AN: I'm really disappointed with the lack of reviews. PLEASE REVIEW! THIS TIME I WILL NOT UPDATE UNTIL THERE ARE 5 REVIEWS FOR THIS CHAPTER! I don't own anything, enjoy!

So it begins

The next morning the two ninjas were eating breakfast in the small apartment that

Kakashi owned. Kakashi looked over at Sasuke who was eating silently as usual. It was still so weird for him to see Sasuke like he was now: human.

It had been a few months since that fateful night, and so far everything was going according to plan. The powerful spell jutsu that he had used had definitely been effective. His chakra had almost been drained completely because of it but, the cost was well worth it. You see, he had used a forbidden jutsu that was only used on those banished from their kingdom. The first part of the spell transported them out of the ocean and onto dry land. The second part of the justu transformed the four teens into humans, and thirdly, a seal was placed on their memories so that they would have complete and total amnesia when they woke up. Since the user was transported there as well, usually, the caster would just slip back into the water leaving the one who was exiled behind. Without any memories of his previous life, the person would wander around eventually settling into a new life as a human.

However, their situation was different. Kakashi had not abandoned them. Using genjutsu, he gave them false memories of a life they never had. Kakashi himself was not turned human, so he performed a transformation jutsu to appear as one. Giving them human clothes that he bought through trading pearls, he took them to a human ninja village. Kakashi let Sakura, Hinata, Naruto, and Sasuke be taken in by the village. Kakashi, decided to come a few days later and became a ninja for the village. He was pleased that Sakura and Hinata found homes that took them in. However, Naruto did not and took to living on his own, proclaiming that he would be the next Hokage of that village. Kakashi decided that Sasuke, should live with him, so he took him to live in his apartment.

Over the past few months, everything went smoothly. No one saw through his transformation jutsu, and the four teens went about life as if they had always lived in Konoha. Kakashi had become Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke's sensei, teaching them the ways of the ninja. Hinata had been placed on another team, but she was faring just as well. Better yet, there had been no signs of Oroachimaru looking for them. Maybe soon, they could return home. Hopefully, reminding him of the story of his past would help to unlock Sasuke's memories.

"So, what did you think of the story?" Kakashi asked lightheartedly. Sasuke looked at him with the same cold blank look he always had before answering.

"I don't see why you continue to tell me it. The whole concept is ridiculous especially since it comes from that trash," Sasuke said pointing to Kakashi's favorite book: Make-out Paradise. Kakashi feigned shocked hurt.

"Make-out Paradise is not trash!" Kakashi protested dramatically clutching the book like a life line. Sasuke rolled his eyes and got up from the table.

"Whatever." Sasuke muttered walking off. He didn't get very far because an intense pain came throbbing from his neck. It was so overwhelming that he dropped to his knees clutching his neck.

":Ahhh!" Sasuke screamed out. Kakashi rushed to his side, praying it was not what he thought it was. Sure enough, the curse seal mark was glowing fire red. Kakashi used his chakra to soothe Sasuke's immense pain. After another minute or so, the pain subsided.

"What was that?" Sasuke questioned when he regained his breath. He had thought it was just a tattoo. But tattoos did not send waves of excruciating pain and now that he thought about it where and when did he get that tattoo? He couldn't remember.

"I don't know, I'll have to ask the hokage about it later," Kakashi lied, all of a sudden very serious. Sasuke stared at him a moment before standing up, and making his way to the entrance of the apartment. Sasuke stopped when he saw that his sensei was now gathering things from around the apartment. It was like he was preparing for some kind of journey or something. Weird.

"Aren't you coming?" Sasuke inquired in his usual monotone voice. At first Kakashi didn't answer but then looked up as an afterthought.

"Oh yeah, I'll be there in a bit," he replied obviously distracted. Sasuke just shook his head and left the apartment closing the door behind him. Kakashi stopped what he was doing and just sat there a moment. So…it had begun. The spell jutsu was now slowly wearing off. He had to get the four back to the ocean. If not, the jutsu would continually wear off until they reverted back into their original forms. The girls were mermaids and so he had to get them back to the ocean, or they would die. The boys could survive on land with him, but… if humans were to see them, it would be very bad. Humans were naturally violent against creatures that could be a threat to them. They had to leave as soon as possible, and who knows what kind of dangers they would encounter on their journey to the ocean. He could only pray Oroachimaru didn't find out…

Meanwhile, Sasuke approached the bridge that team seven called their meeting place. It was still very early. The sun had barely risen, and no one else was there. He took this time to reflect and meditate, mentally preparing himself for any challenge that he would face that day. Still, his thoughts kept coming back to that morning. Subconsciously, he rubbed the mark on his neck. What was that? What was that pain and why did Kakashi act so strange when he saw it? There's something he's not telling me, but what? Sasuke was so deep in thought that he didn't notice his pink haired teammate and unknown soul mate approaching from about fifty feet away. When she was still far away he looked up only to have his heart clench. For some reason, something in his heart told him to take that girl in his arms and never let her go. Sasuke mentally slapped himself. What the heck? He had never felt that way toward Sakura Haruno before, so what was the deal? Even as she came close to him, the feeling would not go away.

