To Ninja or Not to Ninja

Age: Five Years

Splinter sat in the middle of the dojo, a sword in his lap and several bowls of fruit seated in front of him.

Off to the side, four little five year old turtles stared, curiosity etched across their faces.

Subtly, Splinter glanced at his little ones, the anticipation gleaming in their eyes. The ghost of a smile flitted across his lips, but he made sure not to let it be seen.

He stilled himself, sitting in silence for just a moment until—

"Hajime!"

With a flick of his wrists he tossed the sword high in the air, the light glinting off its polished surface as it soared skyward.

As the sword rotated above, Splinter sweep-kicked the four bowls of fruit causing apples, mangos, pineapples, and cherries to leap upwards just like the sword before them.

Without looking, Splinter caught the sword behind his back. His eyes snapped opened, the airborne fruit dancing in the reflection of his irises.

SHINK!

Splinter returned to his seated position, the sword once again resting in his lap, seconds before dozens and dozens of pieces of finely chopped fruit plummeted through the air only to land neatly in the four bowls from whence they all came.

The little turtles erupted into cheers at this amazing act of swordsmanship!

All except one.

Splinter stood up, smiling.

"I am glad you all enjoyed my little demonstration, my sons. What I have just shown you is an ancient art form known as ninjitsu, and starting today you shall all be learning it."

"You mean we're gonna get to make fruit salad?!" exclaimed Mikey excitedly.

"I…suppose, but ninjitsu is for far more than chopping fruit."

"Like making vegedable salad?" asked Mikey as he helped himself to some pineapple.

Splinter wondered if perhaps he should have used a less food based introduction.

"Ninjitsu is for more than just cooking, my sons. By learning it you will become warriors, able to defend yourself and those you love. It will require discipline and hard work, but if you persist in your studies you too shall one day bear the title of ninja masters."

"Yeah!" shouted Raph. "I wanna be able to kick bad guy butt!"

He kicked out his foot for emphasis only to fall onto his butt seconds later.

"I wanna be a ninja just like Daddy!" shouted Leo.

"Me too!" shouted Mikey through a mouthful of cherries.

Splinter's heart glowed with pride. He had always dreamed that his children would one day follow in his footsteps. With these little ones here before him he would finally be able to rebuild the Hamato clan!

A ninja's life is no life for our child!

His smile vanished as a voice echoed across his mind. He quickly shook his head. As he looked down at three of his children excitedly chattering about their new training he knew he was doing the right thing.

"Three?"

Splinter looked up to see one child who didn't look quite as thrilled as his brothers.

"Donatello, what is wrong? Are you not excited for your training?"

Donnie shifted uneasily.

"It looks…scary."

"Are you kiddin'?" asked Raph. "Didn't you see how awesome all that sword stuff was?"

"Of course I saw it!" said Donnie. "I just don't like it."

"Come on, Donnie!" shouted Mikey as he slung his arm around Donnie. "We'll get to make fruit salad every day!"

"Michelangelo, there will be no more fruit salad." said Splinter.

"No more fruit salad ever?!"

"That's not what I…Never mind."

Splinter knelt down beside Donnie.

"Trust me, my son. You will enjoy ninja training. All you must do is give it a chance."

Donnie looked down, reluctance still plain in his eyes.

"Ichi. Ni. San. Ichi. Ni. San."

Splinter paced the room as his sons performed a simple kata. Step, punch, kick. Step, punch, kick.

It had been three weeks since their training had begun, and all in all they were doing very well.

"Very good, Leonardo. Michelangelo, tighten up. You're too loose. Raphael, less power. More control."

As Splinter came to the end of the line though, he was reminded that one of them was not doing as well as the others. Standing in front of him was Donatello going half-heartedly through the motions. Splinter had tried to coax him into enjoying the ninja training a bit more, even going so far as to give him special one on one sessions, but no matter what he did his second to youngest son would not share his brothers' enthusiasm.

"Yame."

The four children stopped in their tracks.

Splinter walked in front of them and bowed, and his four children bowed back respectfully.

"You did extremely well today. Now, go have some fun."

His children cheered as they ran from the room.

"Donatello, a word."

Donnie stopped as his brothers went on without him. Splinter sat down on his knees, and Donnie, knowing this as a sign by now, walked in front of him and settled into the same position.

"Did you enjoy your training today?" asked Splinter, already knowing the answer.

Donnie looked down. "No."

"Your brothers seemed to like it."

Donnie remained silent. Splinter sighed.

"Is there a particular reason you are so against learning ninjitsu?"

