A Sage in training

Disclaimer: All publicly known characters belong to their respective creators and companies. I own nothing except for a few OCs that may or many not appear in this story.

Chapter 1

10 year old Issei Hyoudou was alone in the park. Why was he alone? It was because just a week before his best friend and neighbor Iri move abroad leaving him behind, not that he blamed them. Nut it also left him with no friends as Iri was not only his best friend but also his only friend.

Sure there were other kids he used to play with but they were just that his playmates not friends.

So he was all alone in the park until he saw some kids gathering near an old man and seem to be having lots of fun with whatever he seem to be saying. He also wanted to hear what he was saying but could not get closer due to the large amount of kids nor listen properly due to the noise they were making.

So he just walked away found a bench to rest. He missed his friend but he was not sad about it, after all he promised that he would meet him again and that he would prove that he was the cooler one of the two.

The noise of the children died down and it seems that the old man was finally leaving.

Issei noted that the old man seem to be in a bit of hurry to leave, though he seems to have noticed him as he was coming towards him.

"Hello my boy." The old man greeted

"Why are you sitting here all alone?" he asked.

"Did you not here me preach about the wonder that the world offers?" he continued "Well as much as I would like to stay and preach to you of the wonders of the world, I'm in a bit of a hurry but to not feel left out I'll give you this book and let you discover true wonder yourself."

The book was a bit old Issei noted and was also a bit skeptical of taking it.

"Why?" Issei asked "why are you giving it to me?"

"Why indeed my boy." laughing a bit he said. "it's because I see that whatever that is in the book you will be able to not only see the beauty of it but also spread it like me. And don't worry I have many copies of the book you are holding so no loss for me."

Issei was grateful to the old man, though he did seem a bit untidy and a bit of a drunkard he was at least kind enough to not let him feel and also quite passionate about whatever he was preaching.

"Thank you, sir. I promise that whatever it is in the book I'll learn it and also spread it like you."

"Do that my boy and you will always find a fellow believer in me. Now off you go and off I go and don't forget 'All hail Oppai'."

"Bye, sir." Issei waved though he was a bit confused about the last bit.

Opening the book he read the title, it said 'Senjutsu: The path of the Sage'.

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A few blocks away

The old man after going away from the park checked his belongings and found that something was missing.

"Ah I must have given that old book to the boy" he mused "though no loss as I said after I found that old book in that abandon temple so it must not be worth much, Though it saddens me that another one was lost before knowing the greatness of oppai .better leave before the police comes after me again like they did in the last town. But they would not stop me the world shall know the wonder that is oppai."

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Later at the Hyoudou household

Issei was going through the book like he had promised the old man and he found out that it was quite boring and soon wanted to give up reading it. But he didn't as he had promised the old man who seem to be quite enthusiastic about it.

Issei though that the man must have been a sage, as he seem to fit the criteria for it. Old, poor looking and a bit of the wise type as he talked to him, so Issei concluded that the old man was definitely a sage not some poor drunkard beggar, after all what kind of beggar would have a book on 'Senjutsu'.

The old man said that he saw something in him that made him give him the book out of the many children in the park and said that he could learn what was in the book and become a sage, though he didn't say that directly he did imply it. Must be a sage thing.

Now Issei mused could he become a sage? The answer was not clear to him but having someone say that you have the potential to become something did give him some confidence. Even if it was from a stranger, a sage, a wise man from stories had told him that he could become one; it did fill him with a strange hope and determination to live up to that expectation.

And thus with a renewed energy Issei continued to read the book. Though there were many sentences and words he did not understand he continued to read the book and even went though it cover to cover.

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3 weeks later

Issei was a bookstore to buy a dictionary and some mangas. He found that they were a lot of things that he did not understand that were in the book and thought that a dictionary and reference book would help him. And the manga you ask? Hey he was a then year old book of course he would buy some mangas and comics. He can't just keep reading an old book over and over again no matter his promise, Cut him some slack already.

And on the topic of the book, he had the book memorized from cover to cover but that did not help him as he still fail to understand many things in the book, and not matter the amount of blind memorization would help him understand it, thus the need for reference books and dictionary.

He was browsing through the manga section since he had already selected the dictionary and a reference book and was now going through the manga section to buy some.

He skimmed through most of the mangas and took the most interesting ones when he came across one that mentioned chakra.

Now he knew that he had heard the word somewhere, when it occurred to him that he had read about it in the book.

He quickly bought the manga and the dictionary and headed home and started comparing it with the book. He found out that the chakra mentioned in the manga and the book were almost the same with some difference.

He busted out laughing at that. He had thought that he would have to buy many expensive books to even know what was being said in the book when he could have just have bought a few mangas to learn it. All his plans of extreme saving went down the drain.

Funny as it was that a manga would be a source of information, he did think that buying more reference books would be helpful. He was surprise at the incident but he should have known better after all.

'A sage finds knowledge where another would least expects it.'

It was a strange saying but one proven true in his situation. It also proved another tenant of sage training.

'One does not become a sage only due to knowledge itself, but also from the various experiences and lessons that the world teaches them no matter how absurd or strange they may be.'

Yes, it was strange, profound but strange. But if this is how one learns to become a sage then Issei though he would not mind becoming one.

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AN: This is a new story that i thought up as it was up in my head for sometime now and thought it would be interesting. this story, a 'what if' story, came to me when i though, what if Issei had training in senjutsu at a young age with the timeline been after Irina had left. and after a bit of thinking another thing popped up. What if the old man responsible for Issei's oppai obsession was the cause of his sage training an thus this story came into existence.

I will have to admit that i have no fixed plan for this story but it is a crossover and will be a crossover so be on the look out for it. though the elements of nasuverse will come in in the most unexpected manner or maybe not so unexpected but i'll try.