Author's Note

Hello Universe! Palkia's back with Chapter 9! Yee! The one year anniversary for this story was a few days ago! I can't believe it! 37 favs, 29 follows, and over 3,700 views and we're still going!

Thank you to all of those who favorited, followed, and reviewed! It means a lot to me!

Here's the music list!

(1) Sasuke's Theme - Naruto OST 2

(2) Sadness and Sorrow - Naruto OST

(3) Its the training! - Naruto OST 2

(4) Raikiri (Thunder Break) - Naruto OST 2

(5) Anun (Dark Clouds) - Naruto Shippuden OST

(6) Shouryuu (Rising Dragon) - Naruto Shippuden OST 2

Now, let's go!

I do not own Naruto and I do not own TMNT.

Chapter 9

Internal Panic

"No patrol, no games, no rest! There is only training! Starting now!"

(1) Leo remembered the words his Sensei said to him and his brothers weeks ago clearly. Well, it was somewhat towards him. He was half asleep at the time, as he had been lying in his room since the day before. The day that they were ambushed by Shredder.

Since then, all Leonardo could do was rest, as his rib hadn't fully healed yet. Thankfully the jinchuriki had moved all of his valuable things that would make his family question where he got them to a small cave on the inside of Talbot Peak. This was where the Moon Pool was located, one of the few entrances to the Spirit Plane, and his training grounds with Shishigami.

Unfortunately the only thing the turtle could do was rest. While Kurama and the deer god could heal his broken rib easily, suspicion would no doubt rise among his family as to how and why a broken rib was healed in almost an hour. Nevertheless, Leo had to endure the pain for a long three weeks.

He kept himself busy by practicing chakra control, refining it to a T. Transformation Jutsu was strictly forbidden. While Leo said that the jutsu doesn't exactly involve physical transformation, the fox said otherwise, as the jinchuriki's case was special. The tailed beast chakra, as well as his mutagenic DNA, allowed for a physical transformation, meaning even the bones were reshaped in the process.

Still, Leo tried to keep busy. Otherwise he would go berserk and end up rebreaking his rib. The jinchuriki couldn't let his abilities slip behind while he was incapacitated. He wouldn't allow himself to become weaker because of an injury. But there was always one thing on his mind as he trained himself.

His brothers.

Every day, he could hear the constant orders from his Sensei, and the constant gasps of exhaustion that followed. The rat master was overexerting them to their limits. Not even giving them breaks, just as he said no rest. He barely if at all gave them time to sleep. And this bothered the blue masked turtle greatly. He was resting (to them at least) while they were training.

Now, Leo was on the couch in the middle of the lair, currently watching TV while everyone else was in the dojo. There wasn't much on, but it somewhat helped get rid of the frustration that he was currently feeling towards his father. Even now, the turtle was on the verge of getting up and doing something about it.

"More Sensei?" he heard Mikey's tired voice echo from the dojo.

"Yes, more!" Leo heard the rat master answer.

What was heard next was the sound of Donnie and Mikey running and them getting flipped over by Raph. As well as the groans of pain.

"There is no intention in your strikes!" he heard Splinter yell angrily. "Do it again! We will practice all night if we have to!"

"May I have the honor of killing the rat so he shuts up?" Kurama sneered, clearly annoyed.

'I'm at the point where I just want to throw in a VHS tape of One Piece so I don't go in there and say anything,' Leo commented.

Even if he were to do that, there was no doubt that Master Splinter would come out and punish the turtle. Let's just say that the rat master forbade his sons from watching anime for reasons.

"We have been practicing all night!" he heard Donnie exclaim.

After that came what could only be described as a snore from Mikey. He was murmuring about pizza.

'He must've fallen asleep from all that training,' Leo thought.

"Wake him up!" Splinter yelled. This pushed Leonardo's anger even further.

"Gladly," Raph said. Afterward, he heard Mikey being thrown to the ground.

"Ahh! Shredder's here!" the orange masked turtle exclaimed, loud enough for anyone to hear outside the dojo with normal hearing.

"Relax, you were just having a nightmare," Donnie was heard comforting Mikey.

"Aren't we all," Raph groaned.

"Sensei, can we rest for a sec," Donnie asked.

"Rest?" he questioned. "Hmm. The Shredder will not rest, until you are all dead!"

'Okay that's it! I'm tired of this!' Leo thought.

The blue masked turtle slowly got up from the couch, and began to walk over to the dojo. He winced slightly, rib still not yet healed. A low growl emanated from his throat, anger rising in his system. In the rare anger spells Leonardo had, if one had to describe the level of this one, then it would've been one of the worst.

"Sensei," the blue masked turtle began as he entered the dojo. "They've been training nonstop for weeks with hardly any sleep. They need a break." Leo came up next to his brothers.

"Oh, like you don't?" Raph stated sarcastically, referring to his broken rib.

"That's right Raph, I don't," he scowled.

If anything, while the turtle was ahead on mental and chakra control, he was behind on physical training. Having to lay in bed for a few weeks certainly didn't help him at all. The turtle's muscles have probably grown weaker, and most likely his strength too. He probably needed training the most.

"I have to train," Leo told him. "I'm behind you guys by a few weeks. The last thing I need is a break."

"Ah, well, then I'll give you a break!" Raph sneered. (1!)

'He wouldn't dare!'

"Move you baka! NOW!"

Unfortunately it was too late by that time, as Splinter made his move. Swiftly he moved forward, and struck all four turtles. This caused them to fly back and land on the floor.

(2) But for Leonardo, it was much worse. The jab to his chest caused him even more pain, and as a result he coughed up a little blood. Leo put his hand to his mouth, trying to hold it back.

"If I were the Shredder, none of you would be breathing now," Splinter scolded. "Understand?!"

'He just...doesn't care?!' Leo thought bitterly. 'He doesn't even care about what he just did?! That I'm lying here on the ground coughing up blood?!'

A few tears came to his eyes at the sound of it. Leo couldn't take it anymore. His anger towards his father, his current pain, and the realization overwhelmed him. The blue masked turtle ran out of the dojo and into the bathroom. Shutting the door behind him, he spit out the extra bits of blood he was holding in so more wouldn't get on the carpet.