"Good morning Sasuke," she greeted shyly upon finally reaching him. A slight blush was staining her cheeks as she smiled at him. At that moment, everything inside him seemed to scream at him to take her into his arms and kiss her. What in the world was going on? This was Sakura Haruno, one of the many annoying girls that stalked him, so why was he feeling this way? He finally managed out a,

"Hn," before turning his back so he could look at the river. However, when he did, he was nose to nose with the even more annoying loudmouth, Naruto.

"Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke, I don't see what Sakura likes about you so much," Naruto sneered crouching on top of the bridge's railing. Quickly, it became a glaring contest between the two boys, the static crackling between them. Meanwhile, Sakura was going ballistic, screaming for Naruto to knock it off. Naruto looked up utterly confused.

Sakura…Nauto just could not see why Sakura would fall for some ice cube like Sasuke. That was one of the unexpected side effects of sealing their memories. For some reason, Naruto had set his sights and had a big crush on Sakura. Naruto was constantly competing for Sakura's affection.

While Naruto was looking at Sakura, Sasuke decided to pull a little trick of his own. In a flash he used one hand to push Naruto off the ledge and into the water.

"Loser," he muttered. However, not a second later, Naruto jumped out of the water shouting and totally furious, flames blazing in his eyes.

"THAT"S IT! YOUR BUTT IS SO GETTING KICKED, SASUKE!" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs. Sasuke remained calm. Sasuke moved to the middle of the bridge prepared for Naruto's oncoming attack. Naruto landed on the bridge and lunged to punch Sasuke in a heartbeat. Sasuke easily dodged to the left. Unfortunately, directly behind him was Sakura who had been yelling for him to knock it off. Naruto's momentum was so great that he couldn't stop. In a desperate move, Sakura leaned back as far as she could against the rail, barely missing Naruto's fist. However, because of this, Sakura lost her balance and tumbled off backwards into the water. Naruto landed totally forgetting about Sasuke.

"Sakura!" he called. All of a sudden, Naruto felt an icy cold chill go down his spine.

"Danger…" Then out of the water, an enraged Sakura emerged cracking her knuckles. At that moment, Naruto felt incredibly scared. For some reason, when angered all girls seemed to have this power to beat the living crap out of him.

"Naruto…" Sakura said through clenched teeth. Naruto backed away slowly.

"Now Sakura, I didn't mean to…" he begged trying to plead with her. It was no use, Sakura's face looked as grim as ever.

"Naruto, you are so dead…" she said overshadowing him.

Twenty minutes later, Kakashi finally showed up. He saw that Sasuke was leaning against the rail with an attitude as usual. Sakura was gazing at Sasuke longingly as usual. Naruto was an unconscious smoking heap as usual. Everything was as it should be.

"Sorry guys, I was on my way here and then all of a sudden I just happened to get lost on the road of life…" Kakashi said grinning under his mask as usual.

"LIAR!" Sakura and Naruto shouted simultaneously.

"Yeah, you're right, but there was a reason why I was late." Out from behind Kakashi walked Hinata.

"Hinata! Hey what are you doing here?" Naruto asked his tone rather loud. Hinata immediately blushed at the attention given to her by her secret crush. Kakashi chuckled at the introvert. Naruto could be so blind sometimes.

"Hinata is here because she is accompanying us on a top secret mission," Kakashi explained. Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin.

"A top secret mission, how awesome! This is so cool! Now I can show off how I am so much better than that slug Sasuke once and for all!" Naruto ranted. Sasuke scoffed.

"In your dreams loser." Kakashi rolled his eyes. No matter what seals were put on them, Naruto and Sasuke would always be rivals.

"Ok, now I want you to go home and pack supplies needed for a month's journey. Remember, this is a top secret mission, so it is imperative that you do not tell anyone of our departure. Oh and by the way, if there's any places in Konoha that you think you will miss then I suggest that you go see them. This is going to be a long mission. Meet back here at dawn. That is all." With that Kakashi poofed and was gone.

