Storm of the North

Chapter 6

Q&A

Guest: No, I'm not gonna bash sewing. For Sansa it's one of the skills she has, but she's never actually had to compete or put her skills to the test.

TehStorm: Never forget that Robert is basically a man-child. He has no responsibilities and it shows. Meaning that there are people like Tywin or Littlefinger who might take it as a way to manipulate Robert, by whispering poison in his ears. The best way to go about is to use his rage and someone taking away what a child sees as his, gets them agitated fast. Naruto's ambition at the moment is to make sure Jon grows up safe, but after that his main driving force is to be the strongest.

Witerfell, 297 AC

Naruto POV

The tournament so far had been quite fun. The competitions opened with most of the 'mundane'. Sansa had done surprisingly well considering her age but she still lost against the people who actually worked for their living. While she was gifted with artistry and the color's she used were more varied because of the funds she had to start with, the durability and usefulness of her creations was lacking. Not many people had use for clothes that just looked fancy. Could they be sold? Of course. But North wasn't known for trading their clothes down south. They traded wool and other ingredients useful for clothes, but actual clothes trading didn't happen other than in winter. And if the clothes couldn't actively chase the cold away, they weren't very useful.

The winning creation was from a farmer, who created clothes for the locals who knew him. They mixed leather for tough fieldwork and wool for warmth. The leather was also easy to clean and was hard to permanently stain. Also, the parts needed for creating such clothes weren't foreign and could be rather easily procured locally. The judges saw usefulness of a creation that made use of locally found parts and could be easily modified by adding or subtracting. It also provided a fair bit of protection because of the leather used. The simplicity was its strength.

One would think Sansa would be crushed by not winning. One would be wrong. Sansa was disappointed, but Ned took her aside to talk for a while. She seemed a lot lighter after that and even wanted to talk to the farmers and other 'peasants' on what they thought would be useful. Turned out her visiting Wintertown was so she could scout out competition on what their price range was. If she was in the south, she might have won. She forgot the main problem of the North: it's the north. The coldest part of the Seven Kingdoms.

She had begun working on her first jacket already. Now she incorporated usefulness to her creations. The jacket was done in multiple layers, the bottom being the warmest layer, the topmost done in leather with fur accents. She even thought to start creating them as gifts to the families in the North and even the south to better relations and be sort of an invitation to the heads of the houses. What better way than to invite someone than to create a personalized jacket with their houses imagery and protects you from the environment you're traveling to. This first jacket was for Ned. Wool dyed grey with dark leather reserved for the top part. She was still only getting started but the base was there.

They had found several promising youths for different vocations, which was only fueled more by the Lords or their representatives vying for their skills. For example, the farmer who won against Sansa, got multiple offers but in the end, it seems House Manderly won, since they had the most to offer, at least in coin.

But, now was not the time for that. The adults would get to fight first. And Naruto's blood was pumping harder than in a while. He was standing in one of the hallways, with others, waiting for the melee to start. He had chosen a longsword and a short-sword for this venue. He was standing next to Jon "Greatjon" Umber, both looking towards the fighting. Greatjon taller than Naruto, by nearly a head. He was also experienced but way too honest. Greatjon had already told Naruto that Naruto would be the first to fall to him. Naruto was looking forward to knocking his old war buddy on his ass. Then, the horn sounded and the doors opened. The participants walked out of the hallways to the area reserved for their fight. No-one fought just yet. There was an almost eerie calmness to the air.

Then Greatjon broke it "If Uzumaki's weapons break, everyone stand away from him, I want to see if the little bastard start picking up rocks or pulls out his cock to fight with!"

And like that the damn broke the. The veterans of the last war started howling in laughter, Greatjon's laughter joining them.

Naruto only grinned, shook his head and yelled back "You better hope I go for the rock Greatjon, or I might tear something of from you to use. Though what I tear off from you is probably the size of a rock, not the sword I'd draw from my trousers." The laughter got even louder.

"Oh, small am I? We can drop our trousers right now and you'll all see why I'm named great" Umber spiked back.

"Nay, we shouldn't do it Lord Umber, if I drop my trousers your wife and daughters might abandon you and move to Winterfell for good" Naruto gave back.

Greatjon only laughed harder with Naruto joining in. Then the horn sounded, the laughter stopped and the roars erupted. The first twenty seconds could only be called chaos.

Thank the gods for blunted steel or multiple houses would have lost their leaders. Naruto was a whirlwind, bashing his way through the crowd, working his way to Greatjon. He wanted a fight? He would definitely get a fight. They finally met and clashed. Where Greatjon looked like a giant breaking the weapons of other men, Naruto looked like a champion of the First Men, ready to do war with the mythical being. That was why both of them requested and gave no quarter. Naruto dodged and deflected all he could of the mighty blows. Greatjon attacked and kept Naruto from getting inside his reach.

