Ectoplasm and Chakra

by Sholay

When Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius combined to create the catastrophe that would plague Amity Park for ten years, everyone assumed Danny Fenton died. But the truth is far different. Stranded in a strange new land, a world-weary Danny meets a young Naruto Uzukmaki. It is an odd turnabout to be only 'ordinary' in a village of the extraordinary… TUE timeline; Naruto prequel.

4. PART IV - SASUKE

Part IV. Enjoy!

Wow. You all are awesome. I love hearing your thoughts as we go through this fic!

Tuck in with cozy lights and hot chocolate. This is going to be a long doozy of a chapter!

Happy Holidays! Happy New Year!

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Ectoplasm and Chakra

When Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius combined to create the catastrophe that would plague Amity Park for ten years, everyone assumed Danny Fenton died. But the truth was far different. Stranded in a strange land, a world-weary Danny meets a tiny blond boy with a nine-tailed fox on his shoulder and trouble on his heels. It is an odd turnabout to be simply ordinary in a village of the extraordinary… TUE timeline; Naruto prequel.

A Danny Phantom & Naruto Crossover Fanfiction

By: Sholay

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PART IV - SASUKE

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"Yo! White ghost! We got a new medic-nin starting today. Show'im around."

Danny was tying on his apron when he heard this order from one of the medics standing behind the reception desk. He shot the ninja an unamused look and the man grinned unapologetically back at him.

It annoyed Danny how there were still people in the hospital who insisted on calling him 'white ghost'. The term wasn't outright pejorative, but it had an unpleasant slant to it and carried all sorts of unfriendly subtext: 'different', 'subpar', 'outsider'.

"You could have at least phrased it like a question." Danny mumbled to himself as he looked up and met the eyes of the newbie.

He was surprised to see that the new medic-ninja was a boy not much taller than himself. The boy had grey hair but in this village—where hair color seemed like more of a lottery draw than a consequence of human biology—that was hardly an indicator of age. His round face and gangly build seemed to put him around Danny's age.

Danny's interest was piqued. Aside from Itachi, this was the first ninja Danny had met who was close to his age.

"Hi. So you're the new hire? Fenton Danny." Danny introduced himself with a short bow.

"Yakushi." Came the succinct reply as the youth returned Danny's bow with a shallow dip and a raised eyebrow.

Danny's own eyebrows rose as he read in Yakushi's eyes a sense of superiority and mild disdain. Then there was the fact that Yakushi refused to offer his first name. Deciding against confronting the youth about it, Danny drew on the patience he'd honed from years of dealing with Dash Baxter and turned away.

"Follow me. I'll show you around."

Danny took Yakushi to the locker room and offered the youth an apron.

"You know…" Yakushi drawled. "I'm quite familiar with many hospital procedures. I graduated at the top of my class, you see. I don't really need to be shown around."

Danny levelled an unimpressed look on the boy. "Have you worked in this hospital before?"

Yakushi hesitated. "… Not insomuch…"

"Have you worked in any hospital before?"

This time, Yakushi bristled. "I've treated my teammates before, and I'll have you know the training is quite—"

"I'm not trying to upset you." Danny interrupted, despite the fact that his last question had been edging on condescending. "All I'm saying is that there are certain rules and procedures that are followed in a hospital that you may not have learned while in the field. Whatever you might think of me, I'm sure that it'll be helpful to learn where the linens are kept separate from the scalpels, rather than finding that out on your own."

Yakushi was silent for a long moment. Then just as Danny thought the boy was going to rebuff him, a strange expression seemed to enter the boy's eyes and Yakushi's lips curled in a ghost of a smile.

"Very well, Fenton Danny. Lead the way."

Danny made an effort to give his tour of the hospital as quickly and as efficiently as he could. His earlier curiosity with the boy had been largely quashed by the boy's elitist attitude and also his overall oddness. He could hear Yakushi humming and agreeing when he showed him things but couldn't quite shake the feeling that Yakushi was spending more time looking at him instead of the hospital.

As they rounded a corner, Danny was stopped by one of the junior medic-nins.

"Danny! I was hoping to run into you! I've got a lot of… things to do this afternoon. I was wondering if you could maybe take care of completing the rounds of the patients on the forth floor? You're good at that sort of stuff anyway."

Recognizing the compliment for what is was—an effort to shove off work onto him—Danny nevertheless nodded in acceptance.

"That's great! You're always so helpful." The ninja grinned and then disappeared down the hall without another word.

This event happened three more times with three different ninja before Yakushi spoke up.

"You know they're using you." The boy intoned dryly.

Danny turned and frowned at the self-important smirk Yakushi was wearing. "And?" Danny challenged. "Why would that matter to you?"

Yakushi shrugged. "It's pitiable, when the doormat doesn't even realize it's a doormat."

Danny couldn't resist the urge to roll his eyes. "I know what they're doing."

"Even worse." Yakushi's eyes narrowed briefly before returning to their normal aloofness. "Then you're putting yourself under their feet."

"Look." Danny let out a sigh and rubbed a finger across the ridge of an eyebrow before raising his hand to card his fingers through his hair. "We don't know each other so my life really shouldn't be any of your business but if you haven't noticed, I work here. It's my job to look after patients and to learn how to help people get better. If other people don't want to do their jobs then that's on them. But on my part, I'm going to do my best to make sure this hospital runs smoothly."

"Even if you get no personal gain from doing the jobs of other imbeciles?" Yakushi commented.

"Hey, there's something to learn in any task. Even the boring ones." Danny said honestly.

"Hmm…" Yakushi hummed. "I disagree."

"You're allowed to." Danny shrugged.

They continued their tour and Yakushi was completely silent until they reached the rooftops.

"We hang the laundry out here. Not much else going on up here." Danny said as he gestured at the lines of linens. "If you ever need any help and you can't find me then I'm probably up here."

"Doing laundry? More work skivved off on you by others?" Yakushi asked sardonically.

Danny was about to reply when the other spoke again.

"Where do you live?" Yakushi asked abruptly. Danny turned and saw that Yakushi was watching him with an odd, penetrating expression. "I haven't seen you around the Orphanage."

"Konoha has an Orphanage?" Danny blinked.

"Of course."

"Really?"

Yakushi scowled. It was the first real expression Danny had seen on the boy's face all day. "Yes. I should know. I live there."

'Then why don't Naruto and Sasuke?' Danny wondered. 'And me?'

Danny shook his head. "I didn't even know there was an orphanage. I live in a small apartment. I pay for it with the earnings from this job." He held off from mentioning the Hokage's stipend, sensing that it would not be a wise thing to bring up.

Yakushi tsked. "You are lucky."

"Eh…" Danny let his head tilt to the side. "Depends on your point of view. Living alone has it's own issues."

"It also has freedoms." Yakushi's expression was bright, his teeth were bared and for a moment he looked dangerous. Danny stiffened and was considering the emptiness of the rooftop when Yakushi's expression abruptly schooled itself back into neutrality.

"Forgive me." The boy said, but offered no explanation. Then, an odd smile stole across his face and he looked at Danny. "It's no matter. If everything proceeds as planned, then soon I'll have my freedom."

"Huh?" Danny felt like he'd been left behind in the conversation. "You mean you're going to move out of the Orphanage?"

Yakushi chuckled. "I mean so much more than that. You… You've been quite interesting… Of interest, even. Maybe even to others, yes?" Yakushi drew closer and placed a hand on Danny's stiff shoulder. He leaned close into Danny's personal space. "Perhaps when it's time, I'll let you come with me." Yakushi flashed Danny an unsettling grin then in a quick movement he took his hand off Danny's shoulder and turned away.

"I look forward to working with you." Yakushi drawled as he exited the rooftop.

Left tense and uneasy by the weird encounter, Danny huffed and ran his nails roughly over the back of his head, as though to scratch a phantom itch.

Deciding that mulling over the incident was going to do him no good. Danny shook his head, put Yakushi out of his mind and went back to work.

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"You know, you heal surprisingly quickly for someone who resists chakra treatments." Shizune told him later that day as she unwrapped the bandages on his chest. "You don't need these anymore."

"Yeah, I've heard someone say that before. What does that mean? Is it really such a big deal?" Danny asked as he tugged down his shirt.

"Well, personally, I've never encountered it before. It might not have been a big deal on its own, but factoring in that no one seems to be able to sense any chakra within you it's actually kind of alarming."

Danny raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"Every living cell has some degree of chakra. We, ninja, train to be able to mould and manipulate this chakra to our needs. This makes our chakra more active. Civilians, like you, can't manipulate your chakra. It's latent, but it's still there. When I look at you I don't see any chakra, latent or active. And that shouldn't be possible. Unless you're dead."

The look she was giving him suggested that she was actually considering this and Danny blinked rapidly. "Uh… well… I'm not, y'know. Dead, that is." He told her and put a hand to the back of his neck as he laughed nervously.

"Hm… So it would seem." She hummed.

"Oh… oh!" Danny snapped his fingers and looked up at Shizune with sudden understanding in his eyes. "So that's how the Hokage knew I'd stitched up that man!"

"What?" Shizune blinked at Danny, bemused.

"That day—when you gave me this job. The Hokage noticed I'd stitched up that one patient. I always wondered how he knew it was me. I thought it was because my stitching job was bad but… you guys don't use stitches!"

Shizune's lips quirked upward and her eyes were wry. "Well. Yes. We don't use stitches here. But Danny…"

Danny raised an eyebrow and Shizune's smirk grew into a grin.

"Your stitching job really was terrible."

"Oie!"

Hours later, Danny was sitting at his desk, staring blankly at the pages of the book before him as his chin rested on the heels of his palms. Naruto—off on some kind of mischievous mission—wouldn't be coming by today and Danny was surprised at how much he missed the kid's presence. In a very short period of time he'd gotten very used to having Naruto around. The kid was loud and hyperactive and insistent and annoying.

He liked having Naruto around.

He didn't want to go back to what he'd been before.

The loneliness stretched, oceanic, before him. Deep, dark, bottomless.

"Itachi…"

Danny stirred, inhaling and raising his head off his hands. Sasuke's face was scrunched in a pained frown. Danny sighed and prepared himself for another fit. He stood and prepared to hold the boy down.

"Itachi… No. Mom, Dad…" Sasuke shook his head and Danny quirked an eyebrow at the new vocabulary.

Abruptly, Sasuke's eyes snapped open and scanned the room wildly before fixing on Danny.

The boy's scream of fear startled a shocked outcry from Danny himself.

Sheer surprise kept Danny from reacting soon enough. Sasuke scrambled backward on shaking limbs and tumbled off the bed, taking the sheets with him. Seeing the boy tumble out of view snapped Danny out of his stupor. He scrambled around the bed and saw Sasuke wildly kicking the sheets off himself before pushing to his feet.

"No!" The boy was still screaming, white face frozen in fear and not quite looking at Danny. "No!Get away! Itachi! Why? Mom, Dad! No!"

Hands raised indecisively, Danny was momentarily paralyzed. But when Sasuke's wild eyes landed on the window, Danny reacted instantly, leaping forward even as Sasuke lunged. Danny tackled the boy around the middle and they both belly flopped to the ground.

The child struggled with surprising strength, but Danny wrapped his arms around the small body and hugged him close.

By the time the medic-nins arrived, Sasuke had crumbled. He still fought Danny's hold, but his screams had turned to broken sobs.

Sasuke's last words, a bare whisper of breath before they were pulled apart by the hospital staff, left a pit of ill ease in Danny's stomach:

"Why did you do it? Why?... Itachi…"

As they put Sasuke back on the bed, people with glowing eyes and glowing hands approached. Danny stayed well out of the way, watching from a non-obtrusive corner of the room, but he couldn't help noticing the way Sasuke shied away from the hands, eyes wide with alarm and fright as he stared at the masked medical-ninja.

