Disclaimer: Two-Tails always forgets to tell you all I don't own Naruto. I just like beating up the characters in the story. Can't help it that he created sooo many characters that are just soo very ripe for beating on.

Chapter Thirteen: Problems and Trouble

Naruto had spent the rest of the previous day in the forced coma Kyuubi had sent him into to escape the images from his nightmare and now the Fox was trying, without success, to bring him out of it. The problem was the Kit was so tired he didn't want to leave the coma. Kyuubi paced in the confines of his cage which he was startled to note wasn't as small as it used to be. Somehow the kit had increased the size of his cage to four paces in every direction. The puddle that used to be outside the cage was now directly centered under the bars of that held the seal. However, that was a puzzle for another time. Right now he needed to get the kit to wake up. He tried to go to where the kit was but found his way blocked by plants. Plants? Where had they come from? Oh well. It didn't matter. He tried to push his way through them but the plants pushed back. He couldn't get through physically. He sat back on his haunches to think things through. His tails thumped out a rhythmic beat on the floor of Naruto's subconscious.

Across town, Team Seven was gathering on the bridge. Sakura had shown up with a thoughtful expression on her face and now she was studying Sasuke who had yet to even say good morning. Sasuke wasn't a morning person though so she didn't expect him to. "Good morning Sasuke-kun," she said cheerfully. "I hope you slept well."

He didn't even "Hn" her. Just turned his back and waited to see if Naruto would show today if the direction he was staring was any indication. She sighed and dropped her smile. "Maybe we can get a mission we can do without Naruto today. Even a stupid one here in town would be better than nothing at all. I really don't see why the whole team has to suffer just because he's being a baby," she griped.

Kakashi showed up on time for once and looked off in the same direction as Sasuke. "So he's a no-show again." Sasuke nodded while Sakura shrugged.

"Who cares," she said. "I wasted my whole afternoon yesterday looking for him."

Kakashi spun around and faster than she could blink Sakura found herself tied to the center pole at their usual training ground. Behind Kakashi, a very pissed off Kakashi, Sasuke glared at her. "I've had enough of your crap, Sakura." Kakashi said. "It's bad enough that you have never once tried to help Naruto but you insult the whole team with your blatant dislike of anything that has to do with Naruto. You were not looking for Naruto yesterday when you threw his bed through his apartment wall to the street below or tore every single one of his doors off their hinges. What? Did you think he was hiding inside the door itself? He'd be much more talented than you are if he could do that. But you didn't even have the grace to clean up after yourself. At least when Naruto throws a temper tantrum he cleans up and makes it all right. You just left the mess for someone else to clean up." He turned away from her and stormed off a few paces blowing out his breath and sucking in another with every step.

Sasuke said nothing but Sakura could tell he was angry. She thought he was angry on her behalf. This was so unfair but at least her Sasuke-kun would get her free if Kakashi-sensei didn't untie her she thought. She saw that woman show up with Ino again and suddenly the conversation with Ino last night clicked into place. Of course Ino said all that stuff. If she could convince Sakura to back away from Sasuke-kun she had a clear shot at him working with her and him the way she was. Well, it wasn't going to work. She wasn't going to let Ino-pig win her guy away from her. Sasuke-kun belonged to her. Everyone knew that.

She watched as that woman walked over to Kakashi-sensei and they had a brief conversation. Ino walked over to Sasuke-kun and said something to him. Sakura saw Sasuke-kun take a deep breath and smile at Ino. No Way! He never smiled. "Leave him alone, Ino-pig," Sakura screamed across the field. She pulled against the ropes that bound her to the pole but there was no give in them at all and she stayed where she was.

Ino didn't even look at her as she and Sasuke-kun walked away to join the other two at the far side of the training field. Just as they were all getting ready to leave everyone felt the large pulse of terrifying chakra flood the village. Everyone caught their breath and then Kakashi, Ino and Sasuke started running. Watarimono followed them while Sakura screamed to be released.

As they ran across the village they met others running in the direction of the pulsing waves of chakra that were still spilling across the village. Civilians were poking their heads out of windows and doors trying to see what the danger was and whispered on the breeze was the thought that the boy had lost control and they would all die. Ninja converged on the pulse wave trying to pinpoint where it was coming from, while the villagers just wanted to get away from it.

Tsunade appeared in the open area in front of the Hokage's Tower. Standing with her were Jiraiya, Shizune and several others who worked in the building. Coming over from the academy were the academy teachers including Iruka. Everyone had the same question. As Kakashi and his group came into view everyone congregated around him all babbling together until the sound resembled a gathering of geese.

