His Approval

Father and Daughter

I looked over at Father giving him a questioning look. He actually saved me, but I'm useless to him. He broke eye contact with me giving everyone around us a look indicating to give us privacy. Kitty hesitated, he gave me a worried expression then glared at Father. I gave him a small smile reassuring him that I was going to be okay. His brow furrowed and his smiled turned into a frown showing he wasn't happy with the idea but joined the others watching the fight between Obito and Naruto.

I looked back at Father who motioned me to follow him so we were far enough from the chaos.

"Why did I forget Mom?" I questioned him making his head quickly turn towards me. It looked like he wasn't expecting the question from the look on his face, but he answered pretty quickly.

"It was for the best," he said with an emotionless tone making me grit my teeth.

"You made me forget my Mother!" I shouted glaring at him. "You've never mentioned her, all you told me was that she died." My voice started to crack at the end.

"How did you find out about her?" He crossed his arms looking down at me like I was a child in trouble.

"I made a deal with Kabuto, in exchange for my necklace he would reanimate her. She was a lovely woman and she loved me despite what you put her through. Now, why did you erase my memories of her?!" My blood boiled with each word and his stoic face wasn't making it better. I could see that tears starting to form. I wasn't sure what I was feeling right now, angry or sad.

"It was for the best," he answered but I wasn't satisfied. He acted like this didn't matter.

"Best for you or me?" I never broke eye contact with him. Despite the height difference, it felt like we were at the same level. I was no longer scared of this man.

"Both of us," I was about to interrupt him but he held out his arm signaling to let him finish. "When you killed your mother's killer, you were distraught and unresponsive. I couldn't carry you around the world looking for a place to hide you because of your crying. You refused to eat, talk, move, or do anything hindering our journey and for me to figure out what to do with you. I had a colleague of mine erase your memories so I could properly take care of the situation. I took leave from my duties as a shinobi to get you situated and teach you how to care for yourself while I was gone. If I had left you with your memories, my plans would've been compromised leading to my death and most likely yours too."

His explanation only made me chuckle at his selfishness. "You didn't think they'd take pity on me and raise me in the village? You believed that the Hokage, your former sensei, would kill an innocent child? You don't know him at all then. The Hokage already knew who I was when I arrived. He saw through your plan but kept me in the village so I could live a normal childhood. He would've done the same if I was discovered earlier. You were looking out for yourself not me."

"I was with you after my death," he said catching me by surprise. "The anger when you saw Kabuto experimenting on my corpse, the sadness once you realized I was gone, the depression and turning to drugs? You don't cope with death well my dear." My emotions betrayed me when I heard 'my dear,' those words always comforted me. I had always hoped he called me that because he cared.

"You reacted like this when I died, and we didn't have a bond. Imagine how you reacted when your Mother died; you'd never want to be a ninja and wouldn't be able to defend yourself."

I was about to speak but I thought about it for a moment. The last part was true; eventually someone would find out and kill me...or he would.

"How do you know that? Mom told me that even after what you did, she never spoke ill of you to me. I was happy to be the daughter of a powerful shinobi and I wanted to be just like you. I've asked you three times about her and you always shut me down. You couldn't have given me anything?"