One Month Later
Land of Waterfall
"Itachi Uchiha, Acting Captain of the Konoha Police Department
Kekkei Genkai: Three-tomoe Sharingan
Bounty: 325 million ryō"
Itachi looked at the two people blocking his path while one of them seriously read from the Bingo Book.
Both of them wore strange black robes decorated with red clouds. Their fingernails were painted, and their ninja headbands were scratched—clear marks of missing-nin.
One of them wore a Takigakure headband. A mask covered most of his face, and his entire body was covered in visible stitching marks.
The other wore an Iwagakure headband. He was tall and muscular, carrying a thick metal rod on his shoulder.
Itachi instantly recognized them.
One was Kakuzu—the rogue ninja who once dared to assassinate the First Hokage, a rebel from Takigakure.
The other was Ishikawa Genzō—an S-rank missing-nin with the Kekkei Genkai Cement Release, possessing elite jōnin to Kage-level strength.
"So," Itachi said calmly, "you want to kill me for the bounty?"
"Indeed," Kakuzu replied. "Especially your Sharingan. It alone accounts for 150 million ryō."
He then turned slightly toward Genzō.
"Hey, newbie. This is your first mission since joining the organization. Do you want my help, or can you handle it on your own?"
Hearing this, Genzō—who had been somewhat hesitant to fight Itachi—became angered and resolute.
"No need," he said coldly. "I can handle a brat like him myself."
Kakuzu nodded in satisfaction.
For him, fighting or not made little difference. If he could make money while watching a show, even better. This way, he could test Genzō's strength—if Genzō won, good; if he lost, Kakuzu could claim two bounties.
Either way, it was a win-win.
"Uchiha brat," Kakuzu said lazily, "make this entertaining. Don't die too easily."
Seeing that the two of them were not teaming up, Itachi sighed in relief. Fighting both at the same time would have been difficult even for him.
Cement Style: Viscous Living Field Technique
Without giving Itachi any time to think, Genzō formed hand seals and spat out a massive wave of liquid cement toward him.
Earth Style: Earth Wall Technique
A thick earthen wall rose in front of Itachi. Strangely, when the wave of liquid cement collided with it, the wall didn't break. Instead, the cement coated it completely and continued flowing in all directions.
Earth Style: Earth Pillar Technique
Seeing the failure of his first defense, Itachi performed another jutsu. A pillar of earth rose from below, lifting him above the spreading cement.
Cement Style: Cement Assault Chains
BOOM
Suddenly, from the cement lake below, multiple columns of cement erupted upward, trapping Itachi within them.
Cement Style: Complete Hardening Technique
In the next moment, all the cement above ground solidified, trapping Itachi under immense pressure with no air to breathe.
Boom
The next instant, Itachi burst into smoke.
"Shadow clone?" Genzō muttered.
Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique
A massive fireball, as large as a two-story building, smashed toward Genzō from behind.
Cement Style: Cement Wall Technique
A liquid cement wall rose instantly. The fireball collided with it—but instead of breaking through, the flames were absorbed.
In the next moment, the liquid cement hardened into solid stone.
With the cement wall as the centre the nearby cement floor also hardened finally giving Itachi a good landing spot.
Itachi landed on the hardened cement ground, though he could feel it would quickly turn liquid again. He sensed Genzō's chakra spread throughout the entire ground.
Because of this, he couldn't stand on the liquid cement the way one would stand on water—he would immediately sink into it.
Itachi also noticed that upon contact with Fire Style chakra, the cement instantly hardened. This meant he couldn't use Fire Style against it, as the attack wouldn't disperse or destroy the cement instead the attack would solidify and the solid attack would land on him with much greater force.
Cement Style: Cement Steel Armor
"Haaah, take this!"
The next moment, Genzō—now covered in thick armor—smashed his iron rod toward Itachi. Itachi drew the katana he had used before and met Genzō's strike head-on.
BOOM
Itachi was pushed back several steps, but Genzō didn't give him time to stabilize.
"Take this, this, this, this!
Die, die, die, die!"
Itachi was forced back repeatedly, and just then, an accident happened. The solid cement beneath him suddenly turned into liquid.
Both of Itachi's legs sank into the cement, trapping him in place.
"DIEEE!"
BOOM
CHIIIRRREEEEEE
The iron rod slammed into Itachi's face—but instead of blood, his body burst into smoke.
