Her father shunning her away and her mother's passing, who she might have been able to find comfort in, could lead her on an awful path. Sasuke wants revenge against the one who destroyed his family. Hinata... she needs a purpose, and if it's revenge of some kind, it could lead them to working to become stronger together. Would be an epic battle though, holy fuck I love the image of Sasuke and Hinata fighting together >.<

When Kakashi has time in the RP I can take the time to teach you again, or you can imply he taught her when he had time, so she has something cool to teach Shikamaru. Combination Jutsu is a specialty that Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji share through their family's connections for generation. As Sakura grows stronger, Shikamaru could probably create an Ino-Shika-Saku combination of some kind since Choji's going to be busy with his father and clan for a while.

He really, really should've come back with more techniques. You remember Sage Mode? If you don't, look it up. I would have liked Naruto to come back KNOWING that mode, or coming up with some Imperfect version that he'd work on in his spare time as the story progressed.