A/N: I've wanted to make a GoT x Naruto fic for such a long, long, long time. I always doubted my writing skill and told myself this story/show is too good for me and I'm not worthy of butchering it. And that's still very true! But I'm gonna write it anyway, because I had so much fun. I struggled for a long time on how I'd approach this fic idea until I realized! I don't need to be R.R or write 47 different POVs! I don't even care if this idea makes much sense from a Naruto lore perspective. I mean, like it sort of does anyway. There do be some reincarnating going on in Naruto. This is a reincarnation fic! No chakra! Think demi-god strength and endurance, like Disney's Hercules.
*Typical warnings for a rated M fic apply. Character Death. Language. Blood. Gore. Sexual themes. Etc.
*My views and beliefs are not reflected in anything I write. Religious or otherwise. It's all just for fun and the sake of a (hopefully) good story. Enjoy!
His is a strange name. Naruto. He was not sure who gave it to him, though doubtless it was his mother, a woman he did not remember well, and he did not know what it meant. He only knew the way people's faces screwed up when he introduced himself. As if he'd uttered the words of some strange and foreign language or pressed a fresh cut lemon into their face. Here at Castle Black, his strange name mattered little. To the men of the Night's Watch, he was Rut. Ser Allister Thorne, with his lizard glare and ever-present grimace, gave him the name. And it stuck. Like horseshit underneath your boot.
Rut! Rut! Rut!
Rut do this! Do that! He hated it. Hated Ser Allister Thorne up his ass! Hated Castle Black and the Night's Watch! Most of all, he hated himself for agreeing to come here.
"Missed a spot, freak," a man said in passing, spitting on the ground. Another kicked the bucket Naruto had been using over, splashing filthy water here and there. They bore black cloaks with thick furs that rattled as they laughed. Meeting the other men who were seeing the new recruits fight in the training yard with shrewd eyes.
His hold on the wooden mop in his palms tightened. He heard it snap. The anger left as quick as it came. "Damn it!" another. One can expect that Ser Allister would use this as an excuse to assign one more menial and dishonorable task to his already overloaded schedule. The man swore that Naruto did it on purpose. As if he'd waste his time snapping twigs for fun. As if he loved shoveling shit and cleaning the latrines.
Naruto's exhausted breath passed on his dry, cracked lips. A direct result of the perpetual chill that seeped through Castle Black's crumbling walls and chambers. He looked at the two halves in his hands with contempt. Yet again, he could not restrain himself. Thankfully, it was only timber this time. "Maybe I can find something to fasten it? But Thorne would catch it right away. Damn it! And damn him. Damn it all!" He swore. He never should have come! Should have dashed away the moment he had the chance! Or fought back! All he'd needed was a single blade, and he could have killed—he stopped himself. "I am no butcher," he announced. Icy blue fixed on nothing.
"Rut!" he heard Ser Allister call. Yanking him out of his stupor. The sound of the man's voice slit through the chatter and the neighing and stomping of horses. His tongue sharper than his blade. "Here, Rut! I've got a better job for you." Naruto eyed the newly made mess, but by now he knew better than to argue with Ser Allister Thorne. So he shuffled awkwardly over the thin sleet, feet crunching. Avoiding the gazes of the bigger, older men dressed in black. Their prominent figures trees in the pale backdrop. At his sides, he wiggled his fingers every so often to keep them from freezing still. The men never gave him gloves, or clothes, or much of anything, really. Three square meals a day and a roof under his head. He was thankful for that, at least. Thankful to the Old Bear and the old Wiseman, and a few others who showed him some scraps of kindness.
Not to this waste of living. "Look at me, runt." Ser Allister Thorne told. He did so. Ser Allister was taller than the other men. And he was short. The shortest in attendance. Standing at a pitiful four and nine. But his strength was that of ten men double his size! And it was no boast. It was a curse. "Lord Snow thinks none here can challenge him! He's crowned himself King of the Rapers! King of the Looters! I say that our newest serving boy will whip him!" Naruto did not miss the mockery in his words. Nor the way the other boy's brow furrowed and his nose wrinkled. Broad shoulders clamping as a bead of hot sweat ran down his cheek. He'd taken the bait. "Go on then. Make a show of it!" Ser Allister tossed a dented thing at his feet.
Naruto reached down, fingers brushing the cold and wrapping around the hilt of the ordinary sword. He took it up. It felt wrong. Unbalanced. If he struck as hard as he could, it would shatter to pieces. He gave it a few test swings. He liked swords, but he liked axes and maces better.
"Your shield?" the other boy, Lord Snow, asked him from across the snow-covered field. "Your armor? You would fight me naked? It will hurt twice as much. I promise."
