Whispers of the Leaf

A/N: Hey everypony, what up? First let me get this out of the way, i don't own either Naruto or MLP FIM they are owned by their respective entities blah blah blah legal stuff.

ANYWAYS! on to more pressing matters. This is the first story I have ever written for public viewing. I do not consider myself to be a writer at all, but I have been reading fanfictions for years before MLP even came out, so I know good writing from bad at least. This idea has been banging around in my head for quite some time trying to get out and I decided to try my hand at making it come to life instead of brutally murdering it in my sleep.

If you don't know anything about Naruto, thats ok. Everything will be taking place in Equestria and the only character from Naruto is an OC of my own creation without any relation to the show. Any terms or actions from my OC that don’t make sense will either be explained in the story or in the author's notes at the end of each chapter. It’s my intention to make this crossover accessible to people that have never done anything Naruto related in their life, and I think I can do that. If something doesn't make sense feel free to PM me with your question

As of this moment I don't know if I will even be continuing this story. I have a basic plot figured out, but as I said I have never written a story in my life, so this would be a new challenge for me. The continuation of this solely depends on the feedback received. Good or bad, I accept all critiques, so long as they are constructive. Even then, updates will be sporadic and unusual. My creative juices flow in weird ways, and I have other uses for them sometimes.

If this fic ever does die, it will be put up for adoption to a good author. I know there is nothing more frustrating than getting into a good story and never having it finished because the author is too lazy to get around to writing.

With all that out of the way, into the story!

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It was time.

They had been setting up the runes for the last week. Each and every character meticulously drawn then triple checked before moving on to the next one. The entire room was covered in the white chalk to create a dizzyingly complex array, which is an impressive feat considering it was in no way a small room. Besides the huge collection of ancient characters there were nine spaces in the room devoid of anything.The first empty space was by far the largest and most notable being in the exact center of the array. Surrounding it were the other eight spaces, six of equal size and two of slightly larger. The larger circles were on opposite sides of the largest one with the remaining six spread out evenly around the largest.

Each space was occupied, save for the largest, by a being. The smallest circles contained the Elements of Harmony, six mares barely old enough to be considered adults. The two slightly larger ones were occupied by the immortal sisters, Celestia and Luna. Both groups had on masks of determination to cover the absolute fear they truly held in their hearts, for what they were about to do was no easy task. In fact, had it not been their only option to save themselves, they wouldn't have even considered this to be a choice. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

“I know I have asked this before.” began Celestia “But this will be the final time, do you all want to go through with this? This is your final chance to back out...”

All the masks through the room instantly crack, each mare showing her concerns and reservations on her face clear as day for a few moment before they can harden their resolves.

Finally after a few seconds, one mare hardens her resolve. “Yes, we are ready princess.” says Twilight, the unofficial spokespony for the group, “It is far too late to back out anyways, no matter what you say.” Strengthened by her little speech, each of her friends nods her consent and acceptance of Twi’s statement as fact and returns to the task at hand. Celestia allows a grin of pride on her face for but a moment before she is interrupted by her sister.

“Tia, we have waited more than long enough. I don’t want to do this just as much as you don’t, but nothing is working. This IS our last option...” Luna’s speech had improved dramatically from when she first returned from her banishment on the moon, to the point that it was as if she had never left in the first place. None the less her words reminds Celestia of what needed to be done and got her back on track.

“You are right, let us begin.”

The two sisters horns light up at the same time, Celestia’s a brilliant golden aura and Luna’s a deep and dark violet. The runes immediately surrounding them glow the same colors before shooting out along the path of the array. Faster and faster the magic travel until it reaches a point on the ceiling where they converge and continue on the path previously occupied by the other color. Round the room the magic spreads until the whole grid is glowing a light ethereal white and is slightly pulsing.

With the preliminary setup out of the way the sisters turn to the young mares.

“When you feel a pull on your respective Element, focus everything you have on it. Do not worry, Tia and I will weave the spell as needed, just supply the power.” Her warning out of the way, Luna focuses back on the spell along with Celestia. Nothing notable happens for a few minutes besides the array glowing slightly brighter along with each respective alicorn’s horn. Suddenly the girls feel a pull from the array, nothing uncomfortable, but definitely the moment they had been waiting for. Each one focuses on the element they hold: Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, and finally, Magic. The grid explodes in color as the elements are combined with the magic of the sisters. Just as Luna said, the different colors go to different parts of the array guided by an invisible hand. A few more minutes of this and all the preparations are set.

