Confrontations long overdue

His bow thrummed, an arrow flew, and the runner died.

He went over, inspected carefully, tugged on and tightened knots and bindings, looked at two of the sustained injuries, collected his arrow, and then returned to his former spot overlooking everything.

Drumming his fingers on his arm, Naruto waited.

Leaves rustled as a breeze blew through the large clearing and the faint sounds of a small creek drifted to his ears from some distance away.

A young yearling wandered close, peeking curiously out of the treeline and into the clearing, before one of the struggles made metal loudly scrape against metal, making the animal turn and run and birds chirp excitedly as they hurriedly took off.

Naruto waited.

A few feet away his horse munched happily on a patch of grass, and the sounds of hapless struggling from the other direction were a continuous annoyance. Grunts and muffled attempts at communication reached his ears and were swiftly ignored. He trusted the rest of the work for the most part, certainly after he had taken a look of his own.

Naruto continued to wait, while the sun slowly continued its ascent and the morning grew late. Struggles ceased and then took up again, but the bonds held. Even if they did not, none of them would manage more than two dozen yards before being feathered between the shoulder blades, as had happened to the last.

Hooves sounded in the distance, but these were only the small numbers whose return he was expecting around this time. There was still more waiting to do. Armies were dreadfully slow. But at least this meant things were moving along.

Above him, a shrill call drew his gaze. Morning circled until Ashara saw his small wave, before wheeling away to land somewhere in the vicinity, her message delivered.

Three riders entered the clearing from the west, returning from the scouting he had sent them to do in that direction, together with another group that should not be far behind. The force they had found had been rather small and other scattered units being in the area without this one's knowledge was entirely possible.

Naruto walked to meet them, dragonbone bow slung over one shoulder and the captives kept in his peripherals.

"Anything?"

"Not for near ten miles. We went south as well, almost to the Cockleswhent, but nothing near the headwaters either," came the quick response from the trio's leader. Dorien, a capable man-at-arms serving under one of Lord Fowler's trusted knights. His dull blue eyes glanced around the clearing, dispassionately noting the new corpse and then promptly ignoring it. "We're the first to return?"

Naruto nodded his head. "Yes, though everyone else won't be long. Rest yourself and your horses, but stay sharp. There will be more to do when the main column gets here."

"Understood, Ser," was the neutral response, but he knew it was no sign of disrespect. The man was like that near all the time and capable enough to let it go. At least for him.

Dorien waved to the two near-identical young men behind him and then began leading his horse to where Naruto's own was still grazing calmly, followed by the others.

The twins immediately began squabbling with each other, as they were wont to do whenever there was no apparent danger or someone else to argue against in earnest. Distracted though they were, they noticed the corpse as well.

"He another runner, Ser?" one of the two asked while searching his pack for some food.

"Yes. His bonds weren't tight enough and he slipped out."

"Probably thought he'd reach the treeline. As if that would change anything. Maybe he believed he'd dodge the arrow and the army that follows." The younger, meaningless as that was, chuckled mockingly, intentionally loud enough to be heard by those still bound and waiting.

"Leave it, you two. No need to linger on a dead man's foolishness. It's the Stranger's business now," Dorien interjected, never raising his voice. The twins acquiesced without fuss or argument. Even they knew there was no point with the older soldier.

Instead, they began audibly squabbling about the important advantages and disadvantages of different bow draws, even if they both used the same three-fingered technique. Naruto left them to it.

It did not take much longer for the other patrols he had sent out to return.

He had been given a score of men from the different lords making up the Dornish army and then tasked with taking care of any opposition in their way.

This one marked the second encounter with one of the scattered groups of Stormlanders separated after Ashford, and though it had by far surpassed that first dozen in numbers there were still hundreds, even thousands of men unaccounted for. And Mace Tyrell's army was forcing them to stay moving.

If they were ever to encounter a larger group of soldiers, it would be after this, when there was no need to have crossed the Cockleswhent to get further south as they fled eastwards.

After receiving roughly the same answer from all the others as he had from Dorien, Naruto had nothing else to do but wait for a little bit longer, until finally a large group of riders from the south became audible, hooves thumping in a rough order while carriage wheels rumbled down a forest path.

"Gather the horses," he called to his own men, sitting in small groups at one edge of the clearing. Some ate a few quick bites while others took the time they had to rest or play a quick game of dice, but all of them stopped and moved to obey. "Once this is handled, we are setting out again."

