Naruto took Issei out to sea for their fight. It made sense. Since they were already on the beach, it was close by, and greatly reduced the chance of getting humans mixed up in their business.
They didn't go as far out to sea as Naruto had with Kurama. Naruto didn't think that was necessary. This wasn't going to be nearly as large a spectacle. It was a good thing they didn't go that far, either, because it would've taken Issei all day.
"Is that the fastest you can fly?" Naruto asked.
"Shut up!" Issei wheezed.
They'd been flying for about thirty minutes, maybe a little bit more. They were far enough off the coast that land couldn't be seen in the background. Eventually, they found an island small enough that it wasn't inhabited except for a few abandoned buildings. Naruto was waiting on the beach of that island, watching Issei beat his wings until he could land there.
While flying, Issei could move a little slower than a car on the highway. Distance left him noticeably tired, too. He landed next to Naruto and bent forward with his hands on his knees. He was still glaring at Naruto.
Naruto scratched the back of his head. He hadn't meant for his question to seem like an insult. When he talked to Rias, she'd described how Issei had the potential to destroy the world. Plus, Naruto had remembered where he heard about the Welsh Red before.
He'd done a little bit of research after getting jumped by Vali on his last trip to the surface. Yeah, yeah, shocking right? Naruto doing RESEARCH. But he'd been curious.
She introduced herself as the Eighty Third White Dragon Emperor. The being sealed inside of her sacred gear was Albion, the White Dragon, one of the strongest dragons to ever live. Only Ophis and the Great Red were stronger, while Albion's only rival was Ddraig…
The Welsh Red.
White and Red Dragon emperors had been doing battle against each other ever since the Great War. They were eternal rivals. Sure, they grew and fell in power based on the host, but Naruto couldn't easily forget the cheatlike experience of fighting against Vali, feeling her suck away AND absorb power just by touching him. If it was Vali he had been flying with, she would've been at least as fast as him. So seeing Issei winded already was genuinely surprising.
"How long ago were you reincarnated?" Naruto asked.
"Almost a month ago!" Issei said.
He said it like it was a long time. Meanwhile, for Naruto, things started making a lot more sense. In fact, he was moderately impressed that Issei had even flown this far.
Regular humans in this world were like untrained civilians in the Elemental Nations. Issei didn't have access to heaps of chakra, he didn't even have a little bit of it, or a comparable power of any kind. He had just been a kid. His ability was to double his own power, which was absolutely busted, yet relied on having something significant to double in the first place.
"Let's do this!" Issei pointed at Naruto's chest.
The guy had good willpower, Naruto noticed. He'd seen a glimmer of potential in the stories Rias told of Issei risking his life to save Asia. If he hadn't, he wouldn't be bothering with this.
"We'll take five more minutes," Naruto said.
Just because he'd always been blessed in the stamina department across two different lives didn't mean he couldn't spot exhaustion. Despite his boasts, Issei was seriously tired.
That's probably why the brown haired boy accepted Naruto's suggestion. They both went and faced each other on the beach, separated by a decent distance.
Naruto counted in his head. Even if he'd always been hyperactive, he still received training as a shinobi of Konohagakure. For missions like stakeouts, information drops, and other non-combat objectives, having a developed internal clock was a requirement.
When five minutes had passed, Naruto lifted his arm the way instructors used to for taijutsu bouts back in the academy. "Begin!"
He karate chopped the air. Immediately, Issei created a big red gauntlet on his arm.
"Leave the president alooooooooone!"
He cocked his fist back and swung, predictably, with the hand garbed in a big metal gauntlet.
Naruto knocked the punch off course using the back of his hand, thumping it into Issei's arm in the middle of his swing. Despite being greeted with a dozen openings, Naruto stayed on the defensive for now.
"One of your duties is going to be hunting stray devils," Naruto said. "You've already fought fallen angels too, from what I heard. A lot of them are going to be beautiful. As beautiful as Asia, even. What'll you do when you have to fight an enemy like that?"
