Hi, everyone, I'm back with another chapter I hope you guys like! Honestly, I knew I was going to meet some dissatisfaction with the cast I chose for this Game of Thrones inspired story. I can't really explain my choices without spoiling too much, but lemme just address what one reviewer wrote.
LadyYe, thanks so much for your review! Let me explain my choices in regards to how I cast Naruto and Ino.
I picked Naruto to be in House of Tyrell because honestly only the women are shown to be cunning. The men, as Olenna Tyrell stated, are all lumbering oafs. Naruto's personality doesn't fit the Starks either in my opinion because Naruto is pretty hotblooded and kind of an idiot at times, and I can't imagine him as a Stark at all. His coloring scheme also doesn't match Winterfell at all. He matches the summery notes of High Garden. As the story progresses, you'll see why I chose to put him in the House of Tyrell in regards to the plot.
As for Ino, I made her Sakura's sister because I honestly LOVE their friendship dynamic and would much rather them as sisters. Because of how Kishimoto portrayed his female characters, sadly, none of them are as epic as Margery in terms of cunningness and manipulation. I almost did put Ino in House Tyrell, but for my specific story (which is based on Game of Thrones but will have a different story), I need her as Sakura's catalyst for growth. However, spoiler alert, Ino is never subservient to Sakura. In the last chapter, I was trying to portray Juugo's insanity by having him think Ino is trying to gather support for Sakura. Though Ino is in House Targaryen, she will have a bit of Margery in her, spoiler again.
I hope my explanation helps you understand my choices in the cast for this story! And without further ado, here's the next chapter of A Storm of Blood and Fire! (Please note that this chapter is happens when Sakura, Ino, and Naruto are eight years old!)
A Storm of Blood and Fire
Chapter One
Honestly, Lady Tsunade, Matriarch of the House of Tyrell, loves every single member of her family and wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. But sometimes, they put her at her wits' end.
Take her blundering son, for example. Minato Namikaze, named so for his speed that rivals the winds and waves — the Yellow Flash, Lord of High Garden, Lord Paramount of the Reach, and Warden of the South. So many titles, yet none truly captures his foolishness. The ponderous oaf, Tsunade muses and doesn't even bother with her cup of wine.
Honestly, if she were Lord of High Garden, she'd start by making a new drink for starters. If she had to drink another cup of wine or brandy or whatever subpar boring drink her son stocks the cellar with, she'll flip a chair — her son needs to import more of that rice wine from the east...
Sure, her son has won a fair share of wars in his youth, but winning wars doesn't always secure a house's future, and strategic warfare doesn't always translate into politic astuteness. In that regard, Tsunade's glad her son fell in love with a smarter woman.
Kushina Uzumaki, the Hot-Blood Habanero, the Jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox. A blundering fox among golden roses. Not Tsunade's first choice for a daughter-in-law but nevertheless someone worthy of the Tyrell name. Of course, not as cunning or as quiet as Tsunade would have liked, but she's not going to complain — quiet girls are terribly boring, and honestly, she'd take a distantly-related daughter-in-law who heeds her advice over some manipulative bitch any day.
Too bad the grandchildren inherited their parents' more . . . disagreeable traits. Hotblooded and foolish. Naruto and Karin are lucky King Juugo hadn't burned them both for their stunts at court. Of course, Tsunade supposes, had the Mad King even pointed a finger at her grandchildren, there would have been nothing left of the king if she had anything to say about it — too bad the King-Slayer had gotten to Juugo first, about three months ago.
"Lady Tsunade?" a soft, dulcet voice breaks the matriarch's line of thought. "Is something the matter? You've been glaring at the lemon cakes for a while now."
"That's because they've been making me shit nonstop for the last few hours. You'd think the kitchen help would know by now what makes my bowels churn," Tsunade doesn't miss a beat in retorting with snarky humor. "Take them to your sister, little flower. Heavens knows she's practically in love with these cakes."
"Thank you, Milady."
Tsunade returns Sakura's smile. Ever since Minato spirited away the two princesses after that terrible incident that left an arrow in the younger princess's arm, Tsunade has found herself busier than ever. Of course, plotting the future of her house, as great as its legacy is, has been no small task — add two princesses, last of their line and believed to be dead, to the equation, and Tsunade's found herself stuck in her mind most of these days. That is, if she's not training the younger princess. Of course, nobody knows about that. Yet.
"I felt sorry for them," was Minato's excuse when he returned from King's Landing almost six months ago.
