A/N: ...Wow. What an interesting ride Game of Thrones has been. How long has it been going on, a decade, or something?

Found out a little while ago I had finally broken 1k reviews. Many thanks for your thoughts, ideas, and even criticisms.

What'd y'all think of the finale? Overall, I didn't think it was that bad. My biggest problem with the whole season was that it was way too short, not to mention how many things the show-writers left unanswered.

And, you know. For turning Varys into brisket, Tyrion into a moron, Jon into a putz, Dany into a maniac...

I could go on, but it'd probably take another year. Sorry for the lateness, and hope you enjoy.

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Chapter 17

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Far in the North, looking down from the top of the greatest feat of engineering the world had ever seen, Jon Snow tried not to brood.

For as long as he'd known what the circumstances of his birth meant for his future, he'd wondered if there would ever be a way to regain his honor. Honor lost due to circumstances beyond his control, from before he'd even been born.

Which didn't mean he wasn't fully aware of how lucky he was, how hellish his life could otherwise have been if he hadn't grown up as Ned Stark's son. He'd grown up fed, clothed, and warm, when all too often bastards might be left out in the cold, both figuratively, and sometimes literally. His father, brothers and sisters all loved him, even Sansa, though that had almost seemed to be in question when she had been younger.

Until someone stepped in.

Jon sighed quietly, remembering the event that had changed Sansa's outlook, and may have altered the path of his life. The day when Septa Mordane had made the mistake of pontificating about the circumstances of his birth within Naruto's earshot, and Lady Catelyn made the even bigger mistake of trying to defend the woman's point of view.

The blond boy, only a few years older than he and Robb at that point, had angrily defended Jon, dismantling every argument that the pair had presented and not even pretending to compromise on his point of view.

'So Jon's a bastard! Who the hell cares? How is that his fault? He didn't choose to be born that way! You're blaming him for the circumstances of his birth, not to mention the sins of people who died before he even existed! How the hell is that fair!?'

The entire affair had dragged on for so long, drawing quite a crowd in the meanwhile, that the entire Stark family had managed to gather, including a rather flustered Eddard Stark. Jon quirked a half-smile as he remembered his father's expression, caught looking between the combatants, before half-heartedly deciding to support his wife.

A decision he regretted almost immediately when Naruto's ire switched to a new target, and verbally lambasted him for a solid five minute period about the importance of family, the stupidity of his wife's point of view, and for even thinking that what she was doing was okay. By the end, everyone in the courtyard had the rather singular experience of watching the Lord Paramount of the North turtle up in embarrassment.

The argument had continued from there with Naruto switching right back to his original target, and only ended when he threatened, actually threatened, to make Lady Catelyn's life a living hell if she even thought about doing any further harm to the young boy, emotional or otherwise. Even now, his last words still made Jon smile.

'You wanna know why I have such a problem with how you treat him? Because he doesn't deserve it. He doesn't deserve your scorn. Motherless, honorless? Who cares? He's a good kid, better than I ever was at his age. Hell, it's not that he doesn't deserve you, YOU don't deserve HIM!'

Quirking a smile, Jon mused at how everything the older boy did changed the way people saw and did things, often through sheer force of will. It was a character trait that everyone in the Stark family admired, though it often made his father lament at ever having encountered him.

Now, standing atop the Wall with his Direwolf sitting silent beside him, far from everything he'd grown up knowing, Jon wished he had a little of that same fortitude.

Naruto's ultimatum had ensured that Lady Catelyn did not do anything to him openly, but no one could miss the chilled stares and tight-lipped silences whenever the two of them even entered the same room. No one with eyes could miss it.

He knew, intellectually, that he didn't have to prove anything to anyone, but the desire to do so remained, always at the back of his mind, holding him more firmly than one of Arya's hugs. The desire to make something of himself, to atone for the sin of his existence.

So he stood here, where Starks of ages past had guarded the border of the North since time immemorial, part of a sacred order that had stood their watch for more than eight thousand years. He'd dreamed of being counted among their number, of becoming a man of the Night's Watch.