"Is he okay?" Raph asked.

But Splinter's eyes widened in horror as he saw the few stains of blood that did make it out of the turtle's mouth earlier.

"Perhaps a brief rest is an order," the rat master stated. "We will resume later."

The other three turtles collapsed in exhaustion, thankful that they were finally getting a chance to relax. Splinter however, rushed to where his eldest son was, wanting to check on him. For a moment, the fear of his son in pain took over, and worry plagued his system. He hadn't meant to hit the turtle like that.

Leo came out of the bathroom, clenching his chest and breathing somewhat heavily. As soon as he saw his father in front of him, eyes filled with worry, the turtle gritted his teeth. He didn't want this now. All he wanted to do was lie down.

"Leonardo, are you-" the rat master began.

"I'm fine," he sneered, cutting him off.

He proceeded to his room, and slammed the door behind him, leaving Splinter outside. The turtle lied down on his bed, wincing in pain. Carefully Leo took off his gear, hoping that it wouldn't restrain him as much. Once that was done, he closed his eyes.

'Just ignore it,' Leo told himself. 'Ignore the pain and you'll be fine.'

While the turtle was thinking about that, it appeared that the pain lessened. But it wasn't because of this. Rather, it was something else entirely. The jinchuriki opened his eyes and was met with shock.

There right in front of him was Shishigami, hands over the turtle's shell. A soft glow emanated from his hands and onto Leo's chest area. The deer god was here, and he was healing him.

"Ah!" Leo yelped, slightly moving away from him.

He was a bit startled that the deer god would come all the way out here just to heal him. Of course, anyone would be frightened to see a giant, humanoid deer in their bedroom. Once the turtle realized who it was, he calmed down a little and sighed.

"Do you always have to jump scare me like that?" the turtle complained. He lied back down on the bed. "Why are you healing me? I thought we weren't going to do that?"

"I knew this would happen," Shishigami told him. "Your father would lash out at you in anger that is not harbored at you. And your rib would break once more." The deer god began to heal him again.

"So he rebroke it didn't he?" Leo sighed. The deer god nodded.

"Do not blame him," he continued. "Your father's mind has been clouded by fear. The most recent events have not helped him. The Shredder has caused him grave pain in the past. And he does not want the same to happen to you."

The turtle knew what he was talking about. Having to lose both your wife and your only daughter at the time would most definitely be painful. To have to go through again because of the same man would no doubt be a nightmare. Still, this wasn't the way to go about their training. If anything, the rodent master was treating them as if he were Shredder, but Leo would never say such things.

"Rest for now," Shishigami stated. "I will heal your injury fully. And I know something will happen later, so you will need your full strength."

Leo nodded slowly, closing his eyes. The pain began to fade away as the deer god's power flowed through his body. He fell asleep. (2!)

(3) Only to awaken hours later to the sound of screaming.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

"Come here you!" Raph screamed at Mikey.

"And I was just about to wake you up," Kurama complained, not being able to place headphones on the turtle and play loud music.

Leo groaned, sitting up on his bed. 'At least that didn't happen,' he thought. 'What the heck is going on out there anyway? Huh?'

He then noticed a slip of paper on his shell, which was clearly not there before. 'Where did this come from?'

"Shishigami left you a present while you were sleeping," the fox commented.

'He did?' The turtle opened the piece of paper, and read the contents inside. '"Special training tonight. Come when you are done."'

'Okay then...the guy doesn't do anything for free does he?'

Deciding that it would probably be best to get out of bed, Leo stood up. He patted his chest, making sure it was fully healed. True to his word, the deer god had healed his rib. The jinchuriki smirked, now knowing that he could once again train and get stronger.

Opening the door, he was met with the sight of Raph beating up Mikey. To the side were a couple of water balloons. The blue masked turtle rolled his eyes. No doubt that the prankster side of Mikey had come out during this time of relaxation, and he wouldn't be surprised if his youngest brother targeted him too.

Not like Mikey could actually hit him to begin with.

For the moment, the blue masked turtle decided to avoid his two fighting brothers entirely, and check up on Donnie. He had a feeling that his younger, genius brother was working on something in his lab. That was how Donnie dealt with stress. While Leo couldn't really understand why more work would ease it, he guessed it was like how training helped relieve him of other things.

He entered the lab, and soon noticed that Raph and Mikey were behind him, finally getting over their fight. Donnie was currently working with a blowtorch, as a metal mask was over his face. The purple masked turtle appeared to be working on…

'Are those go-karts?' Leo thought.

"You're still working on that go-kart?" Raph asked.

To this, Donnie took off his face mask, slightly annoyed. "It's not a go-kart," he answered. "It's an all-terrain patrol buggy with detachable side cars." He eagerly showed them the blueprints.

"More like a pile of junk that'll fall apart three seconds into driving, hehehe," the fox chuckled.

Leo didn't want to add to it, but it really did look like it was going to fall apart, as it was very close to the ground. Donnie's blueprints may have made it look cool, but in the end, it just looked like a bunch of plastic seats on wheels. Whatever the steering was appeared to be just some PVC pipes. And what did they run on anyway?

"Dude, hasn't Splinter riled us enough?" Mikey asked. "You gotta find a way to relax."

Leo grabbed the blueprints from Donnie, inspecting them. "We all deal with stress in different ways, Mikey," the blue masked turtle stated.

"Yeah, and this is how I deal," Donnie said.

But Mikey smirked at this, and Leo had an extremely bad feeling that his brother was going to do something. 'Why do I feel like he's going to-'

"And this is how I deal," the orange masked turtle said. "Hyah!" He threw a water balloon straight at Leo.

Yet at the last second, he managed to avoid it by ducking low, saving Donnie's blueprints from getting wet and ruined. Unfortunately for said purple masked turtle, he took the balloon instead. At first, Donnie looked unimpressed, but one sense of negative emotions told Leonardo that it was quite the opposite.

"Ha, ha!" Mikey yelled triumphantly.

