Giant Snake Attack

But just then, a dense chorus of hissing suddenly shattered the forest's quiet.

Lan's eyes snapped open, and he warily looked around.

Sharingan!

A single tomoe instantly surfaced in his left eye, his scarlet pupil spinning rapidly as it caught the source of the sound.

In the grass around him and up in the trees, countless long snakes of every color had appeared at some point.

They flicked their tongues, their cold vertical pupils fixed on Lan, brimming with hostility.

"Snakes?"

Lan frowned.

Although this forest was only the outer area of the Uchiha Clan Compound, for there to be so many snakes, packed so densely together, was far too abnormal. Not only was it nauseating, but from the look of them, they had clearly come for him.

"Who's behind this?"

Alarm bells blared in his heart.

"Hiss—!"

A black snake as thick as an arm took the lead and launched the first attack, shooting toward Lan's face like a streak of black lightning.

Lan's gaze went cold. Instead of dodging, he charged straight at the black snake.

The instant the black snake was about to bite him, his left hand shot out like lightning and accurately grabbed the snake at its vital point.

Crack!

With a crisp snap, the black snake was shattered into several pieces by his energy.

The black snake's death seemed to serve as the starting gun. The surrounding swarm of snakes immediately surged over like a tide, blotting out the ground and sky, impossible to kill off.

Their attack methods varied. Some spat venom, some coiled with their bodies, while others tore in with sharp fangs.

Lan snorted coldly and spread Saiyan chakra throughout his body.

His figure shuttled rapidly through the swarm, fists and feet striking together.

Every punch and every kick carried fierce energy, blasting the surrounding snakes away and kicking them to pieces.

The Saiyan physique had granted him extremely strong attack power, defense, and recovery. These snakes could not harm him in the slightest.

But there were simply too many snakes, as if they were endless.

Lan gradually began to feel irritated.

"You bastard hiding in the dark, get the hell out here!"

He roared, and the Saiyan chakra inside him erupted violently through the use of "ki."

An invisible wave of energy spread out with him at its center, blasting all the surrounding snakes away and instantly clearing an open space.

"Interesting."

A cold, hoarse voice came from the treetop not far away.

Lan abruptly raised his head and looked over.

On a massive tree that would take three people to wrap their arms around, an abnormally enormous giant snake had coiled there at some point.

The snake was as thick as a person was tall, and its body was at least over twenty meters long. Its scales flickered with a dark green light, and its golden vertical pupils were as large as lanterns, radiating a heart-palpitating pressure.

Compared to it, those little snakes from earlier were practically earthworms.

"It can speak? It's a ninja beast!"

Lan's gaze turned grave.

Ninja beasts were far more powerful than ordinary beasts. Their abilities varied; some could speak human language, some could perform ninjutsu, and some could even change their body size.

And generally speaking, the larger a ninja beast was, the stronger it was.

The oppressive feeling this giant snake gave him made him feel as if he were facing a mountain crashing down on him.

This snake definitely had jonin-level combat strength!

"Hiss—!"

The giant snake let out an earsplitting hiss. Its head, the size of a room, suddenly plunged downward, its bloody maw opening wide as it pounced at Lan.

Lan only felt a fishy wind hit him in the face, carrying an intense corrosive sensation.

He did not dare be careless. His feet suddenly exerted force, and his body retreated backward like an arrow leaving the bowstring.

Boom!

The giant snake's head slammed heavily into the spot where Lan had just been standing, instantly smashing a huge crater into the ground and sending shattered stones flying.

So fast!

Lan was startled.

This giant snake was massive, yet its speed was not slow in the slightest, and its strength was even more terrifying.

He had to test its defense first!

"Great Fireball Technique!"

Lan's hands rapidly formed seals. He took a deep breath and suddenly transformed his chakra into flames, spewing them out.

A huge fireball, carrying scorching waves of heat, blasted toward the giant snake's eyes.

Bang!

The giant snake's eyes blinked at a speed almost impossible to distinguish with the naked eye. The fireball accurately struck the giant snake's scales and burst into dazzling flames.

However, the expected damage did not appear.

