The bringing of flame! Kotaro's element arises!

It has been quite some time since Kotaro had become a genin, and he was very very annoyed with the fact that he still hadn't been assigned a team since. this had made him very frustrated. he would go to the raikage to complain, but none of the other genin he had talked to hadn't gotten a team assigned either. So Kotaro decided to search for someone who could teach him his element. He had already taken the paper test, and when that happened the paper burst into flames. He knew this was going to be hard finding a teacher, since those with the fire element in Kumo are scarce. He had asked around and eventually placed a request for a trainer. A few days later, he went to his door to leave, and found a note on the floor, slid from underneath his door. The note simply said that if he would like to learn his element, he would have to meet this person in the training grounds at the specific day and time. Kotaro was naturally suspicious, but he was more concerned with learning an element than anything else. Maybe even gain a friend. He only had one friend whom he had met days before, Kyo.

So Kotaro bound the scythe to his back, placed his two sheathed short swords to each side of his belt, and then placed on his gauntlets, the blades of the fingers removed and in a pouch on the back of his belt. He would carry all of these weapons even if he wasn't worried about an attack, its just the way he is. He made his way to the training grounds and got there a tad bit early. It was an open area with a standing log near its center. There, Kotaro was surprised at what his eyes were seeing, leaning on the log. It was a small child, or at least thats what it looked like. By the looks of it the child was around five years of age, far too young to be out here in the training grounds, let alone to be out here all by himself with out any adults. He looked around to see if there were any adults around, which there wasn't. "Umm, hey there, are you lost or something?" There was a slight breeze after he asked his question as he waited for a reply.

Reborn casually strode into the Training Grounds and began to search for a young Genin he had more or less agreed to train in the usage of the fire element. He only hoped this child would know the dangers that came with such an element... He really didn't like teaching students who tended to misunderstand the usage and dangers of fire.

So, who was this young Genin he'd agreed to train in the usage of fire? Sasaki Kotaro, a Genin who was fourteen years old, but looked to be in his later teens. As far as he could recall about the boy and based on the public and private profiles he had of the boy... This child was not from a ninja family; however, his father was familiar with weapons... And he seemed to have a thirst for fights… Which brought Reborn to his first worry: would the boy understand fire wasn't purely destructive? That if he truly intended to control fire he needed to have a calm and level head? He remembered he had learned this lesson the hard way...

Soon enough he spotted the Genin, making his way onto the Training Grounds but didn't bother to approach him. Interestingly enough, the Genin actually made his way to him. Under normal circumstances Reborn would have played along with it, feigning ignorance, but as he agreed to ‘train’ the boy, he more or less got straight to the point, first of beginning by turning so that he could meet Kotaro. He looked up steadily at Kotaro’s face and had Reon in gun form pointed directly at Kotaro. ”You wish to learn how to control the fire element, katon, do you not?” he asked briskly.

Would the boy feel threatened and back off, being able to sense that he wasn’t a child or would he think that he was but a child and merely playing games with him? Oddly enough, for today Reborn had dressed himself so that he looked like a fireman. It was… certainly a change, probably meant to signify what was to come in a few minutes or hours from now. Patiently he watched Kotaro.

Silently, softly, the snow fell all around them, blanketing the training grounds with a soft, fuzzy white sheet. Already there was snow upon the ground, but it was still snowing, a little heavily Reborn might add. He was glad his little costume was actually rather nice and warm, despite how thin it looked. Was he cold? It'd been snowing for awhile.

Would the child fare well in calling out his element? He suspected that in the snow, through the cold the boy would be more likely to summon forth his element, praising its ability to cast warmth... but that would remain to be seen. Everyone drew out their elements differently. Some so bizarrely one wondered how in the world they'd manage to draw it like so. Commonly, most people tended to think of the element they were drawing, focusing on its make up and capabilities, generally what they thought the element was. But others... were very unique and had an interesting interpretation of what an element was. What would this boy's interpretation of fire be?

Snow began to fall lightly, then heavily all around them and soon, the ground was blanketed by snow. ”You wish to learn how to control the fire element, katon, do you not?” This voice, as expected, was very child like. Kotaro was surprised that his child would know about such information. There was a slight chance in Kotaro's mind that this was indeed the one whom had accepted his request of teaching him fire. But it just seemed so unlikely to him. "How did you get that information, or even know my name in that case?" Kotaro spoke calmly, so that if this was a child, he wouldn't scare the small boy. Kotaro stood there thinking for a bit in the silence, then spoke again."But to answer your question, I am Kotaro Sasaki, and I do wish to learn how to use the fire element, Katon."

He inspected the small person carefully. He appeared to be wearing some sort of fireman's getup. Rather or not this was coincidence or some sort of joke, Kotaro wasn't in the mood to play along if this was a joke. He had been waiting too long for a team and hated standing around doing nothing. At least back at the academy he had things to do. Sure he could train, but train what? he was skilled with weapons enough and could learn how to use new ones quickly. As for techniques and other jutsus? Kotaro knew he wouldn't get far without knowing an element, or without a tutor. He studied the person infront of him once more, looking at the fine details. Kotaro would have a seriously hard time believing that this person was his mysterious teacher. But if it wasn't him, he could stand around and wait for the real master to show up.

Giving him a slight nod of the head, Reborn acknowledged his words, but the little gun in his hands was still aimed at Kotaro. "You have already completed the first step by finding out your elemental affinity. All that remains is for you draw it out, correct?" he asked, but it was a rethorical question and he'd more or less ignore what the boy would answer with.