"I won't need it," Naruto countered.
Lord Snow gave him a thin-lipped smile and put on his helm. He adjusted his visor. Raised his shield and fixed his sword arm. Feet firmly planted, weight even. This was a seasoned fighter. Naruto could tell. He, however, was no trained soldier. Trained in nothing, really. Besides some skill in stealing from his younger years spent scavenging or tricking drunken lords out of their coin. But more often than not, Naruto found he did not need skill.
None moved. A crow cawed overhead. Lord Snow took that as some signal from the gods and charged. He was fast. Even in armor. Naruto was hard pressed to dodge the first stroke. A quick stab at his chest. So suddenly he'd almost missed it. Lord Snow did not stop there, however. He shifted, boots digging into the sleet and mud, employing his momentum and shoving the shield into him. Knocking him flat on the ground. In the same breath, the cracked tip of a sword hovered an inch off from his face. A contented bastard towering over him.
Naruto felt the daggers Ser Allister aimed at the back of his head. "Pay attention, Rut!" the ugly man growled. If I don't win. I'll be shoveling shit for another week. Naruto thought, spewing out a glob of blood. The bastard wasn't holding back either!
"Do you yield?" Lord Snow urged.
Naruto's riposte was a flat smile and a throw of snow on the helm. The bastard had little time to think before a fist embedded itself in his stomach. Armor or no armor, Naruto was sure he felt the blow. The leather padding and dingy plate bent and burst under the power of flesh and bone. He heard Lord Snow gasp abruptly, the sword in his hand landing with a soft thud on a bedding of ice. His body went limp not a second later. The bastard passed out. Naruto laid the recruit's body down and peered up at the lean shadow of a man glowering back at him. He would be no one's show monkey today. But neither would Naruto deny him a victory on pain of punishment.
Ser Allister Thorne said nothing. Motioning him away. "You two! You're next!" Two boys, one short and one muscular, took their place. There was no round of applause or cheering. No honor. Only tired eyes and stale faces. The end of the world, he reminded himself.
"Take Jon to the Maester." Another man of the Watch directed.
Jon. That was his name. Much more sensible that his own.
Naruto did as told.
—
Not a day flew by that he did not stare out into the murky woods of the haunted forest and wonder; why? Why was he born into this world? Motherless. Fatherless. Alone. With this curse. Every waking moment of his life spent obsessing. Hyper-aware of just how much force he should apply, lest he damage and destroy everything he touched. As a child, he taught himself to grasp cups and flagons as delicately as any other child would take up a butterfly. No one would care for him the instant his strength revealed itself.
Once, a kindly pair of farmers that had chanced upon him took a liking to his scruffy golden hair and bright eyes and brought him home. He'd fought to contain himself every hour of every day then. For a time, he succeeded. Weeks later, they gifted him a dog. A few more weeks pass, he and the dog are inseparable. He'd named her Ginger. Because he liked ginger, and she had tracts of red and orange fur. On a day like any other, Naruto and Ginger were playing. And he was having so much fun. He could barely focus. The running. Falling. Rolling. Laughing. In his little heart, he thought he'd finally found a family. A home! And ginger! She ran into his arms, tail wagging. Beaming like the sun hanging above in the bright blue sky! It was just a moment. Less than a second. He'd hugged her back, too blinded by his joy and the swelling of his heart.
He did not note her swelling until she exploded in his arms, washing him red. Right in front of the old woman who'd fed and nurtured him and introduced Ginger herself. She screamed. A loud shrill note. And he ran. He ran and ran. Through towns and trees and fields. The feeling of slick, sticky meat slipping off of his damp clothes made him cry. He ran and ran and cried more and cried himself to sleep, then he started over again, as he always did.
Chipped and beaten nails dug into the frigid ice of the Wall. A thick, transparent behemoth that went on as far as the eye saw. A great, towering thing of magic and riddle. Once, the Night's Watch was an army of trained warriors, a collection of the best and bravest the Realm offered, and they manned this great wall from end to end. Every castle and fort covered. He'd listened to tales of these crows and their heroic deeds and their bravery.
When the wandering Benjen offered him a place here when his brethren called for Naruto's death after he'd tried, and failed, to steal food and sent one of their men flying, he jumped at the chance. It felt like fate. Destiny itself calling. "Here!" He'd thought. Here, he would find his place! Stupid. The time of legends is long gone. Instead, he is a servant to rapers and rats and rogues and cutthroats and common men. Men who whispered freak and monster behind his back and made jokes that his mother slept with giants. That I killed her on the day of my coming, split her in two with my big fat head. He thought bitterly.
