Since someone requested to know what sort of Ponies Gaara and Karin become (I thought I already mentioned this), here it is. Both of them are Unicorns. Gaara's Cutie mark is sand, and Karin has a spool of ninja wire for hers. Her specialty is genjutsu, some medical jutsu, and the ability to create things out of wire. Gaara still holds his ability with sand. Like Naruto, he will have a secondary Cutie mark appear later, mostly because of their shared status as Jinchuriki.

Now back to the story!


"WHAT DO YOU MEAN CHANGELINGS ARE ATTACKING PONIES?! I NEVER ORDERED ANY SUCH ATTACKS!" yelled Chrys when Naruto delivered Luna's message.

"I know that, and Luna didn't really believe you were behind it either. That's why she told me about it. She wanted to be sure that you were innocent," said Naruto, holding his ears.

"Che...yet another reason I prefer Luna to Celestia. But this is troubling news. We only recently started to rise in the ranks of the summon clans because of that trick you pulled by recreating the Kyuubi using only minions. If word got out about a rogue hive, or worse, a civil war between the Changelings..."

"One of the weaker clans could take us out in a bid for power," Naruto finished. He knew that if anything happened to Chrys or the Hive, then the effects would rebound onto Konoha very quickly. She had integrated the Hive too strongly for them to be separated without any repercussions. A blow to the Hive meant a blow to Konoha as a whole.

Unfortunately, due to summon clan politics, Naruto couldn't help the Hive unless he married Chrysalis and became Changeling King. Even though he qualified as a Hive on his own thanks to shadow clones.

Naruto hated politics. Being nice to people who would stab you in the back at the first hint of power was not his forte. That was why Luna told him that his position in Canterlot was part of her Night Guard.

All he had to do was leave a clone with her and he could honestly say he was employed by Equestria standards.

Celestia still wasn't happy that her sister employed the same colt who clearly disliked her as part of her loyal guard. Even if Naruto's clone went out of his way not to interact with her.

Chrys decided to take a closer look at her Hive over the weekend. If a Princess changeling was born without her knowledge, she could quickly become a threat.


Chrys was in a foul mood. Naruto wisely didn't ask, knowing that he might become the target of her ire.

Zabuza wasn't as smart.

"What the hell has your panties in a twist?"

Chrysalis snarled.

(An hour later...)

Haku looked out the window and saw a black and blue Zabuza.

"Who did he piss off this time?"

"Chyrs was in a really foul mood and he attracted her attention," said Naruto.

"Aren't you supposed to be getting Tsunade?"

"And go without ramen? Besides, that booze hound Jiraiya hasn't even noticed that I ditched him with a changeling hours ago!"

A changeling in Pony form came in.

"Jiraiya has located Tsunade. You better get back if you don't want your cover blown," said the changeling.

"Thanks Fred."

Naruto shifted to his Pony form, and went into the air. A portal formed above him and he teleported straight to where the second Changeling was.


"Kid, you sure take too long in the bathroom," said Jiraiya.

"That's what you think. So this is Tsunade?" said Naruto.

"Who's the brat Jiraiya?"

"Name's Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki! And we need you to come back to Konoha Granny," said Naruto grinning.

"I'm not going to be Hokage," she said flatly.

"Not even to royally piss off that dumbass council and that creep Danzo?" said Naruto.

Tsunade looked at Naruto.

"Now that is awfully tempting. And how exactly would my return piss off them?"

"You'll be bringing us one step closer to restoring the Uzumaki clan status, and those old geezers refuse to let us be called a clan without five members at least," he replied.

"And how many do you have now?"

"Including you, at least three. We're still awaiting the bloodwork on one of the captured shinobi from Orochimaru's group. Boy was he pissed when he found out the old man was switched out with a fake!" grinned Naruto.

Tsunade looked amused at that news. It wasn't often Orochimaru got played so easily. And by a greenhorn no less.

"As amusing as pissing off the Elders sound, you'll have to make me a better offer. No way am I heading to Konoha that easily."

"How about the chance to exam a currently up and coming summons clan who rival the Kitsunes in terms of shape shifting?" said Naruto deviously. He wasn't above throwing a minion into the fire, and Chrys still wanted to know the effects switching between human and Pony forms had on him.

