Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

It was undeniable—in order to swiftly take down Kaguya Morinosuke, Haruki had expended a considerable amount of chakra. Not just wasted it—but truly burned through it.

However, with both of his shadow clones having dissipated, their remaining chakra had returned to his body.

As it stood now, Haruki still had over 20,000 chakra points left within him.

That figure might be less than the nearly 60,000 points he had at full strength, but compared to the average ninja—even most Jōnin—it was still an overwhelming amount.

So why was he so urgently trying to replenish his chakra?

Simple—he was baiting the two Hidden Mist Jōnin to come to him.

At that moment, things were looking grim for their Chūnin ranks.

True, before his battle with Morinosuke, Haruki had taken out twelve elite Mist Jōnin, cutting their numbers nearly in half.

Even so, the remaining Mist elite Jōnin still outnumbered the Leaf's.

And the Leaf side hadn't come out unscathed either.

One had been severely injured by a lightning attack from Kuroma Raiga early on, and two more were killed during Haruki's battle with Morinosuke.

In addition, several others had fallen to the enemy's focused ambushes.

Now, there were fewer than five elite Leaf Jōnin still standing.

Worse still, three of them had to keep the two Mist Jōnin occupied, leaving no one to help the Leaf Chūnin, who were now heavily outmatched.

Meanwhile, the Mist side, with more elite Jōnin still active, was pressing the advantage hard, slaughtering the Leaf Chūnin.

In the few minutes Haruki had been fighting Morinosuke, nearly a third of the Leaf Chūnin had already fallen.

If this trend continued, it might unravel the entire battlefield—dragging even the Jōnin fights into disarray.

So, Haruki decided to act.

By deliberately drawing the two Mist Jōnin toward him, he hoped to free up the elite Leaf Jōnin fighting them, allowing those veterans to help turn the tide for the overwhelmed Chūnin.

It might not fix everything—but it was better than letting them die alone.

The two Mist Jōnin, as expected, took the bait.

Seeing Haruki absorb chakra from one of their own, immediately after an intense battle, they assumed he was exhausted—and rushed to finish him.

Mission accomplished.

"Next… it's time to take out these two."

With that thought, Haruki abruptly stopped draining chakra from the downed Mist Chūnin and turned to confront the two approaching Jōnin.

Compared to Morinosuke, these two were clearly average—not weak, but certainly not elite.

They might've been slightly stronger than ordinary Jōnin, but nowhere near the top tier.

Which meant Haruki had no reason to hold back.

He sprinted toward them without hesitation.

Seeing him charge, the two Mist Jōnin flinched, realizing they may have fallen into a trap—but it was too late to back out.

They were already committed.

They braced themselves and pressed forward.

Haruki smiled slightly.

Everything was going exactly as he had planned.

He quickly pulled a few kunai from his pouch.

His Sharingan spun rapidly, locking on to their movements and predicting their evasions with precision.

He hurled the kunai.

Swoosh—swoosh—swoosh!

The kunai tore through the air, whistling with deadly force.

Just as the Mist Jōnin were about to dodge, an instinctive chill ran down their spines—they changed direction at the last second.

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

The kunai embedded themselves into tree trunks—precisely where the two had initially planned to dodge.

They paled.

If they had trusted their instincts instead of reacting to that sudden feeling, they would've been impaled.

Haruki watched from a distance and felt a tinge of disappointment.

But only a little.

He hadn't really expected to kill them with thrown kunai. They were Jōnin, after all—it would've been naïve to think it would be that easy.

At most, he might've caused them to stumble or lose their balance.

Still, it meant he missed a chance for a follow-up combo.

Oh well—that was just the warm-up.

Clang!

A kunai collided with a short sword, sending a clear metallic ring across the forest.

Both sides put strength into the clash, sparks flying as the blades scraped and hissed.

Just then, the second Mist Jōnin joined the fray, attacking from the flank.

Sensing danger, Haruki abandoned the clash and leapt back.

The Mist Jōnin he had been fighting grinned and gave chase, hoping to keep the pressure on.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Their blades clashed again and again as Haruki backed away, barely keeping up with the two-on-one onslaught.

Clang!

Haruki suddenly broke away from the clash and leapt backward at full speed.

The Mist Jōnin gave him no quarter and chased after him instantly, staying on his heels.

From a distance, they looked like two shadows moving in sync.

Then—Haruki raised his left hand and swiftly formed a sequence of seals.

Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!

A massive ball of fire burst from his mouth, small at first, then swelling rapidly as it raced toward the Mist Jōnin.

It was clearly a surprise attack.

But the Mist Jōnin didn't panic—in fact, he smirked.

He stomped his foot, then sidestepped smoothly, narrowly evading the fireball.

Meanwhile, the second Mist Jōnin, lying in wait, saw his chance—and lunged at Haruki.

Their fluid coordination showed they were well-prepared for this.

And in fact—they were.

Though they hadn't fought Haruki directly before, they had watched his fight with Morinosuke and understood some of his patterns.

So, they guessed how he might retaliate—and set a trap.

One would bait him into a predictable move; the other would ambush during his counter.

Unfortunately for them, Haruki was ready for that too.

As the second Jōnin lunged at him, Haruki turned abruptly.

His three-tomoe Sharingan spun wildly.

Genjutsu: Sharingan!

The Mist Jōnin's expression twisted. "No—!"

He instinctively averted his gaze and tried to leap back—but it was too late.

The instant their eyes met, Haruki had already activated his genjutsu.

It wasn't a powerful, drawn-out illusion—but even a split-second was enough.

The Mist Jōnin froze in place mid-step.

Haruki seized the opening, pulling several shuriken from his pouch and hurling them at the frozen enemy's vital points.

It was a counter-trap layered atop a counter-trap.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The shuriken whistled through the air, dead-on.

But then—

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Several shuriken came flying in from the side, knocking all of Haruki's out of the air.

Haruki's gaze shifted.

The other Mist Jōnin—the one who had dodged his fireball—had already moved, appearing between Haruki and his frozen comrade.

He had intercepted the attack just in time.

The two Mist Jōnin regrouped and stood firm together.

The fight... was back to square one.

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