So, I already know that our friendly neighborhood turtles are a New York-thing. But one day, I had an idea as to what if the whole TMNT adventure happened in Japan instead, so this fic is born. You can take this as an AU or a re-imagining, if you like. Just opting for a more 'traditional' environment, you know?

For now, I'm intending this to be a series of one-shots which focus on particular instances in life for the cast. I will add actual adventures and fights (like the episodes) that are par the norm for the show, but I'll need preparation.

Also with this change, I've changed the main characters' names to fit in with the new setting, so here are their new Japanese-versions:
Raphael = Hamato Hiroshige (濱戸 広重) / Raph = Hiro
Donatello = Hamato Basho (濱戸 芭蕉) / Donnie = Basho (name stays the same)
Leonardo = Hamato Hokusai (濱戸 北斎) / Leo = Hoku
Michelangelo = Hamato Monzaemon (濱戸 門左衛門) / Mikey = Mon
April O'Neil = Ōnishi Uzuki (大西 卯月)

Enjoy!

Dōtonbori Takoyaki

The night was young in the spirited Dōtonbori area of Osaka city, the multicolored neon and LED lights of billboards, open-door restaurants and shops, street lamps, and even a few miniature stalls here and there. The throngs of people strolled leisurely but jauntily as though it were the prelude to another weekend of cutting loose, forgetting the worries of the week's daily grind for now. The overall mood of energetic relaxation and relaxed fervor was already represented by the Glico Running Man who graced the canal's biggest billboard with his open-armed running leap.

Everyone of the general public weren't the only ones who were in the chipper mood. Up on the rooftop just above Glico Running Man, a group of four shadows slinked over the edge, peering down to observe the populated canal. They seemed to move across the rooftops like a mass of liquid made of darkness. At least, until the largest of the four with a glint of red spoke first.

"How's the scene down there?" he whispered.

"The next boat's rocking down the stream in T-minus 12 seconds," a synthetic voice crackled over a handheld communicator.

The large figure put down the hand the held the device. He turned his head left and right to address the others on either side of him. "Okay team," he whispered, "like we planned."

"You mean, like 'you' planned," a smaller and slimmer shadow with a patch of blue next to him corrected with a snicker. Hearing that made the larger shadow narrow his eyes and raise an eye ridge in deflated annoyance.

"On three," the large shadow ignored, refocusing his attention on the canal down below that was still surrounded by people. Though before he started counting, he took a glance to another one of the smaller shadows with him, one who was prominently adorned with a good amount of purple. "Hey Basho, is the path clear?"

The purple one named Basho responded promptly, albeit while tinkering on a gadget attached to his arm without looking his asker in the eye, "Well, if my repeated calculated simulations maintained their integrity…" his attention was briefly interrupted by his other three compatriots giving him a look of frustrated boredom, making him sigh back at them with a similar attitude, "…I mean, 'haven't failed me', the coming boat will ensure our undercover operation's success at 98%."

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to give my 2%'s on that one, but shouldn't you, like, have all the numbers here?" the blue shadow interjected again.

The purple one could only roll his eyes. "Less-than-perfect probabilities have a higher chance of success compared to the nigh-impossible-to-achieve perfect probabilities, Hoku. If it's over a C-grade, it may as well be outstanding."

"Guys! Guys!" the red one tried to break up the impending quarrel with a slight wave of the hand. "Focus!" His attention was then caught by the fourth shadow, one that had an orange tint to the blackness.

"The boat's here, guys!" he pointed downwards at the waters of the canal. A metallic yellow-painted boat drifted under a bridge, with people packed on its deck looking in all directions. While there appeared to be friendly greetings between the passengers and the bystanders on the concrete, the small group concluded that it was time to move now.

"The boat has docked! I repeat, the boat has docked!" the voice over the communicator crackled again.

The red one nodded his head. "You heard her, guys! It's go-time!"

The four figures instantly did a running leap to the side of the building that held Glico Man, and seizing a vertically attached water pipe, slid down until they touched down on the concrete of an obscured alleyway. After that, they needed another few seconds to get where they had to go before the boat passed under Ebisu Bridge.

