Even in the room down the hall all the examiners for the first test could hear the commotion in the testing room. Most of them ignored the noise since it was normal for some kind of minor conflict to happen with so many ninja from different villages in the same room.

Down the hall near the testing room, Rayne was making her way towards the proctor's room. She laughed lightly at the antics she could hear coming from the genin in the testing room. They were indeed a wild bunch this year, hopefully not too wild though, because she wanted her little brother to do well.

In minutes she stopped at the door to the proctor's room. "The genin are so loud this year I can hear them all the way from down the hall!" Rayne exclaimed as she casually let herself into the room. "Hello, I'm looking for Ibiki."

"Why?" One of the Chunin proctors asked.

"Rayne," Ibiki stated as he walked over to her. "Did you need me for something? Is everything alright?"

Rayne saluted sarcastically, "I am here in response to your request to the Hokage for a jonin or higher join the examiners for the first test in the Chunin exam."

Ibiki stayed quiet for a moment unable to believe the Hokage had sent Rayne of all people to be an examiner. "No offense Rayne, but out of all the others why did he send you?"

"Hokage-sama said and I quote, "Rayne I would hate for you to get bored now that your back since your last mission was a success you can pick your next assignment." I told him I wanted to scare the shit…I mean help proctor the exams so the little genin can get a real taste of the shinobi world." She smiled innocently as Ibiki smirked knowingly.

Ibiki sighed, "Okay then let's get started."

"Quiet down you bunch of worthless bastards!" Ibiki yelled as the testing room exploded in smoke. As the smoke cleared the genin could see Ibiki and his comrades. "Thanks for waiting. I am Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the Chunin Selection Exam's first test." Then he pointed menacingly at the back of the room. "Hidden Sound, stop doing as you please before the exam. Do you want to fail already?"

The masked Sound genin (or Fuzzy as Rayne mentally nicknamed him) responded, "I apologize this is our first time and we got a bit carried away."

Ibiki smirked, "Listen up, there will be no fighting without permission of the examiners. Even if permission is granted, killing your opponent will not be tolerated. Those pigs that dare disobey the rules will be failed immediately. Do I make myself clear?" He peered around the room to make sure his point got across. "We will now start the first test in the Chunin exam. Instead of your current seating arrangements…" He held up a block with a number on it. "You will pick one of these tabs and sit in the seat assigned to you. Then we will hand out the exams."

"What? A paper test!" Naruto screeched.

Behind Ibiki, Rayne laughed to herself. She knew from Sasuke that Naruto hated written tests and usually bombed them because how they asked the question confused him. But Rayne knew, just like Kakashi, that they'd all do fine. Even Naruto. She snapped out of her daydream when Ibiki moved to the blackboard behind her.

"There are many important rules…"

"Rayne?" Sasuke called out interrupting Ibiki, "What are you doing here?"

Ibiki cleared his throat signaling to Rayne his disapproval of being interrupted. Rayne rolled her eyes, "Oh stop it Ibiki and let me answer his question. I'll remind him of his manners later."

"Very well."

"Hello, I'm Rayne as my little brother already said and I am going to be one of your lovely proctors for this exam."

"Isn't that violating some ethical code to have a sibling be a proctor?" Fuzzy spoke up from his seat. "She could be helping him pass the exam."

Before anyone could move Rayne was crouched on the desk in front of the Sound genin. "Listen here, Fuzzy." Her eyes flashed red for an instant. "If you ever question my ethics again I will throw you out that window." She disappeared and reappeared seated on the desk in front of Ibiki. "Now do yourselves all a favor and shut up and listen to Ibiki."

"As I was saying, there are many important rules to this first test. I'll write it on the board while I explain, but questions will not be allowed, so listen carefully. The first rule: You guys will all start off with ten points. The test is made up of ten questions and each one is worth one point, but the test uses a subtraction system. Basically if you answer all the questions correctly, you keep your ten points, but say you miss three questions you lose three points and will have seven. The second rule: This is a team test. Whether you pass or not will be determined by the combined score of your teammates. So, each team will compete to see how many points they can hold on to from the initial team total of thirty."

"Wait a second!" Sakura yelled, "Why is it a team test?"

"Shut up, you don't have the right to question me." Ibiki growled. "There is a reason for this so be quiet and listen, now for the most important rule. The third rule is that during the exam any one caught by the testing officers doing sneaky activities, namely cheating, will have two points subtracted for every offense. So there will be some who will lose all their points during the exam and be asked to leave."

"We'll have our eyes on you guys." Kotetsu added from his relaxed position in is chair on the edge of the room.

