Prologue
Light. There was a bright, blinding, green light; and when it faded, Danny was surrounded by houses and apartment buildings. He looked around at the city landscape, and while he didn't recognize it, the buildings and road felt eerily familiar.
"Danny!" He heard a voice echo in the distance. Danny turned around, and saw a group of people attached to large tankard located in the center of a demolished building. The sign above it read Nasty Burger.
He had this sinking feeling in his stomach— his instincts were telling him that tank was dangerous. He ran towards the building. They had to be saved.
Danny tried to look at the people's faces, but it seemed that as he got closer, their faces became out of focus. In fact, the entire building was shifting in and out of focus, as though it were a mirage.
"Too weak to escape—" he heard a voice gasp behind him. He turned around and saw" he heard a voice gasp behind him. Danny stopped running, and turned around and saw— He saw himself! He was holding a metal cylinder, and a distorted figure was being sucked into it.
"—and you're too late to save them!" The figure said as he was sealed into the cylinder, and the other Danny looked up.
"Oh no!" He said as he started running towards the tank, and Danny followed him. Something sparked around him, and what he said next was muffled. The other him tripped on a rock, and—for a brief moment— two of the people were in focus.
.
.
"And then what happened?" Lady Tsunade asked, her fingers interlocked on her desk. Shizune stood behind her, holding Tonton, Tsunade's pet pig
"There was a bright light, but not like at the beginning. I felt… pain. It was agonizing." Danny Fantoma told her. "That was the only difference from the other dreams. This one ended in an explosion." Danny looked down, and rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry for bothering you with these small details Lady Hokage. It's just—"
"It's fine, Danny," she said, "I told you to report directly to me when you had these dreams." Months ago, Kakashi reported that Danny had been shouting in his sleep while on missions. When he asked him what was going on, Danny said he was having strange dreams. Dreams where he could fly and shoot visible chakra from his hands.
While that all sounded like a wondrous dream, he was always fighting some sort of demon. He said they changed from dream to dream; sometimes a sort of mechanical samurai that was hunting him for sport, a shadow spirit that fed off his misery— but the worst, and most recurring demon, was one with blood red eyes, and a head of white fire.
He could never make out its face, or body shape, but he could always see it's eyes.
Danny often found himself accompanied by companions, both helping and harming him, but he could never make out their faces. Their voices were muffled and jumbled, but sometimes he'd make out the occasional word or name.
After Kakashi told Tsunade about the recurring nightmares, she told Danny to come to her when he had one, and tell her every detail.
"They just feel so real— like memories rather than dreams." Danny told her. Tsunade stared down at her desk, troubled.
"Perhaps some of them are— suppressed memories." Shizune suggested carefully. Tsunade shot her a look. "I–I mean— from when you were with your Aunt; before Orochimaru's attack."
"I guess…" Danny said. Tsunade looked up at him.
"Anything else?" She asked.
"Yeah, usually the people I'm with are— blurry. I can never make out who they are, but this time… This time I could make sense of two of them." Danny said, and Tsunade and Shizune exchanged a look.
"Who were they?" Tsunade said, narrowing her eyes. Danny frowned, and looked at the floor.
"I— I think they were my parents. They were on the tank." He said.
Shizune looked away from Danny while Tsunade sat up, and closed her eyes.
"Well, then it couldn't have been a memory. You say you where only a little younger than you are, but your parents, along with your sister, died during the Nine-Tail's attack on the village when you were just a baby."
"Yes. I know— It's just that..." Danny sighed.
"I know these dreams are confusing, but remember that they're exactly that: dreams—"
"Then why do I have to report them to you every time I have one?" Danny interrupted the Hokage, and she opened her eyes, glaring at him. He glared back before giving an insincere apology for interrupting her.
"Thank you for coming, Danny." Tsunade said, dismissing him. Danny started walking away. "And continue reporting to me as these dream occur."
"Yes, Lady Hokage." Danny said, exiting the room. He clenched his fist, suppressing his anger. He knew they were hiding something from him; that these dreams really meant something; or at least he hoped it meant something. He once heard that dreams could reflect reality, or even show visions of the future.
If this was so, then maybe his parents really were alive. Maybe he will meet them in the future. Either way, these dreams had to mean something.
After all, these dreams sometimes felt more vivid than his own memories.
Memories of living with his Aunt Daio after his parents died, Daio becoming seriously injured during Orochimaru's attack, Kakashi Sensei taking him under his wing— He knew these events happened, and he knew these memories were true, but once or twice before, his head would begin to hurt, and these memories felt fuzzy. Actually, now that he thought of it, this happened more often that.
Danny stopped, and slumped against the wall as a pain started to grow in his head. He groaned, but as soon as the pain began, it stopped. He paused for a moment, trying to remember what he was thinking of after he left the Hokage's office. Something about a dream?
He knew he went to the Hokage's office to talk about one of his nightmares, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember that dream's content. Danny shrugged, stood up, and continued walking down the hallway.
.
.
As soon as Danny left, Shizune exhaled, and turned to the Hokage.
"His dreams are getting more and more vivid. Do you think he's—"
"Regaining his memories? Possibly." Tsunade said as she stood up, and looked out at the Hidden Leaf Village under the rising sun. "The seal on his mind could be weakening, and who knows what the state of the seal on his spiritual prowess is."
"Lady Tsunade— what will happen if he remembers? If his powers are unleashed?" Shizune asked. Tsunade continued to stare out the window, deep in thought, then turned to Shizune.
"It could put the village in great danger." She said, opening a desk drawer. She pulled out a gear shaped medallion.
"We must contact Clockwork immediately."
A/N: Hey guys and gals. I just finished the entire Naruto series, and I had a ninja-itch I needed to scratch.
Will I continue this story? Good question. Let's see what happens.