Questions began floating around about calling the Hokage. But whatever adrenaline had been keeping the boy moving was running out. Sasuke was flagging even before a messenger was sent for the Hokage. By the time the Hokage arrived with Danzo in tow, Sasuke was unconscious again.

"When do you think he will wake up again?" The Hokage asked calmly.

"I don't know. Maybe a few hours. Now that he's woken up the worst is over. He's sleeping properly now." Shizune said.

"Sleeping? Then you can wake him up?" Danzo demanded.

"No!" Shizune looked appalled at the idea. "We don't even know whether he's suffering from any brain damage."

"This would have been easier if we had Tsunade here, instead of her little apprentice." Danzo sneered and Shizune flushed.

"Enough." The Hokage decided. "We will wait for him to wake. Please send for me when he does."

Danzo swept to the side with an angry gesture. Then, his eyes found Danny.

"What is he doing here?" The man exclaimed with a snarl. Having found the perfect outlet for his anger he pointed aggressively at Danny, who stayed carefully quiet and still. "There were healers in here! What did the foreigner see?"

"He saw everything." Shizune answered evenly. "He already knows."

"What does he know?"

"About chakra. About who we are. "

"You told this—this white devil—all this?" Danzo turned his burning glare on her. "Your uselessness is compounding."

"Hey—it's not her fault!" Danny abruptly defended, stepping forward. Danzo could say whatever he wanted to him, but Danny would not stand by and let the councilman insult Shizune.

When Danzo turned that black, dangerous look on Danny, the teen responded by straightening his spine and narrowing his eyes. He felt Shizune's eyes on him and his resolve turned steely. Forget ghost powers, this was him, Danny Fenton, and he did not need the ghost to stand up for his friends.

"I found out on my own." Danny continued. "Honestly with the number of people hopping from rooftop to rooftop in this village and tossing knives everywhere it was only a matter of time before I figured out something was going on. What kind of idiot to you take me for?"

"The kind who doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut and his nose out of things that don't concern him." Danzo hissed dangerously. He advanced on Danny and the teen had to grit down on the urge to back away. There was just something really, really off about this man.

"Danzo." The Hokage warned quietly and the man scoffed before turning sharply.

"You recall, Hokage, what comes from inviting foreigners into our village? What happens when we turn soft and allow them to eat our food and learn from our teachers? You remember Oorchimaru?"

Oorchimaru? Feeling that this name was somehow important, Danny tried to commit it to memory.

"I understand your concern, Councilman Danzo. However, there is a danger in presuming the exception to be the rule. Our village was founded by nomads and immigrant, if you recall." The Hokage stated in a slow, even tone.

Danzo's lip curled. "Fine, Hokage. But if this boy is a spy—if he ever leaks information about Konohagakure to anyone outside the village—"

"Then he knows that his life will be forfeit. Right, Danny?"

Danny swallowed at the calm way the Hokage said that. The man could have been talking about going out for afternoon tea, not making conditions on the continuation of his life. Nevertheless, Danny's expression didn't waver as he nodded.

"I understand."

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Sasuke's sudden awakening marked the end of Danny's vigil at the boy's bedside. In the days that followed, Sasuke's room was the host of a constant contingent of councilmen. Danny, though firmly barred from the room, loitered in the adjacent hallway and was the recipient of many unfriendly stares as he stood and watched the many old men gather to question a traumatized eight-year-old.

"Don't you have other duties you can be attending to?" Shizune eventually asked him.

Danny stood, leaning against the wall opposite Sasuke's door, with his arms folded. "No." He answered shortly. "My job's supposed to be looking after him, remember?"

"Danny…" Shizune heaved a sigh and ran her hands over her face, then smoothed out her hair. As Sasuke's main healer, she was the one who had to field the endless string of questions from the Council and her posture was tired, her eyes showing her frayed nerves.

Feeling guilty for causing her extra stress, he lowered his arms and did his best to soften his frown. "I'm sorry. But he only just woke up. He hasn't even had time to… to process… And they're all in there crowding around. They're going to frighten him. They are frightening him. Everyone else has had time to come to terms with what happened to his family. He hasn't. And it's his family! The Council is supposed to be made up of these wise people, but they're all acting so selfish!"

Shizune considered him and Danny met her gaze evenly.

"You're speaking from experience, aren't you?" She asked. She didn't wait for his response before continuing. "Listen, I know you're worried, but there really is nothing you can do for him now."

"I can't just abandon him!"

"It doesn't matter what you want. The Council wants to get certain information from him and they aren't going to let you near him while they do that. If you try to interfere they will toss you out of Konoha, or worse. Then what good will you be to him? And what about Naruto? I've seen that kid around you, Danny. He'd be heartbroken if you disappeared."

Danny was silent, his mouth set in a stubborn line.

Shizune tsked. "Fine. Then how about this: I promise you I'll look out for him the best I can. Do you trust me to do that?"

He wavered. "More than you normally do? I know you're attentive, but you'll take extra care of Sasuke?"

Shizune nodded. "I promise."

Danny blew out a breath, hesitated, then nodded. "Okay. Thank you…"

"Good." Shizune looked relieved, then she smiled at him. "Now, you look beat. Why don't you take a couple of days off, go hang out with your little sidekick? You know you're not doing any good around here—not for you, not for me and not for Sasuke. I think the Council will be more willing to ease up on their restrictions if you're not around, too."

It took some more convincing, but Danny did eventually leave the hospital, after extracting another promise from Shizune to let him know of any changes to Sasuke's condition.

"Yes, yes. I promise to let you know if he so much as lets out a sneeze. Now go. Go out. Go… explore Konoha or something. You haven't really had the chance to do that yet, right? Go get some dango or something. My friend, Anko, loves this little store…"

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The next morning, Danny took Shizune's advice and tracked down Naruto, who was loitering near the ramen stall. The kid was only too happy to spend the day with him, immediately suggesting that they go fishing, as it seemed like Ichiraku Ramen was going to be closed for the day.

An hour later, the two were padding through the leafy underbrush at the outskirts of Konoha. Danny was intrigued, having never wandered this far from the central village.

"Are we supposed to be fishing here?" Danny was unsure as he cast his gaze around at the forested brook, one arm hooked over the two bamboo fishing rods resting on his shoulder. Idly, he wondered if he was breaking his promise to the Council to not venture out of the village.

"Nope." Naruto chirped, hopping down the uneven ground to the water. Arms outstretched at his sides, Naruto bent at the hips and observed the fish snaking through the clear water. "But if no one knows, then it's not really like we're doing anything wrong, right?"

"Hmm…" Danny wasn't impressed by this logic; but he didn't feel like getting into a moral debate with the kid so he let it go.

They sat at the lip of the brook. Danny handed Naruto one of the fishing rods and they settled down to wait. Danny rooted around for a reed to chew on and, upon finding a sizable one, slid it between his teeth and lay back, closing his eyes.

"Soooo…" Naruto's voice came from above him.

Danny cracked an eye open and saw that Naruto was watching him expectantly.

"Yeah?" Danny responded.

The boy grinned at him sheepishly and shrugged. "I… dunno."

Danny slanted a crooked smile on the boy. He knew that tactic, having occasionally found himself using it on Shizune. It was a loneliness thing. After having spent so much time in silence with oneself, it was a thrill to have someone else around to talk with, even if there was really nothing that needed saying.

It also hinted at a depressing eagerness to indulge in the luxury of willing company, for fear that it'd disappear as unexpectedly as it came.

Sitting up, the teen cast his eyes around at the peaceful, leafy scenery. It was a nice spot. Peaceful.

"Do you come here often?" He asked Naruto.

The boy's nose scrunched. "Sometimes… when I get tired of having ramen."

"You? Tired of ramen?" Danny grinned teasingly at the kid. "I didn't think that was possible."

"Well sometimes I like to have something different!" Naruto said somewhat defensively. "And fish is so expensive to buy!"

Danny's smile fell at that and he turned his gaze forward.

Fish was not expensive. In fact it was one of the cheaper foods in Konoha. Red meat was expensive to buy, since the village itself didn't have much livestock to speak of. He hadn't had a decent steak in forever and just the thought of one made his mouth water. But fish? Fish was plentiful in a village close enough to the sea to have seagulls. Fish, rice and noodles were the poor man's diet and if Naruto found fish too expensive then it could only be because the vendors were deliberately raising the prices for the kid.

Those deceitful, vindictive, malicious, self-centred, bigoted—!

"Um… Danny?" Naruto was looking at him worriedly. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Huh?" Danny snapped out of his dark thoughts. "Oh, no… no. It's nothing. I was just… thinking. Were you saying something?"

"Yeah," Naruto nodded. "I was wondering if you could tell me a story or something?"

Danny hummed. "I don't really know any good stories…"

"Oh come on! Something about your family? You have a family, right? I mean, you live alone in Konoha but you're from far away…" Naruto spoke eagerly and his words caused a sharp pain to rise in Danny's throat. There was something about the boy's starving puppy-dog expression that made him relent though and instead of rebuffing the kid, he scoured his mind for a memory.

Soon enough, Danny found himself launching into a tale of a road trip his family had once taken to his Aunt Alicia's.

"So my Aunt Alicia lives out in the middle of nowhere. No, really, when I say nowhere I mean if you ran out of gas on the road you'd have better luck joining a pack of wolves and hunting than you would waiting for someone else to drive on by."

"Drive?" Naruto wondered. "What, like a horse?"

Danny goggled. Then, with a rueful smile he rubbed at his eyes. "Heh… hm… well, okay. Sure. I guess that works. Anyway. The village—if you can call a cluster of three cabins a 'village'…s'more like a campsite—is called 'Spittoon' and… wow, kid, when you were two you probably had more teeth than most of the men there. Anyway… me, my Dad and my sister were out fishing once…"

What followed was a short anecdote of how his father had tried to teach him and Jazz how to fish. It hadn't been effective, especially since Jazz had staunchly refused to touch the worms and their Father had been terrible at fishing.

"So my Dad lifts the rod over his head and throws the line forward—" Danny demonstrated by arcing his arm high over his head. "And somehow the line catches on my sister's toy and pulls it out of her hands and it flew aaaaall the way and splash! into the lake. Now, that's my sister's most favourite toy so what does she do? She goes running right into the lake right after it. She finds it and pulls it up… and dangling off its head is the biggest fish we'd seen all day." Danny grinned in remembrance of the many teasing comments of 'Bearbert FishHead'.

"Now Dad was yelling at my sister to 'Grab the Fish!' but she was shaking her head and what does my Dad do? He goes running right into the lake to grab the fish himself. He doesn't make it far before he slips and takes a header into the water. He comes up and dives for my sister's toy—they both go under. By now my Mom has come out of the cabin and is yelling at them both… Anyway. Dad comes up, the soft toy choked between his hands and… and the fish is gone."

Naruto let out a sound of sympathy. But Danny was still smiling. This story had a happy ending.

"So my sister and Dad come sloshing out of the water, soaked, and Mom is not happy at all. When they get out Mom realizes that my sister's fishing line—she'd stuck the rod between a couple of rocks when she ran into the lake, you see—was pulling tight. So Mom reaches out, calm as can be, and guess what she reels in?"

"The fish?" Naruto guessed incredulously. Danny gave an emphatic nod and pointed at the boy.

"The fish! Needless to say we ate well that night, but Jazz, my sister, never ever went fishing with my Dad again."

Danny laughed as he finished that story. It was one that he really enjoyed telling: it had nothing to do with ghosts and it was well before his family had begun to drift apart: first as Jazz got older and then when Danny gained ghost powers. Especially when Danny got his ghost powers. It had been so much fun, that trip. He remembered them all getting along, the sound of their laughter and how warm and safe he'd felt…

"Danny… are you crying?" Naruto asked him quietly.

