Naruto drinking makes me stronger-Chapter 22: The Drunken Genius’ Exam Disaster

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.

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"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!