Chapter 22 – The Ultimate Power

…

==Meanwhile==

…

"Y-you want to fight me?" Hinata stammered.

"Yes!" Naruko declared emphatically with a grin, "Definitely! Koga fights Neji, and you're Neji's cousin, so I want to fight you! And then after I win, I'll go on and fight Neji and then when I beat him, I'll take on Koga!"

Hinata was quiet and then an unusual stillness settled over her. She lowered her head and her fists clenched before uncurling, "I see." She turned and walked away a few steps before turning and landing in a stance, "Then let us begin."

Naruko was caught off guard for a moment by the light of icy determination in Hinata's eyes, then a grin spread across her face and she settled into a stance, "Alright! Let's GO!" She lunged forward for a right hook and staggered off sideways before she could throw it, a line of fire burning into her face as an incredible blow slammed into the side of her head in a flicker of movement almost too quick to see. Then what felt like a red hot dagger slammed between her ribs, it didn't go deep, but Naruko's entire side suddenly felt like it was on fire.

As Naruko gasped in surprise and pain, her shoulder suddenly erupted as well, then the other, then another slap right in the small of her back shoved her off balance as her legs suddenly gave way. Naruko narrowly caught herself before she face-planted, though her shoulders screamed in protest and her arms nearly gave. Then there was a flash of movement out the corner of her eyes as Hinata slid into a low stance and a final swift chop to the back of the head drove Naruko the rest of the way to the ground.

Hinata slid her feet back together precisely, and a very uncharacteristically cold expression twisted her face as she glared down at Naruko, "Defeat Neji-nee and Koga-sama? No…I don't think so. Have a nice day Uzumaki-san." With that, she turned on her heels and strode away, her Byakugan still blaring out a warning to any who met it.

Sakura and Ino watched her go, gaping in shock. They turned back to the now soundly unconscious Naruko, swapped a glance, and then…

"Do you think we should help her?" Sakura asked.

"She brought it on herself," Ino mused, "Honestly how could she be that clueless about Hinata's giant crush on Koga? Anyone could've told her that giving Hinata an excuse to kick her butt was a bad idea. Of course, now that I think about it, it might not be that obvious. Who doesn't have a crush on Koga?"

"I actually kinda prefer Sasuke," Sakura replied, "He's not as…over the top? as Koga is. I think I kinda like shy boys. Koga's great and all, but I think he's a little too much for me."

"Mmm…not a bad choice," Ino nodded, "He is cute, and if he's anything like his big brother is with Izumi-sensei then he's super romantic too."

"I know right?!" Sakura exclaimed delightedly at Ino approving her choice. Then a thought crossed her mind, "Wait, you won't try to steal him from me right?! I totally call dibs!"

Ino smiled, "Oh…I don't know…I might have to steal him just a little."

"INOOO!" Sakura wailed.

Ino laughed, "Don't worry Sakura, I'm only teasing you! Honestly I don't have my eyes on anyone right now. I'd totally be after Koga if Tsubaki hadn't snagged him, but between her and Chino, I probably wouldn't stand a chance. You want some tips to get with Sasuke-kun?"

"Would you really?!" Sakura asked excitedly.

"Of course I would!" Ino replied as they turned to walk away, "What are best friends for?"

Completely forgotten and unnoticed by either of them, Naruko pushed herself upright, tears welling in her eyes, both in pain at the now fading burn in most of her torso and at the words of the two she'd thought liked her, Tsubaki and Chino…I'm not even worth considering anymore…

Unnoticed by anyone, Chino waved her feet back and forth in the air with her chin propped in her hands as she watched from the tree branch she'd been lying on through the whole thing, Hmm…to intervene, or not to intervene? Let's see…intervene, I have to bite my tongue and be nice to someone I despise who probably won't even appreciate it… A wicked smile spread across her face, Screw that! I'm gonna sit back and enjoy the show! Sorry Naruko, but Karma's a bitch and so are you! Admittedly I am too, but I'M not the one who threw away all my friends for the sake of my own ego.

She sat up and pulled out a small note pad before pausing and putting it back away as she remembered, Koga still knows everything. Can't put my thoughts on paper. I'll just have to remember that one, it was a pretty good line.

She got to her feet and sprang away through the branches, If only it had been someone other than my best friend who got him, then all this spying and sneaking might actually be useful!

