Dead of Night [solo]

It was the dead of night, in the pitch black void of a little shack on Kirigakure's most southern point, where a young man sat in the middle, his arms and legs crossed, and his eyes closed. The bags under his eyes made it visible to any who would see, that he hadn't had good sleep in quite sometime. This insomnia, which was thrust upon him by the appearance of the cloned Shukaku, had driven away most of his thoughts. It was only when he was knocked unconscious, due to pain or drugs, that he really gained any peace from the beast. His shattered mind tried to recollect when exactly he was delivered the burden of the beast, was it when he was an academy student? Had it been with him his whole life? Even now, in the dead of night, the beast rampaged against its cage, causing the sand that comprised the floor of the shack and his gourd to whir about the inside and the outside of the shack in a circular formation. 

For a moment, his thoughts all collected to form a reflection of the past events. From the time he was in Tengakure, up to now even, he was weak. When he was confronted by the stranger in the classroom, he was at his whim. Mitako remembered the man's chakra very clearly, and saw in his eyes ill intent. Then, he had yet to even scratch at Youta. Further, Hysterio, who was on par with Mitako at one point, had shot up so far in skill that Mitako couldn't even hold his own in a battle against him. Actually, he couldn't even scratch at his closest thing to a friend, not even in an attempt to fight him. His eyes opened, and the sand would stop where it was, each little particle freezing in mid air, as if time had just stopped. Any more rest than that, and the beast might come forth.

Through this little recollection of his thoughts, Mitako came to the conclusion that in order for him to stop the beast, he must beat it into submission. Destroy its mind like it did his, and become the beasts worse nightmare. Take the monster in his head, and give it a reason to complain about being trapped, leave the thought of Mitako so ingrained in its thoughts, that even when he inevitably died and the beast moved onto a new host, that it would always remember his image. Lifting his hands above his head, all of the sand that was floating in place slowly dirfted to his hands, forming the gourd he had heard of in stories. He then placed the condensed sand gently on the ground in front of him, and used the sand to bring him his knife. When the little cloud of sand finally arrived to his side, he seized the knife and began to lop off his hair in long chunks, until it was short and easy to maintain. Then, with the gourd strapped to his back, he ditched his shirt, and stuck his ryo within his gourd, before setting out for the village. 

By the time he made it to the actual town part of the village, the sun was just beginning to poke its head over through the morning, well ever present mist since that was what Xyxer wanted, mist. The shops were opening as well, and striding into town, Mitako found the tailor, who just happened to have some clothes that fit him. After paying for the goods, Mitako strode out of the shop in a mesh shirt covered by a black robe that was more of a long, thin hooded jacket that draped down to his calves. The sleeves of his robe were too billowy to allow to be loose, so he used the bandage he had to wrap them to his wrists. Underneath the robe jacket, he wore a pair of tan pants that were tucked into his toe-less boots. With his gourd strapped to his back with leather straps, he set out for the Mizukage statue, where he would be informed of a contest that would result in a rank up for the winner. 

[Flashback before the blood games, just some CD]