Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Time continued ticking away, second by second.

In the blink of an eye, fifteen minutes had passed.

Four Mist Special Jōnin had already died in the assault on Uchiha Haruki, while he himself had suffered only superficial wounds. In fact, even those minor injuries had already been healed mid-battle with his modified Mystical Palm Technique.

This proved an important truth—once a ninja's strength reaches a certain level, sheer numbers stop being effective.

Perhaps these Mist Special Jōnin were each skilled in their own right, and against a standard Jōnin, a coordinated effort would pose a serious threat.

But against Haruki? It simply wasn't enough.

Whether it was his Level 6 nearly Level 7 swordsmanship, his A-rank Rasengan that could be cast without hand seals, or his one-handed seal mastery—any one of these abilities alone would be a trump card for an ordinary Jōnin.

And now? All of them were concentrated in Uchiha Haruki, and on top of that, he wielded the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

How could these Mist Special Jōnin possibly be a match?

Screee—

Another slash cut across a Mist Special Jōnin's chest. Then Haruki suddenly pulled back to gain distance.

At that moment, a layer of mist began to rise—and quickly thickened.

It was already dim due to the night sky, and now, with the white mist blanketing the area, visibility dropped to near zero.

Haruki immediately recognized it—Water Release: Hidden Mist Jutsu, the signature technique of Kirigakure.

During the earlier battle, several Mist Special Jōnin had tried to use this jutsu to blind his vision—but each time, Haruki had located the caster quickly and taken them down before the technique could take effect.

Thus, the jutsu had always been neutralized.

But this time...

Haruki's Sharingan spun rapidly, scanning left and right—but he couldn't locate the caster.

It was clear the one who activated the jutsu was not among the current Special Jōnin.

That could only mean one thing: additional Mist reinforcements had arrived, hiding in the shadows and completing the technique unseen.

Surrounded by dense, blinding fog, and feeling the countless eyes watching him from the mist, Haruki smirked coldly and raised his hands to form hand seals.

But just then—

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

Several kunai came flying toward him.

Forced to stop his hand seals, Haruki blurred into motion, dodging the projectiles.

Boom—!

Suddenly, a powerful explosion rocked the mist.

Turns out—some of the kunai were rigged with explosive tags.

The blast lit up the mist with a burst of flame and carved out a temporary vacuum within the fog. But this pocket of clarity only lasted a moment—the mist quickly regenerated, covering the gap once more.

Even worse, the noise Haruki made while dodging allowed the Mist Special Jōnin to zero in on his position.

A heartbeat later—a hail of kunai came flying toward him again.

Haruki twitched his ears, quickly pinpointing the general direction of the attack. However, because of the fog, he couldn't tell if the kunai were like before—laced with explosive tags or not.

So, the only option was to dodge first and check later.

But the moment his feet touched the ground—another wave of attacks followed immediately.

Clearly, among the enemy were those who had mastered Silent Killing techniques—able to locate his position precisely based on the subtlest of sounds within the mist.

Otherwise, the timing of these ambushes wouldn't be so perfect.

Haruki could guess their tactic—they were trying to keep him on the run, never giving him a moment's rest, until he slipped up, and then they'd strike a killing blow.

Admittedly—a smart strategy.

After all, no matter how strong someone is, defense alone eventually leads to mistakes.

But the real question was—could they keep pressuring him forever?

The answer was obvious: No.

After dodging two more waves of attacks, Haruki leapt onto a nearby tree, narrowly avoiding a third volley.

Standing on a thick branch, he rapidly formed hand seals. Before the fourth wave could arrive, he cast a jutsu:

Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!

He took a deep breath, then unleashed it in a powerful exhale.

At first, it was just a gust of wind—but within seconds, the gust expanded into a violent cyclone, sweeping outward and covering a radius of over ten meters.

Before the next round of attacks could reach him, the whirlwind had already blown them off course.

Feeling the disruption on the mist's edge, Haruki grinned and focused on driving the cyclone outward.

In the past, even if he had fully mastered Great Breakthrough, his control over the storm's direction wouldn't have been this precise.

But now, thanks to his Level 6 Wind Release: Blade of Wind, Haruki had developed a profound understanding of wind chakra's form and nature transformations.

This level of finesse had come naturally with experience.

It was like comparing the average Water Release: Water Formation Wall, which only blocks from one direction, to Tobirama Senju's, which can form a full barrier from all sides.

The difference came down to one thing: proficiency.

With Haruki's enhanced Great Breakthrough, the thick mist was torn apart like clouds before a hurricane.

Even though several Mist-nin tried to inject more water chakra to sustain the fog, it was all in vain.

And that was expected—after all, Haruki had dumped 2,000 chakra points into this one cast, turning it into a natural disaster-tier jutsu.

With elemental superiority and overwhelming force, the fog couldn't survive.

Within seconds, the battlefield was clear.

Haruki scanned the area and saw more than a dozen Mist-nin—some crouching, some standing—scattered across the forest floor and treetops.

A sneer crept across his face.

Then, he mocked them aloud:

"So this is the infamous Blood Mist Village?

What a joke."

But these Mist-nin, whether Special Jōnin or elite Chūnin, were no fools. No one rushed in out of anger at his provocation or facial taunt.

Haruki felt slightly disappointed.

But only slightly.

Since they wouldn't take the bait, he'd simply make the first move.

In a flash, Haruki appeared before a Mist Chūnin.

Swoosh—

His short blade slashed straight for the man's throat.

But before he could complete the swing, several shuriken flew at him from the side.

Catching them in his peripheral vision, Haruki leaned back half a step, dodging them with ease.

Unfortunately, the Chūnin in front of him reacted just in time, tossed down a smoke bomb, and quickly retreated.

Haruki didn't give chase.

Instead, he activated Body Flicker Technique once more and targeted another Mist Chūnin.

Earlier, none of the enemies attacking him were Chūnin. Now that they'd joined the battle—he had no problem picking off the weak first.

Perhaps that was exactly why the Mist Jōnin had summoned these Chūnin—to distract him or bait him.

But Haruki didn't care.

They were all his targets.

The only difference was who would die first.