“Time for the final push!” spoke Celestia over the whir of all the magic focused in the room. The focal point was unsurprisingly the largest circle, which up until this point had been completely devoid of change since the whole process started. Beams of magic shot out from random points and coalesced into a ball in the exact center. There, a whirlwind started to pick up. At first it was nothing more than a light breeze but began to increase in intensity the more magic was poured into the spell.

“Hold!” grunted Celestia from her space as the wind had sped up to hurricane force. “Its. Almost. Complete!!”

Sweat was pouring out of every pore in the room. the strain on their bodies was noticeable with the gritting of teeth and an occasional erratic twitch. but they held, for the future of Equestria depended on their actions at this moment.

Soon the glow of the array had become blinding, the winds up to tornado strength, and the heat from all the magic raising the temperature up to sweltering levels. Through all this, a portal of sorts was forming slightly above the unoccupied space. It was only a few meters tall and barely a meter wide, but it was growing each second. It continued to grow until the portal encompassed the entirety of the blank space in the center of the array with a dome of magic too bright to look at. With a brilliant flash of light and a deafening bang, the dome exploded, flinging all the occupants of the room to the walls with enough force to knock them slightly dizzy.

“Uggggh...” was the collective response of all the mares in the room. Everything had returned to how it was before the process started except the center space in the room which was covered in a dense fog.

“Are all, ugh, all my little ponies alright?” Luna grunted as she got back up on her hooves. the blast had taken a lot out of her, but she was recovering.

“I think i twisted mah front leg on the wall when i hit it, but I’ll be fine in ah few.” responded Applejack from her position in the room. it seemed she was the worst off with the others reporting nothing more then some dizziness or nothing at all.

“Well?” asked an impatient rainbow themed pegasus after she had made sure none of her friends were seriously hurt, “Did it work? Did we bring him back?”

“I can’t tell Rainbow Dash, the fog is too dense to see inside.” responded Luna as she took a few cautious steps to the center of the room. it had cleared to the point that it was obvious something was in the center of the room, but looked like nothing more than...

A pile of rags?

“What is that?” asked a confused Rarity. “I thought we were going to summon a gallant officer from the time of Nightmare Moon, not a drab pile of cloth.”

“I’m... not sure... the array was supposed to summon a great warrior to aid us... maybe there was a mistake somewhere...?” Mused Celestia as she made her way over to Luna while staring at the insignificant pile of cloth in the middle of the room. While the two goddesses bounced theories off each other as to what could’ve went wrong, the residential pink mare of hyperactivity bounced over to the rags without a care.

“Hiya! what’s your name?” she spoke in her over bubbly voice, garnering the attention of everyone in the room.

“Uh... Pinkie? why are you talking to the pile of rags?” asked an uneasy Twilight, convinced her friend had finally snapped.

“I’m not talking to the coat, that would be silly!” smiled Pinkie back over to Twilight, uncaring of the confused looks she received in return.

“Then who are you talking to, darling?”

“The person we summoned!” Pinkie stated as she bounced over to Rarity’s side, where everyone else was gathering.

“But there is nothing... noth...” Rarity was left speechless along with everypony else as the pile of cloth started to move. it seemed to grow and elongate until it was as tall as Celestia herself. what was thought to be a pile of old rags in fact wasn't a pile of cloth at all, it was a dark gray cloak with a hood. Underneath the hood was a white and red mask that bore a striking resemblance to an owl. Besides that, absolutely nothing was remarkable about it.

“wha.. wha.. what are you?!”

The creature turned its head toward the speaker, Rainbow, and seemed to study her until its gaze covered everypony else. it took a slightly longer look at the two sisters, perhaps realizing their status over the other ponies in the room.

“Can you understand us creature?” intoned Celestia while taking a step forward.

The cloak bellowed slightly in the front and a glimpse of claws could be seen, but instead of being sharp and deadly, they were soft and covered in a sort of fingerless glove made of an unknown material. the two hands interlocked into a strange pattern then without warning a burst of magic came out of his body, dissipating almost instantly. It looked to be confused as it stared back at the ponies, then attempted what it did again, but with a larger pulse. whan that apparently failed, its hands returned to its side inside the cloak.

“um... what did it do?...” a timid voice spoke from the back of the group. Before anypony could respond, a series of barks and grunts could be heard from the creature. when nopony responded to it, it repeated itself slightly louder, irritation clear in its voice.

“I think its trying to talk to us.” spoke Twilight. “Do you know what it said princess?”

