A week later, the village of sound... hadn't changed at all.
At least not superficially, Orochimaru was still bedridden, even though his current werewolf body healed faster than it deteriorated, the pain in his arms was still very real, things were still proceeding at the original pace.
The difference is that now Kabuto and Kimimaro had turned into werewolves.
Yes, Kabuto was easily ambushed by him, as was Kimimaro, who didn't even offer resistance when Jugo had Orochimaru convince him to accept.
After arriving at Wraith, Jugo's emotions became even more under control, since Orochimaru had already become his subordinate, he pulled Kimimaro along. In the end, after becoming a werewolf, the cure for Kimimaro through the werewolf curse was quite effective.
According to Orochimaru, what he had was bone cancer, ironically, but now it's been cured. With Kabuto's level of medical ninjutsu, he could have treated Kimimaro by destroying all the cancerous cells, but the man wouldn't have survived. However, Kimimaro's cure was faster than the destruction.
Fortunately, the werewolf cure didn't have a positive effect on the cancer cells, or they would have a ninja version of Deadpool.
With his advancement, after Jugo and Orochimaru, he became the strongest.
Perhaps due to Kimimaro's personality, as soon as his loyalty shifted, it seemed as if he placed all of Orochimaru's attachment towards Jugo. Kabuto and Orochimaru's personalities didn't change, except for their loyalty, the rest is exactly the same. But Kimimaro no longer felt anything for Orochimaru, it was as if his anchor had shifted to Jugo.
Jugo didn't complain.
He sought out Kin and Dosu, both were shocked when they found out, at the moment, they are the only ones at the base who know the truth. Jugo had Orochimaru diligently teach them.
Now, what Jugo wants is to return Orochimaru's hands so he can become a useful fighting force faster. As for Madara's corpse? He wasn't ready to take it yet, taking it now could cause problems in the short term. He prefers to wait until he finishes digesting the Wraith potion before searching for the corpse.
At that moment, it wouldn't matter if some unforeseen change happened or not, as long as it didn't hinder his progress towards Puppet.
Instead, Jugo spent the week learning Ice Release, as well as other useful jutsus. He even made a contract with the snakes, but he still hadn't gone to Ryuuchi Cave. He intended to go there to learn Sage Mode in the future, it would be cool to learn how to control all that natural energy within him.
As for why learn Ice Release? At first it was just something random, but Jugo soon realized something interesting.
Ice mirrors.
Since he was using a release of ice that would cover a large area, wouldn't that basically be like creating a giant mirror?
Jugo tested this and discovered that he could move instantly inside a mirror, no matter how large it was, as long as it was connected, it was considered just one mirror.
This, combined with his mirrored teleportation ability, turned the mirrors into a degraded version of the flying thunder god.
There were even greater advantages, such as the fact that any reflection would become a "mark", even if the mirrors weren't connected, as long as they were 300 meters apart, it could move instantly.
Another positive point was that he could remain in the mirror and still be invisible, unless he has a Mangekyo Sharingan or something superior, he wouldn't even be seen, but he can still be sensed by chakra sensors, he discovered this through Karin.
Luckily, while he's inside the mirrors, it's much harder to find him, so weak that only Karin could sense him inside the mirror. That's probably why Orochimaru didn't notice him until it was too late.
Another positive aspect of releasing the ice was that it didn't require seals.
Because he was a Wraith, any ice jutsu was released instantly, making it Jugo's best weapon. Orochimaru had a large collection of ice jutsu and Jugo learned them all in just a few days with his shadow clones.
Jugo could tell that even the strongest member of the Yuki clan that had ever existed would quickly die at his hands.
The release of the water mixed with the corrupting sludge was also a great success, unfortunately, he couldn't use it instantly like releasing the ice, but the number of seals was reduced to a minimum.
He also managed to fuse the Rasengan with ice and corruption, the ice Rasengan basically froze while destroying. The ice turned even the hardest materials into extremely brittle ones, so when used, it looked like he was using Dust Release, everything turned into frozen mist. It was a bit sinister, to be honest.
The newly named "Rotten Rasengan" was more interesting, a simple scratch was all it took for everything to decay and rot.
Metal rusted, earth became putrid and living beings... his test subjects began to rot from the scratch, it took only a few seconds for them to become rotten stinking corpses.
It was incredible what ninjutsu could do when combined with his powers, he was still discovering it, but soon he focused on something more important.
Acting.
Acting as Wraith was discovered fairly quickly, but just as he expected, he could no longer use clones for that purpose.
The reason was simple, acting as a Wraith required behaving like a spirit, wandering around invisibly and appearing to others as a specter, generating fear and unease.
Unlike the fear required for a zombie, a specter demanded more... unpredictability.
He still doesn't quite understand how this is connected to the chained aspect.
I mean, something that is there and not there at the same time? Another contradiction?
He had no idea.
Perhaps because he had no idea his progress as a Wraith was undoubtedly the slowest so far.
But that's alright, he had a lot to do, learn new ninjutsu, study Sage Mode, act and advance his sequence, prepare the Village Hidden in the Sound for the coming war...
It was tiring, but now he finally felt a little more in control of his life, so Jugo was in a particularly good state of mind.
In terms of preparing for war, Jugo wanted Orochimaru to work with Karin to create a new cursed seal, this time connected to him and easier to absorb. The goal was no longer to serve as a vessel for Orochimaru, but to train a large group of ninjas to create users of the cursed power.
Unfortunately, Karin was still far from Orochimaru at the moment, but the girl was now being taught by Orochimaru himself, with her talent, she would progress rapidly.
Besides the standard ninjas from the Village Hidden in the Sound, there were two more who interested him, Suigetsu, who was captured at a young age by Orochimaru to study the secret jutsu of the Hozuki clan, and Guren, who possessed the Crystal Release.
Jugo wanted to turn them into werewolves if they do not submit, but they weren't in the Village Hidden in the Sound, but in other bases, so Jugo postponed it.
Another thing Jugo was worried about was the werewolve's madness, even if it wasn't as ferocious as that of a real werewolf, it was still problematic, but Jugo also thought of a solution based on LOTM.
He would create a mystical item to lessen the effects of the curse or even end them, so he found a special metal that is commonly used to build high-quality weapons in that world, called Shinsei metal.
Its properties are excellent chakra conductors and incredible hardness. Orochimaru had a reserve of them, so Jugo sacrificed them and placed them in the Tenebrous World, ready to let the metal be baptized by the aura of the Tenebrous World for a long time, after which he could try to create a useful item for it using a ritual.
The effect wouldn't be permanent because Jugo didn't have any Beyonders-like characteristics attached to him, but he could find a way to keep recharging, in any case, it would be better than letting the werewolves suffer every full moon.
Besides, such an item would also be useful for him while he was a Wraith.