That was when Donnie threw his metal face mask on the floor in anger, and proceeded to chase Mikey around and out of the lab.

"You're next, Leo!" his youngest brother yelled. "Dr. Prankenstein makes house calls!"

"Why do I find that slightly...disturbing?"

'You're not the only one…' (3!)

He decided that there were more important things to do, so he left the dojo and began walking towards his room. Only, someone stopped him from going any further. Leo looked back and saw Raph following him.

"Hey, uh, you okay?" the red masked turtle asked.

"He must have noticed you coughing up blood earlier."

"I'm fine, why?" Leo answered.

"Really? Cause I could've sworn you were coughing up blood," the red masked turtle stated.

The jinchuriki sighed, turning away from his younger brother. He really didn't feel like talking about what happened earlier. But Leo knew that whenever Raphael asked about something, he always tried to get an answer, even if he had to beat someone up. The red masked turtle was that serious when trying to get information.

"Shredder messed you up bad, huh?" Raph sighed. "I've been meaning to ask you about that. What happened after we got knocked out?"

There it was. It was something Leo never wanted to bring up ever again. While there were some positives in regard to the fact that his brothers were unconscious during his outburst at Shredder, the downside was that he had to lie about the situation. And his family knew that the blue masked turtle was a notorious bad liar.

The moment scared him to begin with. Bringing it up again was just like bringing up a bad memory that would never go away. He had lost control that night, for the first time. The intention to get revenge on Shredder for critically injuring his brothers. The desire to kill him. Leo had only snapped out of it at the last moment. Still, it was something he didn't want to remember.

"I'd rather not talk about it," he said.

He heard Raph groan. Of course his brother wasn't that happy after hearing that. The blue masked turtle shook his head.

"But…" Leo sighed. "I think to some degree, Master Splinter is right."

"Weren't you just disagreeing with him earlier?" Raph stated.

"I didn't like that he was driving you three into the ground," the blue masked turtle began. "And it didn't help that I was out of commission for a while. Really the only thing I could do was just sit back and watch you."

"But today, I had enough of that. That's why I came in and stopped him. At least he gave you guys a break for now. But we'll be back to training soon."

"Great," Raph groaned.

"Still, he has a point. Shredder's…"

He looked away for a moment, a shiver went up his spine. "...strong. And there isn't really a way we can defeat him unless we improve more. As of now, we don't stand a chance against him."

Leo tried to keep it short. The jinchuriki didn't like downsizing the strength he had, ever. But he had to, otherwise his secret would come out. If Leo had released more of his anger and rage back then...then maybe…

"Yeah, and he's up there," They heard Mikey behind them, apparently done being chased by Donnie. "Somewhere...waiting for us!"

But he ended up shaking in fear afterwards. "I just freaked myself out!"

"I hate to say it," Donnie came towards them. "But the fact that we've been laying low might be the only reason that we're still alive."

"Remind me to slap the rat later," Kurama noted. "By the way your brothers are speaking, the fear that he had was passed onto them."

'But really the only way we can satisfy that fear is for them to get stronger right? They didn't stand a chance at all. I might be able to, given if I'm alone, but…'

For now, it was best if Leonardo trained more. While he had great pride in his strength and his chakra control, he didn't want to jinx himself. After all, the turtle had nearly fallen unconscious because of the negative energy Shredder had expressed even before their fight. Who knows what could happen if there was just a longer, full on fight.

"I agree," the blue masked turtle stated. "So until we're ready, we stay down here."

"Unfortunately, that's no longer an option."

The four turtles turned around, and saw April at the entrance to the lair, waving her phone in her hand. There was a slight smirk on her face, as if she accomplished something on her own.

"Ohhhh look who it is. Your-"

'SHUT. UP!'

A few minutes later, all four turtles, as well as Splinter, were in the middle of the lair, listening to a recording on April's phone. Apparently she had succeeded in fooling the Purple Dragons (much to Leo's disapproval) by having them take a pizza box with a small radio attached under it. How said humans didn't realize that there was something underneath was beyond him, and worse, if they did, they could track April's phone.

"We're meeting Shredder tonight. He's got a plan to destroy the turtles," the first one, Fong stated.

This definitely caught Leo's attention. 'How exactly? He doesn't even know that we live in the sewers.'

"How? He doesn't even know where they are." the second one, Sid answered.

"He says they're in the sewers somewhere, and that's all he needs to know to wipe them out."

"I swear to the deer god, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT BAKA!"

A pounding headache followed afterward. 'Ow, ow, ow! I'm sorry!'

"Our home is no longer safe," Splinter commented gravely. "The Shredder must be stopped."

'Oh now you agree that something has to be done rather than just laying low!'

"How can we stop a plan that we don't know anything about?" Leo asked Splinter angrily.

The jinchuriki felt a presence behind him, noticing that it was Mikey. No doubt that there was a water balloon in his hand. With precision, Leo took out the tanto knife from his wrappings and laced it with chakra, without anyone noticing of course. This was so he could control the knife if he missed. Thankfully he hit his target as Leo threw it at the balloon Mikey was holding. The balloon broke, as the knife whizzed by his youngest brother's hand as he controlled the direction of it. Mikey whimpered.

"We have to go topside and find out what they're planning," Raph interrupted.

For once, Leo agreed with him. "Raph's right, there's no other way."

It was then that he could just feel the fear and worry emanating from the rat master behind him. Leo knew this wasn't going to be easy for him, as the fear from a few weeks ago had begun to escalate within his father. And worse, the events of earlier didn't help either.

'We'll be fine,' he vowed. 'I'll make sure we all come back.'

The place turned out to be an old abandoned church in the middle of the city. Well, semi-abandoned. For some reason the church bells were ringing. While some people would know that it was closed for good, others that didn't know about it wouldn't see any harm from it. But Leo knew better, as he saw the three Purple Dragons walk into the building.

'They're just giving themselves away by ringing those church bells,' Leo thought.

And for good reason too. He knew the Foot were smart, but to give away their hideout by doing something so obvious to many people around it was just felt stupid. The turtle has no doubt that whoever it was, whether it was a Foot soldier or someone higher up in the clan, their head would probably be on Shredder's platter by the end of the day.