Ibiki nodded in agreement, "Realize that the pathetic ones that get caught cheating will be destroying themselves. As shinobis trying to achieve the level of Chunin, please be proud ninjas. And the final rule, those that lose all their initial points during the test and those that don't answer any questions correctly will be failed along with their two teammates. Now before you lot start I will let Rayne better explain her presence at this exam."

"As I said earlier I will be one of your examiners today. I currently hold the rank of anbu in this village." Rayne paused as a look a dread washed over all their faces. "If you catch my notice more than fifteen times you will fail automatically and to be fair I'll be reading so you'll only get part of my attention." She pulled out a small orange book and began to read.

"Alright!" Ibiki exclaimed regaining their attention. "You will have one hour to complete the exam. Begin!"

It was a good twenty minutes before Rayne had to act and she was mildly impressed that it had even taken that long. Without even pausing in her reading she threw a kunai into one of the tester's paper. "Number 37. You fail take your team and leave."

The genin didn't take the dismissal too well he stood up and slammed his fists down in his desk. "Do you have any proof that I cheated fifteen times? There's no possible way you could've…" He was cut off abruptly when he found himself held by the throat against the wall.

Even while holding the genin up she continued to read her book, but that didn't take away from her threatening demeanor. "Little boy I am an anbu, I am the elite of the elite in this village. I haven't missed a single breath you've taken." She peered up at the boy in her grasp. "You will leave the testing room the easy way or I will make you leave the hard way. Are we clear?" The nameless genin nodded frantically before Rayne dropped him and he ran out of the room. "Shouldn't you be working on your exam instead of watching me?" She whirled around. "Get back to work!" All the genin quickly returned to their exams.

Minutes before the hour was up Ibiki spoke. "Ok, and now we will begin the tenth question. Now before we get to it I'd like to go over the added rules for this question. These are the rules of desperation…" Ibiki paused looking around the room, he noticed Rayne smirk at his dramatic pause. She knew he always loved to be dramatic. "First, for the tenth question you must decide whether you will take it or not."

"Choose? What happens if we choose not to?" Blondie from Sand asked.

"If you choose not to, your points will be reduced to zero and you fail automatically along with your teammates." Ibiki ignored the protests from the genin. "And now the other rule. If you choose to take it and answer it incorrectly that person will lose the right to take the Chunin selection exam ever again."

"What kind of stupid rule is that?" Kiba yelled, "There are guys here who have taken the exam before!"

Ibiki chuckled, "You lot were just unlucky since this year it's my rules. But I'm giving you a way out. Those that aren't confident can chose not to take it and try again next year. Those that do not wish to take it raise your hand once your number is confirmed, leave."

A chorus of fails and "I quits" followed, but what shocked Rayne into almost dropping her book was when Naruto raised his hand. She almost called out to him but stopped.

Naruto slammed his hand down, "Don't underestimate me! I will not run! I'll take it. Even if I'm a genin forever I'll still become Hokage anyway, I don't care! I am not afraid!"

"I'll ask you again. Your life is riding on this decision. This is your last chance to quit."

"I never go back on my word, that's my ninja way."

"Good decision." Ibiki nodded approvingly, "Now to the seventy-eight still remaining…I congratulate you on passing the first test!"

Sakura was the first to recover from the shock, "Wait…what do you mean? We already pass? What about the tenth question?"

Rayne outright laughed, "You could say that the choice itself was the tenth question."

"What do you mean Rayne-san? Were the first questions pointless?"

"No, they were not pointless. They served their intended purpose to test your individual information gathering abilities." Rayne smiled, "Which some of you are just downright clever, except for you puppet boy that was unoriginal. The fact that to succeed on this test was based on the whole team doing well put pressure on each member not to mess things up for their teammates."

"I had a feeling this test was like that." Naruto nodded.

"Lying is bad for you." Rayne said pointedly before continuing. "The questions on this test were not what any normal genin could answer, because of that there was only one option left…to cheat."

"But those that cheat poorly," Ibiki picked up where Rayne left off as he removed his headband. "Fail." Ibiki's scars, screw holes, and burns were revealed to the room, the effects of enemy torture. "At times information is more important than life and on missions and the battlefield, people risk their lives to get their hands on it. If the enemy notices you gathering information then there is no guarantee that the info will be accurate. I want you to remember this, important information in your hands can be a powerful weapon for your comrades and village. So we had you gather information through cheating. This clearly separated those that did and did not have the right abilities."

"B-but I don't understand the final question…" The blonde Sand genin said quietly.

Ibiki just smiled and replaced his headband. "But the tenth question is the true purpose of this test. Let me explain, the tenth question the "take it" or "not take it" decision…obviously these were painful choices. Those who choose the latter fail along with their teammates, but those that choose to take it could lose the chance to take the test again. A true leap of faith one might say."

