Chapter Summaries

Senju Chen showed Kakuzu a detailed plan to expand Food Is Heaven into a worldwide intelligence network, shocking him with its ambition and cost. Kakuzu questioned whether the Senju Clan could fund it, then realized his promised one-percent profit share could make him fabulously wealthy.

• Maruboshi Kosuke brought Senju Chen a thick scroll, which Chen tossed to Kakuzu and told him to inspect.
• Kakuzu read Food Is Heaven’s financial results and expansion plans, and his disdain gave way to respect for Chen’s preparation.
• Kakuzu discovered that the restaurant chain was intended to become an intelligence network spanning the Shinobi World and was stunned by the scale of the plan.
• Senju Chen calmly said he wanted to build the network and make some money, while Kakuzu warned that the investment would be astronomical.
• Kakuzu remembered Chen’s offer of one percent of Food Is Heaven’s profits and grew eager at the prospect of immense wealth.

Senju Chen persuaded Kakuzu to consider joining his intelligence network by offering him one percent of the profits, training resources, and a central role in the project. Kakuzu began studying the plan, while Senju Chen prepared to send him to recruit Sasori of the Red Sands.

• Senju Chen told Kakuzu that his underworld experience and financial skills made him the ideal partner for building an intelligence empire.
• Kakuzu asked for time to consider the offer, then pressed Senju Chen to guarantee his one-percent profit share and training resources.
• Senju Chen gave Kakuzu three days to decide and said Grandpa Kosuke would provide him a private office and financial report.
• After Senju Chen left, Kakuzu studied the scroll and concluded that he could not refuse the lucrative opportunity.
• Senju Chen planned to send Kakuzu to the Land of Earth to recruit Sasori of the Red Sands.

Kakuzu reviewed Food Is Heaven’s finances and operations, realizing its expanding profits could earn him millions of ryo each year from his one-percent share. After seeking confirmation about the restaurant’s influence at the black market, he returned to Food Is Heaven unable to refuse Senju Chen’s offer.

• Kakuzu examined the flagship restaurant’s accounts and estimated that its annual net profit could reach fifty-four million ryo.
• Kakuzu inspected the kitchen and storeroom with Maruboshi Kosuke, checking ingredient supplies and costs.
• Kakuzu calculated that Food Is Heaven’s planned branches could generate 324 million ryo in annual profit, giving him 3.24 million ryo from his one-percent share.
• Kakuzu went to the black market and paid one million ryo to learn that Food Is Heaven was popular with nobles and had powerful backing.
• Kakuzu realized the black market had told him little he did not already know and returned to Food Is Heaven.

Kakuzu traveled to the Land of Earth to recruit Sasori of the Red Sands for Senju Chen’s organization, Food Is Heaven. After meeting Sasori in his hidden mine and explaining the invitation, Kakuzu was refused.

• Senju Chen tasked Kakuzu with finding Sasori of the Red Sands and recruiting him alive, giving him intelligence and new puppet materials as a greeting gift.
• Kakuzu followed black-market intelligence to an abandoned mine on the Land of Earth border and defeated Sasori’s puppet guards to gain entry.
• Kakuzu met Sasori, who explained that he turned people into puppets to preserve their forms and achieve eternity.
• Kakuzu invited Sasori to join Food Is Heaven, describing it as a restaurant that secretly built an intelligence network across the Shinobi World.
• Sasori rejected the invitation and said he was not interested.

Senju Chen recruited Sasori by offering resources and access to advanced research for his Puppet Technique. Sasori agreed to join Chen’s organization and collaborate with Amado, while Chen retained control of everything Sasori created.

• Kakuzu showed Sasori a proposal for upgrading Human Puppets with tailed beast cells, and Sasori agreed to meet its author.
• Senju Chen explained that he wanted to unite the Shinobi World’s advanced technologies and proposed that Sasori work with Amado on biological modifications.
• Chen offered Sasori research resources and corpses, including Kekkei Genkai possessors, in exchange for control over all his creations.
• Sasori accepted Chen’s terms and asked to meet Amado so they could work together.
• Senju Chen and Sasori shook hands and formed a partnership.

Senju Chen brought Sasori to Orochimaru’s research institute, where Sasori and Orochimaru argued over whether true immortality required a living body or a puppet shell. Amado proposed preserving and copying consciousness as data, drawing both men into collaboration before Orochimaru showed them a regenerative subject infused with Tailed Beast cells.