The four poked their heads near the edge of the shadows blanketing the alley, their eyes scanning for an opening. It might have been odd to be trying for a way through since there were so many people walking around with their lines of sight at every known angle. It didn't deter the red shadow, who was apparently the leader, who motioned with his head to his other three compatriots to take a stealth leap behind a wire-framed stall that was chockfull of stuffed plushies. They even proceeded to take a flying leap to hide behind the octopus display propped overhead the reserved outdoor dining area of a restaurant that stood right under Glico Man.

Each of the four shadows poked their heads from between the octopus's tentacles. Keeping their heads low enough to avoid being seen, they slowly scanned left and right until they spotted one individual human weaving her way through the passing civilians. Their eyes narrowed as they located who they were looking for the whole time. "There she is, guys," the red one whispered again.

The girl stopped right in front of the dining patio, just a few inches from the rope railing that separated said deck from the sidewalk. Looking left and right, she opened the cubelike briefcase she was carrying and drew out a handheld megaphone. Before she spoke into it, she took a side glance at the four hiding behind the octopus and gave a cheeky wink.

She announced herself with a strong voice through the megaphone, prompting many passersby to stop and turn their heads, restaurant customers behind her included. "Ladies and gentlemen, both everyone on land and you fellas on the water, and don't forget our honorable Glico-han above!" Normally, the public wouldn't be receptive to someone just randomly yelling in the street for the sake of attention, especially restaurant customers who were trying to dine in peace, but fortunately for the girl, she worked at that restaurant. "We got a special performance lined up just for all of you folks to celebrate our restaurant's anniversary tonight, and what could be better than dinner and a show?"

The effect was instantaneous. The crowds present on either side of the canal were clapping and voicing their fascination if not excitement. Even some on the boat were cheering and calling for the show to get started.

The girl smiled confidently and nodded her head, hoping the four hiding behind her would see that signal too. "Then I, your friendly hostess Uzuki Ōnishi, will sound the call. To everyone serving and dining in Kuidaoraku…" she turned around to give a wide-open showman's pose in front of the octopus prop, "Happy anniversary!"

The people immediately gasped with wide open eyes as they were beheld by the sight of four guys leaping out from behind the octopus, seizing the few seconds of being in midair to strike a dynamic pose. When they landed, it was a sight to behold: standing before the public were four humanoid turtles, each one radically different in a whole lot of ways. The first was bulky, had a snaggletooth hanging from his snout, wore a red bandana-like mask over his head, and had a spikey shell. The second was shorter, having a pronounced head with a purple mask and red-blue-lensed googles overtop, thin-limbed, and a metallic purple casing over his own shell. The third was a little bit shorter than the purple one, having a blue mask that covered only his eyes, similarly thin-limbed, a hexagonally patterned shell, and a few stripes of red and yellow on his skin. The last one was the shortest of all, wearing an orange mask over his eyes, having a few tattoos on his skin, guard caps on his elbows and knees, and a yellow pattern resembling circles on his shell.

All four of them took a moment to maintain their poses after landing on the dining deck, then smiled and waved at the people gawking from all around. "Aw yeah!" the red one soaked in the adoration, "That's right! We're the turtles here to spice up the night, everyone! Who's up for a party dance?"

The crowd gave off a resounding yes. However, the littlest turtle in orange leaned towards the red one, seeming a little nervous. "Uh, Hiro?" he whispered, "I don't think a dance was exactly part of the plan, if I heard right."

The red turtle Hiro gave a reassuring smile. "Don't sweat it, Mon. As long as we act like actors, no one would think we're not human. Besides, feels great to make everyone feel great around us, right?"

Little Mon briefly looked hesitant, but then his own smile returned. "Okay then, if you say so, leader!"

Immediately, the for turtles broke out into a breakdance on the pavement between the restaurant's deck and the canal. Each one of them busted a move in every angle they could come up with. It was impressive enough that whoever was driving the tour boat on the canal was also watching, the boat not even drifting under the nearby Ebisu Bridge once. Hiro the red turtle had an arm over his head and another placing a hand on his own shell. Basho the purple turtle appeared to do some kind of traditional island dance with a modern twist on it, weaving his limbs around a spinning staff he appeared to always go everywhere with. Hoku the blue turtle settled for giving multiple types of dabs at once. Mon the orange turtle was in full breakdance form and fashion, doing twists and spins on the pavement while bouncing on his hands and feet, finishing with a spin on his shell.

