This chapter is a bit heavy and this is not how the MC will be in the future, but it is a transition, read with caution.
--x--
As soon as the time arrived, the gates opened and they raced away. Dosu was in the lead, his eyes closed, listening.
-I'm listening to the code, two kilometers west. - Dosu opened his eyes and changed direction.
The next moment, he felt something pass by him. Jugo took the lead with a smile. -I'm going first.
With that, his speed increased dramatically. Dosu and Kin could only watch him accelerate into the distance at high speed.
Dosu swallowed hard, but in the end, he just kept going, still hearing Jugo's acceleration in the distance.
-Monster. He sighed, and Kin nodded slightly, but this only made her more tempted to get closer to Jugo. Only someone like that could protect her.
Jugo, finally far enough away, let the madness out. He controlled himself not to let his curse activate, but the madness of the Lunatic's potion was completely exposed, a mad smile crossing his face, the potion that had been completely trapped finally loosened to the point of being slightly digested.
It was tiny, but it was there.
-Kill! Kill them, kill them all! Hahahaha! Finally! Finally! - Jugo ran so fast he left afterimages, by this point, he could already hear the sound of the pigeon he had placed behind the team.
The next moment, he encountered a group of three Konoha students, not acquaintances, but a group of old men who clearly didn't have the strength to become Chunin.
Before their astonished eyes, Jugo laughed happily, rushing forward. -Die!
Before the mustachioed man in front could say anything, he felt a pain in his chest. Looking down, he saw a bloody hand piercing his chest, a hand holding a still-beating heart.
It was his heart!
That was the last thought he had.
Before the shocked eyes of the other two members, Jugo let his body fall as he squeezed the heart in his hands.
-Hahaha! Yes, it's digesting! So fast! I see, this is what it needed all along! - Jugo tossed the remains of the heart aside and looked at the still-stunned duo.
-W-wait, the scroll, I'll give you the scroll, here. - One of the men quickly pulled a scroll out of the Sky and tossed it to Jugo.
Jugo caught it with his clean hand and looked at it, putting it in his ninja pouch on his leg. He laughed lightly. -Thank you.
The next moment, Jugo appeared in front of him, placed his hands on his head and squeezed.
Bones, blood and brain matter were squeezed out. Jugo smiled brightly, feeling the potion digest faster and faster. -In return, I gave you a painless death. I'm so kind, aren't I? Hahahahahah!
The man next to him screamed, turned, and tried to run, but in the next moment, his head flew off his neck. Jugo stared at the scene, and the madness slowly drained from his eyes. He felt as if he had quenched some kind of thirst within him. This greatly improved his self-control.
-So, as long as I let my madness out, I can gain a period of calm? Good to know. - Jugo nodded and turned to leave, going to find Dosu.
The pigeon had already flown away upon seeing the massacre, after all, Jugo can't control pigeons, he can only talk to them.
It only took two minutes to find them. Seeing the dried blood on Jugo, neither of them commented. Jugo simply tossed the scroll from the sky to Dosu.
-What now? - Dosu asked. - Shall we go to the tower?
-Nah, let's continue, I'm not done playing around yet. - Jugo smiled happily.
In these few minutes, his potion had digested quite a bit, a few more times of this and he could digest it completely.
Dosu simply nodded and Kin didn't mind either. She thought Jugo was the strongest in this exam, even the red-haired psychopath from Suna couldn't be worse than him, so they didn't say anything else.
The mission to test Sasuke was assigned directly to him, but that would be after Orochimaru planted the mark.
Of course, Jugo wouldn't waste his time; it would take time for the pair to recover after being planted.
-Dosu, let's go. - Jugo asked calmly.
-Okay. - Dosu nodded.
He placed pigeons on most of the teams, except for the team with Hinata and Neji, who had Byakugan and Orochimaru's own team, who would easily notice.
Of course, he could have encountered Sasuke's team earlier, and it would be problematic if he unleashed the lunatic's madness on them. With their strength, the chance of at least one of them dying was high. If Naruto released the Nine-Tails chakra, it might become more complicated.
He hoped he wouldn't encounter them anytime soon.
The next period, Dosu led the team again. Jugo didn't speed away, but instead went slowly.
The first target, a grass team, Dosu and Kin watched as Jugo unleashed his madness again. This time, as he could sense the potion's madness had calmed down, he switched to unleashing his curse.
He only entered the first stage, but it was enough to almost completely lose control.
It was only because of the Prisoner's potion's restraint that he managed to remain lucid.
But he soon realized that he digested much less when lucid, so he transformed directly into the second stage.
He lost his mind, to the point where he began stomping on the corpses of his enemies while laughing.
Dosu and Kin just watched apprehensively, not daring to approach, as Jugo, in his transformed form, let out his primal impulses.
It was only when everything had turned to pulp that he slowly calmed down enough for his curse to recede.
Jugo took a deep breath after that. This was the first time he'd let it all out. Of course, if he had unleashed the lunatic's Berserker state, he would probably have been even worse.
Returning to his base form, he resolved to rely solely on the Lunatic's madness from now on. Looking at the "battlefield", he didn't want to recreate that scene.
Sighing, under the pair's fearful eyes, he quickly ran to the next target.
The scroll was brought along. Jugo didn't increase the number of participants to let more pass, but to have more targets to digest his potion.
Ironically, he could sense that the old him wouldn't be so extreme, even seeing the results of what he'd done, he didn't feel much.
He wondered if it was due to the memories of the original Jugo, his clan's kekkei genkai, the Prisoner's path potion, or the Tenebrous World connected to him.
But it didn't matter. Jugo felt his morality was severely limited now, but he didn't care, he just wanted to get stronger.
Ninjas are a profession of killing and dying, right? If they were civilians, he thinks they would still hesitate, but unrelated ninjas? Just kill, anyway. That's how this world is. Today he can let one of them go and tomorrow they might kill someone important to him.
A twisted, cynical thought? Of course, but he just needs a reason.
Leaving civilians out is a line he's already drawn with difficulty.
In the distance, Jugo heard a loud battle noise, it was probably Orochimaru toying with Team 7.
Jugo just stared, sensing strong chakra in that direction. Neither Kin nor Dosu wanted to check, but they moved closer to Jugo, feeling a little safer that way.
Jugo changed direction and let Dosu lead again. He wanted to digest the potion in this exam, if possible.
What has he gathered from the potion so far? He's not entirely sure, at least when he lets himself go completely and kills, the potion is digested.
As for the reason? He has a few ideas.
Lunatic, judging it to be an evil path from the start, he feels that a lunatic doesn't need a reason to harm someone.
Even now, his only motive is to digest the potion. There's no hatred, no resentment. No one is his target and everyone is his target.
Kill them, keep killing to grow stronger.
If the prisoner is about restraint, the lunatic is about release.
Release everything trapped inside him.
Jugo is lucky, this body's mentality changes when he transforms. This means that a gentle Jugo and a violent Jugo are both the real him.
Once he lets his mentality explode, he's not just acting, he is exactly that. That's why his prisoner potion was digested so quickly, that's why his lunatic potion is also advancing rapidly.
The kekkei genkai of this body made him perfect for this path.
They ran for almost an hour before finding a second team.
It was a rain team.
They wore black clothes and masks with raindrop bandanas. As soon as they saw him, they prepared to fight.
But they were a bit confused when Dosu and Kin quickly backed away while only Jugo stepped forward excitedly.
Releasing only the curse of madness, he advanced with a cheerful smile.
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--x--
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+10 chapters of Jugo - Father of Devils on P_treon.
+19 chapters of The Legendary Mechanic - Triple Six on P_treon.
P_treon: March_Rain