The predecessor of the Hog Union, the Cole Gang, only had that second-hand motorcycle shop and a few stores for laundering money, which could handle about twenty to thirty thousand dollars a month.
This matched the Cole Gang's income level.
But Simmons Spalletta was an ambitious man. Bars, with their large cash flow and difficulty to trace, are a traditional money laundering method—second only to casinos and nightclubs.
The freight company serves as a high-quality intermediary for laundering money, suitable for moving luxury goods of dubious origin.
More advanced methods are beyond the reach of ordinary gangs.
For example: casinos, or manipulating real estate by buying low and selling high, luxury goods trading, and fake box office receipts for movies.
The only person in Gotham who has dabbled in all these money laundering methods, grown big, and stayed safe is the Penguin. Money laundered through him is as clean as it gets.
With the freight company, bars, and the newly acquired blocks and neighborhood businesses, it's enough to launder most of that million dollars.
As for the rest, leave it to the Penguin.
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"Very good. Although your pursuit was a bit slow, at least you eliminated the rogue ninja within the timeframe I set. Your current issue lies in intelligence gathering and environmental awareness."
In an izakaya in a small town on the eastern side of the Land of Wind, Kazekami Chiran took a sip of sake and offered guidance to the three sitting across from him:
"Generally speaking, the best intelligence-gathering abilities in the ninja world come from kekkei genkai, like Konoha's Byakugan. But we in Sunagakure don't have such bloodlines, so we have to compensate with ninjutsu."
"Maki, the village has an Earth Release technique for sensing vibrations through the ground using chakra. You can also actively send low-frequency tremors through Earth Release to detect distant moving objects and chakra signatures. This suits you well."
"There's also a Wind Sensing technique, developed by the Second Kazekage, similar in principle to the Earth Sensing technique. It allows you to sense chakra in a small area by detecting air currents, or you can actively use Wind Release for sensing. The downside is that using it actively makes you easy to detect, and it's easily disrupted by certain jutsu."
"All three of you have wind-nature chakra, so you can try learning it. But for Hardy and Yekura, I'd still recommend making a contract with a summoning beast that has some sensory abilities—especially you, Hardy. Although your special puppet can protect you in close combat, if your summoning beast also has some close-combat ability, it would be a great supplement."
The three of them sat on the sofa opposite, taking notes on Kazekami Chiran's advice.
It had been a month since they'd been assigned to this squad.
In just a month, Hardy had already completed nine B-rank and four C-rank missions with the team, which meant they'd basically finished the initial phase of team bonding.
After returning to Sunagakure from their missions, Kazekami Chiran went to report in, while Hardy headed to the building next to the puppet base.
This place had been temporarily set up as a trial training class for medical ninja, run by Chiyo.
He was here to see Jianxue.
When Hardy found Jianxue, she was calmly driving a senbon needle into a lizard's spine.
"What is it?"
Jianxue's movements were swift and precise. Even as blood splattered onto her face, her expression didn't change.
"Uh… I just wanted to ask, if I want to learn medical ninjutsu, what should I start with?"
Hardy watched as Jianxue placed her palm, glowing with green chakra, on the lizard's neck, and gave an awkward smile.
"You want to transfer to the medical class?"
"No, I just want to learn some extra skills. If I can get the basics of medical ninjutsu down, I'll have another way to save my life in an emergency on the battlefield."
"I see…"
Jianxue removed her hand and examined the lizard.
"Another failed bone-setting surgery. This Mystical Palm Technique is really hard to master."
The poor little lizard was tossed aside. Jianxue opened a drawer under the table and pulled out a thick stack of books.
"To become a medical ninja, you first need to be a qualified doctor. You have to study human anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology, and master diagnostic and emergency response skills. These books are required reading."
Hardy's mouth twitched.
Advising someone to study medicine is like inviting a lightning strike.
If it weren't for the fact that medical ninjutsu is irreplaceably valuable in other worlds and genuinely life-saving, Hardy wouldn't want to study medicine.
After all, medicine can't save Sunagakure.
"So, have you read all these books?"
"To be precise, I've memorized them."
Jianxue sighed, thought for a few seconds, then pulled out a sheet of paper and began writing quickly.
"If you just want to get started with medical ninjutsu and improve your battlefield survival, you could consider the Hemostasis Technique. Combined with suturing, emergency bandaging, and medication, it lets you treat minor injuries quickly without affecting combat ability. Even if you're seriously wounded, you can prolong—"
The golden window for treatment."
"This is the reading list. The first line should be those introductory books you were thinking of. If you want to develop your skills in medical ninjutsu, you can read these, because they're the ones Elder Chiyo recommended to us.
But right now, the village's medical system has just been established and is still in the trial phase. Elder Chiyo is very busy, and the only one capable of teaching us is Sister Reina. So if you want to learn medical ninjutsu, I'm afraid you won't find anyone else to teach you."
After all, Sunagakure is not Konoha.
Konoha has Tsunade, the number one medical ninja in the shinobi world, the legacy of the Senju clan, and extensive human experiment records from the Second Hokage as reference materials, making things much easier.
In today's shinobi world, the only person capable of collecting and organizing all medical ninjutsu, establishing a complete medical ninja system, and making it a profession on par with puppet masters and other ninja specialties, is Tsunade.
Sunagakure is actually not bad in this regard—second only to Konoha.
The development and manufacture of human puppets inherently requires human experimentation—this is the most essential part of building a relatively complete foundation in medical ninjutsu.
Moreover, most of Sunagakure's puppet masters are skilled in the use of poison. Medicine and poison go hand in hand, so their pharmacological knowledge is also ahead of other ninja villages.
In terms of medical ninjutsu, especially at the high end, Sunagakure is a bit inferior to Konoha, but it has its own unique strengths. What it lacks is an all-around, super medical ninja like Tsunade who can integrate everything into a new system.
While Chiyo's medical ninjutsu is also top-tier in the shinobi world, there is still a gap compared to Tsunade, who is a once-in-several-centuries genius.