Leo signaled his brothers to stay back for a little bit as they climbed down from the buildings above. Right now, they were across the street from the seemingly abandoned church, hiding out until the coast could be considered clear.

"This is the place," he whispered, as his brothers crowded behind him.

Mikey placed his hand over his shoulder. To Leo's right, Donnie leaned over Raph. While the blue masked turtle was taking the closeness of his brother rather well, Raph however, didn't.

"Donnie, you're crowding me," he said.

"Sorry," said turtle whispered, putting his hands in the air and backing away.

Unfortunately he backed up into a trash can, which made a loud noise. Mikey ended up getting scared by the noise, so he used Leo as a lift to jump up. Of course, said blue masked turtle was annoyed by this, but he chose to ignore it. However, Mikey's jump ended in him knocking into Raph, who got uppercutted. The youngest turtle then landed on the ground, as Raph rubbed his head.

"Sorry," Mikey said sheepishly. "All that Splinter talk about how we're not ready has me thinking maybe we're in over our heads."

This in turn gave him a hit on the head from Raph. "You're always in over your head."

"I'm saying now we all are!" Mikey complained. "And that scares me!" The orange masked turtle slightly cowered in fear.

Leo put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "It's okay to be scared, Mikey," he said. "Raph is scared too."

"I am not scared!" his brother retaliated, then turned his attention to the church again.

A smirk grew on Leo's face, and Kurama could feel the cynical emotions spike within his jinchuriki. The kitsune perked up and smiled.

'Looks like I'm about to see a show...hehe this should be interesting.'

The turtle lifted his arm behind Raph, and a tiny spark flew from his finger, indicating he had gathered chakra in that area. Lightning nature, but Kurama had a feeling that wasn't the turtle's signature nature. It wasn't a jutsu, but it worked. Leo placed his finger on the back of Raph's head, sending a small shock down the turtle's body. He yelps, reaching for the back of his head and where the culprit was.

"Hehehehe...HAHAHAHA!"

Raph cleared his throat, trying to look all serious and tough. It was then that his fake seriousness turned to anger as he glared at his older brother. Leo began to laugh, just as the giant fox inside his soul began to laugh as well.

Suddenly however, a loud growl was heard, almost like a dog's growl. From his sensing abilities, he knew who it was, and grew a tad bit worried. His brothers backed away in fear as something turned the corner and had discovered them.

"Bradford!"

"Rad-Brad!"

A giant, mutant dog that was of the inu breed towered over the four turtle brothers. He still wore pants and stood on two legs. There appeared to be spikes coming out of his shoulders and fingers. One arm seemed larger than the other as well. His eyes were black, and his pupils were red. In short, definitely something that the turtle brothers should be afraid of.

"Look what I found," he growled. "Four soon-to-be ex-turtles."

"I'm sure glad it's okay to be scared," Mikey said nervously as he backed away with Donatello.

"You and me both," Donnie responded.

"This is no time to panic!" Leo tried to reassure his brothers, pulling out his katanas.

Yet he could not hide the sense of dread that washed over him when he felt strong, negative emotions coming from the large dog mutant. They were most definitely stronger than the first few times he and his brothers had battled him. And his head was becoming slightly overwhelmed.

'Focus Leo! Don't give in! You can handle it!'

(4) He rushed forward, jumping straight into the dog mutant's path. Leo sliced both his katana forward, but it was blocked easily by Bradford. The turtle jumped away quickly to avoid an oncoming punch, and succeeded in doing so. But he couldn't stay on the ground for long, as Bradford punched forward. Thankfully he dodged again, doing a backflip in the air and landing by his brothers.

At first, Leo wanted to get a breather, but the dog mutant was too fast. "Dodge!" he yelled, sensing the oncoming punch.

His brothers evaded another punch to the ground in time. This left an opening for Raph, who jumped forward with both sais together. Yet his attack was blocked easily by Bradford's right hand, and the two began to put the pressure on so the other would let up.

Donnie then attacked from the left side, managing to shove his Bo staff underneath the dog mutant's neck, making him stumble backward. However, this did absolutely nothing, as Bradford threw another punch at them. Both Donnie and Raph avoided it in time.

Leo rushed forward as his brothers pushed back, and jumped in the air. He swung his katanas forward, aiming for Bradford's head. But somehow, the dog mutant grabbed both swords while the turtle was in the air.

Unconsciously, he sent invisible chakra down his pair of katana. Bradford felt something warm, then felt his hand getting burned. The dog mutant yelped, letting go of the katanas and letting Leo get away.

Above him, Mikey used his nunchucks to slide down an electric cable. This also failed, as Bradford managed to send the orange masked turtle flying into Donnie. They both groaned in pain.

"This is hopeless!" Donnie exclaimed, implying a potential retreat.

"Keep your head in the game!" Leo yelled, but they soon dodged Bradford's punch.

"You need to stop with the comparisons," the fox commented. "Your comparisons are terrible. Almost as bad as Mi-"

'I get it!'

Kurama was actually thankful that Leonardo had cut him off. He had almost said the fourth Hokage's name, something that he promised Shishigami he wouldn't say anything about. Ever. And it was only because he didn't want to hurt the turtle's feelings as every time he even went into that human form, it just brought up bad memories.

"I just want to keep my head on my body," Donnie complained with panic.

"Come on, what are we retreating for?" Raph yelled in anger.

He ran forward, only to get punched by Bradford and end up in a dumpster in the alley. Seconds later, he opened the cover to it.

"That's a good reason," he groaned.

"Mikey, smoke!" Leo commanded, a hint of anger in his voice.

This however, only caused his youngest brother to panic even more. As he got out the homemade smoke bomb, he fumbled with it, only for the egg to drop. It cracked on the ground, a tiny puff of smoke coming out, but not enough to mask their escape. Yet Leo still smelled it.

'I thought I told Donnie to de-scent it!'

"What was that?!" Raph complained, only bringing even more panic to his brother.

"I'm STRESSED!" Mikey yelled. "Excuse me if my aim's a little off!"

