It only took a few minutes for Tazuna to come stumbling into the mission office drunkenly. The man's face was flushed and he was holding a bottle of sake. He looks around the room and spots the aged kage. "I'm glad you could make it Tazuna-san. This is the team that will be escorting and protecting you." The man gestures to four people. His eyes nearly pop as he sees the group. Well for two different reasons. The first is that it's mostly a bunch of kids. Why are they giving him kids, he asked for shinobi? The second reason was because the only adult in the group was a total hottie.
"These brats don't look like much. Especially the super tiny redhead over there. Of course the woman looks like she could protect me all night long." Three things happen all at once.
Kurenai chokes back a gag. It's not the first time a client has hit on her, but he looks old enough to be her father and it's pretty disgusting.
Haruka starts to wonder if insulting her is just what people do, and the people in the village just take it farther because they know about the demon. She can't ponder this for long as she has to hold back her girlfriend from attacking the man. Hina-chan always got offended for her.
"I assure you Tazuna-san," Kurenai's words are a little forced as she addresses the man, "That my team is more than adequate in their ability to protect you." She wouldn't even take her team on a C-rank if she thought they couldn't handle it.
The man just grunts and says. "Whatever, I need to leave tomorrow morning. Don't be late," Then his tone turns perverse, "Of course I could always help you be on time, just stay at my place tonight."
"No thank you, My team and I will have to pack for the C-rank anyways. We'll see you tomorrow at 8am." The man grunts again and stumbles out of the room.
"Hey Kurenai-sensei do you have to deal with guys like that all the time?" It was Hinata who asked.
"If our clients are male and civilians, which they are most of the time, then yes." It was one of the worst parts about being a kunoichi. Because they just had to deal with it, Konoha went out of its way to appear nice and a kunoichi threatening her client would be unacceptable. "Now then, you three should go pack. I'll pack for two weeks or so." The three nod and as they are about to leave Haruka speaks up.
"Hey Sasuke, take this." She hands him a sealing scroll. The boy recognized it for what it was and gave his thanks. This is so much easier than carrying a backpack. After several long moments of thinking he looks at the two girls who he had spent so much time with over the past month.
"Haruka, Hinata, do you wanna have dinner at my place tonight, to celebrate our first C-rank?" That… Was surprisingly hard to ask. He hadn't invited anyone over in years, but these two girls had grown on him. They were sort of… Friends.
Hinata wraps her arms around Haruka's waist from behind and looks at him with a gleam in her eyes. "Sasuke are you trying to land both of us at once? Or are you secretly after my girlfriend and plan on stealing her from me?" Her tone was teasing and Haruka was squirming to get out of the other girl's grip, well it looked fairly halfhearted.
Sasuke deadpans. "Hinata we both know if I was actually hitting on you and especially Haruka, then you'd already have me choking on my eyes. So do you two want to come over or not?" He was getting impatient and was trying to show he actually cares, at least a little. He so did not need to be teased for this.
"Sure, when should we head over?" Haruka chirps while still squirming.
"Just come on over at 7." Hinata nods and walks off still carrying her squirming girlfriend. Sasuke truly wasn't sure what to think of those two. They were both incredibly powerful and he could practically feel himself getting stronger every time he faced them. They had also refused to let him brood whenever they were around. It was still refreshing to him a month later. Though he had begun to truly notice something. The villagers hated Haruka. They bore the same kind of hatred for her as he did for Itachi. He couldn't imagine why. Sure the girl was odd and more than a little naive, but she was surprisingly kind, and he's fairly certain that's a trait most people like. His thoughts on the redhead are interrupted by Kurenai-sensei, who was still there with him, speaking up.
"So am I not invited to this team dinner?"
"Do you want to spend your night hanging out with your genin?"
"You have no idea how much better that sounds then how I used to spend my nights." He didn't get it but he wasn't going to question it.
"Then see you tonight Kurenai-sensei." He didn't really mind, the other two probably wouldn't either. She nods and he heads home. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little excited.
***
The three women arrived at the Uchiha estate a few hours later. They hadn't done the usual training thanks to the mission tomorrow. They also weren't dressed up or anything like that. But they were all feeling relaxed. It was going to be a nice dinner as a team. Three sharp knocks from Kurenai is enough for Sasuke to come and open the door. Haruka and Hinata both blink, surprised to find the boy in casual clothes. He still had the Uchiha clan crest emblazoned on his back but other than that he was just in a regular T-shirt and shorts. The T-shirt was even yellow of all things. He wasn't wearing any shoes or ninja tape of any kind. It's not like they didn't think he owned casual clothes, they had simply never seen him wear them.
"You know if you keep staring I'm going to start thinking you like what you see. And we both know that's not the case."
That snaps the two girls out of their train of thought. Hinata laughed and said, "Become a woman and you might end up my type." Well not really.
"So you mean like Kurenai-sensei?" It was Haruka who spoke up. Thinking how they would both have black hair, pale skin, and, if Sasuke had his Sharingan active, red eyes too.
