Kakashi worked her to the bone and hammered knowledge into her brain. Each day, she came home drained, mentally fried, and fed up with Kakashi. At least he only had to tutor her for a short time; even he was impressed how fast she picked stuff up.

Eris gave her the explosion release, but Megumin had no idea how to use it. Ninjutsu itself came easy to her. Although it wasn't explosion magic, she didn't have to sacrifice points or anything to use them.

Transformation technique, substitution, or even the illusion clone technique, all came easily to her. It was just a matter of learning the hand signs. Jutsu wasn't much different from magic, though instead of a talisman like her staff, hand signs were used to cast them.

She remembered her time at the Crimson Demon's Academy, shorter than others due to her graduating early. In fact, Kakashi said Megumin's only real problem was her "taijutsu," her reflexes, and her weapon handling skill.

Although they were neighbors, Megumin and Naruto hadn't run into each other much. In fact, it took the first day of the academy to finally see him, again. Megumin locked her door and watched as Naruto crawled out of his apartment. With a hint of disgust, she gawked. His hair, his clothes, even his droopy eyes were messy. Above that, the fella had the utmost trouble locking his door.

"Give me that," Megumin said as she plucked the keys from his hand and locked the door for him.

"Thanks."

As he took the keys back, she gave a downturned grin. "You'll be under Iruka, right?"

"Yep. That's my class."

He followed her down the stairs and towards the academy. The clouds swirled and twirled around the sun, though never in front of it.

Naruto yawned and smacked his lips. "So, do you live all alone, too?"

As she wrapped her arms around her body, she jerked his attention to him. "What kinda question is that?! I'll have you know, I lock my door with magic. And even if you did somehow get in, I'll use my explosion magic to blow you to-"

He waved his hands around. "It wasn't anything like that! I was just wondering where your parents were!"

She sucked in her cheek, keeping her stare at him. "My parents are back at my home village, and I wish to get back there as soon as possible. And what about you? Your parents?"

He kept quiet for a moment before he shrugged. "I'm not sure. I never knew them."

"Uzumaki," she said. "That's your name, right? Why don't you look into that name?"

"Er, well… research isn't my thing."

"You expect to be top of your class without any research?"

"I don't need to hear anything like that from you! You're going to flunk, you're not even from around here!" He pointed a finger at her. "Hey, wait! How did you know my last name?"

She widened her eyes and looked away. In reality, she asked Iruka because she was curious if his boasts were true, only to discover the boy had flunked the test several times, and his Jutsu, among other things, needed serious attention.

Her pace quickened.

"Why are you walking faster?"

"We're going to be late!" She lied, beginning to run.

"We are?!" He believed and quickened his pace, too.

In a scenery change to an empty classroom, the two of them sat at the front of the room. Naruto stared closely at Megumin, trying to see any imperfections in her cheek. Meanwhile, she stared blankly at the chalkboard, avoiding all eye contact.

"Listen-" She said. "I'm sorry. I thought watching you fail to lock your door took more time, thus, thinking we were going to be late."

"There's no one else here yet." He sighed and leaned on the desk. "I'm already bored and class hasn't even started yet."

"...Are you going to pass the final exam, Naruto?"

He slapped one hand down and pointed with the other. "Of course, I am! What kinda question is that? Didn't I say-"

"I asked Iruka about you."

His finger went limp. "Oh, you did? So…"

"You have the worst grades of them all."

"Is that all he said?" He asked in a shy manner.

Megumin's eyebrows raised a little, sensing the shift of tone in his demeanor. "Y-yeah? And you're also a trouble maker, but I already knew that."

She thought he'd retort like his eccentric self, but he stared at the desk. She grinned smugly as she slapped his back. "Are you actually thinking, for once?"

He grunted as he struck her with a glare before he leaned his chair against the desk behind them. "I can't wait till I see you fail. Every first day, we go over the Jutsu we were working on before the break, and there's no way you could have learned anything like that in such a short time!"

Megumin grinned. "Actually…"

"Naruto, what's this?" A boy in a grey, fur hoodie, and a small dog within it asked. "You're sitting upfront? With a girl, no less?! Oh, don't tell me, you actually got a girl to take pity on you and sit by you!"

Megumin's eye twitched. "Naruto, who is this mutt?"

"It's just Kiba," Naruto answered. "No one special."

"Not special?!" Kiba glared at him and then at her. "And you… did you just call me… mutt?"

Kiba clawed at her desk, splinters peeling off as his long, dirty fingernails carved into the desk. "I don't care if you are a pretty girl!" He said, spit flying off like debris. "Just wait until the sparring matches, I'll show you what a mutt can do!"

As she straightened her back, she leaned her chair back on the desk behind her and folded her arms. "Pass. Sparring with you is beneath me."

