Tales of Leonardo: Blind Sight issue 4

#4
Leonardo walks into his daimyō's audience chamber, fully dressed in his samurai armor but without his stolen swords. He spots a statue whose face resembles Splinter, then quickly realizes it is actually Kubira, the rat of the. The statue is shown standing near associated statues of the monkey, the snake and the chicken.

The daimyō has summoned him after learning the turtle samurai's swords have been stolen. Leo readily admits this. The daimyō angers, demanding how this was allowed to happen. Leo answers that he was asleep at the time of the theft. The daimyō angers even more, pointing out that the swords of the samurai serving under him are his property, and deems the turtle negligent for allowing someone else to steal them. Leo is clearly annoyed, and points to the sword the daimyō is carrying, judging it superior to the ones that were stolen in the night. The turtle promises to replace the stolen swords as soon as he can visit the village's swordsmith. But Leo's words are deemed intolerably insolent. The daimyō mocks the turtle, asking him what kind of swordsman he is when he has no swords. Leo admits that he has been wondering that himself. The impatient daimyō banishes the turtle from his village, threatening to kill his wife and daughter should the disgraced samurai ever return.

Leo silently walks out of the daimyō's castle, and keeps walking until he is out of the village. Soon after he has left the village, he removes all his samurai armor and abandons it piece by piece on the ground where he drops it. He goes into the wilderness, and reminds himself that this is just a vision. Still, Leo wonders why the vision is taking place here, and wonders what it is trying to tell him. He is also suspicious of the daimyō, who seemed eager to be rid of his turtle vassal.

Leo spots a man in the forest&mdash;the same unarmed man he had defended from the five samurai the previous day. The man points above and behind the turtle's position, revealing a masked woman ninja prowling on the higher rocks. The ninja jumps down and Leo engages in unarmed combat with her, but he also worries that he will lose control of his actions as he did in his previous battle. Leo soon outmaneuvers the ninja and knocks her flat on her face.

The ninja removes her mask, and reveals herself to be Yumi, Leonardo's own daughter. Leo is alarmed, declaring that he could have killed her. Yumi begs her father for forgiveness. Leo asks her why she attacked. Yumi admits having been curious what it would be like to fight against her father, and confesses that she was sent to kill him. But she relented, deciding she would rather kill herself than kill her father. Yumi again begs for forgiveness. Leo comforts his daughter and helps her up, insisting there is nothing to forgive. He asks Yumi who sent her, but she says she is forbidden from telling him that. But Leo already has a good idea who sent her, realizing that the daimyō must have framed him for the theft of his own swords. Yumi begs her father not to return to the village out of fear for his safety, instead advising him to retreat deeper into the wilderness in case of more assassins. Leo tears a strip of cloth from Yumi's ninja garb and quickly fashions it as a bandana for his face. Now dressed like a proper ninja turtle, Leo declares he will not run, and tells his daughter to return home unseen and see to the safety of her mother. Yumi offers to give her father the sheathed sword she is carrying, but Leo tells his daughter to keep it so she may defend herself. Yumi asks her father how he knew she was prowling near his location. Leo explains that a nearby man warned him. But Yumi did not see any man.

Leo prowls into the castle, locating the daimyō in the courtyard along with the swords that had supposedly been stolen. But the daimyō already detects the turtle's presence, and begins speaking to the masked visitor standing behind him.

The daimyō turns around to face the turtle, holding the "stolen" swords in his arms, confirming Leo's suspicions. The daimyō admits that he would have been disappointed had the turtle's daughter succeeded in killing him, hoping instead that the turtle would kill his daughter, discover her identity, then commit suicide with her sword. Leo is appalled that this entire situation has been about his swords. But the daimyō insists that the turtle's swords are special. The daimyō submerges the blade of an ordinary katana into nearby water, pointing out how the leaves floating in the water simply bump against the blade and continue floating off. But he takes one of the turtle's katana and submerges it in the water, and demonstrates how the leaves in the water slice themselves in half against the motionless blade on contact. THe daimyō theorizes that whoever wields these special words could not be beaten, and asks the turtle if they contain his fury. Leo insists the daimyō cannot control these swords. The daimyō asks why he should wish to restrain them. Leo tells the daimyō that he cannot control something he cannot understand&mdash;a lesson the turtle himself recently learnt&mdash;and that the only purpose these swords serve is to kill. Leo confesses to having been afraid that his own purpose was also only to kill, but now sees that the swords are only a part of him, and do not define him. The daimyō accuses his former vassal of weakness. Leo accepts this as a challenge to combat, and prepares to fight the daimyō unarmed.

The daimyō repeatedly fiercely swings the turtle's swords at him, but Leo dodges each and every attack, even as the blades easily cut through objects that get in their way. The battle moves into the audience chamber, and the daimyō senselessly slices through support columns and his own throne as it becomes clear to Leo that his opponent is succumbing to uncontrollable rage. Leo grabs and rips down a tapestry and uses it as an improvised whip, seizing the daimyō's left arm and making him drop one of the swords, which falls before the statue of Kubira. The daimyō slices the remaining sword through the cloth, then charges berserk towards the turtle. Leo quickly falls on his back and kicks upward against the daimyō's abdomen, throwing him against Kubira's statue and making him drop the other sword. The statue tips and falls against a nearby torch stand, knocking its fire onto the floor. To Leo's astonishment, the fire very rapidly moves around the room, and soon the entire chamber is on fire and Leo fears he is trapped. Leo again sees the unarmed man from before, standing amidst the flames. The man points in a direction, and both he and Leo proceed in that direction to a crawlspace. The statue of Kubira looks on as both men exit the crawlspace to the safety of the outdoors. The two keep walking as the castle starts going up in flames behind them.

As Leo and the man rest, the turtle has an epiphany.

The homeless man reaches over to the turtle, but Leo slumps over unconscious.

Leonardo finds himself sitting upright, back in the room with Splinter where he sipped the infini-tea&mdash;except, now, the turtle's sense of sight has been fully restored. Splinter asks his son if the tea worked. It did. Leo gets up and thanks his master. Before leaving the room, Leo mentions meeting someone in his vision named Kubira who may be related to Splinter. Splinter recognizes the name, acknowledging Kubira as cunning and resourceful. Leo leaves.

Splinter is now alone in the room.

Leonardo's vision

 * Homeless Man
 * Human Samurai
 * Human Villagers
 * Kubira
 * Leonardo's Daimy&
 * Yumi

Trivia

 * When Leonardo identifies Kubira as the rat of the Japanese zodiac, this is a simplification. Kubira is actually one of the, figures recognized in some traditions of . Kubira is a general who represents the rat of the zodiac. The other generals also have names and associated zodiac signs&mdash;Makora is the monkey, Sanchira is the snake, and Shindara is the chicken.
 * The test performed by Leonardo's daimyo regarding Kubira's swords is taken from a legend regarding the Japanese swordsmiths and . The legend holds that Masamune's blade turned the leaves away, while Muramasa's blade cut them.

Transcript

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