Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

"Granny Cat, huh..."

Uchiha Haruki murmured to himself. In an instant, he recalled the favor he had asked Elder Kazehin to handle before departing.

It now seemed that the leader of the Land of Crafts had been located, and the long-desired Kusanagi Sword might finally be within reach.

With that thought, Haruki picked up the slip of paper and, sure enough, saw an address written on it. Without a doubt, this was the location where the leader of the Craft Ninja Village was hiding.

Haruki put away the slip and looked at the black cat. "I've received the intel. You can return and report now."

"Meow~"

The black cat responded softly, then leaped onto the courtyard wall with elegant ease. It glanced back at Haruki one last time before vanishing into the night.

Watching the cat disappear, Haruki turned and walked back into his room. After a quick wash-up, he began to contemplate his next move.

First of all, he absolutely couldn't let another Uchiha take action.

Not only had he already made it clear to Elder Kazehin that he wanted to handle this personally, but sending someone else now might tip off the enemy.

To be honest, Haruki didn't really trust anyone else's abilities apart from his own.

Second, he couldn't just send a shadow clone either.

As mentioned in the intelligence report, the leader of the Craft Ninja Village was indeed within the Land of Crafts. Although it wasn't far from the Land of Waves, it wasn't exactly nearby either.

Sending a clone would be too risky.

Lastly—and most crucially—there was no time to waste.

Given the situation of the Craft Village leader, it was unlikely he would stay in one place for long. If Haruki delayed, the man could relocate again, forcing another lengthy search. Haruki had no interest in wasting more time.

After considering everything, the best solution was to take action himself, strike quickly with overwhelming force, and retrieve the Kusanagi Sword.

Fortunately, the Mist Nin had recently gone quiet, with no ongoing battles, making this a golden opportunity.

If he waited until war resumed, finding another such moment would be difficult.

With that decision made, Haruki no longer hesitated. He formed the Ram hand sign and performed the Shadow Clone Technique.

Poof!

A puff of chakra smoke exploded as a shadow clone identical to him appeared.

"I'm leaving this side to you," Haruki said solemnly.

"Don't worry. I've got this. You just go and come back quickly," the clone replied.

Haruki nodded, quickly packed his gear, and slipped out of the courtyard. Avoiding both overt and hidden patrols, he left the base undetected.

There was no way he could take a boat.

Forget the issue of being exposed—the speed alone was unacceptable.

Even if things were quiet for now, there was no telling how long the peace would last. He had to move as fast as possible.

Compared to a slow ship, running across the sea with chakra was far faster.

Reaching a remote cliff, Haruki scanned his surroundings with sensory ninjutsu. Satisfied that no one was nearby, he leapt off the cliff and plunged into the sea below.

Splash!

His figure disappeared beneath the waves, only to resurface further out moments later.

Gathering chakra under his feet, he surged forward, running across the waves like an arrow released from a bow.

A long white trail was left on the surface of the sea behind him.

Feeling the chakra drain in his body, Haruki nodded to himself. At his current recovery rate, he could maintain this high-speed sprint for a long time.

With that settled, all he had to do was stay on course.

Thankfully, the Land of Waves and the Land of Fire were not far apart. At his speed, crossing the strait wouldn't take long.

With the moon to guide him, there was little chance of veering off-course.

Even if he did stray a bit, it wouldn't matter much. As long as he made landfall, the exact location wasn't important.

...

Several hours passed in a flash.

Dawn broke.

Out at sea, Haruki finally spotted a coastline in the distance.

"Phew~~~"

Letting out a long breath, he suppressed his chakra and carefully made his way forward.

As luck would have it, he encountered no Konoha patrols.

Passing through the defenses would be the easy part.

Yes, easy.

Konoha's defenses were tight, but only against large-scale assaults. For solo or small-team infiltration, they weren't very effective.

After all, for a ninja, no terrain was truly impassable. With enough strength, even cliffs and ravines posed no problem.

Haruki was exactly that type.

Before long, he had slipped past all three of Konoha's blockade lines.

By now, the sun had risen.

Haruki rested briefly before setting out again, moving at full speed toward the Land of Crafts.

To save as much time as possible, he didn't take any detours. Instead, he traveled in a straight line.

Whether it was mountains or rivers in his path, he powered through with brute strength.

This chakra-intensive travel paid off. By the afternoon of the next day, he had reached the Land of Crafts.

Of course, it helped that the Land of Crafts was northeast of the Land of Fire and not too far from the Land of Waves. Otherwise, even he wouldn't have made it this fast.

Still, the long journey left Haruki exhausted.

Though he didn't think much of the Craft Village leader's strength, he wasn't going to take chances. A short rest was in order.

Stopping in an abandoned village, Haruki popped a few soldier pills and closed his eyes to rest.

As he relaxed, his mind began reflecting on the lessons from this operation.

One thing was clear—he was lacking a high-speed travel jutsu.

And so, an old idea resurfaced.

Perhaps it was time to learn the Flying Thunder God Technique.

No—he needed more than that.

Flying Thunder God allowed for fixed-point teleportation. He also needed a jutsu that enabled fast travel in general.

With that thought, Haruki looked up at the sky. In a world without air traffic control, flying would undoubtedly be the fastest.

"Flight ninjutsu, huh..."

He murmured, searching his past life's memories for something similar.

In just a moment, he recalled the Third Tsuchikage Onoki's jutsu—Earth Style: Ultra Light-Weight Rock Technique.

This jutsu greatly reduced the user's body mass, allowing flight.

Well… more like floating than true flying.

Still, it was better and easier to master than other jutsu with similar effects.

But Haruki felt it didn't suit him.

Suddenly, he extended his right hand, and a ball of Wind Release chakra formed and began to spin around his palm.

"Maybe I should create my own flight jutsu..."