Her wicked little grin returned, Who am I kidding? I only do it because it's fun! Then a memory flashed through her mind and her grin faded as she pondered, I wonder if Koga realizes he forgot to include a failsafe against Gentle Fist in that 'indestructibility' seal he put on Naruko? Does genjutsu still work on her? I wonder if my Ketsuryugan would still work…

Her grin returned full force, Hope she gives ME an excuse to kick her butt next!

…

==An Hour Later==

…

Ajax and Arkantos had faced down entire armies less frightful than the comparatively tiny woman in skimpy, arousing clothes beneath a long white cape with sleeves as she eyeballed them with a manic grin. Koga shrugged, "Ajax, Arkantos, meet Anko Mitarashi. She's one of the greatest experts on…I suppose you could call it lineage and bloodlines, among my people. She's quite excited to have a look at you both. I'd recommend complying with her evaluation, it's a big boon to me and my entire people as well if she's able to get what she needs."

"Ok…but why is she looking at us like she wants to eat us?" Ajax asked warily.

Suddenly he was on the ground and Anko was on top of him with a disturbing grin, "Don't worry handsome, I'm very good at what I do. Just hold still and don't worry, I won't bite." Then she leaned down to add right in his face, "Unless you're into that."

Ajax didn't even notice as Anko's anesthetic breath jutsu slithered into his lungs. All he knew was that a moment later, his whole body felt weak and he couldn't feel the ground on his back anymore. Anko sat up, still straddling him with a grin, "Alright! Now that that's set in, let's get some samples!"

With a speed that told Ajax how incredibly dangerous the woman on his midriff actually was, Anko pulled a syringe from inside her coat. "Now don't squirm around," Anko instructed a tad absently, "You don't want this to break."

"What is it?" Ajax forced out, frustrated by the fact he could barely even move his face to ask.

"Oh don't worry. I'm just drawing a little blood," Anko replied nonchalantly before snapping, "Don't think you're getting out of this! Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!" her hand snapped out and suddenly Arkantos was wrapped in serpents who easily held him down. "You big strong warrior types are always such babies about the needles," Anko complained, "Big guy like you shouldn't be worried, its not like you'll miss the amount I take, and it's not like I'm not going to reward such a great specimen!"

Ajax felt a surge of worry at being referred to as a 'specimen' and actually almost succeeded in lifting his arm to toss the madwoman off. Anko proceeded to surprise him by forcing her lips to his, and as the sweet taste overwhelmed him and his mouth began to tingle, all that remained of his strength fled instantly. "Shh…"Anko crooned as she stroked his cheek, "Don't worry…it's all going to be okay…"

A moment later, Ajax was completely unconscious as Anko gleefully drew a syringe full of his blood, swabbed his cheeks, pulled a few hairs and ran a scalpel over his skin to sample that too. All the samples were quickly stuck in a seal which she labeled 'Ajax' and tucked into a pocket inside her coat. Then she turned to Arkantos, "Okay! Your turn!"

Arkantos tried to struggle, but Anko just tossed a needle into a pressure point and Arkantos went limp. "Sorry," she apologized rather insincerely, "You're just not as cute as Big Boy over there." A few moments and a whirl of motion later, Anko tucked her tools and the seal she'd stuffed her samples of Arkantos's DNA into before turning to Koga with a bright smile, "Okay! They should wake up in about an hour!"

Then she realized that Koga's eyes were not the only ones watching her and her eyes nearly popped right out of her head in shock, "L-L-LORD FOURTH?!"

The man who looked just like Minato Namikaze tilted his head to the side, "Who?"

Koga swallowed his popcorn and cleared his throat, "Anko, meet Apollo. He's the best medic there is in this part of the world, and his family are the source of the kekkai genkai I brought you here to study. Around here he's revered as the God of Sunlight, Archery, Music, Medicine and some other important stuff. He wanted to observe your process. Lord Apollo, this is Anko Mitarashi, one of my people's greatest minds and our leading expert on bloodlines and… such…Anko?"

Anko had drawn very close to Apollo with an even more excited look in her eyes than what she'd had for Ajax and Arkantos. Apollo took a second to process her extreme proximity and then smiled warmly, "So I suppose you'll be wanting samples from me as well?"

Anko grinned seductively, "Mmm…you wouldn't mind sharing riiight?"

"Unfortunately, I think I should probably refuse," Apollo admitted, "the blood of the gods probably falls under the same laws as ambrosia and nectar."