“No, but i know something that could help us” Celestia's horn glowed softly. The spell was a simple one in theory if not practice. It translated what the target wanted to say into speakable equestrian directly from its mind. It was a very useful spell for meeting new species to learn what their intentions were. Sadly it had fallen into disuse with the first fall of Nightmare Moon and the rise of harmony.

The spell attempted to get into the mind of the creature, then all hell broke loose.

ugh, my head. what the hell happened?

I was laying on some sort of hard floor, which itself rose many red flags. last i remember I was returning from assassinating that bandit head and was sleeping in a tree. He had gotten a little too ambitious and started to attack caravans in the Land of Fire, so the Hokage decided to nip this problem in the bud before it began. His base was in Kiri territory, so it became an instant A rank assassination job. Add in the fact he had rogue ninja as bodyguards and it was bumped up to ANBU black ops level. Everything went smoothly, I even got to kill a traitor to the Leaf. It wasn't necessary to kill him, but when an opportunity like that rises, you take it. With that instant bonus in the bank, I left the scene. A corpse and a bit of charred ground the only clues as to anyone being there.

I get to my knees, then stand to examine my surroundings. Its some kind of store room with wooden walls and stone floor. The only notable feature in the room is the enormous seal drawn on every inch of the room with white chalk.

What is going on? Where am I? hundreds of other questions run rampant through my mind each one left just as unanswered as the last. After a few seconds of musing to myself I hear what sounds like a whinny with a few yips thrown in it. Turning around i'm left utterly confused. Is....is that... is that a horse?!? What the HELL is going on! In front of me is a scene i never thought i would see. its a group of horses, but too small to be considered horses... ponies? why am i in a room filled with ponies?!? The two larger ones are looking at me in what looks to be cautious surprise while the others are just flat out surprised. Wait, they have emotions?!? It takes all my years in ANBU to not freak out. How can this be hap, wait, Genjutsu! The largest one tries to communicate again, but I’m ignoring them. I make the appropriate handsign and pulse my chakra to dispel the illusion. Nothing happens. Confused, I pulse it again with more force. Still nothing happens. That second pulse was strong enough to break out of any illusion! how am I even in one?! I’m a genjutsu specialist for crying out loud!

My right hand goes and takes a hold of the tanto on the small of my back, the other one going to grab a few kunai from my hip pouch. Years of training kick in as I set my body on a hair trigger, ready to kick into action at the slightest provocation.

“Identify yourselves, explain what is going on.” The largest one stops her advance, but says nothing. They all look a little nervous now. I repeat myself with more force to get the point that I was not in a good mood across. The purple one seems to be talking with the group. The largest one responded, possible leader? I put that information into the back of my head as her horn glows a little, at least i assume its a her, all these ponies look way too childish and girly to be male. I make sure I have good grips on all my weapons. I don't want to kill any of them, unless they start to attack me, then all bets are off. I feel a probe try to enter my mind. OH HELL NO! that is NOT happening. I've had enough experience with mind control jutsu to never want to be the victim of one!

With a flick of my wrist, I send out a trio of kunai. they impact around the apparent leader and imbed themselves into the stone floor. I jump back while simultaneously drawing my tanto and signing one of my favorite genjutsu. ‘Demonic illusion: Tree binding’

Fast.

That is all Celestia can use to describe the creature. one second, it was just sitting there doing absolutely nothing, then the next, it's claw snaps up and three knives materialize at her hooves. The sudden movement is enough to snap her out of her spell as she involuntarily rears up on her hind legs with a cry. By the time her wits return about her, the creature has disappeared.

“Where did it go!” cries Celestia as she frantically scans the room. There is no way it can get out, her guards have magically sealed this room from the outside and would only respond to her or Luna. So it had to be in here, but there was nothing in the room!

“I don't know Tia! it just flew back and disintegrated into dust!” Luna was just as frantic as her, everypony was. There was an unknown creature that apparently has the ability to turn into dust, was hostile, and was locked in the room with no way out.

Suddenly branches wrap around the ponies in the room, further frightening the equestrians. In their frantic searching for the creature, the ponies failed to notice the sudden sprouting and rapid growth of grand trees behind each of them. The branches secured them and thickened until not even the mightiest buck from Big Mac would faze them. Despite their struggles and cries of confusion, the branches held firm. Celestia, still frantically searching for the creature, tried to free herself with her magic. No matter how much she struggled nor how much power she put into moving the trees, they do not budge one inch.