Donnie hesitated.

"Donatellooo."

"...Because."

"Because whyyyy?"

Honestly, sometimes getting words from his children was like pulling teeth.

After a moment more of hesitation Donnie turned to look him straight in the eye.

"Because fighting is dumb! I don't wanna be a Barry Bully! I wanna be like Doctor Caper—Doctor Caterpillar!"

Splinter stared.

"Who?"

"You know. From the book."

Splinter's face remained blank.

"What book?"

"The Doctor Caderpillar book."

Splinter thought back to all the stories he had read his children. Folktales from Japan. English fairy tales. Stories he had made up to please their little imaginations. There had been a lot of stories, but none of which involved anyone named Dr. Caterpillar.

"Let me see this book."

Donnie stood up diligently and ran from the room, stumbling a little on his way out the door.

He returned seconds later carrying a thin children's book with a caterpillar in a professor's hat on the cover.

"This one. It was in that big box that smelled like oranges."

Splinter took the book in his hands. A few weeks ago he had gone scavenging in a library dumpster when they were throwing out any books they hadn't been able to sell from some sort of book drive. He figured he could find some books to help in his children's schooling, though he knew most children didn't even begin to read until age six. Still, he had found quite a few treasures for both himself and his children and decided to bring them home in an old orange crate for future use.

However…

"I've never read you this book." said Splinter.

"I read it myself."

Splinters eyes widened. He knew Donatello had already memorized his letters, but reading? At his age without being taught?

"Show me."

Donnie nodded as he took the book from Splinter's hands. He quickly flipped through the pages until he came to a place that was apparently very familiar to him.

"Hitting people is very bad. It only makes them very sad. If you want to make them smile, use your words once in a while."

Splinter continued staring as Donnie flipped the book around to show him the pictures, mimicking exactly what Splinter himself did every night.

There was a pause as Splinter carefully thought over his next words.

"How long have you been able to do this?"

"A while." said Donnie self-consciously. "I liked watching you do it, so when you taught us our letters I wanted to give it a try. I still have trouble with the big words like Caper—Cader—"

"Caterpillar." finished Splinter.

"Yeah."

"And this 'Barry Bully' is…"

Donnie flipped through a couple of pages in the book before turning it back around revealing a picture of a large and angry looking beetle kicking sand at a pair of crying ants.

"This is him. They call him Steve in the book, but Mikey said Barry Bully is a better name. He was right."

"Can…Mikey read?" asked Splinter cautiously.

Donnie shook his head. "No. Just me."

Splinter nodded, some slight tension easing from his shoulders. He was overjoyed that his son was so advanced, but as a parent he had no idea how to handle one possibly genius child, let alone two.

Still, one problem at a time. He looked back down at the picture of Barry. He could definitely see why his son would get the wrong idea of what ninja training was, but…

"Donatello, what we are doing and what this Barry Bully person are doing are two entirely different things." explained Splinter. "A ninja is someone who protects others while a bully is someone who hurts others."

"So, ninjas don't hurt people?" asked Donnie suspiciously.

"Well, they do, but—"

"See! They're just like Barry Bully!"

Splinter sighed. He needed to think of a better way to explain this, and unfortunately his brain was too busy trying to process this whole reading business to be of much help.

"Why don't you go play with your brother for now, and we can discuss this later?"

"Kay." replied Donnie, clearly unsatisfied. He clutched his book to his chest before quickly fleeing from the room as if any moment Splinter was going to force him into more ninja training.

Splinter sat for a moment, looking after his son.

A ninja's life is no life for our child!

"Tang Shen."

The door to Splinter's room slide open. It was a simple room filled with furniture he had either gathered from his old home or salvaged from the dump. He had made the partition that separated it from the dojo with his own two hands, and though there were many improvements he wanted to make, it was still far better than the barren stone hole in the wall he had slept in when he was first transformed.

Slowly, he walked across the carpeted floor to his dresser where sat a single picture. It was one of the few photos he had left of his wife. The picture itself displayed him back when he was still human standing with Tang Shen and their newly born daughter, Miwa.

It was taken mere weeks after Miwa was born. They were so happy then.

But not everything in their marriage had been happy.

Moonlight filtered in past the rice paper doors.

Yoshi hissed with pain as his beloved wife, Shen, worked carefully washing a large gash on his arm.

"You shouldn't have been out there." said Shen, the anger barely hidden in her voice.

"The Silver Serpents were getting too powerful." replied Splinter. "We had no choice."

"You always have a choice!"