Danny raised a hand to his cheek and found it wet. His hiccupped—it came out more as a choked sob.

Naruto didn't say anything, but he put his fishing rod down and padded over to Danny. He hesitated only briefly before raising his hands and putting his arms around Danny, pillowing his head on the elder's chest.

Danny's arms encircled the boy as he returned the hug. Naruto was sad because Danny was sad and the innocence of that emotion arose a surge of sudden affection within him.

'God help this child.' Danny closed his eyes. 'I'm starting to care again.'

---

:o:

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A few days later Danny was on his last day of paid leave from the hospital. The afternoon was hot and sunny and Danny and Naruto had decided to wander down the streets. They were currently exploring a part of Konoha that Danny had, until then, never visited.

A long wall traced one side of the road they were walking on. Solid and tall, it effectively blocked anyone from seeing what was passed it.

"That's the Hyuuga compound." Naruto informed him quietly. "It's where the Hyuuga clan lives."

The Hyuuga… Danny had heard of that family…

Danny looked down at the blond-haired kid. "What, like the Uchiha compound?" Just speaking the name of that place caused a shiver to run down Danny's spine.

Naruto shrugged, unaffected. "Yeah, I guess. I think this one's smaller, though."

"Huh… Is it normal? For families to all… live together in the same group of houses?"

"Um, I don't think so. But they're special. The whole family are all ninja, dattebayo!"

"All of them?" So the Hyuugas were all ninjas? Danny wondered if they were in charge of some sort of governmental function, similar to how the Uchiha had been Konoha's police force. "Actually, come to think of it, has anyone taking over the police force with the Uchiha gone?"

Naruto shrugged again and did not answer. Clearly, such things were beyond the care of an eight-year old.

As they turned a corner, the wall cut away from them and Danny noticed that they seemed to have arrived near the entrance to the compound.

And, from the crowd of people gathering near the entryway, there seemed to be something going on.

Danny's ears perked as a few words of gossip floated around him.

"That's him, isn't it?"

"The Uchiha survivor?"

Danny's steps faltered. Naruto looked up at him then frowned at the wall of gossipers.

Danny was confused. Sasuke had been released from the hospital? Shizune hadn't told him this.

Around them, the people continued to talk.

"Did he come from the Hyuuga house?"

"No, they just came out to talk with him."

"He's pretty small."

"It's strange isn't it? That the whole family was killed and he's the only one who survived…"

"What do think? That he was left alive for a reason?"

"Well, there must be a reason."

"He is a strange one though – you know the Hokage and the Council interrogated him for hours and he didn't say a thing…"

Somehow, even while the passerbyes spread suspicion about one newly-orphaned boy, they still found the time and spare energy to send Naruto cold, unfriendly looks, giving him a large berth as they walked by.

Naruto, in response, bared his teeth in a too-wide grin and went out of his way to purposefully stagger into people.

After a couple of minutes of this, Danny reached out and took Naruto's hand. "Don't incite them. Misbehaving only confirms in their minds all the bad things they think about you. You're better than that. Have pride in yourself."

Naruto actually stumbled, gaping for a moment at the hand encircling his. Then, he beamed, tightened his hold on Danny's hand. Any further degradation from passerbyes was met with a turned cheek as Naruto held his nose high in the air.

Danny smiled down at the kid. But as they passed the entrance to the Hyuuga compound that smile fell as he saw Sasuke standing in front of a large house. A tall man with long hair stood in front of Sasuke, staring down at the kid.

Though the elder man was stern and solemn, Sasuke stared back up into the man's eyes with apparent ease.

"That's Hyuuga Hiashi." Naruto informed Danny. "He's head of the Hyuuga clan."

In terms of imposing statures, Hyuuga Hiashi, Danny thought, had nothing on Uchiha Fugaku.

Danny loitered in the entryway to the compound. When Naruto understood what he was doing, the boy nodded and craftily bent to fiddle with his sandals.

The teen cocked his head. He could just hear the words exchanged.

"Though distant, you are a relative of the Hyuuga." Hiashi spoke gravely to Sasuke. "In light of this connection, I have called you here to express my condolences at the passing of your family. However, I am confidant that you, as an Uchiha of pure blood, will work hard to restore honour and glory to your family name. This is your duty, as the last living member of your clan."

Danny thought those words were not only pretty harsh but lay a stupidly heavy burden on the shoulders of an eight-year-old.

"Take this gift, as a gesture of the continuing goodwill between our families." The man said and passed something to the boy.

"Be well." Hiashi finished, clearly dismissing Sasuke from the premises.

Danny blinked, watched as the two bowed to each other, and he quickly retreated away from the entryway. Naruto straightened and looked at Danny questioningly. The teen gestured with his chin and motioned for Naruto to wait.

When Sasuke emerged, Danny took in his appearance. It had been two weeks since Sasuke had awoken and one week since Danny had had the opportunity to study him closely.

Sasuke looked ill. Dried out. There were dark bags under his eyes and he looked like he hadn't been eating. The item in his hands looked like a package of food. Likely homemade.

Danny wondered why the Hyuugas hadn't simply invited Sasuke in for dinner.

As Sasuke walked away, another boy, slightly older and also with long, brown hair, emerged.

"That's Hyuuga Neji." A voice murmured near Danny. "I heard he's a prodigy. The most promising candidate in his year."

"Oi, Uchiha." Neji called.

Sasuke turned.

"Why did you come here?" The boy blinked his strange white eyes—a trademark of the Hyuuga clan. "Was it because you expected acceptance? For the Hyuuga to take you in?"

Sasuke was silent, an empty look on his face.

"You should have saved yourself the journey." The Hyuuga boy informed him calmly before suddenly frowning. "We may share a common ancestor but you will never be one of us. Frankly, you're a bother. That Kekkei Genkai of yours? Once you activate it there will be ninjas across the five nations looking to steal it from you. We are Hyuuga and we have no use for your Sharingan, which is only a poor bastardization of the Byakugan. So you want to know why none of us will take you in? It's because you are more trouble than you'll ever be worth." Neji's words were harsh, tongue cutting as sharply as a knife.

Danny was shocked by the seemingly unwarranted vitriol spouting from the boy. Before he could do anything though, Naruto was leaping forward.

"Hey! Y-you shut up about him!" Naruto interspersed himself between Sasuke and the Hyuuga. The latter looked taken aback. Danny thought he even saw a ripple in Sasuke's dead expression. "He's worth more trouble than you'll ever be—double!"

Seeing that Neji was gearing up to deliver another verbal smack in the face, Danny stepped in.

"If that was supposed to be a warning," Danny commented to the Hyuuga boy with a bland tone. "You could have been a lot less callous about it."

Neji shot him a sharp glare. "What do you know about anything, foreigner? I have nothing to warn him about."

Danny felt both Naruto and Sasuke's eyes on him but kept his gaze evenly on Neji. It was surprising the secrets one could pick up on while working at a hospital. Danny knew of the Hyuugas: had heard about their strength, both politically and as ninjas. He had also seen, quite notably, the number of Hyuugas who came in complaining of headaches. He'd seen the strange tattoo—the one that graced the foreheads of the majority, but not all, of the family members…

…That graced the forehead of the boy before him.

"In a family that has no problem subjugating each other, an outsider would be even more unwelcome, is that it?" Danny asked, making sure that his tone was bland, even as his words were sharp.

The boy pressed his lips into a thin line and didn't answer.

Danny turned away.

"Come on." He called to Naruto and then purposefully made eye contact with Sasuke to indicate that he was included in that statement.

As they walked away from the Hyuuga compound, Sasuke stayed somewhat away from them, looking as though he was confused about why he was following them.

"You know, I'm getting really tired of people assuming I'm an idiot just 'cause I'm a foreigner." Danny said to no one in particular.

"If it makes you feel better, people think I'm an idiot too." Naruto grinned, putting his hands behind his head. "I think it's cause I'm a kid… or 'cause I don't got no family."

That last comment, Danny couldn't help but notice, had Sasuke eyeing Naruto pensively.

"Anyway, you remember me, right? I'm Danny from the hospital." He introduced himself. "This is Naruto."

"We watched you all the time while you were sleeping." Naruto nodded.

"Yes," Danny agreed. "Only it was a lot less creepy than that. We 'looked after' you while you were 'unconscious'."

Sasuke just watched them with a mildly perturbed expression.

"How come you're not saying anything?" Naruto asked, sidling closer to the dark-haired boy.

Sasuke flinched away and Danny reached out to put a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Leave him be." He told the boy, knowing Sasuke's silence was probably more than simple shyness. Danny had heard from Shizune herself the truth behind the rumours of Sasuke's speechlessness. Not a sound had escaped the boy's mouth since that day he'd awoken screaming in the hospital. The Hokage and the Council, including Danzo, had indeed questioned and needled and prodded the boy for information for hours on end and not elicited a single verbal response.

Jazz would've been able to explain it properly—she would have spouted some smart psychobabble and told him exactly what was wrong with Sasuke. Danny didn't grasp the intricacies of the human condition as quickly as his sister had.

But he knew pain when he saw it. He understood the feeling of being shell-shocked—of being mentally incapable of catching up to a world that had suddenly left you behind to take a nosedive off a cliff.

"Where are you staying?" He asked Sasuke with a calm smile. "We'll walk to your home with you, if you want."

Sasuke sent them a cagey look that was neither here nor there, then turned and began walking down the road. Shrugging to each other, Danny and Naruto followed.

They passed an open trashcan and, with a deft flick of a wrist, the Hyuugas' gift went spinning into the garbage.

A part of Danny understood, but he was more surprised by the part of him that was irritated by the blatant waste of food. Weeks of cheap takeout and carefully counted change for groceries had diametrically changed his views on food. He remembered having food fights as a kid, and even that one 'turf-wich' fight he'd started in the cafeteria the very, very first day he'd caught his first ghost.

"You guys put together 'two' protests in one night?!"

"Meat-eaters, Danny! Always ready to fight! And our high-protein diets give us the energy we need to do it quickly."

"Ultra-recyclo vegetarians are always ready to protest! And because we don't have to waste time cooking our food, we can move even faster."

He smiled faintly as he remembered the eternal fight between his two friends. Back then he'd hated the arguing. Hated his constant role as a mediator. It was strange, then, that those memories were some of his fondest.

"I guess you're gonna need dinner too, then." Danny directed the comment at Sasuke's back. When the teen saw the hesitation in the boy's step he sped up to walk at Sasuke's side. Naruto hurried and flanked the Uchiha's other side. Sasuke did a fairly good impression of a startled deer as he looked between them. "C'mon. There's no harm in sharing one meal with us. We promise we'll be good, right Naruto?"

The blond boy grinned in a wholly unconvincing manner.

"All right! It's decided then! Now, one more question: do you eat meat or are you a vegetarian?"

---

:o:

---

After a somewhat awkward meal standing around a nearby street-vendor's stall, Danny had managed to sneak in a quick grocery-shopping trip. It was nothing special—pretty much just the staples: rice, eggs and vegetables—but it was enough for a week's worth of simple meals and not too much of a burden on Danny's light wallet. The teen had a feeling that Sasuke wasn't eating well; while not as thin as Naruto had been when Danny had met him, Sasuke looked like he was trying to survive on Mr. Lancer's cabbage soup diet.

The moon was rising as they finally headed back to wherever Sasuke was calling home.

Holding the brown bag of groceries in the crook of one arm, Danny blinked as he recognized the path they were taking. Sasuke was pushing open a gate on a tall fence and held it open for them to follow.

"Hey, isn't this—? You don't still live—"

Danny's voice abruptly cut off as he stepped foot into the Uchiha compound.