"How about semen?" Anko asked as she sat herself in his lap, "That'll work too."

Koga raised an eyebrow and took a drink as Apollo's face made it quite clear that Anko's words did not fully compute. He snapped his fingers and then jerked his thumb over his shoulder, "Tent's over there. Have fun."

"YES!" Anko declared excitedly before hopping to her feet and dragging a very flustered Apollo along.

Koga watched them go and had to laugh as he heard the sounds of Anko violating a god. Then said god regained his wits and Koga's cackling quickly turned to a blush as Anko and Apollo proceeded to work on that whole, 'gathering samples' thing.

…

==The Next Morning==

…

"What do you mean you won't get pregnant?!" Apollo demanded as Anko straddled him. They'd gone all afternoon and through most of the night. Apollo idly wondered if Aphrodite or Eros had pulled a fast one on him when he wasn't looking, because this woman was amazing. Now though…

Anko just grinned as she waved the beaker of faintly glowing silvery-white liquid at him, "Don't worry handsome, there's enough here for everybody. You'll have to drop by Konoha in a few years, you'll probably have a lot of kids running around. Even if only one in a thousand takes, I've probably got enough here for at least a few hundred!"

"A FEW HUNDRED?!" Apollo exclaimed in shock. Sure they'd been going at it pretty hard, he couldn't recall the last time he'd been with anyone so insatiable, but still…

Anko rubbed the beaker to her cheek with an excited grin, "Ohhh this is going to be so good! Koga said you were some kind of god of archery and medicine right? So does that mean your kids'll be great medics with kickass aim? Oh Lady Tsunade's gonna flip with joy! I really can't thank you enough, this is probably the biggest win I've ever taken for Konoha."

"We could go another round," Apollo suggested a little irritably, "without everything I give you going into a flask? You're making me feel kind of underappreciated."

Anko sealed the flask away with a surprised look, and then a mischievous grin crossed her face, "Well then…" she leaned down and pressed her generously bouncy chest to his, "How about I show you how very, very grateful I am?"

A grin spread over Apollo's face, "That could work!"

…

==Meanwhile==

…

Ajax and Arkantos woke to the smell of food and the sound of sizzling meat. Koga smirked, "Bout time you two woke up. Come on, breakfast is ready." Ajax and Arkantos got to their feet and walked over to the fire Koga had built on…a piece of parchment? He had a metal plate over it and had several different types of food cooking.

Ajax shook his head and wrote it off as 'magic' before accepting a plate. He raised the odd brown bread to his mouth and took a bite before blinking, "This is really good."

"Very few people I know can take offense to toast," Koga replied nonchalantly as he scooped another spatula full of the strange yellow fluff onto his plate, "Eat up 'afore it gets cold." So saying, he spun a fork into existence in his hand and began wolfing down the contents of his plate.

Ajax looked at Arkantos and was surprised to see that Arkantos was also eating rather quickly. Well, quickly for Arkantos, Ajax mused as he observed his friend's calm and collected manner of eating. Then he returned his attention to his plate and started gorging himself quite a bit like Koga. Their breakfast went on in amiable silence for a few minutes before being interrupted by a particularly loud shriek of ecstasy.

Koga actually jumped a little before casting a dry glare at the tent. Arkantos cleared his throat as he remembered the previous day's events, "So um, are all women where you're from like her?"

Koga snorted, "Nah. Anko's a bit nuts even by our standards, but cut her some slack, she's had a hard life. Orphan, taken in by one of our greatest heroes who later abandoned her and went mad. She's actually pretty dang brilliant, but things like that will do a number on your ability to make friends, and that does a number on how you conduct yourself around people. She doesn't mean any harm, she's just driven to accomplish her goals. She's a bit like me, so I can respect her very easily."

"Are all the girls where you're from as lovely as she is?" Ajax asked after a moment.

Koga actually stopped eating and Ajax knew he had touched on a sensitive subject.

Koga was quiet for a moment and then, "You remember a few weeks ago, when we were on our way to set up shop and destroy the Trojan ports, I told you both about my beloved? Did I ever show you a picture of her?"