After the flames scattered, only a faint scorch mark remained on the scales around the giant snake's eye. There was not even the slightest bit of damage!

"Fireproof? It came specifically for me!"

Lan's pupils shrank.

The burning effect of the Great Fireball had been completely offset by its scales. He had to use a more concentrated energy attack with stronger impact!

He had to get serious!

Lan held nothing back and raised the chakra inside him to the limit.

The One-Tomoe Sharingan surfaced in his left eye, catching every movement of the giant snake.

"Saiyan Energy Bullet!"

He quickly condensed chakra in both hands, then suddenly pushed forward.

Five white energy bullets shot toward the giant snake like cannon shells leaving the barrel, carrying sharp whistles as they tore through the air.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The energy bullets accurately struck the giant snake's scales.

However, the expected penetration did not happen.

The impact from the exploding energy bullets merely made the giant snake's body sway once, leaving only faint white marks on its scales.

Lan's composure instantly cracked a little. "I'm only role-playing Vegeta, I'm not the real Vegeta. Does the face-slapping 'curse' have to come this fast!"

The giant snake was enraged.

It swung its enormous tail, bringing a howling wind as it swept horizontally toward Lan.

The power of that tail was enough to easily snap a great tree in half!

With the Sharingan's prediction, Lan narrowly avoided the tail's attack by a hair.

Boom!

The tail swept across the ground, and another huge pit appeared.

Lan was now somewhat on the back foot.

The opponent had tough skin and thick flesh, tremendous strength, and was not slow either.

His ninjutsu seemed to have a hard time inflicting effective damage on it.

If he got close and was rammed by it, how would that be any different from being hit by a heavy truck? So taijutsu was no good either.

If this went on, he would only be exhausted to death.

"I have to use a stronger attack!"

Lan's eyes hardened.

He thought of Vegeta's stronger moves.

Although he had not unlocked the corresponding skill yet, by combining it with Saiyan chakra, he might be able to imitate a similar effect!

"Now!"

Lan seized the brief moment when the giant snake slowed after crashing into a great tree.

He took a deep breath, crossed his hands in front of his chest, then suddenly spread them open to both sides.

The Saiyan chakra inside him frantically gathered between his hands at an unprecedented speed.

The white energy light grew brighter and brighter, forming a highly compressed energy sphere.

Even the surrounding air began to distort and vibrate.

The powerful energy fluctuation made even the distant giant snake sense a threat, and a trace of apprehension flashed through its golden vertical pupils.

But the giant snake did not take advantage of the gap while Lan was charging the attack. Instead, it flicked its tongue, seeming to want to see what kind of threat the ant before it could release.

"What is that..."

The person hidden in the dark saw this scene and could not help but let out a low murmur, a trace of surprise in their tone.

"Haah!"

Lan roared and thrust both hands forward.

That highly compressed energy sphere, condensed from all the Saiyan chakra in his body, blasted toward the giant snake with an aura that seemed capable of destroying heaven and earth!

This was not the Great Fireball, nor was it an energy bullet.

This was a move created by imitating Vegeta's signature skill, the "Galick Gun"—Pseudo Galick Gun!

The dazzling white light instantly swallowed the giant snake's figure.

Boom—!!!

An earth-shaking explosion echoed through the forest.

Immediately afterward, an angry voice rang out: "You actually dared to screw me, Manda? This is the ninja academy brat you were talking about? If you don't prepare a hundred sacrifices, the next time we meet, I'll eat you!"

A powerful shock wave spread in every direction, snapping trees in half and cracking the ground open.

Smoke and dust filled the air, blocking out the sky.

Lan maintained his firing posture, gasping for breath in great mouthfuls.

That strike just now had nearly exhausted all his ki and chakra.

His body was somewhat drained, and his face had turned pale.

The smoke and dust slowly dispersed.

A huge, charred pit had appeared where it struck.

However, that giant snake had vanished! Only a palm-sized scale remained in its place.

"It ran?"

Lan was a little surprised.

The power of that strike just now had shocked even him. That giant snake had actually managed to escape under an attack like that?