Setting The Wolf Free - Sequel to The Wolf Inside

Setting the Wolf Free - Ch 88

Ashley's POV

I stare at Tobi through wide eyes, shaking my head with minute movements. My right hand slowly rises up to my chest and rests against my heart, fingers curling tightly into the material of my shirt.

Tobi's story didn't make any sense. My Father wouldn't have been a spy for the Leaf, he just wouldn't. I knew him, and he was a loyal Uchiha. He would never betray his Clan.....He loved them!

"You're lying" I inform Tobi with certainty, eyes beginning to narrow. "My Father was a good man and he loved his fellow Uchiha. He would sooner shed his own blood for them than betray them!"

I grit my teeth together as Tobi begins to laugh, pressing his fingertips against the mask covering his face. He tilts his head down and shakes it a few times, before heaving a sigh and looking back up at me.

"He must have put on a good show if even his own daughter believed it" the man muses. "Perhaps he should have become an actor rather than a Ninja?"

"Don't speak like you know him!" I shout in protest, my heart hurting. "My Father was a respected ANBU Black Ops Captain and he only wanted the best for his Clan! He would never-"

"Oh come off it Ashley-chan" Tobi interrupts me harshly, holding his palms up in question. "He may have led you to believe all of those things, but the reality is that Shigeshi hated the Uchiha Clan. He hated his younger brother for the discontent he felt with the Leaf and for wanting to start a rebellion. Shigeshi wanted to bring his family to the Leaf to live with him, but the Uchiha Clan wanted to rebel against the Village and take it over. How could he be with them if the Leaf Village was fighting a war against the Uchiha Clan?"

"What?" I ask softly, genuinely surprised by this announcement. "My Dad wanted us to live in the Leaf with him?..........I never knew that....."

"........You're right when you say that your Father was a good man" Tobi responds, gentler now. "He loved his Village and he loved his family. He wanted to raise his daughters in the home he loved too, so that he could be with them everyday and teach them how to be incredible Ninja."

I feel tears pricking my eyes, blurring my vision as I slowly look down at the water below my feet and bite my lip.

So, before my Father died in the Uchiha massacre, he'd dreamed of bringing my Mother, Kiyu and I over to the Leaf Village so that we could all live together. Like a family. No more short visits once every two or three months. No more crying for days after he left. No more missing him so badly that our hearts would hurt. We could've actually been together, all of the time.

I could've grown up with all of the others in the Leaf Village. With Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Kiba......We could have all been friends from the very beginning. Then Orochimaru wouldn't have killed my family and I'd have never been taken by him. I'd be a different person and my life could've been a happy one, rather than the agonizing one I'd led up until I'd accidentally found my way to the Leaf......

"Your Father was heading back to the Village after visiting his wife in the Land of Ambience" Tobi continues, seeming to watch me very carefully, "When he was suddenly ambushed by two teams of Uchiha Ninja. They thought he was giving information to the Leaf Village about the coup and so, they'd decided to kill him."

"What?" I whisper, sadness for my Father washing over me. "But he didn't-"

"He wasn't giving the Leaf any information at this point" Tobi assures me, actually sounding somewhat grave. "He fought valiantly but in the end, was left for dead by his own Clansmen. After that, your Father disappeared for awhile and nobody knows where he went."