"I'm sorry, I indeed kept something from you." The Queen of Loulan bowed sincerely and apologized to Mokgetsu.
At this point, there was no point in deceiving herself, so the Queen of Loulan chose to be honest with Mokgetsu.
"I truly didn't mean to harm you, I hope you don't mind, it's just that this matter concerns the safety of Loulan." The Queen of Loulan explained.
"Beneath Loulan lies a power called the Dragon Vein. This power is strong, and only our Loulan Royal Family can control it. To prevent it from being coveted by others, it has always been our top secret."
The Queen of Loulan didn't know how the Dragon Vein would be to ninjas, but to ordinary people, it was truly powerful.
Just a tiny bit of the Dragon Vein's power is enough to turn an ordinary person into a superhuman capable of fighting ten men alone. But the consequences are terrifying, as the person would die shortly after.
This is the reason why the Loulan Royal Family is able to remain in power, as they can control the Dragon Vein and form a squad of superhuman suicide warriors.
However, due to the severe consequences, the Loulan Royal Family seldom uses the Dragon Vein, as the whole of Loulan is not populous and people are a precious resource here.
"I once cooperated with An Lushan, where I would manipulate the Dragon Vein's power for him, and he would use it to help develop Loulan."
"But one day, I noticed something wrong with him, so I ended our cooperation. Looking back now, it was probably because he was a traitorous ninja." The Queen of Loulan sighed.
She had previously thought it was a blessing for Loulan, that Loulan would finally develop, but in the end, there's no such thing as a free lunch.
"That explains it, An Lushan is likely Mukade, the traitor from Hidden Sand." Mokgetsu acknowledged.
He wasn't planning to spend too much time on this mission. The sooner he dealt with An Lushan, the sooner he could guide Uzumaki Naruto in cultivation.
"However, An Lushan has a high reputation among the people of Loulan. I will continue to investigate and gather more evidence before making it public." Mokgetsu concluded.
Today, he only intended to reveal An Lushan's background to the queen, not to deal with him immediately.
If An Lushan refused to cooperate and self-destructed, Naruto and the others might have to return straight away. Mokgetsu would choose an appropriate time to act.
Anyway, there was no longer an issue with the queen, so they could act when they found an excuse.
"That would be even better." The Queen of Loulan said with satisfaction.
At this moment, her impression of Konoha greatly improved. The Konoha ninjas were incredibly reliable, not only efficient but also considerate of their clients.
If she needed to hire anyone in the future, the Queen of Loulan's first choice would definitely be Konoha, even if they were a bit more expensive, Konoha Ninja were indeed powerful.
After bidding farewell to the queen, Mokgetsu once again went to study the Dragon Vein.
Upon arriving, Mokgetsu opened up his senses completely, activating everything from the Transparent World to Byakugan, and with the Enlightenment Skill refreshed, Mokgetsu activated it on himself as well.
Perhaps due to his Enlightened State today, Mokgetsu experienced a different sensation than yesterday.
In his perception, the powerful energy source was intimately connected with the land of Loulan, mutually influencing each other.
This led Mokgetsu to a conjecture: Could the Divine Tree absorb energy from the planet in a way similar to drawing Dragon Vein Chakra?
If that's the case, then they couldn't use too much of the Dragon Vein Chakra. If overused, the entire Loulan might be doomed.
In the evening, Mokgetsu returned to the inn to meet up with everyone and shared the results of his day.
"So it turns out An Lushan is Mukade, just as you thought, Mokgetsu big brother, he traveled to a time earlier than ours." Naruto looked at Mokgetsu with admiration.
To him, Mokgetsu seemed to truly have an omnipotent feel, as nearly all of Mokgetsu's guesses the previous day turned out to be spot-on, as today's results showed.
"Mokgetsu Senpai, your speed is truly astonishing." Yamato marveled.
They had another day without progress, and Yamato had prepared for a prolonged battle, only to come back and hear Mokgetsu say he had already found Mukade.
"That's equivalent to completing our mission!" Obito realized that they could directly act together next.
He wasn't too surprised, given that this was Sage Mokgetsu, it was quite reasonable.
"Next, we just need to defeat that An Lushan, oh no, Mukade," Obito said, revealing an eager expression.
Kakashi shook his head and said, "Didn't you listen carefully to Teacher Mokgetsu? This is only based on existing information, we still need further investigation."
"After all, the enemy has accumulated two years of power in Loulan, while we are still in the dark. We can take this opportunity to understand their current power before taking action." Mokgetsu explained.
"We can also conduct some pre-battle training to enhance our combat strength."
Mokgetsu briefly shared his thoughts: Naruto and Yamato would take turns sparring with the Mokgetsu Squad, helping Mokgetsu train his disciples. Then, Mokgetsu would guide Naruto and Yamato through their combat processes.
Yamato's eyes lit up; this was a legitimate opportunity to spar with Senior Kakashi!