clearly shaken by the consecutive setbacks, was still quite capable.

Almost the instant Haruki made his move, the young ninja sensed something was off. With a startled shout, he shut his eyes and jumped back.

There was already some distance between them, and with this sudden retreat, it widened even more—Haruki's genjutsu failed to take hold.

Still, that was enough for him.

The moment the boy's eyes shut, Haruki didn't hesitate—he reached into his pouch, pulled out a handful of shuriken, and launched them at blinding speed.

Shuriken were small, fast, and nearly silent as they sliced through the air—extremely difficult to detect without visual cues.

Just like now—the boy only sensed the danger when the spinning stars were nearly upon him.

With no time to think, he cast a Substitution Jutsu, leaving a stone decoy in his place as his body vanished in a blur.

Clink, clink, clink—

The shuriken slammed into the stone, sending small chips flying and leaving behind faint white dents and scratches.

Another failed attempt. But Haruki wasn't disheartened.

His Sharingan remained locked on the enemy. The moment the Substitution Jutsu was triggered, he had already begun forming hand seals.

And by the time the young Jonin finished dodging and concealing himself behind a large tree—Haruki had completed his jutsu.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Technique!"

In the next instant, dozens of flame-like projectiles shot from Haruki's mouth in a sweeping fan, resembling the scattered seeds of a blazing phoenix flower.

The barrage surged toward the tree where the Iwa ninja had hidden himself.

"So fast!"

The boy, Aikawa Sukai, saw the flames closing in from both sides. He hadn't even caught his breath before he dove forward in a desperate roll.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The fiery orbs slammed into the trunk, blasting fist-sized blackened craters into the wood.

Sukai's heart turned cold at the sight.

He scrambled to his feet and activated Body Flicker Technique, darting deeper into the woods as fast as he could.

Though he hadn't fought Haruki directly, he'd just seen how Fukui Ichiro and Iwagama Yōto had been completely overwhelmed.

There was no way he was about to take him on in close combat.

And Haruki hadn't stopped approaching from the beginning—he was closing in constantly.

Sukai had no choice but to keep retreating, putting as much distance as possible between them to avoid getting caught.

Counterattacking? He could think about that later—after he survived.

But Haruki had worked hard to create this opening. There was no way he would let Sukai escape so easily.

Even with Body Flicker active, Sukai's speed was nothing compared to what Haruki's fully evolved three-tomoe Sharingan could track.

Whoosh—

A shuriken flew past, cutting off Sukai's escape route with pinpoint accuracy.

Sukai veered off, dodging.

Another shuriken. He dodged again.

Haruki launched another. Sukai evaded.

Again, again—six shuriken in total, and every one of them perfectly sealed off his advance.

Breathing hard, Sukai came to a halt, face darkening as he turned to face the rapidly approaching Haruki.

He had no choice but to fight.

He quickly formed hand seals, then thrust both palms forward, generating a beam of blinding white light between them.

The dazzling light struck Haruki's eyes, forcing him to shut them tight—his consciousness briefly falling into disarray.

It was genjutsu again. But unlike the previous auditory-triggered Lightning Style: Roaring Thunder, this one—Lightning Style: Radiant Beam—was activated via visual contact.

Normally, Haruki's resistance to visual genjutsu would be even stronger. But this particular technique seemed to have a natural counter effect against Sharingan.

So this time, the disruption lasted longer than expected.

But only slightly longer.

It was just enough time for Sukai to throw a few more shuriken.

And when Haruki broke free of the illusion and opened his eyes, the spinning blades were already upon him.

His Sharingan flared—the tomoe whirling rapidly. In a split-second, he tracked every projectile's trajectory.

Then with a few sharp sidesteps, he avoided them all.

And while dodging, he was already forming hand seals again.

The moment his feet hit the ground, he released it.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

A small orb of flame burst from his mouth—then rapidly expanded, growing into a three-meter-wide fireball as it spun toward Sukai.

Feeling the intense heat from just meters away, Sukai didn't hesitate. He flickered aside just as the massive ball of fire blasted through his previous position.

BOOM—!

The fireball struck a large tree behind him and exploded.

In an instant, the entire trunk was obliterated, and the flames, along with splintered wood, shot outward like flower petals on fire.

Because he was so close to the blast zone, Sukai had no choice but to keep dodging the flaming debris.

And in that short delay—

Haruki was already upon him.

Shing—

The crisp ring of steel echoed.

Haruki drew the short blade from his waist and charged straight in.

Sukai had nowhere left to run. He pulled out a kunai and clashed with Haruki head-on.

But it was clear—his close-combat ability was average at best. After just a dozen exchanges, Haruki had already left a bleeding gash on his arm.

Realistically, even if Sukai wasn't a melee specialist, he was still a Jonin. He shouldn't have fallen behind this fast.

The truth was, Haruki's Sword Mastery had just reached Level 6—far surpassing the average Jonin.

On top of that, one-on-one combat gave Haruki full advantage of his vision control tactics.

That's how he had injured Sukai so quickly.

Stung by the pain in his forearm, Sukai became fully alert. His eyes narrowed, senses on overdrive, straining to detect the slightest movement around him.

Whoosh—

Another blade strike came from a blind spot.

Sukai reacted fast, bringing his kunai up to parry.

Clang!

Steel clashed. The two broke apart instantly.

Haruki once again vanished into Sukai's peripheral blind zone.

All Sukai could glimpse was a fluttering edge of Haruki's cloak.

It was at that moment Sukai understood why people called Haruki the "Ghost Blade."

He didn't fight like a man. He fought like a phantom.

A blur of movement—never fully in view—one wrong move and you'd be dead.

"No wonder the village allows lower-ranking ninja to flee when encountering him. With this kind of combat style, who among the average Chunin or even Special Jonin could stand a chance?"

That thought flashed through his mind, but Sukai shoved it aside. Now wasn't the time for distractions.

Right now, survival was the only priority. If he could hold out until reinforcements arrived, he still had a chance.

Everything had happened too fast earlier—none of the nearby Jonin had noticed what was happening yet.

Or maybe they had… but just couldn't get away.

Either way, if he could just buy some time, he was confident someone would come.

That meant one thing—

He had to survive.

With that determination burning in his chest, Aikawa Sukai went full defense, doing everything in his power to hold off Haruki.