"What?!" He asked, voice cracking before he pointed. "You don't have a choice! In this class, we all spar! And I'm going to make sure I get paired up with you!"

"Will you stop yelling? You're getting drool everywhere."

"What's going on here?" Another boy asked as he came into the classroom. "You're making a lot of noise, Kiba. My mom made me get out of bed early and I thought I could nap before class but it's so nosy in here."

"Oh, Shikamaru," Kiba said. "Sorry. The new student got me worked up."

"A new student this late into the program?" He glanced at Megumin. "And why is she sitting by Naruto, of all people?"

"Naruto wants to be my rival," she said.

"Huh?!" Naruto almost punched her but settled for merely threatening her with a fist raised up. "Just wait until the sparring matches!"

"Pass."

Naruto gritted his teeth. Shikamaru smiled as he sat next to Naruto, too. "This is too good."

Kiba looked cluelessly at them all until he too sat at the front with them.

"You four! I've always sat up front here!" A blonde girl said.

Shikamaru grinned as he laid his head down on the desk for a nap. "Sorry, Ino. You snooze, you lose."

She huffed air out of her nose before she marched to the front-left row desk, she sat and frowned at them. "Who is that, anyway? That girl?"

"Yeah, what is your name, anyway?" Kiba asked.

"Her name is-"

Megumin grasped Naruto's mouth, silencing him. "If I wanted to say my name, I would have."

When Iruka got thereafter most of the students filled the room, he stared uncomfortably at the new front-middle row students.

"This is unlike you three… you three usually sit in the back," he said, pointing at the boys.

Naruto popped the bubble gum balloon he was blowing from his mouth, covering his entire face. "Ready to learn!" He mumbled through the gum.

"...Okay, let's get started then. Why don't we do a demonstration? Does anyone know how to do the transformation technique, already?"

"Hey, Iruka! Shouldn't you introduce the new girl?" Kiba shouted.

Megumin's stare intensified at the smiling Kiba. Iruka sighed. Megumin grinned as she stood up and climbed over the desk, hopping down to the front. She hid one eye with outreached fingers and struck a pose.

"From another plane of existence, hailing from the Demon Crimson Clan, wielder of Explosion Magic! My name is Megumin! Yes! I've transverse from my world to this one!"

"Oh, you're from another world?" Kiba asked, mocking her. "Then why are you here?"

She stared back. She couldn't tell them she accidentally blew herself up in her sleep, so- she smiled and slapped Iruka's desk. "I cast an explosion spell so strong, it destroyed the entire world! I had no choice but to cross over here!"

With a nervous smile, Iruka gently pushed her. "Okay, that's enough, Megumin. Go sit back down."

"But, I wasn't finished," she said, but when she saw all the students mixed and indifferent stares, she gulped and went back to her seat.

"...Is she a chuunibyou?" A boy asked from the back.

Megumin winced as she lowered her head before she regained vigor and stood back up. "I would like to demonstrate the transformation technique!"

Iruka's eyebrows jumped. "Really? Uh, yeah, go for it."

Naruto glared. "You can't be serious."

She walked back to the front of the class. Even Iruka was surprised when she performed a perfect illusionary image of Iruka.

"That's… wow, good job," Iruka said.

Naruto had nothing to say, and wouldn't even look her way when she sat back down. All she could do was purse her lips. She didn't mean to show off just to make him mad.

2

Megumin didn't learn too much on her first day. Something told her she would have to go out of her way to learn tactics, history, and culture, among other things. As she was thinking about what she'd do, Naruto stood in her way.

"You and me! Right! Now!"

"I already told you, I'm not interested in sparring."

"How are you so good!? You didn't even know what the transformation technique was a week ago!"

"I'm interested in this, too," another boy said behind her.

"Sasuke," Naruto said under his tongue, gritting his teeth.

She turned her body to look at Sasuke. "Oh, that's your rival?"

Sasuke grinned. "Rival?"

"Yeah, right! He's not good enough to be my rival," Naruto shouted.

"Megumin, you said you were from a clan?" Sasuke asked.

Her pupils dilated as she looked at the boy and nodded. "The Crimson Demons, a clan of archmages, wielding only the highest tiers of spells."

Sasuke walked around to face her. "I'm from a clan, too. The Uchiha. The strongest clan of the village."

"Yeah, right," Naruto said.

Sasuke pushed his hands into his pockets and stared at the dirt road. "Or, we were… the strongest."

Megumin raised her eyebrows. "Were?"

Without picking his head up, Sasuke grinned and eyed her. "I'm not jealous like Naruto. If it's true you're from a different world, you must know things we don't. Secrets people would do anything to know."

Naruto narrowed his eyes before he cackled and pointed. "You actually believed that?!"