"Yeah, she's got legs for days. It's the only downside to you being so small, your legs don't just go on forever like hers." Haruka hadn't really thought about that but it was true, the older woman had amazing legs.
"I'm right here you know." Kurenai wasn't sure how to feel about how casually her genin were talking about her being Hinata's type. "And you know I'd have thought you'd prefer girls like Haruka anyways."
"Oh don't get me wrong, I love Haruka. And believe me her thighs are amazing. And I don't think I could ever find anyone as attractive as I find her. But that doesn't change the fact I can appreciate a nice pair of legs, which you have in spades." Kurenai looks at Haruka.
"And you're okay with knowing she looks at other women?"
"Yeah, I do it too so I don't really see the problem. It's not like we are hitting on other women. By the way, in case you're curious I've got a bit of a thing for paler women and apparently Byakugan."
"So Hinata?" It was Sasuke who asked.
"Well she certainly fits that description, so does Hikari or Kaguya." Kurenai knew who Hikari was, Hinata's mother, but she had no idea who this Kaguya person was.
"I didn't know you thought Kaguya was attractive." Apparently Hinata knew who this woman was. She also didn't seem to care that her girlfriend basically just called her mom hot.
"That's because you've never seen her Hina-chan. She's got this otherworldly beauty to her. She's also the most intimidating person I've ever met." Just who was this woman?
"I'm not familiar with this Kaguya person, what is she like? Or rather, who exactly is she?"
"Well she told me she's a goddess, and the mother of chakra. But that seems a little outlandish." She wasn't ready to tell them about the woman's connection to the demon, not with Sasuke right there. The Juubi as Kaguya called it. "As for what she's like, well. She's really tall, just under 7 feet. And she's got crazy long hair, it goes all the way down past her feet and drags on the floor. Oh and it's white. Then of course she's got a pair of Byakugan eyes. Oh and horns."
"Are you sure you didn't dream this woman up?" Sasuke had to admit that description sounded outlandish.
Well this left an opportunity to let Kurenai-sensei know about the connection to the Juubi without telling Sasuke. "Naw, I met her like a month ago." She hadn't tried talking to the woman since then. She still wanted to know who that Uzume person is.
Kurenai had a sinking feeling in her gut that this person was real. About a month ago was when Haruka was first trying to use her kekkei genkai. Back then her hair had turned white. Maybe she was jumping the gun, and this woman was some secret Hyuuga elder or something. But her gut told her to be wary of future developments with this woman. "Did the woman talk to you about anything?"
"Well yeah, she said I'm like her granddaughter—oh and she asked me to die."
Hinata speaks up now. "Wait, you never told me that either."
"Oh, I guess I got too distracted by the thing with the lullaby, which by the way Kurenai-sensei you still haven't told me what that's about."
Hinata continues pressing. "Well what exactly did she say about her granddaughter?"
"Well she called me by her name, and then said I was of similar spirit." Well that wasn't too bad. Though Kurenai was worried, if this woman existed inside Haruka how could she have a granddaughter, or really any family? She didn't like the sound of that.
"What was her name?"
"Uzume." Hinata and Sasuke both feel something shake their beings. Like a deeply embedded sorrow. Neither was aware that the other felt it but it was enough to leave their hearts racing. Just who was this Uzume woman? Kurenai was looking at her genin in concern, they both went quiet and somber all at once. Maybe Uzume was the name of some woman that had caused a feud between the two clans. "So can we start eating or are we going to keep talking about this?" Suffice to say the redhead was getting more impatient as she got hungry.
It's enough to snap the other two out of their funk and Sasuke nods, ushering them towards his dining room. "Sure, I'm no master chef but I've at least learned." He had to thanks as a result of being on his own for the past five years. They disagreed with his modesty as they eat the meal and Kurenai spoke up.
"You know the ladies will be all over you in the future once they find out you can cook."
"Then this will have to stay between the four of us, because I'm already swarmed by fan girls as it is." He was still hounded by those vultures. He didn't need to make it worse.
"Fair enough, team, I order you to secrecy for the sake of our male teammate."
The two girls chorus, "Yes Kurenai-sensei!" Then break into giggles.
"Hey Haruka."
"Yeah Sasuke?"
"It may be a bit blunt, but why do most people in the village hate you?"
Kurenai and Hinata both tense up at his question, ready to deflect for the redhead. She responds before they can. "I know why, but I can't tell you at the moment. Not because I don't trust you, but we're about to go on a mission, and the knowledge might hamper your ability to perform properly. So when we get back I'll explain. Okay?"
"Deal."
Kurenai and Hinata breathe a sigh of relief. That conversation was a headache waiting to happen.
After that the rest of the night goes by in relative peace as the group relaxes and falls into easy conversation. Sasuke never noticed just how much he was enjoying himself. Nor did he notice the crow that was watching them intently. And he certainly never noticed the spinning Sharingan in the crows eyes.