Ajax shook his head, "No, what good would a picture…do?" He reached out and accepted the little slip of odd white parchment Koga thrust towards him. He blinked in surprise at the most life like picture he had ever seen of a beautiful little blonde haired girl with blue eyes and a big smile, sitting in Koga's lap and holding onto him like he was the most important thing in the world. Koga had one arm around her and was smiling up at whatever he had used to make the picture. Ajax couldn't recall having ever seen Koga look so happy except for when he was obliterating the Trojan ports, "So this is what she looks like?"

Arkantos leaned over to look and after a moment he frowned, "She looks just like…"

"Helen of Sparta," Koga finished sharply, "Yes and you can imagine how much it hurt to see her in such a sorry state so soon after ending it with my dearest-'Ruko."

Ajax nodded and handed the picture back, "I see."

Koga took the picture back and gazed at it for a moment before tucking it back into his cloak, right over his heart Ajax noticed. Then Koga fished out a few other pictures and handed them over, "This one is my teacher, and his wife and their daughter who's trying to fill the hole in my heart that Naruko left."

Ajax and Arkantos observed the happy family, the man with long white hair in black and the gorgeous blonde woman in white with the child who was unmistakably their daughter in the middle. "The other one is of my friends and teachers," Koga declared, "The one with white eyes is Neji, he's already strong and fast enough to defeat armed men with his bare hands. The little one with the short blonde hair is Chino, she has powerful blood magic and is a very skilled fighter even without it. Of course, you recognize Tsubaki from the previous picture. The little girl with the black hair is Leelee and the one with the buns is Naruko's elder sister Tenten. The man with the nose scar is our teacher Iruka. The young woman next to him with the long brown hair is our tutor Izumi. She's betrothed to the heir of a powerful house and an extremely formidable fighter in her own right, far more so than I am."

Ajax and Arkantos observed the pictures and then handed them back. "So you really do have a lot of beautiful women where you're from," Ajax mused, "are they all grown now or…?"

Koga shook his head, "Those pictures were taken less than a month ago. For all that my mind holds more experiences than could be gathered in thousand lifetimes, I am still technically a child as far as actual time spent in this world goes."

Ajax and Arkantos both recoiled slightly at the revelation and Koga just raised an eyebrow, "What? You thought I always revert to this form for shits and giggles? This is my real form you know. I can age myself when I need to, but I don't need to very often."

Ajax and Arkantos both took a few moments to process what Koga had just said and then Arkantos sat forward, "You're, actually a child?"

"Physically," Koga clarified sharply, "My mind is ancient beyond fathoming. The trappings of my physical form mean less than nothing."

"Your friends are still children though?" Ajax asked carefully, uncertain of how deeply he should prod into the culture of the young godling's people. Koga nodded, and Ajax continued tentatively, "Yet they're as formidable in combat as armed grown men? Even the girls?"

Koga's eyes lit with understanding and he nodded, "Yes. Think of us as similar to the Spartans but MUCH better at killing things, infinitely more treacherous foes and trained in the arts of magic and war from an extremely young age."

"So, how old are you physically?" Arkantos asked.

"Nine," Koga replied bluntly.

Arkantos felt slightly ill, "You're even younger than my son…"

"Relax Arkantos," Koga told him bluntly, "I'm far and away the furthest outlier my people have ever seen. What my magic has allowed is beyond anything my predecessors and contemporaries could've ever imagined. There are none among my people like me and having experienced this hellish wearying, I will never allow anyone to become like me again. The technique that allowed my rapid aging is a forbidden one and now that I know why, I will personally ensure that it remains that way."

"But your friends…" Arkantos protested.

"Are better loved and happier than ninety percent of all the children in the world," Koga interceded smoothly, "Their strength is only what it is because they have loving parents and mentors to aid them in growing stronger so that when they are called to battle later in life they will be as strong as possible."

"I…I see…" Arkantos forced out.

"Good," Koga declared, "Now that that's settled, the trail leads north from here. When you two finish eating, we should head out. I've done a bit of recon while you were asleep, this one's going to be a little tricky."

…

==Three Hours Later==

…

Anko jerked back in surprise as she finally poked her head out of the tent. Apollo had just left in what she was certain had to be some variant of the Flying Raijin after a final kiss goodbye and an invite to visit whenever she wanted. Anko hadn't expected Koga to just leave her tent without any sort of guard, but as a shinobi, the last thing she was expecting to find when she poked her head out of the tent was over a dozen clones of Koga putting on a concert for absolutely no one.

