Jugo received Konoha's response 3 days later, the result was... Tsunade agreed, probably not without opposition, but she didn't want war and that was the kind of motivator Naruto needed.
Jugo was also thinking about this when he issued the challenge, he hoped Naruto would become stronger than the original. He had Jiraiya observe Sasuke's training for the same reason, only then could the man take this challenge seriously.
Not that Naruto's progress was slow in the original, but compared to Sasuke? It was like the difference between professional training for a top fighter and casual workouts to stay in shape.
Jiraiya needed to take this seriously and Naruto would be more useful in future battles.
Jugo never underestimated this world, even now that he felt somewhat invincible, he didn't underestimate it, any arrogance was paid for with blood. A stronger Naruto was preferable in the war against the Otsutsuki, even more so because Jugo barely knew some of those who had ridiculous powers, who would have thought there wouldn't be a power that could kill him instantly?
Therefore, Jugo would not remain idle.
The puppet that Chiyo had promised had arrived and as soon as he saw it, Jugo nodded in satisfaction. The materials were high-quality, fluid and it looked like a wooden copy of Jugo.
The doll had no specific function beyond the quality of the material and the manufacturing techniques used, but Jugo didn't want it for fighting, so he didn't complain.
He used Wraith's powers to possess the puppet as soon as he received it, but the potion wasn't digested at all, even when he controlled it to act like him.
So he quickly abandoned that angle and was ready to continue searching for a way to perform Puppet.
When he progressed to Puppet, he discovered the ritual to advance to Disciple of Silence.
Establish a cult, cultivate at least a thousand followers, so that they can understand your perspective, comprehend your thoughts, implement your ideals, act in the most appropriate way according to your will and speak the words you want to say.
The stronger the follower, the smaller the number needed, it's not necessary to reach a thousand.
Jugo had to say that this was the easiest ritual for him, a follower like that is very difficult to get, let alone a thousand. It would require a lot of work from a Puppet, but... Jugo has his werewolves!
In the world of LOTM, werewolves are consumable, but here? They can sustain themselves through chakra! Besides, are there any beings more compatible with Jugo than these guys who have maximum loyalty?
Jugo only needed to spend some time creating a cult for himself composed of werewolves, at that moment, with strong figures like Kimimaro and Orochimaru as a base, he wasn't afraid that they wouldn't be able to withstand whatever the ritual required of them.
Even so, for now Jugo focused on the most important task, he hadn't even figured out how to act like a Puppet yet, he would tackle one thing at a time.
The only time he felt a slight improvement in his acting was when Kin hugged him while he was sleeping after he had transformed into Puppet.
This made him think and he transformed back into Puppet, letting Kin hug him, but there was no progress this time.
What was the difference? Kin wasn't awake, so her advance was based on her believing she was embracing Jugo?
Puppet isn't about controlling puppets, that's the job of the Puppeteer in sequence 5 of the Fool's Path, instead, the puppet should be controlled.
He tried this, letting Kin play with his transformed body, but it didn't work, so he changed the angle.
He entered the home of a family in Otogakure, a house with a little girl and possessed her doll.
While the little girl was playing with "him", he felt his potion digest a little!
Confused, Jugo tried with another family, this time he transformed into a doll that appeared out of nowhere, a wooden Jugo doll. The little boy loved the doll as soon as he saw it and took it home.
He started toying with him, pretending to be a great ninja and Jugo felt that the potion digested even faster this time.
A Puppet... emotion was clearly a factor, but Jugo sensed it wasn't just that. He continued to observe and this time found another child. He transformed in front of her after asking her to play with him, but the result was negative.
So dissociation is also important, they need to see it as a doll and have positive thoughts about playing with it?
But Kin didn't know he was a puppet when he first transformed, so he dismissed that as well.
His final conclusion was that feeling...
When a child plays with a doll, they put all their emotion into it, they don't feel shame, but open themselves completely to the "play", just like Kin did the first time, she was completely open to Jugo.
But the moment you discover that the puppet is conscious, you put up a barrier, your thoughts aren't the only ones that matter but also the puppet's thoughts.