Something did not sit right with Sasuke. The others didn't seem to think anything of it but then again, they didn't know their sensei like he did. First of all, usually Kakashi would at least tell them what their mission was before leaving and second, he made it sound like they were never returning to Konoha. More importantly, why couldn't they tell anyone of their mission? It wasn't like they knew what the contents were anyway. Something was just not adding up, and he was going to find out what.

That night, team seven/ Hinata visited all of their favorite hangouts before returning home…

Naruto found himself at his favorite ramen shop. It was all he could do not to tell the shop owner that he was going on a top secret mission. A part of him felt warmed. With missions like these, he was on his way to becoming Hokage for sure! A sobering thought came over him. Then all of the villagers would stop disrespecting him and looking at him with hate in their eyes. It was his greatest dream. Yes, it would be incredible to be Hokage but…even more than that…to be accepted, truly accepted was his greatest desire. He wanted someone to look at him like Sakura looked at Sasuke. He wanted someone to gaze at him with nothing but unconditional love and admiration.

Right now, everyone saw him as a joke or just an annoyance. That's why he liked missions so much. He was with people who treated him better, well Kakashi and sometimes Sakura did anyway. For some reason, Kakashi never gave up on him no matter how bad he messed up. He actually believed in him. For that, Naruto vowed that he would show his sensei that he was right to put faith in him. He would show everyone. Smiling, he slurped up the last of his ramen, paid the man and went on his way thinking about the things he should pack for this mission.

Little did he know, Hinata was watching from afar…

It was kind of a secret habit of hers. She would watch Naruto from far away, too shy to ever engage him in conversation. She sighed. Naruto was always alone. She saw the happy go lucky face that he put on in front of everyone else, but she also saw his true face when no one was around. She knew how hard he worked, how he had to struggle on his own. She admired him for his determination and fighting spirit. Not to mention that she really (blush) liked Naruto a lot. She couldn't explain it. Ever since she saw Naruto for the first time, she had instantly liked him. How she wished that he would look at her like the way he looked at Sakura. She would probably faint, but it would be the happiest moment in her entire life. In order for that to happen, she would have to talk to him.

Hinata felt her cheeks burning. How was she going to do that? Wait a minute, the mission! Kakashi had said that this was going to be a very long mission! I'll find some way to talk to him then for sure! Hinata was happy. Maybe, because of this mission, she could achieve her dreams of gaining the courage to talk to Naruto freely. Yes! She would make her dreams come true!

Across town, near the gates of Konoha, Sakura sat on a bench. (You know, the famous bench) She was watching as the first stars appeared in the clear night sky. That afternoon, she had done as he was told and visited her favorite hangouts. Afterwards, she went home and packed everything that she would need on this mission. Now, here she was sitting on this bench anticipating their upcoming mission. Part of her was anxious as always, for ninja missions were always dangerous to a certain extent, but the other part was excited. This was another opportunity that she was going to get to spend time with Sasuke. She blushed even at the thought of him. In her eyes, he was just perfect, a little cold, but still perfect. She just wished that he would care about her half as much as she cared for him. Unconsciously, she brought out the necklace that she always wore around her neck. It was made of a leather cord, and at the end of it hung a single fang. A fang of what she couldn't seem to remember, but for some reason, whenever she held it, it made of her think of Sasuke and what it would be like if he actually liked her back.

Sakura held the fang fondly. She couldn't remember when or where she got it, but something inside her told her to never take it off. Even when the other girls told her that it was ugly and weird, Sakura somehow knew that this necklace was precious. What was weird was the fact that Sasuke was always the one that she thought of when she touched the fang.

Sakura remembered the first time she ever laid eyes on Sasuke. She was in the middle of the street talking with girls about her age. They thought it extremely strange that, other than a few memories, she couldn't recall anything about her past. Sakura was trying her best to explain when she saw him. It had been love at first sight for her, however, something inside her argued that this was not first sight, that she knew that boy. Her heart screamed for her to rush over to him, for her to wrap her arms around him, and to never let go. It was like she could almost remember him and her past. Unconsciously, she took out the fang necklace and stroked it. At that moment, the boy's head snapped up and looked straight at her as if she had called for him herself. Their eyes locked on each other for what seemed like eternity, before a silver haired ninja led the boy away.

Ever since then, she had been trying to win Sasuke's heart. So far, she had failed miserably. He had even gone so far as to call her annoying when they were first placed on the same team. That day, her heart nearly shattered. However, she had not given up, and over time Sauke had begun to warm up to her.

