Adventures of the Equestrian Ninja

by hussbek

Sifting through the Norms of Life

"*Yawn* man, how long have I been working on this?" Naruto muttered to himself as he sat behind a desk with a scroll on the table depicting several forms of seals with the tip of his tail dripping with black ink, he studied the seals and frown in contemplation "Hmmm, if I were apply to apply this particular seal to the formula…nah it might have a negative effect on the entire network. Ugh my skull's ringing like a bell," he took a glance at the clock on the table and groaned at the time "It's morning already, better get ready for the daily routine,"

Naruto got off his seat and cleaned off the ink from his tail's tip before leaving the work room then basement through the stairs and made his way to the kitchen where he proceeded to make breakfast. Naruto created a pair of shadow clones to help out with one chopping up the vegetables and squeezing while the second was at the stove boiling water for tea and priming the frying pan with oil amongst others, Naruto himself had cracked some eggs into a bowl and added some of the chopped vegetables into it then mixed them altogether with a whisker before pouring the mixture into the frying pan to make some omelets. Soon Naruto had prepared three plates of omelets with bread rolls, a pitcher of orange juice, bowls of oatmeal, and a pot of tea.

He placed one set of breakfast on a tray and lifted it into the air with his magic before making his way upstairs after dispelling his shadow clones. Naruto stopped before Trixie's room and knocked on the door to announce his presence, he heard a 'come in' and went inside to find Trixie in her bed and reading before looking up with a smile although she blushed a bit when she recalled the kiss.

"Good morning Naruto," said Trixie.

"Morning to you too Trix, I brought some breakfast up to you to eat," said Naruto placing the breakfast tray on the bed before her.

"Naruto I keep telling you that I'm okay now,"

"Until the nurse gives the green light, you're not okay," said Naruto with a frown,

It's been about a week since the kidnapping incident. Trixie was bedridden from the side-effects of the paralytic drug used on her so Naruto took it upon himself to take care of her while she recuperates, though there were awkward moments between them ever since the kiss and raised suspicions from the other mares.

"I'll be escorting Scoots to school before opening the shop but I'll leave a shadow clone behind in case you need anything," said Naruto.

"Okay Naruto, but I hope to recover soon and get back to helping you at the shop," said Trixie softly.

"It's just a matter of waiting, I'll check up on you later and be sure to eat up before it gets cold," Naruto left the room and closed the door behind him before going to take a bath and put on a fresh set of clothes. He headed back to the kitchen where he found Scootaloo at the breakfast table and eating her share "Hey Scoots, I can see you're up and early today,"

Scootaloo perked up when she heard him "Good morning big bro, I woke up early because of a special project today,"

Naruto sat on the chair next to her and quirked an eyebrow in curiosity "Really, what's it about?'

"It's an essay about one of my family members and I've been working on it since last night," said Scootaloo.

"Oh, you could have asked for my help with your essay," said Naruto with a slight frown, he definitely would have do so if she had asked.

"I saw that you were a busy taking care of Trixie and your shop too, so I didn't want to bother you,"

"Scoots, I would have left all that to my shadow clones and helped you out with it. It's the job of the older siblings to support the younger ones," Naruto ruffled Scootaloo's mane with a foxy grin.

Scootaloo smiled back "Thanks big bro, I'll be sure to ask you next time,"

"Atta girl, now let's finish up and get you to school before you get late,"

The siblings ate their breakfast and Naruto handed Scootaloo her lunchbox to be sealed into her medallion, both left the house then Naruto had Scootaloo ride on his back before taking off at high-speed which didn't take them too long until they arrived at the entrance of the school where the students were already entering the building.

"I'll be sure to pick you up after school, I would like to hear how your presentation went," said Naruto.

"Okay, see you later!" Scootaloo waved before heading inside the school building.

Naruto waved back then began making his way to the Whirlpool and unlocked the shop, he had some of his shadow clones clean up the place for a bit before dispelling them and putting up the 'We're Open' sign, then he went to sit behind the counter and mildly worked on some sealing formulas. The day went by with the daily customers and requests coming in with Naruto attending to them and making plans accordingly, he was currently looking at a set of blueprints depicting six crystals and a long staff but he was scratching his head in confusion.