And, not so surprisingly, Naruto had been one of the few who tried to warn him against it, to tell him what the ancient order had become.

How those same Starks who'd built this place would weep if they could see the state of it. Criminals from every corner of the Seven Kingdoms, all funneled here, many thousands of them spread across a dozen castles all along the Wall, held together only by the deft hand of the older members and the many clones of Naruto who patrolled the place.

And the person those new recruits hated the most, the one responsible for bringing their crimes to light, who had single-handedly rebuilt near-every castle along the Wall, was the one who Jon admired more than anyone in Westeros. The only one to give him an option, besides joining the Night's Watch.

"...Now," he breathed, filling his lungs with icy, biting air. "Decisions."

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"Damnit," Naruto said, scowling at nothing in particular.

Having that walking windbag interrupting a moment of reunion was exactly what he didn't want to happen.

Daenerys and Rhaella deserved more than five minutes to get to know their newly discovered family member.

Or, at the very least, didn't need to have to deal with the pretentious little prick who was family in nothing but name.

Elia and Ashara were scowling, remembering the last time they'd been forced to deal with Viserys, and not looking forward to repeating the experience. Rhaella had quietly stepped forward to hug Daenerys, as much giving the young girl comfort as she was seeking comfort herself.

It hadn't escaped anyone's notice that Daenerys had shivered the moment Naruto had said Viserys' name.

Rhaenys remained expressionless, save for a slight narrowing of her vivid violet eyes.

"...What's the plan?" she finally asked.

Folding his arms with a sigh, Naruto glanced at the wooden door, knowing that the pathetic little lizard was only a few minutes from barging in. "It's not my decision, nor should it be. As far as I'm concerned, the only person who gets to decide what to do with him are Rhaella and Dany."

Daenerys stilled for a moment as she glanced at her mother with soulful eyes, wondering what she would say.

"I barely know him, Naruto. The last time I saw him he was barely eight years old." Squeezing her daughter a little tighter, she shut her eyes firmly and tried to steady herself.

"I don't think he's worth your time, grandma," Rhaenys said, gently, but firmly. Viserys reminded her far too much of her grandfather for her to ever consider accepting him as any family of hers. "He sold off his sister like livestock for the mere promise of an army. I say return him there, see if he can get an army through his own merits."

Rhaella stilled, gazing with not a small amount of sadness at her granddaughter and holding onto Daenerys for dear life, whose eyes were misty.

Elia stepped forward, putting a hand on her daughter's arm. "Rhaenys, there are many things in this country I may find ridiculous, but that is not one of them. There are few things more accursed than a kin-slayer, and given what Naruto did to bring Dany back, that would mean death."

Turning towards her mother with the slightest hardening of her eyes, the purple-eyed young woman stood tall. "There are worse things in life than death, Mom. I would slit my own wrists before I'd endure a life of slavery, and you don't see him acting very contrite about inflicting that fate on his own sister. He's all the worst parts of our family legacy, rolled into one irritating package. We're better off without him."

"He wasn't always like that," Daenerys murmured, her own memory filled with the craggy smile of Ser Willem Darry, and of a house with a red door.

"...And Aerys wasn't always the Mad King," Rhaenys softly replied.

No one spoke up for a while after that, thoughts too consumed with the past to do otherwise.

After a long silence, Naruto stood tall again and held up a handsign, popping a clone into place beside him, who turned and marched off down a hallway.

Ashara, the only one who could really speak at the moment, glanced at him questioningly. "What was that for?"

He sighed. "Whatever you all decide, I don't think anyone is in a position to decide it now. My clone'll put Vizzy back in his room." He ran a hand through his hair. "I doubt this will get any easier if we put it off, but... I don't know what else to do."

Drying her eyes, Rhaella finally managed to rally, staring at the ground hard. "...I won't give up on him. Not yet."

"...We'll be here for you, no matter what you decide," he said, everyone nodding in support, even Rhaenys after a moment.

