The first thing Jugo crossed off the list was staying silent, ironically, staying silent wasn't the answer to the disciple of silence's action.
He tried to stay quiet and... nothing, absolutely nothing, which frustrated him.
He returned to the village a few days ago, but this time the title of the sequence wasn't direct enough: disciple of silence, learning from silence? Learning what?
He tried to find empty spaces, like locking himself in a quiet room, but nothing seemed to stir within him.
Then he thought that his room wasn't quiet enough, even alone, there were still sounds like birds and insects, as well as distant voices of people. So he went even further, going underground, where the level of silence was much greater, yet still nothing.
That's how he understood that he had gone the wrong way.
Sighing, he spent a few quiet days with Kin and Guren while searching for the answer, but he simply hit a wall.
So, he had to go back to the beginning, before the Disciple of Silence was called that, it was called the Cursed Artifact.
What is a cursed artifact?
It's not something purely physical and quiet, otherwise it wouldn't need the title "cursed", it could simply be called an Artifact and that's it.
So the solution should lie in the "cursed", curses are fundamentally misfortunes, bad luck, chaos and suffering.
So, what Jugo did was correlate: what does silence have to do with curses? What does Disciple mean? It's about learning, right? And what about the Artifact? It's basically something immobile, that exists only for a reason, not always a tool, but sometimes something with historical, artistic and cultural value.
Putting all this together, Jugo began to correlate the facts.
The artifact and the disciple suggest something like remaining quiet.
Whether it's an artifact, an object that needs a user, or a disciple, an apprentice who adopts the teachings of a master, both suggest being on the passive side of the equation.
The relationship between silence and curse is more complicated, the first thing Jugo thought when he put the two together was... death.
Death is a type of silence, it's also a consequence of the curse. Of course, curses don't always lead to death, but if you consider that the new name, Disciple of Silence, was put into use because it was more relevant than "Cursed Artifact", it means that the part about silence may have more basis.
So... putting it all together, should Jugo learn from death?
He can see how this fits both the Cursed Artifact and the Disciple of Silence.
Perhaps when the third installment was still called "Cursed Artifact", transforming into a cursed artifact that led its owner to death could be considered "acting"?
Perhaps the name change means that he doesn't necessarily have to curse someone to death, but instead, he could just... observe?
After thinking this through, Jugo began to act.
He sent his clones to search for people nearing death, preferably the elderly and sick.
Jugo went even further and sent clones out of the village, either to search in the Land of Sound or even in villages in other nearby countries.
Thus, in less than a day he sensed the memories of a clone in one of the villages of the Land of Sound, and as soon as he ran there, he found an elderly lady, surrounded by her relatives with sad faces.
The woman was lying in her bed, coughing constantly, she was extremely old, full of wrinkles and white hair, she could barely open her eyes. Jugo realized that she was exactly the type of person he was looking for.
Jugo did not become visible, but like a Wraith, he observed the entire process in silence.
Jugo saw beyond, the vitality of her body leaving her and it was at that point that Jugo noticed something that made his eyes widen.
As the old woman slowly died, he realized a shocking fact, something that made a thunderclap sound deep within his soul, something incredibly simple, but which he had ignored until now.
He couldn't help but think: "The soul is a prisoner of the body."
As soon as he thought of that, Jugo felt his potion being digested slightly.
Before him, he could see something no one else could, the woman's vitality acted like chains for her soul, binding it to her body. But with illness and death rapidly approaching, he saw her soul slowly detaching itself from her body!
This was the first time he had witnessed a natural death, it was slow, but different from what he had imagined. It wasn't like blowing out a candle, but as if the woman's entire life had been a candle and he was witnessing it just as the wick was about to go out.
All this time he only saw flames that went out for external reasons, it was quick, precise, like a breath, one moment the candle was lit, the next, it was out.
It was something completely new, something so simple that he should have thought of it himself, but habit made him ignore it.
He remained silent for a moment, not because he needed to, but because he was truly fascinated by what he saw.
Death arriving slowly, not like an invisible hand ready to snatch the soul from this world, but like watching a prisoner covered in chains and finally seeing his chains fall away one by one.
For a moment, Jugo seemed to have a different view of the world, almost as if he had lived another life with a completely different understanding, he no longer saw death as something bad, but for the first time, he envied someone who was dying.
It was illogical, he didn't quite know why he felt that way, but seeing each chain fall as the woman's soul seemed poised to sublimate, he envied her.
Jugo shook his head the next moment, shocked by his own thought, for a fraction of a second, Jugo wished he were dead!
He was so scared he almost wanted to run away, he imagined that if he were in the world of LOTM, he would probably be on the verge of losing control right now, all because he saw someone die naturally.
It was fascinating, as well as terrifying, yet Jugo forced himself to watch until the end. Hours later, Jugo knew, even before the family, that the woman was about to die.
Looking at the soul almost completely outside the body, with only a thread of vitality still holding it together, Jugo held his breath, not that he needed to breathe.
In that brief moment, he saw the soul lose its last hold, the woman in the bed had stopped breathing, the people in the room were already crying, but Jugo, Jugo looked at the woman's soul, which was completely free, with a compassionate smile on his face.
Jugo felt truly happy for her, he couldn't remember when he had been so happy before. While the woman's death caused deep sadness among her family members, Jugo only saw a soul slowly fading away.
In that brief moment, the woman also managed to see Jugo, her eyes filled with happiness as she saw him. Jugo seemed to understand something, looking more closely at the room, he noticed the symbol of the Father of Devils on a counter.
Now that he had emerged from that special state, he could sense that the woman was actually connected to him and she could sense it too, so she thought that Jugo, her god, had personally come down to take her away.
This filled her with happiness and left Jugo somewhere between embarrassment and a positive emotion that he couldn't quite put his finger on.
In the end, he simply smiled at the woman and waved goodbye. Jugo watched as the woman's soul became completely incorporeal and a faint dark red smoke appeared from where she had vanished. He sensed that a new soul had arrived in the Tenebrous World.
It was also at that moment that Jugo realized something, his potion had been digested by at least 5%!
Jugo took a deep breath, he finally understood what a Disciple of Silence was, but at the same time, he was afraid to do it again.
In those few hours, he felt that his mindset had shifted slightly, he viewed death differently and his soul even seemed to find spiritual connection when it was all over, leading him to wish for more of it.
In other words, for a moment, Jugo felt that killing had become a positive thing! The worst part is that he still feels his aversion to death has greatly diminished!
If it were merely the death of "bad" people, Jugo could accept that, but when he fully felt that killing was not something bad, but a blessing bestowed upon others, it was a miracle, something they should hope for, aspire to and desire.
At that moment, Jugo finally realized that even knowing he could finish acting out this sequence in a few days, he didn't dare continue, not without some time to adjust. If he did that, in a few days Jugo could say he would be a completely different person.
This filled Jugo with fear and he resolved that from now on, he would only do this once a month! Furthermore, during this period, he had to completely adjust his mindset to avoid being influenced by this thought!
Jugo finally understood why that sequence had the word "disciple" in the title, he could only sigh and shake his head.
If he only "acted" once a month to stabilize his finances, it would take him 20 months to complete his work, considering his current 5%.
This would still be before the war, so Jugo could accept it, he preferred to follow this path rather than become a lunatic like Hidan, who wants to give "blessings" wherever he goes.
Thinking about it all, Jugo returned to Otogakure, he needed to calm down and resolve this new desire of his.