"The idea is good and all, but the seal matrix might not be enough. I'm hitting too many dead-ends here, maybe I should secretly visit Konoha and get Pervy Sage to give me more scrolls on Fuinjutsu. Maybe check up on the others…and Sasuke while I'm at it," thought Naruto, he wasn't feeling too keen on reuniting with his former teammate for some reason "And I also need to acquire info about Kaleidoscope, perhaps the royal guard would know about them. Guess I'm heading to Canterlot,"

Naruto left a shadow clone behind to watch the shop then activated his chakra wings and took to the air in direction of Canterlot which took some time until arriving at the city and landing on the busy streets. He trotted towards the castle gates and was allowed through with the guards being familiar with him, he then met with the servants who told him to wait for a few moments before being called. Naruto waited until he was called into the throne room where Celestia and Luna were waiting for him.

"Hello there Naruto, it's good to see you as always," said Luna happily.

"Indeed, how are things going on in Ponyville?" asked Celestia.

"Things have pretty much gone back to normal since the incident with Kaleidoscope, Trixie is doing okay though I'm in a bit of a slump with my Fuinjutsu," said Naruto with a foxy grin.

"Is there something we can so to help?" asked Luna.

"Nothing really, I can get Dr. Whooves to transport me to the Elemental Nations, there I can ask my old master for some more scrolls of Fuinjutsu and I'll be back on track," said Naruto.

"It also gives you a chance to say hello to your friends too," said Celestia with a soft smile.

Naruto grinned widely "I'm planning on that too," then he had a serious look on his face "But I also need to learn about Kaleidoscope as well,"

"Yes, those group of magicians. We heard the report from the guards and find their goals rather disturbing," said Celestia with a frown.

"Searching for ancient sources of great power, no doubt they seek to rule beyond Equestria unchallenged," said Luna.

"Yeah, and I don't need Twilight to tell me that the number there are tons of relics hidden all over the palace, not to mention that I came across one and sealed it away for safety reasons," Naruto was in agreement "All the more reason to train harder and get stronger,"

"And you can be assured that we'll help you," said Luna with determination.

"Thanks, I really appreciate it," said Naruto with a smile, making the Alicorn smile back at him "I think I'll pass by the barracks to say hello to Luce and the others before making my way back to Ponyville,"

"Very well then, we hope to see you again," said Celestia.

"Sure thing, see ya later," Naruto bade the farewell before leaving the throne room, he took the usual route to the barracks and arrived at the training grounds with ponies sparring with each other, practicing their magic or running through an obstacle course with some of them waving at the blonde stallion when they saw him passing by and he waved back at them.

"Hey Naruto!" he turned towards the source of the voice to see that it was none other than his good friend and occasional sparring partner Luce Astro "I thought it was you over there,"

"Yo Luce, long time no see. How's it going?" said Naruto with a smirk.

Luce smiled in response "Training as always and I had returned from a survival exercise two days ago. There will be a graduation exam in a few days' time which will enable me to be assigned to a squad,"

"Whoa, then I wish you good luck on passing it and hope that you get assigned with a group which has ponies that can work with you without problems,"

"Thanks Naruto, by the way I've heard about you and the Element Bearers facing down a group called Kaleidoscope,"

Naruto frowned slightly at the memory "Yeah, I'm trying to find out more about these guys. The first two members are nothing to scoff at and I'm feeling rather guarded about the others,"

"I can understand, I only got to know of them from the report. I never would have thought that somepony would think of using puppets as a weapon," said Luce thoughtfully.

"I can think of a few, but luckily they don't live here," thought Naruto "So far all we now is that they seek great power through ancient relics and I was hoping to speak to Shining about something important,"

"The captain had stepped out of the barracks, said something about acquiring something very important today,"

"I see, just I could check back tomorrow then, I'll see you later Luce,"

"Okay Naruto, and I hope that we can have a spar then,"

Naruto nodded in affirmation before leaving the barracks and exiting from the castle, he was currently walking through the streets while deep in thought about what to do next. He mildly glanced to the side to see that he was currently by the House of Enchanted Comics and thought to go inside and browse through for any latest issues of the Power Ponies before returning to Ponyville. He entered the comic shop and his eyes widened in surprise upon seeing who was currently inside.

