A matter of observation.
Hey Roxy Goth here. I know this idea had been done before, but I want to put my own twist on it.
I do not own Tmnt in any way shape or form.
"The problem is you take each other for granted." Splinter began. He was in the dojo, staring down at his four charges.
"No we don't!" Raph protested, but fell silent under Splinters gaze.
Raphael was lying – Splinter knew it. He's been observing them for the past month after a battle. The difference between this battle and the hundreds of others is that, they'd lost. Leonardo and Raphael had got into a fight about one of the elders orders, and while they'd been doing that Donatello and Michelangelo had been vastly outnumbered, it was only when Donatello went skidding into the edge of the building that the two elders realised they were in the middle of an actual battle; his hot-headed son had immediately gone rushing to his brothers defence, stopping the foot ninja's from killing him there and then, and Leonardo had rushed in front of the orange-clad turtle saving him from the same fate.
Needless to say after Splinter had dragged the story from a reluctant Leonardo he hadn't been exactly over the moon. He's lectured the blue clad ninja for about an hour afterwards, which earned said turtle a smirk from Raphael and the ever-hated statement. 'Now you know what it feels like'. However Splinter did notice afterwards that Leonardo made a conscious effort not to lecture the others as much.
As if that wasn't enough to convince him things needed to change, about a week after having them under observation, the rat had happened to over-hear Donatello muttering about Michelangelo's 'foolishness' while whittling away at something in his lab, and in turn the 'battle nexus champion' as his son had taken to calling himself, had been overheard complaining to Klunk that Donatello was 'all work and no play'.
The remaining three weeks had seen him ask Mrs O'Neil and Mr Jones for their opinion. Mr Jones had then reluctantly after a little 'prompting' admitted that Raphael used their 'evenings out' to rant about said brothers. Apparently according to Mr Jones his hot-tempered son complained that Donatello was always 'holed up in his lab working on some damn machine or other' Michelangelo was 'jus' really annoying' and Leonardo…
Well, Splinter won't repeat what Raphael said about Leonardo.
Mrs O'Neil had been able to fill him in mainly about Donatello's way of thinking. Apparently Donatello thought Leonardo lectured too much and was more leader than brother, Raphael was to rash and needed to 'think before he acts for god's sake!' and Michelangelo needs to stay out of his lab and 'stop being so inquisitive!'
So, he now knew the two middle son's way of thinking, it was clear what Leonardo though through the way he lectured the brothers, there would be a verse in his lecture which would outline everything that was wrong with them, but with no advice about how to put it right. Apart from in Donatello's case in which Leonardo's advice was generally. 'Stop drinking so much coffee and get some sleep before I'm forced to drug it!' Splinter was half-convinced that the reason Donatello stayed up so late was a sort of 'take that!' to his brother, considering the eldest was supposed to double as a leader it was not a reassuring thought.
Michelangelo was a bit more difficult but after listening at the door and asking Mrs O'Neil to 'tactfully talk to him' he's discovered that apart from his above thoughts on his genius sibling he thought the hot-tempered one needed to 'unwind and learn to take a joke' and the leader needed to 'stop repeating the same damn lectures because they're getting really old'
Another point in both Donatello's and Michelangelo's viewpoint was that both their older brothers needed to get along because it was upsetting them. Donatello hated the yelling and the fear of having to operate on one of them, and Michelangelo, although he accepted the brothers wouldn't always get along, had been heard telling Klunk. 'If they sent less time arguing and more time listening, then they might see that they're more alike than they think.'
This being a point which Splinter made sure to take into consideration.
And those were the events that led up to this little 'family meeting' in the dojo that was mainly Splinter explaining what was going to happen and his sons taking it all in.
Going back to Raphael's outburst, Splinter silence him with a glare and then continued. "Yes you do. And so I have come up with a plan. Tomorrow Mrs O'Neil will come down here as per usual, except this time she will be asked to take two names from a hat. The two names she picks out will have to switch personality. So, say she picked Raphael and Donatello, those two would have to effectively be each other, understand?"
Silence and then Leonardo asked carefully. "And how long would we have to act as the other person, Sensei?"
"Well, it's Sunday today. Mrs O'Neil will pick the names out tomorrow… that will be Monday so… we'll start it on Tuesday. It'll be a test, see if you can manage six day being someone else, sounds fun, no?"
From the look on his son's face the answer was definitely no. Splinter chuckled and left the lair, gleefully awaiting the next day.