Rayne put a hand on Ibiki's shoulder, "Let me explain it you're confusing them."

Ibiki looked at the room's occupants and noticed the lost looks on their faces. "It seems you're right."

"Ok," She turned to address the genin, "Now for arguments sake let's says you all become Chunin. You're given a mission to steal a secret document, but the amount of enemy ninja, their abilities, and so forth are unknown to you. Now do you accept or not accept the mission?" Rayne's posture becomes rigid as her voice hardens. "Because you don't want to die, because you don't want to be hurt, because you don't want your comrades hurt…can you avoid this dangerous mission? This answer is no! No matter the danger there will always be missions you can't avoid. The ability to have the courage to stand against any adversity and survive any hardship, this is the ability needed to become a Chunin captain. Those who can't put their lives on the line, those who cling to the uncertain future of "there's always next time" and walk away." Rayne's eyes bled to crimson. "Those pieces of trash who can only make cowardly choice don't have the damn right to become Chunin! However, those that chose to take and answered the tenth question correctly. You will be able to survive any obstacles you may face in the future. I wish you all the very best in the exam."

Suddenly a black figure burst through the window, kunai flying into the ceiling to hold up a banner, and a woman standing in front of it. "This is no time for celebrating. I am the examiner for the second test Mitarashi, Anko!"

The next second found Rayne holding a kunai to Anko's throat. "My dear Anko you are a little early and you interrupted me while I was speaking, and you know how much I hate that." Rayne hissed.

Anko laughed, "Oh hey, I didn't know you were gonna be here Rayne."

"Obviously or you wouldn't have done something so stupid." She laughed and withdrew her kunai then the two women hugged. "Its good to see you."

"Its good to see you still alive too." Anko agreed. She surveyed the group of genin. "Seventy-eight? Ibiki you really left twenty-six teams? Your test was too easy this time!"

Ibiki shook his head, "This time there are a lot of outstanding ones, and you can even ask Rayne she only failed a handful."

"Feh, that's fine I'll cut this group in half once the second test is done. I'll explain everything once we've changed locations, please follow me."

Rayne watch wearily as the remaining genin filed out and followed Anko. "Where are the holding the second test?"

"Area 44," Ibiki replied, "The Forest of Death."

"They should be finished with the first test by now." Kakashi commented as he read his little orange hentai book.

Asuma nodded, "I wonder how they did after all Ibiki was their proctor."

"Not just Ibiki," Kakashi stated, "Rayne was assigned as an examiner as well."

"Tch," Asuma lit his cigarette and took a long drawl, "Hopefully my little sister was merciful today."

"You make it sound like I'm a merciless monster, big brother." Rayne sang as she entered the room and happily embraced Asuma.

"Nah, not a monster." Asuma laughed, "Maybe just a little merciless."

"How did the rookies do?" Kakashi questioned as he looked up from his book.

"So how's Kurenai?" Rayne asked Asuma blatantly ignoring Kakashi's question.

Asuma blushed, "W-why would you ask me that? How would I know how she's doing?"

"Because you've been secretly seeing each other for the past couple of months."

"How did you…when…" Asuma sputtered.

Kakashi put his book away, "Rayne, how did our teams do? Did they pass the first test?" He was getting a little annoyed that she was ignoring him, there was no way she still could be mad from that morning. Right? "Are you still angry with me?" He asked after she still didn't reply to his question.

Slowly Rayne turned to look at him, "Yes Hatake, I am still pissed from this morning." She removed herself from her brother's lap and headed towards the door. "All the rookie nine passed and are currently with Anko at the Forest of Death for their second test. Excuse me, I have patients to see."

As soon as Asuma couldn't hear Rayne's heels clicking on the floor, he pounced on Kakashi wanting to know immediately what the ninja had done to his sister.

"So," He lit another cigarette, "Why is my little sister pissed off at you Kakashi? Must've done something pretty bad for her to ignore your existence."

Kakashi scratched the bad of his head embarrassed. "Well I went over to her apartment this morning to check on her since she just got back last night."

"And?"

"She had captured some root anbu that were spying on her and tied them up in her living room and painted flowers on their masks. And then I might've called her naïve because she still loves Itachi no matter what she says."

Asuma took a long drag on his coffin nail, "You are an idiot. They're soul mates so of course she still loves him."

"You knew?"

"Of course," Asuma nodded, "A big brother always knows his little sister's heart. And I'll have her back no matter what she decides or who she wants."

Kakashi sighed, "Am I the only one who was blind to it?"

"Pretty much, but love can do crazy things to a person." He smirked at Kakashi's shocked expression. "Yeah I know how you feel about her, but as your friend I say let her go she's already given her heart to someone else."

"Yeah…"