She flung the rag down into the bowl of water. She tried to stand, but fell back to the ground seconds later. Splinter rushed to her side.

"Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine."

Yoshi stared, eyes laced with concern. Slowly, his eyes drifted down to her stomach.

"And…"

"Don't worry. They're fine too."

Shen's hand ran across her inflated belly attempting to sooth the six month old child housed within. The urge to place his hand on top of hers was almost overwhelming, but Yoshi knew better when she was in such an emotional state.

"This can't continue." she said suddenly. "These missions are getting too dangerous."

"The Silver Serpents have been terrorizing the streets for months. If we didn't stop them—"

"There are many ninja in your clan. They could have handled it without you."

"They needed me."

"I need you more!" screamed Shen. "We need you more. What if you had died out there? Do you want our child to grow up fatherless?"

"You know I do not." said Yoshi, attempting to placate her.

"What do you think will happen after our child is born? Do you expect us both to sit at home knowing that you're out there risking your life for some archaic tradition?"

"Of course not!"

Shen sneered. "No. You would rather our child follow in your footsteps. You would train them, teach them to be a ninja like you, hone them until they are nothing but a weapon to be used at the will of the clan!"

"Shen…"

"A ninja's life is no life for our child!"

She looked away from him.

"It's bad enough I have to watch you put your life in danger like this. I will not sit by as you train our child to do the same."

She rose unsteadily to her feet, shrugging off Yoshi's attempt to help her.

She held the door frame to keep her balance, the light of the moon casting her shadow across Yoshi's worried face.

"Our child will love you, Yoshi, just as I love you. The question is, will you love them enough to put this life behind you when the time comes?"

She stepped forward and shut the door leaving Yoshi to sit in the darkness. Alone with only the echo of her words.

Splinter continued staring at the picture of Tang Shen.

"I know that I am doing the right thing." said Splinter. "They need to be able to protect themselves. And each other. I hope that you can see this."

Even as Splinter stared at the photo, imploring it to speak back, begging it to reaffirm him and ease his troubled mind, it sat. The images frozen in time and the frame standing in resolute silence withholding whatever answer Splinter might have desired.

He sighed and cast his eyes downward, closing them as he took a deep breath.

"I am doing the right thing."

"Did you see me in there?" asked Raph. "I kicked butt!"

Raph threw out a series of punches and kicks, yelling "Hi-yah!" as much as possible while Leo and Mikey proceeded to ignore him by doing their own things as they lay scattered about the living room.

"I did better." said Leo proudly. "Daddy said you didn't have enough control."

"Nu-uh!" shouted Raph. "He said I was too powerful. I bet I'll be a ninja master in no time!"

"Donnie will be a ninja master before you." said Mikey as he worked in his coloring book, making sure to completely obliterate any semblance of the pre-drawn lines. "Daddy's been giving him extra lessons. I bet he can make fruit salad all by his-self."

"I can do that!" countered Raph. "I'm a way better ninja than he is. Watch!"

Raph ran over to one of their many coolers and grabbed a pineapple.

"What are you doing?" asked Donnie as he walked into the room, his book still clutched to his chest.

"Proving that I'm a waaay better ninja than you or anyone else." replied Raph as he pushed a chair over to the kitchen counter. He quickly climbed onto the seat and pulled out a drawer.

"Daddy says we're not supposed to touch that drawer." said Mikey as he put down his crayon.

From the drawer Raph pulled a long knife, the metal glinting in the light. He turned around.

"Put that back!" yelled Leo. "Or I'm telling Daddy!"

"Hope you're hungry, Mikey." said Raph, with a determined smile. "Cause I'm gonna make the bestest fruit salad ever! Watch!"

He tossed the pineapple in the air.

"Raph, no!"

He jumped.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Splinter's ear immediately shot up.

"Raphael."

He bolted from the room.

Within seconds he arrived in the kitchen where three of his sons stood huddled around a crying Raph.

"What happened?" asked Splinter as he gently pushed them out of the way. He quickly scooped Raph up into his arms and began checking him over.

"Raph went into the no-no drawer!" tattled Leo. "And then he jumped off a chair and started crying!"

Splinter looked at his bawling son. He was clutching his wrist, and Splinter could tell just by looking at it that it was starting to swell.

"What do you mean he went into the no-no drawer?" asked Splinter, trying to rotate his son's wrist to check for damage despite his volatile protests.

"He was trying to make fruit salad." said Mikey. "Just like you. See?"

The youngest turtle pointed to the side. Splinter looked up.

And all the color dropped from his face.