She smiled as she waved her hand up, presenting the Hokage Rock behind her. "All the proof you needed was up there, the crater in the Third Hokage's face a week ago. That was me! That was my explosion spell!"

"Yeah, right!"

"Will you stop saying that?" Sasuke roared at Naruto before he turned back to Megumin. "Though, I agree with Naruto on this one. That's a little hard to believe."

An evil smile shadowed her face. "Oh, I could show you two the power of the explosion. Let me go retrieve my staff and I'll make you two my worshippers."

The two boys shared a curious glance.

Megumin went and got her staff and the three of them headed outside the village. Not too far from the wall, at some plains, they found a large hot spring for her to cast onto. Her face went red and hot as she rubbed her staff, making a soft moan as she admired the finely crafted and smooth wood that made the pole of her staff.

Naruto tilted his head and made an uncomfortable stare. "Uhh, Sasuke? Are you… seeing this?"

"Shut up," Sasuke said.

"...It's time-" She said as she pointed her staff to the spring. "Time to reveal your explosive power to new eyes! From the dark corner of another plane existence, awaken and transverse to this new world! Show your mighty power and evaporate the water of this spring into nothing! EXPLOSION!"

The boys gawked at the circle arrays that appeared above, almost falling over as the world rocked and rumbled. Down in the hot spring, a huge ball of water expanded and shattered water all around, mimicking a fearsome rainstorm and drenching them.

Naruto and Sasuke gawked above as the world darkened before it quickly returned to being sunny and warm. The water in the spring all but disappeared, the explosion left only a small puddle.

"Well," Naruto began. "That doesn't prove- wait, Megumin?"

"That was a good one," she said, falling forward.

"If she falls from that height-" Sasuke said.

They rushed, just in time to save her from falling.

She made a small giggle. "I should have mentioned that the explosion spell takes so much mana, it drains me completely and renders me unable to move…"

"Idiot," Naruto said.

"We should probably take her home," Sasuke said.

Naruto piggybacked her on the way home to her apartment. "Good thing we're neighbors," he said.

"Thank you," she said, arms around his neck. "Sorry for getting you both wet."

His hands held her thighs. "No problem."

She looked at the villagers around, who whispered and stared at them.

"What's with the villagers?" She asked.

"...It's me. I've always been treated a bit… differently."

"Why's that?"

"I'm really not sure. I think it's because I don't have parents."

She glared at him. "Or is it because of your practical jokes?"

He cracked a smile. "No, well, I don't think so. It's always been like that. It's fine, but..."

"But, what?"

"Nothing."

She tightened her arms around his neck and held onto him tighter. "No, you were going to say something! What was it?"

His cheeks blushed as she pressed her body closer to his back to get a closer look at his face. "What were you going to say? Spit it out."

"I guess, it was… do you want to be friends?" He mumbled.

"Huh?!" She wiggled around. "Speak up!"

"I said, it'd be cool to be rivals with you!"

"Pass."

"What?!"

"I'm too above your level to be your rival. Get to my level, first."

"Do you want me to drop you?!" He growled.

"That wouldn't make you a very good friend," she said, holding him tighter.

"Friend?" He repeated.

"It's not like I'm one to care what others think of me. You shouldn't either." They stopped at the stairs that led up to their apartments. "And I think a friend would carry me up the stairs."

He glared at her before he started to climb the stairs, gripping his grip on her thighs.

She strangled him. "Just what do you think you're doing, grabbing my legs like that?!"

He scrunched his nose up. "If I'm going to carry you up the stairs, I need a good grip! You don't want to fall backward, right?!"

She sighed. "Very well…"

It took several minutes to get halfway. "Come on, put your back to it," she said.

"Shut it!"

He stood in front of the door. At the very least, she was able to get her keys out and unlock the door.. However, he basically threw her to her bed.

"Jeez, be more gentle."

"Sorry. Hands slipped. We're both wet, y'know."

"Guess I should be thankful. If you would lock the door on your way out? I don't want you coming back in when I'm asleep and doing something weird."

Naruto's jaw dropped as he held a fist up. "As if I would do anything like that to you!"

Snore. She was fast asleep. With an annoyed sigh, he locked the door and closed it behind him.

That night, as Naruto was "making" dinner, he heard Megumin suddenly scream "explosion," before debris and dust blasted him. With a few blinks of his eyes, he tried to get rid of the genjutsu that was a giant hole in his kitchen wall going into Megumin's apartment.

Unsure to make this rated T or M. It's a fanfic just for fun with short chapters, it's not going to take itself too seriously. However, I'd be open to any beta-readers. I'll be skipping around a bit, like unimportant stuff or stuff that isn't too different from canon. Please Review.

I isekai girls into other anime. Any requests? I had wanted to do another RWBY one or an OC.