The Dornishmen had discarded the cloaks and scarfs used to cover their armour from cooking in the sun, making them look little different than any other southern soldier in armour. The first riders were knights in plate, shields painted with the sword and star of House Dayne attached to their arms and their blades sheathed at their sides, joined and led by the two men he had sent to fetch them.

Following behind was a solitary rider, a purple plume attached to his helmet where the steel crested into a rising sun and a silk cloak thrown over the back of his horse. The surcoat was white on purple, as was only fitting.

Naruto suppressed the urge to sigh heavily. The day had been going so well too.

More and more riders came into view, mounted archers and crossbowmen, squires and a few lance-wielding knights, and various other men-at-arms. Most important were the two empty carriages, large and made of wood, each drawn by a team of strong horses.

The group's leader and liege rode towards him, while his men spread out in the clearing. Dismounting, Alaric Dayne, Ashara's elder brother, pulled off his helmet and faced him.

Unlike his siblings, his hair was a light blond, and the shade of purple that was so vibrantly enchanting in Ashara's eyes was paler and harder in her oldest brother.

"Lord Dayne," Naruto greeted, inclining his head politely.

"Ser. These are the men you caught, then?" the other asked, eyes fixed on the tied-up Stormlanders sitting in one part of the clearing, immediately moving past any niceties which suited him just fine.

"The ones that surrendered."

Alaric shifted his gaze to another part of the space, where they had piled the bodies. "And those would be the ones that fought. Very well." Turning away, he addressed the knights still standing close by. "Gather the prisoners in the wagons and make a list of who we have here. Everything else will be for the main column."

His men set to work to accomplish the orders, while Alaric remained where he was. He hooked his thumbs through his belt and seemed to mull over his words, features set in a tight frown. Naruto waited for the lord to speak whatever he intended.

"I do not like you, Ser. Not the slightest bit. I had and still have half a mind to dissolve your marriage, even with Queen Elia and others as witnesses to your vows and the discord that would sow between me and my sister. There are ways, easiest of which would be to have my knights force you to your knees and take your head right here and now, so that I might be done with all this bother."

"Even if you tried, you would not find that quite so easy to accomplish. I would advise against the attempt, I've taken enough lives this morning," Naruto replied calmly. He did not think that it was actually a course of action the man seriously considered.

"I have no need for your advice," Alaric rebuked, scowling. "A knight you might be, and perhaps even a lord soon, but do not forget yourself. I won't deny your deadliness, but I brought hundreds of deadly men from Starfall, any of whom might have served if that was the only matter of import in choosing a husband for my sister."

Naruto did not even narrow his eyes, meeting the other man's clear frustration head-on. "And yet here I am, with no intention of dying or making myself scarce. Bound to your sister by promise and sacred vow."

"Aye, here you are," Alaric conceded after a moment. One of his hands moved to a small pouch at his belt, from which he took out a familiar folded piece of paper. "I have considered my sister's words over the last weeks, extensively and often. I admit to not seeing what she does."

Now they were getting to the heart of the matter. "And what do you see, my lord?"

"A lapse in judgement on her part, an extensive one, and all for a jumped-up sellsword with no value beyond the steel he wields." Harsh, certainly, but honest and not entirely unfair, considering what the man did and did not know of him.

"Then why not attempt to go ahead with your outlined plans?" Naruto raised an eyebrow and glanced at the men in Dayne colours in the clearing. Near two score, all told, and nearly enough to match the prisoners he and his own men had taken sword for sword. He'd need to kill to deal with that many.

"You are an insolent man." Alaric scowled even deeper than before. "A quality that you seem to have shared with my sister, for her to make requests of lands and rights. It is only the love and trust I bear her that makes me give you any chances at all, to show me what the value is she claims you have beyond that. You would be wise to keep that in mind."

Before the other man could turn to walk away, Naruto spoke up a final time. "Chances?"

"One for my sister to explain and one for you to make good on her promises." His business concluded; the Lord of House Dayne went to oversee the prisoners still being forced onto the wagons.

Naruto watched him leave in silence for a few moments before shaking his head and moving to accomplish his own tasks. It could have gone worse. The rest they would deal with back in the capital. Another month, maybe slightly more, at their current pace.

Mounting his horse, he addressed his own men. "You all know your tasks. Eyes open and ears sharp, we're burning daylight."