"Well, isn't this a surprise?" a voice called. Sleek as silk. "I didn't expect to find anyone else up here."
Naruto stopped his aimless sweeping and turned to find that the voice did not fit the speaker. He foresaw a tall, handsome fellow. Some knight of the night he'd yet to meet. He'd also learned that a nobleman was visiting, too. This was neither. This was an Imp. With color contrasted eyes, a bigger head than his own, and an intoxicated, toothy grin. Dressed in expensive grabs with golden lions stitched around the collar and cuffs and gloves and even the boots. He looked the part of a fool. Not a lion.
"Who are you?" Naruto asked warily.
"I am Tyrion Lannister." Tyrion mock bowed. "A guest here in your warm and cozy Castle." Another joke, no doubt. Castle Black stood frozen. Colder than cold. Less than a castle, too. "And you?"
"My name is Naruto." Tyrion looked to be waiting for something. "I have no other."
Tyrion tapped his chin and hummed aloud. "Not even Snow? Curious. Then again, stranger things have and are happening." The Imp brought up a skin of what was no doubt drink with his other hand and had his fill. "Ahh! Arbor Gold! Sweeter than honey, warmer than a whore's snatch on a hot day! Care for a sip?" He offered some with a short, stubby arm. Little fingers that reminded him of skinny little sausages clutching the cask.
"I don't drink," if he lost control, gods help the man who stayed in his path.
"Pity. There are few things in this life people like you and I can enjoy." He took another swig. "Women for one. Booze, of course. Ah, and conversation. To name a few." A wry smile was on his hideous face as he hobbled over to the chair straight across from Naruto, pushed up against a sheet of weeping ice. He noted that each step likely pained the Imp. So he put an empty bucket face down in front of the seat. This way, the tiny man can sit without struggling to do so.
Tyrion snickered at the act. "And I suppose you think I should be grateful?" Another grin. "I don't much like being pitied. Least of all by nameless, forgettable men. Who's certain future is freezing to death?"
Naruto glared. This was a nobleman. A Lord, without a doubt. "Shall I pick you up and throw you over, then?"
Tyrion laughed anew. Naruto smelled the wine on his breath. There was a hint of honey, just as the Imp said. "I would so love to fly. Walking on these tiny, frivolous things has become rather tiresome." He gestured to his legs, kicking them once. "However. I must admit. It is the descent that concerns me the most! I fear I won't stick to the landing!" Tyrion snorted.
The Imp was a joker. Naruto decided. A buffoon, just as he thought. "Why are you here?" he asked the drunken fool. Patience running thinner than the icicles leaning from the edges of the cut-out ceiling.
"To witness the Wall, dear boy. To watch the Watchers! And to stand taller than any man before me! Or, at least, the ones who have never been here." Tyrion then added as an afterthought. "And to piss into the open mouth of the world. Which, mind you, I have already done."
Naruto was not sure what to make of this man. Truly. He kept thinking "fool", but even through the bright flush of his cheeks and the drunken haze, there was a sharpness to those two-toned eyes. Quick as any dagger.
"And why are you here?"
"There is nowhere else for me."
Nowhere but here, at the end of endings.
"Is that what you tell yourself? More's the pity."
They shared no more words. Tyrion Lannister drank and drank, murmuring to himself all the while. Until he was sure that the Imp had gone to bed right there. He listened to the low snores of a man half his size and thrice his age while looking through the parapet window and out into the glittering night. The stars melting holes in the dark. Wondering. Why indeed?
—
The Imp slept as if they made him of rock. After finishing the rest of his burdens, Naruto saw the small man had yet to wake, and so he decided he would bring the Imp down with him. He left Tyrion at the bottom of the Wall by the guards passed out among the opened flagons of beer and the winch. A milky white moon floated high in the sky. He knew he would receive little sleep this night. Slogging along through crisp, empty hallways formed of dark stone and up rickety steps and ancient wooden panels, he finally made it to his room. A cramped cell with a lone sheet laid over stacks of hay. He plopped down on it as if it were the softest bed made for Kings. An honest smile curving the rims of his lips. This was his only escape. His retreat. He closed his eyes and drifted to sleep. Sure that his dream would grant him respite.
In them, he had friends. Adventure after adventure. Each one is greater than the last. He would dream of people with bright, colorful hair and extraordinary abilities. Some were so powerful they would conquer the Seven Kingdoms seven times over! By themselves! Dreams of toads and slugs and snakes. Great Sages and historic clans and outstanding heroes. Dreams of a home. Of a small village hidden among the leaves. And a boy, not unlike himself. With a name, not unlike his own. A proper name.
Naruto Uzumaki.