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Cruxis had just obtained his payment and was quite glad to have an entertaining means to make money when needed; when a shout of his name caught his attention. The Raikage!? What was he doing here? And why was he coming after him!? Not even hesitating, Cruxis jumped up into the air and pushed off using Bukujutsu. The sky dance technique was useful in order to grant him a form of flight; and at the very least he could escape by the air.
Unfortunately, Cruxis had not been able to practice the technique beyond basic levitation, and was cumbersome in the air; Of course managing to lift himself up about twenty feet in the air would keep him out of reach for the time being. There was no way he'd actually be able to beat the Raikage if there was a sparring match intended. And if the Raikage knew speed techniques, outrunning him wasn't a solution either. So flight was naturally the best way to escape for the time being; and hopefully buy him enough time to think of what to do. The only ranged genjutsu he’d managed to master was the Binding Chains; which probably weren’t strong enough to contend with the Raikage’s power on any level. If he could get in close, he might be able to try the End of Reality jutsu and at least stun him for a few seconds… But that would involve coming into his range… something that wasn’t too smart to do. Quickly scrawling out a message on a piece of paper, Cruxis folded it and wrote “Note of Surrender” on the front before dropping it towards the Raikage.

As the Raikage leaped, Cruxis lost sight of him, and quickly muttered a curse. Where did he go?! The Raikage had acknowledged him as impressive, compliment enough to prove that he was worthy of his graduation to say the least. Of course having had an extra year age gap between himself and the other gennin of his class helped too... Cruxis had been traveling on his own since the age of nine; and been on the road with his parents since he'd been born. The tricks of the trade he'd picked up from them had taught him the values of slight of hand and stage magic; but his own interests had let him to research the trick he utilized now, a perfect technique to demonstrate chakra control.
That noted, there was still the fact that he needed to find where Metsuki-sama had managed to vanish to... 'Alright dad... I know you told me not to use this unless it was an emergency... This is an offshoot doujutsu, a mutant gene that's managed to pass on to the next generation after you; a dominant trait... Meaning if I'm not careful, then someone will kill me for it before I can pass it on to maybe start a famous clan... Still, the Raikage doesn't seem the type to go about stealing eyes... so I'm going to break your rule just this once and show it off...' his chakra focused towards his eyes, the pupils narrowing as his golden irises expanded to blot out the whites of his eyes; "RYUUGAN!", Cruxis spoke the word of command in order to maximize his eyesight with the eyes. The shadow of the Raikage caught his peripherals. The attack would hit on unless he dodged, and doing so in midair was going to be tough to work out! Quickly releasing the chakra control, Cruxis dropped like a stone and out of range of the Raikage's attack before he exerted a push of chakra to regain his flight speed. Deciding to fight back, Cruxis knew two things; first and foremost that his specialty was battling of the mind, not attacking directly; and that secondly the Ryuugan would be useless in terms of combat; as it was an informative eye; not combative like the Byakuugan and Sharingan. The Ryuugan could improve his vision, widen his peripherals, and even be used as a tool in battle to better know the opponent; but beyond that, it had no offensive capabilities. Instead, Cruxis flew directly under the Raikage and charged upwards, attempting to deliver a touch to throw him into his End of Reality technique; a Genjutsu which would cause Metsuki's mental capacities to expand to one-hundred percent before immediately retreating back to ten percent; a feat which could cause mental strain and possibly stun him for a few seconds to give Cruxis the edge he needed!

'Ha! It got him!' Cruxis grinned pleased at the maneuver. Of course the idea wasn't tricking the opponent into believing falsehoods; it actually did expand their brain usage before stripping the increased usage away. In that effect it didn't work with disbelief as opposed to mental resistance; something the surprise attack had an advantage of. "Not quite... I expanded your mental capacity to one-hundred percent using chakra; then cut it off... once it cut off, your mental capacity reduced back to ten percent; causing mental strain and sometimes interesting side effects...", Cruxis responded as Metsuki commented on the genjutsu that had been used... The sight of the Kage's Byakugan came as abit of a shock but he recovered as the two kekki-genkai faced off; Byakugan and Ryuugan. Unfortunately the faceoff was quite a brief one as the Raikage struck at him with a blast of pressurized wind and knocked him out of the air; his flow of chakra disrupted by the blast. Regaining his balance, Cruxis swept over the ground and picked up the note he'd written earlier and attached it to a Kunai before throwing it in towards Metsuki.

The Raikage had been toying with him the entire time, Cruxis was smart enough to know that. Still, he'd managed to throw a surpise or two Metsuki's way, and had managed to at least earn acknowledgment from the Raikage for his talents.
Still, his plan failed as Metsuki managed to switch with a clone and appear in front of Cruxis, what would have been a lethal opportunity had the Raikage actually been intent on killing him. But it wasn't a situation of life or death, and the Raikage's offer to walk with him was compliment enough for Cruxis!
Following Metsuki up the mountain, Cruxis wondered just why he was being escorted to the summit of the Kage's home. It was rare that visitors were taken this way, even rarer for a Gennin to be recieving an escort there from the Raikage himself! The talk of his potential again caused Cruxis to flush slightly, keeping an eye averted to the side before he took in the fact that he had just received an offer to be trained!
Looking at the items the Raikage had in store Eluamous was amazed at just how much there was to choose from. He could spend all day in here if given the opportunity; but of course that would waste valuable time, and it wasn't as if he could tell how an item would attune itself... "I suppose I'll have to use the oldest known method of selection...", Cruxis muttered to himself and began to go through rounds of Eeny-meeny-miney-moe in order to select three objects from the armory. An amulet, a set of three glass balls, and a ring. He took the three items and carried them out with him to the waiting room where the Raikage was standing there waiting for him. "I've chosen!" Cruxis announced, showing the items to Metsuki.

Cautiously taking the twin swords, Cruxis lined the sheaths against his belt before attaching them... Admittedly he was slightly embarrassed to admit he was not familiar with the usage of swords. He would be sure to take some lessons in swordplay the first opportunity he got.
As he was picked up and taken aboard the boats, he admitted to himself it was quite an exciting event to see the Chuunin Exams himself! It would give an opportunity to study just what went on in the exams so that he could be prepared when he himself got to take them!
He hummed a sea shanty to himself as he stared out over the open water, keeping an eye out for the land of rice where Hidden Sound was said to lie.