The moment he entered the compound, it seemed like the sounds and bustle of the main street were sucked right out of the air. Danny had to crack his jaw to relieve an odd pressure in his ears. Gooseflesh rose on his bare forearms.

They walked in silent procession. Sasuke led the way down the empty path that ran between two rows of dark houses.

What Danny remembered to be a robust community of people was now soulless. Unswept streets were already beginning to gather dead leaves that picked up and swirled at their feet.

It was a clear, crisp evening. But in the Uchiha compound, there seemed to be an inexplicable hazy fog in the air.

They didn't speak. Even Naruto was oddly hushed at Danny's side. It seemed the entire place was existing on a taunt string.

There were no bodies. But there were signs that the place had recently been the site of some unknown tragedy. Some of the houses bore gaping holes. Plants were uprooted. A pie sat neglected on a windowsill, gathering flies as it turned sour.

Sasuke stepped up on the porch of a large bungalow and Danny inhaled sharply as he remembered the last time he'd visited this house—how different it had seemed then: how bright and alive it had been. How empty it seemed now… As Danny and Naruto stepped up to join Sasuke on the porch a gust of cold wind blew through them, whistling unwelcomingly.

Feeing like a finger of ice had traced down his spine, Danny sharply shivered. He half-expected to see his breath fogging blue in the air. It didn't, but he still cast a wary eye around at the empty streets and tried to peer past the dark window screens.

Not seeing any sign of danger, Danny was still ill at ease. He glanced down at Naruto, realizing that it had probably been a mistake to let the kid come along.

Sasuke had entered his house and was standing there, staring at them behind a door that was only barely open.

Danny turned to look down at Naruto. "Hey kiddo, if you want to head on home—"

Naruto vehemently shook his head. "No. You're going in to make sure Sasuke puts all groceries away, aren't you? Then I'm going with you."

Danny wasn't surprised, but the boy's answer still made him roll his eyes.

"I only do that with you because you insist on leaving food lying around everywhere." He didn't continue his mild scolding as they stepped up on the porch.

Seeing that Sasuke was still staring at them indecisively from behind the mostly closed door, Danny sent a soft smile at the boy. "We don't want to impose. Please let us bring in these groceries, then we'll head on our way."

After a long, unblinking look, Sasuke reluctantly opened the door further and stepped back to allow them entry.

Danny stepped inside, followed by Naruto, and together they removed their shoes.

The atmosphere in the house was dark and oppressive and the teen was again shocked at the drastic change that had overcome the house. Where the house had once been impressive and intimidating, now it was foreboding and eerie. He remembered the butler—the aloof servant who'd scoffed so obviously at his cultural unfamiliarity. He remembered Fugaku Uchiha—the inscrutable man who, with a single look, had made him feel as tall as a mouse, and about as insignificant. And he remembered Itachi—the haunted teen with the sharp tongue.

Until now, Danny hadn't truly comprehended that they were all dead. It was strange to perceive death touching people not close to him. His own family, friends… his own… It had struck him so strongly. Even Lancer. The pain had been immediate and instantly debilitating. The denial, the anger, the hurt… He'd been incoherent with it. After the explosion, he'd dove headlong into the fire, trying to rescue… But even as Phantom, he hadn't been impervious to the flames. He'd failed to find them, failed even to find their bodies. It hadn't been long before he'd burned both his body and lungs enough that he'd reverted. Then base survival instinct had driven him out of the fire—coughing, heaving and sobbing at his own weakness.

Afterwards, the doctors had told him that the police and emergency personnel had found him trying to re-enter the building for a second time—this time as Fenton, not Phantom. They'd fought and wrestled him onto a stretcher and sedated him. Danny didn't remember any of it.

What he did remember was waking up to see Vlad looking down on him with eyes red from tears and a handkerchief wrung between shaking fingers. He remembered screaming at the man and the resulting fight that had nearly landed them both in hospital beds.

Letting the painful memories fade, Danny looked down at Sasuke, wondering how the boy could bear this so quietly.

Even their footsteps seemed muted as they crossed multiple rooms before coming to the kitchen.

The house was clean of clutter, but dusty. Danny scanned the layout of the bungalow, noticing that even though the house was only one floor built in a square around a courtyard it was still easily much larger than Danny's own house in Amity Park.

With odd detachment, he wondered what had happened to that house. Vlad had told him he'd taken care to preserve everything but there were some things that couldn't be so easily moved: the Ops-Centre, the giant, neon 'Fenton' sign…the Ghost Portal…

Everything had been held in trust for his benefit. But what happened now that he was, for all intents and purposes, dead? Would the Guys in White appropriate the place and his parents' ghost inventions? Would Vlad pull one of his tricks to keep everything for himself?

But Vlad was like him now, wasn't he? When Danny had lost his ghost-half, so had Vlad. So did that mean Vlad no longer had any tricks?

For the first time since he'd arrived in Konoha, Danny recalled the horrifying creature he and Vlad had created through the merging of their ghost-halves. He didn't doubt that it was contained by now, either by Vlad, Valerie, the GiW or all of the above.

Unexpectedly, he felt a spark of concern alight for Vlad. No amount of imagination could conjure up an image of what might have happened after Vlad woke up in the wake of the disaster at his house. With his powers gone, his house decimated and Danny apparently dead, what would Vlad have done?

The howling of the wind outside the windows brought Danny back to the present. A tree was scraping up against the side of the house and he turned to look toward the sound.

Sasuke was watching him silently and Danny sent the boy a sheepish smile.

"Sorry. Spaced out for a moment there." He said by way of explanation as he turned back to the groceries. "This place is a little cold actually. Do you know—"

A crash and a yelp sounded from the adjoining room and both Danny and Sasuke followed the sound to see a very guilty looking Naruto standing over a broken vase.

"I didn't do it!" The blond boy defended himself instantly.

"Naruto!" Danny admonished, then looked down at the sharp gasp that came from behind him.

Sasuke was staring at the shattered vase with a stricken look. Then, in a fraction of a second, his expression turned murderous, lips curling into a snarl as he tackled Naruto bodily.

"Hey!" Danny was taken aback by the sudden violence.

"I didn't do it!" Naruto cried. "I swear! There was this cold wind and—!"

Sasuke, who had come out on top of their brief scuffle, had his fist raised when he froze. His face paled visibly.

"Stop this!" Danny ordered, speaking loudly over the wind outside. He took Sasuke's moment of hesitation to interspace himself between the two boys. He gripped the back of Sasuke's shirt and forcefully yanked him off of Naruto.

Displaying a level of martial skill not usually associated with eight-year-olds, Sasuke twisted under Danny's hold and used the heel of his palm to break the teen's grip before backing away.

Raising his eyebrows, Danny refrained from commenting. Sasuke, it seemed, had suddenly lost interest in them. The boy turned his back as he stood to face the large doors leading into the courtyard.

"Are you okay?" Danny turned to lend a hand to Naruto, who nodded.

"Yeah, but—" The boy cut off as the lights above them flickered with a sharp fizz. "What…?"

"It must be the wind." Danny answered Naruto's unasked question. "It must've knocked over a power line or something."

Again the lights flashed. This time they cut off completely with a sharp crack, leaving them abruptly in the dark.

"Good thing the moon's bright tonight." Danny said quietly, not sure exactly whom he was comforting. The wind was growing stronger; the windows were rattling from the force of it. Another shiver was working its way over his shoulders and he grit his teeth as he exhaled visible fog. "Why is it so cold in here? Sasuke, come away from there. It's not sa—"

Something thumped loudly in the direction of the entrance to the house. Then there was a sharp rapping, as though someone was knocking on the door.

The instant all three pairs of eyes turned in the direction of the knocking, there came a snap of wood splintering behind them and Danny spun around. Letting out an involuntary squeak, he ducked, yanking Naruto down with him, before he even realized what he was dodging.

It was a window screen, he realized belatedly, ripped clean off its frame and sent spinning to break into pieces against the opposite wall.

The gale that ripped through the room made them all flinch. The wind was strong enough to send their hair flying and make them unsteady on their feet. Calligraphy scrolls were torn off the walls and the wooden doorframes rattled alarmingly. The shards of the broken vase were sent skittering across the floor in a dangerous spiral.

"Strangers!"

Danny's head came up at the sound of a voice howling in the wind.

A scream tore from his mouth; the horror of the sight before him rendered his mind briefly blank.

A mouth hanging open too wide. Teeth. Colourless translucent skin. Eyeless sockets. Floating. Thing.

He didn't have enough time to register any more details before the figure suspended in the wind was swept away.

"Trespassers!"

This time it came flying at his head—bony limbs and a disjointed jaw—and Danny threw himself to the side with a yelp. Looking up, his eyes widened as he saw there were many more of them swarming into the room on the wind.

"What are you doing?!" Naruto shouted at him. The boy hand one hand held over his eyes, to shield them from his wildly blowing bangs, but otherwise looked wholly unconcerned at the fact that they were being beset by a horde of angry ghosts.

Then, Danny shuddered as a wash of apprehension came over him. His gaze was drawn inexplicably to the fox on Naruto's shoulder. Other than deciding that it was a ghost, he had yet to figure out why the thing was always with Naruto. Truthfully, Danny had more or less ignored the ghost fox as it seemed largely harmless.

For the first time since Danny had noticed the multi-tailed fox, it moved. The tails rippled, fanned outward and Danny counted nine in total. The fox opened its mouth in a wide yawn and then revealed irises of piercing vermillion as it set its narrowed gaze on the writhing vortex above their heads.

The effect was instantaneous; the figures shrank back wailing and hissing.

Danny didn't pause to question it. Taking advantage of the distraction, he lanced across the room and crouched, grabbing Naruto's arms.

"Where's Sasuke?" He demanded.

"I-I don't know. He ran out that way—" Naruto pointed shakily at the open doors leading to the courtyard.

The wailing was starting to sound angry and Danny quickly shifted his grip to Naruto's wrist. "Come on!" He urged, tugging the boy after him as he scrambled to exit the room.

Skidding to a halt on the veranda that encircled the courtyard garden, he quickly spotted the red and white symbol of the Uchiha fan that adorned the back of Sasuke's shirt… clear across the courtyard and facing a large set of double doors. The boy must've walked the wooden path tracing the circumference of the courtyard.

Too long. Danny surmised, and then he hopped off the porch.

"Wha—!" Naruto barely managed a shout of surprised as he was dragged down after the teen by the wrist.

The grass was wet; grit and pebbles snagged on the soles of his bare feet but Danny barely felt it. His plan had been to cut straight through the garden but there was some sort of water feature in the way. It was a pond, set with a stack of stones serving as a waterfall. As he got closer he calculated that he could leap over it. But Naruto was likely too small to make the jump.

He stooped, and in one swift motion swept Naruto's legs up in on arm as the other came under the boy's back.

Naruto was shouting something, but Danny wasn't paying attention. He leapt—

—In that exact moment, the room behind them seemed to explode outward. Wind and debris came blasting against Danny's back, reaching him mid-jump and tossing him forward. Instinctively he closed his eyes and curled around the child in his arms. He cried out as something hit him in the back, then scraped across his arm but his voice was lost in the loud howling of the ghosts that came soaring out into the air above them.

Realizing he was falling, and desperate not to land on the child in his arms, he twisted and managed to hit the floor on his side. He skidded with the force of the impact, then was abruptly stopped as his spine came abruptly into contact with something hard.

He groaned, twitching.

'Wow. That hurt.'

"—nny! Danny!" A voice was calling from his arms and he squinted his eyes open.

"Ow…" Blinking, he looked down at Naruto, who was wriggling to free himself from Danny's arms. He let Naruto go and watched the boy stand up. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Naruto said shakily and looked to his side. Following his gaze, Danny saw Sasuke staring at them with wide eyes.