There, lying on the floor, was a knife, a mere foot away from where his son had most likely fallen.

Splinter's breath quickened, his thoughts racing as horror upon horror of what could have happened flashed across his mind. His son could have died! All because he was trying to imitate something Splinter himself had done.

"No more ninja training." said Splinter.

"What?!" yelled Leo.

"But, Dad—"

"No buts."

His children watched as their father slowly stood up, his eyes a million miles away.

"It was a mistake. From now on we will focus on your school work. You will have more time to play…You will be safe."

Without another word he left, a sniffling Raphael cradled in his arms as all his children, Donnie most of all, watched him from behind.

"You were right, Shen." thought Splinter. "A ninja's life in no life for them…"

Splinter closed his book.

"That's enough for today."

His four children looked up from their schoolwork. One by one he collected their notebooks. Raph, Mikey, and Leo's notebooks were filled with line after line of letters he had made them practice. They were starting to remember which letter made which sound now, which he was thankful for.

He came to Donnie. Since he was more advanced than his brothers Splinter had made sure to adjust his schoolwork accordingly, giving him vocabulary words to practice with though he was quickly moving through those as well.

"You may now have the rest of the day to do as you wish."

Mikey raised his hand.

"Yes, Michelangelo?"

"Can we go back to ninja training now?"

Splinter took a deep breath.

"I am sorry, my son. There will be no more ninja training."

"But Raph was the one who touched the no-no drawer!" cried Leo.

"Hey!"

"Why do we get in trouble for something he did?"

Splinter knelt down, smiling.

"No one is in trouble. This is not punishment. This is me making up for my mistakes. Now, enough talk. Go outside and play. But make sure to stay close to the entrance."

Begrudgingly, his children rose from their seats and headed towards the stone arch leading out of the lair. Donnie glanced back at Splinter for just a moment before following his brothers.

Splinter sighed. They would understand. Soon the ways of the ninja would fade to memory. As it should have for him so long ago.

Slowly, he picked up a box filled with discarded wrapping paper from beside the table, and headed for the dojo. Upon the wall hung many mementos of the ninja way. Antique scrolls. Weapons. He looked over at his katana hanging on the wall.

With a somber air about him he lifted the katana down, and drew it from its scabbard, staring at his reflection in the finely honed steel.

"I suppose we are both antiques." he said with a sad smile.

He slide the blade back into the sheath and knelt down beside the box, carefully picking up a length of paper and wrapping the ages old sword.

"It's not fair!" shouted Leo as he kicked a pebble across the ground. "It's Raph's fault!"

"Is not!" yelled Raph.

"Is too!"

"The chair slipped! If it had stayed where it was s'possed to we could be eatin' fruit salad right now!"

"At least you got a cool, new glove." said Mikey, hanging from a nearby pipe.

Raph looked down at the plaster shell that currently wrapped around his wrist and across his palm.

"It's not a glove!" shouted Raph. "Daddy says it's called a cast, and it itches!" He frantically attempted to scratch it, but sadly to no avail.

"Maybe it's a good thing Daddy stop training us." said Donnie. "I mean, it did get Raph hurt, and now we have more time to play."

"But I wanna be a ninja!" cried Leo, stomping his foot on the ground.

"Grrrrrrrrrr…"

Leo stopped.

"What was that?" asked Mikey dropping to the ground.

"Grrrrrrrrrrrr…"

The four turtles turned and looked towards a dark corner of the tunnel.

At first they saw nothing. And then two bright, shining eyes slowly drifted into view.

Leo, Raph, and Donnie slowly backed up, fear clear in their eyes.

Mikey stared at the two eyes until suddenly his face lit up.

"Puppy!"

No sooner had the words been spoken then there, from the shadows, emerged a massive, black dog. Twice the size of any of the turtle children despite the fact that his enormous ribs could be seen pressing against his taunt, dirt covered skin.

Mikey cheerfully ran towards the big dog.

"No!"

Donnie grabbed his arm and jerked him back seconds before the dog SNAPPED his mighty jaws inches from where the tiny turtle had just been.

Mikey's joy quickly melted to terror as Donnie pushed him back protectively. He glanced behind him to see his other two brothers cowering before the black behemoth.

As he edged further backwards, his foot knocked against something hard. He looked down to see a thin, metal pipe lying on the ground.

A massive paw thundered against the ground in front of him.

Donnie's eyes darted rapidly around. The dog. The pipe. His frightened brothers. The dog again.

Mikey's grip tightened on Donnie's arm. His lips quivered. His eyes brimmed with tears.

