"This guy's vitality is so tenacious," Obito couldn't help but exclaim.
As the thick smoke dispersed, the three puppets released by An Lushan were blasted into fragments. An Lushan's own body was in a ragged state, yet he still did not collapse, glaring at Uzumaki Naruto and the others with gritted teeth.
"You've forced me to this point," An Lushan, seeing no hope of escape, decided to fight to the death. Even if he were to die, he planned to take a couple of them down with him.
As An Lushan unleashed all of his Dragon Vein Energy, the puppet fragments on the ground were attracted and swiftly flew toward him.
The puppets he carried were no ordinary puppets; they were enhanced by Dragon Vein Energy and could merge with him to become even stronger.
After absorbing all the damaged puppet fragments, An Lushan's form grew immense, no longer resembling a human but a monster.
An Lushan glanced at the Queen of Loulan out of the corner of his eye, then feigned a charge at Obito. Just as Obito was about to attack him with Fire Release, An Lushan abruptly changed direction and accelerated toward the queen.
The two people he most wanted to kill were Uzumaki Naruto and the Queen of Loulan. One would cross time and space to continue hunting him, while the other had trapped him in his current predicament.
But Uzumaki Naruto clearly wouldn't be easy to kill, so An Lushan decided to first capture the Queen of Loulan. If he could use her to escape, he would do so and then kill her. If not, he would kill her immediately.
"These Konoha Ninja are only this capable, they can't even protect their client," An Lushan sneered inwardly.
Uzumaki Naruto and his group's formation was loose, with only a blond ninja standing beside the Queen of Loulan, while the others maintained a certain distance from her.
Since the blond ninja hadn't acted, An Lushan believed his strength probably wasn't great.
If he were truly strong, he would certainly serve as the primary attacker against him rather than being stationed by the Queen of Loulan's side.
Yamato, Kakashi, and Uzumaki Naruto all used ninjutsu to attack An Lushan, but An Lushan withstood all the attacks and continued to rapidly approach the Queen of Loulan.
If he were an ordinary ninja, he would either have to abandon the attack or die under the ninjutsu of Uzumaki Naruto and the others. But the current An Lushan was different. Although he was not in good shape, he was not on the brink of death.
Seeing An Lushan charging directly at Mokgetsu, Obito and the others displayed strange expressions; this was a bit too eager to court death.
Mokgetsu had mentioned before the battle that An Lushan was within their manageable range, so under normal circumstances, Mokgetsu wouldn't intervene.
"Queen, you will regret the decision you've made," An Lushan said in a deep voice.
After all, the Queen of Loulan was an ordinary person. Seeing this massive monster charging at her, she instinctively took half a step back.
But the Queen of Loulan quickly calmed down because Mokgetsu was right beside her.
Mokgetsu was the captain of this Konoha Squad. Since his subordinates all had the strength to injure An Lushan, as the captain, Mokgetsu must be even stronger.
"Splitting Tiles!"
Seeing An Lushan heedlessly charging forward, Mokgetsu did not hold back. Using Breath of Rock to enhance his physical strength, he dashed in front of An Lushan and delivered a sharp hand strike.
He refrained from acting in order to earn more rewards when the mission was settled, using An Lushan as a whetstone for his disciples.
But if An Lushan was seeking a beating, he didn't mind showing him what true power was.
Mokgetsu's speed was so fast that An Lushan only saw a blonde figure appear before him in a flash.
Bam!!
Boom!!
An Lushan felt a terrifying force hit him, sending him flying backward at an even faster speed, smashing into the ground and cracking it.
The place where Mokgetsu had struck him showed a gruesome, terrifying wound, as if he had been cleaved by a massive blunt blade.
An Lushan looked at Mokgetsu with fear in his eyes; he realized that Mokgetsu was actually the strongest.
After the strike, Mokgetsu quietly remained beside the Queen of Loulan, making no further moves.
They had arrived too early; An Lushan, who had only absorbed so little Dragon Vein Chakra, was limited in strength. An Lushan in the original movie version might have had the strength to battle Mokgetsu.
The somewhat despairing An Lushan noticed that Mokgetsu was not continuing to attack, and a glimmer of hope for survival emerged in his heart.
With Mokgetsu possessing such strong strength, yet not engaging in battle and always protecting the Queen of Loulan, it was clear he wasn't valuing the client but rather training his disciples.
Although An Lushan felt humiliated by this, it indeed presented his opportunity.
If Mokgetsu joined in the battle, he wouldn't have the slightest chance of survival.
However, An Lushan soon discovered that he had overthought it; Obito and the others' abilities were not as simple as he imagined.
Seeing An Lushan injured by Mokgetsu, Obito immediately entered the Breath of Flame Chakra Mode, amplifying his strength to the limit.
Whoosh!!
As Obito's chakra burst forth, his whole body ignited with high-temperature, red flames, with the flames on his right hand being particularly intense.
Under Obito's control, all the flames on his body rapidly flowed toward his right hand, enhancing and then compressing the flames. As the compression and enhancement continued, the flames on Obito's body disappeared, but the flames on his right hand became extremely profound.
"Orochinagi!"
Obito, while charging, continued compressing the flames before directly hurling the fully compressed flames at the rising An Lushan.
Since this enemy was quite large, Obito didn't use Fire Dragon Flame Bomb but employed the smaller-range, more powerful Orochinagi.
An Lushan, not blind, could see that the Fire Release used by Obito this time was no simple technique, so he had no intention of taking it head-on. Instead, he unleashed the Dragon Vein Chakra within him in an attempt to dodge.