She glanced around as the song reached a crescendo and the chorus all but shouted the lyrics in unison, Is he seriously just putting on a show for the hell of it? And where'd those two I got samples from go?

She let herself listen to the song and had to admit, it was very catchy. She stepped out of the tent and stood up, wondering amusedly how Koga would react to being caught in such a frivolity. Then she noticed the immense seal drawn around the band of clones. A brief moment of analysis later she couldn't help herself, "ARE YOU SERIOUSLY PROVIDING MUSIC FOR YOUR OWN FIGHT?!"

The musical clones immediately froze. Then, "NOT IT! NOT IT! NOT IT!" They all immediately started dispersing themselves as quick as they could and took their instruments with them. Anko blinked in surprise and then burst out in gales of laughter. The look on that kid's face was PRICELESS.

Then there was the sound of lots of fists meeting lots of heads and Koga's disembodied voice barked at his clones to get back to work. A moment later the clones set up again and launched into a new song…although this time they were using Transparent Escape Jutsu so that Anko couldn't look at them. "You're making this a lot harder than it needs to be," Koga's disembodied voice complained in her ear. Anko jumped as a fresh line of seal burned itself into the ground.

The clones all reappeared and she could see that they were once again quite simply having themselves a blast. Another clone popped up next to her with no instruments, just a vaguely miffed look as he declared, "Yes. I am providing a soundtrack for my own fight. It's doing wonders for the troops' morale believe it or not. Besides," he added, "Seijaku No Apostle is an awesome fight song. It's impossible to not feel like being a badass while it's playing."

Anko suppressed a giggle, "You don't say."

Koga's blush was almost as red as his eyes but aside from a slight eye twitch his gaze was steady. Anko composed herself and asked a little more seriously, "So whose troops are you boosting the morale of?"

"Original me is currently about twenty miles north of here leading a rebellion of horse people and civilians to oust an occupying bandit army," the Koga clone explained nonchalantly, "Normally I'd just eviscerate all the bandits and their monster shock troops and have done with it, but that wouldn't restore the locals' broken spirits and they'd be just as vulnerable next time. So we broke them all loose and now we're just helping a little to help them take back their city. The music is as much for their benefit as my enjoyment."

Anko raised her eyebrows in surprise, "Seriously?"

Koga raised his eyebrow and then the world shifted around her in an instant. The disorientation was worse than a Body Flicker because there was no sensation of movement to brace against as she suddenly found herself standing on a rooftop with a battle raging below. What drew her eye immediately though was, "IS THAT A DRAGON?!"

"No," the Koga clone replied nonchalantly, "That is a hydra. Think of them as infinitely weaker cousins of the legendary eight headed snake Yamata no Orochi. They don't fly, they don't breathe fire, they don't summon storms or cause earthquakes. They are just very big, step on my enemies, eat people, have poison strong enough that you'd probably juice yourself over it and by the way do you think I should summon a few to harvest poison from? Oh, and their neatest feature is that they grow more heads the more they eat! So you see that one's got that really big bulge at the base of his neck, keep watching, watching… YEP! THERE HE GOES!" the Koga clone exclaimed excitedly as what Anko supposed to be the original Koga hurled a bandit over fifty meters through the air to be easily snapped up and swallowed whole by the hydra.

As Anko watched with a strange blend of revulsion and fascination, a second serpentine neck and head erupted forth from the bulge at the base of the hydra's shoulder. Said second head almost immediately snapped out in unison with its counterpart to snap up a spearman and a man with a sling who had been trying to slow it down. Then a pair of horse mounted archers raced out of the street into the square with arrows drawn and shot down two more spearmen while the hydra swallowed its latest catches.

It took Anko a second to catch sight of Koga again, leaping out the window of a mud brick building that had been erected in the center of the square and looked nothing like anything else around it. Koga Body Flickered up to the roof next to her and detonated the bombs he had left in the building, causing smoke and flames to roar forth from every opening. A single man stumbled out and was immediately impaled through the side of his skull by a lightning laced kunai from Koga. The remaining men in the square were being trampled and shot and snapped up left and right.

Anko almost winced as she watched the hydra and horsemen's reinforcements surge forward armed with pitchforks, spears, torches and whatever they could carry as weapons. The angry mob surged forward like a wave and the remaining enemy forces were quickly overwhelmed. Anko looked over at Koga as the mob beat and stomped and stabbed the men they were attacking, "So you really weren't kidding about the revolution huh?"

