Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Whoosh~!

A massive Wind Blade, over ten meters long, ripped through the air.

Below, several Mist ninja who had grouped together suddenly panicked. Some attempted to form hand seals for a defensive jutsu, while others turned to flee.

But the Wind Blade was far too fast. Neither those preparing jutsu nor those fleeing could react in time.

Slash~

The sound of flesh being torn echoed.

The Mist Chunin at the front was sliced nearly in half, his intestines and organs spilling across the ground.

The blade didn't stop there. It sheared off the left arm of a Mist Genin behind him and took off half the shoulder of another Chunin. A fourth Mist ninja was left with a deep gash across his chest.

This single Wind Blade from Uchiha Haruki had nearly wiped out the combat strength of the small Mist squad.

Haruki glanced briefly at the two survivors, then flew overhead without hesitation. He pivoted in the air and soared toward another group of Mist ninja.

The moment they saw him approaching, the Mist ninja scattered immediately, clearly terrified of being wiped out in a single attack.

They hurled kunai at Haruki in a desperate attempt to drive him off.

But Haruki wasn't intimidated. With a slight twist of his body, he easily avoided the kunai.

Before the Mist ninja could counterattack, Haruki was already forming hand seals—

Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique!

He exhaled a concentrated stream of flame, which transformed into a blazing fire dragon that rushed at two Mist ninja—one ahead, one behind.

Among the fire techniques he had mastered, this one had the highest speed and considerable destructive power. Perfect for quick and decisive strikes.

The Mist ninja in front reacted swiftly and dodged most of the dragon, escaping with only a scorched right arm.

But the Genin behind wasn't so lucky. The dragon hit him full on. With a loud boom, he became a living torch.

"AAAHHHH!!"

A horrific scream tore through the air.

The nearby Mist ninja who heard it felt a chill run down their spines.

But Haruki didn't care. After that first wave, he immediately formed another set of hand seals.

Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!

In a blink, dozens—no, hundreds—of fireballs erupted from his mouth, drifting like fiery flower seeds in the wind and surrounding the remaining Mist ninja.

"Water Style: Water Formation Wall!" "Water Style: Wild Water Wave!"

Two Mist Chunin quickly completed their hand seals and launched defensive jutsu. Their techniques blocked the majority of the incoming fireballs.

Gaps appeared in the ring of flames.

Seizing the moment, the remaining Mist ninja slipped through the openings and escaped.

Haruki prepared to launch a third wave of attacks.

But just then, several shuriken flew at him with alarming speed.

These weren't like the ones thrown by Genin or Chunin—these were faster, sharper, and aimed from unpredictable angles.

In midair, Haruki abruptly stopped and pulled out a kunai. With a few swift flicks—

Clang! Clang! Clang!

He deflected every last one of them.

Then five Mist Jonin appeared before him.

Haruki glanced at the five closing in. He had no intention of engaging them directly. His goal was to delay and disrupt the enemy—not get locked in a life-or-death duel.

Only two of the five were true Jonin. The rest were Special Jonin, weaker overall. Haruki could probably take them if he pushed himself, but it wasn't worth the effort.

He'd rather pick off easier targets.

So Haruki turned, preparing to fly off again.

But the Mist Jonin weren't going to let him leave so easily.

As soon as he pivoted, a barrage of kunai flew at him.

He dodged those swiftly, but more attacks followed—this time, high-speed water arrows made from chakra.

Two of the Mist Jonin had taken advantage of the moment to finish their hand seals and unleash Water Style techniques.

Haruki's eyes narrowed as the water arrows streaked toward him. He quickly formed hand seals again.

Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique!

ROAR!

The fire dragon surged forward, colliding with the water arrows and dispersing them in seconds.

But that was only the beginning.

Even before the dragon had vanished, two more jutsu were launched.

One was familiar to Haruki: Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet. The other was a rare Wind Style technique.

He dodged the Water Dragon, only to find himself staring down a hail of compressed air bullets. The vacuum spheres zipped toward him like sniper rounds.

If not for his Sharingan and the aerial maneuverability granted by Wind Style: Wings of the Gale, he wouldn't have escaped unscathed.

Even so, the delay allowed the other Mist ninja to regroup.

The scattered forces had quickly gathered again while Haruki was preoccupied with the five Jonin.

Now their formation was far tighter, their coordination much stronger.

Haruki had to admit—the Mist ninja were highly trained.

To rally so quickly and reform an effective combat group wasn't something just any squad could do.

But it didn't matter.

If Haruki had broken them once, he could do it again.

Shaking off the Jonin, he soared into the sky, looped around, and prepared for a second dive.

But then, in the distance to the south, he spotted another group of Mist ninja.

That unit had also regrouped and was now heading straight for the battlefield.

At their current speed, they'd join the main force in under a minute.

Once that happened, the situation would get far more complicated.

Still, Haruki wasn't worried.

Because from another direction, he could see a new force approaching—

A Konoha reinforcement unit.

From high above, Haruki surveyed the battlefield. A unit of around 150 ninja had departed from Blackstone Outpost's southern gate and was heading his way.

Clearly, in the few minutes since the battle began, Sano Nobuhisa had pulled together a response team.

But…

"Only 150 people?"

Haruki frowned.

Even after his attacks, the Mist forces below still had around 250 fighters remaining—a full hundred more than the Konoha reinforcements.

That was a huge gap.

Unless Haruki gave it his all, they wouldn't be able to stop the Mist advance.

Just then, a wave of chakra laced with mental energy swept into Haruki's mind.

A familiar voice followed.

"Jonin Haruki, the support unit has departed. Captain Sano asks that you assist them in keeping the enemy outside the outpost."

"Only 150?" Haruki replied telepathically.

A pause. Then the voice of Yamanaka Aoi returned.

It took him a second to realize how Haruki knew the headcount—he hadn't even said it yet.

But then he remembered Haruki could fly and see the whole battlefield.

"Yes, Jonin Haruki. That's all we could spare from the outpost." "Please—do everything you can to stop the enemy."

Haruki scanned the distant battlefield, weighing the odds.

"Sigh… seems I'm cursed to never catch a break."

He had planned to take it easy during this war, but here he was again, forced to act.

"I guess truly exceptional people can never hide their light, no matter how hard they try."

Comforting himself with a bit of self-flattery, Haruki responded:

"Understood. Have them get here as fast as possible."

"Yes, Jonin Haruki!"

With that, Aoi ended the Mind Communication Technique.

Haruki didn't immediately attack again. Instead, he took a moment to analyze Aoi's use of the jutsu.

Even as just a receiver, he'd picked up plenty of useful data—especially since he'd already begun developing a similar technique.

Unconsciously, he felt his understanding of the Mind Communication Technique deepen.

He opened his skill panel. Sure enough, the jutsu's proficiency had increased significantly, saving him several thousand chakra points.

In fact, just from his recent conversations with Aoi before and during the enemy's arrival, he'd already saved over 10,000 chakra points.

That might not seem like much to him now, but every bit helped.

And Haruki didn't mind leeching a bit of energy where he could.