Storm of the North

Chapter 18

Q&A

Sazi94: Naruto is concerned about that, but most likely will leave it to Lyanna if at all possible. He doesn't have the patience needed to handle Sansa's thinking.

Now taking baby name ideas for a small new Uzumaki.

Winterfell, 298 AC

Rai Uchiha crept through Winterfell, the hallways bathed in darkness, only a few scant candles and torches lighting them. He had chosen his night well. There was a new moon and cloudy weather, making his infiltration as advantageous as possible. As the sun had fallen, the fires were lit, he scaled the walls in silence. The young man wore no metallic armor, only furs tied tightly across his torso and stepped lightly. His mission was clear: kill the Uzumaki's lover an any children he might find. He would do this mission and be among the first to be rewarded by Sasuke and the emperor when they returned victorious. His name would be written down as the one who permanently destroyed the Uzumaki line. He silently drew his dagger, colored black as he continued his sneaking.

He could hear the soft singing of the lover coming down the hall. The bastard brat had been born. Maybe he'd have his way with the woman before he killed her. He was amused by the idea of showing her what a real man felt like. He continued in silence until he was right by the door. He evened his breath, calming himself, getting ready to act as needed. He could still hear the humming through the door, as he gripped the handle silently and pushed it down. It made no sound as he silently pushed it open. There she was. This "She-Wolf". He stepped into the room without a sound. A silent step forward. The woman only continued humming and looking down into the crib she stood over. This was almost too easy. A second step. He was now almost within an arm's reach of her. He was going to tame this She-Wolf. She going to moan his name. She was going to-

Suddenly the woman turned in a flourish. She had something thin and medium length in her hand. Steel. It was rippled steel. The movement was mesmerizing. Like a beautiful dancer. For a moment Rei was stunned and assumed she had just simply found him out. Then he breathed out and metallic taste filled his mouth as he started choking on his own blood. His hand went to his throat and he tried to stem the bleeding. He looked down on the floor where his Uchiha blood was dripping in horror. He then rose his gaze back to the beautiful woman, silently beseeching her for help. The woman had simply continued her calming humming all this time. He was here dying a few feet away from his intended targets and she looked like she wasn't even bothered.

"You made a lot more noise than my husband, amateur. You were also slow. You shouldn't have come here" She spoke melodically and continued humming softly, not taking her eyes off of him. 'What did she mean by that' wondered Rei as he fell to the ground, making a futile effort to stem the bleeding. He should have stayed in Essos. His mother had told him not to go. She'd told him to find a nice girl and give her grandbabies. The last thing in his mind was a prayer to the Maiden-Made-of-Light to protect his mother as his mind gave way to blackness.

Lyanna gazed down passively at the assassin. This one was clearly no-where near the on her husband had fought on Pyke during the rebellion. A bit of blood was still on her sword. What most people knew of the Valyrian blade 'Red Rain' was that it went missing sometime during the Greyjoy rebellion. What almost no-one knew was that during said rebellion was that the blade found its way to the hands of a certain fighter of the North and was later repurposed for making armor for his 'adoptive' son and his lover. The lover's blade didn't need much of the steel the original blade had. It was easily concealed under a skirt because of its thinness and length and was perfect for the flowing moves of a water dancer. But since it's was Valyrian steel it's could, at least in theory, be used for deflecting also.

Lyanna wiped the blood on her blade on the tunic of the cooling body of the assassin. Then she went back to the crib and gazed down softly upon the sleeping face of her daughter and continued softly humming. She didn't have the chance to actively do this when Jon was in his crib so she was overcompensating for that time, even if the servants had encouraged her to rest as the regent. Yes, the servants could assist in caring for her child, but she would o it herself if she could. She needn't worry for the moment. If this was the level of the assassin's they had, they were going to be fine. She would gaze down at her daughter for a while, before having the guards drag out the body.