The growling of the dog mutant in front of them increased, another punch landing on the ground. This pushed the brothers back even more.

"How hard is it to hit the ground!?" Raph commented sarcastically.

Immediately, he threw another egg bomb at the ground, only it didn't hit the pavement. It got caught in the grate for one of the sewer drains. Raph tried to grab it quickly, but the vibrations he made on the grate caused it to fall into the water. He growled in frustration.

"Not so easy, is it?!" the orange masked turtle behind him exclaimed.

Leo was at the point of breaking with anger. His eyes were about to turn completely red as he lost his patience for once.

"Oh, would you guys just f-!"

Kurama purposely took control then, as his jinchuriki was about to say something very coarse. The turtle threw the smoke bomb on the ground, and the smoke covered them completely. They soon disappeared into the sewers afterward, leaving Bradford behind. (4!)

The dog mutant looked at his hand. It was slightly charred, but there was no sign of a first or second degree burn. In all honesty, he didn't expect to be burned in this situation.

'Master Shredder was right,' he thought. 'That turtle is a demon…'

They all arrived home safely after their encounter with one of Shredder's top henchmen. And boy were they beat. Especially Leonardo. He now rested on the couch, head down and eyes closed. Secretly, he was in his mindscape, lying on one of Kurama's tails.

The mission had failed. Miserably. The turtles didn't even get close to Shredder's lair. Even worse, they couldn't even take on one of Shredder's top henchmen, who they had been able to beat previously. But now with his new mutated form, Bradford was a lot stronger.

"Thanks for stopping me earlier," Leo thanked the tailed beast. "I thought I was going to lose it again."

"Hmm. We wouldn't want you going all out on your brothers, now would we?" the fox chuckled.

The turtle blushed in embarrassment at the comment. But he later put out a sigh, remembering the events that almost led up to it.

"What're we going to do now?" he spoke aloud. "We tried sneaking in, but that didn't work out so well…"

"Sneak in by yourself?" Kurama mentioned.

"That could work, but the only problem with that is I would have to find a way to sneak out, have to be able to get the information, stop them from carrying out said plan, and get back here before anyone notices."

"However…" he sighed. "There would be a lot of questions with that. For example, if I were to sneak out, what would happen if I got back? Grounded again? Not only that, but Splinter would no doubt be asking me as to how I defeated Shredder's henchmen all by myself when we couldn't even defeat one?"

"Good point."

"Even so, we have to stop Shredder's plan somehow. But I'm not sure how without getting caught or having any sort of suspicion around me."

Leo put his hands on his head in frustration. "Arrgghhh! What do I do?!"

He felt Splinter's presence get closer to him, so he turned back to the fox. "I'll be back in a sec."

The turtle opened his eyes and faced his father. "We couldn't take him…" Leo said.

"Dogpound was just too powerful," he heard Mikey say.

"Dogpound?" Leo asked.

"What? 'Cause he's a dog, and he pounded us into the-"

"We get it," Leo growled lowly.

"Still better than anything you can come up with."

'HEY!'

Yet this did not change his attitude towards the situation. "I don't see how we're gonna get close to that meeting now…"

"Well, maybe we just need to find a new place to hide," Donnie suggested. "I hear the sewers in Florida are nice this time of year…" the turtle held up his computer screen, showing a website about Florida.

"On the bright side, I've heard that place has swamps and a bunch of alligators you can train against. Hehe."

'Why are making it sound like this is a good idea to move down there…?'

But to his surprise, April came up behind them and shut the computer. "No, I'm not letting you guys give up," she said.

"I'll spy on the meeting."

Immediately, April was met with five voices of disapproval, along with a sixth one that only one person could hear.

"No way!" Raph.

"Nuh-uh!" Mikey.

"You can't!" Donnie, who surprisingly said it in an angry tone.

"Forget it!" Leo.

"Protect her at any cost, I'm starting to like her!" Kurama mocked.

'FOR THE LAST TIME, I'M NOT IN LOVE WITH HER!' Yet he couldn't hide the blush of embarrassment that plagued his face. Leo hoped that no one would notice it.

"Absolutely not!" Splinter yelled.

The blue masked turtle could feel a slight uprising in anger coming from April, but the girl sighed. "I can do this. You've been training me to be a kunoichi."

Oh, that's right. The red haired girl had been training with Master Splinter for a few weeks at this point. April wanted to learn some self defense so that an event like when she first met the brothers wouldn't happen again. And Leo had to admit, she was getting pretty good at it. Yet still, the amount of time she had spent training wasn't enough to go on a real mission, as least not now.

"For a few weeks," Splinter noted.

And his Sensei was right. His brothers had been training for years in order to get where they are at right now. Leo even more so, as his body was able to take more because of Kurama and the chakra training he had possessed. The training with the deer god helped as well. Even so, April was nowhere near the levels of strength like the turtles. If they couldn't beat Bradford, then what was the point of her going in their place?

"What choice do we have?" April began to reason. "Shredder's going to attack your home, and we need to find out how, and I'm the only one who can do it."

"She has a point. Your girlfriend has not been seen by enemy forces as much, since she has always been in disguise or hidden."

'That's true, and why do you constantly not refer to anyone by their name? You don't even say my brothers' names either, or you call Master Splinter 'the rat.' Why?'

"When they're worthy of my respect, that is when I call them by their names. Like you, Leonardo."

'Until then, you're still going to call her 'my girlfriend' aren't you?'

"Hmph. Well, I'm not sure if that might change…"

'Uggghhhhh…'

A few hours later, nighttime…

In the end, April had managed to convince the Hamatos that she could spy on the mission for them. She put on a gray colored hoodie and carried yet another pizza box that had another one of those "Teen Spy" devices at the bottoms of it. While Leo highly doubted that the Foot soldiers would be that stupid enough to actually fall for it, it was still worth a try.

"I don't like this," he heard Donnie say next to him.

Currently, the four brothers hid on the roof of a building across from the abandoned church. They kept watch in case something happened to April.

'Donnie's too worried about her. She'll be fine. It's not like she's actually going to go in there.'

