Mika healing Kakashi changed the path of events slightly, enough to make a big difference. This chapter represents that.

Should Mika go into ANBU or is that too cliche at this point? Any advice is welcome.

Should Mika get the Curse Mark?

Gently, Mika wrapped the open wound, having debrided and cleaned it as best he could with the supplies he had. It was a sad thing. If he was better equipped or had more training or help, he could have saved dozens more. As it was, Mika was struggling a lot. The first thing he did when he woke up, after Sakura moved to "Gaurd" Tazuna at the bridge, was go to the nearest orphanage and offer his services as a healer. Tazuna introduced him so people trusted him to help.

It broke his heart to see the countless injuries present on even the children. There were a lot of cases of cuts and bruises, many broken limbs or cracked ribs. Despite himself, he healed with the Mystic Palm as much as he could with certain kids getting priority. For the broken limbs, there wasn't much eh could do beyond creating slings. It was heart wrenching work that left him more exhausted than any wound ever could.

"There, that should be better."

The little girl he was patching up, smiled weakly at him. "Thank you, when that Samurai guy cut me I thought I was going to lose my arm."

Mika sighed. "You won't but make sure you clean your arm and put on clean bandages whenever you can."

She nodded. "I will try... but we don't always have clean bandages."

Gritting his teeth, Mika bit out. "I will make sure you can." About six hours later, when the sun began to set, Mika left the orphanage, shaking with exhaustion and rage. "Gato needs to go, these are fucking children..." He walked away and made his way through the village... his heart breaking even more. A man carrying a sign to do any kind of work, tons of thin twitchy people, a kid stealing from a shop and running away with calls of thief towards him... a sense of dread filling the air. 'We must save these people. At any cost... this cannot go on.'

"""

"NARUTO ENOUGH!" Naruto froze as Mika looked at him almost glowing with rage while Naruto stuffed his face with bowl after bowl of food. They had just eaten a weak, paltry meal that the family had barely managed. "This country is starving as it is you will not make it harder by eating them out of house and home." He turned to Sasuke, giving him the same look and getting an equal amount of hesitance in his eyes. "There is no point in eating til you puke, it is pointless, disgusting, and wasting precious resources this place lacks."

The boys, both of them, silently, nodded, and put their bowls down.

Some time passed and they started to drink some tea, the room quiet except for the sound of Tsunami doing the dishes.

This was interrupted by Sakura. "Hey, this picture is torn. Is there some reason for that?" Naruto may have struggled to read the room but he could easily tell there was something wrong. "Inari, you kept glancing at it through dinner, it looks like there was someone else in here but they were torn out."

"It's my husband." Tsunami said, her voice quiet and pained.

"He was once called a hero in this land," Tazuna said and with that Inari left the room, eyes shaded in shadows from his hat.

"Inari where are you going?" Tsunami followed him as he left the room, stopping at the door to turn to her father. "Father you can't talk about him like in front of Inari you know that."

"Inari's so… what happened to him?" Sakura broke out, not reading just how much pain was in the room.

"He wasn't his real father he came into our father and he brought so much happiness...he used to laugh and smile all the time and then... " Tazuna started to cry. "...All that ended. He never laughs or smiles anymore. Ever since that day, everything changed. The word courage was stolen from this island, we were left feeling powerless, and hopeless and Inari suffered the most. Ever since that day, ever since it happened."

Kakashi's voice didn't change much but there was a presence in how he spoke. Tell us, what happened to Inari."

"To understand, you need to understand the man, his father. The man who taught us the word courage, his father."

"""

Mika's heart broke for the family as they heard the tale of Kaiza, the pain in every word was practically visible. The man cried as he spoke, weaving the tale further and further and with each word he understood just how much courage the man before him had.

When it was finished, Naruto stood up. "I'm going to prove it, prove to Inari that heroes do exist." And he left, walking out of the house.

Mika, moved, and turned to Kakashi. "You have no concept of how badly this place has suffered." He turned to Tazuna. "You say Inari has suffered the most, you are wrong. I healed over fifty orphans today. I saw cases of abuse, sexual assault, starvation... you boy has a home, food and family. Many do not have any of those. I would not call hi, lucky, but he is more fortunate than most." He turned back to Kakashi. " We need to do something about this all... if I have to, I will assassinate Gato myself."

Kakashi coughed, looking stunned. "You are a medic, and you want to assassinate a man?"

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Healing those kids is only setting them up for more suffering. If we take him out, this place can finally heal. Gato is a cancer, plain and simple. He needs to go."

There was a pause, and Kakashi nodded. "I think you might be right. I have recovered enough... but I will need help... are you willing to do that, especially given that we might fight Zabuza again?"

Mika paused this time. "If I have to, I will. No one should have to go through this. I am not a front lines fighter right now. With my chakra control and shushin and kenjutsu skills, assassination sounds more up my alley. I will do what I have to to see this man dead and this country saved."

"Then we strike... tonight."

Mika nodded. "When?"

"Midnight."

"I will go rest, recover my chakra as much as I can." And with that, Mika went to the back room and laid down. Determined to do this, for Wave and for those small children he knew would likely die without his help...

Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.

This was fun to write, I really enjoyed it.

Love, your Ninja Overlord,

Mika.