Okay, so this one's a little late. But I made up for it by giving you a double update! And just wait until you see the next chapter; it isn't that well-written, but a lot of pivotal stuff happens!
Also, you may or may not have noticed, but I changed the name of this fic from 'Ninja Phantom' to 'Cell Phantom'. This is because I've seen in a lot of Naruto Fanfiction that the word 'team' or 'squad' is many times replaced with the word 'cell.' Which makes sense, I suppose...these guys are freakin' ninjas, it's logical that a battle group is similar to that of a terrorist cell. Except that these guys are Japanese and don't hate the free world.
Finally, I'm sorry if many of you were offended by Sai. I tried to keep him in character; the problem is that I don't know exactly what his character is. The anime hasn't gotten up to him yet, so all I've got to run on is Naruto Fanfiction and Wikipedia. According to both, Sai has a very abraisive personality, doesn't show any emotion (because of his time spent in ROOT, a division of ANBU), and is constantly making fun of Naruto's manhood. Go figure.
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto!
"Are you okay?" He glared at her.
"Sorry…standard question." The three friends were conversing in the guest room of the Inuzuka clan's main house. Tucker and Sam had just finished unpacking, and wanted to speak with Danny before dinner.
"But seriously though, what happened?" Asked the techno-geek.
"Well, I'd asked Tsunade if I could be a temporary part of cell 7…at least until you guys graduate. She said that I could, but only if I beat this guy in a spar." Danny promptly related to them the details of Sai and his ink-based techniques. After the explanation, Sam and Tucker found themselves both surprised and annoyed. Surprised because of the lengths Sai had gone to to win, including summoning his ink-juggernaut, and annoyed at all of the jibes and insults that he threw at Danny during the fight.
"Honestly…there's no honor in fighting here," Sam noted.
"If you want honor, go be a samurai," said Kiba, who was leaning against the doorframe. He had been playing outside with Akamaru when Tucker and Sam had left their rooms to speak with Danny. None of them had heard him come in. "Ninjas fight with deception and stealth…and a lot of ass-kicking jutsu, obviously."
"Obviously," Danny echoed. Kiba stepped into the room.
"So what kinds of jutsu do you use anyway?" Danny shot a glance at his friends. He wasn't about to reveal his secret to this kid so soon, not if he could help it.
"You…wouldn't believe me if I told you." Kiba snorted.
"Yeah, right. My friend uses bugs to fight. Try me."
"Alright then…I use ghost-type techniques." Kiba blinked confusedly.
"What, like a genjutsu?"
"Er, yeah," Danny said, thankful for the ready-made excuse. "I cast a genjutsu on my opponents and make them think that I'm a ghost, then I fly around and use all kinds of ghost-type attacks on them."
"Awesome…" Kiba breathed. "You should totally meet with Kurenai-sensei; she's a genjutsu specialist."
"I'll be sure to do that," the halfling replied, thankful for the close shave. He was worried that Kiba would press him further, but salvation came in the form of Tsume calling everyone downstairs for dinner, but yelling to Danny that she'd bring him something since he wasn't supposed to leave the bed. The others all left Danny's room, and gave the teen a brief space in which to think.
Danny wondered what his enemies were doing right now. He thought about whether Dan would consider joining Orochimaru, but eventually decided against it. Although both the snake-man and Plasmius were known turncoats, as likely to defend their friends as stab them in the back, what Danny had heard about the immortality-seeking traitor just didn't jive with his foes. For one thing, not even Vlad was as creepy as Orochimaru had sounded. And for another, Dan was way too forthright and destructive ever to lurk in the shadows and plot like Orochimaru does. And besides, they have Zabuza with them, and he would certainly know better than to allow them to align themselves with Orochimaru.
Of course, since Zabuza was with them, it was a distinct possibility that the three of them were on their own, almost like wandering-nin. The former member of the shinobagatana nananin sho would show them the ropes of the ninja world as they avoided oinin from the various Hidden Villages until it was time for them to make their move. That is, unless there was someone else, a person even more powerful than Orochimaru that Danny hadn't learned about yet. The ghosts could align themselves with someone else…but Danny had no evidence for this so he had no choice but to discount it. That left the wandering-nin theory, which seemed the most likely based on what Danny had learned so far.
That provided it's own set of problems, the halfa realized with a start. Since Zabuza, Plasmius, and Dan weren't aligned with a village, the espionage networks of the Hidden Villages were unlikely to be keeping any tabs on them. This gave them the ability to strike at any time without warning.
Sam came into his room carrying a plate of what appeared to be meatloaf.
"Here you go," she said. "What's up?" she asked, noticing Danny's pensive facial expression.
"Just thinking," he replied.
"About what?"
"About…we need to train as hard as we can." Sam rolled her eyes and put the plate down on Danny's bed a bit more forcefully than was necessary.
"This again? We've already been through this! Tuck and I are training our butts off! Heck, Tuck couldn't even walk here this evening; he'd worked out until he dropped, literally. What more do you want from us?"
"Sam, they could attack us at any time! Zabuza was a very skilled ninja. Even though we beat him before, in this world you two are still novices." Sam gaped at him.