"Me neither," Mikey said. "Giving the enemy a free pizza? Pssh, never a good idea."

Leo watched as April knocked on the door to the abandoned church. As expected, a Foot soldier answered it. Unfortunately, after what he thought she said were a few words about the pizza, the Foot soldier slammed the door on her.

'Ugh. Not surprised, but not totally expected either. Now what?'

He noticed that she ran out of sight into a back alleyway. April held the pizza, while taking out her phone. Leo's phone buzzed, and he picked it up. But not before noticing the profile picture that was supposed to be set for April. And he had a feeling someone had changed it while he was asleep.

'Okay, why did you change April's picture from what she actually looks like to Nami from One Piece?!'

"You said she wasn't your girlfriend," Kurama replied innocently.

'I hate you.'

"Love you too."

Leo picked up the call. As expected, an annoyed April answered, knowing that her mission had failed.

"Argh, looks like the Foot Clan are smarter than the Purple Dragons," she stated.

"They'd almost have to be, wouldn't they?" Leo answered. "Thanks April. You did your best."

The jinchuriki ended the call from there. He groaned in frustration. He had a feeling that it wouldn't be that easy to infiltrate the meeting. The church's bells began to ring soon afterward. His eyes went from his brothers to the abandoned church. And if he wasn't mistaken, there was a break in the giant stained glass at the front of the church.

His eyes gleamed with a tint of red in those blue irises. 'Looks like we're doing things my way.'

(5) "Stay here," he told his brothers.

"Leo, what are you-" Donnie nearly finished.

But by the time he did, his brother was already gone. Leo ran off to a building or two down the block with great speed. He stopped once he knew that his brothers were out of sight. Looking at the distance between him and the other building across the street, he took a deep breath.

'Here goes nothing!'

Swiftly, Leo henged into his lion form, and ran. He jumped with great precision, soaring through the air like it was nothing. Normally, Leo wouldn't be able to jump that far if he was with his brothers. However since they were out of sight, he could go as far as he wanted.

His body landed in the middle of the roof across the street. 'I still got it, even after three weeks of no training.'

Henging back into a mutant turtle, he managed to make it back to the building that was right next to the abandoned church. His eyes trailed to his brothers, who were as shocked as they could be as they fathomed how exactly their brother got across. Leo looked down at April, who noticed him. He signaled for her to stay where she was, then promptly jumped onto the roof of the abandoned church.

The turtle ran across the roof, until he got to the opening in the cracked stained glass. Leo crawled inside, and had gotten inside undetected. Yet he realized how vulnerable and noticeable he was when he saw where he was. There was Shredder, sitting on a throne proudly, and there was no doubt during that he could probably see him.

"Henge into something baka!" Kurama commanded.

Leo did so, henging into a black cat, but still had his T-Phone out. The inside of the church was, for the most part, empty. Save for Shredder's throne on the other side of it. The center aisle was stone, and on either side was water. Leo could see Xever, who had mutated into a fish swimming around in there.

It looked dark and eerie in there. Clear glass replaced where stained glass was, making the entire area noticeable from the outside. Still, he questioned as to why this was the case. It would be so easy for enemies to spy on them. But then again, it would be easy for Shredder to find spies, so he supposed that was a plus.

The door beneath him opened, and out stepped Bradford. The Purple Dragons followed suit, along with a few Foot soldiers. It seemed that whatever this plan was, it definitely involved a lot of complex planning to it.

'Good thing I henged into something else, otherwise Brad-ugh, Dogpound, would've probably detected my scent.'

"Listen carefully," Shredder began.

Leo turned his T-Phone on, so his brothers could hear the conversation.

"Five of you will hijack a tanker on Houston in approximately fifteen minutes. The chemical is extremely rare, so you will not have another chance. Once you hijack the tanker, you will drive it down and dump it into a nearby sewer. It will react negatively with water, incinerating everything in seconds. Which will destroy them once and for all. Now go!"

'Holy...we better get back now! If that plan works, the lair will be incinerated! And Splinter too!'

Brad-uhh Dogpound, as well as the Purple Dragons left the abandoned church, leaving Leo alone. And Shredder all by himself. He released the henge, and watched the man sitting on the throne for a moment.

"You have been watching, haven't you, demon?"

Leo's eyes widened, but he suppressed his shock. Jumping down from his hiding spot and onto the stone floor, he faced Shredder.

'Should've waited to release the henge.'

"And what if I have?" Leo stated.

"You have transformative abilities," Shredder commented.

"Be careful," Kurama told him. "This is not going to end well if you stick around any longer."

The negative emotions around Shredder were almost as strong as they were during their fight on the Wolf Building rooftop. Yet with the mental training he had given himself during those past few weeks of rest, Leo managed to push them aside.

"You put on quite the show weeks ago. I wonder...will you do it again?"

The turtle gritted his teeth in anger, fists clenching. But as soon as his anger rose, he quickly hid it. Leo couldn't deal with him now. The more time wasted here, the less he had to save his home. And his father.

"I'll fight you, but not today," Leo vowed. "One on one. But when I do…" He took out his katana and pointed it at Shredder, visible red chakra flowing through it.

"I'll end this feud."

He threw a smoke bomb, and disappeared. (5!) The turtle climbed through the break in the stained glass, trying to find his brothers. Yet to his surprise, they weren't there.

'Where the heck are they?!' Leo thought.

Taking out his T-Phone, he called Donnie. It rang a few times before his purple masked brother finally decided to pick up.

"Donnie! Where the heck are you guys?!" he yelled.

"April got kidnapped!" Donnie exclaimed through the phone.

Leo's breath hitched. "What do you mean she got kidnapped?!"

"Well, umm she felt bad that she couldn't do anything, so April tried to hitch a ride with them. But Dogpound found her and she got captured! She's in some black van with them now!'

The jinchuriki tried his best to suppress a growl, but it still came out. "Where are you guys now?" he asked.

"We're getting the go-karts Leo!" Mikey yelled in the background.

