Things had returned to normal with Team 7 after that. Hinata was still training harder than ever, but now she was at least taking the time to spend time with her girlfriend. Kurenai had seen that everything was back to normal and nodded at that. She thinks Naruko might have been too willing to forgive Hinata, but as long as this never happens again she wouldn't interfere.
The group had started taking more missions, having finished another two bandit exterminations. There were only two real highlights between the two of them. The first was that Naruko learned she could drain people directly. She hadn't thought to ask if she used it against Utakata, and no one brought it up (they thought it might make her uncomfortable to hear about her blackout). She had attempted to drain a bandit. She had not only succeeded but thanks to him not being a ninja the drain had instantly killed him from the chakra exhaustion. The second highlight was that Sasuke had received the third, and final, tomoe of his Sharingan. He wasn't entirely sure why it came. He hadn't been in any real danger, he had just been killing bandits as usual. He wasn't going to complain, it made him stronger at no cost.
The entire team had been surprisingly ambivalent about their first kills. They had finished three bandit extermination missions now and the kids still hadn't had a freak out over the killing, Kurenai wasn't sure if that bode well or poorly for their futures as ninja. The ambivalence likely stems from the fact that all of them had seen death early into their childhoods. Not to mention Sasuke's goal is still to kill Itachi.
The Team was currently having another team dinner at Sasuke's place. It had sort of just become the place where they have dinners together. The Hyuuga clan compound was too suffocating and Kurenai didn't let her genin know where she was living as they still hadn't found out for joining her morning training. Though Naruko actually had thanks to her nature transformation, she just never brought it up.
The team didn't hate Naruko's apartment, but most of them had a hard time navigating the ever growing amount of plants that was consuming the whole apartment complex. It was sort of like Naruko was living in a small forest that was inside her building. No one on the team really knew how she managed to get the plants to grow so quickly. Hinata's theory was that the redhead was channeling nature energy in her sleep and the excess was going back out into her plants. And it was somehow creating a feedback loop, like she was making more plants from it which then produced more energy for her. She and Naruko still hadn't told any members of the team about the fact that the nature transformation existed. They also hadn't asked despite having seen it in action a few times now. So they didn't really see a problem with it. It's not like they even knew why Naruko could do it.
"Hey Sasuke do you ever find yourself seeking answers more than revenge?" It was the redhead who piped up.
"Sometimes, Itachi told me he killed the clan to test himself, but if he really wanted to test himself he could have killed the Hokage or the Hyuuga clan, no offense Hinata." The Hyuuga clan likely would have been harder as all members of the clan are trained combatants unlike the Uchiha which had the largest civilian percentage of members out of any clan. Not only that but with the Byakugan at their disposal stealth would have been harder to use and it would have made for a greater challenge. Not to mention that they were, and still are, the largest clan in Konoha.
"None taken."
"But at the same time his reason doesn't matter that much, he still killed the clan. And he still made me watch it over and over again."
"How'd he do that?" Naruko was confused.
"Using an advanced form of the Sharingan, the Mangekyo. It can cast a unique Genjutsu that is inescapable." Kurenai perks up at that, the mere concept sounds amazing to her.
"How do you get the Mangekyo?"
"Killing the person closest to you." The three women collectively grimace, never mind that power is not worth it. "I don't know much else about it, I need the Mangekyo to find out more."
"Why's that?"
"Hidden in the compound there is a stone that describes how to ascend the Sharingan. To read it one needs a Sharingan, and to read even further one needs a Mangekyo." Hinata freezes, that sounds familiar.
"Wait, are you saying it's this weirdly indecipherable text that requires a higher level of your ocular prowess to read?"
"That's a longer way to say it, but yeah. Why?"
"The Hyuuga have something similarly indecipherable, but we have no idea how to read it."
"Well if we supposedly have the same ancestor, then maybe you also have a higher level Byakugan that can be unlocked. Though I couldn't begin to tell you how. Not unless you plan on trying to kill Naruko. And we all know that would never happen." He's right, but still the notion that they've been using a weaker Byakugan than what's possible. It almost makes her shiver with excitement. So then if she unlocked it would she be able to read the texts?
Kurenai speaks up. "Are you two supposed to be sharing this information? It sounds like clan secrets."
Hinata and Sasuke look at each other then at Kurenai. "Well, it doesn't interfere with village law, so you have no reason to report it. And we can keep it a secret between the four of us."
Kurenai shrugs, she didn't really care. As long as it didn't bite them or her in the ass she's not going to get in the way.
Naruko speaks up with a bit of a pout. "No fair, you two get to have all these clan secrets to explore and I'm stuck here. All of my super cool stuff is on an island hundreds of miles away." Well that's assuming it somehow didn't get looted when Uzushio was destroyed.
Hinata pats her girlfriend on the back. "No worries, when you're my wife these will be our clan secrets, not just mine."
Kurenai looks at the two. "So have you actually proposed to Naruko or are you just seeding the idea that she's inevitably going to be your wife?"
Hinata looks at the older woman. "Well, I haven't proposed or anything like that. But she's going to be my wife regardless."
"Well what about how she feels?"
"Okay, Naru-chan do you not want to be my wife in the future?"
"Well I dunno, apparently you can't be my wife if I'm yours. So maybe I won't." Hinata just stares at her and the redhead sighs. "You never let me play hard to get. Yeah when the day comes I'll certainly be your wife. But don't think just because it's gonna happen you can get away with not proposing." Hinata nods.
"Don't worry when the day comes, my proposal is going to blow your mind."
"Good."
Sasuke sighs. "Do you two always have to flirt at dinner?"
They both look at him and speak in unison. "Yes."
"Ugh, get a room."
"Sorry, but I'm not taking her virginity until we're sixteen." Sasuke and Kurenai blink owlishly at Hinata. "What, I don't want our first time to be as kids. I'm pretty sure that's how people end up becoming discontent with adult partners. "She didn't have proof or anything like that, but she wants Naruko to be into her as a woman, not a girl. She looks at them and they're still staring at her. "Oh, you're confused by how up front I am about this. Well what did you expect, we're going to have to consummate the marriage at some point."
"So that's why you never made moves on me. I always thought it was weird. Like I see you staring at my ass all the time but you've never even made an attempt to touch it. Even though I'm sure you know I wouldn't mind." That was enough to draw a blush from Hinata.
Kurenai coughs, "Too much information, Naruko."
"Really how come?" The older woman gestures to the other two blushing kids.
"We don't really need to know that you're willing to let Hinata touch you, nor do we need to know that she stares." Naruko nods, not really getting it.
"So then should I not mention that whenever we fall asleep at my place she's always hugging me from behind and always seems to be in between groping my—" She didn't get to finish as a now very red Hinata covers her mouth.
"No Naru-chan, they definitely don't need to hear that. Now stop licking my hand."
"But Hina-chan, it tastes like cinnamon." Naruko whines.
Sasuke pipes up again. "Seriously, again with the flirting." Naruko sticks her tongue out at him. "I hate you so much sometimes."
"Whatever, you know you love us." Once she says that she pulls him and Hinata into a group hug. "I'm too small to pull you, so you better get that fine ass in here Kurenai-sensei."
Well it's annoying but she'd certainly rather her genin be like this compared to when they first returned from the Wave. "You know you're like a little sister or a daughter to me. So that's kind of weird."
"Hey Hina-chan, you're not the only one with a hot mom now." Kurenai crashes to the ground, she only makes it worse for herself.
The genin laughs at their sensei. This is why they loved their team dinners, it was nice and always managed to make the kids smile. Not to mention they got to see Kurenai when she's not being all stern. They couldn't help but hope things could stay like this forever.