Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

After examining his body and confirming there were no serious problems, Uchiha Haruki finally had time to check on Jūzō Biwa.

Compared to him, Jūzō was in a far more miserable state.

Although the Executioner's Blade had managed to block the initial contact from the Wind Style: Rasenshuriken, the true damage came from the aftermath—which Jūzō had taken in full.

Unlike Haruki, who understood the Rasenshuriken's true lethality came not from the impact itself, but from the sustained damage caused by the internal chakra needles, Jūzō was a step too slow in escaping.

Because of that momentary delay, his body was engulfed in a sphere of countless fine chakra needles.

Although he managed to escape soon after, the damage had already been done. That short delay was enough for the chakra needles to wreak havoc inside his body.

And that wasn't all.

When the Executioner's Blade shattered, shards of its broken blade had also flown toward Jūzō. He had even more fragments embedded in him than Haruki did.

In terms of both internal and external injuries, Jūzō had taken a far heavier toll.

But Haruki had no sympathy for his enemy.

In fact—he was ready to strike while the iron was hot!

Without hesitation, Haruki pulled out several shuriken and flung them at lightning speed.

Yet Jūzō's combat experience was immense. Even while severely wounded, he stayed alert and managed to dodge the shuriken with a quick sidestep.

But that wasn't the real attack.

The moment Haruki acted, the shadow clone who had previously used the Rasengan lunged forward and charged directly at Jūzō.

As for Haruki himself—

Though his injuries weren't severe, this was still a battlefield, and he didn't want to risk being caught off guard. He decided to heal himself first—and replenish his chakra.

After using both the Shadow Clone Jutsu and the Wind Style: Rasenshuriken, plus fighting for so long, his chakra had dropped dangerously low. He needed to restore it immediately.

With that in mind, Haruki looked down and began pulling out the embedded blade shards from the Executioner's Blade.

Thanks to the Sharingan, he could see that his wounds were slowly healing, an effect brought about by his 15-point Constitution stat.

"Still not enough," he thought.

Haruki quickly formed a series of hand signs, then activated his enhanced Mystical Palm Technique. Several orbs of Yang Release chakra were infused directly into his wounds.

Within moments, the wounds began healing rapidly.

Satisfied, Haruki nodded. A few quick uses of the Body Flicker Technique, and he reappeared beside his shadow clone, who was still fighting a group of Mist ninja.

Of course, these Mist ninja were not the same ones from earlier. Much time had passed, and the shadow clone had already killed several.

Most of these new Mist ninja were reinforcements, mainly Chūnin.

This further eased the pressure on the Konoha Chūnin nearby.

And now?

These Mist ninja were walking chakra batteries for Haruki.

Swoosh!

Before one of the Mist Chūnin could react, Haruki was already in front of him.

"Ahh!" the Mist ninja cried out in shock. Upon seeing Haruki clearly, he immediately slashed out with his kunai, cutting directly across Haruki's throat.

"Huh?"

The Mist ninja was momentarily stunned—he hadn't expected to actually kill Uchiha Haruki.

Then came a surge of joy—

But in that instant, his body suddenly felt hollow, as if something had been ripped away from within.

In a daze, he refocused—only to see Haruki standing unharmed before him.

"Genjutsu?!"

By now, the Mist ninja realized—he had been caught in an illusion.

Without hesitation, he tried to replicate his earlier attack—to kill Haruki.

But this time, he couldn't lift his arms no matter how hard he tried.

As if his chakra was completely gone.

No—not as if. It really was gone.

And not just his chakra—his spiritual and physical energy also seemed completely drained.

Only then did he realize—his breathing had become shallow.

He looked down to see Haruki's right hand gripping his throat, a terrifying suction force pulling from his palm.

His chakra was flowing out like mercury spilling from a bottle.

"Hrrkk… hkkk…"

The Mist ninja let out some garbled, meaningless noises, desperately trying to escape Haruki's grip—but he was too weak.

Finally, he collapsed and died, completely drained of chakra.

The entire process took less than ten seconds.

Haruki let go of the corpse and felt the surge of nearly 10,000 chakra points fill his body. He finally let out a breath of relief.

With this chakra restored, even if he had to engage in another full-on battle, he wasn't afraid.

Crack—!

Suddenly, a thunderous boom rang through the air.

It was followed by a familiar scream.

"No way…" Haruki muttered. He immediately turned toward the source of the sound.

He saw their squad captain being struck by a massive bolt of lightning summoned by Raiga Kurosuki, and turned into charred remains on the spot.

At the same time, Raiga's cold gaze turned toward Haruki.

"Am I cursed or something?" Haruki cursed internally. "I literally just thought I could handle another battle… and then this happens?"

He barely had time to digest that before the other threat became apparent.

Jūzō Biwa had just sacrificed his body to destroy Haruki's shadow clone, choosing a mutual injury strategy.

Now, he too was staring straight at Haruki.

In that moment—it was as if time had frozen.

Three figures. Three pairs of eyes. Locked in a tense triangular standoff.

Drip.

A drop of blood fell from Haruki's wound, hitting the ground with a soft splat—like the tick of a clock restarting.

Suddenly—everything resumed.

The screams of combat, the clashing of blades, the explosions of paper bombs—all of it came roaring back into everyone's ears.

BOOM—!

A thick bolt of lightning came blasting toward Haruki.

Without any hesitation, Haruki used Body Flicker, instantly vanishing from his position.

The lightning strike hit the ground, leaving a massive scorched crater behind.

Haruki's eye twitched at the sight.

And just as he moved again, he had to dodge a strike from the Executioner's Blade.

Yes—Jūzō's blade was whole again.

You could call the Executioner's Blade fragile, but no one could deny how powerful its regenerative ability was.

As long as there was fresh blood, it could easily restore itself.

And blood?

Haruki looked around the battlefield—corpses were everywhere.

All Jūzō had to do was stab the remaining hilt into a nearby Konoha Chūnin's body, and the Executioner's Blade was reborn.

That was its infamous trait—the "blade that never breaks."