Prologue

Anything here is not owned by me, but by the creators of Naruto

It was dark and cold. Most people stayed inside when they could. Of course, shinobi did not have the luxury of staying inside most of the time like the civilians did. You were send on missions rain or shine, but in this case, snow or strong winds. It was winter time in Kohona if you couldn't tell. But there was one person who didn't mind winter that much, and his name was Iruka Umino.

Because he was a teacher, he didn't go on many missions. Well, at least not ones of the public's knowledge. He had one mission that would last the rest of his life, protecting his home and entire village. But this wasn't the usual, 'I'm a shinobi so I will protect Konoha with my life, it was a task that had been passed down from generation to generation in his family. Iruka had a gift, or in some ways a curse. Scratch that, in a lot of ways it was a curse. He was a demon. Part human and part fox. His mother was the protector of the village, she was also half human and half fox, but his father was fully human. At one point, the family line had been pure demon fox. But it later became mixed with human blood.

And this is where Iruka comes in. He retains traits from the fox but is able to keep a human form. His natural self has sharpened teeth, sharpened fingernails and toenails (which borderlines claws), a pair of fox ears and a tail, something that was a version of a shortened muzzle, and orangish brownish hair that covered his body. Along with heightened senses. In his natural form, he was not the prettiest sight to see. To put it bluntly, he was almost repulsive. His other human form, was bland. Brown hair and eyes, average height and build, and the only thing that made him stand out was the scar that went across the bridge of his nose. Not a huge face to remember. And that was how Iruka liked it.

The hokages knew of his bloodline. Which is how Iruka's family came to protect the borders of Konoha. The humans first asked them for protection and after a long, long, talk the fox demons agreed. Iruka had been raised in the village, but his mother taught him the legacy that he was to carry on. Or well, as much as she could before she died. Iruka was not fully developed in his demon skills and no matter how much he denied it, there was nothing he would have been able to do to protect her from the Nine-Tails. Iruka knew his job and what to do, but little of what to do with his body. He didn't know that is was unacceptable to fight other children or show off his ears and tail. The Third Hokage taught him most of what he knows now. Everything from eating etiquette to how to control shifting from partial fox to fully human. Iruka owed almost everything to the hokage.

But after the third died, Iruka contemplated leaving the village to fend for itself. He knew he could fight off any Hunter Nin or ANBU. Or at least make it past the borders. But Iruka dropped that idea not long after. He knew that this was his duty to protect Konoha, his home and the place he Third vowed to protect. Though he did spiral into what could be called acute depression. But he didn't let anyone know that he was hurting, that sympathy needed to go to the Sarutobi family, The Third's real family, not his honorary one.

The only person who noticed anything was the one person Iruka didn't want to be noticed by. That person was Kakashi Hatake. The famed nin and genius. Kakashi kept glancing back and watching how he comforted Naruto, along with others who were grieving. It made Iruka feel uncomfortable knowing that a ninja was specifically watching for a decent amount of time. There was no huge tension between the two, but that doesn't mean that they would go out every weekend and drink together. They acknowledge each other and said a, 'Hello,' everyone once in awhile and that was it. Both sides of the party had forgiven each other for the rude words that were shared before the Chunin Exams. But that didn't mean that there wasn't and elephant in the room every time they were together, because there most definitely was.

Kakashi knew nothing of Irukas 'condition', or his eternal mission. Nobody except for Lady Tsunade knew what he was. Well, her and Shizune. Iruka asked to be alone with the Fifth in order to arrange the contract that insured of Iruka's protection from her, and his protection of the village in exchange. Lady Tsunade sent the ANBU away believing that there was no way anyone, especially Iruka, could be stupid enough to walk straight in there for an assassination attempt. But nonetheless Shizune refused to leave. She had a healthy respect for her mentor, but at times she refused to listen. There was nothing other to do than allow her to know what he was. Iruka was very reluctant to show another but he did it anyways. They were shocked to say the least when they both read the contract. The Fifth demanded an explanation for what kind of joke he was trying to play. In a nutshell, Iruka came very close to having a chat with TI. And she said that if he didn't give a good enough explanation he would be thrown in a cell for the rest of his days. After a couple of seconds, he dropped into his natural form. It was somewhat painful but he did his best to hide any pain. Lady Tsunade stared for a couple of minutes, her face remained blank. She only gave a little head nod and started to fill out the contract but Shizune gave a little more of her emotions away. She seemed amazed with a twinge of being appalled. Iruka expected that, but it still made his gut twist in sadness. It was nothing against Iruka, but she was, to put it lightly, very surprised.

Tsunade filled out the contract and then came the hard part. Iruka had to bite her wrist to seal the contract. He definitely didn't want ANBU coming after him and didn't not want Tsunade to kill him. After a short explanation of what was to come next, Lady Fifth pulled up her sleeve and handed her wrist to Iruka. It would hurt a little bit, but she would need to undergo this. Her face was blank the entire time. To be completely honest, she looked like she needed a drink. After biting her wrist and letting blood drop from her to the contract there was a poof and Iruka was back to normal. Tsunade now controlled the power to force Iruka to do almost anything. She had close to complete control of him. She healed her wrist while Iruka took the scroll, thanked both of them, and left.

And this is where our story begins.

Well hello there. Umm the is a little awkward, but this is my first fanfiction. I finished the Naruto series a decent amount of time ago, so if anything is inaccurate please, please let me know. I would like to say that this prologue isn't too bad, but that is up for you people to decide. It could suck for all I know. Also, let me know about spelling mistakes or anything else really. I believe I can take constructive criticism quite well. I'm not usually one of those people, but please review or message me or something. It would be really nice to know how this story is.