"Silence," roared Tsunade. When everyone was quiet she continued, "Kakashi, where is my Gaki?"

"I don't know. He hasn't been seen for a couple of days. I think Iruka is actually the last person to have seen him."

"But that was days ago," sputtered Iruka.

The pulse wave rolled over them all again. Sasuke just looked around for a minute before he mumbled, "He's in trouble." and took off running towards the center of the area the wave seemed to be spreading from. Everyone followed him. Halfway across the clearing he ran into Hinata heading their way. She didn't say anything but her panic clearly showed in her face as she grabbed him by the arm pulling him along behind her.

"Hinata, the Dobe. Where?" Sasuke panted out.

She nodded and tugged his arm harder. Together they ran through the trees bordering the open area the ninjas had gathered in with everyone else following more slowly behind them. Within a few minutes Sasuke found himself standing beside a beautiful pool of water staring at a waterfall that fell gracefully into the pool. Hinata was pointing up at the waterfall and he could see the red chakra pouring out from behind the fall. She let him go and he sprinted to the base of the fall just as Kakashi, Iruka and Tsunade broke through the bushes that enclosed the area. They were followed by Watarimono, Ino and Shizune who stopped and stared at the beauty of the place. Tsunade soon joined Sasuke in trying to find the path up to where they could see the chakra spilling out. Jiraiya didn't even look at his surroundings as he joined them and began scaling the rocks behind the fall. Soon he found the cave and Tsunade broke the genjutsu that covered it and they were inside. Tsunade ran a scan on Naruto as soon as she found him laying so still on his futon.

As soon as he realized help had arrived for his kit the Fox turned off his chakra but kept up his pacing, beating himself up with his own nine tails. He was really angry with himself for endangering his kit like this and needing the help of humans to save the child. It wasn't bad enough that he'd been the one to give the kit those horrible nightmares as a young kit but then he hadn't been able to stop them and had to settle into a role of simply pulling the boy out of his nightmares whenever the kit became too stressed to get any more useful rest. Then he'd allowed himself to become complacent enough not to realize that there were some images the kit would never ever need to see in that context and had forgotten to watch the nightmare scape for them and so the kit had seen too much. Now the Kit was trapped in a demon set coma from which he refused to wake. It was all his fault. All because he was angry at the Yondaime he had taken it out on his kit, who had done nothing . . . to anyone. Kyuubi hung his head in shame. Foxes didn't hurt their kits. Ever. Yet he had. Over and over again. True Kit wasn't a real fox but he was still a kit belonging to Kyuubi. Therefore he should not have hurt him. He didn't know what to do so he paced.

At the training ground, Sakura stewed. She was still tied to the post and no one was around to get her untied. She was so angry she could and did scream. She had been forgotten as everyone had rushed off to deal with Naruto. That stupid idiot. She hoped this time they'd kill him. Team seven would be better for it if they did. He was becoming more and more of the demon he was supposed to keep them safe from everyday. She saw it even if no one else did. Everyone knew his strength was the demons really and, as strong as he was when fighting, to her that meant the demon did his fighting. Since he preferred to spend his days in combat, how could they not see the demon was taking over. Naruto wasn't smart enough to keep a demon as strong as the Kyuubi tricked into being contained. Didn't anyone understand you needed to be smart to contain a demon? What was wrong with these people? She would never be so stupid as to believe that the village idiot could contain such a powerful entity as the Kyuubi was supposed to be. She fumed and wondered just how long they'd be gone and how long it would take for anyone to remember she was trapped here. It never occurred to her to use her strength to simply pull the post out of the ground and walk away until she fond someone to cut the ropes.

Back in the waterfall cave, Sasuke and Iruka had joined Jiraiya and Tsunade. Iruka took careful note of everything in the cave and realized this was Naruto's get-away. His escape from the stares and the hate. His place to be alone, where he could just be. Quietly he said to Sasuke, "Once he's safe again we need to make sure everyone forgets this spot and seal it back up for him." Sasuke just nodded while casting a glaring eye at Jiraiya.