"Huh," Danny blinked as he reoriented himself. He saw that he was laying on the wooden walkway and his back had hit a tall, wide post. The wind must have knocked them right across the courtyard.

He struggled to twist onto his hands and knees, grimacing as first his neck then his back cracked. Getting slammed into things had been considerably easier to bounce back from when he'd had ghost powers.

Speaking of ghosts…

He looked up and felt his arms weaken as he stared at the vortex of ghosts spinning in the air above them. When was the last time he'd seen so many ghosts in one place? There had to be dozens…

"Oh come on," Danny vented, with a dip of the head and a frustrated eye-roll. "You could have sent me anywhere at all: the Bahamas, Europe… an alternate universe where I became friends with Skulker to save the world from a giant meteor… But nooo, you had to go and send me to the one place that's possibly even crazier than Amity Park! Whyyy? What did I ever do to you?" He whined to the absent Clockwork as he sat back and ran a palm over his face.

"Uh… Danny?" Naruto's voice sounded worried.

"This is because I used to collect ghosts and keep them locked in the thermos for a few days, isn't it? I didn't let them go cause they just kept coming back! Do you have any idea how annoying it is to get kidnapped by a trigger-happy grease-ball ghost in a tech suit during an exam only to come back and find out everyone else was excused from the exam because another tech-happy, greasy-haired ghost got triggered and decided to take over all the electronic equipment? Of course, then I get in trouble for 'running-out' during the exam and—OW!"

Danny snapped back to the present and stared up at Sasuke in surprise as he put a hand to his stinging cheek.

"Did you just slap me?" Danny asked the dark-haired kid incredulously.

"Danny!" Naruto interrupted him. "The wind's getting stronger!"

"Wha… oh…" He held up a hand to keep his bangs out of his eyes as he gazed up. The vortex was turning into a small tornado that had begun to tear through the garden. "Those ghosts aren't kidding around. We need to get out of here!" He winced as he pushed himself to his feet, realizing for the first time that he had a cut high on his arm that had bled down to his fingers. His legs were wobbly too, but he would have to shake that off.

"Ghosts? What ghosts?" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke was hesitating before the double doors, one hand resting on the frame without pushing it open.

"Come on Sasuke! We need to go! Can we get out through there?" Using his height advantage, he reached over the boy's head and pushed the door open.

Sasuke turned, raising his hands as though to stop them from entering. Danny didn't give him time to protest, pushing quickly into the room. Gesturing for the two boys to follow after. When they were all inside, Danny closed the door.

Silence.

The teen blinked, jerking his hands off the doorframe and then letting them hover there in mid-air. Closing a simple door of wood and paper should not have made it that quiet. Which meant the ghosts had calmed down. But why?

"Uh… uh… Danny?" Naruto's voice wavered.

Turning, the first thing he realized was that there was light in the room coming from two mysteriously lit candles at the far end of the large square room.

The next thing he noticed were the bloodstains staining the wooden floor.

Naruto was staring at the blood with wide eyes as he sidled up to Danny's side.

Now that he was paying attention, he could see more signs of trauma: a screen was ripped, there was a dark splatter across one wall…

Sasuke was standing in the centre of the room, still as stone with his head lowered and his hands clenched into tiny fists.

Abruptly, Danny understood what this place was.

This was where Sasuke's parents died.

"Oh no…" Danny breathed. "We need to get out of here."

The candles blew out.

"Trespassers."

There was a creak of wood behind him and Danny could only turn and watch as the doors slowly opened. The wind began to circle him and Naruto. Having a fairly good idea whose ghosts these were, Danny reached down to clasp Naruto's hand in his and then stepped closer to Sasuke.

The dark-haired boy ignored them, lost in his own world, but the ghosts noticed Danny's movement and a low menacing hiss seemed filled the air.

One by one, multiple ghosts began stepping out of the wind, they stood, floating, in a circle surrounding Danny, Naruto and Sasuke.

Now that he could see them closer, Danny was able to discern more details. All their eyes had been gored out of their heads, but many wore the headband designating them to be ninja. Many had similar features. It was the round fan symbol adorning one of the ghosts' shirts that confirmed Danny's suspicions.

"Who are you?" They asked in chorus.

"We—" He was quickly cut off.

"Why do you come here?"

"We're friends." Danny answered, trying his best to sound both soothing and trustworthy. "We aren't here to cause any trouble. We—"

"Who are you talking to?!" Naruto questioned him loudly.

"Lies!" The ghosts judged and Danny flinched back as they stepped inward. "We shall not suffer intruders in our home!"

Their hands rose into the air and Danny took another step back. Standing in the centre of the circle of ghosts he gathered Naruto close and pulled the non-responsive Sasuke to his side.

It was like standing in the eye of a vortex. Danny felt the winds tugging at him in all directions. Unable to withstand the gale on his feet, he dropped to one knee. Helplessly, he reached inward, calling for the monster that he had cursed so many times. His teeth gnashed together, eyes closing as one hand came up to fist in the material over his heart.

'Strength… I need strength. To protect Naruto. To protect Sasuke. And… and for me. I… I don't want to die here!'

In the instant he reached this resolution the wind seemed to taper off. Blinking his eyes open in surprise, Danny half-expected to see his hands covered in white gloves and a glowing green dome over his head. He saw neither of these things, but what he did see was more startling and it took his breath away.

"D-Dad?!" His voice broke over the word.

He barely noticed Sasuke's eyes snapping sharply in his direction or Naruto's concerned touch on his shoulder. All he saw—all he could see—was the semi-translucent, heavy-set man standing protectively over him.

"Danny!" Jack Fenton cried, sparing barely a look over his shoulder. "You need to get out of here. Now! I can't hold them back much longer!"

Danny gaped at his father uncomprehendingly. "DAD!"

"Listen to me, son! You need to get those kids out—these ghosts mean business!" Jack grunted, back-stepping and that was when Danny realized that his father had his hands up in a defensive gesture, almost like he was holding up something. The ghosts were swarming and calling out angrily but were no longer advancing inward. Danny could see there was still a gale swirling around and above, but the wind no longer touched them.

"Dad! Wait! No! You can't—"

"We Fentons are ghost hunters through and through!" Jack managed to look back far enough to send Danny a grin that drove a wrenching pain violently through the teen's heart. "A little bit of weight loss isn't going to stop Jack Fenton!"

Danny laughed deliriously. Only his Dad would call becoming a ghost a little bit of weight loss.

Blinking the tears out of his eyes, 'No time for that! Move now; cry later! Later!', He pushed himself to his feet and cast his eyes around the room.

"Sasuke! Is there a fast way to get out of this house?" The pitch-haired child looked at him with a blank, overwhelmed expression and Danny shoved a hand through his hair in impatience. "Come on, Sasuke! Please! Think! A way out! It's not safe here!"

Some understanding must have come to the boy because his dark eyes narrowed then he nodded and pointed to the far end of the room were there was a previously unnoticed door.

"Dad!" Danny called, "The door! Can you get us to the door?"

Jack grunted and gestured for them to keep behind him. Danny reached out his hands to Naruto and Sasuke, making sure they stayed close. Then, with painstaking slowness, they travelled backward, step-by-step as Jack kept them under the shield. The ghosts ever remained just beyond Jack's barrier. Danny shivered as, despite their sightlessness, the eyes of the ghosts seemed to bore straight through him.

Finally reaching the door, Danny swept it open then dropped to his knees before Naruto and Sasuke.

"Go!"

Both boys looked at him uncertainly.

"You need to go." He said urgently. He looked at Sasuke. "You'll be safe outside the Uchiha compound. Get there as quickly as you can." He waited long enough for Sasuke to nod and then turned to Naruto. "Stay close to Sasuke. They don't want to hurt him so if you stay close to him you'll be fine." He had no idea if this was actually true but he had to convince Naruto to leave somehow.

"They who?" Naruto protested. "What is going on? Who wants to hurt us? And who do you keep talking to?!"

"Danny!" Jack warned.

Danny shook his head. "I can't explain now. There's no time! Go, go, go!" He practically tossed the boys out.

Naruto turned. "What about—"

"Go! I'm coming!"

He watched them only long enough to make sure they were running, then turned and rose to his feet in the same motion.

"Dad," He said, and it came out more plaintively than he'd intended.

"You need to get out of here too." Jack told him.

He wished the man would turn around. All he could see was his father's back and he wanted to see more. But Jack looked like he was struggling to hold up the barrier.

Danny stepped closer. He needed to see his father's face. "Dad, I—"

"NO!"

He had gotten close, not close enough to touch the barrier, but enough. The ghosts lunged, the barrier cracked like an eggshell and Danny was thrown backwards by something he couldn't see. His injured back hit the wall and he gasped as stars exploded before his eyes.

"DANNY!"

There was a flash of light, then wind and loud wailing. Danny, crumpled to the floor, head spinning, couldn't make sense of what he was seeing. One moment the ghosts were converging on his father and then a flash of light burst through the room. Suddenly the ghosts were fleeing, through the walls, the ceiling, crying out in anguish, they fled.

"Son…"

Danny pushed himself up on his elbows, saw the red blood running down his shaking arm and ignored it as he looked up. Jack was kneeling over him and looking at him in concern.

"Dad…" Danny sniffed, then scrubbed at his face in an effort to wipe away the insistent stinging in his eyes.

"Hey, Dann-o." Jack said with a fond smile.

The teen looked up, drank in his father's features.

There was a keen brightness in the man's eyes. "I can't stay long. Already used up too much energy. Ha! But this power would've been handy fighting ghosts back in the day, eh, son?"

Danny was speechless and Jack grinned.

"Of course, who'm I talking to? Right, Danny Phantom?"

"You know!" Danny drew back with a gasp. Quickly, he looked down at himself, only to confirm he was still solid—still human. But then, how had his Dad…?

Jack laughed. "Bit difficult to hide things from the dead, you know! But don't look so worried! My son—a ghost hunter and I didn't even know it! I'm so proud of you! I need to make an action figure—TWO action figures!"

Proud! The word smashed against the wall of blame and denial Danny had heaped against his ghost half.

"But Dad…" Danny lowered his eyes, suddenly breathless. "I-I… I'm not that person anymore… I don't… I don't have that power anymore."

"Oh, don't say that, son. Even without the fancy mojo and old-man hair, you're still doing your best to protect those boys aren't you?"

"I…"

"And that Danny, is because of the strength of your heart." Jack pointed at Danny's chest, then placed a large hand over the teen's much smaller one. "Not the strength of your fists."

Danny closed his eyes. Almost… he could almost imagine the feel of his father's hand over his.

When he opened his eyes, he started forward in alarm. Jack had risen to his feet and was backing away. Quickly, Danny pulled himself to his feet as well.

"No!" He reached out, grasping at thin air.

"I'll be seeing you again, son. But take your time, won't you? We're in no hurry. And your Mom will be sad if you come too soon."

And then, with a parting grin and a wave, Jack Fenton was gone.

Feeling utterly spent, Danny slid to the ground bonelessly. He sat there staring blankly at nothing and it was a long time before he finally lifted his head.

"You are Sasuke's parents aren't you?" He asked the two ghosts floating in the room, the only ones left after the unexplained mass retreat of the ghosts.

"Uchiha Fugaku," He looked at the familiar man then looked at the woman. "And… I'm sorry, I don't know your name."

There was silence, then…

"Sasuke… is our son. Yes." The woman replied.

"You're tied to this place?" Danny asked from his seated position on the floor, possessing neither the will nor the strength to get to his feet. He hardly even raised his head, speaking more to the floor than the deceased couple before him.

"Yes." She continued.

"You frighten him, you know." He said softly, studying the cracks in the wood. "I don't think he can see you—none of the other ninjas seem to be able to see ghosts—but I'm pretty sure he can feel you. And that scares him."

