A Shameless Master and Disciple Take Advantage of Everyone

"Wood Release: Great Tree Technique."

"Ice Release: Shattering Ice Technique."

Two children were fighting in an open field. One had a square face, big eyes, and black-and-white hair; the other had a tapered face, small eyes, and black hair and eyes. They were battling with ninjutsu.

They were Koichi and Heiwasan.

Orochimaru had sold the Wood Release user to Danzo for an outrageous price.

Danzo was hoping for more children like him, so he named him Koichi, meaning he was the first, and there would be more to come.

What he didn't know was that after discovering Heiwasan's cells could neutralize Hashirama Cells' invasive properties, Orochimaru had taken the money and gone off to research immortality. He had no intention of following Danzo's plans.

A withered sapling shot up in the field, rapidly growing as it reached for Heiwasan.

Heiwasan's Intelligence Clone yawned in boredom, then casually spat out a little ice and shattered it.

The Shattering Ice Technique was a variation of the Water Arrow Technique. By increasing the amount of Chakra and flattening a water sphere before turning it to ice, it became several shards of ice. Hence the name.

Danzo stood nearby, frowning as he watched Heiwasan, whose Chakra reserves were practically bottomless, easily torment Koichi, who hadn't even reached Genin level.

Danzo sighed softly, though he wasn't too displeased.

After all, Heiwasan had set the bar high. Once Koichi grew up, he wouldn't be bad either. He was only six or seven, after all.

Danzo was wrong again. Koichi was actually already ten. During wartime, children were malnourished, and he was only a little over 130 centimeters tall. His thin, wrinkled appearance naturally made him look younger.

Danzo sighed and said, "Heiwasan, Koichi will be your direct subordinate from now on. Make sure you get along."

Perhaps deep down, Danzo really did consider Heiwasan, the Cyborg who looked almost exactly like him, his own child.

Heiwasan sighed softly and thought, Having someone follow me around is fine. At least it'll be a little safer.

To make Heiwasan's reputation grow, Ōnoki not only widely publicized Roshi's defeat, but gave Heiwasan a new name: Peerless of the West!

He'd even put a ten-million bounty on him in the underworld.

As for why people said he was behind it, that was simple: the Sand Ninja were so broke they could barely afford to keep their pants on.

There was an unwritten rule in the underworld: whoever posted a bounty had to pay half the reward up front. The Sand Ninja couldn't afford it.

After Heiwasan's Intelligence Clone had finished training his underling, he went to the Hokage Building to see Orochimaru.

Heiwasan had witnessed Third Hokage, that wily old fox, strip Orochimaru of his position as commander with nothing more than a sleeve from his Hokage robe and a few kind words.

He'd called it a reward for his great service, promoting him to Hokage Advisor.

Ha. How naïve! The Third Hokage had done the same thing to Hatake Sakumo back then. But that old fox had miscalculated. Orochimaru wasn't interested in the army—he was interested in money.

Orochimaru wasn't Hatake Sakumo, though. He and Danzo were both men of action, unlike the naïve Hatake Sakumo.

These days, Orochimaru spent all his time at the mission desk. Wasn't it better to skim money off Genin by handing out missions? He could use the money to buy equipment and materials. What could be better?

Unlike Hatake Sakumo, who'd foolishly gone off to train the Anbu. He'd worked himself to the bone and had nothing to show for it, until Danzo and Sarutobi Hiruzen joined forces to drive him to his death.

When Heiwasan arrived, Orochimaru was haggling with an envoy from a small country's Daimyo.

Heiwasan had inherited Orochimaru and Danzo's nature completely. He was a man of action through and through, and didn't care about saving face.

The envoy stared at the kid baring his teeth and threatening to walk away unless they paid more, a question mark slowly forming over his head.

But after his attendant explained that the child was none other than Shimura Unrivaled, who had drowned the Rock Ninja and buried the Sand Ninja in snow, he immediately agreed to pay more.

(Motherf—ing black-hearted merchants. The bigger the shop, the more they bullied their customers!)

The shameless master and disciple had managed to charge an A-rank price for a B-rank canal-digging mission.

They even had the nerve to say they were doing it out of respect for years of cooperation; otherwise, they wouldn't take a mission during wartime.

When the envoy left, red-faced, Orochimaru secretly changed the mission scroll back to B-rank.

The one handling the records was Yamanaka Fu, one of Danzo's die-hard followers. When he saw that it was Heiwasan and his master, he shook his head and pretended not to see them.

While Sarutobi Hiruzen was busy with the war every day, the master and disciple spent their days making money and their nights experimenting.

Days passed like that, until a major turn of events came at the front.

That day, Heiwasan was busy ripping people off with Orochimaru when his expression suddenly changed. He nodded to Orochimaru, then vanished with a puff of smoke.

The person who'd come to post a mission jumped in fright. Orochimaru quickly exaggerated the danger at the front and managed to squeeze more mission money out of him.

By the time Heiwasan was summoned by his original body, the entire camp was already ablaze with battle.

Heiwasan guessed to himself, Looks like Madara Uchiha and Black Zetsu found their candidate. They don't need me here anymore.

Dense fog surrounded them, so thick he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. He sensed faint traces of Chakra within it.

Heiwasan's Speed Clone rapidly formed Hand Seals. "Ninja Art: Snake Illusion Body!"

Then he stood behind them and watched the situation unfold.

The Strength Clone took a scroll from his body and tossed it to Hyuga Go. Hyuga Go opened it.

Inside were snake venom and an antidote, carefully prepared by Orochimaru.

The Strength Clone then stood on Heiwasan's left with Peerless of the West in hand, while Hyuga Go took his right. Everyone else had scattered, thrown into chaos.

Heiwasan and his Intelligence Clone swiftly formed Hand Seals, then shouted, "Ice Release: Blizzard!"

The ninjas nearby rushed toward Heiwasan as soon as they heard him.

Snow began to swirl through the sky. The fog was battered by the snow and soon began to lift.

The Mist Ninja had already broken into the camp. At their center was a man with long, windblown black hair and a pair of pure-blue eyes sparkling like stars.

He wore the Rain God Armor, a Mizukage hat on his head, and a strangely shaped sword at his waist.

It was the Third Mizukage. The man who kept his eyes closed all the time had actually opened them and led the charge in person. It was unbelievable.

Torifu Akimichi and the lunatic from the Kaguya clan clashed once more.

Kurama Chōjō was facing off against Shark Mouth again, one hand pressed to his stomach.

Jiraiya was fighting two opponents at once: Jūzō Biwa and Suikazan Fuguki.

Minato Namikaze was out on patrol and wasn't there that day. The Ino-Shika-Cho squad was being held up by Ao and his subordinates.

Hyuga Kyuya wasn't far from Heiwasan, but three men armed with bone blades were eyeing him warily.

The Speed Clone carefully surveyed the scene. The entire camp was surrounded, and he had no idea what had happened to the patrol squads outside.

How had they been surrounded without anyone sounding the alarm? Had Minato Namikaze been killed?

At this rate, they could all be wiped out.

Then the Third Mizukage spoke from across the battlefield. "Not a bad technique. You truly deserve the name Shimura Unrivaled, the Ice-Cold.

"Would you be interested in joining the Mist Ninja? Your talents would be best put to use here."

Their side's strongest fighters were all tied up, while the Third Mizukage didn't even have an opponent.

Facing the Third Mizukage directly, Heiwasan thought bitterly, I'm just a baby. Why are you picking on me?