Her struggles continue, but stop almost instantaneously when she feels something lying on her neck. Slowly she takes a look behind her and what she sees will give her nightmares for the rest of her long life.

The creature was growing out of the tree that held her, and had the sharp end of a sword poised to take her life. It was looking right back at her, staring into her soul while it passed judgement on her.

Abject terror fills Celestia as she realizes she could be mere seconds away from death, and death in front of Twilight and her closest friends no less. Celestia hears the cries of everypony else in the room, begging the creature to stop attacking them, begging it to spare her life. Yet the creature does nothing. It neither twitches its arm to finish the job, nor removes the implement of harm from its position on her neck, nor does it even acknowledge the others in the room. It simple stared into her.

After what felt like a lifetime, it lifted the blade from her neck and sheathed it back into its cloak with an audible click. While Celestia breaths a sigh of relief, the creatures removes itself from the tree and walks in front of her to resume its stare, but much less threateningly. It continues to look at her for a few minutes, before suddenly flicking its arms up and making a rapid series of gestures with its hands. It goes through several dozen such gestures in only a second, then lays one hand on her forehead while making a sign with the other in front of its face. Celestia has a feeling falling, then blacks out.

(Celestia’s Mind)

When Celestia awakens, she is floating in a endless and empty white void. It doesn't stay empty for long as the creature phases into existence a respectable distance from her. The two lock eyes once again and resume the stare-off from outside.

“...What did you do?” asks Celestia hesitantly, she doesn't expect a responce, so she is surprised to receive a reply.

“I have merely linked our minds so we may communicate.” the creature replies in a gruff monotone voice, reminiscent of the many guards she has commissioned through the years. “This jutsu is usually used to interrogate prisoners or teach complex concepts in a short period of time, but it will suffice for my purposes”

“And what would those purposes be, perchance?” Celestia has regained much of her confidence, but is still weary in the face of this much unknown. The ‘interrogate prisoners’ portion of his response did not help those weary feelings dissipate.

“To get answers.” The way he phrased that made it perfectly clear to Celestia that he will be getting the answers he wants.

“Very well, so long as I can ask some questions myself.”

“You forget your standing, I currently hold the lives of you and all the others in that room in my hand. It would be wise to remember that fact before making demands” he replies, voice never changing from beginning to end “But in the interest of cooperation, I will allow a few questions after I have gotten all of my answers.”

Unsettled about how casually he spoke of ending their lives, Celestia figures it would be best to cut her losses and answer the questions the creature has. Nodding her consent, the creature waists no time in asking his questions.

“Who and what are you?”

“I am princess Celestia, co-ruler of the kingdom of Equestria along with my sister Luna, who you also saw in the room. As for what I am, I am an Alicorn. I have traits from all three of the races of ponykind: Unicorn, pegasi, and earth ponies.”

“Where are we in the outside world?”

“We are located in the sub-basement of an old house outside of a town called Ponyville.”

“Why am I here?”

“We were attempting to summon a great warrior from Equestria’s past to aid in a conflict that has consumed my country.” Began the princess, “The last few days have been spent preparing the spell that should’ve summoned him or her. Unfortunately when we cast the spell, we did not summon one of Equestria’s long lost warriors, we summoned you.”

This gave the creature pause, but not for long.

“What did you try to do to me before I brought you here?”

“That, for lack of a better word, was a translation spell. It is designed to convert what you intend to say into speakable equestrian, the language of my ponies, directly from your mind. Inversely, you would also be able to understand anything being that spoke in equestrian.”

“So that was not a mind control jutsu?”

“What? Good heavens no! What ever gave you that idea?” Celestia is appalled by the idea, and curious as to why the creature would jump to such conclusions

“Where I come from, there is a clan of my fellows that is very adept with jutsu of the mind. Mind control is well within their grasp, to the point that it is considered a basic skill for one of them to be able to completely take over the body of another.” informs the creature. “I assumed you were trying to take over my mind because the feeling of your ‘spell’ is similar to one of their jutsu taking effect.”

Disturbed by the admission of the creature, the alicorn tries to reassure the biped. “Well you have my promise as leader of equestria that none of us would try such a thing to you.”

“I should hope so, I won’t be holding back if something like that happens again.” The first change in its tone happens, but its barely noticable. If Celesta didn't know any better, she could've sworn the creature sounded smug. That can't be right.