The crowd cheered even louder, feeling as though there were no limits as to how well these four bizarre performers could impress them. Standing on the other side of the rope fencing atop the restaurant patio, the girl who identified herself as Uzuki Ōnishi had a confident smile. It had taken a few days to work out the little details, but while the first part was easy, it was making sure the general public was okay with what the guys planned to do that she gave it her all. Everything was going perfectly…

"Ōnishi-han!"

Uzuki's body froze up. She slowly turned to face a confused and flabbergasted man in a cooking uniform standing a meter or so next to her, his arms held slightly apart to further represent his shock. "What's all this?" he asked her warily, pointing with his hand to the four turtles making a scene.

Uzuki scrambled her brain for a quick fix. She didn't think her plan would include that sudden element. "Well, they're a bunch of performers here to help promote our restaurant, boss," she answered with hands raised in earnestness and a tooth-bared smile stretched a little too big. "We are celebrating the anniversary after all." She really hoped that answer alone would get him off her back, or even better, see her in a more favorable light of the paycheck or position kind.

At the same time, the festive energy was only climbing higher. "Man! This really is so much fun!" Mon panted as he was in the process of showing a new move. He took a brief glimpse at the other three doing the same.

"I think I just about levelled up!" Hoku chimed in, even sneaking a nose-to-nose moment with a random human lady, who flinched but was otherwise amused.

"It goes to show that we embody the island spirit," Basho added with his usual tone of extravagance, accompanying his words with his own ultra-modern moveset designed for photo ops.

"That's right, guys! Keep it up!" Hiro exclaimed excitedly, alternating between trendy movements and dynamic displays, "We're almost there!" Everyone kept going, even intensifying with himself especially so…at least until he unknowingly got a little too close to a pole holding up part of the rope fence…

Simultaneously, it didn't seem like Uzuki's explanation was working the way she hoped. "You hired a bunch of performers without talking to me first?" the apparent restaurant manager asked her, sounding quite concerned.

"Ah, no! No, of course not!" Uzuki tried to correct him as fast as she could. "Well, they are professionals, BUT they're friends of mine. They're doing this for us as a…special favor. Yeah, special favor!" She intensified her innocent smile for good measure. "Besides, I did tell you about them…I just didn't tell you exactly how I planned the performance to go…because it's a…surprise." She finished it off with a raising of her hands and forearms.

Her feign of innocence was cut short by a crash right behind her.

"Aw, really Hiro? We were getting so good!" Hoku complained, with the other two behind him also having cut their performances short to stare at the largest turtle sprawled on his shell on the restaurant patio, the rope railing now entangled on some knocked over tables.

"So sorry guys," Hiro grunted, trying to lift himself off the ground, "I must've stepped on something!"

Basho took a moment to glance over to where Hiro stood last, finding a semi-crushed soda can lying there. "Okay, should we have been checking for litter before this whole thing?" he said out loud, pointing to the can rather disappointedly. All the other people surrounding the four boys were turning and remarking to each other about the inconvenience of a discarded can.

Mon thought it was a good time to step in before the mood was dampened further. "Well, accidents happen, dancing or littering, right? Still a good show, if you ask me."

Hoku, on the other hand, wasn't quite on board with what Mon said at the moment. "Uh, guys?" he called to the other two in even-volume, pointing with his thumb to where Hiro landed when he fell. "Maybe we should be more worried about THAT mess over here."

Hiro, while busy with getting himself upright though he was also helped by a couple strangers, was also trying his earnest to apologize for several things: breaking some restaurant stuff which has already gotten Uzuki and her manager on edge, disrupting the customers' mealtime, and causing an uncomfortable mess for both. Uzuki was already in the middle of her own apologizing to the manager. "Honma gomen, it was an accident," he grunted, getting into a little impromptu kneeling position once he finally righted himself, his hands clasped together while propped upright on his elbows. "I'll help clean it right up!"