"For the last time Mikey, they're patrol buggies!" he heard Donnie yell. "We're heading to the lair right now. Unfortunately, somebody decided to pick a fight with me so we couldn't hear all of the plan!"

"Hey!" Raph yelled.

Leo groaned. Of course they didn't hear the entire plan. Not that he didn't entirely expect something like this to happen. Still, it was upsetting. At least he heard the plan.

"Dogpound and the Purple Dragons plan on taking some tanker filled with an extremely rare chemical. Once they hijack it, they'll dump it in the sewers and all of it will incinerate!"

"Chlorosulfonic acid!" Donnie exclaimed. "It's a type of acid that reacts violently with water. If they dump it in the sewers, everything will be incinerated in seconds, including the lair!"

"Meet up with me on Houston, got it?" Leo told him. "I'll follow them alright? Get going!"

"Leo, you can't keep up-!"

But he hung up soon afterward. Leo smirked, a slight chuckle coming out.

'Who says I can't outrun the van?'

And he actually did manage to keep up with the van. Tracking Dogpound and the Purple Dragons was extremely easy thanks to his sensory skills. Not only that but his speed came in handy was well. And it was pretty obvious considering there was a giant dog mutant hanging onto the side of it. But he decided to not attack them, at least not until his brothers showed up, and did his best to hide the fact that he was following them.

Leo immediately saw the tanker that Shredder had been talking about. The black van sped up ahead of it, and Dogpound got out and stood in its path. This startled the tanker driver, leading to him stepping on the breaks. The tanker stopped, and the dog mutant tore off the door to the driver side.

"Get. Out." Dogpound commanded.

The driver fled in fear. Instead, a Foot soldier got in and began to drive. Dogpound hitching a ride on its side, and the black van followed behind it.

"Call Shredder," he told the soldier driving. "Tell him that we've acquired the tanker and we're on our way. No problems encountered."

However, the sound of tires screeching caught his attention.

"Hold that call," the dog mutant growled. "Run them down.

And there the three brothers were, driving Donnie's makeshift go-karts. The entire thing was put together for the moment, with Donnie driving on the left side and Raph next to him and Mikey in the back.

'They can't slow down now. Okay then, let's try this!'

Just before the go-kart rammed into the tanker, it split in two, with each part driving on either side of the tanker. Raph was caught unaware for a moment, but managed to grab whatever the steering wheel was and control his vehicle. Donnie was still in control on his go-kart, but he felt a slight weight shift in the back, so he turned around. And was met with shock.

"LEO?!"

"Hi Donnie."

(6) The blue masked turtle sat on the go-kart behind him casually. In reality, he had used the Teleportation Jutsu to mask his movements, and then with a burst of speed, managed to get onto the go-kart without any issues. How Leo was able to do this will forever be a mystery to Donnie.

"How did you-"

"Don't ask," Leo told him.

He looked ahead, noticing that the black van had taken a turn off onto a side street. It seems that their plan was to split up. The jinchuriki got an idea. Raph and Mikey drove up alongside them.

"Donnie!" You and Raph stay with the van and save April," Leo told them. "Mikey, you're coming with me. We have to stop that tanker!"

"Um, if you haven't noticed, I'm stuck with Raph," Mikey objected.

"No problem," the red masked turtle said sarcastically.

Raph pulled a lever beside his leg. This in turn released whatever was holding the go-kart behind him, and Mikey along with it. The orange masked turtle screamed, but it then turned into a scream of enjoyment, as he finally got a hold of driving.

"Well, that was fun," he commented.

Donnie pulled the lever next to him, and Leo's go-kart was released. At first he was a little bit startled, but soon got the hang of driving it. Raph and Donnie soon left to follow the van while he and Mikey still remained behind the tanker. The two turtles drove alongside each other.

The tanker swerved and stopped, as Dogpound jumped off, grabbed a manhole cover, and threw it at Leonardo. At the last second, Leo jumped off his go-kart, as it got destroyed by the flying manhole cover. He landed after doing a front flip in the air, pulling out his katanas.

"Is that all you got?" he taunted.

Unfortunately, this only made the dog mutant angrier. "Apparently not," Mikey pulled up alongside him.

Both turtles charged at Dogpound, weapons out and ready. He swung at them, but the brothers managed to dodge as they jumped into the air. Yet before they could land their attacks, Mikey was punched away. Leo was still able to land a hit, slashing both katanas. The blow was blocked by Dogpound.

Mikey landed off to the side as Leo continued to fight. He laced his blades with invisible flowing chakra, hoping to at least get a hit in. Yet despite being large, Dogpound was able to avoid and block them. The dog mutant then started to attack, and Leo had to change into defensive mode. He soon got uppercutted, and landed on the ground in pain. Thankfully Mikey was there to defend him, as he slammed into Dogpound as hard as he could.

Even so, the orange masked turtle was thrown back into a nearby scaffolding. Leo retaliated, but was kicked as well. He landed on a steel pipe, coughing up a little blood. Turning to his right, he saw Mikey next to him.

"Grab on!" he yelled.

His brother wasn't sure why, but he did anyway. Leo threw a smoke bomb, but in reality did a Teleportation Jutsu out of there, and higher up onto the scaffolding. Looking over his shoulder, he noticed the Foot solider who was driving the truck earlier get out and grab the hose on the side of it.

"Don't let him dump that acid!" Leo told Mikey.

'Here he comes!'

The jinchuriki sensed Dogpound, and both turtles dodged before he could get them. Yet when Mikey dodged, he ended up falling over the edge. He grabbed the scaffolding and leaped down, with the dog mutant just looking on. Mikey ran towards the Foot soldier and kicked him in the face before clashing again. This was when Dogpound got off of the scaffolding and headed towards the orange masked turtle.

"Well, what are you waiting for baka? Go!"

Leo soon ran and jumped off of the scaffolding, chakra covered blades fuming. But his attack was meaningless, as the dog mutant pushed him away with ease. Using the scaffolding as a springboard, Leo jumped forward, aiming at Dogpound. But then, he sensed.

'I need to move, NOW!'