Tsunade heard him and so did Jiraiya. Both looked around and saw what he meant. Things that were important to Naruto were here. Precious pieces of himself. Tsunade saw a picture of herself smiling cockily at the camera and another of Jiraiya peeping through bushes and grinning manically. From another frame Iruka stood with a much younger Naruto outside the academy building. There was at least one picture of everyone Naruto cared for in this cave but most telling was the team seven picture. Careful editing had removed Sakura from the picture, filling her spot with a reasonable rendition of Kakashi's normal attire. If she hadn't known Sakura was supposed to be in the picture she never would have known it by Naruto's copy. Now she just pointed it out to Sasuke who grunted. He'd already seen it but since he knew for a fact that Naruto hated the girl it didn't startle him as much as it did everyone else. Jiraiya whistled when his eye fell on it and realized the girl wasn't in it. "And here I really thought he loved her. Damn Gaki. Really had me fooled," he said.

"Now maybe you understand why I want Wata to work with him?" asked Tsunade. "If he can hide his dislike of one girl from you, who traveled with and trained him, how many other things don't we know about him? And how dangerous are these things he's hiding?" She continued trying to figure out exactly what was wrong with him but all she could really determine was that he seemed to be in a really deep sleep. However, she knew it had to be more than that. The Fox had sent that pulse wave through a sleeping Naruto. Yet when they had arrived it was perfectly clear the Fox was not in control of the boy. He was still contained. Finally she sat back on her heels. "I can't find anything wrong with him. He just appears to be deeply asleep. And that's not an uncommon state for people when they need rest bad enough."

"For him," said Sasuke.

Tsunade turned to look at him. "What?"

"Ask Kakashi."

"Kakashi, get in here," Tsunade yelled out. A second later Kakashi was in the cave and saw Naruto. He frowned. He saw at once that Naruto was not in a normal for Naruto sleep.

"Damn it Gaki. What did you do to yourself now?" yelled a frustrated Tsunade. She ordered him taken to the hospital before she transported herself there also.

In the cave, Iruka stepped to the edge and looked for Kurenai in the gathering below them while Sasuke stood with Kakashi who was looking around at everything. Jiraiya was also peering into every nook and cranny and it was making Sasuke angry.

"Stop," he finally growled out. Both Kakashi and Jiraiya looked at him, wondering who was doing what that bothered the Uchiha. "Quit prying. Get out."

"We're not hurting anything. Not even touching anything," explained Kakashi.

"Prying. Leave. Now."

Jiraiya looked at Kakashi who looked back at him. Both knew Sasuke was right but neither wanted to pass up this chance to see a side of the Gaki they'd never get to see again. Both knew all too well that Naruto never gave away his secrets. For a loud-mouth he was surprisingly secretive. Kakashi sighed and nodded before saying, "You're right Sasuke. It is an invasion of his privacy but it's also a chance to really get to know a side of Naruto he hides from everyone." As an example he pointed to the guitar sitting at the head of the futon. Sasuke said nothing. He just crossed his arms over his chest and waited for them to leave. He already knew Naruto would never come back here again and had plans to take all his treasures out of here as soon as he could get everyone to leave. He and Hinata would clear the cave and she would know if he had another spot to store them.

Finally Jiraiya had poked into everything he could find and, after trying to take Naruto's journal, which Sasuke had pulled away from him he left. No way was he going to read something so private without Naruto consent while Sasuke was there to stop him. Kakashi followed Jiraiya out. Once he was alone inside Sasuke motioned for Hinata to join him. She did so willingly.

"What's happening out there?" he asked her.

"Kurenai-sensei is . . .erasing this sssp...pot from evvvveryone's minddd. . ."

"Stop stuttering. Take a deep breath and then tell me. Look over that way," He pointed to the far wall.

She did as he instructed and then said, "Kurenai-sensei is erasing this spot from everyone's mind. Some tried to run off like that new woman but Shikamaru caught her in a shadow hold until the area could be erased. Ino is helping her and when no one remembers anymore Kurenai will reseal this cave with a jutsu to keep it hidden and moisture-free like Naruto-kun had it."

"Strong enough to erase it from a Sannin's mind? Or Kakashi's?"

Hinata shook her head. "I doubt it. Sannins have unusually strong minds and when they want to remember something they will. As for Kakashi-Sensei, he's not called the Copy-nin for nothing. I think they'll all, including Tsunade-sama, remember this spot."

"Do you know of any other spot Naruto has found that no one else seems to know of then?" Iruka asked her. "It's bad enough they were all in here looking through his things but if they remember he comes here to escape he'll never be able to do it again." He had come back in as Sasuke ran a hand through his hair showing his frustration.

