Hey! The offline meetup was over...

Itachi studied the vermilion pill in his palm and thought, A soldier pill? But neither its color nor its texture looks right.

In a sense, the Pill was indeed an Ōtsutsuki version of a soldier pill. Its effects surpassed Yu's Ogetsuhime candies, but fell short of a genuine Chakra Fruit!

Anyone could eat Ogetsuhime candies, whether human or god, young or old. Only an Ōtsutsuki could eat a Chakra Fruit.

The Pill's requirements fell between the two. One did not need to be a pure-blooded Ōtsutsuki, but had to possess some bloodline connection to them... even the slightest trace would do.

As descendants of Indra, the son of the Sage of Six Paths, the Uchiha naturally qualified to take the Pill.

Though Itachi could not identify its origins, he trusted that the Expert would not do something pointless, so he swallowed it without hesitation!

Crackle!

In an instant, Itachi's dormant Mangekyō Sharingan surfaced on its own, while the chakra inside him increased at an astonishing, exponential rate!

"This is...!!"

Itachi's pupils trembled violently as he rose from the pit. "Mr. Yu, is this boost to my chakra temporary?"

Yu stood up on the mound. "That's right. The sudden increase in chakra is temporary, but it can fundamentally improve your constitution and keep you free of illness."

Itachi assessed the situation inwardly. This power is incredible. While it lasts, I could probably use my Mangekyō Sharingan's dōjutsu without interruption! Something this precious must have been difficult to obtain. I can't waste it!

Shhk!

Light shone in Itachi's eyes, and the braid behind his head lifted in the wind!

"Even if the chakra boost is temporary, I should use it where it will yield the greatest benefit!"

Susanoo!

Crimson chakra formed a towering skeleton!

Having awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan only recently, Itachi could still manifest only a skeletal upper-body Susanoo!

Then he poured all the excess chakra in his body into his Susanoo!

Yu praised him enthusiastically. "Oh! You're using the Pill's temporary chakra boost to accelerate your Susanoo's development! Indeed, even after this chakra disappears, you'll retain the Susanoo's form. Just what I'd expect from you!"

Shhk! Shhk! Shhk!

Muscles, sinews, and skin wrapped around the bones, and Itachi's Susanoo soon advanced to its second form!

But a vast amount of the Pill's chakra remained!

Itachi stoked the flames once more!

Boom...!!!!

A majestic suit of heavy crimson armor took shape, completely encasing the Susanoo's upper body and leaving only its golden, glowing eyes exposed!

This was the Crow Tengu form, the highest stage of Susanoo attainable with an ordinary Mangekyō Sharingan!

A stage that ordinarily required the pain of breaking out of a cocoon had been reached just like that!

Hum!

A fiery red mirror formed in the Susanoo's left hand, shielding that side single-handedly!

Shing!

A fiery red gourd blazed into being in the Susanoo's right hand, a sword concealed within!

The Divine Tools, the Yata Mirror and the Totsuka Blade, were both in place!

The third great Divine Tool, the Yasakani Magatama, had already developed, though it had yet to manifest!

With that... Itachi had fully unlocked his Mangekyō Sharingan's ocular power!

Sheltered within the Crow Tengu, Itachi saw everything with perfect clarity. "Thanks to you, I've reached this stage. Otherwise, who knows how long it would have taken."

Yu remained perfectly composed. "Not at all. You earned this benefit entirely through your own efforts. Even I hadn't thought of it."

Itachi broached the subject tactfully. "Incidentally, Mr. Yu, you seem to know quite a lot about Susanoo as well."

Yu laid his cards on the table. "Hehe, that's because I can use it too!"

Bzzz!

As he spoke, Yu's eyes shifted into the Mangekyō Sharingan!

Dark silver chakra ignited into a skeleton, then swiftly became a Crow Tengu that stood on equal footing with Itachi's!

"The Mangekyō Sharingan...!!"

"So that's it..."

In that instant, Itachi understood many things.

No wonder Yu knew the Uchiha's dōjutsu inside out!

It seemed that a lost Hyuga child living among ordinary people was merely his public identity. Perhaps, perhaps only he himself knew his true origins...

A man like Itachi naturally understood the wisdom of seeing through something without saying it aloud.

Unless the Expert chose to reveal it himself, Itachi must not investigate on his own, much less ask!

The two reached a silent, unspoken understanding.

Yu asked with a smile, "Say, Itachi, can you tell how my Susanoo differs from yours?"

"Hmm, let me see..." Itachi examined it carefully. "Aside from the color, yours has an extra ring behind its head!"