The Wall, 298 AC

Jon and Ygritte listened to the howling of the wind on top of the wall. They could not see anything down in the forests below. Well at least Jon couldn't. If Ygritte was asked, she'd just smile impishly and tell anyone 'wouldn't you like to know'. The reception to the Wall wasn't warm, pun not intended, but at least no-one had tried to kill Ygritte on sight. Maybe northerners really did look alike, no matter what side of the Wall you were born on. Or maybe they didn't care. Who knows. So far they had met with the Head of the Night's Watch, Lord Commander Jeor Mormont. They were planning on going to the other side to try and find clues on the claims of the deserter. So far the plan's extended thus: Jon, Ygritte and Benjen with some brothers of the Watch were going beyond the wall and would try and find anything unusual, even for them.

They had gotten to know some of the recruits they came with. Most of whom were bastards. Not in the way of, born out of wedlock. More in the way of being rapists, murderers and cunts in general. Ygritte had even begun calling them 'the Cunt Crows' which had gotten Jon and Tyrion laughing. It also set of 'the Cunt Crows', especially one named Rast, who tried to attack Ygritte, claiming he was going to 'fuck her till she's dead'. It ended with the castration of the man by Jon, since the man was already a convicted criminal, attempting rape, in Stark lands, in front of Jon who was acting as the representative of Winterfell to the Wall. The Lord Commander had not been happy, with both Jon and Rast, but there was nothing to be done. The man had broken the law outside of his domain and was punished for it.

But here they were, enjoying the blowing of the wind on cold wall, Ghost's ears flicking as he listened to sounds neither Jon or Ygritte could pick up, smelling the wind blowing from beyond the wall and most likely seeing what neither of them could. Then suddenly Ghost turned his head to the side and rose to his feet. He sniffed the air, then slowly crouched, baring his teeth, his ears back. No growls came from the silent wolf, but his red eyes were fixated on the shadows of the parapets on the wall. Ygritte wasted no time drawing her bow and nocking an arrow. Jon drew his sword and eyed the darkness warily.

Silently, out of the darkness walked a dark haired young man, holding a blade. He wore dark blue cloth under his furs, his dark eyes, speckled with red. His expression was grim, staring at the three before him, silently thinking on his options. He opened his mouth and out came language Ygritte could not understand, but had heard before. He'd heard it when Naruto, Jon and Lyanna conversed.

"This one is Setsuna of the Uchiha clan. I've been commanded to kill you, man of Winterfell." the man spoke calmly. Jon stood stock still before responding in kind with the same language "This one is Jon, also known as the barstard of Stark. But I have also been given the name Setsuro by the man who raised me. I have no clan name."

Setsuna nodded "If the one who raised you is Uzumaki, I will regard you as Uzumaki. I would have slit your throat from the darkness if possible, so don't take shame in your greater forces. I made the mistake. I'm not sure if you know about our customs, but if I should fall, burn my body. I'll do the same to yours."

Jon simply nodded and Setsuna rushed them. Before he could get his second step, Ygrittes arrow hit his left shoulder, making him stumble. Setsuna caught himself and resumed rushing, only to have Ghost jump and latch on to the arm he had his blade in. The pain of the biting and tugging made him let go of his blade, which didn't matter as Jon was already by his side. Jon thrust upwards from below, piercing Setsuna and lifting him into the air a bit. Ghost didn't let go of the man dragging the man down, piercing him further down on the sword.

Setsuna wasn't dead yet, his left hand moved despite the pain he was in and latched on to Jon's throat, trying to choke Jon at this close range. He was running on his last life, trying to accomplish his mission. This was the first time Jon had faced someone so desperate for a kill. He lifted his foot up to Setsuna's chest and with a roar, he kicked as hard as he could. Ghost let go and Setsuna went over the edge of the Wall, falling in to the darkness of the no-man's land below. There was a suppressed THUD and nothing else. They would have to reclaim the body when they could. That would be the first time any of them faced what could be called a zealot, but not the last time.