"Yes, I think I do but it doesn't have a cave like this. This cave is why he always liked this spot the best. It made for great privacy but the falling water and the echos of the cave were great for his music."

Sasuke started pacing as he thought. Finally he stopped and looked out the cave opening before turning to look at Hinata again. She dropped her head and he turned his gaze away. When he saw her lift her head from the corner of his eye he asked her, "Trust Kurenai-sensei?"

Hinata wanted to trust her sensei but this was for Naruto-kun so she thought about it carefully before she nodded. "I think so," she said. "But let's test her before we take her there."

"Test who and take them where?" asked Kurenai from the cave opening.

Sasuke, Hinata and Iruka all shared a look before Iruka said, "We're thinking we need to move Naruto's hiding spot until he can choose a new one. Too many nosy people were poking and prodding around in here for him to ever feel safe here again. I know he won't want to come back here again now that so many people know of the spot."

Kurenai considered the problem and looked around. What she saw surprised her. The real Naruto was here and she knew they were right. The meaning of this cave was obvious and he wouldn't come back again unless it was to gather up his things. "So what is your plan?"

"We'll take his stuff to another location but we need you to do the sealing thingy to keep them safely hidden until we can tell him where they are and he can move them himself."

"Why not just leave them here and I'll seal this place back up?"

"Because Sasuke already caught one person trying to take something out of here without his ok. I don't trust anyone who could still remember, in spite of yours and Ino's efforts, not to come back and try again," explained Iruka.

"Jiraiya-sama tried to take something of Naruto-kun's," Hinata explained at Kurenai's blank look. Kurenai's brow furrowed as she admitted to herself that the man probably would come back again to get whatever he had tried to take.

Finally she nodded. "Why not just gather everything together and take it to the Uchiha Estate. Store it all in a room there and I'll seal the door and windows to that room so no one can get in until Naruto is out of the Hospital and you tell him you have his things?" Sasuke and Hinata both blinked and looked at each other. Why hadn't they thought of that, they both thought.

Sasuke gave Kurenai a broad smirk and said, "Works."

She smiled and chuckled. "Come on. Let's get everything gathered up and I have a scroll we can pack it all into to make transporting it less noticeable." She spread the scroll on the ground as Naruto's friends began bringing her things to pack away. First was Naruto's journal and guitar. Then came his clothes and ramen stash. Then his books and futon, first aid kit, plant boxes and scrolls. He had a lot of scrolls, some of them were jutsu's he had made up and others were obviously lessons he was studying. On others were what looked to be poems or maybe songs but they all tried not to look too closely. They weren't there to invade his privacy after all. They were trying to preserve it. Finally the cave was as empty as it had been when Naruto had first found it. They even took the torches off the walls. Together they left the cave and headed for the Uchiha district.

As they left, Jiraiya crept out of his hiding spot and made his way back into the Gaki's cave. He used a jutsu, once he reached it and was safe from prying eyes, to light up the interior and a growl of frustration tore out of his throat. They'd already taken the journal away. Damn. He poofed out of the cave and was soon on the trail of the quartet who'd cleaned out Naruto's stuff. He was going to get his hands on that journal one way or another.

Kakashi had gone back to Watari's place with her when their memories were erased so that they could reassure the twins that everything was alright now. After he saw to his daughters he planned to go to the hospital to see what was wrong with Naruto. Then maybe he'd go back to his place or maybe to Iruka's for the evening. Neither he or Watarimono remembered they'd left Sakura tied to the post at the training field.

Neither did Ino who took the long way to her home choosing to walk with Choji and Shikamaru for a time first. The three of them discussed random trips they'd taken as a team and none of them thought of the waterfall clearing.

After dropping Iruka off at his place Hinata, Sasuke and Kurenai took a round about path to the Uchiha district because Hinata had picked up their tail just after they'd gotten past the academy grounds. They decided to go eat together and then go browse through some stores that stayed open late. Four hours later they slipped out a cleverly disguised small door in the back of the mall and ran into the Uchiha district leaving a very ticked off Jiraiya searching for them in an appliance store. Pleased with their trickery the women followed Sasuke into his house where he led them to a room not far from his own bedroom. He opened the hidden door and said, "Not many people even know this room is here so even if whoever was tailing us does figure out we came here once you seal it chances are good they won't ever find Naruto's treasures."

