In Their Shadow

Chapter 18

It was a bright and sunny day in the leaf village, the ambiance of happiness abundant in the air. One Kiba Inuzuka was walking around the Leaf Village with his pal Akamaru when he first spotted them. He smiled in a demeaning way at them, strutting over their way with a look of superiority. Standing in front of him was Team Seven.

Naruko and Sasuke were bickering among each other as usual, While Kakashi kept reading his book. They were not the ones Kiba was interested in however, no, he had his eyes on different prey.

Yuma Ito.

He noticed a few things were different about the pale boy however. He no longer had his hair in a pony tail, letting it fall down his back. He wore a sleeveless black shirt, and black cargo pants. He had bandages covering the entirety of his arms, and that is what got Kiba to snicker.

"Hey Yuma." Kiba said aloud, catching the attention of Yuma Ito.

The pale boy turned to him briefly, his eyes widening, before attempting to pretend like he had not heard Kiba. Kiba smirked at this, thinking to himself that once someone was a weakling, always a weakling. He waved his hands at them, smirking condescendingly as the two prodigies ceased their bickering to see who was calling their teammates name. Once their eyes came upon Kiba, they narrowed them in his direction.

"Oi Yuma, I'm talking to you!" Kiba yelled out, causing the Yuma to noticeably stiffen.

Sasuke looked at Yuma worriedly while Naruko frowned at the brown haired Inuzuka.

"H-Hey Kiba, w-what do you want?" Yuma said, trepidation clear in his tone.

"Nothing. Just wanted to say hi." He staring at Yuma's bandaged up arms with a smirk.

Kiba walked towards them, before completely passing them by, saying one last thing before he left.

"What a failure, what happened to you this time weakling?"

And with that, Kiba had left the team, satisfied with himself. Naruko glared at the Inuzuka with contempt before turning to Yuma, worried for his well being.

"Hey, don't listen to anything that mutt says, okay?" Naruko said with a smile, trying to cheer him up.

"Yeah, what the idiot said. Besides, he hasn't been on an A rank mission like us, has he? He doesn't what he's talking about, pay him no attention." Sasuke said as well, patting Yuma on the back.

"Y-Yeah, your right. Thanks guys." Yuma said, turning to them with a thankful grin.

Naruko and Sasuke grinned right back.

"Well then, lets get a move on, we still have to report to the Hokage after all." Kakashi said, getting everyone to get moving.

Sasuke continued to look at Yuma with worry, still guilty over not having helped Yuma out when they were younger. Yuma was fidgety for the rest of the walk, the meeting with his old bully bringing back unpleasant memories. Naruko gazed at his back, her eyes narrowing slightly. She looked at Sasuke, who now sported the same look of conviction in his eyes as Naruko.

'I won't let anyone be mean to Yuma anymore. He is my friend now after all!' She thought as she nodded her head towards Sasuke; them both coming to a silent agreement.

'I won't make the same mistake twice! I won't abandon Yuma ever again!' Sasuke thought to himself as well, nodding back to Naruko.

After some walking and brief stops caused by Naruko and Sasuke's now routine bickering, they had finally arrived at the Hokage Tower. Naruko ran ahead of all them, eager to see her father once more. Yuma and Sasuke shook their heads at her blatant impatience, before walking in along with her and Kakashi. They finally got to the Hokage's office, when they had heard it.