Practice

It wouldn't be too late to do those things after he had digested the knowledge he would learn at the Puppet Force, including the Black Secret Technique.

Besides, Shimizu also wanted his incarnation to acquire some modern engineering knowledge over in Gotham and integrate it into Puppet Technique.

For now, Shimizu planned to first master the Mind Divided in Two technique from the Black Secret Technique.

A Puppeteer's weakness in close combat was relative. For one thing, most of their methods lay in their puppets. For another, when controlling puppets, a considerable portion of their attention was focused on the puppets, causing them to neglect their own protection.

Therefore, ninjas like the Konoha White Fang, with overwhelmingly strong close-combat abilities, incredible speed, immense impact, and the ability to burst up to a Puppeteer in a short time, were the greatest counter to Puppeteers.

Mastering the ability to multitask and directing an additional portion of one's attention back to oneself was one way to avoid this situation.

There were other methods as well.

For example, one could be like Chiyo and enhance one's own speed until enemies found it difficult to catch up.

Or one could be like Sasori and turn oneself into a puppet.

But those options were too far beyond Shimizu's reach.

Besides, he preferred to encase himself within a puppet.

That way, he could combine the advantages of both approaches.

"I understand it well enough, but theory is theory. Putting it into practice really isn't easy."

In the workroom at home, the previous notes had been placed on the table. Shimizu spread out both hands, using his left hand to control Fatty and his right hand to control Tom.

There was also a lone Little Boy puppet by his feet.

Little Boy's puppet rank was relatively high, making him harder to control, so he was unsuitable for early practice.

The two puppets began moving clumsily, spreading their legs and staggering through the room.

"My Chakra Threads still aren't condensed enough. Controlling one puppet used to be easy because even if one thread made a mistake or deviated, another could correct it. But now, I have to make one Chakra Thread achieve what two used to do!"

Before long, a few beads of sweat appeared on Shimizu's forehead.

If it took ten ropes to pull up a stone, then after the number of ropes was cut in half, the remaining five would have to be thickened or replaced with stronger material in order to bear the stone's weight.

Shimizu's current weakness was that his "ropes" were too thin. His Chakra Threads were not solid enough, and his technique could only barely be considered passable.

In this state, controlling two puppets in battle would not even be as effective as controlling one puppet had been before. He might not even be able to fight at all.

Crash!

Fatty was tripped by Tom's foot and fell flat onto the floor.

Shimizu helplessly covered his forehead and turned his gaze toward the System Panel.

Why can't you add points for me like Deep Blue?

Nothing for it. He would just have to keep practicing.

Gotham City.

In a dark alley.

Crack!

Shimizu personally snapped the neck of a mob boss who had just emerged from a Nightclub, then quickly searched him.

This was the most suitable prey he had found after choosing for a day.

Two days had passed since he escaped Arkham Island.

Relying on Transformation Jutsu and the intelligence-gathering methods he had mastered as a ninja, Shimizu had already obtained some of the information he needed and could begin the next stage of his plan.

The first step was to get money and materials, then find somewhere to live and make a puppet with a certain degree of combat power.

The DC World was a dangerous world filled with high-powered beings, and Gotham was especially known for its simple, honest folk. Who knew? One day, you might head out to watch an opera and get shot in an alley on your way home.

Without sufficiently powerful force to protect himself, anything he wanted to do would be difficult.

"Four thousand dollars. A little less than I expected, but it'll do. More importantly, there's this key ring."

Shimizu tossed the key ring in his hand, then stripped the gun holster from the mob boss's waist.

At the moment, he was dressed as a sexy urban beauty.

It was not cross-dressing. He had infiltrated the Nightclub with Transformation Jutsu and replaced its top hostess. This boss had originally planned to take her home for the night.

When they passed through this alley, Shimizu made his move, leading to the current situation.

He formed Hand Seals with both hands and activated Transformation Jutsu once more.

White smoke rose. In an instant, Shimizu transformed into the mob boss. After coughing twice, he opened his throat and made a few sounds, then cursed Batman a few times. Only after deciding his voice was fairly close to the original owner's did Shimizu leave the alley, get into the car, and take out the key ring.

After trying several times, he quickly started the car.

He had gotten a driver's license in his previous life. Although the cars here were somewhat different from those in his old world, Shimizu got the hang of it quickly.

Ten minutes later.

Outside a bar, Shimizu turned off the engine, parked, and stepped out of the car.

"Boss!"

The two suited guards at the entrance saw Shimizu and proactively lowered their heads as they opened the door.

This large bar was one of the Black Boss's businesses.

"Mm."

Imitating the original owner's habitual movements that he had observed over the past two days, Shimizu strode into the bar with an arrogant gait.

He first ordered a bottle of champagne as usual, flirted with a waitress, then laughed loudly as he headed upstairs.

"The office should be this one."

Shimizu tried the keys on each room one by one until he finally found his target.

"That guy got drunk and let it slip. The bar's earnings and all his personal savings are kept in this office."

Shimizu swept his gaze around, then began searching the room.

There were six thousand dollars and two spare magazines in the drawer.

There was women's underwear in the cabinet.

There was an old discarded key in the corner.

He pushed aside the bookshelf but found no hidden mechanism.

It was not until he moved the desk that Shimizu noticed there was very little dust beneath it.

"Unless it was cleaned recently, then..."

Shimizu slipped his fingers into the gap between the floor tiles. With a slight effort, he pried up one of the tiles.

There was a safe inside.

He tried the key ring again and successfully opened the safe.

Neatly arranged gold bars lay atop stacks of crisp green dollar bills.

Five rows and six columns—thirty gold bars.

Picking up one and weighing it in his hand, Shimizu silently estimated its weight before checking the dollar bills as well.

Every gold bar should be the same size and weight. Each weighed one hundred grams, meaning the gold alone was worth around two hundred thousand dollars.

There were thirty stacks of bills, each stack containing exactly ten thousand dollars.

That made a total of five hundred thousand dollars. It was a considerable fortune.

After all, he was merely the boss of a small gang.

There were countless low-level gangs like this throughout Gotham. Getting five hundred thousand dollars out of one was already quite good.

This money was enough to buy a house in most areas of Gotham outside the city center, with plenty left over.