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I chose water due to it's versatility and nature, plus my favorite element is ice, which is essentially water.

I would have to say that Earth is my favorite Element. I Like its versitility smooth to rough. Sand to Granite or even denser types of rocks. its beauty forging landscapes. Beauty crating diamonds is like a shinobi in training put enough pressure on it and they're forced to become greater.

I'm going to go with Shadow like Iksuinoyume but my main reason is probably because of the time in my life when I joined the academy... looking back I guess I was runnng away from all the crap I didn't want to deal with IRL but I like the subtlety it allows and the outcastish viewpoint most people have on it in comparison to the rest of the elements... its almost like the little kid in the corner that no one will admit to knowing

Haha, we've certainly received some wonderfully intriguing answers so far! Everyone's given their own opinion as to their favorite element. I was initially going to just expand on my view of every element (ENA STYLE), but that would just let the topic die way too easy, so let's see what else can be written. In order now, shall we?

Elnen, I do agree that water is extremely versatile, but as Haruki said, Earth is quite versatile as well. And in honest truth? All of the elements are varied in their own unique ways. Not to say water's any less special because of it. No, even if the earth supports life, most all living things need water, however little, to survive.

Oh yes, ice is cool too, yeah. A very hard element to categorize though.

Iksuino, TBB, I agree on many points here. Shadow is perhaps what people associate myself with most aside from fire, and it's rather fitting in it's mutability. But in addition to those, I have to say, almost everything the dark embodies I like in some way. Peaceful and serene becomes nightmarish and horrific with just a simple change in your viewpoint. Mystery, secrets, lies, hidden knowledge, the things that lurk in the dark. All are another side to it, and even when we'd rather view it in other ways... It's still there, right? Just like anything, it has many sides.

Now, it seems I'm giving a disproportionate amount of attention to the dark, and that's true. As with TBB, I can relate to it in some ways. Both the good and bad of it.

Moving along~...

Lanthanos, here's where I finally differ. At every point I partially agree, except the second and the very end. While Earth houses all of these elements, it is by no means their 'master' or 'base'. Earth is powerful, yes, but every element needs another to form what our planet Earth is. Take away one, and this would be a horribly overrated ball of dust.

You can stop Earth, and much easier than you'd first think. In time, there won't even be any 'earth' here, just ash. Even before that, water erodes, corrodes, and floods the land, taking earth under it and turning it into weakened sand. In short, it's a lovely, beautiful part of the cycle... But just that, no more or less important.

Lea, I wish I had more to say, but after that I'm sorta worn. So, instead, I'll just say... Yeah, water's cool like that.

A while back I said that Fire was my favorite element, but I never really expanded on my view of it. So let's see...

Fire is, to me, absolutely captivating and beautiful. Even within a single candle-flame there are a world of possibilities as it twists, turns, flares, calms itself, and things that don't have words to describe, but don't need them. Within the same flame, I see it fly between red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and even purple at some points. In other flames, where more unusual things burn, I can delight in an entire spectrum of possibilities. Blue flame though is not just the hottest, but the most beautiful, if you ask me.

There are so many other things about flames too, such as the very nature of them, but now I'll go to more practical things.

Fire is known for destroying, but less so for the creation of things, even life. Many ecosystems in the world depend on fire, and mankind itself could never prosper without it's world-changing fingers. Our sun, as I mentioned, is the largest amount of fire around us, and even larger (and hotter) flames exist in our universe, stars of such great magnificence, beauty, and power, that to do anything but awe when realizing the scope of it just seems... Strange to me.

... And I had a lot more to say, but it'll end here. Hope this keeps people busier for a while.

Nicely worded Mezran. However, I always saw light and dark as a relationship that always went hand in hand. Kinda like sun and moon. Without the moon, the sun really can't end the day, and without the sun, the moon couldn't give light to the dark. Or simpler put, you can also say that without the light, you can't expose what is dark, and without the dark, you can't find where the light is. I think I'm addicted to that kind of relationship because at this point, one can't say what is right and what is wrong. With elements so obscure like light and dark, the only thing that was definite for me was their relationship. They are neither evil or good -- They are just simply coexistence. And that's the mainly the concept that I am addicted to. Why? Because, me being the philanthropist that I am, think that this correlates with human behavior as well.

