I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto
Danny's eyes were glazed as he looked at his old home. His own parents had forced him out of town before erecting a permanent ghost shield around it. His chest was clenched in pain, though he knew they had no way of finding out who he really was. Soon they would notice their 'human' son's absence and begin searching in a frenzy. They would probably even accuse him of kidnapping his own alter ego. Danny let out a small laugh. Though the laugh was void of emotion. He swallowed his grief. He could mourn his loss later.
He looked around. He didn't know where else to go from here. Then his ghostly guardian came to mind. Surely the time user would be able to help him. He tried to think of anyone else who could possibly help him, but nobody came to mind.
Danny had made up his mind. He cast a sideways glance at his old home for the last time and took off towards the only person he could think of that had a ghost portal aside his parents. He knew that the man wouldn't simply allow Danny use his portal. He would need to use force, and show the man that he was no longer the helpless child he had once been.
It took him only half an hour to make it to the mansion. He glided down and landed silently on the pavement in front of the door. He turned himself invisible and walked quietly through the door and towards the study where he knew the entrance to Vlad's lab was. He opened the door to the lab and stepped through.
The cool air from the underground lab hit him almost the moment he stepped inside. He was careful not to let his heels click against the steel stairs as he made his way to the ghost portal. 'This is too easy... something is wrong...' He was about to press the button to open it when something pulled him back.
"Going somewhere, little badger?" a familiar voice spoke behind him. He knew immediately who had grabbed him. "Vlad..." he hissed under his breath. The older man was behind him, already in his ghost form.
Vlad sneered at him a little. "I'm waiting. I know you didn't come here for a tour." Danny didn't give an answer and bent his knees. "What are you-" Vlad didn't get to finish as Danny spun on his heel and dealt him a devastating blow to the stomach with his elbow, causing the older halfa to release him and back away while holding his stomach. "I... am not in the mood to play your little games today...," he stepped forward slowly, his hair shadowing his eyes, making him all the more intimidating
Vlad picked himself back up, holding his stomach still. "And what makes you so confident that you believe you can simply walk into my home and do whatever you wish? Do you think that slapping a funny expression on your face is enough to push me around, boy?" Though he didn't show it, deep down Vlad was put off by the way Danny was acting. Something was off about the boy.
Danny didn't answer him.
"Well? Cat got your tongue?"
Silence was all that greeted Vlad for a long moment, which was beginning to irritate the man.
"Fine. If that's how it's going to be... then I'll simply have to punish you for your insolence." he flew forward and went to punch Danny in the face.
Danny simply panned his head to the side to avoid the punch. His icy gaze met Vlad's, chilling the man to the bone. He then grabbed Vlad's arm and used the man's own momentum to strike him in the groin with an amplified knee strike.
Vlad let out a yelp as Danny moved out of the way and allowed him to hit the ground. Danny stepped over to his downed form and slammed his foot down on the man's chest, holding out his open hand towards his face. He was powering and ecto-blast up in his hand. Vlad's eyes widened.
"I call your bluff, boy. You wouldn't kill me! You don't have it in you!"
"...Am I bluffing?" Danny asked quietly.
Vlad slowly began to realize that the boy was serious. "Alright. I'll let you use the portal. Only this once though. Though know that... you've become just like me."
Danny growled and blasted him in the chest with the blast, though not quite enough to be fatal. "I'm nothing like you. I was simply showing you that I am not a force to be trifled with." he lifted his foot. "I realize now that I've been far too nice to my enemies. Maybe if I had been less forgiving, then I would not have been forced away from my home. Or at least the things that I've been accused of would be even remotely accurate. From this point forward, anyone who threatens me will find no such weakness. Goodbye... Vlad." he turned away and walked over to the portal. He pressed the button to activate it and stepped through without another word. The swirling green portal engulfed his form and then he was gone.
Danny wasted no time in getting to Clockwork's tower at the edge of the Ghost Zone. Now that he was no longer in shock from what happened, he could feel the pain of loss starting to hit him. He landed at the base of the tower and walked inside.
He walked up the stairs and looked around the room. The rhythmic ticking of clocks were somewhat calming. He didn't know where Clockwork was right now, and he didn't really care. He couldn't hold back his emotions any longer. He let his back hit the wall and slowly slid down it. He bent his knees inward and rested his head against them, using his arms to hide his face further.
This was how Clockwork found him nearly six hours later. He was still curled up in this position and was sobbing his heart out.
The old ghost frowned and floated over to him. "Daniel?" he kept his voice level so as not to spook the poor boy.
Danny slowly looked up at his guardian with tears streaming down the sides of his face. "Clockwork... I- I... I'm sorry. I didn't know where else to go..." he choked out.
Clockwork smiled weakly. "It's alright. You're always welcome here. Come with me. You should get some sleep. You've had a long day. We can discuss your future whereabouts tomorrow."
Danny swallowed and then nodded. He rubbed his arm over his face to dry his tears before standing and following his guardian. His feet felt heavy and it was as though the world as a whole was weighing his shoulders down.
Clockwork stopped at a door and opened it. Danny looked inside. It was a simple bedroom with basic furniture. Danny gave his guardian a small smile before walking inside. "Thank you..."
