SMASH! Shredder’s fist narrowly missed Splinter’s face. Somehow, despite the growing intensity of their fight, the two ninja masters showed no signs of exhaustion—only anger. Shredder could see the fire in his opponent’s eyes. It was a fire he hadn’t seen since that fateful night in Japan years ago.

“You never had anything but your hatred, and if you defeat me, you will have nothing!” Splinter reminded him, and hurled his jagged spear through the air.

With catlike reflexes, Shredder sensed the attack and sprang toward the ceiling, performing a backflip dodge that few warriors in the world could execute. The tip of Splinter’s spear flew a fraction of an inch from Shredder’s eyes, missing its mark.

“That is where you are wrong,” Shredder taunted as he landed on his feet.

Splinter considered this for a moment. He knew Shredder had nothing to live for. That was why he fought with zero hesitation, never fearing death. But that statement . . . He seemed so confident. What did he have up his sleeve?

“You took something from me, so I took something from you,” Shredder confessed with an evil grin. “Your daughter!”

A grave look came over Splinter’s face. It couldn’t be. He thought back to that painful night.The night he’d lost his family forever. Or had he?

Tang Shen’s screams echoed through his memories as he thought of the flames his enemy—Oroku Saki—had set to their home. He recalled seeing Oroku Saki running away from the fire, carrying something in his arms. But all these years he’d assumed it was a weapon of some kind, or the torch Saki had used to set the blaze. Never once did he consider it might have been a child. His child. Baby Miwa . . .

Could the daughter of Hamato Yoshi be alive after all these years?

The shock snapped Splinter back to reality. The thought of his only child being raised by Shredder—as his own—was far too much to bear. “No! It can’t be!” he yelled.

Seeing Splinter’s distraction as the golden opportunity he’d been waiting for, Shredder savagely attacked. The tables had turned!