Heavy thoughts (IO)

The mid-day breeze shifted through the trees, silently, with only the roughing of leaves breaking it. Tatsuo Sat on the ground against the same tree he had used for sword practice earlier on in the week. The cuts and gashes he made still clearly visible within it's trunk. A thought had been troubling him as of late, and for the first time in a long while, he felt deep confusion over it. He had no idea what he was to do and thinking about it only seemed to make the answer move farther and farther away from his grasp. He looked up at the sky, seeing the light trickle down between the man leaves and branches over head hoping the answer would just find him so he could end his search for it at last. But alas, this was not to happen and he remained stuck in the state of confusion which had recently taken him over.

Tatsuo had been thinking of leaving the village, perhaps soon or perhaps not at all, he couldn't decide. He thought of leaving it all behind and going on his own journey, walking his own path and finding his own way. That would mean becoming a shinobi of no village. It could be hazardous and dangerous wandering the world alone, however that was the least Tatsuo feared at the moment. Ultimately he would just stop thinking about it, the frustration heavily mounting, and just decide swiftly. He was going to leave at some point, he knew now when, but sometime soon. Now he needed to decide if he was going to tell anyone of his plans or invite anyone to join him. Perhaps monarch would join him. Either way if he was to tell someone of his plans it would have to be monarch, he felt like the boy understood him in a way, he felt that way the minute they began exchanging fists in their battle that took place some time ago.

Monarch let out a heavy sigh walking calmly threw the woods leaning against tree and tree "I hate this place so much" Monarch said with a annoyed tone as he kept moving with ever move getting deep threw the trees before coming upon the boy Tatsuo, the one Monarch called friend "Why is Tatsuo here?I would think that he'd be training right now seeing as he and i were roughly the same strength he must have trained...I hope" Monarch though as Tatsuo sat down Monarch got down from the tree, Monarch wasn't sure what to do in this case, but he walked from his hiding place.

He saw Tatsuo sitting down like he had before "Hey there Tatsuo what's up" Monarch says happily approaching the man named Tatsuo calmly which was rare due to Monarchs normal freak outs he waited for Tatsuo's response for a while.

His thoughts were beginning to weigh down on him. Heavier and heavier they continued to grow. Until suddenly, they were halted all together by a voice, a familiar voice at that. It was Monarch, the only person Tatsuo wouldn't mind seeing right now. He stood up to greet the boy just after being greeted himself. "Yo Monarch. I'm just doing some pretty heavy thinking about my future and such. Been thinking about it ever since I finished learning a new fire style jutsu." It was true, these heavy thoughts of his had been coming in waves ever since his training with Kozata learning the Phoenix sage fire technique.
He looked down at the ground for a second before once again bringing his eyes up to lock with Monarchs own. What he said next would come in a very serious tone. "Keep this to yourself, but I'm planning to leave the village soon. I wanna be my own, walk my own path. It just seems more fitting to me, more... natural." His voice was serious but his facial expressions remained calm and neutral. 

He knew not how Monarch would respond. He figured it would come as a bit of a shock but even so, Tatsuo's mind was already made up. He wanted to explore the world, learn new things and gain a power he didn't think he could reach here in the village. He felt that he could find his path and obtain new powers along the way. You would think he was power hungry but surprisingly Tatsuo was not in the least. He only wished to gain power to better himself, and prove to himself that he could become something. If he was able to succeed in doing so, he would feel his life and his struggles would finally be worth it in the end.

Monarch listened to Tatsuo's every word intently, Tatsuo said he planned to leave the village to find his own way, a feature that mildly impressed Monarch "He has point...Forging your own path is better than following one that was already paved out for you..." Monarch thought to himself eyes getting a dim life in them, for the past few days Monarch the young ninja hadn't been training in awhile, although he had been thinking about what the outside world would be like, he had heard about multiple view points like Yukigakure or Tengakure the two places Monarch wanted to visit more than anything at the moment, he wanted to feel the seemingly infinite pressure that Tenga had to offer, and the bitter cold that Yuki had to offer as well Monarch might want to visit Amegakure to see what that village is like not knowing anything about any other villages aside from Kiri.

Monarch smiled at Tatsuo "Deal, on the condition...We visit Konoha and see how it is there" Monarch said with a smile knowing there was no deal but Monarch just wanted to pronounce that if Tatsuo left he was going whether or no the man wanted him to, he didn't want to be in Kiri much long right now, maybe once he got stronger but not now because he didn't feel right in this place.Monarch smiles looking at Tatsuo "And yes I'm forcing myself into your plans on leaving and no there's nothing you can do about it" Monarch says in his normal friendly tone to seal the declaration that he was going and there would be nothing Tatsuo could say or do to stop him.

As Tatsuo spoke of his plans, Monarch seemed intrigued. It was almost like he to had been planning something such as this. Would they meet somewhere in the future both much stronger then as of now? No, it wouldn't be nearly that long. The boy simply forced himself into going with Tatsuo. With his hands tied, he simply nodded in agreement. "Suppose we are partners then. You did put up a good fight during our match, best I've gone up against in awhile. That makes you the best candidate for teamwork."

Before they were to leave the village though, they needed to take care of any unfinished business. In doing so they should be able to leave with no regrets. Tatsuo had one big thing left to do before he was ready to go, the Fire Wolves. He needed still to go to their temple and gain their trust. Monarch could join him, it would be a great experience for training. "You should join me on my travel to the fire temple. I plan to make a pact with them for a summoning. Would be great training though."

