Naruto stared down at the accursed exam with desperation and horror. He had absolutely no clue how to solve a single problem on the exam. Every one of them involved math in some way and Naruto was totally clueless when it came to such things.
"No one said there would be math." He thought as he sat and stared at his blank answer sheet, the urge to slam his face into the desk until he lost consciousness rising with each second.
Everyone around him seemed to be hard at work scribbling their answers down and Naruto felt like a complete moron. He saw Hinata put her pencil down and realizing that she had already completed the whole thing, felt like curling into the fetal position and crying like a baby. Of course if he had noticed her deactivating her byakugan he might have pieced together the true purpose of the test as she did.
"Are you seriously this stupid Naruto? The first answer is ten." Kurama chimed in after minutes of silence.
"How the hell do you know that!?"
"I've been around for a long time, I can do math. Just write down everything I say and we should be fine."
Naruto decided to take the risk and started copying down everything Kurama told him. With a few minutes to go until the tenth question he finished. While he waited he decided to check up on how Karui and Omoi were doing. Using his sensory powers he could sense that the two of them were strangely calm.
"Those two probably found a way to cheat without getting caught. Impressive considering they don't have special eyes like the Uchiha or the two hyuga in the room."
"The second hyuga... I can feel a lot of rage in that guy. Some of its aimed at Hinata for some reason."
"He's probably a branch member who hates her for being in the main family."
" How is that her fault?"
"It's not, but you know how it is. People with a lot of rage in them look for any excuse to get it out. It's just the way some humans are."
"Well he better not hurt her or he'll have me to deal with."
"That a boy! Fight for your woman."
"All right, pencils down it's time for the tenth question." Ibiki yelled with authority as everyone in the room did as instructed.
"Before we move on I must give out the rules for the tenth question. The first rule is that you may choose to leave and not take the tenth question. Doing so however will make you and your team forfeit their chance to become chunin."
"Why the hell would we do that then?" A random ninja yelled out.
"Because of the second rule. If you miss this question you won't be able to take the chunin exam again for the rest of your life." Everyone in the room was shocked at this with the exception of one.
"WHAT THE HELL KIND OF LIE IS THAT! ARE THESE PEOPLE REALLY GONNA FALL FOR SUCH BULLSHIT!?"
"Not everyone here is a human lie detector Naruto. Just shut up and let the weaklings give up. Less competition you have to deal with that way."
Almost on cue people started dropping out of the exam like flies. only 24 teams were left by the end. Ibiki smiled and congratulated the remaining teams on passing the first phase of the examinations.
"WHAT?!" Was the collective response of the room. Ibiki started on with some speech about having the courage to jump into the unknown or some other boring topic so Naruto just drowned him out and started talking to Kurama.
"God that was boring as hell. I better get to fight someone next time."
"If you want excitement then get ready. I sense some excitement coming right now."
As if on cue something covered in a large black drape crashed through the window. The drape was suddenly pinned to the wall with Kunai and in the center of what was now obviously a banner stood an incredibly attractive kunoichi with an incredibly provocative outfit consisting of a mini skirt an open trench coat and a fish net shirt. The banner behind her read "Anko Mitarashi".
"All right you maggots My name is Anko Mitarashi and I'm the proctor for the second phase of the chunin exams!"
Ibiki stepped from behind the banner and facepalmed. "Anko, you do realize that the second phase is tomorrow right?"
"... I forgot." Anko started blushing and stood at the front of the class for a few seconds, obviously embarrassed.
Everyone in the room was stunned at the ridiculous woman in front of them. One blond was stunned for a completely different reason than the others though. Naruto's mouth hung open and the blood in his brain migrated south as he stared at the woman's perfect figure.
"HOLY CRAP! LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THOSE THINGS!"
"Now that's what a woman looks like. I'll take thick and juicy over skinny and flat any day."
"I can't stop staring! Please don't let anybody notice."
"Naruto is staring at that womans chest. Maybe if I open my jacket he'll do the same to me." Hinata thought as a blush creeped up on her face once again.
"Kurenai's girl and that blond guy are both staring at my chest. God I love teasing silly little teenagers like them."