"Shining?" said unicorn gave a start then quickly turned around to be just as surprised upon seeing Naruto "What are you doing here?"

"Naruto? Well I uh…I was doing a little shopping for my uh…cousin's birthday present! Yeah a birthday present!" said Shining sweating bullets, trying to look as innocent as possible.

Naruto simply quirked an eyebrow "Oh really? I don't really recall you telling me anything about having a cousin," Shining gulped upon realization of his slip "Be honest with me Shining, you're here because you're looking for something for yourself right?"

Shining was taken aback then his head slumped in surrender "How did you figure it out?"

"It's easy, I used to act like that whenever someone almost finds out what I try to buy without anyone knowing, although I can lie better than you," said Naruto with a smirk, getting Shining to let out a sigh "So what is it you're after? I promise to keep silent about it,"

Shining brought out a box with a picture of a figurine on it from behind him with his magic "This is a rare action figure of the Knight of Blue Yonder, I ordered it from Manehattan and it arrived today so I came to pick it up," then he sealed it inside his medallion which he had purchased from Naruto a while ago.

"It looks pretty cool," said Naruto.

"Of course he is, he's one of my favorite comic heroes of all time!" said Shining happily.

"Nice to know, I think I'll read on it one of these days,"

"I recommend you do, anyways I need to head back to the barracks and don't forget your promise!"

"I won't, see you later Shining," said Naruto.

"You too, Naruto,"

Both left the comic shop with Naruto activating his chakra wings and took to the air to begin his return to Ponyville. He soon arrived at the town and landed on the streets, thinking on what he should do next. Naruto's ears picked up the sound of music and realized where it came from, he headed over to the music shop and went inside to find Vinyl Scratch nodding her head in rhythm to a high-tempo mix tape which was rather catchy to his ears.

"Hey Vinyl," Naruto called out, but it seemed like she didn't hear him "Hey Vinyl!" again she didn't hear, so he walked over and poked her shoulder which caused her to jump off her seat with a yelp.

"What the-Naruto? What's the deal?" asked Vinyl took off her headphones and turned down the volume on the stereo with a small frown on her face.

"I've been trying to call you but you didn't hear me," said Naruto.

"Oh right, sorry about that," Vinyl looked sheepish at that "So what's up?"

"Nothing much at the moment, just got back from Canterlot when I heard music from your place and thought to drop by. So what about you and Octavia?"

"Same old same old, Octavia had left yesterday to perform at a concert and I've been on a gig last three days and I gotta tell ya the song you sang before got a lot of encores, some of them asked for more songs from you!" said Vinyl excitedly.

"Whoa that's great to know," said Naruto with a smile.

Vinyl slug a hoof around a surprised Naruto with a smirk in her face "I know right? I was planning on coming over to your place to ask later in the day when you showed up. So what do you say, team up to make another smash hit?"

Naruto looked thoughtful for a few moments before responding with a grin "Sure, I'm down with it. I'll come around from time to time for it,"

"Sweet! I just know that this next song's gonna knock everyone's horseshoes off!" Vinyl cheered with Naruto smiling as well. The duo went to the studio and started things by listening to several samples of music to select and adjust a few times then began working on the lyrics, this took a while and Naruto looked at the time to see that it's almost time for Scootaloo to get out of school.

"Sorry Vinyl, but I gotta go and pick up Scoots from school now," Naruto got off the chair in front of a turntable and began to leave.

"It's cool, we'll pick up on it the next time you come by," said Vinyl.

"Thanks, I'll catch you later," Naruto left the music shop and galloped towards the school, arriving there in time to see the colts and fillies already. Naruto caught sight of Scootaloo along with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom then approached them "Hey you three, had fun?"

"Hey big bro, you're late," said Scootaloo.

"Sorry about that, I've kinda been at a lot of places today," said Naruto sheepishly "So what were you three up to?"

"We're making plans for acquiring our cutie marks as usual, just need to drop our bags at home before meeting up at the tree house," said Sweetie Belle.

"In that case, how about I give you a ride to your places before dropping at mine," Naruto offered, smiling at the looks of excitement on their faces at the chance of riding on his back.

"Can we?" asked Apple Bloom.