The two continue to stare at one another, not speaking or doing anything. This is the first chance Celestia has to study more of the creature. Its cloak is parted slightly in the front to reveal what's underneath. It appears to be wearing some kind of light gray ceramic armor over a black skin tight shirt. The armor itself only seem to cover the chest, not going up to the shoulders but being held up with straps of the same color as the armor. It has a few spots where pockets have been integrated, mostly along the lower torso, and appear to be full. Its lower body is covered in a loose fitting style of black pants with bandages wrapped around both thighs. there is also a strap wrapped around both sets of bandages, but Celestia can’t see what they are holding onto. Finally its feet are covered in a dark blue open toe shoe, revealing that the creature has five toes. After Celestia finishes her studying, the creature speaks up. “I have no other major pressing questions at the moment, if you would like to ask yours, speak now.”

“Thank you. my first question is the same as yours, who and what are you?”

“I am Fukurou, ANBU captain from the village hidden in the Leaves, but you may refer to me as Owl for convenience. As for what I am, I am a human.” Owl? why does he refer to himself as one name then ask to be called another. This human is quite confusing.

“What was it that you did after i attempted to cast the spell?”

“I disrupted your ‘spell’ by throwing my kunai at you, then cast a genjutsu over you and your ponies.”

“What is a genjutsu? if I may ask?”

“You may not.”

“What? Why?” Celestia was very interested in how the creature managed to get eight trees well over four feet in diameter to appear out of nowhere, in the middle of an underground room no less. then grow out one like it wasn't even there

“Knowledge brings about the ability to counter. If you knew what i did, you might be able to break out of it and attack me.”

“But we hold no desire to attack you.”

“It does not matter, I will not take that risk.” Seeing as the creature would not budge on the subject, Celestia decides to take another approach.

“Do you mean to cause harm to any of my little ponies?”

“So long as I am not attacked and they do not stand in my way, the have nothing to fear from me.” Its tone seems to have lightened from the beginning of the conversation. It is talking more casually now, but still much like how a guard would address her. “I believe that is enough of the Q & A for now, I do not wish to exert myself for more than necessary and this jutsu is quite draining.”

“Very well. I ask that I be allowed to cast the ‘translation’ spell on you when we return to the outside world, to both continue our conversation without drain on yourself and involve the others. I also ask that you release them from whatever you have us under. We mean no harm and only wish to communicate.” Celestia knew she was pushing the limits of what Owl had allowed, but she had to put the safety of Twilight and the others above her own.

“This is acceptable. I was going to release all of you from my genjutsu anyways so long as you proved you posed no threat to me. you have done this, so you need not worry.” Celestia allows a sigh of relief at her little victory. but more importantly, it revealed that the human was not without reason. As her world faded to black once more, Celestia hopes that maybe this could still play out to her advantage...

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A/N: Explanations, this one will be quite large because I am acting under the assumption that your cumulative knowledge of Naruto is wat r ninja.

The Hokage is the leader of the Leaf village and translates to ‘fire shadow’. Think of the ninja villages as military dictatorships lead by a Kage that act on their own separate from all governing bodies, they just happen to ally themselves with their home country. The Leaf is located in the Land of Fire.

Kiri is a rival ninja village, one that is known for being ruthless and having little care for human life.

A traitor to your home village is to be incapacitated and brought back to the village for questioning or killed on sight if high enough rank. Special teams of ninja are created solely to remove missing-ninja, or missing-nin, from existence. they do this by killing the traitors, removing the head, and burning the rest of the body on the spot.

Jutsu are the magic of the Naruto world, it's a lot more complex than that, but that comparison is good enough for now. jutsu are cast by making a series of hand seals to mould your chakra into desired effects.

Chakra is like the fuel for jutsu. Again, this is only the most basic of explanations, but will suffice for now. a person has a set amount of chakra they can access at once and it recharges over time. Your ‘Chakra reserves’ can be increased through training.

Genjutsu is the art of illusionary techniques. a genjutsu messes with the five senses to create whatever the caster wishes the target to experience. Genjutsu do not have the ability to harm the target physically, but mental trauma is a very real possibility and someone under the effects of a genjutsu is wide open for attack. Genjutsu require a high degree of intelligence and control, but not much power.

ANBU are the right hand of a Kage. They are the best ninja a village has to offer and accept only the hardest and most dangerous jobs. Usually, they act in teams of four under one captain, but solo missions are not unheard of. To protect their Identities, ANBU wear masks and all have a set of standardized armor and equipment. Konoha’s (Leaf) masks have the likeness of animals on them and they are referred to by their mask while they have it on (ie: an ANBU with a dog mask would be called Inu, or Dog). If you want to see the mask of my OC, it's the cover image.