So far there were none, but she wanted to know the long term side effects.

"How good are we talking about?" she asked.

"Good enough this old pervert didn't notice I had ditched him the last town and went back to Konoha for a few hours," said Naruto smugly.

Jiraiya pointed an accusing finger at him.

"Dammit, I knew something was odd about you! You were able to read while walk!"

"Bob's one of the few who can duplicate me perfectly, and we wanted to know if you would even notice. For a Sage, you suck at detecting them," smirked Naruto.

Tsunade barked with laughter. This kid was good, if he pulled one on Jiraiya. It helped that the kid wasn't actively trying to drag her back.

Though she obviously hadn't thought to ask exactly how he got here from Konoha.

"Personally I could care less if you became Hokage. As far as I can tell, this old letch just doesn't want to give up his lame ass hobby, even though Chrys kicked him out of the Konoha spy ring single handed. You could probably due a lot more good as the head of the Medic corps, from what I've heard of your reputation."

Jiraiya made a face. No way in hell was he going to be Hokage! He was not doing that much paperwork voluntarily! Not to mention he would be bound to the village!

Seeing the look Naruto shot him, it was clear what the boy thought of his precious research.

"Now why would I want to become Hokage when I still have all those lovely ladies out there?"

Naruto held out a hand.

"One, because you've been serving little to no purpose of late to Konoha since Chrys kicked you out of the spy game. Two, because Jiji is getting on in years and by the way Tsunade looks whenever the word Hokage is mentioned tells me she isn't that enthusiastic about the job. Three, if she did become Hokage, the council could reasonably claim favoritism for my claim to get the Uzumaki recognized as a clan even if I had the bare minimum of members in active service. Four, because Tsunade would be of greater use as the head of the Hospital, which is in desperate need of being revamped last I checked. And five, because if you don't then I can give Chrys the okay to sick the entire Hive and the Hive kids on your ass because you ditched your duties as godfather to run around the country and never once checked in on me. And believe me, the Fox agreed to be very cooperative if he got a chance to kick your ass."

Tsunade was grinning like a shark. The boy had Jiraiya good, no doubts there. Besides, coming back to head the hospital didn't anger her nearly as much as being forced to take the Kage seat, which she blamed for killing Dan and Nawaki.

"Of course there is another option," said Naruto.

"What's that?"

"You two come back, fight it out and the loser has to take the hat."

The two older shinobi looked at each other. Trust a child to come up with such a simple solution to a real problem.


Sarutobi greeted the two Sannin with a grin. Naruto had told him through Chrys about the idea he had over who would become Hokage.

He really didn't care WHO took the seat so long as he got to retire finally!

A sizable crowd gathered in training ground 82 to see who would become Hokage.

Either way it would be quite a show, and Chrys had a long list of things she wanted to discuss with whoever 'won' the hat.

Jiraiya started things off with a Swamp of the Underworld technique. Tsunade jumped over it with ease and drained the water with a well aimed punch. Then she started to spam water blasts at Jiraiya, who avoided them using Hari Jizo.

Tsunade grinned, and then unleashed her own favorite attack, by cracking the ground from under Jiraiya.

He squawked with surprise as he jumped to avoid another hit.

Tsunade took her chance to shot a stickier variation of the water she shot off earlier.

It stuck to Jiraiya's spiked hair like some twisted child of glue and syrup. Jiraiya tried to remove it, but it quickly became apparent that he would have better luck if he simply regrew his hair.

His hand was almost trapped in the sticky mess, but he managed to free it.

"Summoning Jutsu!" came the twin cries, as Tsunade realized what he planned to do before he finished the third sign. It helped that he was slightly slower from the goop on his hands.

A good sized Toad and Slug appeared, and Chrys snorted.

"And he thinks those offensive things are better than us?" she said aloud. Naruto snickered beside her.

He finally learned why the women hated frogs and toads near the hot springs. Apparently Jiraiya had the bad habit of watching while sitting on them and he had gotten caught enough times that the word had gone out.

"Winner, Tsunade!" declared Sarutobi. While Naruto was talking to Chrys, Tsunade had hit Jiraiya with another glob of that sticky muck.

Tsunade looked very pleased with herself.

