Hamato Yoshi (The Next Chapter)

Hamato Yoshi (also frequently referred to by his alias Splinter or Master Splinter) was a mutant rat, ninjutsu sensei, known for being both the adoptive father and sensei of all four of the Ninja Turtles, the long-lost biological father of Hamato Miwa, husband of Tang Shen as well as the adoptive brother and sworn enemy of The Shredder (born Oroku Saki).

Human
As human, he is a tall and muscular Japanese human, with black hair and brown eyes, and he also wears a Hamato Clan kimono.

Mutant
Splinter is a mutant Gambian pouched rat. He has really big round ears, a pink nose, and a pink tail. He has black eyes with white sclerae, covered by thin black eyeglasses. He wears a red Hamato Clan kimono over grey fur. He has a short white beard on his chin.

Personality
Splinter is very wise, noble, polite, humble, disciplined and generous ninjutsu sensei who can be very strict when it comes to training and letting his sons venture up to the surface, as seen in many episodes. At certain times, he may use harsh methods in order for them to learn a lesson. Nonetheless, Splinter is a loving father who only wants what is best for his sons, and will do anything that he can to protect them from harm's way.

Though stern at certain times, Splinter was known as a wise sensei, a defensive, protective and affable parent, a loving father, a stern disciplinarian, a quirky master, and a Zen (he is very often seen in the Dōjō meditating). Having lost a family once, he is very determined to train and protect his new one at all costs, though he grudgingly realizes that the Turtles are now at an age where he will have to, at some point, give them the freedom to make their own mistakes in the outside world. The fact that he has gone through decades of ninja training does not only mean that he is always fierce when he fights, but that he's also remarkably in tune with the universe. He is a ninja master at the height of his abilities; he is so in tune with the universe that he can literally feel its vibrations, allowing him to project and sense energy and, occasionally, the intentions of others.

Splinter seems to dislike anyone that lays a hand on the Turtles. Splinter's absolute worst fear is losing his family all over again to the Shredder. His fear of losing the Turtles to the Shredder caused him to push their training to the point where they become exhausted, stressed, and antsy, though he does eventually apologize for it. Splinter fears the fact that the Turtles will leave him someday.

History
Born in 1962 in Ōsaka, Japan into a peacekeeping ninja clan called Hamato, Hamato Yoshi enrolled into a Martial Arts school before he could inherit his father's role as clan leader.

Originally a human named Hamato Yoshi, Splinter lived in Japan and studied ninjutsu alongside his best friend, Oroku Saki (later known as The Shredder). Yoshi's father found the young Saki as a baby boy, and raised him as Yoshi's brother.

Yoshi's skills were only rivaled by fellow student Oroku Saki, who was Yoshi's adoptive brother, originally from one of the wiped out rival clans, The Foot. Not only were they rivals in Martial Arts but also for the love of a beautiful woman named Tang Shen, who eventually chose to marry Yoshi. Saki could not accept this and once insulted Yoshi in front of her. Yoshi lost his temper and struck Saki to the ground. This attack solidified Saki's hatred for Yoshi and he vowed revenge. During this time, Saki learned of his true heritage and rebuilt the Foot Clan, rechristening himself as "the Shredder". One night, he came to Yoshi's home armed with razor sharp claw weapons and challenged him to a duel to the death. Yoshi accepted, and the two tore through Yoshi's home, catching it on fire. Just as Saki was about to kill Yoshi, Shen interfered and took the fatal blow for herself. Yoshi barely escaped without knowing the fate of his baby daughter Miwa, assuming her to also be seemingly killed, but in reality Shredder secretly abducted her and raised as his daughter, Karai.

Devastated, Hamato gave up his original name and left Japan for an eternity's exile. Under the alias "Splinter", he arrived in USA and attempted to start a new life in New York City. One fateful night, he bought four baby turtles at a local pet store. As he was walking down the street, he bumped into a suspicious man, whom he curiously followed into an alley way. As Splinter watched the first man exchanging a strange canister of Mutagen with another, he accidentally stepped on a rat which gave away his position. A fight ensued, and while Splinter was able to defeat the men (who were actually Kraangdroids in disguise), the canister was broken. Splinter and his newly bought pet turtles were all covered in ooze and mutated instantly. He became a giant rat for the last thing he touched was a rat before his mutation, while the turtles became anthropomorphic.

For the following eleven years, Splinter and the Turtles lived in hiding in the sewers under New York City. Taking them in as his sons and students, Splinter raised the Turtles and trained them in the ways of Ninjutsu.

After the Turtles sneak back in from the outside world, trying to be quiet, Splinter catches them. Leonardo admits that they went to see a movie with a human, and Splinter says that humans are bad and threatens to "tell them the story". The turtles (except Leonardo, who is excited) say they hate the story, and, just for that, Splinter tells the Turtles the long version. Splinter tells of his rivalry with The Shredder. After the turtles rescued April O'Neil, Leonardo asked Splinter if the reason that he made Leo the leader was because he had a true warrior spirit, Splinter actually reveals that the reason he made Leonardo the leader was because he asked, when questioned if any of the other brothers would have become leader if they asked first to which Splinter agreed, except for Michelangelo because he would think that would have been wrong.

After Raphael meets Casey Jones, Splinter explains to a grumpy Raphael that anger can indeed jeopardize the people around you. Yet again, Splinter tells of his harsh past. He explains that his temper against The Shredder is what ultimately caused one of his own family members to get killed before his very eyes.