"We just want to look over him—provide what protection we can… as we are…" The woman implored.

"And the others?" Danny did not have to specify which 'others' he meant.

"They are restless… they are greatly disturbed by what has happened." Sasuke's mother spoke with quiet distress. "They too want to protect but have not regained enough of themselves to know how… Though wrongful, we cannot blame them for their heartfelt action."

He wanted to snap, to inform them that yes they were responsible!, but held his tongue. "He needs a place where he can feel safe. Where he won't feel the oppressive weight of his family's guilt and unrest weighing on him, where he can bring friends and not be afraid that something like this will happen."

"We can provide that." Uchiha Fugaku spoke for the first time. Danny's head rose. The man's voice held as must authority in death as it had in life. "While he is here, at home, our son will be safe. He will be protected." The man's voice was grave in a way that would brook no dispute. "We will ensure it."

It was difficult to tell if the man had actually agreed to leave Sasuke, Danny and Naruto be. Sasuke's father's concession hadn't sounded like a concession at all. Abruptly aware of how imperious the ghost of Uchiha Fukgaku was, Danny felt the sudden need to be on his feet. Slowly, mindful of his injuries, he got himself back on his feet.

"We have but one request." Uchiha Fugaku spoke once Danny had regained his footing.

"…Yes?" Danny responded hesitantly.

"We ask that you do not tell our son that you saw us here tonight."

Danny frowned.

"Please," Sasuke's mother beseeched. "It would only cause him pain to know that we are here but cannot appear to him in person. Please."

Reluctantly, Danny gave them his word.

Uchiha Fugaku seemed to draw himself up straight. His arms folded, just covering the fatal injury that tore through his chest. Like all the other ghosts, Uchiha Fugaku's eyes had been gouged from his head. Despite this, Danny still felt the heavy, suffocating weight of the man's gaze on him. Danny shifted on his feet. The sight of the man's eyeless face was horrifying, but Danny did his best to keep his gaze steady.

"Once, I turned you away from this house." Uchiha Fugaku intoned in a slow, ponderous voice. "Today, you are welcome."

And that, Danny would have wagered, was likely as much of an apology as anyone had ever gotten from Uchiha Fugaku.

"Thank you." Danny offered a polite, but stiff inclination of his body.

"Your Father… is a fearsome protector." Uchiha Fugaku continued in a low tone. Danny drew in a sharp breath. "You have a strong legacy to uphold, Fenton Danny."

Instead of increasing the burden on Danny's shoulders, those words put steel in his spine and pride in his eyes.

"Yeah." Danny agreed as he watched the ghosts of Sasuke's parents disappear. "Guess I do."

---

:o:

---

A while later he found himself re-entering Sasuke's house, followed by two boys, both of whom were fidgeting, each for completely different reasons.

"Don't give me that look." Danny said, shooting a glance at Sasuke's petulant face. "I told you: either you come back to my place or we all spend the night here. There's no way I'm letting you stay here all by yourself tonight."

"So… you said there were ghosts?" Naruto blinked widely.

"Yeah. But don't get too excited, kid. They're gone now."

"And only you can see them?"

Danny nodded.

"Why?" This was Naruto's question but Danny noticed Sasuke watching him intensely.

The teen hesitated before giving his answer. "I… don't really know. Back home—where I come from—everyone I knew could see ghosts. But here no one seems to be able to except me. I'm not really sure why."

"You called the ghost 'Dad'" Naruto added tentatively. "… Was it…?"

"Yeah," Danny sighed. "My Dad was there. He was the one holding off the wind."

"You said something to him. But I didn't understand…" Naruto shook his head in confusion.

"Huh?" Danny looked at the blond boy with weary confusion.

"You… weren't speaking Japanese."

Danny blinked. Then, lethargically, the gears in his head started working. English. He'd spoken to his father in English…

"Oh…" Was Danny's only verbal response to Naruto.

Sasuke was staring at him. When Danny met his gaze the boy opened his mouth, hesitated, then closed it, looking away in obvious frustration as a flush spread over his cheeks.

Already knowing what Sasuke wanted to ask, it felt unnecessarily cruel to force the child to speak the question. 'Crueller than lying to him?' "I… I'm sorry, Sasuke. I didn't… didn't see your parents." Anyone who knew Danny even a whit would have been able to see through the lie. He stuttered and wrung his hands and pointedly averted his gaze as he spoke.

But Sasuke didn't see through the deception and the boy nodded, small shoulders drooping.

---

:o:

---

"Oo! Do you have any food for breakfast? I don't like eggs much and it's too early for ramen but buns would be nice!"

Danny, hearing Naruto's voice made his way into the kitchen while rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Naruto was zipping around Sasuke's kitchen in just his shorts, opening and closing cupboards while Sasuke, fully-dressed, looked on with a highly offended expression.

"Morning," He greeted and both boys turned.

Naruto beamed. "Morning Danny!" He answered, abandoning his hunt for food.

Danny didn't miss the relieved look that flashed across Sasuke's face as Naruto stopped messing with the cupboards. As soon as Naruto turned his back the black-haired boy moved to properly close the cupboards Naruto had left ajar and realign items on the counter that had been jostled.

"I was looking for food—" Naruto began turning back and Sasuke stiffened.

"Actually," Danny interrupted. "Why don't you get ready first? We can pick up something as we go back."

"From that tea place we went to that other time?" Naruto looked excited.

"Sure."

"Okay!" Naruto was gone from the room in a flash.

Left alone, Danny felt Sasuke's eyes on him. When he made to meet the gaze, the boy turned in apparent disinterest, moving to pull out first a bowl then an egg, pre-boiled.

"You can come with us, you know." Danny suggested.

Sasuke shook his head.

A moment of silence passed.

"Has it happened before?" Danny wanted to know. "The whole wind-blowing exploding tornado thing?"

Sasuke paused in his peeling of the eggshell, then shrugged before resuming his actions.

It wasn't difficult to read the message behind that gesture. Danny knew Sasuke hadn't completely been surprised when the supernatural wind picked up the other night, but the violence of the attack had been fully unexpected.

They passed the rest of the time in comfortable silence until Naruto came jogging back, thumping bare feet loudly.

"Ready? Ready?" Naruto practically bounced as he asked.

Danny grinned, getting up. "Yup."

Then Naruto noticed Sasuke's food. "Oh! Why're you eating? Aren't you coming with us?"

Again Sasuke shook his head.

"Awww, c'mon!" Naruto pleaded. He walked up to Sasuke, and didn't seem to notice when the other boy leaned back as he got too close. "Pleeeeeease? It'll be fun!"

Naruto leaned in closer, pinning his best puppy-dog eyes on Sasuke. The Uchiha was starting to look panicked.

Danny shook his head with a smile. "Naruto, it's ok. He already got his food out. If he agrees we can take him out another day, right Sasuke?"

Sasuke nodded quickly.

"Aww…" Naruto backed away with a pout "You're coming with us next time though!"

Sasuke left his food to lead them to the front door and watched as they pulled on their shoes.

"So! We're friends now, right?" Naruto asked eagerly and received a blank look from Sasuke.

"Let's go," Danny called, breaking into the conversation before anyone could get offended.

Naruto nodded and exited Sasuke's house. Danny however, remained in the threshold and shared a long look with Sasuke.

"I know it's probably not your first choice, but if something like last night happens again, come find me. I'll do what I can to help. Or even let you just crash at my place." Danny told the boy seriously as he stepped outside.

Sasuke just looked down and, with hardly a flicker in his expression, closed the door.

"Augh! What… what… that guy is so rude! He just closed the door like that! He didn't even answer my question!" Naruto whined as they exited the Uchiha compound.

"Don't take it too hard."

"Why not? He was being a jerk. I just wanted him to come to breakfast… and say we're friends."

"He's wallowing."

"Huh?"

"Grieving." Danny clarified. "It hasn't been that long. He lost his whole family."

"Yeah…" Naruto sounded sullen and he kicked at a stone. Then, more thoughtfully he added, "He does seem kinda sad. And he's not talking at all. I guess it's hard for him."

Danny hummed in agreement. If anything, Sasuke was handling things pretty well. Danny hardly remembered his first month alone. He'd spent most of it sleeping, or lying in a dazed stupor. He didn't even remember eating. It was somewhat surprising that he hadn't completely wasted away. Vlad perhaps did deserve more credit for taking care of him than he'd realized.

"I wonder if we can do anything to cheer him up?" Naruto asked.

Danny looked down at Naruto in some surprise. Here was a kid whose friendship had just been spurned by Sasuke as he still wanted to make the Uchiha feel better. Though an orphan like the rest of them, Naruto seemed to somehow be more. More optimistic, more whole. More alive.

"You know what? Just continue to do what you're doing. You'll win him over eventually. I'm sure of it." Danny said honestly.

'After all, it worked on me.'

---

:o:

---

"Oh, hey Danny," One of the medic-ninjas greeted him as the teen swept into the hospital locker room. Danny was already shrugging out of his light jacket as he entered the room and quickly shucked off his shoes as he reached his locker. He exchanged the items for an apron and indoor shoes.

"Shizune was looking for you." The ninja, an older man, told Danny. "We thought you might've decided to take off another day, since you were so late coming in."

Danny, face hidden as he leaned over to tug on his shoes, rolled his eyes. He wasn't that late, but at the hospital everyone arrived either on time or not at all, without any exception. Lateness invited gossip and long, disapproving stares—things Danny was beginning to associate with Konoha in general.

"Yeah, I had something important to take care of." Danny said to the man as he stood. "I'll make up the difference tonight."

The ninja favoured Danny with a long, curious stare. "You were out for a few days."

"Shizune gave me some time off." Danny agreed.

The man said nothing more, but continued to stare at Danny expectantly. Realizing the man was fishing for gossip, Danny quickly changed the topic.

"You said Shizune was looking for me?" Danny questioned.

"Yeah, she's probably doing her rounds on the upper floors."

"Ok. Thank you. Have a good day." Danny spoke his quick good-bye and left. He knew full well that he'd probably come off as rude for leaving so quickly but the ninja would probably brush it off as Danny not knowing any better because of his 'foreignness'. People overlooking his cultural missteps was one of the few advantages to being a foreigner.

Danny searched the hospital for Shizune to no avail. Then, on a whim, he took the stairs all the way to the top of the building. He pushed open the door at the top of the staircase to exit out onto the roof of the hospital.

The roof was large and it was a windy day. Someone had done the laundry and hung it up to dry in long rows across the roof. Between the billowing sheets, Danny spotted Shizune's familiar figure. She was leaning against a tall metal duct. Her head was lowered and she was clutching her clipboard to herself. She looked lost in thought.

Danny closed the door behind himself and approached Shizune. She didn't appear to notice him and he walked closer.

"Shizune!" He called as he came closer.

He saw her startle and whirl in his direction. Instinctively, he yelped and ducked, covering his head.

"Danny?" Shizune questioned, cocking her head. "When'd you get here? And…what are you doing?"

Realizing there were no thrown projectiles, heading his way, Danny straightened and shot Shizune a sheepish grin.

"Sorry." He said. "It seems every time I surprise someone in this village I get a knife thrown at me."

"Huh." Shizune looked thoughtful. "Well, your tread is really quiet."

Danny quirked an eyebrow, remembering that Kakashi had said almost the exact same thing. "Okay… I don't get what that means but… aren't you guys supposed to be super-powered ninjas or something?"

"Or something." Shizune responded wryly. "Though it depends on your definition of 'super-powered'."

Danny agreed, thinking back to what had been his normal: ghost powers, ghost-hunting parents, archenemy, dangerous ex-girlfriend…

"But your case is a bit different. I told you about chakra, right? Ninja learn to sense approaching chakra—it's a very basic skill. But you have no chakra and therefore seem to slip by our senses."