They had fought side by side. Had seen how the other moved and worked. Knew each-others weaknesses. And both were wearing demented grins below their helmets as they clashed. The enjoyment was palpable for them. Greatjon gave a swing from high in an angle and managed to break the short-sword Naruto was using for deflection, which only freed Naruto's hand for strengthening his hold on his longsword, and quickened his handling of the blade immensely. Naruto's swing came from below and was aimed at Greatjon's jaw, which was evaded with a simple head movement. Naruto continued with a mix of highspeed swings and thrusts at the bigger man's joints, so much that it could be compared to a blur. Greatjon could already feel the swelling taking place, it was getting annoying. With a final mighty yell and a swing, he brought his great sword around to almost cleave Naruto in two. And he missed. For Naruto, this was a play by play from the last war, where Greatjon had surprised multiple opponents who were basically trying to pinprick him to death, by cutting them down with that single move. In that moment Greatjon was overextended. And Naruto wouldn't waste that. With a grunt he thrust his longsword forward, right in to the side of the man's helmet. Right before the blade hit, he twisted the blade, his sword arm, his torso and the leg behind his body all in synch. When used with a normal blade, the technique would have turned it into a drill, that would have shot through a man's armor and body. An average man would have had their head caved in by the technique when used by a blunted blade. Greatjon only fell over, passed out, as his brain rattled and his helmet torn off his head from taking the glancing blow from a lower angle.

For Naruto there was no reprieve. He turned and faced the next man who looked ready to piss themselves since Naruto just took out what looked like the Mountain's cousin. While they were fine with leaving fights like this alone, as soon as it was over, you were free game. But still, they came and were smacked around. After a while the fights had dissolved from chaos to single fights. Naruto was facing Roose Bolton surprisingly, seems the man wanted to win himself back some recognition. To Naruto that was a no-go, so as soon as he saw his chance, he deflected the man's blade upwards and kicked him in the groin. The man went down coughing and heaving.

In the end it came down to the veterans. A champion of House Karstark that Naruto had simply dubbed "the one who looked like a bear and drank like a fish", Naruto and William Dustin. The Karstark champion was eager, but Naruto was swift and the champion was disarmed and sent to celebrate his placing as third. And then there were two. William Dustin, one of the men from the Tower of Joy. They simply stood across from one another, evening out their breathing.

The duel began basic. Swing, block, swing, parry, thrust. Both were tired. But where Naruto was only winded, William was ready to fall down for sleep. His blade was heavy and getting heavier with each swing. He finally missed a block and Naruto's blade smacked to his side. It felt like he just cracked something. William grit his teeth and made on final lunging thrust. And got smacked in the face with the flat of Naruto's blade. This was a good place to stop William decided as sweet unconsciousness took him.

Naruto let out a deep breath. Winning was good, winning was fun.

If winning was fun, drinking with his old friends was great. It had been a while since they fought together, ate together and drank. The singing and merriment went on deep in to the night. Naruto was forced to retire for the evening when Lyanna told him he could either drink himself half to death or get rewarded by her. Reward sounded better, even if Greatjon had started to comment on his ability to drink, which naturally opened the floodgates for more japes and jokes, when he declared he'd be retiring for the evening.

The reward turned out to be well worth it. A massage in firelight on Lyanna's bed had him relaxed. Then simply lounging with his hands behind his head on the bed as Lyanna rode him slowly, kissing Naruto softly while she played with his hair. They were in no hurry. Lyanna always seemed to like looking down on him and watching his face as she bounced her perfect behind up and down. She brought herself down and stopped, then did a figure eight with her hips. Naruto gave a groan and she smirked down at him.

"What was that before the melee began, hm?" she slowed her movements down to a crawl.

"What?" Naruto responded distracted. He got a deep kiss and when they parted, she pulled on his bottom lip with her teeth.

"Really? Are you sure you don't wish to drop your trousers for Greatjon's wife and daughters?" she asked and he could feel the threat wafting off her words. He also felt her nails digging into his scalp.

He unclasped his hands from behind his head, took her hands in to his firmly and straightened her arms behind her back. She was now peering down at him severely. He intertwined their fingers and held her close. He tried to bring his face closet for a kiss and she backed away, not letting him make contact. He chased her, so that he was sitting up, with her in his lap, straddling him. She still stared down at him.

"Do you want other women? Is that it, hm? Am I not enough?" she questioned, still moving calmly up and down.

Naruto let one of her hands go and brought the freed hand to push a loose hair from her face, to behind her ear "No, I don't want others. You're stuck with me unfortunately. And I won't share you with other men either. You knew that when you took your clothes off the first time with me. The thing today was a joke with people who traveled to hell and back with me. Besides, you're the one who brought Maege with you."

She hummed, leaning her cheek in to his hand, and sighed. She turned her head without breaking eye-contact and kissed his palm. Naruto brought their intertwined hand up from around her side and kissed her knuckles. She gave a small smile, then freed her fingers from him and draped her arms over his shoulders, still riding him. They were leaning their foreheads together, nose to nose, staring at each other. They nuzzled each other and Lyanna gave his nose a small kiss. Naruto gave her one on the mouth and she picked up her pace.

