Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Leisurely moments always seemed to pass too quickly.

Before Haruki knew it, the morning had already slipped away.

After lunch, the trio went their separate ways.

Haruki didn't waste any time and returned home immediately. Without pause, he plunged straight into training.

Over the past half month, due to being away from the village on a C-rank mission, some time had been lost. As a result, his Chakra Refinement Technique, which should have leveled up several days ago, was still stuck at Lv2 (495/500).

Thankfully, it was nearly there.

At his current pace, he figured he could reach the next level before nightfall.

With that thought, Haruki closed his eyes and entered a meditative state.

Time ticked by.

Hours passed in silence.

The sun had already dipped westward by the time he suddenly opened his eyes. A sense of clarity rose in his heart.

After a moment, he murmured to himself, "So I've finally reached Lv3?"

With those words, he closed his eyes again and resumed refining chakra.

An hour later.

Haruki opened his eyes and called out, "Status Panel."

In the next instant, a familiar light-blue interface shimmered into view:

Name: Uchiha HarukiAge: 10Physique: 6Spirit: 7Chakra: 1650 (2510)Bloodline: Sharingan · Unawakened (81/100 → 85/100)

Skills:Chakra Refinement Technique: Lv3 (1/1000 → 2/1000)Clone Technique: Lv2 (270/500 → 430/500)Transformation Technique: Lv2 (260/500 → 420/500)Substitution Technique: Lv2 (250/500 → 410/500)Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu: Lv1 (30/200 → 50/200)Shadow of the Heart Technique: Lv2 (110/500 → 260/500)Basic Taijutsu: Lv2 (280/500 → 450/500)Ninja Tool Throwing: Lv3 (1/1000)Chakra Control: Lv3 (78/1000)

Just as he had sensed, advancing the Chakra Refinement Technique to Lv3 had significantly improved its effectiveness.

His chakra recovery rate had doubled—from 200 per hour to 400. In addition, the increase in chakra capacity per hour had likely gone from 4 to 8 points.

He couldn't say for certain, though. Ever since his chakra cap hit 2500 a week ago, it hadn't risen much.

The last ten points were added passively over time.

So, that Lv3's hourly 8-point boost was only an estimate—but one he instinctively felt was accurate.

Still, it didn't really matter.

Haruki's potential had already been fully tapped a week ago. Without an increase in innate talent, the only way left to grow chakra reserves was the long, slow grind.

And that wasn't something upgrading the refinement technique could fix.

In short, the only remaining benefit of the technique now was rapid chakra recovery.

Of course, he could still continue grinding the skill's mastery.

If he managed to raise it to an even higher level, then once his Sharingan awakened and improved his potential, he could convert that into progress much faster.

However, Haruki doubted he'd even need to wait that long.

Not because of time constraints, but because he estimated that his Sharingan would likely awaken before his Chakra Refinement Technique reached Lv4.

After all, leveling it from Lv3 to Lv4 would require 1,000 mastery points.

Given that it had always advanced at the rate of 1 point per hour, that meant he needed 1,000 hours.

With his current physical stamina, assuming full nutrition, he could manage at most 8 hours a day of chakra training.

1000 ÷ 8 = 125 days—four months.

And there was no way his Sharingan would take that long to awaken.

Even though it had only advanced 4 points in the past half-month—from 81/100 to 85/100—seemingly inconsistent with the 150-point increase in Shadow of the Heart Technique mastery, the fact remained: it was progressing.

And now, with the Chakra Refinement Technique at Lv3, Haruki's daily chakra usage had significantly increased.

Previously, his usable daily chakra had ranged from 2400 to 2500. Now, it had jumped to about 3500.

If he dedicated 3,000 chakra points per day to practicing the Shadow of the Heart Technique—and combined that with his Lv3 Chakra Control, which gave him 15% chakra cost reduction—he could boost the technique's mastery by 17 to 18 points daily.

This meant his Sharingan's awakening would rapidly accelerate.

In fact, he might be overestimating how long it would take.

Why?

Because at this pace, within two weeks, his Shadow of the Heart Technique would reach Lv3, which would dramatically amplify its effects.

That would, in turn, skyrocket his Sharingan awakening speed far beyond his initial expectations.

Suppressing his rising excitement, Haruki pulled his eyes away from the Sharingan's progress bar and turned to his other skills.

Even though these weren't his main focus, he still practiced them during spare moments—and they had advanced quite a bit.

For instance, all his Three Basic Jutsu were now at or above Lv2 (400/500).

Assuming Lv3 was the cap for these E-rank basics, he wasn't far off.

At that point, he might be able to learn a new jutsu.

As for which one?

Haruki already had some ideas.

He didn't need more offensive ninjutsu for now—Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu was enough, especially with the Sharingan to support him later on.

What he lacked was defense.

In the ninja world, there were very few true defensive techniques. So instead, he'd have to compensate with better evasion.

Which is why the Body Flicker Technique had caught his eye.

In the shinobi world, Body Flicker techniques fell into three categories:

Ninjutsu-based Flickers — like Gaara's Sand Flicker, Zabuza's Mist Flicker, and Hanzo's Water Flicker. These included the commonly used D-rank Body Flicker Technique, which most villages taught.

Taijutsu-based Flickers — using raw muscle power to achieve high-speed movement. Think of Might Guy or the Fourth Raikage.

Space-Time Flickers — represented by the iconic Flying Thunder God Technique, which allowed true instantaneous movement through teleportation.

Compared to the first two, which simply enhanced speed, the last one was a true instant-movement technique.

But Haruki wasn't aiming for Flying Thunder God—not because he didn't want it, or feared he couldn't learn it.

With his skill mastery panel, he could brute-force his way into almost any jutsu, as long as it didn't have unique requirements.

Flying Thunder God was one of those.

The problem? He couldn't get his hands on the training method.

If it were a clan jutsu, maybe he could find a way. But Flying Thunder God was an S-rank forbidden technique recorded in the Scroll of Seals.

As a mere genin, there was no way he'd be allowed access.

He wasn't Naruto, after all—no one was going to hand him that kind of privilege.

So, for now, his goal was the common D-rank Body Flicker Technique.

Common didn't mean useless. In fact, its widespread use proved its versatility and efficiency—just like the Shadow Clone Technique.

It was perfect for now, a solid stepping stone.

Once he got stronger, he'd have more choices.

After some thought, Haruki turned his focus to Basic Taijutsu and Ninja Tool Throwing.

The former was already at Lv2 (450/500) and would level up soon.

The latter had already advanced to Lv3, but its progress had completely stalled at (1/1000).

Haruki had expected this.

Without the Sharingan, his tool-throwing skill had hit its natural ceiling.

Sigh... I really do need that Sharingan, he muttered, then closed the panel and resumed grinding mastery for the Shadow of the Heart Technique.