Hinata gave a broad smile as Kurenai chuckled darkly. She ste the scroll down and unrolled it. Then she smeared her blood across the circles on it and all Naruto's things popped out ready for use or storage. Sasuke carried his plant boxes into his bedroom where he set them near his windows. He'd take care of them while Naruto couldn't.

Hinata started sorting his scrolls and books into neat piles while Kurenai arranged everything else in the remaining spaces. It took them an hour to get everything to fit together nicely in the closet sized area but finally they were satisfied with it and left the room so Kurenai could seal it up. She put a genjutsu on the door that caused it to look and sound just like the rest of the wall and then laid another one over the plant boxes. She didn't want anyone to see them and recognize them as the ones that had been in the cave. Sasuke could still see the plants to tend to them but to everyone else they now looked like a set of empty sword racks. None of them thought anyone trying to come in through the window would be likely to use a sword rack as a stepping stool.

Sasuke grinned when Kurenai showed him what the boxes looked like to everyone else. It would do just fine. He was determined not to let Naruto's things fall into anyone else's hands. He would keep them safe until the Dobe came to get them himself. He turned to escort his guests out and Kurenai walked Hinata to the gates of the Hyuuga compound just to make sure she didn't run into anyone who might try to coerce her to share information she didn't want to give. Then she quickly left the streets of Konoha for the privacy of her own home.

At the training grounds, Sakura was still tied to the stump and she had yelled herself hoarse trying to attract some attention. No one had come and she was cold, hungry and tired but she couldn't do anything about it. She had given up trying to get free since the more she struggled the tighter the knots seemed to become. She hung her head as tears rolled down her face. How could they do this to her? She hadn't done anything to deserve this. So she had torn the doors off his place. Big deal. It wasn't like it was as nice as her home. Home. She wanted to be there right now. She wondered if her mom was missing her yet. Surely she was. Her mom always missed her when she wasn't in by the time night fell. Surely she'd come looking for her. But would she even know where this place was? Sakura couldn't remember if she'd ever told her mom how to find their training grounds. Somehow she didn't think she had. How stupid of her! Oh she was gonna beat Naruto to a pulp when she finally got free of this mess. It was all his fault. Everyone always felt sorry for him and not her poor Sasuke-kun but Sasuke-kun was the real one that needed love and understanding. She knew that even if no one else did. After all he was an orphan since his brother had killed his whole family. Not Naruto. So he had no family either. Big deal. They'd probably abandoned him recognizing him for what he really was. Worthless trash. She'd heard her father say that when she was younger before he'd gone away and now that she'd worked with him she knew he'd been right. Naruto was nothing compared to her Sasuke-kun. Even she was a better fighter than he was. After all, not only did she have phenomenal strength but she also knew medical jutsu and was blessed with perfect chakra control. That made her a much more valuable member of the team than he was. He had nothing that could even compare with her Sasuke-kun let alone her. She grew angrier as her thoughts ran in circles, each one condemning Naruto for her present predicament. Slowly she fell asleep still tied to the post.

Across town Kakashi was at the hospital waiting in the hall outside the room where Tsunade was still trying to find the cause of Naruto's deep sleep. She and her staff had been examining him for five hours now and they were no closer to having a reason for his coma than they had been in the cave. By all indications he should just be able to wake up whenever he was ready but from the very way he laid so still in the bed they all knew he wasn't going to be doing that. Finally, the staff started leaving the room and Kakashi went in to find Tsunade sitting in the chair beside his bed.

"So what do you think went wrong Hokage-sama?" he asked.

She shrugged her shoulders and sighed. "I don't know. I've never seen anything like this before. All the machines and tests say he's just in a very deep sleep and should wake-up on his own but the way he's laying there says otherwise. If I didn't know better I'd say he was drugged but there are no foreign substances anywhere in his system so that can't be it. For once in my life I find I don't know what to do for him. I haven't felt this helpless . . .in a long time." Her mind flashed back to the night her fiancé had died. She hadn't been able to help him either but at least she had known what was wrong with him. She shook her head to dispel the memories.

Kakashi pulled a chair away from the wall and sat down on the other side of the bed. He studied his student. The two adults sat there in silence knowing there was nothing else to say or do.

Two Tails: Wow... Slight respect for Sasuke in this chapter, That's rare, and YAY Hinata was in here! Anyways Rose is grumpy now so I'm gonna got find a place to hide . :Runs off to hide from Rose in Hinata's room:

Hinata: Eep! Get out! Onnnnnlyy Narrr...Naru..to.to-kun can commme in here. (Blushes and faints)