• Senju Chen brought Sasori into Orochimaru’s laboratory, where Sasori admired the experiments and Orochimaru challenged his belief that puppets offered eternal life.
• Sasori and Orochimaru debated whether immortality depended on preserving consciousness or maintaining a living body.
• Amado proposed reading, digitizing, transferring, backing up, and copying consciousness, and he shared his preliminary research with Orochimaru and Sasori.
• Sasori and Orochimaru agreed to join Amado’s research into consciousness and immortality.
• Orochimaru showed Sasori an experimental subject infused with Tailed Beast cells that had exceptional vitality and regenerative powers.

Senju Chen helped Rin Nohara prepare to meet the Three-Tails inside her mental world and encouraged her to understand it rather than fear it. The chapter ended as Chen and Rin approached the sealed beast’s iron gate.

• Sasori, Orochimaru, and Amado discussed combining living creatures with puppet mechanisms and weapons to create powerful, self-repairing beings.
• Senju Chen saw that Sasori had joined the research team, then told Xuanyuan Gari and Aying to return to the Capital of Fire with him.
• Rin Nohara stayed isolated in her room, troubled by the Three-Tails’ hostile voice and the power inside her.
• Senju Chen brought Rin dinner and explained that the Three-Tails might accept her if she tried to understand it.
• Senju Chen used the Spirit Transformation Technique to guide Rin into her mental world, where they walked toward the Three-Tails’ sealed gate.

Senju Chen helped Rin speak with the Three-Tails Isobu in her mental world, urging them to trust each other and proposing that Isobu experience the world as Rin’s partner. As Chen and Rin prepared to leave, Isobu asked what would happen if he refused, and Chen’s smile disappeared.

• Senju Chen and Rin approached the iron gate, where the Three-Tails Isobu threatened to kill Rin.
• Senju Chen told Isobu that Rin had never meant to use or hurt him, and Rin promised she would never treat him as a weapon.
• Senju Chen warned Isobu that escaping would bring pursuit from the villages and offered him a chance to see the world with Rin as a partner.
• Isobu said he needed time to think, and Senju Chen asked him to stop attacking Rin’s mind.
• As Senju Chen and Rin were leaving, Isobu asked if Chen’s promises were true and what would happen if he refused, causing Chen’s smile to vanish.

Senju Chen tried to get the Three-Tails to cooperate with Rin Nohara, but the beast's anger triggered a partial transformation. Chen suppressed it with Wood Release and persuaded it to return to Rin, leaving her to build trust with the Three-Tails over time.

• The Three-Tails erupted in rage inside Rin's mental world, shattering the gate's talismans as Senju Chen and Rin withdrew.
• The Three-Tails' chakra overwhelmed Rin and began transforming her, blasting Senju Chen into a tree.
• Senju Chen used Adamantine Summoning Wood to bind the Three-Tails, drain its chakra, and stop it from forming a Tailed Beast Bomb.
• Senju Chen told the subdued Three-Tails that Rin was not its enemy and warned it that it would remain suppressed unless it cooperated.
• The Three-Tails agreed that it needed time, and Senju Chen released his Wood Release and reassured the exhausted Rin.

Senju Chen returned to Konoha and studied ways to improve Earth Grudge Fear, planning to combine it with Wood Release, Tailed Beast cells, powerful hearts, and sealing techniques. He finished an improved procedure and prepared to test it on a Wood Release Clone.

• Senju Chen told Kakuzu to travel with Azi to stabilize the new branch in the Land of Birds.
• Senju Chen quietly left the Capital of Fire and returned to the Senju residence in Konoha three days later.
• Senju Chen reviewed Orochimaru and Amado's research on Earth Grudge Fear and identified its limits and drawbacks.
• Senju Chen proposed using a Wood Release Clone, improved black tendrils, Tailed Beast cells, high-quality hearts, and Sealing Jutsu to enhance the technique.
• Senju Chen completed his improved Earth Grudge Fear plan and decided to put it into practice.

Senju Chen advised Uchiha Fugaku on how to revive the Uchiha Police Force’s stalled effort to earn villagers’ trust. The chapter left Fugaku alarmed after Chen suggested creating major incidents if none occurred naturally.