Koga looked up at her, "Of course not. Why would I lie?"

Anko thought for a moment, "Sooo…is anyone here with you, or is it just that big guy and the old soldier you were with earlier?"

"Just me and those two," Koga replied nonchalantly, "We were on our way back to Arkantos's home city, he's the old soldier, but we had to stop at a port called Ioklos for repairs. When we got there we found out it had been hit by an earthquake and ravaged by an army of slavers. I'm not a big fan of slavery, so I decided to find out what happened and bust heads where appropriate. Ajax and Arkantos felt like they owed me for helping them win a war that had been raging for almost ten years, so they agreed to come along and help."

"You got involved in a war?" Anko asked as alarm bells went off in her head.

Koga just grinned, "Pfft, it was a slaughter once I got involved. They've got no shinobi here, none! No chakra users, no jutsu, no seals, just good old fashioned brawling and weapons, and they don't know jack about taijutsu or any sort of shinobi tactics. The only kekkai genkai they've got is the one I brought you here to study. Granted it's incredible, but there are so few of them! I've been wiping out entire cities in a matter of hours! The city they couldn't take, I conquered in minutes." He pulled out a rice ball and started eating it before grinning and mumbling around his mouthful, "I 'ould've 'eaned 'is 'ole town out in 'ive 'inutes!" He swallowed, "Wouldn't even have left any blood stains!"

He sat back with a small wry smile, "But that wouldn't have helped these people recover their spirit. An act of the gods is an act of the gods, for these people to really recover, they need to reclaim their homes with their own hands. Gods can inspire a lot, but we remember heroes for a reason." He rose to his feet with a grin, "Speaking of, there's Ajax and Arkantos, I'm going to go regroup with them. If you wouldn't mind staying here, I'll send you back to Konoha shortly."

Anko raised her hand to stop him, but he was already gone. She stared at the space where he'd been and let her hand drop. A grimace twisted her face, "Kid…"

…

==That Evening==

…

Koga looked across the table at Anko. It was something of a celebration feast, the bandits had been massacred wholesale, and so the rejoicing townspeople were throwing a feast in celebration. Koga, Ajax and Arkantos were the guests of honor, and Anko was enthusiastically invited as well once it was made clear she was a friend of Koga's. "So what made you decide to stay?"

Anko was quiet for a moment and then, "Kid, you…do have friends right? Back in Konoha?"

Koga froze mid chew and swallowed, glancing down at his plate, "Yeah. I do."

"So, why are you acting like you've got to do everything alone?" Anko never was one for subtlety in voicing her opinions. She could do it just fine, she just chose not to. Straight forward honesty was the antithesis of everything she associated with Orochimaru and thus it was everything she tried to be.

Koga took a deep breath and exhaled quietly, "Let's…let's step outside. We, this is something I shouldn't say in front of so many happy people."

Anko felt something cold settle around her heart and immediately got up to follow him as he led her out of the meeting hall and body flickered up to a nearby rooftop. He snapped his fingers and two chairs and a table popped out of thin air, along with a small candelabra that quickly lit itself to provide a little more light than the cloudy sky. Koga sat down and gestured for Anko to sit across from him.

Anko sat and Koga sighed, "Anko, how much do you know about me?"

"I know that if even half of what you and Lord Hokage have told me about your exploits and abilities are true, then you're the most dangerous and powerful thing in the world shy of a Bijuu, and possibly worse," Anko declared bluntly. She thought for a moment, "I know you've got Typhoon Release, and you're considered a prodigy although that's the understatement of the century given what I've seen you do even just in the last two days. You're close with Lord Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade, I think I heard their daughter's sweet on you but that you and the Kyuubi-girl were a thing, and I think I heard something about you trying to commit suicide by ripping your own heart out once?"

Koga flinched slightly on that last one and Anko's eyes widened, "Wait, that's actually true?! Why on earth would you try to rip your heart out?!"

Koga sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair, "Call it a gambit."

Anko felt something inside her go cold, "A gambit?" Near-suicide gambles were not unheard of in shinobi society, some of the greatest fake outs and most daring missions of all time had been pulled off by shinobi convincingly faking their own deaths. The Second Hokage had even made a point of using fallen shinobi to execute the most impossible missions imaginable with his Edo-Tensei to fling the horror of immortality in the face of his enemies. She knew for a fact Orochimaru had over half a dozen ways to fake his death and that it had saved his slimy white hide on at least a dozen occasions that she knew about.

