Prologue: The Death of Umino Iruka
"I must be cruel, only to be kind:
Thus bad begins and worse remains behind."- Hamlet, Shakespeare
Umino Iruka had a secret. He was a thief. He loved stealing things. When he was young it was candy and toys. When he was older, it was books and clothing. And when he was in the academy it was tests and grade books to prank. With enough time, effort and planning there was nothing he couldn't get his hands around and make his. And when he 'overheard' Ibiki-san discussing the archive of forbidden jutsu's one day, well, let's just say he set his mind to planning. And it took him three years but he did it.
Umino Iruka was patient. Three years may seem a like a long time, but he had his eye on the prize and what was three years for what could possibly be the greatest score of all time? He was pretty sure Ibiki-san was onto him, but the man couldn't exactly prove anything. His ex-jounin-sensei was a cunning man but he knew he was off on a date with tonight so he was pretty sure there was no way he was following him tonight. And after three years of careful planning, he finally entered the archive. He looked around the small room with a gleeful smile, and then a frown. A genjutsu he contemplated, thoughtfully? This room looked decidedly… ordinary after all the traps and wards he had just spent years managing to undo. It was possibly 8x10 with a small table and three unlabeled filing cabinets. He sent his chakra out carefully, not wanting any surprises. No, not a genjutsu. And no more traps in the room. Hm… He reached for the first filing cabinet and examined the first drawer. He eyed it and his chakra flared. It didn't appear to be trapped. He cautiously opened the drawer and it contained a massive amount of scrolls, just crammed into the folders messily.
Umino Iruka was a neat man. This disorder annoyed him. Shouldn't someone put these in order so someone could find what they wanted? How was he supposed to know which one would be worthy of stealing? He almost chuckled at his own thoughts. His fingers flew over the scrolls, he really needed to be going, and he was already pushing his luck. He should probably just randomly take a few. Suddenly he turned his head, sensing another chakra coming. He randomly grabbed a scroll and stuffed it in his kunai pouch and exited the door, then reset the traps quickly. When the person turned the corner, Iruka was leaning against the wall looking bored.
An ANBU walked down the hall past him, he wasn't that tall, not that much taller than Iruka himself actually. And he was reading an odd little orange book.
"Maa…should you be back here?" The ANBU said, eying him.
"Should an ANBU be reading porn?" Iruka said back cheekily.
The ANBU lowered his book looked at him and that was how they first met, although Iruka did not know it at the time.
Umino Iruka was a loving man. Years later, he fell in love with Hatake Kakashi even though he didn't know that it was the same ANBU that he'd met that fateful night. They were a good match for each other as Iruka didn't let Kakashi get away with anything and Iruka was as clever and devious as Kakashi as was intelligent and perverted. Unfortunately for them, when you have a precious person they become a target.
Umino Iruka was kidnapped and killed by the Akatsuki in attempt to glean information about Naruto and Kakashi. But Iruka was a shinobi to the end and didn't give up any information despite the lengthy torture. In the end he was when it was decided that kidnapping and torture wasn't going to work, they simply killed him.
Umino Iruka was killed by Uchiha Itachi. Iruka remembered clearly how the knife felt, the bright sharp pain, the taste of coppery blood in his mouth. The voices around him, and then the sudden blessed silence. He had prepared for this eventuality of course. Kakashi was not the only intelligent one, despite the fact most people underestimated him. His hand was already reaching for the scroll in his kunai pouch. The one from all those nights ago. His blood activated it, and since he was now covered in blood thanks to Itachi, it was simple enough to pulse all of his life chakra into it. He slumped onto the ground and waited to die. Itachi walked over and looked at him. The jutsu would be complete when died, and the immediately burn up with his death.
"I'm sorry, Umino Iruka," Itachi said, surprisingly.
Iruka felt his eyes wide a little, maybe he was hallucinating. He was dying after all. Then he felt his heart lurch, and with a groan he felt his eye lids flutter, and his body was being tugged and pulled mercilessly, he was definitely dying now. So this is what death felt like? He wanted his last thoughts to be of Kakashi, of something happy and loving but he was staring at Itachi's face and he simply closed his eyes and sunk into blackness.