Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

About half an hour later, once everyone had gathered, a Konoha jōnin stepped forward.

Uchiha Haruki recognized him immediately—it was Makimura Tanikawa, the examiner for the second round of the Chūnin Exams a month ago.

This time, he was serving as their squad captain, tasked with leading the group back to the Land of Rain battlefield.

Clap, clap, clap—

Tanikawa clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention before he began speaking.

"Some of you have just returned from the Land of Rain. Others will be heading there for the first time. But—"

His eyes swept across the entire group, his tone suddenly becoming cold and stern.

"Regardless of which you are, I expect absolute obedience to my commands in the days ahead. Is that clear?"

Everyone exchanged quick glances before replying in unison,

"Yes, sir!"

Aside from Tanikawa, the only high-level combatants in the group were three tokubetsu jōnin. The rest were either chūnin or genin.

With the chain of command clear and his rank undisputed, no one dared question his authority.

Still, Haruki couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right.

There was an underlying tension in the air—something had clearly happened behind the scenes to put Konoha on high alert. Otherwise, Tanikawa wouldn't have been this serious.

And he was right.

Over the past two weeks, multiple Konoha squads heading toward various battlefields had been ambushed along the way.

Normally, the village would've postponed deployments or sent additional reinforcements until the threat was resolved.

But manpower was already stretched thin, and the frontlines couldn't afford to be undermanned. So, Konoha had no choice but to press on with deployments.

That's why Tanikawa had been so strict.

Once he confirmed there were no objections, he nodded.

"Good. Move out!"

With that, he took the lead and bolted toward the village gates.

The others quickly followed.

Before long, the entire team had left the village behind.

Meanwhile—

At ROOT Headquarters, inside Danzo's office…

Knock knock knock.

Danzo didn't even glance up. "Come in."

Creak—

The door opened. A ROOT operative stepped inside, kneeled on one knee, and reported:

"Sir, Uchiha Haruki and Uchiha Shisui have departed."

"Oh?" Danzo finally set down the file he'd been reading and looked up.

"Were there any other Uchiha jōnin accompanying them?"

"No, sir," the operative replied firmly.

Danzo hummed in thought, tapping his fingers lightly on the desk. A few seconds later, he issued a cold order:

"Alert the 'Weeping Rain Squad.' Proceed exactly as planned. Not a single mistake is allowed."

"Yes, Lord Danzo."

The operative vanished instantly.

Watching the figure disappear, Danzo gave a low snort and muttered,

"Uchiha… hmph."

Aware that this mission was far from ordinary, Haruki limited his training along the journey, making sure to conserve his stamina so he'd be ready for any unexpected events.

And sure enough—his caution proved justified.

In the first few days, as long as they were within the Land of Fire, everything remained peaceful.

But the moment they crossed into the Land of Rain, it didn't take long for things to go wrong.

They were ambushed.

And the attackers?

Iwa-nin.

At first glance, it seemed like a coincidence—but Haruki wasn't fooled.

He caught the flash of smug satisfaction in the eyes of the Iwa jōnin leading the enemy forces.

It was the look of someone thinking: "Just as expected—they really came this way."

And judging from their organized tactics and the way they had set up their formation, it was clear they knew this route in advance.

Which raised a big question:

How did they know?

This path was completely different from past supply or reinforcement routes—remote and rarely used.

So how did the enemy know to be here?

"There's a traitor."

The thought hit Haruki hard.

Either someone in the squad had leaked the route, or someone high up in the village had passed the intel to the wrong hands.

Either way, it meant the enemy knew far more about them than they did in return.

And in a battle, that kind of information gap was deadly.

The results were immediate.

Within just a few minutes of engagement, Konoha's side had already taken multiple hits. Several shinobi were wounded, and some genin had already died.

It wasn't just because the Iwa-nin had the advantage in intel—they had also set up a proper ambush.

In terms of sheer strength, the enemy wasn't necessarily stronger. This was still Konoha's territory after all, and Iwa's reinforcements were limited.

But being caught off guard like this made it easy to fall behind.

Amidst the chaos, Captain Tanikawa shouted:

"Haruki, cover the left flank! Shisui, watch the right! Everyone else, follow me—we're breaking through!"

Haruki had been planning to play it safe and assess the situation first.

He hadn't expected to be handed such a critical task right off the bat.

Still, after a brief hesitation, he decided to follow orders.

After all, while the Iwa-nin here were decent, none of them were truly a match for him.

There was no real threat—at least, not yet.

The only thing that concerned him was the possibility of a mole. So when acting, he focused primarily on defensive support.

With that in mind, Haruki broke away from his current opponent using Body Flicker, reappearing at the squad's vulnerable left flank.

His hands flew through a rapid series of hand seals—

"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!"

A wide stream of flames spewed from his mouth, quickly splitting and forming countless small fireballs, like phoenix flower seeds scattered across the battlefield.

The fireballs shot toward the enemy, under Haruki's control.

At the front, an Iwa-nin twisted out of the way, narrowly dodging the incoming barrage. Feeling the intense heat from just one fireball, he shouted in alarm:

"Watch out, everyone!"

The others quickly moved to evade as well.

The sky was filled with swirling, dancing fireballs, throwing the entire enemy formation into disarray.

Haruki wasn't the only one holding his ground.

Uchiha Shisui, armed with a short sword, flashed through the enemy lines like a phantom—Body Flicker after Body Flicker, wreaking havoc among the Iwa forces.

Seizing the opportunity, Tanikawa fought off the enemy jōnin while leading the main force through a gap in the encirclement.

After about half an hour, Haruki's group finally broke free from the Iwa-nin's trap.

They were still being pursued, but it was no longer as one-sided as before.

After a short rest, Tanikawa took a moment to assess the situation. Once he confirmed that they couldn't win this fight outright, he reorganized the team.

He ordered one tokubetsu jōnin to continue escorting the main force forward.

Meanwhile, he stayed behind along with two other tokubetsu jōnin and eight chūnin, to cover the retreat.

Naturally, both Uchiha Haruki and Uchiha Shisui were among the eight.

Having witnessed their performance during the Chūnin Exams, Tanikawa knew these two were far beyond ordinary chūnin, so he chose to keep them in the rear guard.

Haruki and Shisui accepted without protest.

In fact, Haruki welcomed the opportunity.

He wanted to get to the bottom of things—how exactly did the enemy know their route?

Somehow, he sensed that this situation wasn't as simple as it seemed.

And until he found out the truth, he knew he wouldn't sleep well at night.