"I already beat Yuuma— Raynare!"
Naruto assumed that was the fallen angel from Rias's story. Issei wasn't finished.
"I'll fight them for Buchou's sake… With bodyshots, like this, that won't get in the way of their pretty faces!"
Issei swung his fist toward Naruto's body from a low angle.
Naruto moved sideways and swung his fist at Issei's face. Issei was slammed over onto his back, left staring up at the sky and wondering what hit him. A splotchy multicolored bruise immediately formed on his cheek.
"You can't think about useless things like that," Naruto said. "You'll get killed, or worse you'll get somebody else killed. If they're your enemy, you've got to beat 'em up anyway that you can!"
Issei rolled into a crouch. "I'll show you strong! Boost!"
He came at Naruto twice as fast. It still looked pitifully slow.
Naruto defended a few more blows, then hopped a few feet back from Issei. "Do you think you should be engaged to Rias?"
"I'd be better than you! At least I'm not some playboy she's barely met! We know each other!"
Issei ran at him. The flurry of blows before had been long enough for ten seconds to pass. For a second time, he said: "Boost!"
He met both of Naruto's feet as a dropkick hurled him backwards. Issei's body sailed back and landed roughly on the ground. He wheezed and gasped loudly where he landed, clutching his chest. Something sounded like it had broken.
"You're thinking about useless stuff again!" Naruto said. "Life's not some romance novel!"
He knew those too well, unfortunately. Not only was his mom a sucker for them, Ravel was just as obsessed. For her birthday, one of the things she always asked for was for Naruto to listen while she read them out loud. Naruto did it for her but man did he not like those books. Kidnapping? Arranged marriages? All kinds of messed up things were made to look great, just because they ended with love!
"True love is something you've gotta pick for yourself!" Naruto said. "Nobody's parents can do it! Instead of saying you'd be a better fit for Rias, you should be focusing on helping your King get out of the chains somebody put on her, dattebayo!"
Issei spat out sand and got to his feet, looking wobbly as he tried to maintain his balance.
"You're just saying that!" Issei said. "I bet you couldn't be happier about getting married to a hot girl like the president, having her all to yourself as your wife… It's not fair!"
Naruto blasted Issei back with wind magic. He didn't even use chakra, relying on devil magic instead.
Issei rolled like a tumbleweed until he yelled: "Boost!" and dug his gauntlet into the sand.
Issei was showing the strain of doing as many boosts as he had. This was probably the most that he was able to manage.
He got his wings out and flew straight at Naruto, who bent his knees and raised his arms to face him.
As Naruto faced the charging Issei, he barked out one more question:
"If Rias was about to die, what would you do!?"
Naruto's wings came out and carried him toward Issei at the same time, like two cars speeding at each other.
Issei didn't have to think about Naruto's question.
"I'LL DIE BEFORE I LET HER DIE!"
Naruto's fist was positioned to slip through Issei's guard. The strength in this blow would bury Issei into the beach. However, at the last second, Naruto lowered his arms.
Issei's maximum punch smashed into Naruto's cheek.
The way his eyes got so round was downright comical.
The two of them stopped, Issei's fist still pressed against Naruto's cheek, who hadn't flown back or even flinched. Naruto was grinning at him.
"I like that answer! Rias is right, you've got some potential," Naruto said. "It's just about bringing it out."
"How do we do that?" Issei asked. He was sounding a lot less sure of himself after landing his first hit of the fight and seeing Naruto fail to move.
"To start with, I'm going to win this spar." Naruto was grinning. "Clench your teeth!"
Heavy hits and lots of pained yelping later, an almost unrecognizable Issei lay on his stomach on the beach. Naruto was sitting on top of him, his butt planted on Issei's back. Every time Naruto moved it would put pressure on a different injury that Issei had accrued, causing the boy to groan out of pain.
"Do you surrender?" Naruto asked.
Issei was silent, unwilling to say it. However, the two of them were both aware who had won. Naruto leaned back, making Issei hiss as one of his biggest injuries was aggravated.
