Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Whoosh—

A figure suddenly appeared in front of them.

"Sensei Furukawa!" ×3

Uchiha Haruki, Ryosuke, and Shizuko Mizutani immediately stood up and greeted the man.

That's right—the person who had arrived was none other than Furukawa, their team leader.

As a jōnin, Furukawa had far more demanding responsibilities than them and naturally couldn't stay with them all the time.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have been left to fend off several Iwagakure chūnin on their own just moments ago.

"Sensei, is the battle over?" Haruki asked, glancing toward the distance where the sounds of combat were gradually fading.

"Mm."

Furukawa nodded, his gaze sweeping over the three of them. A faint note of approval colored his voice.

"You're all still alive. Not bad."

But upon hearing this praise, Haruki and the others stayed silent.

Furukawa didn't mind.

He had been through this before. He understood exactly what they were feeling now.

Even so, he made no attempt to comfort or guide them.

In Furukawa's view, a ninja must endure what others cannot. If they couldn't, they had no right to call themselves shinobi.

This belief was the reason he never offered emotional support to his students.

Survival of the fittest—that was his guiding principle.

After a few seconds of silence, Furukawa spoke again.

"Pack up. The squad will depart in about half an hour. If we're lucky, we'll reach headquarters before nightfall. You'll be able to rest properly there."

With that, he turned and left in a hurry.

"Alright, let's get our things together," Haruki said calmly, then began looking around for his gear.

Since this mission was expected to take a long time, he had packed more than just equipment and weapons—he'd also brought a good amount of daily necessities, like extra clothes.

But during the battle earlier, he had tossed them aside to avoid being encumbered.

Fortunately, since they had come out victorious, they had the luxury of looking for their belongings in peace.

Seeing Haruki move, Ryosuke and Shizuko gathered themselves and also began searching for their gear.

About half an hour later—

The convoy moved out again.

Only a small unit stayed behind to finish clearing the battlefield.

That night, deep within a dense forest, inside a tent:

Haruki sat cross-legged in meditation, calmly refining his chakra.

By now, they had safely returned to Konoha's main base in the Land of Rain.

According to Furukawa, their primary assignment for the next stretch would be adapting to the warfront environment and adjusting their mental state.

During this period, their missions would be relatively light.

For Haruki, this was an extremely valuable opportunity.

He planned to use this window to level up his strength once more.

From today's battle, it was clear: without using the Sharingan, his abilities were only slightly above that of an average chūnin.

In a one-on-one, he could hold his own.

But if he were to face two or more enemies at once, things could get dangerous.

Even just one strong opponent going all out could potentially pose a real threat to him.

The threat wasn't huge—but it was enough to cause harm.

If he used the Sharingan, he could likely surpass most chūnin.

But chūnin weren't considered anything special on the battlefield.

Only by reaching the level of jōnin could a ninja have a real ability to protect themselves.

But even if Haruki went all-out, he still wouldn't be able to match a proper jōnin.

In fact, even facing a special jōnin—as long as they weren't purely support types—he would probably lose.

Unless… unless he could evolve his Sharingan to two tomoe (the second level).

But that kind of advancement would take several months at the very least.

He could afford to wait.

But the enemy wouldn't.

Relying on evolution alone to increase his strength was unrealistic.

So, Haruki made a decision.

He would allocate some of his chakra to upgrade several of his Fire Release ninjutsu and genjutsu techniques.

That way, he could achieve a meaningful power boost in a relatively short time.

This, in turn, would increase his ability to survive.

Sure, doing so would slow down the evolution of his Sharingan…

But if he died, what would that matter?

Survival came first.

Only if he was alive could he think about the future.

Everything else was secondary.

One month later

Just outside Konoha's base camp…

Four figures moved carefully through the forest—one adult and three younger shinobi.

They were on high alert, constantly checking their surroundings and stopping periodically to examine hidden traps and markers.

These four were none other than Team 17: Furukawa, Uchiha Haruki, Ryosuke, and Shizuko Mizutani.

At the moment, they were carrying out a routine patrol mission to help guard the base.

In fact, this had been their primary task for the past month.

At first, they were assigned to less critical zones, and enemy encounters were rare to nonexistent.

It had been relatively easy work.

But as they adjusted to the realities of the battlefield, their assignments began shifting to more vital—and more dangerous—areas.

Now, they spotted signs of enemy infiltration every few days.

Most of the time, the enemy had already vanished by the time they arrived.

But there had been a few times when they were forced into direct confrontation.

And the enemies sent on infiltration missions?

None of them were pushovers.

Each encounter could be described as life-threatening.

If it weren't for their sensei being a true jōnin, capable of stepping in at the right moment, Team 17 might have already suffered casualties.

Still, there was no denying it—this kind of environment forged real growth.

In just a month, the "student aura" around Haruki, Ryosuke, and Shizuko had completely disappeared.

Now, they carried themselves like seasoned shinobi.

Like now—for example—when the group halted, Haruki and the others didn't need instructions.

They each immediately got to work.

Haruki took up watch duty, scanning the surroundings for danger.

Ryosuke and Shizuko checked the nearby traps and hidden markers.

Everything was carried out smoothly and in sync.

A short while later, Ryosuke and Shizuko returned to the group and reported:

"Sensei, everything looks normal."

"Good."

Furukawa nodded.

"Let's move on to the final checkpoint."

"Yes, Sensei!" ×3

The group of four quietly moved toward the last location on their patrol route.

Aside from what was absolutely necessary, no one spoke.

All four pairs of eyes remained alert, scanning for threats in the environment.

Luckily, they had good fortune today.

Even after checking the final checkpoint, they found no signs of enemy activity.

All of them exhaled in relief—without realizing it.

After a short wait, another patrol squad arrived to take over.

They completed the handoff and returned to their temporary station.

Late that night, back at the temporary station…

Inside his tent, Haruki had just finished casting "Reflection of the Heart" (映心之术).

After a moment of deep concentration, he opened his eyes—a gleam of understanding flickering in them.

"So… this is Level 4."

He murmured to himself, then immediately began forming hand seals again.

In an instant, his hands moved in a blur, and the jutsu was completed faster than the eye could track.

Not only had his casting speed increased, but with "Reflection of the Heart" now at Level 4, its enhancement of the Sharingan's evolution had also significantly improved.

Haruki closed his eyes again and focused on the sensation in his mind—a special chakra gently nourishing his eyes.

After a few moments, when the effect faded, he once again performed the jutsu.

Again, and again…

He repeated the process five times in total before stopping.

And now, he could feel it—his Sharingan was just one step away from evolving from single tomoe to double tomoe.