While the second exam was taking place, Jugo wasn't standing still, instead, it was time to act again. His acting was almost complete, about 90% finished, and at that point, Jugo planned to finish the acting in one take.
He had the courage to do it twice in a row for two reasons: first, because after a year of acting, he had developed some immunity to the potion's influence, second, because due to the progression of the Disciple of Silence's potion, his Bind was much stronger, giving him the confidence to finish everything at once.
So, on the first night of the exam, Jugo calmly left the village and went to observe death once more.
He was just one step away from becoming an Angel, so he was quite excited, at that point, even facing the mysterious Otsutsuki clan, he would have some confidence.
Kaguya wasn't a fighter, besides having eaten only one fruit from the divine tree, imagine an Otsutsuki who was actually a combatant like Madara and had eaten several chakra fruits.
Besides the fact that ocular powers were varied, the Mangekyo Sharingan alone already granted deceptive abilities like Obito's Kamui and Shisui's Kotoamatsukami, not to mention the Rinnegan's powers. There was much to worry about in this world and Jugo didn't think he would become invincible simply by becoming an Angel.
Sighing, he went to the first location, since he needed to act, he had long ago had his clones find the elderly and infirm, so finding some people about to die wasn't difficult.
He watched as a lonely old man slowly died in his rocking chair.
There was no one else in the family, only him, living in a solitary house in the mountains. Jugo didn't know how the old man was still alive.
Jugo watched his death, when he reached the crucial point, with the old man's soul completely detaching from his body, Jugo felt that desire again. Fortunately, he managed to control it, but it still greatly affected his mental state.
This made Jugo hesitate about whether he should continue, even though he had reached a point where he was sure he wouldn't go insane and become a genocidal maniac, he still felt that doing it again now would leave some lasting effects.
So he changed his mind, even though he didn't need to wait a full month, waiting a few days would be a good idea.
He watched the old man's soul rapidly disappear. The man was surprised to see Jugo, but he wasn't Jugo's follower, so Jugo merely observed his departure. Finally, he gazed at the lonely, lifeless body.
Shaking his head, he returned to physical form, approached and picked up the old man's body.
Going not too far, he used the earth style to dig a grave, then the wood style to create a simple coffin for the old man, placed him inside and closed the coffin.
At that moment, Jugo didn't know why, but he didn't cover the grave again with earth. Instead, feeling something, he placed the coffin inside the grave by himself, then created a wooden shovel and began to cover the grave with earth little by little.
Jugo didn't know why he was doing this, he had seen dozens of these deaths, but at that moment, he inexplicably felt an urge to bury the old man.
Perhaps it was because he was the only one who had died alone, not the kind who had no family, but the kind who was left alone with no humans around, his body would probably rot in that rocking chair and be eaten by scavenging animals.
Compassion? Perhaps.
Jugo didn't care, in a trance, he continued to cover the grave, slowly, calmly. It took Jugo almost an hour to finish.
He wasn't tired, but as soon as he finished covering the grave, Jugo stopped, feeling a strange emotion inside him, he felt that his potion had been digested a little, it was a small amount, but it was there.
This shocked him, he had no idea why his potion had been digested, but he knew it was related to burying the old man.
His brow furrowed, if he were a Gravedigger following the Death Pathway, he wouldn't be shocked, but he was a Disciple of Silence. How could burying someone possibly relate to his role as a Disciple of Silence?
Jugo didn't leave, but stayed there, looking at the grave with the shovel still in his hand.
He stood there for hours, trying to understand what had happened, but he couldn't figure anything out. Sighing, he shook his head and turned away, ready to leave. Perhaps it was a mystery, and he would never truly understand it.
He looked at the old man's house one last time, wondering if he should demolish it, but in the end he decided against it, the old man had no one, so no one would remember him. Perhaps only this house would be proof that he once lived there.
Sighing again, Jugo turned, ready to leave, but stopped a few steps later, his eyes gradually widening.
-Proof that he once lived here...- Jugo couldn't help but whisper softly, the shock evident in his voice. -So that's it... silence, by burying him, I was hiding the last proof of his existence... his body... no... perhaps, everything that represents him is a part of him.
Turning to the old man's grave, he looked at the house and then crossed his hands. The ground began to tremble as the house collapsed upon itself, slowly being buried by the earth. When the ground was completely flat, Jugo felt his potion being digested again.
He was certain that silence wasn't exclusive to death, but that true silence came when everything about someone disappeared.
In other words, death is only the beginning of silence! All this time, he had only touched the tip of the iceberg.
Jugo felt his lips trembling, more than a year wasted because he hadn't fully understood his potion! If only he had figured it out sooner...
A tired sigh escaped Jugo's lips, for a moment he didn't know whether to thank this old man or curse him.
In the end, he decided to test one more thing, technically, someone only truly disappeared when even their bones turned to dust.
So he returned to the old man's grave, clapped his hands again, where the old man's grave had been, a tree slowly began to grow. Jugo was rapidly decomposing the old man's body on the ground while nourishing the growing tree.
Soon, a large oak tree appeared at the spot where the old man had died, his body completely "digested" by the tree, what was not needed spreading out and nourishing the land.
Nothing remained of the old man.
At that point, Jugo felt that his potion was almost completely digested. It was a pity he hadn't finished, but Jugo shrugged, he could finish digesting it elsewhere, after all, he already knew how to proceed in that direction.
Jugo felt that if he could erase the old man's existence completely, he would have completed the act. He could do this with a curse, using the old man's body as a medium, to make a bunch of ordinary people forget an old man, it wouldn't require much power.
Unfortunately, he had already used the old man's body to create the tree, there was really nothing left. But even if he had to choose again, Jugo would still have chosen this course of action.
He felt that if he had actually done it, it would be too cruel, to erase someone completely like that, even denying their existence from the memories of those who knew them... Jugo wouldn't do that to an ordinary civilian, they didn't deserve it.
Jugo looked at the place, which didn't seem any different from the rest of the forest. He felt that if he told anyone there had been a house with someone living there just hours ago, no one would believe him.
After one last look, Jugo disappeared, going off to bury another old fellow to conclude his act.