The Witch-Hunt of a Bloodline

Chapter 22 of *Mutant Ninja Turtles Gaiden*.
**(Warning: Graphically explicit title image.)**

* **Previous:** Chapter 21: *The Curse of "Yamata-no-Orochi"*
* **Next:** Chapter 23: *Following the Leader*

## Synopsis

The night after Christmas, while Raphael and Michelangelo Hamato are sleeping in their lair, their recently reunited brother Leonardo steps out and happens to come across young Renoir on the phone with his friend Davianna Wallace. As Leo eavesdrops only on Renoir's side of the conversation, Davianna discusses the mystery of her own Japanese origins and New York adoption. She lets down her hair, revealing to the reader that she is a dead ringer for Sayako Morinaga, the woman Leo met in Japan. Leo notices Renoir's Magatama given to him by Davianna, becoming suspicious that Davianna may be a Morinaga herself. Wrongly trusting that Renoir will not follow him, Leo goes above for a stroll and meets his Foot Clan contact, the veteran ninja Sadao, whose lover Ryota Gotoh was killed 16 years by Leo's curse-empowered dark side. But Leo and Sadao are enemies no more, and indeed prove not only to have become dear old friends and comrades, but two grown men who share an ambiguous mutual attraction. The reader is treated to another series of Leonardo's flashbacks as he rose to become Karai's second-in-command of the Foot Clan and entrusted with their most critical mission—the extermination of the Morinaga Bloodline to blot out the Yamata-no-Orochi's life force. But the mission has taken a toll on the Foot Clan, as the execution of many innocent people has traumatized its ninja force and driven many to seppuku. Sadao, still resenting Leo for Ryota's death and for personally refusing to take part in the killings of innocent Morinagas, provokes the turtle into attacking and nearly killing him. Ashamed of his actions, Leo immediately consults the Yata-no-Kagami for the nearest available Morinagas and reluctantly executes an innocent family with his own hands. This grisly murder plunges Leo into posttraumatic stress disorder, and he secludes himself for a whole week of meditation to deal with his anguish. Leo becomes relieved that Sadao has survived, and desperately seeks respite with his comrade. Sadao is moved to learn that Leo suffers from the shame of killing his own father Hamato Splinter, finally convincing him of the turtle's inner humanity. For years Leonardo and Sadao share a mutual burden of continued mass-murder, and the two become dear friends as Sadao's hatred for Leo gradually melts away. But Leo becomes exceedingly skilled at blocking out his own emotions during these killings, ironically using his love for both his family and Sadao to shield him from shame, hoping instead that one day his family can forgive him. Back in the present day, Leonardo and Sadao are confronted by Leo's old friend and ally Nobody, now a New York police captain who is skeptical of the curse's existence and furious to learn that his pact with Karai includes cleaning up after genocide. Nobody provokes Leo's dark side into surfacing, sparking a confrontation between the turtle and everyone around him. The situation becomes more complicated as Renoir arrives and believes Leo under attack by Nobody and the (NYC) Foot, and Leo uses this distraction to escape his attackers. Nobody uses Renoir's Shell Cell to track Leo down, but the cursed turtle is apprehended first by his friend Sadao who violently forces Leo's good side into reasserting control. Leo finally demonstrates the final technique Splinter ever taught him, using his own dark side as a conduit to make psychic contact with Nobody's mind over the astral plane and forcing the vigilante to relive some of his own more unethical acts of vigilante justice, finally compelling Nobody to submit and cooperate. Renoir catches up with Leo, who fears the young turtle has overhead damning details, but Renoir appears to have arrived too late to learn anything too sensitive, and Leo informs Renoir that Nobody will be the turtles' ally.

## Characters

* Augustus Amherst / Renoir
* Foot Clan
* Leonardo Hamato
* Michelangelo Hamato
* Raphael Hamato
* Karai
* Nobody
* Sadao
* Davianna Wallace

## Pages

Title.
Edited for explicit content. See the original here.Page 2.Page 3.Page 4.Page 5.Page 6.Page 7.Page 8.Page 9.Page 10.
Edited for explicit content. See the original here.Page 11.Page 12.Page 13.Page 14.Page 15.Page 16.Page 17.Page 18.Page 19.Page 20.Page 21.Page 22.Page 23.Page 24.Page 25.Page 26.Page 27.Page 28.Page 29.Page 30.Page 31.Page 32.Page 33.Page 34.Page 35.Page 36.Page 37.Page 38.Page 39.Page 40.Page 41.Page 42.Page 43.Page 44.Page 45.Page 46.Page 47.Page 48.
Edited for explicit content. See the original here.Page 49.
## Transcript

* The Witch-Hunt of a Bloodline/Transcript

## Trivia

* Leonardo lies to Renoir, saying he's going for a stroll outside, when he's actually meeting up with Sadao. This is a nod to a similar lie Raphael told 17 years before in the Prologue when he told Splinter he was going out for a stroll, when he was actually picking fights with street punks.