When you said there was mystery, secrets, lies, hidden knowledge, etc, it reminds me of the novel I am writing at the moment, really. These things you stated, are really much like humanistic qualities, which kinda made me laugh because you stated exactly what I adored about the element. xD But then, I thought about it, and thought that things could hide in the light too. For instance, Heaven. No one really knows what God looks like. We can only write about him, but we never seen him. The reason why he created the world, we don't know either. That in itself, is a beautiful mystery, and can only rely on our reasoning. Also, when you stare at the sun (Yes, I have stared at the sun before, because I was ... Err ... I was a bit of a weird child when I was young, let's just put it that way. xD), all you see is light. There's no shadows, and all you see is green and blue dots everywhere. You can't see past the sun at all, you can't see the planets that lie outside of our world. Without telescopes, there is no way to tell if there was a solar system out there. When the sun is out, it's kind of masking the planets away from our view, but when the sun is away, you can see it more clearly at night. In sense, the sun was hiding the planets and stars away from us. Through this perspective, I think the light has as many secrets and things that are hidden as much as shadow does -- Just like humans do.

Which also brings me to the reminder I have. I have a novel that I am writing, in which my main character Mikomi, has a phobia of the darkness due to a genocide. She is afraid to close her eyes because she wouldn't know what would happen next during the time she closes her eyes. She looses her mental stability, and convinced herself that people who have died also closes their eyes. Therefore, she believes that her existence will fade every time she closes her eyes. There is a time where she is getting hurt, and she closes her eyes out of fright. She feels like she surrendered herself to the abuse and hands over her identity to the people abusing her because she cannot see or tell what expression she is making. She goes back after the abuse, and looks in the mirror and blinks again and takes note that she missed a second on what her facial expression was during that time she blinks. When she dies however, she is in a place that is all white, but, she can't see herself-- Only the clothes that she had died in. Mikomi can't see herself because it's too bright, or rather, there is too much light and her skin is too pale. These were among the very important scenes in my novel, mainly because they are symbolic for the coexistence of light and dark, or more realistically speaking; good and evil.

Which brings me to the ending of the novel, which brings up my point about coexistence. Mikomi is resurrected from the dead by her nephew who revived her by a stream. The significance of this is, that Earth is between Heaven and Hell. Earth is the only place that we know for sure, have people on it. We don't know if there's people in Heaven or Hell, nor can we foretell our destinies of where we may wind up in after we die. It is here that Mikomi blinks repetitively and looks at her hands before she slowly smiles, accepting that she is here and alive. I think we need our so called "bad" and "good" sides to accept how we live our lives, thus making who we are. We are who we are, not because we are bad or good. What's bad or good is what is perceived later, which is how I portray the dark and light elements as. Sure, you can argue that you can use the light to see things in the dark and what's in it, but I think you can use the dark to see things in the light as well, hence, coexistence. biggrin

Mitsiribi Akechi:
I am a lover of fire... it best suits my personality... as well as behavior... i am a very quick tempered spirit.... i have limits on certain things... i can deal with a lot but on some issues i lose it... ive been in countless fights becuz of it... it also symbolizes the power of destruction and preservation... the destruction part is obvious... the preservation is a lil more complicated... ppl that no bout forest fires will tell u that in order to save all u destroy a lil to protect the mass... it is also a means of light, heat, and purity in many cultures it is known that to purify the body u burn it... to get all impurities out... u do also to ya food as well cook it so all bacteria do not harm the body... it can also be compressed into a beam to cut things, that are in use in the medical field... I no i kind of jumped around a bit but i feel strongly on my element... ppl only think of it in a negative way but it positive traits as well as i have stated before... but yea i also am intrested in bein if possible a medical ninja... i like to fight but i also like to help other comrades that have fallen in combat but that is all... thank u for ya time.... ninja