Jiraiya looked rather good in that hat. Even if Sarutobi confiscated the seeing globe until he could be sure Jiraiya wouldn't cut and run.

The few clans who had bathhouses made a note to place guards around them, since Jiraiya was going to be stuck in the village for the most part.

Tsunade looked like the Queen of the Leaf village as she took control of the hospital. Hearing Chrys' reports about how the staff treated Naruto (she occasionally came in pretending to have an injury and got thrown out 90% of the time. The other ten actually took their duty seriously.) Tsunade went to work putting those who failed the Changeling test through remedial training.

Meanwhile, Naruto took a week long leave from shinobi duties (which required a form to be filled out in advance) so he could take a break in Ponyville.


"So what is this about? And why is it winter here when it's still fall in the Elemental Countries?" asked Karin. Beside her was Gaara carrying papers on his back.

Karin actually liked being Princess Luna's permanent assistant. She got to sleep as long as she liked during the day (she was NOT a morning person), she got more respect than she ever did in Grass, and Luna was an awesome boss.

Sure she had to help with the paperwork and all the little things Luna had trouble with, but that was a small price to pay!

Naruto snickered.

"According to Rainbow Dash, because the younger Pegasus practice weather magic a lot, the weather here in Equestria is a lot shorter than back home. It's rarely the same as home," said Naruto.

"So why are we in Ponyville?" asked Gaara. Not that he minded, as he got along terrifyingly well with Pinkie. And for some reason Rarity was one of the few Ponies not freaked out by his status as the insane carrier of the One Tail.

"Winter Wrap Up!" said Naruto far too cheerfully.

"Huh?" came the duo responses.

"Ponyville was originally settled by Earth ponies, so each winter they take a day off to wrap it up with the help of a few pegasus from Cloudsdale...at least until a few settled in town. The Unicorn ponies aren't allowed to use magic, and the Pegasus ponies are only allowed to use their wings to bring the southern birds back and to clear the clouds away."

"So what are we doing here?"

"The Mayor asked for help, since they've had a lot of trouble cleaning up winter on time each year. And since we practically live in Ponyville anyway, I figured we could help out," explained Naruto.

"So what kind of jobs do they need done?" asked Karin.

"Let's see... Bringing back the birds from the south, clearing the clouds, clearing the fields and planting seeds, cutting up the ice in the lakes so that they will melt properly, waking up the hibernating animals, making bird's nests so the birds have a place to stay..." said Naruto.

"That doesn't sound too bad," said Gaara.

"Yeah, but according to the Mayor, it's always a disorganized mess and a half. That's why they're always late each year."

"Sounds like a job for Twilight. According to Shining Armor, she hates snakes, and none of the other jobs would fit her," said Karin.

"It surprises me you get along with her older brother better than you do her," said Gaara.

"She's OCD and a bit of a control freak. What more do I have to say?" said Naruto.

"You're the King of Chaos and she's the Princess of organization..." snickered Karin.

"Wasn't there a creature in Equestria who symbolizes Chaos and Disorder?"

"You mean Discord? Luna said if he ever woke up we would probably get along like a building on fire because we both love pranks."

"Thanks for introducing us by the way. Princess Luna is an awesome boss!" said Karin.

"She had trouble keeping assistants, and I figured it would be easier for us if you weren't around when the Grass shinobi came to investigate what happened to you."

"And did they come?" asked Karin.

"They bought that bullshit excuse that you got killed by bandits."

"Yet another reason I like Konoha. Or Equestria I suppose, since I kinda like living here and reverse summoning is such a pain to do every day."

"Reverse summoning is kinda boring," said Naruto.

"This coming from the only person able to go between worlds without using the summoning jutsu," said Gaara snorting.

"So which job are you taking?" asked Karin.

"Hang on..." said Naruto. He threw a bit up in the air and caught it.

"I'll go help Rainbow Dash."

"I'll go help Rarity...I'm a fair hand at arts and crafts," said Gaara.

"I'll try ice skating first, but if that doesn't work I'll go help with the animals," said Karin.

Naruto watched with amusement as Twilight went bonkers trying to find a way to help clean up winter. She even tried to use magic to help out with Applejack's team. Probably Spike's idea of helping.

Finally Twilight got her act together and managed to get things back under control. It may have taken all night, but they managed to get winter cleaned up on time.