Hiding in the sand, splitting into many places, starting with Arkham

“Bang!”

White smoke billowed out, and Shimizu swiftly transformed into a different appearance.

A square face, sharply angled eyebrows, and a high forehead marked the features of a Caucasian male.

If he were to don a suit and sunglasses, he would embody the classic image of a suited thug.

This face was that of Keanu Reeves.

Shimizu had considered morphing into figures like David Beckham or Leonardo DiCaprio, but unfortunately, a Beckham already existed in this world, with over a decade of fame, currently playing for a Major League Soccer club in the United States.

DiCaprio, on the other hand, was absent, but his level of attractiveness bordered on earth-shattering handsomeness, far too ostentatious.

Someone with ordinary good looks, like Keanu Reeves, would suffice, and his temperament was more fitting for Gotham.

Penguin was startled by Shimizu's commotion, almost thinking Shimizu was about to attack.

Even after recovering, one hand remained on the handle of his high-tech umbrella, his small eyes fixed on Shimizu.

“An amazing ability! I didn't expect you to have such a talent, besides Clayface.”

Clayface, whose real name was Basil Karlo, had undergone a mutation due to exposure to toxic radioactive industrial waste, causing his body to transform into a clay-like substance.

He could morph into any shape of weapon, soft enough to penetrate any object, hard enough to be as solid as a rock, and even transform into anyone, simulating even their genes, because Clayface himself had become different from any carbon-based life form, lacking genes altogether.

This was an even more powerful transformation ability than a simple shapeshift.

“Use this face to create an identity for me.”

“I understand. Then I'll need you to take a photo for your ID and measure your height, so that it matches the information on the document. It will be delivered in a day to… um, where do you live now?”

“I’ll come back to pick it up in a day.”

… …

… …

Three days later.

Having obtained a new identity, Shimizu also acquired a house and a box of books.

Buying the house wasn't for speculation, but because Shimizu wanted to create puppets in peace.

The activity would be a bit noisy, and renting a place wouldn't be convenient.

At least, landlords certainly wouldn't want Shimizu to convert an entire floor into a puppet-making workshop.

Only with an identity could he buy high-value real estate like a house.

The location didn't need to be too good, because that would cost too much money.

Fortunately, Gotham wasn't a metropolis.

Although it was based on New York as an international metropolis, the house prices in metropolises were much higher than in Gotham.

After all, there you could usually see the sun, and there was Superman, so the crime rate was much lower than in Gotham.

Even so, the house Shimizu bought was in a location where the price of housing was not cheap, averaging over six thousand US dollars per square meter—that's equivalent to thirty to forty thousand RMB per square meter.

So Shimizu did another job, borrowed some money from another gang leader, and then paid a high fee of fifty percent to launder the money at Penguin's place.

After buying this seventy-square-meter house and buying the remaining materials and tools needed to make puppets, Shimizu had less than twenty thousand US dollars left.

Given the cost of living in Gotham, as long as he didn't overspend, this money would be enough to last him a year and a half.

“No doubt, I'll learn and build puppets at the same time!”

Shimizu picked up a book titled “Microcontrollers and CNC Electronics” and began to study it.

… …

… …

After finishing his work, Shimizu's incarnation in the Gotham world lived a relatively leisurely life.

Every day he either studied books and learned online, or made puppets.

Meanwhile, Shimizu's main body in the Naruto world was extremely busy.

The Sixth Squad of the Puppet Brigade was not normally this busy.

But now was not a normal time, but a time of war.

Shimizu had just withdrawn from the battlefield of the Ninja World War!

Shimizu's team usually only had one task, and that was to process the puppets recovered from the front lines of the battlefield.

Those that could still be used would be repaired, and those that couldn't be used would have the usable parts removed and used again.

There was indeed some profit to be made in this process. After all, whether a puppet was good or bad, which parts were usable and which parts were not, were all subjective judgments.

If corruption was caught, the consequences would be severe, and Ebizo used management methods to avoid this phenomenon as much as possible.

The same batch of puppets would be repeatedly reviewed by teams from three random puppet brigades.

If a problem was found, the captain would investigate.

If the investigation didn't reveal anything, then the Anbu would be dispatched to continue the investigation.

To be able to embezzle, one would definitely need someone with connections to manipulate things.

But those people were all Jonin. Putting aside whether they would even consider it, at least these low-level puppets would not be handled by them, nor would they have the opportunity to handle them.

Perhaps there really was room for manipulation, but Shimizu was unwilling to risk losing his bright future to obtain this little bit of profit.

However, the reward was still generous.

At least it was more than the reward he used to get as an ordinary ninja performing missions, and there was not much danger.

Moreover, these puppets were sent back in batches, so if he processed them quickly, there would still be some rest time in between.

“Phew… this batch of puppets is finally finished.”

In the Puppet Brigade's base, Shimizu sprawled on the sofa without any pretense.

Miyuki lay on the other end of the sofa.

And Sasori, after finishing his work, was still sitting at his workbench, busy with something.

“Hey, I say Sasori, kids need to rest more, otherwise it will affect their development!”

Seeing Sasori still working hard, Shimizu immediately wanted to induce Sasori to join them.

“If you continue like this, next time you fight me, you will lose, and then there will be no next time.”

Sasori continued to work, making puppet parts according to the contents of the notes he had previously received from Ishito.

“Tsk, don't say that! I'm usually very diligent! It's just that I haven't been focusing on puppet making recently.”

Shimizu waved his hand and said.

Shimizu's incarnation in the Gotham world had been studying very hard recently, trying to integrate modern engineering into puppetry.

Shimizu's main body had also been using the extra effort outside of work to practice the Black Secret Technique.

After all, his puppet control technique was probably the lowest in this team. Among the only two Genin, Sasori's puppet control level was half a step higher than his own.

After resting for about ten minutes, Shimizu, feeling uneasy from being spurred on by Sasori, jumped up from the sofa in a somersault.

“Forget it, I'll train too.”

Shimizu ejected ten chakra threads from his hands, connecting them to Fatty and Tom, and began to practice the Black Secret Technique.

“Tsk, aren't you a kid too? Why are you all so hardworking! Aren't you really afraid of not growing taller if you don't get enough rest!”

Seeing this scene, Miyuki also started working hard.

Otherwise, if the other two were busy and she was just lounging around, she would feel out of place.