#turtles

A man dashed with almsot inhuman speed through the halls of Hamato Castle. One year ago, after completing his mission at TCRI in the United States, Hanzo Mitsurugi was awareded with an unexpected surprise - The three cobras of the foot clan, led by grandmaster Hamato Yoshi himself, decreed that Hanzo was to shed his name and join them as Splinter, of what would now be called the Four Rats.Together with Masters Blood, Steel, and Shadow, he would serve as Yoshi's elite Jonin... but long-disgraced Oroku Saki, an antagonistic Chunin he once served under, stalked him like a shadow, constantly trying to convince him he was on the wrong side.

It began shortly after the TCRI incident - He received a coded message from Saki, with a purple foot printed on it. "I know what you did at TCRI. Meet me at Tokyo Tower."

The Foot Clan primarily communicated with outsiders through coded messages. A foot in purple ink indicates an invitation to join the ranks. Orange indicates to expect contact soon. Green means business with a client has commenced. Blue means Business has fully concluded on both ends.One should hope never to receive a red foot. If so, they have done something very wrong, and the foot are offering this as the one and only warning to stop, or to rectify it.Otherwise, they will receive the dreaded white foot. This means nothing, other than to get one's mortal affairs in order, and quickly.

Splinter listened to Saki, but refused his invitations. One year later, his Chunin, Karai, went missing, and a red foot was delivered. "If this girl's life means anything to you, you will meet with me once more."Saki claimed to have already killed her, and a fight ensued. Splinter left a gash across Saki's face, and Saki fled, informing him he was "too late to save Yoshi."So now, Splinter was dashing madly to Hamato Castle. Foot soldier bodies littered every hallway and room, blood painting the walls. When he finally got to the great hall, he was horrified to find his fellow Jonin laying in heaps, each having tried unsuccessfully to protect Master Yoshi.

Upon each of their bodies lay an origami turtle, in colored paper matching their kimonos - purple for Master Shadow, blue for Master Steel, and red for Master Blood.Splinter unfolded the first, to find a message -

"You call yourselves the four rats, for your stealth and speed. But sitting in your safe castle, unwilling to make the tough decisions? I liken you to four turtles."

The second turtle had a message reading "I offered you the future of the Foot Clan, Splinter. I've always thought of myself as your friend, from the day you first joined our ranks... and you threw it in my face by joining these three fools."

The third turtle read as follows - "Three turtles down, and one to go. You can run, but you can't hide Hanzo. Not anymore...      ...and the thing about turtles is, they don't run very fast."

Finally, Splinter found his own orange kimono, draped over Hamato Yoshi's naked body and stained with his blood. Upon it was an orange turtle. Splinter unfolded it, and read the final message.


There was a white foot printed upon it, with the only words reading,

"Tonight I dine on turtle soup."


just a few turtle pngs

usik-paleo-illust:

Babt Triceratops