One day, April O'Neil, being a friend of the Turtles at school, April came over to the sewers to hang out with the Turtles. However, while the Turtles took April back to her apartment, the Foot Clan invaded the lair and kidnapped Splinter, taking him back to the warehouse where they were headquartered. He was left chained to a wall, starved and weakened, for several days.

During the Turtles' exile to the countryside, Leonardo psychically connected to Splinter while meditating. The Turtles all managed to connect with their beloved master as well, allowing Splinter to reassure them and tell them of his love for them.

Upon learning of Splinter's past, finding out that he was Hamato Yoshi, Shredder would go to kill Splinter. Before he could do so, Splinter was freed by April and Casey Jones, and managed to convince the Shredder's mutant and human followers that he was only using them. He then made his way to the place where the Shredder was battling all four of the Turtles. Shredder is going to kill Splinter by charging at Splinter with the yari to impale him. Splinter uses one of Michelangelo's nunchucks to wrap the yari and to send Shredder over the side of the roof. Shredder tried a final attempt to kill Splinter by trying to stab him with a tanto. But, Splinter sent him falling into a garbage truck, Casey then flattening him.

With that, he was reunited with his sons, and watched as they celebrated their victory.

Abilities
Originally, as a human, he was a great and powerful master of Ninjutsu. He was training for his entire life when he was very young. He has mastered many skills and has great abilities, such as great strength, acrobatics, speed, stamina, and endurance greater than Olympic athletes and had pushed his body to peak physical condition. Splinter seems to be very adept in regards to the mind. Splinter has perhaps trained in the ways of ninja for all of his life, which makes him very methodical in physical situations, and able to act easily in difficult situations that require thought.

Splinter's feelings for his former family; His daughter, Miwa, who was taken away from him by his arch-nemesis, and his deceased wife Tang Shen, who was killed in a battle, and his determination to hold onto his current bond with the Turtles...is ultimately what gives him the majority of the abilities he has today. He can also seemingly read his foes' thoughts and predict their next move, implying that he can sense the projections of opponents (and use his keen hearing).

This seemed to be evident during his fight with Shredder, during which Splinter also demonstrated his ingenuity by using his natural abilities as a mutant rat in the fight (something that he had never shown before, as he focused on training the turtles in more human skills), such as catching Shredder's blade in his teeth and running on all fours. Despite The Shredder taunting Splinter about his daughter, Shredder was able to defeat Shredder, but Karai saw the whole thing. In turn, Karai would never stop looking for Splinter and the Turtles. She already hated Splinter, but now she hated him with a passion. He killed her "father" in front of her.

Mutant Physiology: As a mutant, the Mutagen Ooze increased Splinter's natural abilities to considerable superhuman levels. He demonstrated his mutant abilities throughout the film as listed below:


 * Enhanced Senses: He probably can see in the dark like regular rats do. He had shown in his feral state that he was able to smell a piece of cheese outside of his cage from Baxter Stockman glass.
 * Enhanced Strength: As a mutant, Splinter is deceptively strong and proven more tougher than he appears to be. His strength was shown that he was able to slap his hand against Bebop and toss him into the air by a back hand. He was even strong enough to send his opponents flying at rapid speed as he done it with the Shredder, though it may partially be a technique skill.
 * Jaw Strength: Splinter's jaws are powerful enough to break certain forms of metal, such as Shredder's retractable sword.
 * Enhanced Leaping: Splinter's strength extends into his legs, allowing him to jump at exceptional heights and distances. He can even jump very well to Shredder's window.
 * Enhanced Speed: He is shown to have a lot of abilities that ordinary rats possess - namely running on all fours. His speed is faster than the Turtles' Party Wagon.
 * Enhanced Reflexes: Splinter possesses great reaction speed and shown in many fight occasions that he can dodge incoming attacks.
 * Enhanced Stamina: For a mutant of his age (58), Splinter seems to be very well to fight without getting tired as much as regular humans. This is shown that he is well enough to take attacks from Shredder as he was able to go toe-to-toe with him. He was able to defeat Foot Ninjas, Bebop, and Rocksteady with absolute ease before he fought against the Shredder in a long brutal fight.
 * Enhanced Endurance: Splinter has extreme levels of pain tolerance. Even when countless heavy pillars fell on him during another fight with Shredder, he was still more than capable of fighting competently against his opponent. He was able to endure the attack from the mind controlled Slash's mace. He survived getting repeatedly struck by large structural metal beams while falling in considerable immense height sewer.
 * Enhanced Agility: Splinter is extremely agile and because of his great agility, he used his agility as his advantage against his opponents. For example, his astonish agility enable him to outmaneuver Shredder during their second encounter fight.
 * Enhanced Healing: With constant years of practice, Splinter has learned healing techniques to recover from massive trauma injuries. He taught his adoptive sons like Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo on how to heal themselves from incurable poisons, which implies Splinter knows various healing techniques.

Ninjutsu: As a master of Ninjutsu, Splinter was extremely knowledgeable, speedy and has greater strength. He can take down larger opponents without a whole lot of effort.

Master Martial Artist: Splinter's extraordinary skills of Ninjutsu are so remarkably high that even Slash referred to him as "one of the best" and claimed that "he's as skilled as Master Shredder, but he doesn't have the stomach to finish the fight". Although the Shredder's skills of Ninjutsu often seem to be higher due to his knowledge of forbidden techniques (even surprising Yoshi); however, he has been defeated by Splinter twice (once in Japan just before the fire that burned the Hamato home and again at the end of the film). Splinter easily defeated the army of Foot Clan, Bebop, and Rocksteady all at once.

Gallery
Character gallery: Splinter