Kinglanding, 298 AC

Ned had been having an easier time of finding information on Jon Arryn and what he'd been doing in the capital because Naruto had been acting as support for him. So far the most information was the usual of running seven kingdoms for a king who didn't care. Then, according to rumors, he didn't get along his wife who shrieked like a banshee when she didn't get her way. Finally, Jon had been going to some strange places, at least for him. The first strangeness was the brothel. Jon was an old man, a true follower of the Seven and he looked own on brothels. The second was a smithy. Fine, the smith in question was pretty famous, but Jon was an old man and the Hand of the King. He could have requested the smith to come to him. So why go himself?

Then there were few inns and other that stood out as maybe an escape from his wife, but they'd check them out just like they did the brothel and smithy. And boy, were Ned and Naruto in for a surprise when they visited first the smithy and then the brothel. The smithy in question was Tobho Mott's, one of the few smith in the world who know how to work Valyrian steel. Naruto had almost started laughing when he'd seen the smith's apprentice Gendry, who looked like Robert, was built like Robert and swung a hammer as hard as Robert. When the boy showed a seriousness either inherited partly from Stannis or the boy's mother, Naruto looked like he'd found his favorite new toy. The boy showed off his best work and both Ned and Naruto were suitably impressed. Naruto even asked if the young man wanted to come work for him back in Winterfell or if he was interested in seeing Essos. The smith was rather put out on the chance of losing one of his apprentices.

They also found out a few fascinating pieces of information. Apparently Stannis Baratheon, the Master of Ships, ha also visited with Jon Arryn. The other was concerning Gendry, more specifically the young man's apprentice fee. According to Mott, the fee was paid by a 'stour, brown bearded man, wearing a hooded velvet cloak'. While Ned was quite surprised by the information, Naruto had gotten a calculating look on his face and fallen silent for their visit to the smithy.

In the brothel they had found a prostitute, who carried with her a dark-haired babe. Naruto had insisted that Kingslanding and a brothel weren't places for such a precious little girl to grow up in and insisted on her re-location to Winterfell and for her to work for his lady wife, who also would have given birth by this point. When Mhaegen, the girls mother, questioned such generosity, Naruto told her that he'd helped raise Lord Starks baseborn son and knew that even kids out of wedlock had greatness in them. Also, the North wouldn't truly care for her blood one way or the other. It took a bit of convincing, but the girl gave in and soon was sent with guards northwards.

Nine others. They found nine other baseborn children of Robert's in Kingslanding alone. Barra, Mhaegen's daughter was the youngest. After each child Naruto was looking more haggard than before. Some mothers were servants or former servants of the Red Keep. Some were prostitutes. Few were random women whom had found their way into Robert's bed. They were just a terrible mistake waiting to happen. When Robert died they would be left with a madman on the throne. A madman who didn't look like the king that just died. But he had illegitimate siblings around the city who looked exactly like their father. Naruto's hunch on getting the children out of the city was correct. When Robert passed there would be unrest, at least momentarily. Unrest that some could use as an opportunity to try and put one of the illegitimate children on the throne, which could be a civil war within the walls of Kingslanding. Naruto had given the mothers options on relocating to Essos. Some took it, some didn't. When returning after those who refused Naruto had been mumbling about kidnapping, which Ned told him not to do.

Naruto had already informed him of the doubts of Joffrey actually being Robert's son. They were nothing alike in temperament, build or looks. But Naruto had no proof, so until either of them found some, Joffrey was Robert's son. Still, this all gave light to Jon's doings in the city and perhaps even why Stannis had left after Jon's death. In Naruto's opinion the death had something to do with the children and Ned couldn't really argue against that.

Ned sighed and continued holding court in Robert's stead. Naruto was out doing something, claiming he was looking into some old rumor and it would take him most of the day. Ned just wanted to get to the bottom of Jon's death and the attempt on his son's life after which he coul go back home to the North, where it was nice and cool and he could be left alone and care for his own people.

To be continued…

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