Monarch grinned as the man told him about his wish to make a pact to summon which got Monarch thinking about his contract with the wolves he had met and reminded him about the Summon he had yet to make a pact with "Kintru" Monarch muttered quietly as he rubbed his arms he didn't know where the fire temple was nor would he be able to get there easily he'd have to ask everyone for directions and that's a hassle to do in itself, Monarch sighed "Might as well help him right?" Monarch thought to himself with a smile before turning his head a little then back to Tatsuo.

Monarch would grin "Okay, we can go...But after we get there and you get your summon contract, I DEMAND A REMATCH!" Monarch said in a jokers tone hoping Tatsuo would accept due to the unfortunate end to their spar ahead of time Monarch really had Tatsuo on the ropes however Tatsuo may have train Monarch was only using half of his cunning tactics to fight the ninja. now he'd be able to go all out on Tatsuo without worry.

The boy demanded a rematch once the travels to the summoning temple. Tatsuo thought about this for a couple moments. It was feasible considering their last bout had been interrupted. They were both pushing each other pretty hard. It appeared to be in Tatsuo's favor however it could have went either way. Tatsuo just then had an idea come to his head. Why wait? They could finish their match now then go and take on the wolves. Boosting their skills was always essential.

"Our last bout did get interrupted didn't it. Well, why not finish it now?" Tatsuo would walk away from Monarch towards a tree, and take his sword off his belt. Removing it from its sheath he would stab it into the wooden trunk. Then, with the sheath in hand, he would take a position 5 meters away from Monarch. Taking a combat stance, he planned to use the sheath in place of the actual blade. It wouldn't be polite to go hacking off the limbs of his new partner. He held the sword in front of him, not yet with the grace of the new style he had been working on. He hoped to keep this as a surprise from Monarch until the battle began.

As he awaited the boys response. He closed his eye and cleared his mind. Focusing on his senses and what was going on around him. He was ready to fight and this time he would fight at full power, however he would try his best to do so without transforming. "Lets both go at full power, first one to give up or be unable to continue. Sound good to you my friend?" His voice was calm and focused with the intensity to match. He prepared for Monarch to give it his all and he hoped the boy would prepare for the same from Tatsuo. This would be the ending to the battle they had participated in awhile ago. This one, however, would have a clear winner.

WC: 336

Monarch Grinned at Tatsuo throughout everything he did, Monarch thought to himself quickly what the best choice in moves would be, Monarch only having shurikens and kuanis on him wouldn't do much against this man who Monarch already knew could turn into a basic demon Monarch knew now that the flying power he obtained from this form would be Monarch's biggest disadvantage he knew that by the look of Tatsuos' stance he wasn't going to hold back on Monarch's body his sheathe seems pretty violent if hit with Monarch could deal with a couple hits without trauma to his body but not much more, He smiled to his opponent.

"I need to fight him with my full strength ... I can't pull my punches with this one...But...I can use the environment to my advantage" Monarch thought knowing there was a forest with trees to block from skyward attacks unless Tatsuo decided to burn the forest down which Monarch thought he might not do, Monarch took a stance that seemed like he was going to fight.

Instead of lunging at his enemy he simply smile "Okay, let's go...but first...come and get me Tatsuo" Monarch said bolting backwards pulling two kunai out of his weapon pouch, at about 15 meters into the forest Monarch would turn around assuming Tatsuo was in a vicinity that he could throw his kunai he would at a speed of 10, making sure that he wouldn't throw the kunai too fast as to stick the other ninja but just enough to low him down so Monarch could get into another stance a more defensive stance that left little openings.

Their battle about to resume from the previous match, Tatsuo readied himself for anything. Monarch, however, seemed to retreat causing Tatsuo to give chase. "Clever, make the opponent come to you." He thought o himself as he pursued the lad. A couple meters into the chase, Monarch turned and launched kunai knives at Tatsuo. The speed with which they traveled was easily far less than Tatsuo's own speed and reaction time. He avoided them easily, and never lost focus of his opponent. As he was running behind Monarch he decided to stop and jump quickly up in the trees. Once he was about half way up he began pursuing Monarch from above. 

He kept behind Monarch, his speed slightly superior from what he could tell as he slowly began to gain on the boy. If he could just get close enough then he would be able to do some damage. He could always use the phoenix sage fire technique, but that would most likely have serious environmental affects in a setting such as this. He decided that he would only use the jutsu if he needed to. If he could not catch the boy or he felt he would not be able to, he could easily use the move to block his path. It was a sound plan, but with its own set of disadvantage as well.

WC: 228 + 336 = 564

Monarch gulped as he stopped on a dime without anyone knowing.Monarch turned around to see his "Rival" was hopping threw the trees at a pretty decent speeds Monarch stopped one kunai in hand with his left hand moving to pick up 3 shurikens to have things to throw at his opponent Monarch smiled as he threw three shurikens 10 meters from his opponent with his mark set to hit only the opponents legs nothing more, Monarchs shurikens would leave hi hands at speed of 56 Monarch wouldn't mean to hurt the ninja but he had nothing to spar with aside from hand to hand which Monarch wasn't very used to.

Once the Shurikens left Monarch's hands Monarch would get into his defensive stance, Kunai in his right hand watching Tatsuo, unless the ninja fell from the trees he would be impaled by the shurikens and have holes in his demonic legs although not mattering much due to Monarchs assumption the ninja would be smart enough to dodge, do to Monarch believing in Tatsuo from the very beginning.