"You can't be serious!" Raph shouted. He angrily paced around the shinobi lounge while everyone watched his rant. "Right, Leo?"
"I'm sorry, Raph, but we can't just go around the city." Leo said.
"But there's someone out there messing with us!" Raph argued. "We gotta find these evil shinobi and teach them a lesson!"
"And where do you suggest we look?" Leo asked. "We don't know where these evil shinobi are based, and we don't know what they're capable of. We need to keep our heads down until we know more and train more."
"Ohh, so that's the plan from our great leader." Raph mocked. "Just sit here on our butts!"
"I never said I was a great leader."
"Well, you sure act like it sometimes!"
"Yeah? Well, you act like a jerk sometimes! You need to control your attitude and think this through!"
"You know what? I'll just take my attitude and leave!"
Raph opened the door and left the room. Leo grunted while everyone else stared awkwardly.
"That hotheaded idiot! Why is it so hard for him to see reason?" Leo asked in his head. "I'm not asking for much, just a little obedience, especially from that guy."
Asuka got up and approached him away from the others. "Hey, Leo." The ninja turtle leader turned to her. "Why don't we get something to eat? Might take your mind off of things."
"I can't really go in a restaurant, Asuka." Leo said. "Not since I look like this."
"Trust me. What you look like won't matter." Asuka said.
Leo took a breath and turned to her. "All right, Asuka. I'll trust you."
Once Asuka entered the sushi restaurant, she motioned her hand for Leo to walk in with his heavy trenchcoat and hat on. Just then, an old man with gray hair and beard appeared from a door on the other side of the room. He stood behind the counter and greeted his customers.
"Asuka! How wonderful to see you!" he said. "Who's your friend?"
"Right. Leo, you can take the hat off now." Asuka said.
"What?" Leo asked. "But Asuka…"
"So this is Leonardo." The old man said. "What, are you worried I might get disturbed by your shell?"
Under his hat, Leo widened his eyes. He slowly grabbed his hat and removed it revealing his green face and blue bandana mask. The old man chuckled at the sight of it.
"I never would have believed it. The art of the shinobi being taught to someone who looks like they came from a sci-fi movie."
"Um, Asuka," Leo said, "Who is this man and why is he so casual toward me?"
"Right." Asuka said. "Leonardo, meet my grandpa, Hanzo."
"Nice to meet you." Hanzo said.
"Wait. You mean like Hanzo Academy?" Leo asked.
"Yeah. My grandpa helped make the school." Asuka said. "Not sure if you know, but he was also Master Kiriya and Splinter's master."
"Really?" Leo asked.
"Right. How is Hamato Yoshi doing?" Hanzo asked. "Asuka told me he's been a bit hairy at times." He chuckled.
"Grandpa." Asuka chuckled.
"So what will it be?" Hanzo asked. "I serve some pretty good food here."
"So you're a master shinobi… and a cook?" Leo asked.
"I can do both."
"We'll take a couple bowls of noodles." Asuka said.
"Coming up." Hanzo said as he turned to cook. As he stewed, Leo and Asuka got to talking.
"I gotta admit, this is actually nice." Leo said. "So what, your grandpa runs this place by himself?"
"Well, sometimes, my parents help, but they're out of the country for a time." Asuka said. "Anyway, can we talk about you and Raph?"
Leo frowned and sighed. "I don't know what to do with him. Back at New York, he's always been questioning all of my orders."
"But you're brothers." Asuka said. "I don't have any siblings, so I don't know what you're going through, but I know you still love him and he loves you."
"He's got a funny way of showing it." Leo said.
"If I may interject," Hanzo said as he continued his cooking, "It sounds to me like you treat him more as a soldier and less as a brother."
"No. I've just got orders meant to protect everyone in the family." Leo said. "Splinter made me leader, so it's my responsibility to protect them however I can."
"Just because it's your responsibility, it doesn't mean you should burden yourself with it alone." Hanzo said. "As leader, it is your job to protect your family, but you should also be able to hear them out. Listen to their comments. You gotta find a middle ground where everyone can be happy, make sacrifices. Asuka, did you tell him about your father?"
"It never came up."
"What about your father?" Leo asked.
"Well, my mom was a shinobi, but my dad was a civilian. He was in the middle of law school when he met my mom. He was in love with her, but my grandpa didn't like him at first. He thought he'd leave her as soon as he gained his law degree. So my dad made a great sacrifice: he left his dream job of being a lawyer so he could stay with my mom and help around the shop."
"Wow." Leo said. "But what does any of this have to do with me and my brothers?"
"Asuka's father believed it was best for him to continue being a lawyer," Hanzo said as he gave the noodle bowls to his granddaughter and her friend, "But because he loved my daughter, he decided the best thing for the both of them was to stay with her. He made a sacrifice and the two of them are currently married happily on this day. And because you love your brothers, you should be willing to make sacrifices yourself. At least understand why your brother, Raphael, is acting the way he is."
Leo paused for a moment. "I guess… he's impatient because he's worried that the evil ninja might come for us at any moment. If we don't get them first, they're going to have the advantage when we confront them. He's worried about us. I see. Thank you, Master Hanzo."
"My pleasure." Hanzo said. He glanced at Asuka and leaned in to whisper in Leo's ear. "Just between us, since you lived in the sewers, how many skirts did you get the chance to look up at?"
"What?" Leo asked nearly falling off his chair.
"Grandpa!" Asuka yelled out. "What is wrong with you?"
"What? I'm just curious. Can't an old man ask a silly question every once in a while?"
"Sorry, Leo." Asuka said.
"It's all right." Leonardo said. "Let's just continue our lunch."
