"Three wild boars, five hundred meters ahead on the right—let's go!"
It didn't take long for Ren Takashi to lock onto the targets using his powerful sensory perception.
He signaled to Minato and Shikaku, and the three sprang into action.
"Shikaku, use your Shadow Imitation Jutsu to bind and trip them! Minato, you're with me—take them down!"
Under Ren's crisp command, the trio coordinated perfectly. Within seconds, all three boars were down.
Each of them slung one over their shoulder and started heading back.
On the way, they also hunted two pheasants and five rabbits.
Only then did they return to the secret training ground.
"Whoa! That many in just ten minutes?"
Choza and Inoichi looked astonished as they saw the game pile up.
"Haha, it was mostly thanks to Ren," Shikaku said with a grin as he dropped his load. "His sensory range is insane. He can find prey without even trying!"
"Seriously!" Minato nodded in agreement.
He now understood why hunting had always felt so hard for him.
Over the past year, he'd tried to save money by hunting or fishing near the village outskirts. But most of the time, he came back empty-handed.
With Ren, it was like… shopping at the forest's meat market.
"If I had this kind of ability back then, life would've been a lot easier."
"Alright! Let me show you all what I've been working on lately—today, you eat like kings."
Without missing a beat, Ren unsheathed his sword and began expertly butchering one of the boars along with the rabbits and birds. Each was cleaned, sectioned, and sorted with practiced hands. Then he fired up a stove and began cooking.
"…Wait, swordsmanship can be used like that?"
"And those knife skills—Ren, how long have you been training to cook like this?" Shikaku stared in awe.
"It's only been a few months," Ren said casually. "I watched my mom cook, followed her around, and experimented a bit on my own."
"How's it look? Convincing enough?"
Of course, the whole idea behind this picnic was to show off his cooking. It was the perfect way to introduce the next stage of his personal plan.
"'Convincing' doesn't even begin to cover it," Shikaku muttered, wide-eyed. "This is better than my mom's—and she's a great cook. Heck, even better than the chef at Choza's family BBQ restaurant!"
"And the smell… wow."
Choza, nearly drooling, nodded rapidly. "The aroma is already on par with our family's best dishes. Ren, when can we eat?"
"Soon, soon." Ren chuckled as he stirred the pot.
Over the next thirty minutes, the group watched as Ren masterfully whipped up over ten dishes, placing them on a large wooden table he'd crafted days earlier.
"All done! Let's eat!"
At his signal, everyone dove in.
"We won't hold back, then! Let's dig in!"
The moment they took their first bite, the group froze—eyes wide, mouths full.
Then, one by one, they turned to Ren with looks of absolute reverence and raised their thumbs in unison.
"Ren, this is amazing!"
"It smells incredible—but it tastes even better!"
"These flavors… I've never eaten anything like this before!"
"This is divine! You're a reincarnated chef!"
"Unreal…!"
Their praise poured in nonstop, and Ren couldn't help grinning from ear to ear.
Sure, he had other motives. But genuine compliments like this still made him feel warm inside.
He hadn't spent all that time in his past life mastering the Eight Great Cuisines of Huaxia for nothing.
Now that knowledge was finally paying off.
Yes, the ninja world had some decent food, but compared to his previous life?
Amateurs.
"Ren, I'm telling you—you could open a restaurant and absolutely kill it," Shikaku said between bites.
Ren's eyes sparkled. That was exactly the topic he'd been hoping to bring up.
He'd been considering how to float the idea and draw them into a joint venture—this little lunch was step one.
And now? Shikaku had served it up perfectly.
The first phase of his Uchiha Benefit Alliance plan—locked in.
Minato didn't need convincing, but if he could pull Shikaku and the others in, their families would be tangled in this business too.
Once the restaurant made serious money, deeper investments would follow naturally.
"Yeah, yeah! Totally agree," Choza nodded, mouth full. "If you open a place, I'd eat there every day!"
"Get real." Inoichi gave Choza a side-eye. "Ren's only five. He's not about to become a full-time chef."
"He still needs to train and grow stronger. If he's stuck behind a stove, who's going to teach us?"
"…Right." Choza slumped a little, disappointed. "Didn't think of that…"
"Pfft, who says he has to cook everything himself?" Shikaku chimed in again. "Ren, these dishes are all your creations, right?"
"You could write a recipe book, train a few reliable chefs, and let them run the place."
"You don't need to manage everything yourself."
"That way, you focus on training. The shop makes money. Win-win."
"Wait… that's genius!" Choza's eyes lit up. "Ren, what do you think?"
"…Well, that's not a bad idea." Ren paused, stroking his chin as if deep in thought. Then he glanced around at them. "The recipes and chef training? I can handle that."
"To keep things exclusive, I can even create signature spice blends—secret ingredients only I can make."
"But I can't run a restaurant alone."
"You guys brought it up. So… how about we start this together?"
"Everyone contributes—money, manpower, connections, whatever you've got."
"We open this shop as a team."
"If we succeed, everyone profits. No more worrying about money. What do you think?"
The group blinked.
None of them had expected Ren to flip the suggestion back onto them so smoothly.