The manager sighed, making Uzuki look at him nervously, but after straightening his glasses, opted to just talk to him straightforwardly, "No, no, there's no need. I got staff who can take care of it," giving a brief side-eye to Uzuki who kept her hands behind her back. "I know you probably meant well by this gesture, but let me give you something for your trouble." He reached into his pockets to pull out his wallet, drawing out a few paper yen bills before handing them over to Hiro. Hiro blinked, unsure of what to make of the gesture, but warily grabbed the bundle of yens anyway. The manager then looked at the other three boys. "You know, if you want, I can grab you a sample of our anniversary-special Takoyaki for you to take home too."

Hiro, Basho, Hoku, and Mon jumped a little, instantly looking ecstatic while giving out a series of 'yeah's' in rapid fire succession. Uzuki felt a little good seeing that, feeling that despite the fowl-up, the effort wasn't completely in vain.

"Alright!" Basho said, his usual confident soaking out of his voice. "Now this feels totally worth it! Beats having to wonder if we should be taking Capital City cleaning tips!"

Hiro, Hoku, Mon, and Uzuki froze, their eyes widened and their bodies too rigid to notice that the people standing around them just gasped at what they heard. "Akan akan akanakanakan! Omonnai!" the four screamed in their heads, desperately hoping their Takoyaki offer wasn't compromised.

The manager paused. "On second thought, why not use your yen reward on a Makudo?" He then turned his attention to Uzuki, who seemed a little pensive. He pointed at her apron, which Uzuki reluctantly took off and handed back to him. He then swiveled around to go back into the restaurant, presumably to continue his work without another thought. Everyone else turned their attention away from the turtles, apparently resuming their own business before the whole spectacle.

Hiro, Hoku, and Mon turned to look at Basho with a disappointed expression. Basho didn't seem to shaken up by that though. "What?"

"Nandeyanen, Basho!?" Uzuki seemed incredulous with her hands on her hips, though she wasn't violently furious about it. "Nanishitennen!?"

Basho knew he had to keep himself from digging deeper. "S-sorry, Uzuki! I was just making a comment on the litter that tripped Hiro! Nothing malicious!"

"Sure bro," Hoku sounded rather deadpan, zipping over to the purply-dressed turtle to rest an elbow on his shoulder, "and you probably already knew how comparing the home team to bigshot-ville in the east is a rather big turnoff."

"Guys! Guys!" Hiro interjected again, "it might've been over the line, but it was also my fault too. We probably would've scored the Takoyaki if I hadn't tripped."

"It's okay Hiro," Mon patted the bigger turtle on the arm, "accidents over your feet happen, but ones that attack the hearts and souls of living citizens are not." He made sure to direct that last bit to Basho, who rolled his eyes as he made it clear that he got the message.

"Well then," Uzuki said in order to get back on a normal track, "speaking of Takoyaki, you guys don't mind if I added a bit of okonomiyaki and kitsune-udon to the list, do you?"

"Huh?" the four guys swiveled their heads to the girl with wide eyes.

"But didn't you just turn in your apron?" Mon pointed out.

"Yeah I did, but that just means I've been demoted to customer now," Uzuki shrugged, no longer seeming that soured. "So why don't you guys wait here while I order takeout?"

The guys took a moment to blink twice, briefly unsure of what to make of this change of plan, particularly since this change suddenly came after their original plan evidently went wrong. After all, the plan was to simply perform in order to distract everyone long enough for Uzuki to grab the box of Takoyaki she was saving from the restaurant's staff room.

"Sure, sure! That sounds great!" Mon nodded his head in her direction. "Looks like it worked out after all."

Uzuki shook her head with a smile of jovial disbelief. "Metcha-aho as always, Mon." With that, she turned to go to the restaurant's main entrance. After a little while, the turtles were left alone.

"Well, I'm not complaining," Basho spoke first, "even when we lost, we still won."

"See?" Hiro, pleased by his younger brother's optimism, slid over to Basho and pointed to him with both fingers on both hands clearly for Hoku and Mon to see. "Basho gets it. So we didn't lose it all. Plus, we get our first real taste of seeing what Osaka thinks of us."