A few days after Naruto and the Dornish army had returned to the city, King Rhaegar arranged a private dinner with his family and a few select guests of import.

He wasn't quite sure why he and Ashara were invited, but there were certainly more important matters to wrack his head about, ones that wouldn't be basically entirely irrelevant in a day.

So he picked out his best clothes, admired Ashara as she was helped into her dark blue gown, widened to accommodate her increasing size, and then put on a convincing smile as they were led into the room and to their seats.

For a king, even a private dinner was a grand affair. The long table had enough room to hold twenty people and all of that space was being put to use.

King Rhaegar sat surrounded by his family, with his wife and queen on his left and his mother Rhaella and young brother Prince Viserys to his right.

The place of honour next to Queen Elia was filled with Ser Kevan Lannister and beside him Lord Lewys Lydden, who had come to King's Landing a day before Naruto's own return, to speak on behalf of Lord Tywin Lannister and negotiate. They were to depart the next day.

Choice lords and ladies from the Reach, Crownlands, and Dorne filled the rest of the seats and made polite conversation with each other as cups were filled with wine and large platters of food were carried into the room by servants.

Before they could actually get to the food however, there was another matter. Rhaegar stood, tall and proud, all the eyes in the room drawn to him and quiet setting in. "I thank you all for gathering here today, and for your continued loyalty to me and mine."

He paused, glancing at the many different faces in the room. "My father understood the way of things. As Targaryens, fire is our nature and power. The source of our strength. Yet he left me a troubled realm upon his death, trouble that still has not been dealt with."

"I know to name you all among those I can rely on in these taxing times and in those yet to come, whether your role be big or small, and I know that recent events have sparked doubts in many. Worry not, these troubles will be short-lived in the end, and soon peace and unity will be restored, so that we might turn our focus to the future and the trial it will bring."

"Yet until then, matters of the here and now take precedence." Rhaegar turned towards the Lannister representatives. "Ser Kevan, Lord Lydden. Lord Tywin shall have his answer within a moon's turn, when everything has been put into place."

Naruto did not know what that meant and a quick glance at his wife showed only a near imperceptible shake of her head. Judging by the crease in Queen Elia's brow, she had no idea either.

Ser Kevan, a solid, broad-shouldered man with short blonde hair, stood and bowed his head. "Thank you, Your Grace. My brother will be glad of it."

When he was once more the only one standing, Rhaegar gave a small smile and raised one hand towards the servants waiting nearby. "Now, let us eat."

Cream of mushroom soup began the meal, but more and more fare came to the table in orderly fashion. Trout baked in clay, rack of lamb with a crust of herbs and garlic, and cheese roundels on warm dark bread joined on the side by snake sauce that was appreciated by the Dornishmen and largely avoided by everyone else.

There were salads, cold fruit soup, honeyed figs, and peppers stuffed with cheese, and all of it joined by plentiful variety of drink.

Naruto enjoyed sharing a dark, rich wine with Ashara as they ate and talked sporadically of this or that banality, though hers had been watered down and she switched to lemonsweet after the first cup.

As servants came to clear the table for the final course, she politely obliged Lady Arwyn Oakheart's attempt to strike up a conversation and he took the opportunity to sip his wine as he glanced around at the other guests.

Lord Tarly frowned while drinking his wine, as he had for most of the meal. Naruto wasn't sure if he had seen the Marcher Lord smile even once, though they had not spent much time in each other's presence.

Prince Viserys, by far the youngest in the room, tugged on his mother's sleeve and whispered some complaint in her ear. Naruto could not hear the words, but the petulant twist of the mouth was easy enough to understand and soon explained when Rhaella sighed and poured him another thimble of sweet golden wine before turning back to her conversation with the king.

From everything he knew, it was already a marked improvement that the princeling was not throwing a tantrum as soon as something had disagreed with him.

"It is not polite to stare," came the quietly amused words from his right as he was reaching for another fig. Larra Blackmont sat with her lord father, followed by Lord Quentyn Qorgyle, his heir Gulian, and daughter Morra.

"I like to call it observing," Naruto quipped as servants brought venison cooked in beer, the antlered skull of the mighty beast presented on a platter in the middle of the table to serve as a trophy.

Larra chuckled and took another sip of her wine. She wore a dress of yellow velvet with black and white embroidery provocatively accentuating her womanly shape and a heavy necklace of black diamonds hanging above the low cut. "Whatever name you give it, it remains true."

