(Ponyville Hospital)

(Day after the duel)

“So I think I should start with the animal path, maybe that forest will give me some participants.” The bandaged teenager thought as he sat in his bed with a gown on. “I wonder why they put Shining in the next room, probably to save time on visits.”

“Ok Mr.Kusanba, your friends are here to visit you.” Nurse redheart said as she opened the door. “Also you may need to stay for up to a week since healing magic doesn’t work very well on you.”

“It’s Kusanabe.” Zeko corrected to Redheart’s confusion, not realizing the minor language barrier.

“It sounded the same to me.” She said opening the door for Twilight and her friends. Pinkie bounded to the shinobi and excitedly hugged him.”

“The was the extra most bestest most spectacular thing I’ve ever seen!” She said while holding the teenager harder progressively.

“So death by asphyxiation. Not my ideal choice but in this instance a normal person would like this.” Zeko thought realizing he was between Pinkie’s ample bust. “I’m not most people however.” The teen thought as he substituted with a sand clone causing Pinkie to fall onto a pile of sand.

“IT’S IN MY MOUTH!” The party mare screamed as she ran out of the room looking for water.

“Well that was a tad excessive, also I’ve been meaning to ask how you do that.” Twilight said as the group noticed Zeko was now next to the window. “I can understand teleportation but you replace yourself entirely with sand and you shouldn’t be walking around yet, you’re still injured.”

“Trust me this is nothing new and for substitution I just have to focus on a nearby position and focus on being there as something contacts me, and I just replace myself with a sand clone.” Zeko answered nonchalantly.

“Where does the sand come from? I’ve never seen you open that urn for it.” Twilight asked taking notes. “I create it with my chakra.” The shinobi answered as he bit his thumb.

“Wait why did you do that?” Rainbow Dash asked curious as to why the teenager bit himself.

“Summoning: Samehada.” Zeko said as he put his hand on the floor and made his sword appear causing every mare’s jaw to drop. “Samehada I need a different outfit.” He said as the sword opened its mouth and produced an undershirt, a jacket, another pair of pants and fresh sandals.

“How did you bring it here?! We had to leave it in Canterlot because we couldn’t move it without hurting somepony!” Twilight asked wide eyed as Zeko began to change in front of them causing Fluttershy and Rarity to blush and look away, while Applejack took off her hat and fanned herself.

“Huh, you’re pretty fit for a kid.” Rainbow said breaking the awkward moment. “Do you work out or just swing that sword around?”

“I worked out so I could swing the sword around. I know what most peop- ponies think about it and that’s the fact that it’s huge would mean I can’t swing it well.”

“Well yeah, I mean it’s bigger than you are, and it looks pretty heavy.” Rainbow Dash said pointing at the sword as Zeko zipped up his jacket, which made Rarity run over and examine the cloth with her magic.

https://postimg.cc/JHj6DVx0

“What is this made of? It’s comfortable yet sturdy at the same time. I would feel it myself but it was in... that thing’s mouth.” Rarity finished disgusted by the storage that Zeko used.

“Well I can give you one of my other articles of clothing for one, and Samehada’s mouth is very clean since it doesn’t drool.” The shinobi answered wrapping his blade up again. “And I’m sure you can replicate the cloth but I don’t know what it’s made of myself.”

“Like I was saying.” Dash said abruptly, “How do you carry that thing so easily? I don’t think Big Mac could hold it without straining some.”

“Well I’m stronger than I look since I underwent extreme training.” Zeko answered putting Samehada on his back again. “I don’t feel right unless you’re with me.” He pat the hilt as he said this causing the weapon to rustle.

“It said ‘I know’” Fluttershy translated. “And how do you understand it?!” Dash asked.

“Well Samehada is essentially a shark sword.” Zeko said causing them to stare at him. “What? Is something on my face?”

“Did... did ya just say a shark sword?” Applejack asked. “Yes, yes I did. Hmm, now that I think about it I can see why that sounds weird.” Zeko said

“HOW!? HOW DOES IT EXIST!?” Twilight yelled not understanding how an animal could be utilized as a weapon. “I-I have t-to ask as well, an animal shouldn’t be fighting.” Fluttershy added.

“Well Samehada was made to fight and drain chakra from others and seek those with large chakra reserves or unique chakra. And since I have the Rinnegan it saw me as unique and we’ve bonded since then.” Zeko answered smiling.

“Then how was it created? You can’t just turn an animal into a weapon, there’s no such spell.” Twilight questioned.

“She’s right, how could somethin like that be any sorta critter?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t know. I know you’re going to ask but Samehada is much older than me, at least by one hundred years.” He told them making them gasp including Pinkie who returned moments prior.

“B-but how can it be alive? It-it’s not cursed is it?” Pinkie asked as the girls excluding Twilight stepped back.”

