Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

"Rat — Tiger — Dog — Ox — Rabbit — Tiger! Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Technique!"

Uchiha Haruki's hands moved with blinding speed, fingers weaving together six hand seals in a blur, like a butterfly flitting through flowers. He took a deep breath—and then exhaled forcefully.

In the next instant, several bursts of flame shot from his mouth, scattering like seeds of the phoenix flower, striking toward seven or eight large trees ahead.

"Sharingan!"

With a thought, Haruki activated his Sharingan.

In a flash, his pupils turned crimson, and a single black tomoe swirled into view, spinning like a windmill.

Harnessing the powerful insight granted by the Sharingan, Haruki directed the fireballs to fly in erratic paths, weaving through the air before precisely hitting their targets—different trees spaced apart.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of explosions rang out.

The flames danced unpredictably through the air before colliding with the tree trunks, hitting them dead-on. The whole display was visually striking.

It wasn't that Haruki was showing off—this was the very essence of the technique: blending illusion with reality, dazzling the opponent with chaotic attacks while hiding his true killing intent. At its most effective, it could even be combined with shuriken for maximum lethality.

With that thought, Haruki quickly formed another set of hand seals. As soon as he activated the jutsu again, he grabbed several shuriken and hurled them with practiced precision.

The flames once again struck the trees—but just ahead of the fire, hidden within, the shuriken flashed through the air.

Heated red-hot by the flames, the shuriken embedded themselves into the trunks, instantly charring the bark around them black.

One could imagine the result if such an attack struck a human body. No flesh and blood could withstand it.

In a blink, the target would be gravely wounded—or even killed outright.

Who said Fire Style jutsu couldn't kill?

When physical force and chakra-based techniques worked together, even one hit could be devastating.

The only downside was that this technique burned through shuriken at a ridiculous rate.

Each time he used it, the shuriken were ruined—there was no point in recovering them.

Unfortunately, ninja tool pouches had limited space.

Haruki couldn't carry too many shuriken at once, so this combo was strictly for emergencies.

Clearing his thoughts, Haruki dismissed the distraction and opened his proficiency panel with a single command of his will.

The familiar pale blue screen appeared before him:

[Name: Uchiha Haruki][Age: 11][Physique: 7][Spirit: 9][Chakra: 1208 (3018 → 3210)][Bloodline: Sharingan - Single Tomoe (30/1000) → (50/1000)]

[Skills:]

Chakra Refining Technique: Lv3 (322/1000) → Lv3 (346/1000)

Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu: Lv1 (50/200)

Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Technique: Lv1 (5/200)

Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique: Lv1 (1/200)

Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique: Lv1 (1/200)

Body Flicker Technique: Lv1 (10/200)

Insight Technique: Lv3 (683/1000)

Ninja Tool Throwing: Lv3 (1/1000) → Lv3 (60/1000)

Chakra Control: Lv3 (102/1000)

Clone/Transformation/Replacement Techniques: Lv3 (0/0)

Basic Taijutsu: Lv3 (0/0)

At this point, ten days had passed since Haruki had awakened his Sharingan, and three days since he began training the Phoenix Fire Technique.

Thanks to already mastering the Great Fireball Jutsu early on, learning this new technique had been incredibly fast.

Because the two jutsu had many shared mechanics, it only took Haruki about thirty repetitions to gain 100 proficiency points—successfully unlocking the Phoenix Fire Technique and leveling it from Lv0 to Lv1.

This consumed roughly 2,500 chakra.

Originally, it would've taken 3,000—but his Lv3 Chakra Control (102/1000) reduced consumption by about 15.5%, lowering the cost.

Then came the Dragon Fire Technique.

Having already learned the other two Fire Style jutsu, Haruki now had a deeper understanding of Fire Release.

During this training, he had also begun to grasp the basics of chakra nature transformation and form manipulation, essential to mastering any Fire Style jutsu.

As a result, when Haruki began training Dragon Fire Technique, it progressed just as efficiently.

In fewer than forty attempts, he reached 100 proficiency points, unlocking the technique.

That cost him about 3,000 chakra, even after chakra savings from control.

So altogether, the two Fire Style jutsu had cost him 5,500 chakra.

Across three days, Haruki's total usable chakra was about 10,000 points.

The remaining chakra was spent training Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes and Body Flicker Technique.

The genjutsu was tailor-made for the Sharingan, and Haruki learned it easily. After about twenty repetitions and over 1,000 chakra spent, he successfully unlocked it.

During this period, Haruki also noticed his Sharingan's proficiency began increasing faster.

Curious, he ran some tests.

Using Phoenix Fire and Dragon Fire jutsu in advanced ways, he isolated the cause: intensive Sharingan use led to faster proficiency growth.

It made sense—the more he pushed the limits of the Sharingan, the faster it evolved.

By Haruki's estimation, high-intensity use increased proficiency about twice as fast as simply leaving the eye open.

The downside? Chakra cost.

On average, it took 1,000 chakra per proficiency point—better than the 1,700 required by Insight Technique, but far more than the 300 needed just for passively keeping the eye open.

With his current reserves, Haruki simply couldn't afford to train this way.

Not yet, anyway.

This meant he couldn't let his Chakra Refining Technique fall behind.

With his current physique and spirit stats, raising that skill would boost his daily chakra pool considerably.

Then, and only then, would he be able to afford such a "luxurious" training method for evolving the Sharingan.

Another benefit of this method was that it improved multiple skills at once—both the Sharingan and the jutsu being used.

Wiping a bit of sweat from the corner of his mouth, Haruki focused his attention back on the Body Flicker Technique.

Since it was just a D-rank jutsu, it only took 30 chakra per use to practice, and Haruki quickly got it to Lv1.

However, now the minimum chakra cost had risen to 50 per use.

And the farther he wanted to travel, the more chakra it consumed.

Still, when grinding for proficiency, Haruki didn't need to travel far—he just needed the credit. Any extra chakra use was a waste.

Step.

A faint footstep echoed nearby.

Haruki's ear twitched. He instantly completed a hand seal, opened his mouth, and launched a massive fireball toward the sound.

The ball of flame soared forward, crashing between a group of trees and exploding in a roar. Flames surged outward, engulfing everything nearby in an instant.