Jon stood in front of his brother Robb, both of the boys holding blunted swords in their hands.
"Ready to lose, Snow?" Robb smirked as he slowly raised his sword in the stance that they have been taught. His stance was firm and rigid, with determination glinting from behind those Tully blue eyes. Robb had inherited both hair and eyes from the Tully side, meanwhile Jon looked like a stark through and the.
"You wish, Stark" Jon's grey eyes met Robb's blue ones as he shifted his weight slightly. He knew his brother. He would start with a heavy, overhanded slash, so Jon prepared to side step him.
"I bet a golden dragon on Robb", Theon said, standing off on the sidelines, producing a simple golden coin.
"No! Jon will win!" Arya, still only seven, took a golden dragon from one of her pockets.
"I always feel bad, taking the money of a little lady, almost"
"I am not a lady", Arya puffed.
"Are you boys ready?" Rodrik Cassel asked. When both of them nodded, he announced, "begin!"
Just as he had predicted, Robb went for an obvious overhead strike but Jon simply sidestepped him. He almost landed a hit, before Robb blocked at the last possible second. The two jumped back and circled each other, looking for weaknesses in each other's defenses. This time, it was Jon who struck, projecting a horizontal slash but changing into a thrust instead. Robb tried blocking the horizontal strike and therefore was wholly unprepared for the thrust, leaving him with a blade at the throat. Robb took a few seconds to realise what happened. He threw his sword to the ground, muttering some foul sounding curses.
You won a spar. Earned 30 xp
Arya cheered from the sidelines, stretching out her palm to Theon who begrudgingly handed over his coin to the small girl.
Jon smiled at the scroll. This was good, 30 xp per spar won and 5 for each he lost. He would be stronger in no time!
They, after that, trained two more hours, earning him ten more xp before they continued with archery practice. The archery training too awarded 5 xp per hour, 2 hours for a total of 10 xp.
When it was dark outside, Jon trained his transformation jutsu. With each use, he was getting better at copying his desired target. The small mistakes got less noticeable.
The next day, he spent the morning training and the evening studying, gathering enough xp to level up.
When he went to sleep, he dreamed again about that classroom, only this time, they were taught the clone jutsu, which created a illusory clone of you. It couldn't interact with the world but could be used to mess with an opponent.
His status told him, he needed 150 xp for the next level up, not 100.
Jon was excited. He wanted to show off his new tricks, so, when they were breaking their fast, Jon cleared his throat. His father looked at him, his grey eyes studying the boy, "Jon, you have something to say?"
"More something to show you… look!", he jumped up, walking in the middle of the hall and weaving the seals with his hands as if he had done so a thousand times and next to him stood an illusory copy of himself. Both he and the copy grinned at his father but Eddard Stark had a stone face, not reacting in the slightest. Arya was giddy, "How did you do that? Can you teach me?"
Robb and Theon's jaws hang open and Catelyn, she looked furious, "Sorcery!", she screeched, "I told you that nothing good would come of your bastard spawn. First he corrupted Arya with tales of warrior women and now he is practicing sorcery! I want him out!"
"Cat, we can't just-"
"No, I won't have a dirty sorcerous heathen living with my children, our children. Send him away to his mother!" Catelyn's blue eyes shone with fury.
"That is not an option", Eddard's face turned sour.
"Then send him to be fostered somewhere, I don't care where, as long as he is far away from our children"
Jon's excitement was blown away, replaced by fear. He had just wanted to show his cool new trick to his family, now his stepmother wanted him gone? Well, she always wanted him gone but now, it seemed as though she would actually convince his father to send him away. Tears streamed down his face, "I'm sorry, I won't-"
"Jon, walk with me", Eddard said, face as still as stone.
Jon nodded, walking with his father through the stone halls, which's walls radiated heat thanks to the pipes connected to the hot springs underneath winterfell.
"Jon… I want you to be perfectly honest with me here", he spoke, voice steady, "How did you know how to do that? Who taught you?"
"No one taught me, it came to me in a dream"
"Is that all you can do?", they locked eyes, grey on grey and Jon knew better than to lie.
"No…"
"What else can you do? Show me"
Jon performed the hand seals and transformed into the form of his father, staying in that form for a few seconds before ending the transformation.
"I thought magic was dead. Everyone knows that and yet-"
"It's not magic"
"What? That clearly is magic though!"
"It is chakra, at least according to my dreams, it is produced inside the body by combining mental and physical energies. Magic is dead but this, this is something different" he explained.
"I- I will arrange for you to be fostered somewhere down south, maybe Dorne. I still have a few friends there. Catelyn has reached her breaking point. I do not want to send you away but it is the only option"
Jon nodded sadly. If he stayed, she would make his life a living hell. He was sad but also optimistic. Here in the north, he would never have become a knight but down south, he could become a knight and maybe later even a lord…