“There’s no such thing as curses, it’s just old tales to explain what ponies didn’t understand.” Twilight said reassuringly

“She’s right, and Samehada lives by draining chakra from other things, whether it be by taijutsu or ninjutsu.” Zeko added calming the mares down.

“Wait what’s tayjutsa and ninejutsa?” Dash asked. “Could they make me even more awesome?”

“Ok I’ll explain on the way because we’re going to Twilight’s house.” The shinobi said causing Twilight to squeal in excitement.

“I never figured you for an egghead pal, but I guess everypony likes different things.” Dash said surprised that someone so powerful enjoyed reading.

“No we’re going because there’s a language barrier I need to get around, I have an issue with you messing up words I know. So I need to find the proper pronunciation.” Zeko said as he looked to the window and stooped down.

“Wait! There’s a door right he-“ Rairity was cut off by Zeko jumping through the window and yelling;

“REAL NINJA NEVER USE DOORS!”

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(Twilight’s House)

After his second unnecessary exit, the group caught up to Zeko and asked him about what taijutsu and ninjutsu were. He explained the premise of pure physical combat and utilizing your natural energy to enhance it, then talked on how he was able to use his energy to be manifested outside of his body.

“So that’s those two, there’s also genjutsu which involves trapping someone’s mind but I don’t concern myself with that one.” Zeko concluded.

“Well why not? If what you said is true then wouldn’t you have to worry about pon- people doing that and taking your eye?” The librarian asked since Zeko told them of how coveted his Rinnegan was.

“Well it gives me an edge, it gives me resistance to Genjutsu and if Samehada was nearby, then I never had to worry about it that’s not saying I’m immune to mind tricks but it’s not easy to do to me.”

“So you needed to figure out the minor language difference? I’m glad you chose my library for that since the hospital would have helped.” Twilight said, happy that someone was in her library for the sake of education. “So what do you need?”

“Something basic for now, then we can move up since this’ll only take an hour or so.”

“Another gift of that eye?” Twilight asked incredulously since his eye seemed to give him multiple talents.

“Well it helps me take in information quickly, then I just have to process it.” The shinobi responded picking up a simple grammar book.

“Well let’s get started.” Twilight said smiling.

==============================

The two had read on for little over an hour and Zeko had found out how to pronounce his words with their grammar and found that only some characters were switched or didn’t exist entirely.

“Ok that’s out of the way so I’m gonna go walk in the forest.” He said as he walked to the door.

“Wait a second, you aren’t going into that forest. It’s very dangerous.” Twilight scolded as Zeko deadpanned realizing she forgot he wasn’t a helpless child.

“I think I’ll be ok, and I wanted to understand my animal path next anyway so I had to talk to Fluttershy.” He said opening the door which Twilight closed with her magic.

“You aren’t going out there and that’s final, Princess Celestia put me in charge of you and I won’t let you get harmed.” Twilight said leaving no room for argument.

“Ok I guess I’ll just go in the kitchen and make something to-“ Zeko stopped and punched through a wall leaving Twilight shocked that he destroyed part of her house. “I’ll fix it when I come back!” He said running off leaving a unicorn standing mouth agape.

“Well I’ll admit he can be very driven, but I didn’t think he’d damage a house just to be with animals. I hope Fluttershy can teach him patience.

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(Fluttershy’s Cottage)

Zeko came to ask Fluttershy if she could help him find a moderately dangerous animal in the forest but was slightly surprised at the answer.

“No.” The shy mare said making the teenager blink twice.

“What what? I thought you were an expert and handling animals.”

“I am but I don’t want to go into the forest... I-if that’s o-ok with you.” She answered mildly losing some of the earlier confidence, while Angel glared at Zeko.

”He keeps staring at me like I’ll hurt her, I’m going to ignore it either way.”. “Why don’t you want to go into the forest? It’s filled with animals that you could befriend. Maybe even a species you’ve never heard of.” He tried to convince her but she stood firm.

“I’m scared of the forest, s-so I don’t want to go in.” She answered nervously confusing the teen. “You live right on the edge of it.” He said stating the obvious.

“It’s so my animal friends can visit easier.”

“Alright I guess I’ll go alone then, I don’t want to push you out of your comfort zone.” The shinobi said walking back to the door he begrudgingly came in since he couldn’t jump through Fluttershy’s windows. “Ok let’s see if I can do this.” Zeko said before focusing on his palm and making a black rod come out of it. “That wasn’t too tough, now let’s see what I can do to get another ally, maybe one that can give me rides.” The shinobi said walking into the forest.

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Author's Notes:

This was essentially a filler chapter and I put in an image of Zeko’s current look remember to comment, like or just critique silently.