So the conclusion is that when manipulated like a Puppet, Jugo needs his handler to open up completely to him, as if he and the puppet were one.
Jugo tried to see it from a more spiritual perspective, the Puppet's performance is a connection between him and the "puppeteer". There can be no feeling that prevents this connection.
Progress on this has been... slow.
There was probably something missing beyond what Jugo discovered, a deeper connection. Jugo imagined that someone needed to truly "love" the Puppet and use it with a strong connection to be able to advance faster.
Just as the Puppet gains the ability to connect to others through the curse, perhaps that was the answer to this sequel, a connection where the target overshadows the Puppet, acting as if the puppet is not an item the target is using, but rather that they've actually become the puppet.
But now comes the question, most children don't have a toy they truly love. They play with it, break it and in the end, buy another. But even if Jugo possessed a doll, this greatly diminishes the experience, instead of simply transforming himself into a Puppet, which forms a stronger connection with its "puppeteer".
Perhaps, in the world of LOTM, a Puppet transforms into a doll and is bought by a child, spending years in that form to learn to act perfectly.
Jugo didn't want to wait years to connect with someone, so he was very reluctant.
That's when his clones gave him an idea!
Just as he progressed rapidly in his acting when he became a zombie, the clones were a great help, so what if he created clones and turn them into Puppets? Let the children play with them and in the end he could just let the clones send back feedback!
Excited, Jugo returned home and began to work. First, he created a wooden clone, then placed his hand on the clone and began to activate his ability. The clone slowly shrunk until it became a perfect wooden doll-like figure of Jugo.
Jugo began testing, even if the puppet broke, it seemed trapped in that form and the clone wouldn't be considered destroyed, but when Jugo unleashed his ability, the clone disintegrated instantly and the memories of when he was a Puppet returned to Jugo.
At that moment, Jugo's cheerful laughter echoed through the house. The servants looked on in astonishment, and Kin, who was also training with the dogs, was curious about the reason for Jugo's happiness, but Jugo didn't care about that.
After a few more tests, he saw that the clones didn't lose chakra over time in this form, nor did they possess powers, they were just normal puppets. Even though the connection with Jugo had been severed, they couldn't be directly undone, but Jugo needed to remove the curse from the puppet first.
So Jugo began to work, creating clones, transforming them into Puppets, recovering his chakra and continuing.
Jugo not only created versions of himself, but also of other ninjas from the village and famous ninjas from other nations, preparing to open a "Ninja toy store". Luckily, at that time there was no such thing as patents and even if there had been, they were hardly regulated.
Three days later, a confused Guren opened a shop in the center of the village. She didn't know where Jugo had gotten so many dolls, but there were even dolls of her!
Not only her, but Kimimaro, Suigetsu, Orochimaru, Karin, Ranmaru, the Sound Four and even Sasuke, were all created and put up for sale.
Guren looked at her doll and remembered Jugo's words. -To bring the villagers closer to the leaders.
Besides them, there were the new and old Kage from other villages, famous ninjas like Jiraiya and even Kakashi and Zabuza received their own figures. Jugo even created a collector's vibe, creating lines for each village, a line of the Seven Swordsmen of Kirigakure, a line of the Three Sannin...
Finally... Jugo did everything he could think of to make the puppets more memorable for the children.
The result was as expected, soon all the children in the village were carrying ninja dolls around, with the Jugo doll being the most popular. Furthermore, even merchants from outside the village were buying loads to sell outside the village.
Jugo was very happy with this, the profit was good, but it wasn't the goal. Jugo continued producing dolls in large quantities, in the end, there were hundreds of thousands of them by the end of the first month.
Jugo's progress in this sequence has been slow so far, but he only needed to wait a few months and he could start working.
As for whether the dolls disappeared out of nowhere? Jugo had already thought of that: first, remove the curse, let the wooden clone create a doll with mokuton and then dissolve themselves. That way, no one would notice that their dolls had been switched.
It was brilliant and Jugo was very happy for a while, Kin was the one who "received" the most of that joy.