• Uchiha Fugaku visited Senju Chen and explained that villagers had begun to warm to the Police Force, but still kept their distance.
• Fugaku said young Uchiha members and some elders opposed the effort, and Minato Namikaze’s rise as Fourth Hokage had changed their plans.
• Senju Chen argued that the Police Force’s many small acts of help were not memorable enough to win genuine acceptance.
• Chen told Fugaku that the Uchiha should focus on protecting villagers’ safety, then suggested creating major incidents if necessary.
• Uchiha Fugaku reacted with alarm as he grasped the implication of Chen’s advice.

Senju Chen advised Uchiha Fugaku to send the Police Force after genuine threats outside the village, publicize its success, and report each operation to Minato's office. Fugaku accepted the plan to bolster the Uchiha's standing and resolve clan dissent, then raised concerns about Shisui's growing distance from the clan.

• Senju Chen urged Uchiha Fugaku to have the Police Force eliminate serious bandits or rogue ninja and make the Uchiha's success widely known.
• Senju Chen warned Fugaku to keep operations secret beforehand, ensure they succeeded, and report their plans to the Hokage's Office so Minato would not see them as a challenge to his authority.
• Senju Chen said a major public achievement could restore the clan elders' and young members' confidence in Fugaku's reforms, and Fugaku agreed to act on his advice.
• Uchiha Fugaku told Senju Chen he was worried that Shisui, after joining Root, rarely returned to the clan and seemed too idealistic.
• Uchiha Fugaku thanked Senju Chen and left, promising to follow his advice.

Senju Chen tested ways to combine a Wood Release Clone, Earth Grudge Fear tendrils, and Tailed Beast cells after three attempts went berserk. His fourth experiment succeeded in stabilizing the clone, though its capabilities remained untested.

• Senju Chen’s first three clones went out of control when he added Tailed Beast cells, and he concluded that the fusion method—not simply the amount of cells—was the problem.
• Senju Chen reasoned that Earth Grudge Fear needed a heart as a vessel, so he implanted a sealed heart into a new Wood Release Clone before adding the tendrils.
• Senju Chen introduced treated Five-Tails cells last and used Wood Release chakra to suppress the conflict between the cells and the tendrils.
• The clone stopped trembling and its appearance returned to normal, leaving Senju Chen convinced that the experiment had succeeded.

Senju Chen successfully created a stable Wood Release Clone infused with a heart, Earth Grudge Fear tendrils, and Tailed Beast cells, then considered how to improve it. He left the clone in the training ground to test its endurance and planned a fifth experiment involving multiple hearts.

• Senju Chen tested the clone's enhanced Fire Release, Earth Grudge Fear tendrils, and controlled Tailed Beast Chakra Rasengan.
• Senju Chen returned to his room exhausted and recorded that the fourth experiment had succeeded, giving the clone three times the Chakra reserves of an ordinary Wood Release Clone.
• Senju Chen left the clone in the training ground to see how long it could withstand Tailed Beast cell erosion.
• Senju Chen wondered whether the clone could hold several hearts like Kakuzu and planned to prepare a fifth experiment with five hearts and different Chakra natures.
• Senju Chen went to sleep imagining an army of powerful clones.

Kakuzu oversaw the opening of Food Is Heaven's branch in the Land of Birds, where he and Azi killed a gang of thugs demanding protection money. The violent incident reassured customers that the restaurant had powerful backing, and business increased that evening.

• Kakuzu reviewed the Land of Birds branch's ledgers and reflected that Senju Chen was using Food Is Heaven to build an intelligence network.
• Food Is Heaven's Capital of Birds branch opened and drew merchants, travelers, and shinobi on its first day.
• A bald thug demanded five hundred thousand ryo a month in protection money from the manager.
• Kakuzu killed the bald thug and pulled out his heart, while Azi used his metal tail to kill the other thugs.
• The manager apologized to the customers and offered half-price meals, and rumors spread that the restaurant had powerful backing.
• Business at the branch increased that evening as more customers came to see the restaurant for themselves.

Senju Chen learned that Kakuzu had established Food Is Heaven’s reputation in the Land of Birds and continued testing a durable Wood Release Clone fused with tailed beast cells. Uchiha Fugaku then sought Senju Chen’s advice on a planned operation against the Black Wolf Group, leaving three days before the Uchiha set out.

