The chapter opens with a description of the physical strength of the human race. The reader is told that the world is "rotten with tough" and that there are "senses of duty" and "craftiness" . The world is full of "physical strength and skill" , but the reader is also told that "there's sense of duty, craftiness, and of of of tit of off or of total immunity to pangs of conscience, pure evil." The reader also learns that the gods have once bitten an enemy man to death in order to protect his master. The protagonist asks what kind of strength this man has, and the protagonist answers that he has seen the crest in the protagonist's eyes before. He also tells the protagonist that the crest belongs to a man named Ishidaitsunari, who is the lord of the province of Owasso. Isi says that if the protagonist does not get off his tail, he is going to have "more problems than he needs." The protagonist says that he cannot be killed right now, and that he is more able than he thought he would be. He tells Isi that if he wants to kill him, he must be "out of your mind," because he will never cut the string of the kendama .