"You're welcome. Now get some rest." Clockwork shut the door and floated away. He already had a place in mind to send Danny. The people there were constantly at war... but he knew that his old friend, Hiruzen, could find a place for Danny. A place that could learn to accept Danny for who he was.
The next day, Danny awoke with a start. He sat up and looked around the room. 'Where am I? This isn't my bedroom...' Then the previous day hit him like a freight train. He looked down at his hands as he grasped the blankets tightly. Fresh tears were now hitting them gently. 'Why? Even though I always tried to do what I thought was best... I was still labeled a threat. My parents still wanted to rip me apart.' He hunched over and choked back another sob. 'Why did things have to be this way?! I never asked for this power! I never asked to be different!' Of course there was no one who could answer his questions.
Finally he managed to calm himself and step out of the room he'd been lent. He walked into the main room and saw Clockwork looking through one of his clocks.
"Ah. You're awake."
Danny rubbed the back of his head a bit, looking sideways at the ground. "Yea... I guess I am."
Clockwork turned to him. "I believe I've found a suitable place for you to live."
"Where is that?" Danny asked quietly.
"A place called the Elemental Countries."
"I've never heard of such a place... is it in another dimension?"
"Actually, no. It's out in the pacific ocean between the Americas and Eurasia. It's not on any map you've ever seen, because there's a barrier that conceals it from the rest of the world. Most people don't know about it."
"Why would I go there?" Danny asked.
"You see, this place is home to shinobi."
"Ninja? You mean a bunch of guys wearing black tights?"
"No, Daniel. Those type of ninja would be a considered an insult to real shinobi. Shinobi use a special source of energy called chakra. It's actually similar to our ghost powers. All humans have this power, but only the shinobi know how to use it. You have to learn how to use it at a young age, otherwise you would die. I would send there to become a ninja."
"But you just said I couldn't learn how to use chakra because I would die." Danny pointed out, confused.
"That's correct. In your current state. I am going to use my powers to turn you back into a child. That way you will have time to learn how to use chakra."
"I see... but... what if they speak another language?"
"They do. I can already tell you that. They speak Japanese." Clockwork informed him.
"I don't know how to speak Japanese though."
"No need to worry. Us ghosts can learn languages at an accelerated rate. Over the next few days after I de-age you, I am going be teaching you to not only speak Japanese, but also the basics to chakra and the history of the Elemental Countries." Clockwork smiled.
Danny gave him a real smile for the first time in a while. "I can live with that. But won't they notice my American accent? You said this place was hidden from the rest of the world, which would make my accent strange to them."
"You're right. It would. Not to worry though. I will explain this in a message to the leader of one of the villages and he will understand."
Danny didn't question him any further. "Lets get started."
Clockwork smiled at him. "This will take about three weeks. After that you should be prepared to go to the elemental countries." he then used his powers on Danny and turned him into an eight year old.
Danny gave a small squawk of surprise. He barely had time to move as a set of clothes and a slender bag were tossed at him. He looked at them in confusion.
"From this point on you're to be in your human form. You'll undergo my training and I'd better not hear any complaining from you. If you complain, you will sorely regret it. Now go get changed into those clothes and then come back here."
Danny nodded and turned back into his human form. He then ran off with the clothes to get changed.
When he came back, he was wearing a thin black jacket over a dark emerald shirt. The jacket had his symbol on the upper right corner, and on the back. The sleeves and collar of the jacket were white, much like his hazmat suite. Over his hands were white, finger-less gloves. He also had on a set of loose black pants which were tucked into a set of white combat boots.
"Open the bag, Daniel." Clockwork urged him.
Danny obliged and did so. What he found inside had his eyes widening in shock. Inside was a katana with a white handle that was wrapped in a long black ribbon. The ribbon streamed past the handle and was about a foot long. The hand guard had the symbol of a dragon engraved into it. The sheath was black and had a dragon printed on it as well. Danny unsheathed the sword and saw that the blade was pristine silver. He could feel power emanating from the blade. His own ghost energy was starting to combine with it and the edges of the blade began to glow green. He quickly sheathed it again and strapped it to his side.
"Oh my god. Thank you so much!" Danny could almost hug the time ghost. His grief was briefly forgotten in his excitement.
"Don't thank me yet. Wait until you've completed your training. We start first thing in the morning."
"Right!" Danny shouted with determination.
The next day, Danny was led into a large chamber deep beneath the tower. The chamber was designed to look like a large field with a few trees scattered here and there and a river flowing through the center which stopped in a semi-large pool of water.
"What will we be doing first?" he asked.
"First, you will be unlocking your chakra." Clockwork said calmly as he led Danny to a rock at the center of the pond. "What you're going to do is sit on that room and close your eyes. I want you to focus on bringing out your power. You're to block out all distraction until I say otherwise."
"How will I know when it's unlocked?"
"You'll know. Now get started." Clockwork stated.
"That's helpful." Danny grumbled and sat down on the rock.
Danny concentrated as best as he could for the better part of an hour. He couldn't feel any sort of power. He was beginning to think Clockwork had been pulling his leg.
