Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Whether or not Danzō was behind this was now irrelevant.

What mattered most was—how to break the deadlock?

It was clear that the Mist ninja had come prepared.

Their force of over a hundred had no genin at all, and among the twenty-something squad leaders, the vast majority were Tokubetsu Jōnin.

In addition, there were six true jōnin, including three of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

In short, in terms of both mid-tier and high-level combat power, the Mist forces held an absolute advantage—not to mention they outnumbered Haruki's side by nearly a third.

And these Mist ninja were no third-rate cannon fodder like those mass-produced by Iwagakure. As products of the "Bloody Mist Village," their average combat strength even surpassed that of Konoha's forces.

This meant that Haruki's side had fallen into a complete disadvantage.

To break this situation, the first thing he had to do was stabilize the battlefield, especially the fights between chūnin—they couldn't afford to collapse.

If the chūnin ranks broke down, even the jōnin would suffer.

Fortunately...

Haruki scanned the battlefield.

The Mist ninja wielding the Lightning Blades: Kiba, Raira Kurosu, was being held off by their overall commander, who specialized in Wind and Fire Release.

The vice-commander was intercepting the wielder of the Decapitating Carving Blade, Bibō Jūzō.

And the most dangerous one, the wielder of the Blasting Sword: Shibuki, Munashi Jinpachi, was currently being restrained by Uchiha Shisui with genjutsu and high-speed Body Flicker techniques.

The three Swordsmen were occupied and couldn't act freely. That gave Haruki the chance he needed—to target and eliminate the Mist Tokubetsu Jōnin.

Freeing Konoha's Tokubetsu Jōnin from being pinned down would allow them to join the chūnin battle and help bridge the numerical gap.

That way, the entire situation could be stabilized.

Once that was done, Haruki could focus on engaging the enemy jōnin himself.

With this plan formed, he didn't hesitate. He used Body Flicker to appear before two Mist Tokubetsu Jōnin.

At the time, they were ganging up on a Tokubetsu Jōnin from the Yamanaka clan, nearly overwhelming him.

If it continued, the Yamanaka would be killed for sure.

But now—

"Genjutsu: Sharingan!"

Haruki's eyes widened, and in the instant his gaze locked onto one of the Mist ninjas, he cast the fully mastered Sharingan-based genjutsu.

In a split second, the enemy ninja froze on the spot.

"Genjutsu? A Uchiha?!"

The other Mist Tokubetsu Jōnin immediately sensed something was wrong and recognized Haruki's identity, quickly moving to rescue his teammate.

But Haruki had counted on the element of surprise—there was no way he'd let this one interfere.

Just as the Mist ninja made a move, Haruki unleashed his "Illusory Sword Art."

Now leveled up to Lv. 4, its power was on an entirely different level than before.

As Haruki drew his sword, countless overlapping blade shadows filled the enemy's vision, making it impossible to distinguish which strike was real.

And Haruki was also a master swordsman.

With swordsmanship at Lv. 6, nearly Lv. 7, every projected attack angle was technically sound and believable.

So trying to determine the real attack based on threat level? Impossible.

With no other option, the Mist ninja retreated.

At that moment—

Squelch!

A chilling sound of blade piercing flesh echoed.

He looked over just in time to see Haruki's short sword buried deep in his teammate's chest.

So… they were all fakes...

The Mist ninja realized the truth—but it was already too late.

Caught completely off guard, Haruki had instantly killed a Mist Tokubetsu Jōnin.

But he wasn't done yet.

Shing!

Without pause, Haruki yanked the sword free, then kicked off the ground like a bullet toward the retreating enemy.

Seeing Haruki chase him, the Mist Tokubetsu Jōnin's expression darkened. He raised his kunai, ready for a desperate clash.

But then—

A surge of mental energy slammed into his consciousness, seizing control of his body.

Haruki immediately noticed the intrusion. His gaze flicked sideways and saw the Yamanaka clan Tokubetsu Jōnin standing with his hands in a heart-shaped seal.

Haruki instantly understood.

The Yamanaka clan's secret technique—Mind Transfer Jutsu—could inject one's consciousness into another's body and control it.

But since the target didn't fall asleep, this had to be the advanced version—Mind Clone Switch Jutsu.

Thoughts flashed through Haruki's mind, but he didn't stop. He rushed past the now-frozen enemy—

Slash!

His blade carved through flesh.

A deep gash split the Mist ninja's neck. Blood spurted violently.

The sharp pain caused the Yamanaka ninja, who was controlling him, to tremble and release the technique.

"Gghh..."

The dying Mist ninja made a guttural noise as he collapsed.

Haruki ignored him, nodded at the Yamanaka ally, then turned to rush toward the next skirmish.

He hadn't forgotten—the Mist still had three more jōnin aside from the Swordsmen.

If he couldn't take down enough of the Tokubetsu Jōnin before drawing their attention, Konoha's forces would still suffer.

Fortunately, Haruki's strength had grown enough that facing Tokubetsu Jōnin wasn't difficult anymore.

And if he got help—like from the Yamanaka just now—things would go even faster.

"AARGH!"

A scream rang out.

Haruki, sword in hand, blocked a Mist ninja's attack with his right arm. With his left, he condensed a high-density chakra sphere—

Boom! He slammed it into the enemy's chest.

The blast of pain made the Mist Tokubetsu Jōnin cough up a mouthful of blood.

Whish-whish-whish!

Suddenly, subtle whistling filled the air—projectiles incoming.

Haruki's ears twitched. He glanced sideways—and instantly analyzed the trajectory of every single shuriken in his mind.

He swung his short blade—

Clang! Clang! Clang!—blocking every attack.

But he wasn't done.

With one hand raised, he swiftly weaved hand seals and released a jutsu—

Fire Release: Phoenix Fire Jutsu!

A barrage of tiny fireballs erupted from his mouth.

One of the Mist ninjas who had thrown the shuriken was horrified. "Watch out!" he shouted, dodging to the side.

He made it—but his teammate wasn't so lucky.

Several fireballs struck the second Mist ninja.

Though the flames were small, they packed a punch—each one left scorched craters in the earth. On flesh? Even worse.

The Mist ninja collapsed on the spot, gravely wounded.

Haruki kicked off the ground and appeared beside him instantly, slashing across the man's throat with a clean swipe.

Flawless. Efficient. Lethal.

This was now the twelfth Mist Tokubetsu Jōnin Haruki had killed.

And in all this, he hadn't used his Mangekyō Sharingan once.

He had used one-handed seals, seal-less ninjutsu like the Rasengan, and Illusory Sword Arts to catch the Mist off guard and finish them quickly.

But the more he killed, the more cautious the enemy became.

Mist Tokubetsu Jōnin started grouping together for protection—and to try and eliminate him.

The trio he just faced was part of one such attempt.

But sadly for them, their combined strength still fell far short of Haruki's.

Instead of cornering him, they'd simply given him the chance to eliminate two more of their comrades.

But from here on…

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