Following the Leader

Chapter 23 of *Mutant Ninja Turtles Gaiden*.

* **Previous:** Chapter 22: *The Witch-Hunt of a Bloodline*
* **Next:** Chapter 24: *Blind Trust*

## Synopsis

Leonardo has been trying for two months to keep his family in the dark about the Foot Clan and its operation to exterminate the Morinaga Bloodline. Meanwhile, Leo has been repeatedly trying in vain to reach out to Donatello, who is still secretly working to regenerate the body of the Yamata-no-Orochi for whom Donnie kills many of his own clones under the continued delusion that they are his father Splinter and his hated brother Leo. The eldest Hamato brother has been leading his other brothers and the young Renoir into an intensive ninjutsu training regimen to keep them occupied, but both Leo's web of lies and Raphael's patience have worn thin. But Leo is presented with a fortuitous new opportunity when Sadao and Karai inform him that Eikichi Gotoh has escaped Foot custody and stolen the Yata-no-Kagami, the irreplaceable relic that has empowered Leo and the Foot to hunt down Morinagas. Leo concocts a plan to retrieve the mirror with his family's help under the false pretense that Eikichi possesses an artifact that can be destroyed to weaken the curse. Recruiting April's technological expertise, the family's Shell Cells are now more useful than ever as April turns Michelangelo's former bedroom into a new mission control center to remotely coordinate the turtles for Leo's plan. But all is not well at the apartment as Casey's engine trouble leaves April, Shadow and the babysat Carole more vulnerable to a soft target attack by Eikichi. April reluctantly invites Donnie, who jumps at the chance to spend time with April without her husband present, but is disappointed by the unwelcome presence of Shadow, whom Donnie wastes no time secretly drugging with sleeping powder. Donnie is amazed by April's ingenious Cell Shell-based mission control center, but disappointed to learn that his "fake" brothers' voices on the other end will mean he and April *still* can't be alone. Out in the city, Mikey plays the rooftop troll as he shouts a laundry list of Oroku Saki's juiciest secrets, brilliantly drawing an infuriated Eikichi out into the open to avenge his dead master's honor. Leo uses the opportunity to plant a tracking device inside one of Eikichi's open wounds, but is disturbed to notice that Eikichi's rebel Foot forces are now wearing the updated uniform designs of Karai's Foot Clan. The mission so far seems successful, until they notice the absence of Renoir, who is being held hostage nearby by very same Foot assassin who had been believed killed by Renoir and Davianna months before. In the moments before his anticipated death, Renoir experiences flashbacks of his two near-death experiences both in the air vent and on the school rooftop. But death does not come as Raph saves Renoir from the hands of his would-be assassin. Mikey sets out alone without a Shell Cell to continue antagonizing Eikichi and his forces. Renoir is still badly wounded, but Leo's plea to get his injuries treated is vetoed by Raph, who is already clearly showing sighs of reckless rage as the curse's effects slowly reinfect him. Leo and Raph's acrimoniously exchange is overheard back at mission control, prompting April to persuade a reluctant but lovestruck Donnie to help her coordinate the mission. A payphone call from Mikey to the kitchen's landline is answered by Donnie, who simultaneously uses this opportunity to disguise evidence of Shadow's drugging by leaving an empty beer bottle in her unconscious hand. Eikichi has been tracked to abandoned water treatment plant, and Donnie coordinates Mikey to create a diversion outside as the other turtles ambush Eikichi's forces inside the building through a sewer entrance. Raph and Renoir enter the sewer first, but Leo uses this moment alone to reach Karai and learn that Eikichi's forces are wearing stolen uniforms and have been secretly infiltrated by Sadao. Eikichi is indeed inside the plant grasping the Yata-no-Kagami, gloating that Karai's forces can't finish their mission without it. Sadao silently listens as Ryōta's brother indifferently dismisses the Yamata-no-Orochi and the fate of the world, claims responsibility for cursing the Hamato Clan, and confesses that he too can see people through the mirror—and the Morinaga seen through Eikichi's eyes is none other than Marcella herself.

## Characters

* Augustus Amherst / Renoir
* Carole Amherst
* Eikichi Gotoh
* Donatello Hamato
* "Leo" (corpse)
* Leonardo Hamato
* Michelangelo Hamato
* Raphael Hamato
* Casey Jones
* Shadow Jones
* Karai
* Marcella
* April O'Neil
* Sadao
* Davianna Wallace's Assassin ***(Death)***
* Yamata-no-Orochi

## Pages

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Edited for explicit content. See the original here.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.