Six friends sat around the kitchen table at FentonWorks, sipping hot chocolate and talking in subdued voices.
"So…" Naruto began. "Now what?"
"I don't know," Danny answered. "The way I see it there are two options. Either you three stay here, or go back to Japan and your own time."
"I say stay here," Sakura stated. "I can't live without Nasty Burgers."
"No, we need to go back!" Naruto replied. "How am I supposed to be hokage if we never get back to the Village Hidden in the Leaves?"
"Wait a minute," Danny interrupted. "First of all, what's a hokage?"
"The hokage is the greatest ninja of all," Sakura explained.
"Okay, well, since you three are the only ninja here, theoretically isn't the best one out of the three of you automatically the hokage?"
"I don't think it works like that," Sakura replied, "but it's a nice idea."
"How would we go back anyway?" Sasuke asked.
"Well, Clockwork brought the three of you here, so it follows that he'll be the one to bring all of you back," Danny answered, then held up the Fenton Thermos that contained Zabuza's ghost. "He'll probably want to take this as well; Zabuza is way too dangerous to simply let back into the Ghost Zone."
"You think Clockwork will keep him with Dan?" Tucker asked him.
"Probably. That makes the most sense," was the response.
"This Clockwork, is he a ghost also?" Sakura asked the trio.
"Yeah," Sam answered. "He's the master of time, and he was the one that created that blue vortex that brought all of you here."
"So what do we do, just wait for him to bring us back?"
"I guess we don't have any other choice…"
"Wait a second," Tucker interjected, "Can I see your headbands for a second?" he asked the genin.
"No way. A shinobi never removes his headband. Never." Naruto replied with a sudden venom.
"Yeesh, don't bite my head off, I didn't mean that you had to take them off. I just wanted to take a look, you can still be wearing them while I inspect them if it means so much to you." Naruto sighed and leaned forward so that Tucker could get a good view of his metal headband. The dark-skinned boy took off his glasses and squinted up at the leaf symbol engraved in the metal.
"I got it!" he exclaimed, then put his glasses on and turned to face the rest of the group. "See that little gold marking on the upper right-hand corner of the metal? That's a CW, Clockwork's symbol. I'm guessing that that little marking acts like the medallions Clockwork uses to allow people to be dislodged from their time period. As soon as you take the headbands off, you should pop right back to your own time." Sakura sadly shook her head.
"It's like Naruto said before-we're not going to remove our headbands. It just isn't done. Are you sure that there isn't another way for us to get in contact with this Clockwork person?"
"If you're that adamant about it, I guess we'll just have to take the Specter Speeder and visit Clockwork ourselves," Danny announced.
"Wait a minute," Naruto interrupted, "you can just go and see Clockwork whenever you feel like it? So what are we doing arguing about it here! Let's go already!" He got up and shoved everyone else downstairs into the lab. Danny opened the Fenton Portal while Tucker got the Specter Speeder in gear. Afterwards, everyone filed into the hovercraft as Danny drove it into the Ghost Zone.
"Whoa…this place is so cool!" Naruto exclaimed.
"That it is, Naruto. That it is," Tucker replied as they sped in the direction of Clockwork's tower. They arrived and disembarked, and the six of them made their way through the halls lined with clocks of all shapes and sizes until they reached the room with the large circle that lets one see into the past, present, and future.
"Hello, children," Clockwork's voice rang through the room and caused everyone present to jump. The voice laughed. "Don't be afraid, I'm not going to harm you." Clockwork materialized right in front of the circular device. "I'm guessing you're here in order to be sent home, correct?"
"That's right," Naruto replied.
"Well, all you have to do is remove your headbands. Once you do that, you'll return to your own time period."
"We can't," Sakura replied. "A shinobi can't remove their headband, it's against ninja protocol."
"Well, I guess I could use my staff to send you back…I'll give the six of you a couple of minutes to yourselves, though." Clockwork disappeared in a blue vortex and the six friends all faced each other.
"I guess this is goodbye," Sakura said.
"I guess so…" Sam replied. "It's been really fun, having you around."
"Yeah, you guys rock!" Tucker exclaimed.
"You too!" Naruto replied. "I loved playing video games with you!"
"And those Nasty Burgers? Amazing!" Sakura added.
"We all had a really great time," Sasuke concluded.
"Us too," Danny replied. "Man, you three are awesome fighters! I wish we had more time together so you could show me how to throw your shuriken like that."
"Next time an evil ninja pays Amity Park a visit, we'll be glad to," Sasuke told him. Just then, Clockwork reappeared in front of them.
"You've all finished saying your goodbyes," he announced.
"Oh yeah? How do you know?" Naruto asked.
"I'm the master of time, I know everything," Clockwork replied, annoyed. "Anyways, its time for the genin to go back home now." He raised his staff and the clock that adorned it began glowing with an intense blue light. The clock emitted three beams of energy, each of which hit the mark on the headbands that Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura wore. The gold markings disappeared and the genin began to fade away.
"Bye guys! I hope you become the next hokage, Naruto!" Danny called.
"Thanks! See you ar-" Naruto was cut off as he and the other two genin vanished completely. Clockwork turned to face Danny.
"I believe you have something for me."
"Oh yeah!" Danny ran back to the Specter Speeder and came back holding a Fenton Thermos. "Here's the thermos that contains Zabuza's ghost." Clockwork took the thermos and placed it in a supply closet, right next to a battered, dented one.
"Yes, Zabuza is much too dangerous to allow into the Ghost Zone. He and Dan will be contained for all time."
"So you know they'll never escape?" Danny asked hopefully.
"Yes. They're not going to come out of those thermoses, don't you worry about that. You've got enough on your plate as it is."
"That's a relief. Well, we should be getting back as well. See you soon, Clockwork!"
"Hopefully not too soon," the Master of Time replied with a wink. Danny, Sam, and Tucker hopped into the Specter Speeder and returned to the Fenton Lab. They all decided to go upstairs to the kitchen, where Danny's mom had just finished baking a batch of cookies.
"Hey, kids! Where are your three Japanese friends?" Maddie asked them as they sat down at the circular table.
"They…uh…had to go back to Japan," Danny told her.
"Darn, I was really starting to get the hang of their fighting techniques. I hope they come back to visit soon!"
"Me too, mom," Danny replied as he took a cookie off of the tray that Maddie had just placed on the table. After the three friends had eaten a few cookies, and Jack had come in and eaten the rest of them, Danny, Tucker, and Sam went into Danny's living room to watch TV. A couple of hours later, Tucker had to go home.
"The blog community waits for no geek," he announced.
"You have a blog?" Danny asked.
"Yeah, it's all about ghosts."
"Whoa…my dad should check it out."
"Are you kidding? He's the most frequent visitor! Anyway, I better go online and see how everything's going. I'll see you two lovebirds later!" With that, he thanked Mrs. Fenton for the cookies and left Danny's house.
"We're not lovebirds!" They shouted, but he had already gone.
"Well, I'd say we've had an eventful couple of days," She told him.
"That we have," he replied. "So d'you think Naruto is ever going to become the next hokage?"
"Well, he is a strong fighter…I guess he could be, if he learns not to be so annoying." The two of them shared a chuckle, then turned their attention back to the TV.