That didn't mean it was something taught or encouraged, especially not to children.

Koga nodded, "You know I was dating Naruko at the time, but right then, I was struck with the very real possibility that she was about to leave me, because she had just found out that I'd been lying about her circumstances to keep her close to me. It was for her benefit, but it still rattled her badly to learn about it and it nearly destroyed her trust in me." He sighed, "Maybe I should have let it, but I…she was the most precious person in the world to me. I couldn't stand the thought of losing her, especially not like that. So, having a Chinoike prodigy right there, I decided to take a gamble on her abilities. Chino was able to use the Ketsuryugan to still my blood long enough for Tsunade-sama and En-san to patch me up."

Anko stared in horror, "You used an attempted-suicide gambit for the sake of keeping your girlfriend from dumping you?" What kind of yandere is this kid?!

Koga nodded, "In retrospect, it was completely fucking bonkers, but hindsight's twenty-twenty. There's, a lot I'd do differently if I could go back in time."

"Kid," Anko asked quietly after a moment, "Level with me. Every shinobi in the world is messed up in the head at least a little bit. On a scale of one to ten, how fucked up is your mind?"

"Fifty," Koga replied without hesitation.

Anko recoiled slightly and then took a breath, "Well at least you admit it. Do you…wanna talk about it? I, know I'm not the best with people, but I also know that a lot of times there's a lot of good can be done just by talking about it."

Koga exhaled, and then thought about it for a moment, "We're well outside the jurisdiction of any law Konoha ever even considered passing, and I'll be dead in less than a month, so considering that I'll never set actual foot in Konoha again, there's nothing anyone can do to stop me from telling you everything I know, so I'm going to trust your judgment to keep quiet what needs kept secret."

Alarm bells went off in Anko's head, "Wait, what did you just say? What do you mean you'll be dead in less than a month?!"

Koga smiled thinly, "That's one place to start I guess. The jutsu I used to transport you here is the same one I used to massacre the people of Kumo. The power it affords me makes me effectively a god, and now that I've actually met an entire pantheon of literal gods, Apollo and his family, I know that's actual acknowledged fact and not just speculation. My power is equal to that of a god in scope and effect, no ifs, ands, buts or maybes. The downside of that," he sighed, "is the price I paid for that power."

"And, what price is that?" Anko asked warily, already having a pretty good idea what the answer was. Techniques like the Eight Gates were a known thing, and it was also well known that they usually had some pretty horrible costs. From the way Koga had been talking, the price he was set to pay was his life.

"My humanity," Koga replied quietly. Anko actually flinched at the casual statement, that was not what she'd been expecting.

"I'm not human anymore," Koga continued quietly, "I have a human body, and I have human emotions, but my mind has for lack of a better term been forcibly evolved into a living archive that exists to process everything its senses can reach. On its own, that wouldn't be a problem or anything like enough to strip me of my humanity, but since I've developed the other half of this technique, which renders me virtually omniscient to everything within my sphere of observation?" He slumped slightly, "I've effectively lived an incalculable amount of years in the space of a few months."

He inhaled before continuing, "When the Chinoike Exhibition Match happened, and the ensuing heart ripping episode, I was mentally around a hundred and forty six years old because I'd been using Shadow Clones and the prototype version of this ability to lead dozens of different lives simultaneously for several months. Yes, I have been sandbagging like crazy," he added as he noted Anko's surprised flinch.

Anko for her part found her mind awhirl with shock and disbelief as everything about the…he couldn't really be called a child…before her. A suicide gambit was something that would never be taught to or employed by a child, but someone who was nearly a hundred and fifty years old? Then he proceeded to shock her further as he explained about how he had taken the ability that had mentally aged him so rapidly and kicked it up a thousand fold to fulfill an insane wish to ensure the safety of everyone he cared about forevermore by documenting and creating countermeasures for every threat that existed within the entirety of the Elemental Nations.

"So, let me get this straight," Anko interrupted, "You've got the power to completely obliterate the entirety of the Elemental Nations at the drop of a hat and it's impossible to keep any secrets from you because you're literally riding on the shoulders of everybody on the continent at all times?"

Koga nodded, "That's right."

Anko sat back, "That's insane. I'd say it can't possibly be real, but I've seen the results of it firsthand with what you brough back from Kumo."