Once they were done, Leonardo put on his full disguise again and walked out the door with Asuka. She bid her grandpa farewell and walked with Leo in the park.
"Well, your grandpa was… interesting." Leo said.
"Sorry about him." Asuka said. "He can be a bit of a pervert sometimes."
"Glad Master Splinter isn't anything like that." Leonardo replied. "Anyway, thanks for this, Asuka. I really needed it."
Asuka smiled back. "Anything for you. I… Wait. Something's wrong."
Just then, the entire area around them changed into a dark-purple wall. The two of them gazed around for the cause.
"A shinobi barrier." Asuka said. "Brace yourself!"
Leonardo removed his trenchcoat and hat before pulling out his two katanas. That's when the third person approached them. It was a tan teenage girl with black hair tied in a ponytail and a pitch-black schoolgirl outfit. She gave a smirk while Asuka widened her eyes.
"Homura? What are you doing here?"
"Isn't it obvious, Asuka? I'm the evil ninja attacking you, and your little turtle too."
"Asuka, do you know this girl?" Leo asked.
"Yeah. Homura helped me chase down a purse-snatcher a short while ago. But I never knew she was a shinobi. I thought we were friends."
"That's what you get for thinking, Asuka." Homura said. "As soon as I heard you were Hanzo's granddaughter, I thought you'd at least provide a challenge. But all this time watching you, I realize now that you're really not that special. You're too green to even come close to me. And speaking of green…"
"Ha, ha." Leonardo said. "Listen, lady, I don't know why you're attacking us…"
"Isn't it obvious?" Homura asked. "I'm an evil ninja from Hebijo and you're good ninja from Hanzo. We must fight to the death."
"The death?" Asuka asked. "Hold on, what kind of shinobi fights only to kill?"
"A real one." Homura said. "A shinobi's destiny is to be stronger, no matter who gets hurt along the way. If I must go through you to get what I want, so be it. But first—Leonardo, was it—I'm quite curious about your ninja arts. It's certainly not taught at Hanzo Academy."
"What do you know about Hanzo Academy?" Leo asked.
Homura's proud face quickly changed into an upset expression. "Just answer the question. Who's been teaching four ninja how to fight?"
"Would you believe a giant rat?" Leo asked.
"Fine. It doesn't really matter. I was just curious." Homura reached to her back and pulled out her own sword. "Now, show me what you got!"
As much as Asuka didn't want to hurt someone she once called friend, she knew she had to defend herself. She pulled out her scroll and threw it in the air. "Shinobi transformation!" One flash of light later, Asuka was changed into a traditional school uniform with a yellow sweater vest.
Just then, Homura made a mad dash to the two of her opponents. Leo and Asuka quickly positioned their blades to block Homura's attack. Leo struck back, but Homura blocked that while she kicked Asuka away. She then backflipped while kicking Leo in the chin.
Asuka used a technique to burrow herself underground before crashing out from underneath Homura. Unfortunately, Homura saw it coming and blocked her attack early. That in turn left the evil ninja open for Leo to attack, but instead of going for a sword strike, he flipped forward striking at Homura with the back of his shell. She flew backward and landed on her feet sliding back.
Homura ran back to Leo with several sword strikes which he blocked with his katanas. Asuka tried to help her friend. She made a rock pillar stick out from behind her and she jumped from it to dash at her, but Homura saw it coming and dodged out of the way. Asuka stopped next to Leo and faced her enemy with him by her side.
"Well, it looks like bark isn't the only thing the two of you have," Homura said, "But don't get your hopes up on thinking you can win."
"Hate to break it to you, but me and Asuka have all the advantage." Leo said.
"Well, I do hate double-teaming." Homura said. "So how about we even the odds?"
She reached both her hands to her back and pulled out five other swords. She held all six swords between her fingers.
"What the?" Leo asked. "Six swords? Isn't that overkill?"
"Emphasis on kill." Homura said before swinging both handfuls of her swords. Suddenly, from each slash, waves of fire flew out toward the ninja girl and the ninja turtle. The two of them dodged out of the way.
"She can slash fire?" Leo asked. "Asuka, I feel like we're not properly prepared!"
"What do we do?" Asuka asked. She kept jumping to avoid the waves of fire Homura threw.
Leo looked beside him and noticed a metal trash can. Without thinking, he gripped it by its rim and threw it with much of his strength. Homura noticed the can coming and sliced it into four pieces. However, the trash that was already inside flew out and splashed over Homura's face.
"HEY!" she yelled out. "Seriously?!"
"Honestly, I saw it in a cartoon once." Leo admitted.
Homura sighed before wiping the trash off of her. "Whatever. I'm already done."
"What?" Asuka asked. "I thought you wanted to kill us."
"Don't get me wrong. I will kill the both of you." Homura said. "But my school's headmaster only wants any intel we can get on you all. And I think I've got what I need. I'm leaving, but the next time we fight, I will be the strongest shinobi in the world. Not that you had a chance to begin with."
As soon as Homura disappeared in the blink of an eye, the shinobi barrier was removed. Leo quickly put his costume back on before meeting back with Asuka.
"I guess Raph wasn't too far off from attacking first." Leo said.
"We need to tell the others!" Asuka yelled out.
When they all returned to the lounge, the turtles and the girls met up behind the couch. They all had disturbed looks on their faces as they all said the same thing at the same time.
"You will not believe what happened! We got attacked! Wait, you got attacked? I got attacked too! Wait, what?"
"Okay, everyone, stop!" Leo shouted. "Now, it seems we all have stories. So let's take it from the top…"
Author's Note: And that's all four turtles hanging out with all five Hanzo girls only to be ambushed by all five original Hebijo elites. We'll continue with the main plot next. Any and all comments are welcome.