There had been a lot of things Tsunade wanted to say to him then. "If you think you feel sorry for them now, think of how sorry you'll feel when the Mad King burns down our house for harboring his traitor sisters, as he calls them. How can you be my son when you're this stupid? Did the wet nurse drop you on your head or something?" had been among the choice words Tsunade had held back.
Surely, she hadn't held back on account of her son's feelings. What was done had already been done, and so Tsunade had gathered the most loyal of servants and had introduced the two princesses as her very distant cousins — the princesses did, after all, have hair colors similar to the women of Tsunade's family. Silver blonde, golden blonde, strawberry blonde, bright auburn, honestly, was there any difference? And any servant who questioned her had quickly found themselves without a head — needless to say, not many questioned her after the first two heads rolled.
Anything to protect her house, her family. Why, if the Seven Gods were to list everything she had done in the name of her house, everything she ever imagined for the safety of House Tyrell, well . . . let's just say that list would be quite long.
"Lady Tsunade, what do you think?" Again, Sakura snaps Tsunade out of her thoughts.
The blonde old woman glances down at the eight-year-old's handiwork — it's a lot better than her ten-year-old granddaughter's misshapen mishaps, but she's not going to let Sakura know that — and sighs very dramatically. "A golden rose," she says, wondering if this is the best the child could do at sucking up to her. "It's not very original, is it?"
She almost snorts when the princess's face falls, her smile turning into a crestfallen frown.
"My dear child," Tsunade begins, folding her hands on her lap, "I eat from plates stamped with roses, I sleep in sheets embroidered with roses, I have a golden rose painted on my chamber pot — as if that makes it smell any better." She makes a show of rolling her eyes, still golden despite becoming dull with age. "Roses have become very boring. If you want to earn my respect, or anyone else's for that matter, you'll have to be more creative."
"Oh, I see..."
Tsunade is surprised the little girl isn't sniveling like her granddaughter. Karin had always wanted her approval, the silly girl — she'll have to grow a backbone before she can even dream of earning Tsunade's approval.
Tsunade holds back another snarky retort when Sakura's eyes widen in surprise at the matriarch's outstretched hand.
"It is for me, isn't it?" She doesn't do a good job keeping the snarkiness out of her voice, but the pink-haired princess doesn't even seem to notice, beaming so brightly that Tsunade can't help but think Sakura is very well named — Sakura of the Spring, indeed, with a smile that's as bright as the first day of spring.
"Now, run along, my dear," Tsunade dismisses her after she hands over the handkerchief embroidered with yet another golden rose. "I have some old woman stuff I need to do." The corners of her eyes wrinkle when she smiles at Sakura's courtesy.
Very well-mannered too, Tsunade muses as she stands from her seat and turning to leave the room. Sakura is not at all like her sister, and that's what makes Sakura the perfect molding material, better than Karin and even Naruto.
"Take the lemon cakes with you," the Tyrell matriarch says over her shoulders. She doesn't stay to listen to the young princess fumbling with the plate. She does have old woman stuff to do, and plotting marriages does take a lot of time, after all.
And that's it! A bit of the lines come from Game of Thrones, some are tweaked a bit, but I hope you guys liked how I used the quotes and hope you guys enjoyed this whole chapter!
Below is the character list so that you guys aren't confused with whose in what house. I also changed it from last chapter as I've tweaked the plot.
Baratheon: Kiba
Bolton: Danzo, Kabuto
Drowned Men: Suigetsu, Zabuza, Kisame
Faceless Men: Orochimaru
Lannister: Sasuke, Itachi, Shisui, their parents, Madara, and the rest of the Uchiha clan [Itachi and Shisui are twins, sorta based off Jaime and Cersei Lannister without the incest, or maybe with, if you guys want it]
Martell/Dorne: Gaara, Temari, Kankuro
Stark: Neji (somewhat Jon Snow), Hinata, Hanabi, Hizashi (Ned Stark) [I combined Hiashi and Hizashi together into one character, so Hinata and Neji are siblings. This is also because I get confused which twin is which since their names are too similar.]
Targaryen: Sakura, Ino, Juugo, Kizashi, Mebuki [Sakura and Ino are twins]
Tyrell: Naruto, Karin, Kushina, Minato, Tsunade (Olenna Tyrell)
The Vale: Kakashi
Tarth: Haku (Brienne of Tarth)
Leave some reviews, and tell me what you guys think of this chapter!