"DADDY!"

Splinter's ears shot up.

Dropping the sword where it lay he flew from the room, his ears pivoting to find the source of his son's cry. He shot out of the lair and into the tunnels.

And his eyes widened.

In front of him sat three of his sons, cowering in fear, while Donnie lay pinned to the ground beneath a massive, black dog, a metal pipe held in his son's outstretched arms serving as the only thing keeping the dog's mighty jaws from connecting with Donnie's face.

Splinter's eyes narrowed.

Without a second's hesitation Splinter leapt at the dog. With a quick, two finger jab Splinter jammed his fingers right into the dog's side.

The dog SHOT across the tunnel like cannon fire and SLAMMED into the wall before falling crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

Splinter quickly turned to Donnie, helping him from the ground and frantically checking him over.

"Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine." said Donnie.

"Mikey, stop!"

Splinter looked up to see Mikey standing next to the unconscious dog.

"Michelangelo! Get away from there!"

"But he has a shiny necklace on!" defended Mikey. "Look!"

Splinter slowly stood and walked over towards the dog. Sure enough a silver collar hung from his mammoth neck, and on that collar hung a single tag declaring his name to be "Fluffy" and listing his home address.

"I know he was super scary." said Mikey. "But I think that's cause he was hungry. Like how Raph gets scary when he doesn't get snack time."

"I do not!" shouted Raph.

Splinter smiled. Leave it to his youngest to go from fear to compassion the moment the danger was over.

"Can you help him?" asked Mikey, his eyes brimming with concern.

Splinter knelt down beside him. "I shall do my best."

"Daddy."

Splinter turned to see Donnie standing behind him, determination plain in his eyes.

"What is it, my son?"

"I wanna be a ninja now."

Splinter raised an eyebrow.

He turned completely to face his third youngest child.

"Donatello-"

"When the doggy was gonna eat us I was really scared." said Donnie. "But then I saw Raph and Leo and Mikey were scared too, and I remembered all the stuff you taught us about how ninja protect people. It's only 'cause you taught me how to protect them that we didn't end up doggy food before you got here."

Splinter stared, completely lost for words.

"I wanna learn how to protect people too." said Leo. "Just like how you protected us."

"Me too!" shouted Raph.

"Me too too!" added Mikey.

Splinter looked down at all his children, staring up at him. Eager to learn. To follow his footsteps in the path of a ninja.

"Shen."

As if in response to his thought Splinter felt a warm presence gently rest upon his shoulder.

He turned his head, only to see nothing there. And yet, on some level, he knew that Shen would approve of his sons'…of their sons' new path.

He turned back to his children, a proud smile beaming across his face.

"Very well. If you are sure this is what you want—"

"We are!" shouted Leo.

"Super sure!" added Mikey.

Splinter's smile grew even wider.

"Then let your training begin!"

"Ichi. Ni. San. Ichi. Ni. San."

Splinter paced the dojo watching as all four of his children performed their kata with ample vigor.

"Watch your footing Leonardo. Raphael, keep your wrist straight. Back straight, Donatello."

Splinter stood in front of them, watching each of his children move in sync to the tapping of his cane.

Despite trying extremely hard to maintain an air of discipline, he couldn't help the smile that beamed across his face.

He turned to look at the dojo wall where hung a new shelf lined with knickknacks and momentous from his home in Japan.

And in the center of the shelf, in all its framed glory, was the picture of himself, Miwa, and Tang Shen, standing ever vigilant over their sons' training.

"I know you're proud." thought Splinter, his heart brimming with love.

"We're doing the right thing."

Author's Note: Hi Hi Happy People! I LOVE YOU ALL~!

Okay, everyone, we've got a really long chapter here, but it was a chapter that absolutely HAD to be written. It took a lot of time to get this just right, but I knew that in a story about the turtles' childhood and Splinter's experience as a parent a chapter about the beginning of their ninja training had to happen. Especially after Season 3 Episode 20 "Tale of the Yokai" which, by the way, WAS TOTALLY AWESOME!

On a more practical note, some of you may have noticed that there was a pretty big time skip between the last chapter and the current one. That's right, folks. Just as I promised way back in chapter one, we have officially begun skipping around in time! When will the next chapter be? Who knows! But just as with this one, I will let you know what age the turtles are at the beginning of the chapter…Most of the time. ;D

Anyway, I would LOVE to hear what you guys think about this brand spanking new chapter. Thank you so much for reading, and, as always, have a hyper happy day! LOVE YOU GUYS~!