When they separated from the kiss, Lyanna spoke quietly "The thing with Maege was a onetime thing. We're never doing something like that again. We shouldn't have done it in the first place. It felt exciting when she offered the idea. Now I feel like every woman is out for this" she suddenly tightened up, making him groan.

"They can be after it all they like. Not like they're going to get it" Naruto whispered back kissing her deeply.

Lyanna pulled back and stared at Naruto in thought for a while "Let's not hide anymore"

Naruto was silent for a moment "Are you sure?"

Lyanna gave a wolfish grin then raised herself off him. She shuffled back, turned her back to him, positioned herself on all fours and then grinned at him over her shoulder. Naruto shook his head with a wry grin, got on his knees and shuffled closer.

Catelyn was walking back to the family quarters that evening when she heard what sounded like a demonic spirit's yell emanating from somewhere down the hall. She goggled wide eyed at the sound. She then blushed at the words the sound carried "YES! RIGHT THERE!"

Catelyn swiftly retreated to her rooms mortified chased by the sound of "YES! I LOVE YOUR C-" that's when she shut the door. These Northeners clearly had no sense of propriety.

In the morning Naruto pulled on yesterday's clothes and waited for Lyanna to dress, watching her teasingly prance around the room wearing almost nothing. They went down to break their fast, hand in hand. Naruto was amused by the goggling they got from the castle's workers when they emerged from Lyanna's room and headed down.

Jon was the first to greet them, giving them a bright smile as he spotted them holding hands.

Naruto wouldn't be taking part in the rest of the competitions. He'd gotten what he wanted, the opportunity to beat the hell out of some of his friends. He was happy to simply sit back to watch how Jon did against his age group and how would take which competition in the adult competitions.

The competitions were arranged in a way where the adult competed first and the next day the youths would compete in the same thing. So today, Jon would be competing in his first melee. Robb and Theon would be joining from Winterfell. The only other competitor Naruto knew of was Ramsay Snow, the bastard son of Roose Bolton. He only knew of the little freak because he had seen the boy's eyes. There was something missing inside the boy, something that should exist in all people, something vital. His first reaction would have been to crush the boys head before something happened. Trust Roose to seed something that shouldn't exist in this world. But it would be hard to explain why he cracked open the head of a boy whose father he wanted to kill in the last war as a warning.

Why couldn't they live North of the wall. Nobody would have complained there. Probably.

The melee for the young ones was almost hilariously bad for Naruto. Jon had won, and he was proud of him for that, but he was a bit disappointed in the rest since Jon was the only one with enough of a mind to duck out of the way and let them take each other out. Robb had also made it quite far, into the last five standing. But, competing with someone who was gifted in war and was still basically fresh as a field of flowers on a nice southern summer day was close to impossible. It was the same as with the adult's, a small series of one-on-one fights. But there were ten remaining, meaning they all turned on each other and fought in individual duels at the same time. They were all so green. The smart thing would have been to take out Jon together or fight him one at a time, then see who had enough strength to win.

He, Lyanna and Arya sat together and cheered Jon as he fought. Lyanna gave his cheek a kiss for being a good trainer. When they finally went down to congratulate Jon for his win, Naruto suggested both ladies congratulate Jon for his win with a kiss. He hadn't seen Jon that shade of red in a while. Arya had balked at the idea but, had given her big brother a smooch on the cheek after Lyanna had laid one on Jon's forehead, to the boy's embarrassment. Judging by his grin, Naruto would be teasing the boy about this for weeks.

That evening Naruto and Lyanna were laying in her bed spooning. Lyanna was using Naruto's arm as a pillow, playing with said arms fingers. She sometimes liked to do that. Compare the sizes of their hands by putting them together or tracing the scars on his arms and hands, like she was trying to soothe them.

Naruto was laying with his eyes closed, taking in Lyanna's scent.

"Naruto" Lyanna spoke barely above a whisper.

"Hm?" He grunted getting closer.

"Thank you, for Jon" Lyanna continued.

"You're the one who birthed him. I think you've done more than me on the subject of Jon" Naruto chuckled.

She smacked the arm she was laying on "Not that stupid. Thank you for turning him into a young man"

Naruto chuckled at the smack "My pleasure." He kissed the back of her neck. They both lay there for a moment.

"Want to give him a brother or sister?" Lyanna spoke quietly. Naruto only hummed in thought.

"If it'll happen, it'll happen" he spoke relaxed. That got a small smile from Lyanna. She then rose her upper body and turned to face Naruto. He only inched one of his eyes open and was pushed on his back. He was about to raise his head the question what Lyanna was doing, when she started trailing kisses on his neck and torso, moving downwards. He didn't honestly know if Jon could get more siblings, but he and Lyanna were going to have fun trying to find out.

To be continued…?

Next update, next weekend. Reviews always appreciated!