Mon smiled along with Hiro as he agreed with his big brother's optimism, though Hoku couldn't help but add one more footnote. "Maybe next time, we'll just tell them we're turtles pretending to be humans in costumes. They'll go wild."

Hiro flinched from what he heard Hoku say as he escorted two of his brothers right next to the restaurant patio. "Yeesh, and I thought Basho had an attitude."

But he didn't remain dampened for long as he observed how relaxed all the humans surrounding him were. Even with the ruined show, it didn't really hurt. The boat on the canal resumed its trip down the waters that lined the city and Glico Man above remained glamorous as ever.

It felt nice to live with Osakans, and even better that he and his brothers were too. There was no better place to come out of the shadows than here, the city they all called home.

"Ain't that right, Glico-han?"

Here's a fun fact:
The turtles' new names are based off the names of artists from Japan's Edo Period. This was as close to Italian Renaissance artists as I could find in a Japanese counterpart. Here's who they are:

Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川 広重) – He was considered to be the last great master of the Ukiyo-e art, specialized in woodblock prints and Nikuhitsu-ga painting
Matsuo Bashō (松尾 芭蕉) – The most famous poet of the Edo period, recognized as the greatest master of haiku
Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾 北斎) – An artist, Ukiyo-e painter, and printmaker of the Edo period, creator of the iconic woodblock print "The Great Wave off Kanagawa"
Chikamatsu Monzaemon (近松 門左衛門) – He was widely regarded as the greatest Japanese dramatist, specialized in Jōruri – the progenitor to bunraku and kabuki

I also added in a new element of having the characters speak in Japanese, specifically the Osaka dialect (Jap: Osaka-ben), to add to the setting. For your pleasure, I'll write down the spoken phrases with what they mean and how they differ from Standard Japanese (or Tokyo-Japanese):

"-han" (はん): Mr., Ms., Mrs.; honorific/title; Standard Jap. "-san" (さん)
"Honma gomen" (ほんまごめん): I'm really sorry; Standard Jap. "Hontou gomen" (ほんとう ごめん)
"Akan" (あかん): Don't/No, Wrong, No good; Standard Jap. "Dame" (だめ)
"Omonnai" (おもんない): Not funny; Standard Jap. "Omoshirokunai" (面白くない)
"Makudo" (マクド): McDonald's; Standard Jap. "Makku" (マック)
"Nandeyanen" (何でやねん): What is it? ("What the heck?" when said fiercely); Standard Jap. "Nandesuka" (何ですか)
"Nani shitennen" (何してんねん): What are you doing?; Standard Jap. "Nani shiteruno" (何してるの)
"Metcha" (めっちゃ): Very; Standard Jap. "Totemo" (とても)
"Aho" (阿呆): Silly person, Dumb person (casually said/used in jest, not taken seriously); Standard Jap. "Baka" (バカ)

Other facts:
Dōtonbori (道頓堀) is a popular nightlife and entertainment area in Osaka's Chuo ward. It's named after the canal of the same name that runs through that area and is considered the heart of the city.
Glico Running Man, or just Glico Man, is a mascot for the candy company Ezaki Glico, his billboard first installed in 1935. He's pretty much one of Osaka's most recognizable icons.
Ebisu Bridge (戎橋) runs across Dōtonbori Canal and directly faces the Glico Running Man.
Takoyaki (たこ焼き or 蛸焼) is a ball-shaped food that's made of pieces of octopus, tempura, pickled ginger, and green onion bundled together and covered in fried batter.
Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き) is a Japanese-styled pancake.
Kitsune Udon (きつねうどん) is a dish, or bowl, that's comprised of thick udon noodles in dashi-based soup with one big piece of fried tofu on top.

"Kuidaoraku" is a name I made up for the restaurant mentioned in this particular one-shot; said restaurant is also made up by me. It's a combination of "Kuidaore" (食い倒れ), a term that means 'eat yourself into bankruptcy', and "Kani Dōraku" (かに道楽), a Japanese seafood restaurant known for its crab animatronic decorating the sign over its main entrance.

What did you think of this first one-shot of my new idea? Constructive criticisms, along with any questions about this 'verse, are welcome.