Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

In the desolate village.

Uchiha Haruki's thoughts churned rapidly before he finally calmed his mind.

Then, clenching his palm, he crushed the ball of Wind Release chakra into fragments.

He did plan to eventually create a Wind Release-based flying technique, but now was not the time.

There were two reasons: First, the timing wasn't right. For now, the most critical task was to obtain the Kusanagi Sword from the leader of the Crafting Ninja Village—everything else could wait.

Second, he didn't yet have a strong enough foundation.

Though it seemed he had already "created" an A-rank and even an S-rank jutsu, both the Rasengan and Wind Release: Rasenshuriken had rich theoretical foundations laid out beforehand. Strictly speaking, they weren't entirely his own original inventions.

Creating a new jutsu from scratch wasn't something easy. Even a genius like Minato Namikaze had taken three full years to develop the Rasengan—and that was with Jiraiya's assistance.

If he had done it alone, it might have taken even longer.

This showed just how hard it was to conceptualize and invent a jutsu from nothing.

The one advantage Haruki had over them was the assistance of his proficiency panel.

Once he could form a basic prototype of a new jutsu, as long as the system recognized it, he could gradually refine and master it through grinding proficiency points.

That alone saved him from countless difficulties.

Even so, creating a new jutsu was far from something he could achieve in a day or two.

So for now, there was no need to think too much about it.

Haruki suppressed the thought for the time being, refocused his mind, and quietly closed his eyes to rest.

Time ticked by minute by minute.

In the blink of an eye, the sun began to set.

Seeing that evening was approaching, Haruki stopped dawdling. After orienting himself, he made his way toward the hiding place of the Crafting Ninja Village's leader.

Several hours later…

Night had fallen.

Dust-covered and weary, Haruki arrived just outside a small town.

From a distance, the town looked peaceful. Smoke rose from chimneys, and it seemed untouched by the war.

Haruki didn't enter recklessly. Since the ninja cats had been able to locate this place, it was very likely that other hidden villages had as well.

He didn't want to complicate matters, so the best course was to keep his movements undetected.

With that in mind, Haruki weaved hand signs and cast the Transformation Jutsu, taking on the appearance of an ordinary civilian before walking into town.

Without wasting time sightseeing, he headed straight for a small courtyard inside the town.

But as he neared the courtyard, his steps suddenly halted.

The reason? He sensed several chakra signatures—ninja were watching this place.

Haruki's mind raced, but in the end, he kept his transformed appearance and approached the house.

Knock knock knock—

He raised his right hand and rapped on the door.

No response.

Haruki paused for a moment and expanded his sensory perception, but couldn't sense any living person inside.

"Not home, huh?"

Murmuring to himself, Haruki didn't hesitate. He jumped onto the courtyard wall in a single leap.

In that instant, he could feel the gazes on him intensify.

Clearly, his unusual behavior had alerted the hidden observers.

But according to his senses, those people didn't move in.

Upon confirming this, Haruki silently let out a breath of relief.

"I was right. Good."

He had guessed earlier that if those people chose to monitor the target, they wouldn't act rashly—and it turned out to be true.

They probably assumed that even if he had another motive, he wouldn't be able to easily capture the leader of the Crafting Ninja Village.

After all, even a minor village's leader couldn't be underestimated.

So, they opted to wait and see.

Unfortunately for them, what they didn't expect was that Haruki's confidence in taking down the leader in a single move was exactly why he acted so boldly.

And that was what he was betting on.

Now it seemed his gamble had paid off—the observers had not intervened.

With that settled, he could proceed with his plan.

Without hesitation, Haruki jumped down into the courtyard and, after a quick sweep of the area, headed for the master bedroom.

It was an ordinary room.

Haruki looked around. Seeing that the bedding had been used recently, he nodded.

That meant the leader still lived here—just temporarily out.

Carefully avoiding a few traps, Haruki concealed his chakra, hid in the corner of the room, and patiently waited for the target to return.

Night deepened.

Creak—

No one knew how much time had passed when suddenly, the sound of the courtyard gate being pushed open echoed through the silence.

Haruki's senses immediately sharpened as he focused on the sounds outside.

Footsteps.

Then the sound of someone washing up.

Then… they stood in the yard for a long while before finally entering the bedroom.

"Who's there?"

The moment the leader stepped inside, he sensed something was off. He shouted and hurled a handful of shuriken.

A shadow darted out from the corner of the room, effortlessly dodging the projectiles.

The leader squinted—"Sharingan?! A Uchiha ninja?!"

No time to think.

He drew a long blade from his waist, chakra surging into the steel, causing it to glow with sharpness.

Then he slashed at Haruki's neck.

Haruki reacted instantly, dodging the strike.

The leader, relying on the sharpness of his blade, pressed the attack, launching a relentless series of blows.

Haruki could only dodge for the time being.

But defense could only last so long.

After evading more than a dozen swings, Haruki failed to react in time—and the leader decapitated him in a flash.

Or so it seemed.

Just as the leader was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the scene blurred.

He was still standing in the room. His hands were empty. His sword was still sheathed at his waist.

Everything just now had been an illusion!

The only difference now was the Uchiha ninja standing right in front of him.

His gaze shifted to the Sharingan—and he instantly understood.

The moment he had met eyes with Haruki, he'd fallen into a Genjutsu.

All of it—the entire battle—had been a hallucination.

"You—"

The leader opened his mouth, about to speak, but a sharp pain struck his chest.

Looking down, he saw a kunai buried in his heart.

Splurt—

Blood spurted from his mouth.

Haruki shifted slightly to the side to avoid the spray.

The leader of the Crafting Ninja Village clutched his chest, staggered backward a few steps, and finally collapsed at the doorway.

In moments, he stopped breathing.

Haruki stepped forward, undid the leader's scabbard, and—

Shing—

—drew the sword.

A keen, biting aura radiated from the blade.

He infused a bit of chakra, and the sword responded with an incredibly smooth feedback.

Haruki ran his fingers along the steel, inwardly marveling.

"As expected of one of the rarest weapons in the entire Shinobi world... The chakra conductivity is extraordinary!"