And good thing he did, because otherwise he would've been hit by a car. The mutant in front of his was swinging it around like a toy, trying to hit Leo. Soon he let go of it, and that gave plenty of room for the turtle to land a blow with his katanas. Dogpound yelped, as the blades slightly burned. Yet he managed to fling the turtle away and into Mikey, who was fighting the lone Foot soldier.

They groaned in pain, but soon able to avoid a fist slamming into the ground from Dogpound. Leo however couldn't get away in time, as his left hand was caught. He was pinned against the tanker, as the chakra covered blade was strong enough to penetrate the side, causing some of the chlorosulfonic acid to leak out. The jinchuriki kicked Dogpound away and was able to free his blade from the tanker, making a bigger opening for the acid to leak out of.

'This...is...almost impossible…' he thought tiredly. 'It's becoming harder to take him down as time goes on. Agh, what do we do?!'

There was still some of the acid on his blade, and he shook it off. A thought occurred to him.

'Wait a sec. Donnie said this stuff reacts violently with water right? Shredder said the same thing too. That's it! We can just throw some water on it, and it'll explode because of the acid and the gasoline in the engine! But where the heck do we get water…'

"Your brother has two water balloons on him," Kurama commented.

'For once his prank is actually useful!'

"Mikey! Throw the water balloon!" Leo yelled.

"Uhh what water balloon," Mikey asked in a fake way, trying to hide that he didn't know anything about it.

"The one you were going to hit me with?!" he snarled.

And there it was, a yellow colored balloon behind the orange masked turtle's back in his right hand. Leo looked over him and saw it and wasn't surprised. Mikey however was the complete opposite.

"Dude, you are good."

As soon as Mikey threw the balloon at the tanker, Leo tackled him, forcing his brother to the ground for their safety. It broke as soon as it made contact. Dogpound looked over at the tanker, as a high pitched noise rang out.

Thus, the tanker exploded.

Leo and Mikey were thrown back behind a car, which took the brunt of the force from the explosion. Thankfully , they survived with minor injuries. A big cloud enveloped the explosion, but died down in a few seconds. The two brothers got up, and looked on. The blue masked turtle smirked in victory. (6!)

"Nice shot Mi-"

He was cut off, as his body was taken over by Kurama in an instant. The orange masked turtle threw a pink water balloon at him. But through the use of chakra, the fox in the turtle's body managed to grab it by stabilizing the chakra in his hands. In revenge, he threw it at Mikey, who got soaked. Then, he gave the body back to its original owner.

'Ohhh god, that felt horrible,' Leo silently moaned, the pressure from the fox taking over his body giving him a headache.

"You owe me one, hehe."

"Dude, how did you know that I had two?" Mikey gasped.

"Don't ask," Leo growled, feeling the effects of the headache.

Immediately, his sensory abilities picked up his other brothers. Raph and Donnie came up from behind them, having completed their goal of stopping the van.

"Eh, looks like we missed the fireworks," Raph commented.

"Donnie, the go-kart worked great," Leo commented.

'Well, sort of anyway. It got destroyed by a flying manhole cover. Hehe. I'll tell him about that later…'

"Thanks Leo," Donnie told him. "And it's a patrol buggy."

They made it back to the lair successfully without anyone spotting them. Leo could finally take it easy for a little bit and relax for the time being before he headed out to meet Shishigami for nightly training. For the moment, he just watched his brothers eat some pizza.

"Nothing says victory like the sweet taste of pizza," Mikey commented, as he proceeded to eat a slice.

On the other hand, Donnie tasted his slice and was slightly disgusted. He smelled it, and groaned. "Egh, this pizza smells kinda funky. Where'd you get it?"

"It's the one April threw out."

And thus proceeded the actions in which Raph and Donnie tried their best to get the pizza out of their system. Leo and Kurama chuckled at this, the latter loving to see the other turtles suffer. Though the blue masked turtle tried to hide the fact that he was laughing.

"What?" Mikey asked. "We live in a sewer. Now you're clean freaks? Heh, more for me." He took the rest of the pizza, while Donnie and Raph growled at him.

"My sons." Leo had sensed him coming. And as the four turned around, there was Master Splinter, walking up to them.

"I owe you my gratitude...and an apology."

The jinchuriki stood up, confused. "An apology?" he asked.

'Is this because of what happened to me earlier?'

"Fear clouded your minds," the rat master continued. "However it was not the Shredder that fueled that fear, but me." He looked dejected. "You overcame that fear, and performed admirably. No training today…"

All four turtles rejoiced, Leo especially since he now had time with the deer god.

...unless Michaelangelo throws that balloon." Splinter finished.

They all turned, only to see the orange masked turtle ready to throw a blue colored water balloon. He hesitated for a moment, then threw on a sheepish smile.

"You are so going to get it!" Raph yelled.

And immediately afterward, Donnie and Raph tackled Mikey to the ground in anger. Leo sighed, watching the three get into yet another fight. He got up and began to head back to his room.

'Guess it's about time I go see Shishigami. I'll have to thank him for fixing my rib…' his thoughts paused. '...earlier…'

There was still that lingering thought in his mind. And he could still sense distress from his father. The rat master came over to his eldest son and began to speak.

"I must apologize especially to you, my son," Splinter began. "In my fear for you, my actions only led to myself hurting you further. I should have not pushed all of you into my own fear. I ask that you forgive me for my actions."

To his surprise, Leonardo came up to him and hugged him. Earlier, the turtle thought he didn't care about his injuries, that his fear was solely focused on Shredder. Yet it was quite the opposite, and the jinchuriki understood that now.

"Arigato, Sensei…"

He did not speak anything else, for after that, Leo pulled out of the hug and smiled at his father, a genuine smile. Then, he turned away and walked into his room. Shutting the door behind him, the turtle laid down on the bed.

'I'm ready, Shishigami..'

And the deer god whisked him away from his home to train.

Author's Note

That's the end of Chapter 9! Yee!

Sorry this took a little longer. We've switched to online school now so I'm still getting work. But I'm still pulling through for now.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you think! I love reviews! They keep me going and let me know you guys enjoy this story!

Until next time, See Ya Universe!

Palkia