Harmony (Konoha School of Arts)

31.

"Nana... Mizuki."

There was no mistaking it. The person standing next to Sora was the same person that was hired to kill his parents. There were so many questions going through Naruto's mind. What was Sora doing with the Sound? How come he knew Nana Mizuki? And what did he mean by lure him out? Why did he lure Naruto out for Mizuki? What deal did they have with each other?

"Take the blond brat and go. We have business with the other ones." Kidomaru ordered impatiently when it seemed like Mizuki was taking too long to spring into action.

"You aren't taking Naruto anywhere!" Sasuke growled protectively from where he was held captive by a handful of buff Sound lackeys. His other friends shared the same thoughts. It was futile. They had to watch as Naruto was dragged away despite his struggling by Sound lackeys. Sora and Nana Mizuki followed after them, ignoring the yells of Naruto's name and promises of bloody murder (Sasuke) resounding behind them from Naruto's friends.

Once Naruto was out of the way, Kidomaru and his gang were able to focus on the remaining dancers and hell set loose. For Naruto it was a different kind of hell. He was in the face of the person that held the most answers to the mystery of his parents' death. The person that knew why they were assassinated and who ordered for their untimely ends. The press conference to lure him out was effective, Naruto still couldn't believe that he was staring at the murderer face to face. He knew that he was putting himself in danger by doing the conference, his guardians also knew, so adequate security measures were taken to prevent the situation from going out of hand. Never did he expect that he and Sora would be in cahoots with each other.

To think Naruto actually thought that they could be friends. Sora's betrayal hurt him as much as it confused him but Naruto was not one to judge without hearing the reason behind somebody's actions. The experience with Gaara taught him that. He had initially avoided the redhead at all costs and called him a monster when they first met. Now look how close they were.

"Really Sora?" The whiskered blond asked the blue haired boy trailing uninterestedly beside him and the lackeys that were dragging him to wherever Nana Mizuki wanted. They went further into the bush to somewhere he didn't know, he wasn't too worried because he knew that Ibiki, the private investigator on his case, would have had his location by then and alerted Kakashi. What he was actually worried about was Sora. There had to be a reason he made a deal with Nana Mizuki. He refused to believe they were just colleagues working together.

"Shut up you fool." Sora snarked from beside him. It didn't deter Naruto one bit.

"Why would you do this? Why are you working with that man?! Do you know who he is?!"

"I don't care who he is. All I know is, he has the solutions to my problem and I had to do a little something to get that problem solved." Sora's tone was snippy, like he didn't want to be asked those kind of questions. Naruto was never one for social cues anyway. The blond boy just pressed further.

"You literally changed schools during the midterms to get to me Sora, that isn't a 'little something'. Did that guy threaten you? Hold somebody captive?" Naruto shot a dirty glance at the man in question. He had been bizarrely quiet all through the walk, what was he scheming in that evil head of his?

"Ugh shut up idiot, what I do doesn't concern you! Stop poking your nose into other people's businesses!" Sora hissed angrily and Naruto snapped back.

"It's hardly not my business when my hands are tied and I'm forced to go wherever you want me to against my will!" The blond yelled and Mizuki growled. It reminded Naruto of his presence. "Hey you dumb fuck!" He hardly swore because Iruka didn't like him to but this guy didn't deserve his politeness. "What the hell do you have to do with Sora huh?!" He asked as if he would get a reply. He didn't.

They got to an abandoned building and there Mizuki signaled the Sound boys to tie him to a post. Naruto wasn't surprised but he struggled against them and received two punches in the gut for not staying still. Imagine Sora's surprise when he was also ordered to be tied up. Sora screamed bloody murder.

"Hey wha- what's going on?! Why- unhand me at once!" His screams were cut off with a punch in his gut too. Unlike Naruto who could take beatings to his body like it was nothing because of the countless fights he had been in during his time at juvie and staying on the streets before Iruka found him at the local dance store and took him in, Sora could hardly handle the hard punch sent his way. His eyes rolled into his head as a soundless shout of pain escaped his mouth. That gave the sound guys opportunity to tie him up properly but once he recovered from the initial shock he showed no signs of backing down.

He fixed his hard gaze on Mizuki. "Explain this! This wasn't part of our deal!"

Mizuki pretended not to hear him as the sound boys finished tying Sora up and turned to him for dismissal. They didn't want to miss the fun going on on the other side of the abandoned park. The silver haired man nodded his approval and the boys ran out, only they never got too far before collapsing to their knees before dropping unconscious. Naruto and Sora's eyes were wide open in shock. They didn't understand what just happened but they knew Mizuki was the one behind their falls.

"W-w-what did you do to them?!" Sora freaked before Naruto could.

Mizuki shrugged. "Only dabbed a little poison on their skins. You didn't tell me this much people would be involved in this, I thought I asked you to bring him alone!" The light haired went from quiet to explosive in a few seconds, yelling all over Sora's face. The other flinched back.

"H-hey I didn't expect getting him alone to be so hard!" The boy yelled back in his defence. There was fear in his eyes already. "And besides it doesn't change a thing...does it?" Sora yelled as Mizuki grabbed his hair harshly.

"It does you dumb kid!" The man yelled. "Now I have more people to kill and dispose of if I want to leave a clean record! Do you know how difficult that is?! What if I didn't have enough poison huh?! What if-?!"

Sora's pupils narrowed at the word 'kill'. He wasn't expecting it. Kill? He wanted to kill...everyone? Naruto? That was why he asked to lure the blond out?

"Hey!" Naruto grabbed Mizuki's attention. Fierce as he sounded Naruto's heart was beating wildly in his chest. If he didn't think fast Mizuki would kill him and everyone else present. His hands were tied, he had no opportunity to press his distress button again so he had to depend on hope alone. Hope that Ibiki would get here on time. "I have a lot of questions for you!"

From there on out everything was a blur. Mizuki told Naruto many things and at the same time he told him nothing he wanted to know. He told Naruto why he killed his parents, he was obviously ordered to. By who? Couldn't say because it would be a breach in contract. Only told Naruto that he had met the person face to face with a wicked grin. Well that was a mind fuck. When Naruto demanded again who the person that hired the assassin was, the man answered him in form of a riddle. Afterwards he told Naruto why he was indulging him so much in his questions the same moment Sora began to convulse next to Naruto.

Mizuki had poisoned Sora and everybody from Sound with a slow and subtle poison- lead. It wasn't too dangerous like cyanide but if they were left untreated within the next few hours they would all die. As for Naruto, his client ordered for his quick death so as to silence him and the memories he was regaining. Naruto didn't allow Mizuki to take him down so easily, bound or no bound, adrenaline fueled his strength. Fortunately for Naruto, the police broke in at that moment. Unfortunately for him, he had been poisoned.

***
What a chaotic chapter! Pardon any errors and the rushed nature of this chapter.
Disclaimer: I know nothing about poisons! Don't take this fiction too seriously.

If you didn't guess it before, Naruto's distress button is his necklace (the one Tsunade gave him in the series). I haven't mentioned it in the story yet but I have a feeling I would forget to mention it in the next chapter. Somebody please remind me if I actually do 😅

Thanks for reading this chapter. I hope you'd be around for the next!

-Star.