Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Shlick—

The sound of a blade slicing through flesh rang out.

Moments later, a torrent of blood gushed forth.

The Root ninja clutched his neck and staggered backward. His gaze at Uchiha Haruki was filled with confusion and disbelief.

Haruki, of course, noticed the expression—but he offered no explanation. Instead, he silently hurled another kunai, aimed straight for the ninja's chest.

A moment earlier, the enemy's kunai had failed to strike Haruki because, at the exact moment it would have hit, he activated "Amaterasu's Protection" (天之御) in place, narrowly phasing out of reality.

This time, however, the ability had only lasted for a very brief moment—so brief that the enemy's nervous system couldn't keep up. From his point of view, Haruki's afterimage hadn't even vanished before the real Haruki appeared again.

This illusion made it seem like the attack had passed harmlessly through Haruki's body.

At a glance, it resembled Uchiha Obito's Kamui "intangibility", but it was fundamentally different.

Obito's technique involved transporting parts of his body to the Kamui dimension, which still held a chance of injury under the right circumstances.

But Haruki's "Amaterasu's Protection"?

It removed him from the entire shinobi world's plane of existence—rendering him truly untouchable.

Well...

At least during the duration of the ability.

In essence, his "Amaterasu's Protection" surpassed Obito's Kamui in principle, though it shared some surface-level similarities.

Precisely because it was so powerful, the ability could only be sustained for a short time.

Initially, Haruki could maintain it for about ten seconds.

Now, with his enhanced ocular power, that duration had increased to approximately thirteen seconds.

Still brief—but every second counted.

In most cases, he didn't even need that long.

Just like now, a quick activation at the right moment was enough to turn the tide.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Three bodies dropped to the ground in rapid succession.

Behind Haruki, the Root operative whose carotid artery he had severed collapsed after a final spasm.

And the two "fixed targets" he struck earlier—still trapped in genjutsu—had also fallen.

Now, only one Root ninja remained.

Haruki looked up.

Before him stood a figure covered entirely in kikaichū bugs.

With mild curiosity, he asked,

"You must be Aburame Ryoma, right?"

Even through the mask and sunglasses, Haruki could sense the shock ripple through the man's body.

After all, guessing their affiliation with Root wasn't hard—despite their secretive movements, those with access to intelligence (like Uchiha Shisui, who Haruki had tipped off) could piece together subtle clues.

But to call out Ryoma by name?

That was an entirely different matter.

Ryoma even started suspecting there might be a traitor in Root.

But that couldn't be.

With Root's brainwashing and the "Tongue Curse Seal", betrayal was practically impossible—at least not before Danzo's death.

And yet... this Uchiha somehow knew his name.

Conflicted, Ryoma finally spoke:

"How do you know who I am?"

Haruki grinned.

"Well, that's because—"

Before finishing the sentence, he suddenly lunged forward, his feet kicking off the ground like a drawn arrow.

Swish—

In the blink of an eye, he appeared in front of Ryoma and slashed his throat.

But there was no blood.

Haruki's face remained expressionless.

"A bug clone…"

Indeed, Ryoma's form burst into a cloud of insects.

Haruki tilted his head slightly and turned to glance behind him.

In the distance, the kikaichū reassembled, forming Ryoma's real body again.

The man raised both arms and muttered:

"Secret Technique: Bug Jade!"

Instantly, the bugs that had formed his clone and those that had lingered around him converged into a massive swarm.

In Haruki's eyes, the bugs resembled a giant net, rushing to wrap around and devour him alive.

And that wasn't a hallucination.

Haruki knew full well—if they caught him, they truly would devour him to the last cell.

Without hesitation, he leapt backward.

At the same time, he raised his left hand, formed hand seals at lightning speed, and unleashed a Fire Style technique—

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

Fwoooosh!

A massive fireball surged forward, crashing into the swarm.

An explosion of high-pitched insect screeches followed—like millions of bugs gnawing on something, making the scalp tingle.

Moments later, the fireball dissipated.

Haruki's eyes swept across the field and noticed—

The number of dead insects was far lower than expected.

That alone confirmed his suspicion.

These bugs were all kikaichū—insects that naturally devoured chakra.

Although the fireball was a blazing flame, it was also a chakra construct.

Naturally, it could be absorbed by these insects.

And given those earlier gnawing sounds, it wasn't hard to guess why so few had died.

Haruki didn't dwell on it.

The jutsu had disrupted the swarm's formation—that was enough.

He charged straight toward Ryoma.

The Sharingan in his eyes tracked every movement.

Ryoma, sensing the incoming threat, raised his hands once again and summoned even more kikaichū.

Then he pointed at Haruki:

"Secret Technique: Bug Resonance Confusion Jutsu!"

This was a hidden technique of the Aburame Clan—designed to disrupt an enemy's perception.

The kikaichū vibrated their chakra-infused wings at special frequencies, producing a sound that distorted a ninja's sensory input.

This helped Ryoma hide his presence, and also made it easier to launch sneak attacks.

He wasn't exactly sure what kind of Sharingan Haruki had activated—but it was clear that his reactions had improved since opening the Mangekyō.

And that meant—his perception had become sharper.

So Ryoma's strategy was simple: confuse his senses, mask his movements.

And to a certain extent, it worked.

The strange buzzing from the kikaichū interfered with Haruki's concentration, making it harder to focus.

The insects also obscured his vision, further limiting the Mangekyō's effectiveness.

If this continues… I'll just be playing cat and mouse with these bugs…

And once Ryoma saw that he couldn't win, he'd probably just flee.

"Tch… I was hoping to conserve my eye power, but it looks like…"

Haruki sighed and shook his head.

His expression turned cold.

He locked eyes on Ryoma through the gaps in the swarm—

And activated "Amaterasu's Protection."

His body vanished.

"What?!"

Ryoma was startled.

Previously, Haruki had only used the ability for a split-second, so Ryoma noticed something was off—but hadn't figured out what.

But now, Haruki was completely gone.

The alarm in Ryoma's mind blared.

Without a second thought, he created another bug clone and hid his real body, while using the kikaichū to search the area.

Unfortunately for him, Haruki saw everything.

He immediately pinpointed Ryoma's true body, deactivated "Amaterasu's Protection," and reappeared right in front of him.

"You—"

Even Ryoma—normally ice-cold and detached—was shaken.

He instinctively let out a gasp.

But before he could say more—

Haruki cast "Genjutsu: Sharingan", dragging Ryoma's consciousness into an illusion.

He was trapped instantly.