In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen observed the exam through his crystal ball, a growing sense of unease forming in his chest. One of the jōnin standing beside him smirked proudly as the Konoha candidates maneuvered through the test with ease.
"But, old man, why didn't you send anyone from the Uchiha clan?" Jiraiya asked, frowning.
Hiruzen's expression darkened instantly. His eyes twitched, and a
murderous aura
filled the room.
Jiraiya
froze.
He had no idea what he'd said wrong, but he had enough survival instinct to
shut up immediately.
The truth was, Hiruzen had thought about sending the Uchiha, but there had been one major problem—
the second exam.
To prevent Youyu from mistaking his own teammates for enemies and cutting them down, every Konoha participant had to wear a
special identifier.
Hiruzen winced at the memory. The
pride of the Uchiha clan
meant they would
never
accept such an order.
Rather than risk unnecessary
clan drama
, he had decided to leave them out entirely. Besides,
Youyu alone was enough.
With Youyu's strength, he was already close to
jōnin level
. Compared to him, the other participants might as well be children playing ninja.
Someone in the room asked, "By the way, where's Konoha's super genius, Youyu? Why isn't he on screen?"
Hiruzen felt a bad premonition. He quickly turned the crystal ball's view toward Youyu's seat.
What he saw
made his blood pressure skyrocket.
A loud, steady
snore
echoed through the exam room.
Youyu was asleep.
Hiruzen's eye twitched violently.
"A-Ah! Our village's super genius must have already finished, right?" One of the jōnin tried to cover for Youyu.
Everyone's expressions became
very complicated.
Then they looked again.
Youyu's
test sheet was completely blank.
Hiruzen's
fist clenched.
"Youyu, you little bastard!"
Youyu didn't care about Hiruzen's rage.
Right now, he was
deep in dreamland.
To celebrate the Chūnin Exam, he had opened a special bottle of sake that Kurenai had secretly gifted him.
As expected, his
swordsmanship comprehension increased.
His
chakra and physical stats improved.
It also turned out that the sake was
fantastic for sleep.
So Youyu was enjoying a peaceful rest—until someone
rudely interrupted.
"Cough. Cough. Cough!!"
A series of exaggerated coughs echoed in the exam room.
Youyu's
brows furrowed.
"Who's making all that noise...?" he mumbled, cracking one eye open.
At the front of the room,
Asuma Sarutobi
, the chief examiner, sighed in relief.
Finally.
He had been
coughing his lungs out
trying to wake the kid up without technically "helping" him.
The Hokage had given
direct orders
to make sure Youyu finished the exam, but Asuma
couldn't be obvious about it.
Unfortunately, this
brat
had slept through it all.
Asuma's throat burned from the effort.
"What kind of alcohol lets someone sleep this soundly?!" he muttered hoarsely.
He watched as Youyu blinked groggily and sat up.
"The candidates should answer their questions properly and not waste time," Asuma said, his voice just loud enough to remind Youyu where he was.
"Exam?"
Youyu
finally
noticed the test in front of him.
Right.
After the exam, there was an entire
house
of good sake waiting for him.
He
loved exams.
His enthusiasm lasted
five seconds.
Then he actually
looked at the test.
And realized he didn't know a
single answer.
Hiruzen sighed in relief when he saw Youyu finally
awake and looking at the test.
"I personally gave him the answers. This should be foolproof," he muttered.
Then he took a closer look.
Youyu was just staring blankly at the test.
Hiruzen's stomach dropped.
"Youyu... why aren't you writing?"
His
face paled.
"Didn't I personally give you the answers?!"
The horrifying truth
dawned on him.
Youyu had completely forgotten.
Inside the exam room, Youyu tried to recall what Tanaka had told him.
There had been a
folder
.
It had answers.
He was
definitely
supposed to read it.
But that had been
yesterday.
Now?
He had
no idea where it went.
Hiruzen's
head dropped into his hands.
"I... I gave him everything he needed. And he still managed to mess this up?"
Jiraiya was struggling
not to laugh.
Orochimaru, meanwhile, looked like he was enjoying the spectacle.
"That's quite a candidate you've chosen, Hokage-sama," he murmured.
Hiruzen took a deep breath.
He had to fix this.
His eyes landed on the
candidate sitting in front of Youyu.
A Konoha
chūnin in disguise.
It was
shameful,
but he had no choice.
He sent the order.
The
disguised chūnin
, Iwata Tomoya, stiffened when he received the silent message.
Let the candidate behind you pass at all costs.
He
swallowed hard.
He
knew
who was behind him.
Slowly, he moved his test paper slightly to the side, exposing his answers.
Ten minutes passed.
Youyu didn't even
look
at the paper.
Instead, he took out a
bottle of sake and started drinking.
Iwata almost
cried.
He tried
moving the paper even closer.
Youyu still
didn't react.
Iwata was running out of time. He had to
take drastic action.
He raised his hand
pretending to drop his paper.
When he bent down to pick it up, he
swapped
Youyu's blank test with his own.
Mission
successful.
Except...
Even with the completed test in front of him,
Youyu still didn't write anything.
Hiruzen watched as the
chūnin undercover agent successfully swapped the papers.
He let out a breath of relief.
Then he saw Youyu
completely ignore it.
"...What is he doing?"
Orochimaru chuckled. "I believe he's drinking again."
Hiruzen had
never
been closer to throwing something at the crystal ball.
"WHY IS HE LIKE THIS?!"
Jiraiya
finally
burst into laughter.
"Well, at least he has good taste in alcohol!"
Hiruzen wanted to
punch him.
Meanwhile, inside the exam room, Iwata had officially
given up.
He had swapped the test. He had made sure everything was set up perfectly.
If Youyu
still
failed, that wasn't his fault.
He was done.
Word Count: 1,004
Author Notes:
Hiruzen:
"I gave him the answers myself. What could go wrong?"
Youyu:
"...Wait, we had a test today?"
Next Chapter: The First Exam Results!