Naranjo was appointed an alcalde and leader of Indian auxiliary troops, serving on expeditions against the Apache and the Pueblo who had fled to El Cuartelejo.

He seems to have accompanied Vargas on his campaign to reoccupy New Mexico, witnessing a number of skirmishes and battles before settling at Santa Cruz.

In 1707 he joined Juan de Ulibarrí's expedition to capture Pueblo Indians who had fled to El Cuartelejo (in modern Kansas).

Naranjo was appointed chief of all Pueblo auxiliary troops by Fernando de Alencastre, 1st Duke of Linares – the Viceroy of New Spain from 1711–16 – becoming the first Indian to hold that post.

Intended to discover French people reputed to be living amongst the tribes of the Great Plains (Spain was then fighting the War of the Quadruple Alliance against France) the expedition went "farther into the interior than anyone from Spanish America had ever gone before".

[1] Reaching the Platte River the expedition was surprised by an attack of the Pawnee and Otoe on 14 August in which 46 of the party were killed including Naranjo and Villasur.