After all the excitement died down Anko gave everyone the directions to the testing site for the second phase of the exams. They were all dismissed and started to leave. Naruto turned to talk to Hinata only to see her being dragged away by her teammates. Their eyes locked for a brief second and Hinata managed to mouth the words "I'm sorry" before she was dragged out of the room.
Annoyed by the recent turn of events, Naruto treated his team to lunch and used the opportunity to vent some of his frustration.
"Man, those guys have some nerve dragging Hinata away like that!" Naruto angrily exclaimed as he ate his third bowl of ramen.
"What did you expect dumbass?" Karui said angrily. She was tired of listening to Naruto talk about this girl he was so infatuated with.
"Naruto, I'm sorry but maybe you should give up on this girl." Omoi didn't approve of Naruto's new crush either.
"Why can't you guys be more supportive?" Naruto asked a little shocked at his teams tone.
"You're trying to bang a girl from another village. Why do you think we aren't being supportive?" Karui snapped.
"I-I'm not trying to do that. I just want to go out with her a few times is all." Naruto retorted
"Go down on her a few times is more like it."Omoi said with a slight chuckle.
"Sh-Shut the hell up. I'm not old enough to do that sort of thing yet."
"That didn't stop you from stealing sensei's booze, or sneaking into that porn theater, or transforming into a girl so you could bathe in the women's hot spring." Omoi listed off Naruto's sins and with every one Naruto's face grew a darker shade of red.
"Don't forget the time we caught him watching that hentai movie. I'll never understand the appeal of that tentacle shit." Karui added.
"AH! Would you quit busting my balls already? I admit I'm a pervert so just drop it already."
"Fine, go be an idiot by yourself then. Let's go Omoi."
Karui and Omoi got up and left having finished their food already. Naruto was left alone in the stand with Ayame who had been listening the whole time.
"Naruto... did you really do all that stuff they mentioned?"
"Well uh... Yes."
"My favorite customer is a horn dog." Ayame hung her head in shame and so did Naruto.
While Naruto was upset, Hinata was absolutely livid. Kurenai had told Kiba and Shino everything and instructed them to keep Hinata away from Naruto. Any hopes she had of getting closer to him were instantly shattered. She ran away from them as fast as she could and went home. She locked herself in her room and just laid in her bed. She sat there until there was a knock on the door.
"Hinata, daddy wants to see you. He wants to know if you passed the first exam or not." Hinata didn't want to be anywhere near her father right now but she knew if she refused to show up he would just come to her. She willed herself out of bed and opened the door. Her little sister Hanabi was there and she had a worried look on her face.
"Sis, you didn't fail did you?"
"No, I passed. It was an easy test that I completed with the aid of the byakugan."
"Then why do you look so gloomy? We all thought the worst when you came in and ran straight to your room."
"I was just tired. You don't have to worry about me dear." Hinata bent over and kissed Hanabi's forehead. "Thank you for your concern though."
"Bah, you know I hate when you do that sis!" Hanabi said as she blushed and rubbed the spot Hinata had kissed.
"If you really hated it you would stop me. You're the stronger of the two of us after all." Hinata said with a weak smile as she walked to the clan head's office. When she got there she knocked and waited for a response.
"You may enter." A cold voice came from the room.
Hinata did as instructed and opened the door. She didn't look directly at her father when she walked in. She did a small bow as was customary when conversing with the clan head and sat down in a chair in front of her father's desk.
"Hinata, did you pass the first phase of the chunin exams?"
"Yes sir."
"Neji hasn't arrived home yet. Has he passed as well?"
"Yes sir."
"Tell me what the test was like this year. The first phase is always different for every exam but the goal remains the same. To test the mental capabilities of the chunin prospects."
Hinata went on to explain the test and how she passed.
"You did well to see through the deception. You also did well to properly use your byakugan. You are dismissed."
Hinata stood up and bowed before taking her leave. "He didn't even say he was proud of me." Hinata thought as she made the trip back to her room where she locked herself away yet again.
Back at the testing site Ibiki was making his way around the room, picking up all the tests that had been left on the tables. When he made his way to the test of the funny boy with the orange track suit he decided to take a look at the boys answers. What he saw made him laugh.
"Haha... That boy got every single answer wrong. Naruto Uzumaki huh? That boy sure is a funny one."