"Oh… Ok then. Ninja blind-spots." Danny intoned dismissively. Shizune seemed intrigued, but he wasn't all that interested in learning about chakra. It did explain Kakashi though, and he warned himself to be more careful coming up behind people.

"You wanted to see me?" He asked.

"Yeah…" Shizune sighed, leaning back against the duct. "You should know…Sasuke was released yesterday. I meant to inform you but things were too busy around here."

Danny hummed. Quietly, he was happy to hear this from Shizune. It meant she hadn't been actively hiding Sasuke's release from him.

"He never spoke to the Council, did he?" Danny wondered.

"Not a sound, not since he woke up."

Danny examined Shizune. "You look tired."

She shot him a rueful smile. "Is it that obvious? Well… yeah. The last few weeks have been a bit… overwhelming with Sasuke and the Council and everything. I'm a medic-nin. I heal people. I'm not cut out for this political stuff."

"Political stuff?" Danny echoed.

"They want me to do something. Something I can't do."

"What? Something bad?"

"Not exactly. My… mentor… she lives outside of Konoha. They want me to either bring her here or tell them where she is. But my mentor left Konoha for a reason. She doesn't want to be found. And I can't betray her trust." Shizune looked conflicted. Danny wondered quietly why she was confiding in him, of all people, but didn't ask. Instead he moved to stand next to her and turned to lean on a section of metal railing.

"You told them this?" He said to Shizune, head tilting.

"Of course." Shizune nodded.

"But… couldn't they just relay any message to her through you?" Danny wanted to know.

Shizune chuckled and looked at him. "Danny, you should know by now that Konoha thrives on its secrets. I'm not exactly high enough in the social strata to learn the secrets that my mentor would be privy to."

Danny thought that sounded pretty ridiculous. Wasn't everyone supposed to be on the same side? He knew from experience though, that voicing this opinion would only lose him esteem points in Shizune's eyes and gain him another 'you wouldn't understand because you're not from here' lecture.

"I ran into Sasuke yesterday." Danny said instead. "You know he's still living at the Uchiha Compound."

Shizune sighed. "Danny… what am I supposed to do about that? We already had this discussion about Naruto."

"There's an orphanage here, you said so yourself." Danny pointed out. "One of the new staff lives there, doesn't he? Snobby what's-is-name… Yakushi."

"And like I said, the orphanage is unfortunately poorly funded. The Daimyo—"

"Doesn't even live here, so why does this person get to decide where and why and who to give money?"

"It is the way things are done in Konoha." Shizune said and there was a touch of steel in her tone.

Danny went silent at those words, knowing that was Shizune's way of telling him to stop pushing. His eyes radiated his disapproval.

"Sasuke wouldn't be well-received at an orphanage. His family is too well-known. They would know his family has money. The Hokage will probably arrange for Sasuke to receive some sort allowance until he is old enough to make his own money. His father was also head of the family, which means that they likely had their affairs very well in order. Sasuke might even get access to his inheritance. At least the kid has that. And a home to go back to."

"A home that's filed with the… memories of his family." Danny protested. When he received nothing from Shizune except a tired look, he huffed, pushing a hand through his hair and dropped the matter. "Fine… Fine…" He couldn't help his next comment though. "I still don't get your explanation about Naruto though. Why won't the orphanage at least take him? Sure, he gets that stipend…"

"It's a trust." Shizune said. "The Hokage was given the task of managing Naruto's money until the kid could do so himself. Like I've told you before, the orphanage is reserved for only those who are desperately in need of help."

Danny felt like that was a stupid system. The orphanage was poorly tended to; Naruto was left on his own with a landlady who disliked him and Sasuke was going home every night to a ghost house… No one profited from this arrangement.

But it was unfair to unload this on Shizune. He was taking advantage of her sympathetic ear.

But speaking of ghost houses…

After allowing a moment of quiet, he put voice behind one of the other questions that had been nagging at him.

"Hey, Shizune… what do you think about… ghosts?" He asked tentatively.

Shizune shot him a bizarre look. "Ghosts? What are you talking about?"

"I mean…" Danny looked away shiftily. "D'you believe in them?"

Shizune let out a burst of laughter, which she stifled when Danny gave her an annoyed look. "I'm sorry, Danny, but… ghosts? I know you're newly learning about ninja and chakra but you've been spending too much time reading fiction. Ghosts aren't real." Her smile faded. "What happened to the Uchiha family was a tragedy but there are many ninja who die violent deaths and other than post-traumatic stress symptoms, I've yet to hear any reports of people encountering their dead family members or friends."

"Violent?" Danny latched onto that word. Realizing he wasn't going to make any progress asking Shizune about ghosts, he dropped the topic in favour of another point that had him curious.

In the back of his mind, Danny was comparing the ghosts of Sasuke's family to the fox on Naruto's shoulder. There was something… different about the fox. Something that had scared the ghosts. And then, Danny remembered Kakashi's probing look when Danny had mentioned to him the fox on Naruto's shoulder. The man hadn't looked at Danny like the teen was crazy. Instead, he'd seemed tense. Almost intrigued…

Was the multi-tailed fox something different? Something other than a ghost?

Aloud, Danny continued his conversation with Shizune. "So the Uchihas died violently?" This much was obvious, but he wanted to gauge Shizune's reaction to his probing.

Shizune's face turned instantly blank and her lips tightened. She gave him a warning look.

"I saw the place, Shizune. There's still blood on some of the walls. Nothing has been fixed. And despite that, barely anyone talks about what happened except to mention that Sasuke is the last one left. Why isn't there some investigation going on? How come no one is searching for who did this? And why did you tell me not to mention Itach—"

"Sh!" Shizune hushed him loudly. She shot a look around the rooftop, as though paranoid that someone may be listening to their conversation. "Danny. Ok. Listen to me and listen good: stop asking questions. I'm serious. To me, to anyone—don't ask questions. Don't bring up the Uchiha Massacre to anyone. You never know who could be listening and trust me you do not want to find out what will happen if the Council discovers that you're nosing around this."

Danny was taken aback, "This is murder we're talking about. Who wouldn't be asking questions?"

"Danny." Shizune's expression was grave and she leaned in close as she spoke quietly. "I'm saying that it is dangerous for you, specifically, to ask questions. You're a foreinger. No one knows where you came from or why you're here. Ninja are distrustful conspiracy theorists at best. The Council already doesn't like you. Danzo has made it clear he would like nothing better than to toss you out of Konoha. They kept asking questions about you: about your work, whether you ask a lot of questions, what you were doing in the room with Sasuke, what you heard when Sasuke woke up… They're suspicious of your intentions. And add to that is that people have seen you with Naruto and with Sasuke. You're already walking on the edge of a sword. Take it from someone who doesn't want to see you exiled, or worse, and leave this alone."

Shizune's words alarmed Danny. He couldn't believe that asking a few questions and hanging out with two children would actually put him in danger of being thrown out of Konoha. Or worse.

Before he would hardly have cared. But now he had Naruto… and Sasuke, even. He had seen how the villagers despised Naruto. He saw how Sasuke's distant relatives spurned him. He didn't want to leave those kids to fend for themselves.

"But… I'm no one." Danny told Shizune. "Seriously, I've got no plan, no ulterior motives. I just… Naruto's a nice kid. And Sasuke's been through a lot. And Itachi vouched for me. He could have killed me but he didn't."

Shizune's gaze didn't soften.

"I've gotten to know you pretty well, Danny, and I think you're a good person. But in a village where people are trained to see the weakness in others and to question every action, good deeds are rarely taken at face value. Heed my advice and don't advertise that Uchiha Itachi spared your life."

Danny passed a hand over his face as a shiver went through him. He didn't want to believe what Shizune was implying with her words.

'Itachi? Was he…?'

He remembered the words Sasuke had murmured days ago in his fevered state.

"Why did you do it? Why?... Itachi…"

"Ok. Fine. Just… just let me ask you one more question and then that's it. I won't bring it up again." Danny said and when Shizune didn't answer he took her silence as permission.

"Itachi…" He started, then paused. 'Did he do it? Did he kill his own family?' were the questions circling his mind, but were not the words that left his mouth.

"Is he alive?"

Shizune hesitated, apparently not having expected him to ask that question. Then, with a low exhale, she nodded.

"Yes."

---

:o:

---

For a while, Danny was consumed by his work. Taking days off work, even if they were non-optional days off, was apparently just not done in Konoha. Danny had therefore lost some of the esteem he had built in his co-worker's eyes. To recover, he made an effort to stay long hours and even came in on his off day.

Since his conversation with Shizune on the roof, he had realized that he actually wanted to stay in Konoha. That meant he would have to figure a way to slot himself comfortably into society.

It was an old familiar feeling: the desire to prove himself. It was something he hadn't felt in quite some time.

He saw Naruto almost every day and they frequently went for meals together. But it had been more than a week since he had seen hide or hair of Sasuke.

Standing in his own apartment—now moderately furnished with daily appliances and an actual table, chair and bed frame—Danny thought about Sasuke and decided to do something unplanned.

For the first time since he'd lost his family, Danny actually cooked something. It wasn't anything fancier than chicken and rice with some vegetables, but he'd made the rice in chicken broth and seared the vegetables with spices so it was perhaps not sub-par to freshly made street-food. Pausing only to test the taste and not to actually eat, he packed the food into brand new metal tins that he'd picked up on a whim just a few days ago. It was warm enough to walk outside in a t-shirt so he didn't bother grabbing a jacket before leaving his apartment.

As he passed Naruto's closed door he sent it a guilty glance. Really, he didn't want to exclude Naruto, but Sasuke was going to be uncomfortable enough with just Danny dropping by. The teen didn't think Sasuke could handle both Danny's unexpected visit and Naruto.

So he kept walking, letting out only a short sigh.

Almost before he was ready, he found himself standing in front of the entrance to the Uchiha compound. As he crossed the threshold, he felt a chill and a dampening of sound. He swallowed and gazed around at the rows of empty houses. Slowly, he walked up to the central house. The compound was eerie and foggy. The hair on his neck rose as he had the strong sense that he was being watched.

The wind whistled, unfriendly and dangerous.

Danny picked up his pace.

The oppressive atmosphere seemed to ease off as he closed in on Sasuke's house. He wondered if that was the doing of Sasuke's parents.

Taking a breath, he raised a hand to rap on the door.

The door opened before Danny's knuckles could even make contact with the wood.

"Hey," He greeted Sasuke lightly with a smile.

The boy looked at him.

"I made too much food, see?" and Danny held up the tiffin boxes. His smile grew into a lopsided grin. "So I was hoping you might want to help me finish it?"

Sasuke was now frowning.

"Aw, c'mon! I can't finish it all and it'll just go bad if I stash it." That was true enough. Though there was the little point that he'd planned to make too much.

Sasuke relented, and opened the door just enough to let Danny in. The boy hurried to close the door the minute the teen stepped inside—an interesting point Danny took careful notice of. Perhaps Sasuke, too, was sensitive to the haunted atmosphere that seemed to permeate every aspect of the compound with the exception of this house.

They ate in complete silence, Sasuke giving neither an indication that he liked or disliked the food. After they were done, Danny helped clear the dishes, then looked that the boy. "Ok,… I… I should probably…" Then Danny sent Sasuke a sly look. "Unless…"

Sasuke shrugged and, impressively, made a gesture that seemed to simultaneously convey disinterest and still also suggest the room that Danny had previously slept in. Naturally, the gesture was carried out with Sasuke's typically careful aloofness.

"Sure." Danny answered the unasked suggestion with a smile. "I'll stay."

But when it came time for bed, Danny was in Sasuke's doorway, wishing the him goodnight when the kid patted the bed beside him. The boy froze almost immediately after the action, as though his hand had moved without permission.

