Harmony (Konoha School of Arts)

32.

Fear.

The last time Naruto felt it was when he walked into the kitchen searching for his mother only to find her corpse sprawled on the floor in a pool of her own blood.

The person that did that and dumped the blame on him was right in front of him, staring, laughing, with a crazed look in his eyes. He was having fun, Naruto realized belatedly. Mizuki was having fun with his sloppy murder schemes and reveling in the fact that the police never finds him. This will be his last, Naruto will make sure of it.

There's a necklace Naruto always wears around, a gift from Tsunade. The beautiful turquoise pendant initially used to make Naruto so pissed because in it was a chip that could track his location. He used to find it constricting but he'd never been as grateful for Tsunade's mother-henning as he was when Ibiki bust in with his team. He sure took his time. Naruto fell unconscious around that time but there was a piece of information he received from Mizuki that would come to bother him a lot when he wakes up.

Mizuki had a mocking grin on as he slumped down on a bad plastic chair in front of Naruto. "My client..." That snapped Naruto's head towards him. Sora was cramping up beside him, forgotten in the face of the discussion between him and his...murderer. Said man crossed his arms and leaned them on the headrest, his smile going wider at Naruto's sharp expression.

"Who is it?!" The blond all but growled. It only boosted Mizuki's crazy ego.

"That's the funny thing, you've probably met them before. If you haven't you're sure to meet sooner than later."

"Who. Is. It?" Naruto repeated through gritted teeth.

"Whoa scary." Mizuki mocked. "Where's the fun in telling you that?" Naruto demanded, screamed, once again for the answer as if that would make Mizuki give him the answer he desired. The silver-bluenet only laughed harder at the blond's pathetic and desperate attempt. "You're feisty, just like your mum." Mizuki said that on purpose to get Naruto's reaction. The blond didn't disappoint.

"Don't you dare mention her!" The blond growled angrily, fighting against the restraints as he itched so dearly to get to Mizuki and make him taste his own blood with a nose cracking punch. He didn't care if the ropes bit into his skin as he wrestled to get out of them. That actually concerned Mizuki but not as much as it amused him. If the blond broke out in his angry state of mind he might actually commit murder. Now that would be interesting to see but he was running out of time. The poison should begin to act up in about now.

"I'd leave you a clue, consider it my parting gift." That got Naruto's rapt attention. "My client, that is the person that wanted your parents dead, they have... fascinating eyes for lack of words to describe it." Mizuki got up from the plastic chair. The thing created a loud clatter on the floor as it was tossed carelessly at the man's ascension. Naruto began to get uneasy as Mizuki came closer to him, yelling for him to stay away. "Relax, your death will be so fast, you won't even feel it."

"No! Stay away, STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Naruto screamed and thrashed around. He was making things difficult for Mizuki who just wanted to stab the needle into his neck and watch the boy slump to his death. He managed to get the needle in and that was when the police barged in.

"Freeze, police!"

Xxx harmony xxX

The first thing Naruto saw when he woke up was Iruka-sensei's crying face. Hah? Why was the old man crying?

"I-Iruka..." Words were surprisingly very hard to say. His throat was so dry. Somebody handed him a glass of water, it was Jiraiya. "Pervy sage..."

"Drink up." The man urged him to drink while Iruka tried in vain to stop shedding so much tears. A doctor came in to check Naruto's vitals and ensure everything was alright with the boy. Soon he left and it was just Iruka, Jiraiya and Naruto in the room again.