The older woman gently took her daughter's hand. "I think we will retire for now, and see you all again on the morn."

"Sleep well, grandma," Rhaenys murmured. "You'll need it."

Rhaella stared at her for a long moment, then gave her a soft smile. "As long as I have my family, I'll can endure anything." With that, the pair walked out, their footsteps eventually fading into silence.

Relieved at seeing that there was no ill feelings between her daughter and mother-in-law, Elia breathed a sigh of relief and snuggled under Naruto's arm, which he surrendered without any fuss, both enjoying the closeness.

Then the young man stiffened for a moment, an odd cross between a smile and grimace on his face as memories from a Shadow Clone hit him.

"What happened?" Ashara asked, noticing his expression.

"Oh, not much," he replied, running a hand through his hair. "Seems my clone managed to drag Robert to a Small Council meeting, and he figured out how busy I've been."

The violet-eyed woman snorted. "I bet the Fat King wasn't too pleased with the work you've been doing in that stinking shit-pile of a city."

"Eh. Not all of it, sure, but he's holding out some hope for the other projects I've got in the works."

Stretching lithely for a long moment, Ashara stepped closer and snuggled under his other arm, closing her eyes. "...Not our concern."

"Indeed it is not." Naruto was of the firm opinion that how much or how little his ladies concerned themselves with the outside world was entirely up to them.

He was also under no illusion about what would happen if they ever decided to get involved. The country would experience a shake-up, for sure.

As he was musing on the idea, the last lady in the room was thinking quite a few less polite thoughts.

A small huff drew Ashara's attention, making her open a single eye to regard Rhaenys. The younger woman was standing a few paces away, silken dress shimmering with hues of black and orange, arms crossed, giving the two ladies under Naruto's arms a heated glance, before she turned her head aside, lower lip jutting out quite prominently.

Spying an opportunity for mischief, the lady of House Dayne grinned. "Jealous, Rhae?"

The younger girl sniffed dismissively. "Jealous? Me? Don't be ridiculous."

"Now now. You know what Naruto says about repressing."

"Like he can judge. He represses more than a Silent Sister."

"Watch it, girlie," he growled.

"You watch it, jackass."

"Now now," Elia broke in, trying not to smile at the image of Naruto draped in religious garb. Oberyn would laugh himself silly. "Let's not end today with ill temper. Ashara and I were thinking of going back to the snuggle-room, care to join us?"

"I wish you wouldn't call it that," Naruto groaned, looking pained, even as Rhaenys perked up.

"You know, Mother, I would love to join you in the... snuggle-room," she replied.

Then, she gave a girlish giggle, one that raised the hairs on the back of Naruto's neck. Delighting in his wary expression, she slithered between him and her mother to hop on his back, arms locked around his neck, nuzzling him like a cat.

"Hurry, Naruto" she breathed into his ear. "The bedroom awaits."

Suddenly very aware of every contour of the younger girl's body molded against his back, he cleared his throat, and their surroundings changed.

"Stop that," Elia said, trying to be stern, and failing, as her cheeks grew hot.

"Stop... what?" the younger girl asked, squeezing the older boy close and giving her mother a smirk.

Naruto was having exactly none of this, and turned around to fall backwards onto the plush bed, making the younger girl shriek with laughter. "Okay, okay! Get off me, you blond lummox!"

Rolling off the squirming girl and setting his hand on his cheek, Naruto smirked down at her. "You're ten years too young to play games with me, girl."

Popping up, Rhaenys gave him some side-eye and a smirk of her own. "Is that a challenge?"

He flicked her in the forehead. "No. Now go to sleep."

Flinging himself off the bed, he curled around the older ladies again, and after a moment they were gone.

Rhaenys sat back on her palms. After a moment, a small smirk appeared on her face. "...See you soon, Naruto."

A/N: Eh, fuck it, this is a good enough place to pause for the moment. After all, it's not as if I'm known for infrequent updates.

More stuff will be coming at some point, methinks. Don't hold your breath.