Yu smiled. "Then why don't you say mine is missing a gourd and a mirror compared with yours?"

Itachi pressed his lips together, suppressing a smile. "Ahem. Wouldn't that be a little rude? You are, after all, a 'high'-level expert~!"

High-level expert, my ass! Do you really think I can't hear the quotation marks around that 'high'?!

I'm just standing on a tall mound of dirt, looking up at Lord Itachi's tear troughs at a forty-five-degree angle! Do you really have to roast me like that?!

Sure, I slept in a coffin for fifteen hundred years... but my body is only seven years old!

I'm still a baby!!!

Hmm... I'll definitely grow taller!!!

That was how poor, dejected Yu consoled himself!

Whoosh!

Yu sprang up onto his Susanoo's shoulder and looked down at Itachi!

Itachi said, "Uh, now you really are a high-level expert!"

Who would have guessed Itachi had such a slyly playful side?

Still, this was also proof that Itachi had opened his heart to him!

Fine... you're forgiven!

Sitting on the giant's shoulder, Yu pointed his little finger at the halo floating behind his Susanoo's head and said teasingly, "This ring is my Divine Tool, the Myōken Divine Wheel."

Itachi was surprised. "That's a Divine Tool too?"

He thought, I assumed... he'd deliberately created it as a decoration to make his Susanoo look more regal.

Yu smiled. "Guess what it can do."

Itachi pondered it. "'Myōken'... then it must have some marvelous use. Could that halo be an entrance to another dimension?"

Uh... that's our Lord Itachi for you. His imagination has practically reached Takamagahara!

But Itachi was indeed mistaken.

"Look. Like this..."

Whoosh! The Myōken Divine Wheel flew into the Susanoo's palm, changed shape, and actually became a gourd!

Itachi exclaimed in surprise, "Could that be... the Totsuka Blade?!"

It transformed again, becoming a mirror!

Itachi was surprised again. "The Yata Mirror..."

Whoosh!

It changed again... into magatama!

Itachi was astonished a third time. "The Yasakani Magatama..."

I understand now. This Myōken Divine Wheel can freely replicate other Divine Tools!

Whoosh!

It changed again... into a bow.

This time, Itachi was no longer surprised, merely curious. "Could this also be some kind of Divine Tool?"

Indeed, it was none other than Sasuke's future Divine Tool-the Heavenly Ama no Makakoyumi!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The Myōken Divine Wheel transformed over and over...

A slingshot, a wooden fish drum, a baby bottle, a rattle, a telescope, a sledgehammer, a flintlock pistol... all kinds of absurd objects appeared!

Itachi began to wonder inwardly. Are these... all Divine Tools??

Not so!

The Myōken Divine Wheel could not only transform into theoretically existing Divine Tools, but also be "customized"!

In other words, it could create whatever weapon its user desired. Since this involved interference with "concepts," whether the resulting weapon was practically useless, an ordinary Susanoo weapon, a Divine Tool, or something beyond a Divine Tool depended entirely on the user's strength!

In other words, the Myōken Divine Wheel would greatly increase the versatility and potential ceiling of Yu's Susanoo!

Susanoo was exclusive to the Uchiha Clan. Of the Ōtsutsuki who had appeared thus far, quite a few possessed the Rinnegan, yet not one apart from Hagoromo, the Sage of Six Paths, could use this technique!

Why was that?

Because Susanoo was a deeply rebellious dōjutsu. It would not favor a pure-blooded Ōtsutsuki!

Yu had been chosen by Susanoo because his birth mother was human!

Like the Sage of Six Paths before him, he was a hybrid of Ōtsutsuki and human!

Logically, his Ōtsutsuki blood should have been considerably diluted.

But what had happened to Yu was unexpectedly wondrous, beyond even the expectations of his Ōtsutsuki birth father!

He was not fifty, the result of one hundred divided by two!

He was one hundred and one, the result of one hundred plus one!

The Ōtsutsuki represented that one hundred.

And that extra point of possibility came from the human blood so despised by those in the heavens!!

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Itachi and Yu both dispelled their Susanoo!

They exchanged a smile.

Itachi said, "Please go easy on Sasuke~."

Yu said, "Hehe, I will. Sasuke is a good friend of mine~."

Itachi said, "Then I should return and do what I must. Going forward, I'll be relying on you in many ways..."

Yu said, "Hehe, likewise, likewise..."

Whoosh! Without another word, Itachi turned and departed into the evening breeze!

The little bats in the trees gathered around Yu. He filled a burlap sack to the brim with the soil he had dug up, slung it over his shoulder, and watched Itachi's retreating figure. "Hehe, that really was a pleasant offline meetup..."