• Kakuzu calculated Food Is Heaven’s profits and planned to infiltrate the black market and build an intelligence network.
• Senju Chen read Maruboshi Kosuke’s letter reporting the branch’s success and saw that his experimental clone had survived for a full day.
• Uchiha Fugaku told Senju Chen that the Uchiha had chosen the Black Wolf Group, which had attacked merchants and killed three Konoha genin, as their target.
• Senju Chen advised Uchiha Fugaku to publicize the operation by displaying the bandit leader’s head and arranging testimony from robbed merchants.
• Uchiha Fugaku accepted Senju Chen’s advice and said the Uchiha would leave to attack the Black Wolf Group in three days.

Uchiha Fugaku led twenty Uchiha to destroy the Black Wolf Group and kill its leader, avenging Konoha patrol members and robbed merchants. After returning to Konoha, the clan publicized its victory, and villagers praised the Uchiha as protectors.

• Uchiha Fugaku ordered twenty clan elites, including Uchiha Tekka, to attack the Black Wolf Group in the eastern Land of Fire.
• Uchiha Fugaku and the Uchiha fighters stormed the bandits’ stockade, where their Fire Release attacks killed many of the attackers.
• Uchiha Fugaku trapped Black Wolf with genjutsu and killed him, then ordered the remaining bandits eliminated.
• Uchiha Tekka took Black Wolf’s head, and Uchiha Fugaku told the clan to record the operation and make the villagers aware of their role.
• Two days later, villagers and merchants praised the Uchiha after Black Wolf’s head was displayed at Konoha’s entrance.
• Uchiha Fugaku credited Chen-kun’s advice for easing doubts about the clan and led the Uchiha back to their compound.

Danzo grew suspicious of the Uchiha Clan’s rising influence and ordered Shisui Uchiha to monitor them, threatening to replace him if he refused. Senju Chen reassured Uchiha Fugaku that Rin Nohara was being cared for, then listened as Shisui asked whether the Uchiha Clan’s current course was right.

• A Root ninja reported to Danzo that Uchiha Fugaku and twenty Uchiha had defeated the Black Wolf Group without casualties and won public praise.
• Danzo concluded that the Uchiha Clan was building public loyalty and ordered Shisui Uchiha to investigate its intentions.
• Danzo learned that Shisui had resisted Root’s missions and warned that he would be replaced if he refused the order.
• Uchiha Fugaku read Senju Chen’s warning about the attention the clan’s rising reputation would attract, but resolved to continue its path.
• Shisui Uchiha visited Senju Chen, asked about Rin Nohara, and then asked whether the Uchiha Clan’s actions were right.

Shisui Uchiha asked Senju Chen how to handle being caught between the Uchiha Clan and Root, which was monitoring the clan for Danzo. Senju Chen advised Shisui to tell Minato everything, and Shisui left resolved to do so.

• Shisui Uchiha told Senju Chen that he feared the clan's efforts to integrate into Konoha would provoke Danzo and asked what he should do.
• Senju Chen argued that Danzo wanted Shisui to find evidence to justify moving against the Uchiha Clan.
• Shisui defended Root's work and admitted he trusted both his clan and Danzo, leaving him unable to choose between them.
• Senju Chen advised Shisui to tell Minato Namikaze everything and ask him to mediate, reminding Shisui that Root served Konoha, not Danzo personally.
• Shisui accepted the advice and left, while Senju Chen expected Danzo would force him out of Root and Minato would protect him.

Senju Chen tested the Earth Grudge Fear Wood Release Clone he had developed after two months of experiments, finding it could wield five elemental affinities and powerful close-combat techniques. After the clone collapsed from chakra instability, he decided to visit Teacher Orochimaru for more hearts and Tailed Beast cells, offering his research results in exchange.

• Senju Chen revealed his clone, which combined five hearts, Earth Grudge Fear, Wood Release cells, and Tailed Beast cells.
• Senju Chen and the clone fought, demonstrating the clone’s five-element ninjutsu, Flying Thunder God, Tailed Beast-enhanced taijutsu, Wood Release, and Rasengan.
• After about an hour of intense combat, Senju Chen noticed cracks forming across the clone as chakra leaked from its body.
• The clone collapsed into withered wood and black tendrils, and Senju Chen concluded that he needed to resolve the incompatibility between its components to extend its lifespan.
• Senju Chen realized his hearts and Tailed Beast cells were nearly depleted and decided to visit Teacher Orochimaru, bringing his research results in exchange for more experimental materials.