Goten's chopsticks hung in midair, broth dripping from the noodles without him bringing them to his mouth.
Temari stood beside him and noticed his expression change.
"What's wrong?"
"Naruto's ki... changed."
Goten put down his chopsticks. The rhythmic tapping of his two fingers against the windowsill stopped.
"Not stronger. Its nature changed."
His sensory net stretched dozens of kilometers away. In the direction of Tenchi Bridge, Naruto was no longer Naruto.
The chakra's color shifted from orange-red to dark red, then turned into deep brown slime.
The energy of the fourth tail broke through the Jinchūriki's skin.
Goten rubbed his fingers together.
"The kid's completely wrapped in the Nine-Tails' chakra now. His skin and flesh have all peeled back."
Unease showed on Temari's face.
"Peeled back? What do you mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. No skin left, just red all over. Four tails, bubbling all over."
Goten jerked his chin toward the window.
"A little monster with his skin stripped off. I taught him for two years, and the second he loses his head, it's all wasted."
"Four tails... isn't that almost his limit?"
"Not yet, but close."
Within his sensory net, another chakra signature caught Goten's attention.
Orochimaru.
That snake's energy fluctuations showed no panic. Instead, he grew excited.
Every time four-tailed Naruto landed an attack, that cold, sinister chakra shuddered, then gathered again, faster and faster.
Goten swore.
"That stinking snake's enjoying getting beaten? What, is he a masochist?"
Temari leaned against the wall with her arms folded.
"Orochimaru's always been obsessed with forbidden techniques and extreme power. A four-tailed Jinchūriki running wild might be..."
"An experimental specimen."
Goten finished for her.
"That twisted freak sees everything as experimental material."
A violent surge of gathering energy suddenly came through his sensory net.
In front of four-tailed Naruto's