"Sure, hop on," Naruto lowered his body for the fillies to clamber onto his back before rising back up "Better hang on!" he crouched slightly before taking off with his passengers whooping with excitement along the way. The first stop was at Sweet Apple Acres where he greeted Granny Smith and Big Mac though Applejack wasn't around at the time, next was the Carousel Boutique where he went to say hello to Rarity too but beat a hasty retreat to avoid becoming a female mannequin by literally taking flight with the fillies on board and returning to the Uzumaki mansion.

"Well here we are, please remain seated until the stallion has come to a complete stop…thank you and we hope that you fly with Air Uzumaki once more," said Naruto playfully with the Scootaloo and the others laughing at the joke.

"That's funny," Sweetie Belle giggled.

"I try, now you kids go on ahead and I'll send a clone up there later to call you down for lunch,"

"Okay Naruto," said Apple Bloom, then they scampered off.

Naruto went inside and was a bit surprised to find Trixie sitting on the sofa in the living room and reading a book. He had his shadow clone dispel to acquire its memories then got his answers "I guess Nurse Redheart gave you the okay huh?"

Trixie looked up from her book with a smile "Yes she did, feels good to be finally out of the bed. So how was your day?"

"Eventful, I'll sent an alert to my clone at the shop to get some of my projects sent over since I'll be doing a few ciphering tonight," said Naruto.

"In that case, can I ask if you could get a few spell books from the library for me along the way?" asked Trixie.

Naruto nodded in affirmation "Sure thing, just let me cook lunch first before I leave," he went to the kitchen and looked up on the cookbook then began cooking. It took some time and he was soon done and served up a pot of fried rice, potato salad, a pitcher of lemonade, and a plate of onion rings. He placed the dishes on a table in the summer hut before sending a shadow clone to call the fillies while he went to call in Trixie, everyone sat down at the table and helped themselves to the food which they found to be very delicious.

"Taste great!" said Sweetie Belle munching on an onion ring.

"I'll say!" said Apple Bloom after swallowing a bite of fried rice.

"Thanks, but don't talk with your mouth full," said Naruto.

"But they aren't wrong," said Trixie before taking a sip of lemonade.

"It's nothing big, just followed the directions on the cookbook and you're eating what you see before you. Anyways I'll do the dishes when you're all done then I'll head out for the library before passing by the shop," said Naruto.

Later on, Naruto was walking down the road in direction of the library after taking care of things back home and soon arrived at his destination. He went inside and found Twilight and Spike working on sorting out the books on the shelves and called out to them.

"Hey guys, been a while," said Naruto.

Twilight looked up and smiled cheerfully upon seeing Naruto "Oh hi Naruto, what brings you here today?"

"I came to borrow some spell books for Trixie," he replied.

"How's she doing?" Spike was the next to ask.

"She's fully recovered now, nurse Redheart came by to give her the OK. I've also been thinking of coming up with new spells too," Naruto was thoughtful at the last part.

"Have you gotten any new ideas?" asked Twilight eagerly, she always get excited when Naruto starts coming up with ideas for new spells and gets the opportunity to learn them along the way. To her and others, Naruto is practically a fountain of creativity which is one of the many things they like about him.

Naruto was about to answer when they heard a door open behind them and turned to see who it is. She is a unicorn with a coat of mint green brilliant cyan mane and tail with a white streak, sunglow eyes, and a cutie mark of a lyre. Naruto recognizes her to be Lyra Heartstrings, he often encounters her whenever he roams in town though he didn't exactly get the opportunity to actually get to know her aside from saying hello whenever they pass by each other.

"Hello Lyra," said Naruto in greeting.

"Hi Naruto, Twilight," said Lyra cheerfully.

"Are you here for the usual?" asked Twilight amusedly.

"Yup,"

"Spike, could you pass down the book on 'Equestrian Mythology'?"

"You got it!" Spike was about to reach for a stepladder when he was suddenly shrouded in an orange aura and was lifted into the air, he looked back to see Naruto with his horn emitting the similar aura.

"I'll lend a hoof in this," Naruto grinned.

"Thanks Naruto, send me over there at the leftmost part of the top shelf," said Spike, Naruto nodded in affirmation and levitated him over to the place for Spike to reach out and grab a large brown book then pulled it out before letting him down on the ground "Here you go,"

Lyra took the book with her magic and placed it inside one of the saddlebags which she had brought along with her "Thanks Spike, this will definitely help with my research!"

