"How is that even possible… what kind of ninjutsu is that?"
Donnie stared at the monitor, his voice low and unsteady, completely unlike his usual calm and analytical tone. Years of training under Master Splinter had given him a deep understanding of ninjutsu—its principles, its limits, and its purpose. It was meant for stealth, for assassination, for close-quarters combat where precision and discipline mattered above all else.
You couldn't fly with it. You couldn't call down lightning. You certainly couldn't summon something like that.
And yet, the man on the screen had done exactly that.
A few hand seals, nothing more—and the sky itself responded. Lightning gathered like obedient soldiers, condensed into a living form, and roared as it tore through the world. That wasn't just ninjutsu. That was something else entirely.
"Was everything we learned… wrong?"
The question slipped out before he could stop it. It wasn't just confusion—it was a direct challenge to everything he believed in, everything he had spent years mastering.
"Knock knock knock!!!"
The sudden noise broke his train of thought. A voice called out cheerfully from outside the door.
"Donnie! Dinner's ready! The chef went all out today—we've got amazing udon!"
"Got it," Donnie replied automatically, but halfway through the response, his expression changed. His eyes snapped back to the screen, then toward the door as urgency surged through him.
"Wait—stop eating!" he shouted, spinning around. "Something serious just happened! Go get Master, now!"
"Something serious?" Raphael's voice came from the other side, full of disbelief. "Is anything more serious than food? Come on, you're messing with me again."
Donnie's face twisted in frustration. "I'm not joking! I found real ninjutsu—the kind that summons lightning!"
"Clang."
Silence fell for a brief moment.
Then the door slammed open.
"Donnie," Raphael said, stepping in with a sudden intensity, "show me."
"Just look at this first…" Donnie stepped aside, gesturing at the screen.
Raphael leaned in, squinting slightly as he scanned the footage. For a moment, his expression was unimpressed.
"It's just some busted factory," he muttered, already turning away. "What's the big deal—"
The footage shifted.
The factory exploded.
Lightning surged into existence, gathering in the man's hand like a living entity before twisting into a monstrous form that roared across the sky.
Raphael froze.
"…That… those are hand seals…" His voice dropped, disbelief creeping in. "That's ninjutsu?"
He didn't blink.
He couldn't.
As the Thunder Kirin roared, waves of lightning spread outward, disrupting the camera feed and filling the screen with static. The image flickered, then cut off entirely.
Raphael slammed his hand against his thigh.
"Damn it! Why'd it cut there?!" he snapped. "I wanted to see more of that!"
"Then stop wasting time and go get Master," Donnie said, shoving him toward the door without ceremony.
"That's just rude," Raphael grumbled, but he didn't resist. His earlier skepticism had completely vanished, replaced by burning curiosity.
Within minutes, he returned—dragging everyone else with him.
"If this isn't good," Splinter said sharply as he entered, his tone already edged with irritation, "you will all be training twice as hard tomorrow."
The three turtles lowered their heads instinctively.
Only Raphael remained energized, practically vibrating with excitement.
"You've gotta see this!" he insisted. "I swear it's insane!"
Donnie quickly replayed the footage.
"This was just a normal factory," Raphael narrated eagerly. "Then boom—it just explodes! And look—look! Lightning! That guy's controlling lightning!"
"He forms hand seals—this is ninjutsu!" he continued, voice rising. "This is real ninjutsu!"
The video reached its end.
Silence followed.
Mikey's mouth hung open so wide it looked like it might split his face. His hand trembled as he pointed at the screen.
"No way… no way…"
Leonardo remained composed, but even he couldn't hide the shock in his eyes. Slowly, he turned toward Splinter.
"Master… is that something ninjutsu can really do?"
Splinter didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he rubbed his eyes repeatedly, as if trying to wake himself from a dream. His whiskers twitched, and his expression shifted between disbelief and something dangerously close to awe.
"I have trained for decades…" he murmured. "Have I… been practicing the wrong thing all this time?"
Raphael's eyes widened as he turned to Donnie. "Look what you've done," he whispered, half-joking, half-serious.
Donnie ignored him completely, his focus locked on Splinter. "Master… what should we do?"
"Clatter."
The ninja staff slipped from Splinter's grip and hit the ground.
He didn't even notice.
His gaze remained fixed on the screen, his thoughts clearly elsewhere. When he finally spoke, his voice carried a weight none of them had heard before.
"If such a path exists…" he said slowly, "then we must follow it."
"Master… are you okay?" Mikey asked cautiously, clearly thrown off by the sudden shift.
This wasn't the same Splinter who always emphasized caution, discipline, and staying hidden.
Had something broken?
"Such a magnificent path…" Splinter turned, his eyes sharp with purpose. "Do you not feel it? The call to pursue it?"
The turtles exchanged uncertain glances.
They weren't like him. They hadn't lived through decades of hardship, hadn't carried the burden of raising others while shaping their own beliefs. To them, ninjutsu was still a skill.
To Splinter, it had long become something more.
A philosophy.
A way of life.
Faith.
"And now…" Splinter continued, his tone steady, "we have proof that it can reach heights we never imagined. How can we ignore that?"
For a moment, no one spoke.
Then Leonardo stepped forward.
"What do we do?" he asked simply, without hesitation.
Splinter's gaze shifted to Donnie.
"We act," he said.
Donnie understood immediately. He moved back to the console, fingers flying across the controls as he analyzed the footage and traced its origin.
"It's close," he reported after a moment. "Three blocks from here. If we move now, we can get there before anyone else."
Splinter nodded.
"Then we go," he said. "The longer we wait, the greater the chance that human authorities will intervene. We cannot allow that."
——
"Click."
The sound of a camera shutter echoed through the ruins.
After reports of the factory collapse reached the authorities, someone else had already arrived on the scene—faster than the police.
April O'Neil stood amidst the debris, her camera raised as she documented everything with practiced efficiency. Ever since her recent success exposing Spider-Man-related news, her career had taken a sharp upward turn. A promotion, better resources, even an assistant to help manage fieldwork—it had all come quickly.
And tonight, it was paying off.
"We're first on site," her partner said excitedly, scanning the surroundings. "Police are at least fifteen minutes out. That's more than enough time to lock this down as tomorrow's headline."
April nodded, though her focus remained sharp as she examined the wreckage.
"No signs of explosives," she noted. "No burn patterns, no residue… this wasn't a bomb."
Her partner's eyes lit up. "Then what? A storm? Some kind of freak weather event?"
April shook her head slowly.
"It's too precise," she said. "This wasn't random. It looks… intentional."
"Like a mutant ability," her partner finished, practically buzzing with excitement. "This is huge. We're looking at something big here."
April didn't respond immediately.
Instead, her attention shifted.
Behind her, near one of the sewer entrances, something moved.
It was fast—just a flicker, gone as quickly as it appeared. But she was certain she had seen it.
Her grip tightened slightly on the camera.
"…Did I just imagine that?"
.....
Join my p@treon and read ahead by more than 60+ chapters.
Link : [email protected]/Sonic_Spectre
Free members can read the next two chapters for free on my p@treon