"And what are you? Hokage? You're acting as though you're so high and mighty, and Tuck and I are lucky to have made it this far."
"I already passed the genin test," Danny told her. "I can focus my chakra, and use taijutsu, and throw weapons. Of course I need to train as well; I never said I didn't. My training is just different than yours. Why are you getting so upset over this?"
"Because…because we feel like we're being left behind. Danny, it's as though you're up on some mountaintop while we're clawing our way up." Danny chuckled, then reached over and began eating his meatloaf.
"Sam…it's like I said before. I can't do the same type of training you guys do, because I've already done it. Don't think I'm not doing anything; now that I'm a temporary member of Cell 7 I'll train with Naruto and Sakura, under Kakashi-sensei. But again…I can fight. Somewhat. I'm just a genin; there's no way I'd beat a jounin like Zabuza by myself. But I've passed the academy, something that you guys still desperately need to do if we're to beat these guys." Sam was quiet for a minute, then looked up.
"We need a bunch of ninja on our side," she said. "Even when Tuck and I graduate, and the three of us become a team, we'll still be a bunch of novices. It's like you said, genin can't take on a jounin like Zabuza, especially when he has ghost powers and Dan and Vlad on his side. We need experienced ninja to help us fight." Danny sighed and looked up as well, meeting her eyes.
"Who do you think will stand by us from this village?"
"I…well…I'm sure Iruka-sensei would, and Lee, Hinata, Naruto, and Sakura."
"Anyone else?" Sam looked at him strangely.
"Danny…we don't know anyone else."
"Exactly," the halfa asserted. "Once your training is finished and we form our own three-man cell, we'll start working on meeting as many ninja as we can and seeing if they can help us fight. But we can't do that just yet."
"Why not? Tucker and I are meeting loads of new people through our training, like Hinata's team and Lee's team. I'm not sure about Shino, but Kiba would probably help us out if we needed." Danny nodded.
"And Tenten would as well…though I still need to get Neji to trust me before I can consider counting on him…." Danny tried to finish his sentence, but it was eclipsed by a large yawn.
"You should sleep," Sam said. "We can talk about this later."
"Yeah…g'night…" Danny said with a small wave.
"Goodnight," was the reply, as Sam sat up from Danny's bed. She reached under his bedside lamp and doused it, then left the room.
No doubt with the aid of his ghostly abilities, not to mention the fact that his injuries barely extended to anything other than severe chakra depletion, Danny recovered from his injuries in no time. Thus the training of Team Phantom began in earnest. Danny trained with the other members of Cell 7 and occasionally left on missions with them. Their missions were typically escort missions, in which they had to protect a wealthy patron from potential attackers as said patron made his way from point A to point B. The attackers were usually highwayman, although there was the occasional ninja attack.
Tucker and Sam worked with Iruka. He taught them all about the history of Konoha, and all of the nuances of ninja life, such as drawing upon chakra, weapons, ninja ranks, mission rankings, jutsu theory, and a few genin-level jutsu
After that, Tucker would have a backbreaking session of physical training with Gai and Lee. As of two months, he had yet to finish a session without passing out. Sam would work on chakra control with Hinata, and would occasionally spar with the other members of Cell 8.
After training, they would revive Tucker and then head out to Ichiraku's for some ramen. The three frequented the stand primarily because of the delicious ramen, but also because it was an excellent place to meet new people. Ichiraku's was a main hangout among the Rookie 9, or the nine genin that had all graduated in the same year. In addition to Cell 7 and Cell 8, they also encountered Cell 10, which consisted of Ino Yamanaka (the tension between her and Sam at their first meeting was so thick one could cut it with a kunai, although neither Danny nor Tucker had any idea why), the lazy chuunin that Danny had noticed before who was named Shikamaru Nara, and a rotund boy named Chouji Akimichi. It was also where Sam met the other members of Lee's squad (just as there was tension between Ino and Sam, Neji and Danny were shooting death glares at each other the whole meal), as well as where the three of them encountered all four groups' jounin sensei.
Ramen was usually followed by dinner at the Inuzuka complex. On days when Danny was not away on missions the three would then spend time discussing various topics, such as that day's training, which of their new friends they could trust to fight Zabuza, Dan, and Plasmius, Ichiraku's newest flavor of ramen, and what their enemies were probably doing at the time.
At the end of two months, Sam and Tucker took an informal genin exam, which they passed with flying colors. Danny looked on proudly as Iruka handed them their konoha hitai-ate. Tucker kept his around his waist, like Lee and Gai did. Sam had wanted to do something distinctive and individual with her headband, but Danny pointed out that all of the unconventional places for wearing it were pretty much taken already. Besides, he reasoned, it might actually save her life in a fight. So she grudgingly wore hers around her forehead.
Once the two of them became genin, Danny requested that he be allowed to switch out of Cell 7 and join them in a three-man cell. Tsunade readily agreed, knowing that despite the similar hair and clothing, Danny was not a replacement for Sasuke. Although their mission success rate hadn't declined significantly, he just wasn't totally compatible with the other two. So she allowed Danny to leave Squad 7, and form a three-man cell with Tucker and Sam.
Cell Phantom was born.