"Research? On what exactly?" asked Naruto, not noticing Twilight signaling him to avoid asking her about anything.

"Why on the existence of humans of course!" said Lyra brightly, causing Naruto to step back with eyes wide in surprise while Twilight simply sighed.

"Humans? But I thought that they were nothing but a myth," Naruto spoke carefully, not wanting to let anything slip.

"That's the general knowledge but I believe that humans still exist here in Equestria and I found a strong clue to prove it," Lyra reached into her other bag and took out a book which Naruto and Twilight instantly recognized "This book is the clue!"

"How did she get her hooves on it?!" thought Naruto, then he wanted to smack himself in the head, he left it to Twilight who is in charge of a library of all places.

"Isn't it just fiction? I mean I read it a few times before," said Twilight in an attempt to throw her off.

"Maybe so, but this was clearly written by a human. I compared it with other books and none of had a single trace of human dialect, plus this book is 'fresh' and not ancient while containing information unheard of in equestrian lore. So I've come to the conclusion that there's a human here in Ponyville and must be disguised as a pony," said Lyra.

Naruto was visibly sweating "I forgot to write it in equestrian dialect when I was recalling it and she managed to figure most of it out, oh man I gotta be on my toes around her or I'll get snared by her,"

"Well I better get back on my research, I'll keep you posted if I get close to discovering the hidden human. See you!" Lyra walked out of the library in excitement.

"Oh boy, not only do we have to concern ourselves with Kaleidoscope, we now have to keep a guard up around Lyra to avoid exposing my true origins," Naruto groaned at all this.

"You sure got a lot on your plate," said Spike with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Gee, thanks Spike," said Naruto sarcastically.

"Maybe we should pick up on the spell creation tomorrow, a lot has already happened today," said Twilight.

"You're right, I better head back home and get some R&R. I'll see you guys tomorrow,"

"Bye Naruto,"

The blonde stallion bade them farewell after acquiring the spell books for Trixie before leaving the library for his shop to check for sales and requests then closing up to return home for some rest before cooking dinner tonight. Unknown to the residents that night, long wisps of black smoke floated out of the full moon and looms over the unsuspecting town with an aura of foreboding excluding a certain snickering silhouette.

A spotlight was turned on in a dark towards a large white whiteboard, then Naruto came walking into the spotlight while dressed in a militant's uniform and a general's cap with a black eyepatch on his right eye. He performs a right turn and salutes to an unknown crowd.

"Gentlecolts, it pleases me to see you all attend to this important meeting," said Naruto with a bow, earning some mumbles of affirmation from the crowd "My reason for calling you is because a great crime has been committed on an innocent victim,"

"Who was the victim?" asked a voice from the crowd.

"It was none other…than our dearest Rarity!" He pressed a button to activate a slideshow to display Rarity, earning gasps of horror from the crowd "She had the worst night during the Grand Galloping Gala and we have…this guy to thank!" he pressed the button to show the image of Prince Blueblood.

"How dare he?!"

"That guy just crossed a line!"

"He's gonna pay!"

"This means war!"

Naruto held a hoof up to silence them "Patience my comrades, his time will soon come. The reason why is because we're soon to launch a plan called 'Operation: Prank the Heck out of the Noble Jerk'!"

There were cheers and agreements to the plan, just the title alone was more than enough to tell the crowd what is going to happen to the arrogant offender. But then a voice spoke up which caused the room to go silent.

"Big Bro, are you down there?"

"Shoot, it's Scootaloo!" the light turned on in the room to reveal that the crowd was none other than his shadow clones whom Naruto had been talking to as he quickly took off the uniform with the clones quickly dispelling themselves, he stuffed them into a cabinet just in time before Scootaloo entered the room "Hey Scoots, what up?"

"I thought I heard voices down here," said Scootaloo, looking confused.

"Just doing some combat training with my clones and I'm feeling thirsty now, let's go upstairs and get some soda," Naruto lightly prodded Scootaloo back up to the living room.

"O-okay," said Scootaloo.

"Soon the world will beware of the Prankster King from Tartarus…kukukuku. Whoa, I sounded like Orochimaru for a sec there," thought Naruto.