Reon, gun form, pointed at a small batch of icicle hanging off of a tree's branch. They were extremely thin and could easily be broken apart or melt away. There were plenty of them there, ranging from about three inches in length to less than an inch. With a small click of the gun, distinctive fire based chakra was launched and implanted itself near the base of the tree. It had been a weak usage of fire and as such it merely melted a small layer of the snow away. "Melt the icicle," instructed Reborn. He would let the boy decide which length of the icicle he'd like to melt in addition to how many he wanted to melt. So long as he managed to melt them. "If you can melt them we'll move on."

The task seemed easy enough, if one thought about it, but since he was a Genin and new to bringing out his element, he would take awhile to do this simple little task. It would not only measure his patience, but also his endurance. Unlike some of the other elements, fire was as apt to hurt the caster as it was the target. Of course, all the elements were apt to hurt the caster, but fire was one of the ones more prone to do so.

Walking over to a towring boulder, Reborned shimmed his way up top to it, melting the snow off the stone with some mild fire and heating it up just a little before settling down. He had a feeling this was going to take awhile. Hopefully the boy wouldn't catch cold. Reon soon shifted into a little umbrella just the right size for Reborn and warded off the falling snow. And as Kotaro made his way to the tree at hand, Reborn added: "Also... lay down your weapons. All of them." They would serve another purpose later on.

If the boy doubted him being his teacher, he should be comforted now that he was no mere child due to his display of using katon as well as the way he instructed Kotaro. One thing was clear: Reborn had taught others before and was somewhat used to being obeyed.

He would watch the boy silently. As far as he knew, the boy had little affinity for much else other than weaponry. Would this excercise perhaps show that he migh thave latent potential as a Ninjutsu user? To his knowledge, those ninja who were adept in Ninjutsu or Genjutsu came to learn elements faster than others, perhaps not better, but faster none the less. He suspected it had to with their natural ability to be able to draw out chakra easier, being more familiar with it than Taijutsu based ninja. It would be interesting none the less. He knew all ninja were capable of drawing out an element, but everyone went about it at different rates.

What kind of potential did this boy have? Perhaps he'd be able to teach the boy the beginning of a fire jutsu that the reknown Uchiha were famed for and even proud of learning. Indeed, Genin learning such a jutsu were rare. They usually didn't have the chakra capactiy for most elemental jutsus. It would be an advantage if he could properly learn how to utilize a jutsu.

This person did not introduce himself at all. But it would soon be unnecessary, because the although he had a child like appearance, he easily used fire to melt nearby icicles. He then instructed Kotaro to melt them as well, then later he told him to put down his weapons. Kotaro was reluctant to agree to his whims, but he started by walking up to the boulder that the small man had managed to climb upon, he removed his scythe, then his gauntlets, then unlatched the straps to his sheathes to his swords from his belt. He even removed the pouch used to hold kunai and shuriken, laying everything by the boulder. He was a bit confused that the man gave him no hints or tips of any sort, he just expected him to do it. Kotaro had a brief understanding of how fire itself worked. Molecules would begin moving and once hitting a certain high speed, the item would ignite. He figured if he tried to to the same with his chakra, while using some to expel the fire chakra, he could create and shoot off a fireball.

Kotaro started small. He built chakra in his hand and focused on making it vibrate rapidly. Soon he felt heat slightly radiating from his hand. His first goal was to create fire, next would be to maintain it, then and only then, he would attempt to shoot the fire at the icicles. At first he could only generate heat. This was making him irritated. He knew this was going to be a long and annoying process. The fact that he heat was barely enough for him to feel made it even harder. Kotaro knew this wasn't going to work well on his own. Perhaps he should ask this person for assistance? Kotaro was never one for asking for help, but he knew he needed to learn this element, and this person could clearly demonstrate fire with next to no difficulty. He sighed and slowly turned around, facing the small man on the rock. "To be honest, I don't really know all that much about being able to use fire. That is why I was looking for a teacher. I honestly have next to no idea of how I should go about this.

It might have seemed as if he wasn't paying attention, but he was. The snow had been falling steadily and he was sure it'd serve his needs. As Kotaro began his first attempts at drawing out fire, Reborn jumped down from his perch and siddled the weapons away from the original spot Kotaro had laid down his things. He went for the smaller items first for they would be the easiest to move out of the immediate area and make less noise or leave much tracks.

He'd move the larger things later. As Kotaro began to turn towards him again, sighing, Reborn walked up to him and stood by his feet. "You need to become fire. Just understanding the basics won't do. Focus on what fire is. The flames continue to dance, but always it needs to be fed or else it dies." He was speaking in riddles or metaphors maybe, but he didn't quite want to give away the answer like so without the boy having really tried first.

"Try closing your eyes and envisioning fire..." he murmured, going back to the boulder and standing amongst his weapons. He could easily sense the chakra he was giving off and trying to turn into fire natured chakra. He was off to good start though, having at least been able to generate some heat. He could tell that much by simple observation alone. The snow falling about them had melted within a couple of inches from his hand... too far away for it to have been his body heat that caused the snow to melt. Besides, they were in the mountains and the snow was falling more and more thickly. It wouldn't be long before body heat would have no effect on the snow melting.

It was likely that this training was going to take... well... days. But Reborn hoped to accomplish him mastering the basics by the end of the day, twenty-four hours really. Then, if he showed promise he might give him more tips and teach him how to more properly control the chakra and produce authentic fire.