"You know, I brought one of my books with me and I still want to get some reading done. If you don't mind me taking half the bed, I could stay a little while." Danny did his best to make this suggestion off-handed.

Sasuke didn't answer, but Danny came back with the book anyway.

One hour later, Danny looked down at the boy. Sasuke was on his side, and had never once turned to face him. Danny was pretty sure the boy was still awake, but not certain.

"Do you want me to leave?" he asked quietly and, predictably, got no reply.

So he simply tucked his book under his pillow and leaned back.

Sasuke spent the night with his back studiously facing Danny. But Danny spent it with his eyes trained on Sasuke's back and saw the way the boy's shoulders would tense and stiffen every time Danny stirred from his spot.

---

:o:

---

Every few days, Danny would visit Sasuke and every time he would come up with a new excuse for visiting: 'I was talking with a friend in the neighbourhood.' 'There's this medicine from the hospital I wanted to drop by for you. But, um… yeah. I guess you don't have chronic migraines, so it's not all that helpful after all…' 'A squirrel bit me and I chased it over here.' The last one gained him a very sardonic raised eyebrow and Danny felt fully accomplished with himself for having drawn that reaction out of the stoic boy.

Mostly, he spent the night to make sure Sasuke's parents were holding up their bargain. Part of him also wanted to keep a close eye on Sasuke. The boy's plight simply struck a strong chord within him. It was easy to guess why.

Generally, the nights were quiet. Uneventful.

Sasuke had gained enough confidence—or pride, rather—to start silently shooing him from his room. Danny took the rejection lightly, moving to the guest room without complaint.

One night Danny awoke to the sound of a piercing scream. By the time he reached Sasuke's room, the boy was on his feet head twitching from side to side like a paranoid bird.

It wasn't the boy that caught Danny's attention, however. Rather, it was the three semi-translucent figures arguing loudly above him.

"You woke him up!" The first, an overweight, balding man, said.

"I didn't mean… oh, he looks so frightened." The second, an elder woman, spoke as she looked at Sasuke in concern.

"I don't know why I let you drag me here. This is such a waste of time!" The last, a young man with long hair, complained with a roll of his eyes.

"Don't say that!" The woman scolded. "He's just a child. And he's the only one of us left."

"He's a brat. And I couldn't care less about him. What I want is his brother, that son of a—"

"Hey, Hey! Enough! Stop that!" Danny called, figuring it was time to intervene.

All eyes in the room swivelled to him, each with the same expression of shock and surprise.

"Who are you?" The balding man asked.

"Forget that," The younger interrupted, swopping down to float in front of Danny. "The hell are you doing here? And how can you see us?"

"I'm a friend of Sasuke's." Danny shot a gaze to the boy, who was looking at him as though he was talking to thin air. Which, Danny realized, was probably exactly what Sasuke was thinking. "He's—"

"You shouldn't be here, kid." The ghostly youth said aggressively, moving closer. Danny swallowed as the wind began to pick up. Sasuke was looking around warily, understanding the danger though not the source of it. "This is our home."

"Look, I just—" Danny started.

"'You just, you just'" The ghost mocked. "I don't care what you 'just', you bloodless little snot-nosed leech." Danny might have found the insult amusing if the doors hadn't started to rattle ominously.

"Wait," The woman reached out a hand. "Maybe there's a reason—"

"Shut-up!" The youth snapped. "Our home is not a tourist attraction! He's a trespasser!"

"I'm not trespassing." Danny said quickly. "Sasuke let me—"

"Sasuke what?" The ghost snarled and with a sharp twist he was bearing down on the eight-year-old. "You little brat, you useless waste of space! You're the only one left alive and you aren't doing anything. You aren't trying to hunt him down. All you do is lay around, lazy like a lizard in the sun. You insult the honour of the family. You aren't worth the name Uchiha!"

Sasuke cowered back, almost as though he could sense the ghost's malice.

"Hey! Get away from him!" Danny said and slipped between the ghost and Sasuke and held his arms out.

"You get out of the way!" The ghost yelled.

"Inabi!" One of the other ghosts cried out.

The fist slammed into Danny's temple, snapping his head to the side. He staggered and threw out an arm to stabilize himself, succeeding only in cracking his knuckles on the corner of Sasuke's desk. Hissing from two sources of pain, he recoiled and winced, waiting for his ears to stop ringing.

A sharp inhale, and Sasuke was at his side, looking up at him with wide, fearful eyes.

"What are you doing!? Stop!" The female ghost was yelling and Danny looked up to see his attacker being held back by the other two ghosts.

The old, balding male ghost was staring between Danny and the younger ghost, Inabi. "How did—"

Danny touched the back of one hand to his head, flinching minutely at the angry flare of pain. The skin was already warm. It was going to inflame into a nice bright bruise by tomorrow. At least nothing felt broken. And his hand came away free of blood.

"Yeah, how was that? You better leave this place or my next hit will give you a new view of your spine." Inabi threatened.

Sasuke shifted and Danny blinked as he saw the boy was now standing in front him.

"No don't!" The woman cried as she struggled to hold the angry ghost back. "You might hurt Sasuke!"

Inabi continued to rage. "So what? That worthless brat—"

Danny's patience snapped

"ENOUGH!"

Sauke flinched at the outburst, looking at him as though wondering if the teen was yelling at him. Danny touched the boy's shoulder briefly in a comforting way, but his eyes stayed fixed on the three ghosts as he spoke. "That is enough of your insignificant arguing!"

"Insignificant?!" Inabi seethed.

"Quiet." Danny ordered in a chilling tone, pinning the ghost with sharp eyes. He felt a familiar power lacing through his voice: an authority that he had, until now, never used as a human. Surprisingly, the ghost fell silent.

"Do you even realize what your presence is doing to him?" Danny asked gesturing at Sasuke. "You are the ones who shouldn't be here. Your very being is a distortion of nature. You're nothing but shadows: poor, desperate manifestations of post-human consciousness." He heard his mother's voice echoing in his, and suppressed the pressure of pain that brought.

While the balding man and the woman looked at him in confusion, the third, Inabi, who had struck Danny, sneered. "You're not going to sound so smart when I beat you within an inch of your life."

"Oh yeah? What we just established right now wasn't just that you can hit me. It was also that I can hit you back." Danny warned.

"You don't stand a change against me, kid." Inabi said cockily.

"Bring it, Inviso-Bill." Danny taunted with a crafty smirk. It was fun to be on the other side of that comment.

The ghost visibly bristled. "My name is not…that! I am Uchiha Inabi!"

"Whatever you say, ghost boy." Mentally, Danny was taking a catalogue of all the derogative names he'd been called during his career as a notorious half-ghost superhero.

"Shut up you… you—"

"Inabi, maybe the boy is right." The woman spoke quietly. "We should leave."

"You didn't want to be here in the first place, remember?" The balding man added.

Inabi scowled, then roughly jerked backward in the air. "Fine. You want me gone, then I'll leave. Leave you to let this foreigner defile our home. Leave you to talk and simper over our pathetic little cousin." He shot an acerbic glare at Sasuke. The boy remained oblivious, standing in a defensive stance, his eyes flickered over the room blindly. Danny was glad for that obliviousness.

Inabi floated down. Danny didn't know the rules of how ghosts worked in this strange ninja village. It seemed like Inabi could touch him, but that had clearly come as a shock to all three ghosts. Did that mean that Inabi couldn't physically touch Sasuke? Danny didn't want to take that chance and stepped closer to Sasuke protectively as the ghost made a slow circle around them. "I suppose I don't need to do anything to you anyway. If Sasuke is anything like his snake-faced brother he'll take care of that all on his own."

"What do you mean by that?" Danny called, but Inabi just laughed and left via the wall.

Danny grit his teeth, the suspicion he'd been harbouring about who had caused the Uchiha clan massacre gnawed at his mind. Looking back at the two remaining ghosts, he knew better than to ask.

"What about you?" He asked, somewhat roughly.

"We…" The woman looked at the man before continuing. "We never meant any harm. We just came to make sure Sasuke was managing ok… We... wanted to make sure that he was taking care of himself. Then… then he woke up, and…"

"I see…" Danny's expression softened. His mind returned to the reason Jazz had given for coming to visit him.

"Please. Please, Danny…" She had begged him. "Promise me you'll take care of yourself."

'Sorry, Jazz… guess I didn't do a good job of listening to you…'

"Who are you?" The man asked.

"Fenton Danny." He answered promptly, hardly even needing to think before putting his surname first anymore. "And, as your 'friend' so nicely pointed out multiple times, I'm not from town."

The woman gave a quiet laugh. "He is family. Those two words run parallel and don't always interconnect."

"Darling," The man chided mildly. "You shouldn't speak ill of the dead."

"Honey, I think the reasons behind that saying aren't quite applicable to us anymore." The woman responded in exactly the same tone.

Danny blinked, not knowing quite how to respond to the interchange. The gallows humour struck him in a place that was a little too raw. "What are your names?" He asked instead.

"My name is Uchiha Teyaki and this is my wife, Uchiha Uruchi." They gave small bows.

"Ah…" With more confidence than he'd had a month ago, Danny bowed neatly in response, tipping a little lower than the elder couple in front of him.

Then he looked at Sasuke. The poor kid still had his fists raised.

He needed to remember that Sasuke could only hear Danny's side of the conversation.

"It's okay." Danny soothed. "There's no danger. The gh—one that hit me… uhhh…" He'd already forgotten the man's name.

"Inabi." The woman supplied.

"Inabi." Danny nodded, and took in the look of recognition that flashed across Sasuke's face. "He's gone. There are two others here. Um… Teyaki and Uruchi." He managed without needing them to repeat their names, which he was proud of. "Do you know them?"

Sasuke's mouth stayed tightly closed and he nodded. Danny waited for more. Earlier, Sasuke had screamed. The teen had hoped to take that as a breakthrough—that possibly Sasuke might start talking again—but that didn't seem likely anymore as the boy only silently stared at him with a helpless expression.

"We had a small rice cracker store down the road. This little one would come by all the time." The woman told him.

Rice crackers? Danny arced an eyebrow. They had a whole stall for that?

Misreading the look, Uruchi elaborated. "He's a sweet child, always pushing himself to do better. His kekkei genkai hasn't developed yet so he was self-conscious. He was always comparing himself to his brother…" She trailed off into silence for a while, face acquiring a dejected expression. "He called us 'Aunt' and 'Uncle' but in a way that had more meaning than the traditional formalisms the young use for their elders."

Danny cocked his head.

"It is custom to refer to someone older than yourself as 'Aunt' or 'Uncle'. Family or not." She explained. "But we didn't have children and often felt like Sasuke may well have been our own. Do you understand?"

"Yeah…" Danny shot Sasuke a sad look. "I understand. But you have to understand. This isn't good for him. You…" How could he say this without offending the ghosts and without sounding, to Sasuke, like he was telling the boy's family not to look over him? "It… is unsettling. It's disruptive. If you… If I hadn't…"

"We understand." The man cut Danny off, for which the teen was grateful. "I think from the moment Sasuke woke up screaming, we understood. We just didn't want to admit it."

"This… isn't the place for us anymore." Uruchi agreed. And the couple joined hands.

"Please just tell him that we… no matter how far away we are, we are always watching over him—always wishing for his safety and happiness." She said. "And tell him that… he should not compare himself to his brother. He is already strong, all on his own merit."

As one they faded, until Sasuke and Danny were one again the only occupants of the house.

Danny sighed, releasing the tension in his shoulders. Then, gathering himself, he turned and looked at Sasuke's expectant face.

"They're gone. But… you knew that already, didn't you?"

Slowly, the boy nodded.

"You can't see them but you can sense them?"

Another nod, smaller.

Danny let out another sigh.

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END PART IV

To be continued in PART V – MADDIE

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