It was another Shadow Clone.
In the next moment, Itachi appeared behind Genzō and pierced his heart with Chidori.
"Hehehe, caught you."
Strangely, Genzō showed no pain, despair, or fear. The next moment, Itachi felt his hand being locked in place. He looked down and saw that the hole in Genzō's chest was already filled with hardened cement.
Cement Release: Brittle Shrapnel Rampage
"DIEEE!"
A voice came from above. Itachi looked up and saw Genzō falling toward him, smashing his iron rod downward.
Itachi tried to retreat, but the Genzō he had pierced suddenly turned into cement. Starting from Itachi's hand, the cement spread over his entire body and hardened, trapping him.
BOOM
Genzō fell from the sky—but instead of smashing Itachi, he struck the hardened cement floor below.
In the next instant, with Genzō at the center, multiple massive hardened cement cones erupted from the ground, piercing everything within dozens of meters.
Itachi was shredded into pieces.
"Haah… haah… finally dead," Genzō said, panting.
" You are indeed a prodigy comparable to Kakashi Hatake. But unfortunately, you were too young. If this were a few years later, I might have run upon encountering you.
This is my perfect victory. That's right… I wi—"
"Idiot"
Hearing this, Genzō—who was in the middle of his victory speech—felt anger surge through him. The next moment, a sword infused with Lightning chakra pierced through his heart.
Genzō's body turned into cement and dissolved into the ground below.
At the same time, the shredded Itachi also turned into mud.
Clearly, the Itachi who had died earlier was an Earth Clone.
"Huff… huff… it was only because of Kakuzu's reminder, or I would have been dead," Genzō muttered.
"Ahhhhh… I will kill you!"
Having narrowly escaped death, Genzō was furious.
He knew his chakra was almost depleted, while Itachi hadn't used much. A battle of attrition was impossible—he had to end it in his next move. However, he couldn't locate Itachi, nor could he tell whether the next one he killed would be a clone or the real body.
Cement Style: Cement Rise Technique
A narrow block of cement rose, lifting Genzō tens of meters into the air. He then formed a total of thirty-nine hand seals, clapped his hands together, and took a deep breath.
Cement Style: Great Cement Transmutation Wave
The next moment, Genzō spat out liquid cement like before—but this was on an entirely different scale. It was tens of times larger than his previous techniques.
In mere moments, a tsunami of liquid cement erupted outward from Genzō as the center, spreading in all directions.
Wherever it passed, everything was submerged in liquid cement, which quickly hardened. Within moments, the surrounding plains turned into a cement wasteland.
"Huff… huff… did I get him this time?"
CRACK
CRACK
Just as Genzō held onto hope, cracking sounds echoed from two directions.
BOOM
Genzō looked toward the sound and saw the cement-covered ground explode apart, traces of Earth Style and Lightning Style chakra still lingering in the air.
Within seconds, Itachi emerged from the debris and calmly walked toward him.
"How did you figure it out?" Genzō asked while panting heavily, not even able to stand.
Itachi didn't stop moving as he replied.
"When I pierced your heart with my Chidori, you couldn't seal my hand immediately. You only managed to do so after I withdrew the Lightning chakra.
When I inserted my blade in your body, I filled your body with Lightning chakra, you immediately lost control over your body and were forced to dissolve into liquid cement unlike before when could still control and harden the cement and trap me.
That means your Cement Bloodline Limit is weak to Lightning chakra. The rest should be obvious.
Well then… goodbye."
Itachi drew his sword, preparing to pierce Genzō.
Genzō stared at the approaching blade with unwillingness—yet in the next moment, he felt something pierce his body.
"This… this isn't a sword wound…"
Genzō looked down and saw a hand connected to black threads piercing through his body, emerging from the other side—and then stabbing straight through Itachi's heart.
He saw the hatred and unwillingness in Itachi's eyes, and suddenly felt that whatever Kakuzu did was, in the end, the best choice.
To die alongside such a prodigy could also be considered a fitting end.
The next moment, both Itachi and Genzō collapsed to the ground—clearly dead.
Kakuzu then emerged from the shadows. From one of his arms, countless black threads connected to the hand that had pierced Itachi.
"Heh," Kakuzu said coldly.
"At the end of the day, you're still just a brat. Don't you know villains die because they talk too much?"
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