He shrugged easily, smiling. "Then I will simply have to suffer the horrors of being impolite."

"Truly, dear Ashara has found herself bound to a rogue," Larra sighed airily, full lips stretching into a smile of her own as she waved a glittering hand. "Was it the prospect of a lordship? No, it must have happened even earlier. Knighthood, perhaps? Tell me, what was it that corrupted you? You seemed so very gallant at Harrenhal."

Naruto jokingly adopted a serious, secretive manner, throwing careful glances around the table as he leaned close. "I will tell you, my lady. But you must promise to keep the secret safe, with your life if it becomes necessary."

She leaned in as well and laid a hand over her heart, playing along, her dark eyes revealing her amusement. "I swear it, solemnly. Now do tell."

One last furtive glance and a moment of waiting as the servants retreated from around them and Naruto whispered. "It was my wife that corrupted me. It took her no more than a moment upon our first meeting, and I found myself enthralled. I only realised it later, but by then the damage had been done and I had no choice anymore."

He turned his head, leaning back in his seat, so that both of them had a view of Ashara as she curiously glanced in their direction while Lady Arwyn sipped on her wine. "But you must tell no one, most of all not her. I cannot say what she might do to me if you did."

"I always suspected her, but she never slipped up in my presence before," Larra replied in a conspiratorial whisper. "I thank you for the warning, and for your sacrifice, good Ser."

They lasted no more than a few moments, before breaking into quiet laughter, laughter that only made Ashara even more visibly curious.

The food demanded their attention then, and Naruto ate his fill, as he had done of all the things that had come to the table before.

When everyone had eaten their fill the table was cleared of everything but a few platters and bowls filled with fruit, the freed-up space taken up by carafes full with wine and giving the wordless signal that dinner had ended.

Rhaella was the first to excuse herself, though she had eaten little and drank even less. Her exit only served to reinforce the message and began a slow trickle of people leaving.

When Queen Elia left as well, slightly pale and not always quick enough to hide the unsettled expression from his eyes, Ashara announced her intention to follow, pleading tiredness, though Naruto knew better.

"Let me walk you back," he said, standing and offering a hand.

Ashara smiled indulgently and accepted his assistance. With standing, no more. "I am with child, dear, not a cripple. I will manage the short way to our chambers without you. You can stay here."

"I'll be with you soon," Naruto whispered with a smile and pressed a short kiss to her lips. His eyes followed her as she walked from the room, before returning to the table and the remaining guests around the table.

After a few more minutes of drinking and conversation of hunting and harvests, he determined that it was time he left as well. Before he could stand up, thank the king politely for the invitation and meal, and then excuse himself, Rhaegar stood himself.

"The hour grows late, and the realm and our duties do not rest tomorrow. We should cherish these opportunities, yet they cannot last forever," he said, politely dismissing everyone that still remained. Naruto bowed his head and turned to leave the room before he was stopped by additional words. "Ser Naruto, a moment of your time."

He watched Lord Rosby and his young wife bow deeply with a "Your Grace." before shuffling from the room, a pattern repeated five additional times until it was only him, the king, and a knight of the Kingsguard in the room.

"How may I be of service, Your Grace?"

Rhaegar began walking towards one corner of the room, where a door led to a separate chamber, and motioned for him to follow. Ser Gerold Hightower fell in behind them, his scaled armour rustling with every one of his steps.

The king pulled on the door, revealing a smaller, private chamber with a window looking towards the walls and out to sea. One of the walls was covered by a tapestry depicting Dragonstone, with dragons swarming in the air around it and the rest of the space was crammed with books and scrolls. Had there been a fire in the hearth he did not doubt that it would have been quite cosy.

"You are a learned man, from what I am told," Rhaegar said, absently studying one of the bookshelves.

"I spent a few moons at Oldtown, learning at the Citadel."

The king nodded his head and turned to face him. Then he switched his gaze to the Kingsguard in the room with them. "Thank you, Ser Gerold. If you would give us a moment."

"Your Grace," sounded from behind him and after a few steps the thick door to the room closed, leaving only the two of them.

"It is not any easy matter to speak of, for me, but I know to see you as one that understands already, in your own way," Rhaegar began cryptically. "Valyria, the ancestral home of my family, knew and had much we still do not understand now. Yet what the rest of the forty dismissed and what turned out to be their doom in the end, the Targaryens understood."