Clockwork watched him silently from the shore. He silently wondered if Danny would be patient enough to pull this off. Normally his chakra would be easier to unlock, but since he'd gone his entire life without being around it, he was having to start from scratch.
Just as he was about to give up, Danny noticed as strange energy within his very core. He tugged on that feeling and let out a gasp as he felt it flood his very being. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at Clockwork. He stood up and looked down at his hands with wide eyes. "All this time... I really had this power right here?"
"That's right. You just needed the right push to bring it out." Clockwork smiled. He then donned a more serious expression. "Now the real training begins." he tapped his staff on the ground.
Danny let out a shout of surprise as he suddenly felt as though he was being crushed. "W- what did you do?!"
"Think of this as weight training. I've simply put a seal on you that will acts as normal weights. The biggest differences are that it cannot be removed, and it will only increase as you get stronger. It will also suppress your chakra and make it harder for you to use it. It'll only get harder from this point on."
Danny's eyes were wide as he listened to Clockwork.
"N- now what are we going to be d- doing?" Danny stuttered with effort.
"Running." Clockwork grinned and gestured the large training room. "I want 600 laps within the next 3 hours. If you don't manage to finish in that time then you can forget about lunch."
"You're a sadist!"
"Silence! Now get going. Otherwise it'll be 1200!" Clockwork threatened.
Danny smartly shut his mouth. He strained his body and started running as he was told. The room hadn't seemed so big before, but now a single lap felt like he'd just flown around the globe three times. He took a large gulp of air. It didn't quite have the affect he'd wanted as it felt like the air itself was stinging his lungs.
Three hours passed and Danny had only just barely managed to finish his laps. He collapsed into the dirt in front of Clockwork. "Finally...," he gasped, "...finished."
Clockwork nodded. "Good. Now lets go eat." he prompted Danny to follow him, to which the boy obeyed, too tired to argue.
They went into the dining room and sat at the table. "While we're eating, I will be teaching you the proper etiquette for the Elemental Countries. They're not quite as lax as what you're used to."
Danny nodded and looked down at the steaming bowl of noodles in front of him. There was a set of chopsticks laying neatly on top of the bowl. He'd never used them before.
Clockwork began to instruct him on how he would eat in the Elemental Nations. Danny did his best to follow these instructions.
Afterwards he began teaching him some Japanese, and history of the nations before they finally went outside again.
Danny was dead on his feet.
"We're going to be practicing a bit of chakra control now." he pulled a leaf from one of the trees and gave it to Danny.
"A leaf?"
"I want you to place that leaf on your forehead and concentrate on making it stick for the remainder of the day. This is a chakra control technique that you'll be doing every day for the remainder of your training."
"I understand." Danny nodded and began focusing on the leaf. It wasn't quite as easy as he'd thought it would be as he had needed to place it back on his head manually over and over again.
Every day after that wasn't too much different. Though the hindrances on him only became more so as he improved. Every day his morning training was different, ranging from meditating to running to martial arts drills. Though it did it at such a pace that Danny was beginning to believe he wasn't improving at all.
They reached the final day and Danny was standing in front of Clockwork quietly.
"How do you feel, Daniel?" Clockwork asked.
"I don't feel any different than I did three weeks ago. Are you sure that these methods were really helping me? I know you said it would get harder, but none of it felt any different at any time." Danny frowned.
Clockwork gave him a smirk. "That's where you're wrong. I think it's time I removed your hindrances." He tapped his staff against the ground just like he had that first day. Danny was so surprised when the weight was lifted from him that he nearly fell over.
Danny's eyes were wide as he moved around. "I... feel so light." he threw a punch and was surprised at how much faster he was.
Clockwork nodded. "The hindrances were increasing with you in a way that you wouldn't notice them. But it's a big difference when they're removed all at once."
"You're not kidding." Danny said, stunned.
"Now. Here's something else I didn't tell you. When you get stronger in your human form, it's doubly so in your ghost form. That is why I only trained you as you are now. You've neglected your human half as you trained."
Danny looked down. He knew what was said was very true. He'd not deemed his human half necessary. He'd even payed for that in previous battles but only deemed his human half more useless with those losses. He then looked at Clockwork again. "I see. I understand now. I won't make that mistake again. From now on I'll train both halves with equal attention."
"Now don't go thinking that you can take on anybody as you are now. You're stronger, but you're still learning. Don't let it go to your head."
"I won't. I promise." Danny bowed his head a little.
"Now. It's time for you to go." Clockwork said.
"Already?"
Clockwork simply nodded. He led Danny to the room with clocks and opened the portal for him to leave.
"I can never thank you enough for everything you've done for me, Clockwork."
"You're welcome, Daniel. Here. Take these with you." Clockwork tossed a backpack to him.
"What's this?"
"You'll see." was all Clockwork said. Danny groaned. "Now then, when you get there, you will need to speak to the Hokage. He will get you what you need. I've already sent him a message to expect you."
Danny turned towards the portal and took a deep breath. 'Here goes nothing.' He then stepped forward into the portal, to wherever it would take him.
The next thing he would see would be the giant gates of Konoha about a mile ahead of him.