"Do you want me to keep going?" Koga asked quietly, "I haven't told you anywhere near everything yet."

Anko sat up and stared at him in shock, "What the hell can you possibly have that's bigger than this?!"

Koga blinked and looked at her with a pair of Sharingan, "For starters the Uchiha Clan would shit themselves if they knew I had pulled this off. I didn't steal them, I managed to artificially replicate it with my own eyes, including…" he blinked again and the pattern of the Sharingan changed, "The advanced form, and due to the fact that I can use Lady Tsunade's Mitotic Regeneration, I'm even impervious to the natural drawback of ocular degeneration." Anko gaped at him in shock as the implications of that roared through her mind, and then Koga blinked again and veins bulged around his eyes, "Byakugan…" the bulging veins faded with another blink, "Ketsuryugan," he blinked again, "Rinnegan…"

Anko's jaw was beyond dropping at this point as he finally popped his eyes open one last time, "And lastly the ultimate doujutsu which combines the full abilities of all the others: Yamigan."

As Anko stared at the cold black orbs that seemed to smoke with the aura of hazy purple chakra roiling out from around them, she had to ask, "Is that an inheritable kekkai genkai?"

Koga nodded, "It should be. By obtaining samples from the natural wielders I've been able to replicate and incorporate them all." He set his head into his hands and sighed, "I've subverted the Akatsuki, a mercenary organization of S-Class criminals that comprised the toughest threat in the Elemental Nations, and I've managed to plant lethal assassination seals on basically every non-leaf shinobi in the world that can be activated at the drop of a hat from my control center. The genjutsu capabilities afforded me by the Yamigan are great enough that I can wholesale rewrite the…minds…" his eyes went wide as the implication of his own words hit him like a freight train, "…of anybody and everybody I want…"

A large smile split his features and he started to laugh. It was the most broken and terrifying sound Anko had ever heard.

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AN: Ok, so...I just realized I goofed. As I was writing this chapter I realized that with the amount of power at Koga's disposal, there is absolutely NO WAY that he would not have managed to crack the pinnacle of power known as the Yamigan, and now that he has that, he is beyond any shadow of a doubt a god, including everything that word entails.

Meaning long story short, he can now erase every mistake he's ever made because the whole world has literally become his play thing due to the unyielding and overwhelming might of the Yamigan's genjutsu abilities (which are as you've guessed the sum total of the four doujutsu that comprise it).

This means that there is absolutely nothing for him to DO once he gets back to Konoha. The Europe arc was intended to showcase his final evolution from the malignant manipulative bastard he started this story as into a hero...but the problem is that there's no room LEFT for a hero. He's neutralized every threat in Konoha and could even handle the Europe arc in a matter of days. All that being said, I can't come up with any logical reason for the Europe arc to take place as originally intended, and there's nothing left to do after it anyway.

(sigh)

I really am sorry for writing myself into a corner like this everyone, but there's just nowhere for this story to go from here. The instant Koga realizes 'Oh wait, I actually CAN erase every mistake I've ever made with my genjutsu' is the instant all remaining difficulties evaporate. He's been effectively a god for a while now, but now? He's God with a capital G in the 'truly omnipotent and omniscient being who the entire world bends to the will of' sense.

That being said, I'm afraid I'm left with really no choice but to end it here. Koga wins everything, there is absolutely no confrontation that he cannot completely dominate. Even Rei, who was meant to be Danzo's granddaughter with the immensely powerful kekkai genkai Void Release (which is a kekkai genkai that CANCELS OUT all chakra other than hers) and was going to be a foil for him, really stands absolutely no chance against him and has no reason to stand against him even if she did.

His relationship issues? Just went poof.

Enemy factions and shinobi? Done did been and WENT poof.

The betrayal that was going to rock him and indeed all of Konoha as bad as what happened with Naruko? POOF.

Any remaining tension and the success of attempts to generate it? Poof... :(

So once again, very sorry if I got anyone hyped for the Europe arc, and sorry for the long hiatus while I tried to think of a way out of this conclusion, but this time it really is...

THE END.

Thanks for reading! I hope you all enjoyed it!

Happy New Year everybody!

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Shameless plug: For anyone who enjoys my writing and is a fan of Fairy Tail, go check out my newest ongoing work 'Mad Little Slice of Heaven', it's even better than this was!