"It is what saved us then, as it will save everything soon. Daenys saw the Doom and so much more, and understood what had to be done. For life to flourish and prevail certain things simply have to be."

Naruto felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He did not like the way this explanation was shaping up, but he could control himself. "Four hundred years have passed since the Doom. Things have changed since then."

"You are right, certain things have changed." Rhaegar nodded and stepped towards the depiction of Dragonstone. "Aegon forged one kingdom from seven in that time and his dynasty rose and fell and will rise even stronger again through the hardships and struggles. Yet there exist certain truths that remain as they have been for centuries. For even longer than four hundred years."

"Truthfully, there are others that understood as well. It is not only my family's achievement. Those that lived long ago and observed truths written in stone, and tried to impart them on those that followed. Yet too few remain that still do. Action is needed, to put the pieces into place and to make it clear to all, hard though it may be to hear. Fate has settled all this long ago, and we need only understand and follow along the paths laid out for us. Follow the verses of this grand Song."

Fate.

Fate again. Fate and destiny and prophecy. It was like he was trapped in some mad cycle.

"The dragon must h–"

Naruto surged forward hoisting the man into the air by his doublet. "Prophecy? And fate?! Is that what this is all about?" He shook the silently dangling Rhaegar once. "Is it?"

The man matched his gaze with a calm demeanour that seemed entirely out of place. "The dragon must have three heads, there is no other way. Only the Prince that was Promised can stand against the dark."

Naruto opened his hand, letting the king drop to the ground in an undignified heap.

'Reason, Naruto. This is a moment for reason. And calm.' With those thoughts and a moment of meditation he calmed himself, suppressing the reaction he wanted to exhibit.

"I'm going to ask this only once: What is that supposed to mean?" Weirdly, he felt somewhere beyond anger at the moment. All his misgivings faded into the background, where they lingered to emerge again depending on the answer he received.

Rhaegar righted himself and his clothes, and then answered. "It has been known for centuries that the Long Night will return and bring a winter that will last generations. The Prince that was Promised alone is capable of throwing off that calamity. But for that he must have Lightbringer."

"Lightbringer is a sword," Naruto said, unfeeling. He recalled the tale, vaguely from Shiera and with a bit more clarity from the Citadel.

The king shook his head, as if he had half expected him to know enough to ask that. "Only in the most literal reading of the accounts. The blade was said to set fire to everything it touched, its heat endless, but no true blade could behave in such a way. Dragons, it could be nothing else, the truth twisted over so many years. They are fire made flesh and fire is life."

Something loomed in the distance now. Some last connection to the here and now Naruto had not made yet.

"Yet dragons have not flown over the Seven Kingdoms since the time of my ancestor, Aegon III. The Conqueror took as his sigil the three-headed dragon, for he understood the truth and knew that not him and his wives had brought Westeros to heel, but Balerion, Vhagar, and Meraxes bringing fire and blood. Three dragons and three riders, then as now."

Anger rose in him again, not as hot as before, but no less insistent. Naruto narrowed his eyes, fixing the other man with a piercing stare.

"I killed three hundred Valemen at Dragonstone. I butchered those men like cattle, and have killed more since, for you and your cause. For a war started by you and your mad father. Just because you think you are meant to be some kind of hero? A dragonrider of old? Chosen by destiny?" There was an edge to his voice, and he gave the last word the sneering twist it deserved.

"No," Rhaegar denied calmly with a far-off look in his eyes. "I will not be the hero of this song. That task will fall to another, in time."

And then Naruto understood, pieces slotting together to form a picture he had not even imagined seeing. Rhaegar did not style himself the Conqueror come again. He was not the Prince that was Promised even in his own mind.

No, instead of Aegon I, Rhaegar believed himself to be Aerion Targaryen, father to Aegon, Rhaenys, and Visenya. The first two, he already had, but Queen Elia could bear no more children.

"Where is she?" Naruto whispered in dawning horror. It was true, all of it. He remembered Lyanna Stark from Harrenhal. Her and her disguise and the taunting shield left in a tree. Just a girl. Not even six and ten by now.

"In a safe place," Rhaegar answered, admitting. "But that is no concern of yours. The war – this rebellion – comes first. Everything else will be for the after, for Cold and Winter."

Incredulity took over for Naruto. "You really do intend to fight this out. No terms, no peace. Madness began this and you'll carry right along." He barked out a laugh that had nothing of humour in it. How had found himself involved in this mess? It didn't matter. Right now, something else did. "I'll have no part in it."

