Henge is not coming back. We have no intention of creating anything similar. Everyone should feel free to stop asking about it, because it's not happening. Ever. Even in the wildly improbable event that you somehow convince
@Velorien and
@OliWhail that it should be brought back, they are not going to convince me, since I was the one who originally convinced
them that it would be okay to remove it. (All three of us wanted to, I was just the one who first crossed the line into "Yes, it's okay to do this thing.")
For those who are bothered by it, I suggest that you are bothered not because it happened but because you follow the discussion thread and are therefore aware of the behind-the-scenes causes. Had it simply been a thing that you saw in the Story-Only Thread, I bet the reaction would have been "Whoa! What's all this about shifts in reality?! Why is Kagome the only one who knows about it? Huh, interesting. I wonder what's behind it?"
Now, what does this mean in-universe:
Henge existed and was used for centuries. It was a normal part of ninja life. There were thousands of reports and stories and etc.
Then, about six weeks ago (1068 AS, roughly November 15), reality changed. Maybe there was a seal failure somewhere, maybe it's something to do with chakra, maybe it's the Tailed Beasts attempting to break free of their prisons. Who knows? Regardless, the henge jutsu ceased to function. Furthermore, all memories and records of it ceased to exist. Sections of reports will be blank, or smudged, or in some other way have lost information. Memories are fuzzy and it doesn't seem terribly surprising so what's the point in poking at it? Some people will have a sense of confusion or alarm when they notice themselves doing things by reflex that they can't quite remember the point of, but there's a lot going on at any given moment so a minor moment of forgetfulness is not super important. Other people, ones for whom henge was a major part of their career, will be freaking out. There are not nearly as many of those people as a naïve reading might suggest.
So, how did that Mist proctor disguise herself during the third event? She used henge. How do the kids think she did it, now that they cannot remember the existence of henge? The question doesn't really come to mind. When it comes near the edges of thought, as it did with Keiko, she wondered about it in passing for a moment and then vaguely decided that it must have been a wig and makeup, and probably a lousy job too.
If this damages your calm, that's a pity. You have two choices: Get bent out of shape and nurse a grievance forevermore, or assume that it's a thing that actually happened in-universe and that there will be ramifications to that. That perhaps characters will discover this enormous hole in reality and just maybe there will be some kind of reaction and maybe one or two plot threads might spin out of it.
Keep in mind that it's only been six weeks in-universe and all the main characters have had one or two things going on in that time. Yes, the deletion of henge is a major event that will have an impact on the plot going forward. Honestly, I'm glad that the grue was suggested and that the other QMs went for it, because (a) it makes our lives hella easier and (b) it makes a great lead-in to certain bits of the worldbuilding that we otherwise would probably have had to leave completely offscreen for the foreseeable future.