Many times, she wondered why she felt so strongly for Sasuke. Sakura smiled. That was easy. He was strong, brave, and determined. Sakura knew for certain that if he ever did open up to her, she would only fall more helplessly in love with him. For her own heart's sake, she had to get Sasuke to care for her, because there was simply no one else. Maybe this mission, she could prove herself to him. Maybe this was the chance she needed. Sakura placed the fang back underneath her shirt and sighed.

Oh Sasuke…

Meanwhile, that same boy was walking the streets of Konoha. His thoughts were still fixated on the strange behavior of his sensei. Despite all of the scenarios, Sasuke could not for the life of him, figure out was going on with Kakashi. It definitely had something with the next day's mission. Why was this mission so important? If it was such a crucial mission then why had the Hokage assigned it to them? They were only gennin. Sasuke clenched his fists and scowled. That brought up another more…unpleasant…thought. He was only a gennin. He had to become stronger. He had to become stronger in order to avenge his clan. In his mind, Sasuke and his sadistic older brother, Itachi, were the only Uchihas left. It was his goal in life to kill his brother and to revive his clan.

In reality, none of this was true. The royal family of Uchihas was a large one, and Itachi, well; they had been the closest of brothers. Itachi had never any desire to wipe out his family. He had married and was mated to one of the nicest female nagas in their entire kingdom. Itachi was incredibly strong, but he only used that power to protect his people. All of the painful memories he relived now, were only false ones given by Kakashi. Kakashi wasn't being cruel when he did this. He just needed Sasuke to be the stongest possible for when they embarked on their perilous journey back to the ocean. Sasuke needed to have a strong fighting spirit. However, Kakashi had no idea that all of this would make Sasuke so cold and distant. Kakashi purposed in his heart that he would make it up to Sasuke one day.

The other thing that was nagging at the back of Sasuke's mind was the way he almost reacted to Sakura this morning. Why all of a sudden was he feeling such a strong attraction to her? Ok, so she had always been pretty, but the need he felt to hold her at that moment was almost overwhelming. He remembered seeing her for the first time. Her jade eyes locked on his onyx ones, and he couldn't help but get lost in her gaze. Ever since he had met her and whenever she was around, he felt the need to protect her. Over the months, he had suppressed the feeling in order pursue his goal as an avenger. But now, it was like he couldn't run from it anymore. Well, he was still going to fight it. Love made you weak, and nothing could stand in his way of avenging his family. Even now, the few memories he had of his childhood were fading at an alarming rate.

Sasuke clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles were white as he picked up the pace heading towards Kakashi's apartment. He would avenge his clan and this mission would only make him stronger in order to do so.

Meanwhile, Kakashi sat in his apartment gazing at the sunset from his window. He was all packed. He had already gone to the Hokage's office and had performed a powerful memory erasing jutsu on the Hokage. Anyone who asked about their sudden absence from the Hokage would immediately have his or her memories erased. He did this so that the humans would not send tracker ninjas after them. Kakashi had to keep those four safe at all costs.

Kakashi sighed. This was going to be the most dangerous mission that he had ever attempted. If any enemies found out about them, the attacks would not cease. However, if they reached the ocean, then they would be home free. At this point, there was no telling which way the mission would go.

With a sigh, Kakashi pulled out the necklace that was always secretly around his neck. It was a silver chain, but at the very end of it hung a very small fang. He stroked it longingly. It was tradition, at the marriage ceremonies that a female naga would give one of her fangs to the male. This was a way of accepting and sealing their marriage.

"Anko…" Kakashi whispered wistfully. It had been so long since he had last seen her. Everyday, he worried about her and her safety. Don't get me wrong, Anko was a very strong ninja as well, but that doesn't mean that he couldn't help but wonder about the woman he loved. Since coming to land, Kakashi had never mentioned Anko. It was just too painful. This mission could potentially rip them apart forever. Anko knew of the risks of the mission the fateful night he left her. Still, Kakashi vowed to return to her. Nothing would stop him. After this mission, Kakashi decided that he would never leave Anko again. He would still be a ninja, but he didn't want to keep risking his life. Besides, it was about time that he and Anko started a family. Kakashi smiled at the thought and placed the necklace back under his shirt. Yes, the mission to return home was going to commence soon…

That night, as the five ninjas lay in their beds contemplating what the next day would bring, a sense of peace washed over all of them. For some reason, no matter the different negative possibilities, the future didn't seem to scare them anymore…