"You will," Rhaegar replied, cool hardness taking over his features and shoulders squared, what patience he had held onto clearly used up.

"I have sworn no vows," Naruto said coldly. "I made no oaths to you or your mad father. And you think I'd still fight for you?"

"You have already, at Dragonstone and in the Stormlands," Rhaegar countered, a twitch of discontent in his expression.

"I did fight, but not for you."

"Believe what you will, either way you will again."

"Oh? Will I?" Fury was rising in him again, beckoned to the surface after it had been replaced by more important concerns before. "And why would I do anything like that?"

"Your lordship depends upon it, for one."

That gave him a pause, but only for a moment. "So be it, then. I'll manage without."

Rhaegar frowned as he mustered him, before releasing a defeated sigh. "Truly, I had hoped that this ugliness would not become necessary. That reason might prevail. For Lady Ashara, if nothing else. You leave me no choice, Ser. This matter is too important to be left to chance."

Naruto saw red.

He was beyond anger now, a soul-deep fury taking hold of him. There was nothing to misunderstand about those words.

A step, a grasp, and tightening his muscles, that was all it would take for bone and cartilage to give out, ending a life and removing the threat.

Feathers fluttered and he felt another pair of eyes. Whipping his head around he saw a raven looking at them from the window, twisting its head this way and that as it took a curious look around.

"Peace," the black bird croaked suddenly, imitating speech with queer intelligence. It flapped its wings, once, twice, and then puffed up its body to appear bigger and more imposing. "Peace, peace, peace," it echoed again, before quickly flying off, its curiosity sated.

The strangeness of it all served to introduce a shock of cool focus as much as the distraction of the event did. He wasn't thinking straight right now. Killing a king like this? He might as well sign himself and Ashara up for the outlaw life. There would be no question this time, no one else to take the blame.

He was known to be here, with the king. Even if he killed Ser Gerold as well, there were others that knew. There would be no getting away with it this time around. Doing it anyway would spell doom.

And that wasn't even considering any additional preparations Rhaegar might have made, should things turn ugly.

For all he knew there was already someone in place, should there be even a hint of something. Naruto suppressed the panic trying to seize his heart, brought on by that train of thought. Ashara was safe, so long as he played along. He had to believe that.

Deep breaths brought him back, but the fury still simmered. His fingernails were digging bloody holes into his palms. This was defeat, but only for the moment. "Very well."

"I hope you will understand eventually that this is necessary. Truly, I do."

Slightly delayed, but I hope you enjoyed chapter 41.

Keep in mind that Alaric is the lord, and a rather young one, of a noble house that depends largely on prestige and reputation. Ashara has plans and Naruto magical abilities, but Alaric does not know that. He sees a reputation diminishing marriage for his sister, whose beauty might well have allowed an alliance above the station of House Dayne, and not even to a lower noble or something. Naruto is a sellsword, basically, knighted or not. Think Bronn's confrontation with Ser Meryn Trant in the show.

The Dornish army took around two months to march to the capital, for anyone that is wondering.

George loves his food descriptions in the books, but I am not particularly inventive in that regard. It was part of the reason for the dinner scene to be like that, however.

A lot of Rhaegar here, which is always a bit challenging, and the long-awaited confrontation between him and Naruto. This always had to happen at some point, seeing as Naruto has basically become allergic to all the justifications Rhaegar has for what he does.

Rhaegar went into that conversation expecting some resistance, which is why he retains his composure at first, but even he has his limits. I don't see him as a cruel figure, in the lieu of Tywin for example, but he is invested in things going his way. Which means others have to yield or there is a war.

I have seen different comments about it by now, and thought I would address it here.

On the topic of wearing helmets: Is a helmet a useful, vital piece of equipment for anybody taking part in physical, often lethal, confrontations? Yes, definitely. Naruto may be more physically capable than ordinary men, but he is still mortal. His decision to go without in this story is intended to be irrational. His first real experience in that regard was Harrenhal, and kind of negative. Annoyance drives that choice, and youth. Young people, even knights and the like, aren't exactly known for the safest courses of action, not today and not in the past.

Next chapter will probably be Ashara, but maybe things change as I write. If they do, it might be Elia. We'll see.

Until next time, whenever that will be. I hope next week. As always thanks for reading and reviewing.