"Wanna hear one of the reasons I'm this strong?" Naruto asked.
"Becasuse you're a cheating handsome bastard who was born with everything he wanted?"
Naruto put his hand on the back of Issei's head, doing so with the manner of someone resting it on an armrest, and pushed his face in the sand to end his sass. Issei's obvious jealousy aside, for people in this world, it WOULD seem like Naruto was born incredibly lucky. They wouldn't know that he worked for his skills… In another life.
"I had a good teacher once," Naruto said. "He's not around anymore. When I met him, he was one of the strongest people I'd ever seen. Maybe THE strongest. And how did that guy, who could destroy twenty enemies at the same time like it was nothing, spend his time? He peeked on women who were changing, visited brothels and bars, and made a fortune writing porn."
"What were his books called?" Issei asked.
Of course he would ask that first.
Naruto pushed harder again, keeping Issei's face stuffed to the sand, giving himself time to keep talking.
"I used to call him Pervy Sage, because he used senjutsu like I do and he was a massive pervert." Naruto chuckled. "We traveled around while he was teaching me. There were days he'd toss some technique at me and say go study on your own! Because he was busy peeping on women. I'd usually rat him out so he'd take a beating."
Issei spat out sand and managed to speak from the corner of his lips. "Traitorous handsome guy. How could you turn in your fellow man?"
Given how he kept calling Naruto handsome, what would he have thought of Naruto's past back in Konoha, when he'd been considered a class loser?
It didn't really matter. Naruto was getting to his real point.
"Pervy Sage was a total pervert," Naruto said. "He was honest about who he was. Eighty percent of the time, he'd be getting up to something ridiculous like that! Then he sacrificed his life for the sake of the people he cared about, me included."
Issei didn't have a sharp retort for that.
"He went into enemy territory and risked his life against a dangerous enemy. In the end, that fight killed him. But he learned enough about the enemy to send word about their abilities. If not for that, I would've lost when I fought him!" With the element of surprise, Nagato would've been unstoppable. Naruto would never have lasted long enough to convince Nagato to turn over a new leaf. "That wasn't the only time Pervy Sage was like that. The twenty percent of the time when he wasn't being a pervert, he never let me down. He was as reliable as anyone. And he was strong, too! So strong that even though he goofed around, every one of his enemies knew to take him seriously."
"I wish I could've met him," Issei said. "He sounds like someone I could've looked up to."
It was maybe the first time Naruto had heard Issei sound calm and serious. Naruto laughed. "He would've loved you! He probably would've sat you down and had a long debate about the best cup size in girls. And then he would've beaten you to a pulp over and over again until he was satisfied with how tough you were. Maybe he would've thrown you off a cliff with your wings tied. He did something like that to me one time."
Issei looked pale. "I'm not sure I wish I could've met him anymore."
"It would've been good for you!" Naruto said. "When Pervy Sage was done with you, you would've been strong enough to protect Rias without dying yourself. He'd show you how to protect Asia, because next time there isn't a resurrection option waiting to bring her back to life. Above all, he would've shown you how to grow a pair, man! You don't need to scream just because a hot girl asks you to rub something on her body! You want to, she obviously wants you to, so just do it, like a man! But… Pervy Sage isn't here. He can't meet you. So I guess I've gotta do it instead. It's what he would've wanted."
Naruto climbed off of Issei. He turned around, bent forward, and stuck his hand out.
"What do you say, Issei?" he asked. "Ready to become a man?"
Issei looked at him with an unreadable expression before grasping Naruto's outstretched hand using his gauntletted one.
"I'll be in your care, master!" Issei bellowed.
Naruto hadn't known he had a bone that serious in his body. He stood in front of Naruto at attention like a soldier. Which was good.
Because Naruto hadn't really been asking.
"Don't regret it later," Naruto warned, wearing a grin that told Issei he just might.
Issei looked nervous as Naruto cracked his knuckles.
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