The Curse of "Yamata-no-Orochi"

*This article is about the chapter by this title. For the curse itself, see Curse of Yamata-no-Orochi.*

Chapter 21 of *Mutant Ninja Turtles Gaiden*.

* **Previous:** Chapter 20: *Adjusting to the Present*
* **Next:** Chapter 22: *The Witch-Hunt of a Bloodline*

## Synopsis

Japan, 17 years ago. Leonardo Hamato sneaks into the country and unsuccessfully seeks information on the sword and its curse, meanwhile struggling to control his new habit of randomly killing innocent people. Karai's Foot Clan is trying to secretly exterminate the entire Morinaga Bloodline, coercing the government and media to lie about so many people's disappearances. Leo is encountered by Foot Ninja, resulting in a killing spree until Leo hides under a bridge, where he becomes the unseen friend of Sayako, a young woman venting her life problems. But Leo is starved out his hiding spot and continues slaying Foot Ninjas until he is injured and captured by their leader Karai. Karai, who had already negotiated a peace treaty with Leonardo's three other brothers during the City at War incident, tells the fourth brother that the war between the Foot Clan and Hamato Clan is over, and demands to know why Leo has slain so many of her ninja. Leo confesses his curse, and Karai tells him of the sword that cursed him—the Tōtsuka Sword—along with the story of the demon Yamata-no-Orochi, its curse and its imminent resurrection which would bring cataclysm to the human world. Karai has Leo touch the Yata-no-Kagami, a sacred mirror of the Japanese imperial regalia, giving him visions of seemingly random Japanese people. But Leo is shocked that a man he has just described shall be assassinated as a Morinaga, the human bloodline carrying the ancient demon's collective life force. Leo tries to warn the man, discovering in the process that he is the father of Sayako, the girl he had met earlier. The man feigns disowning his daughter and forces her through an underground tunnel as he thanks his mysterious messenger and accepts his fate. As Leo flees the scene he encounters Sadao, one of Karai's subordinates who seeks revenge against the turtle for slaying his comrade and lover Ryota. Leo almost succeeds at slaying Sadao in a moment of curse-fueled rage, but the very moment of the Morinaga man's death also binds Leo's dark side and stays his hand. Leo meets again with Sayako, informing the young woman of her father's death and convincing her to flee the region. Karai explains to Leo that the lull in his curse is only temporary, and that the Morinagas must all die for him and his brothers to be permanently freed from its effects, prompting the turtle to declare his allegiance to the Foot Clan. Leonardo has just told much of this story to his brothers and Renoir in the present day, but has lied to them about the cure and the genocide it requires. In Karai's current base of operations in New York City, the captured renegade Foot Elite Eikichi Gotoh is unsuccessfully tortured for information, instead recalling a flashback of his own of when he first met Sayako Morinaga aboard a Japanese train.

## Characters

* Augustus Amherst / Renoir
* Foot Clan
* Eikichi Gotoh
* Ryota Gotoh ***(Debut)*** ***(Death)*** (possibly seen but never uniquely identified)
* Leonardo Hamato
* Michelangelo Hamato
* Raphael Hamato
* Karai
* Marcella's Mother ***(Debut)*** (seen but not uniquely identified)
* Douan Morinaga ***(Debut)*** ***(Death)***
* Sayako Morinaga ***(Debut)***
* Sadao ***(Debut)***

## Pages

Title.Page 2.Page 3.Page 4.
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## Transcript

* The Curse of "Yamata-no-Orochi"/Transcript

## Trivia

* At 74 pages, this chapter is the longest complete chapter since the Prologue.
* Almost the entire chapter is Leonardo Hamato's flashbacks in Japan.
* In Japan, all the strangers and Foot Ninja who spot Leonardo, call him "kappa."