Hinagiku
Unperturbed by the sudden talkativeness of the genin, Hina waited for a few minutes, until the hushed retellings of their past gave way to the sounds to nature. Then she began giving the mission briefing, "Our task on this outing is to capture or kill the Jinchuriki of the 8-tails. Since some of you might not be aware, I'll provide information on both the Tailed beast and its Jinchuriki, starting with the latter."
Clearing her throat, she pulled a small book from her sleeve, and opened it, "This Bingo Book is only handed out to Jonin and above, so I don't expect you to have one. However, it's a listing of information compiled by the Kage, it includes famous shinobi from other villages, missing ninja, and targets for elimination. The various Jinchuriki trained by their nations naturally also have entries in this book."
Flipping through the pages she turned to the section about Kumogakure, "The 8 tails Jinchuriki, somewhere in her early twenties. She's suspected to be proficient in, of course, lightning release. That's all the relevant info we're absolutely certain of, though I wouldn't be surprised if she had another nature release or two beneath her belt. On the other hand, you have the 8 Tailed Beast itself. Not much is known about it, however, under no circumstances should you treat it like a mindless beast. The Tailed Beasts are most definitely sentient beings possessing intellect, Lady Kushina herself was a Jinchuriki, so we're aware of at least that much. Jinchuriki have immense chakra reserves, so you must never try to outlast them in a battle of endurance. Through the power of their tailed beasts, Jinchuriki are able to don chakra cloaks with varying levels of power that increases with the number of tails displayed."
"Lord Jiraiya is more versed with this topic than I am...so I won't say much more." Shaking her head in dismissal, she continued, "It's expected that we'll be engaging Shinobi from the other Great Nations, but we don't know who will be dispatched, and it would be foolish to brief you on every notable ninja within enemy ranks. However, it's incredibly likely that Kumogakure will deploy their Valkyries. As for Kumo's valkyries...you're forbidden from engaging them. Should you encounter them, your first priority should be to flee. Their signature jutsu is the lightning release -Limelight, a contender for the strongest lightning jutsu in existence. We're quite familiar with this particular jutsu because it's also used by the 12 Ninja Guardians of the Daimyo. It requires 4 users and takes a while to charge, but its destructive power is immense, vaporizing everything between the boundaries of the 4 users."
Pausing briefly, she angled her head so she was looking over her shoulder at the genin behind her, "I should make this clear, but you genin aren't actually expected to 'capture' the Jinchuriki. Your main role will be to provide assistance. Don't be reckless. Fight together in teams of no less than 2."
She wouldn't have them foolishly believing the Jinchuriki was someone they'd be capable of tangling with. "The Jinchuriki was last seen heading South East, towards the land of water."
Personally, Hinagiku was suspicious of that information. The Jinchuriki should've known better than to deliver herself to the Mist village. Even if she wanted to hide in a body of water, the ocean to the North West would've been a far better option as it was positioned between Kumo and Iwa, neither of which were known for their water release users. Nevertheless, it was what it was.
"Team Kakashi will be responsible for engaging the Jinchuriki, while my own Team will be responsible for engaging foreign shinobi. Your roles are not set in stone, no plan survives contact with the enemy, be flexible and change roles depending on the situation of the battlefield. That will be all. Darling, come here."
As soon as she'd finished, she immediately shifted to her next priority addressing her 'darling'. Needless to say, both Sagisō and Furījia responded to this address, but after a quick gloss of their mother's posture and body language, they seemed to have simultaneously come to the conclusion the darling in question was Furījia.
As her daughter approached, Hinagiku pulled a small scroll from her sleeves. The scroll was completely black, but golden engraving framed it with the images of dancing phoenixes. "This is a summoning scroll, it allows you to sign a contract with the summoned animal it belongs to. In the case of this scroll, the creature is a Filolial. It's about time you got your own summons, and a Filolial will be very suitable for you. You'll need to sign this contract in your blood, and attempt a summoning, I'll walk you through it."
In truth, there was another reason why she'd chosen the Filolial contract for Furījia -the girl was fated to them. It wasn't a very well-known fact, but if one performed the summoning jutsu without forming a contract there was a chance they would be reverse summoned to the home-grounds of the creature they were most fated with -this was something she'd learned from Lord Jiraiya. Another little-known fact was that it was possible to summon the animal of another person as long as you had access to their blood, and provided the chakra. Combining these two traits she'd long since made enough attempts at the technique to determine which animal was most suited to Furījia. That was how she managed to get the Filolial contract scroll in the first place.
It only took a short while before Furījia had finished signing the scroll and was ready to attempt her first summoning.
Furījia
Fidgeting giddily, the girl stared down at the blood smeared on her fingertips, left behind by her earlier sealing of the scroll. Slowly, the marking of seal began forming on her arm, dark engravings that dotted their skin until they made a small, but vivid, depiction of an elongated raptor. It looked similar to an Ostrich that had been cloaked in a feathered jacket, though that was a vague description at best. As the seal finished forming something seemed to...click.
The girl wasn't quite sure what had happened, but she knew it felt right. With the completion of the summoning seal, Furījia excitement seemed to boil over. She could instinctively tell that she could either smear her blood across the seal on her arm or smear blood from that arm across a surface to initiate her summoning. Her fingers were already in motion, repeating the seals she'd been shown, and wiping the blood from her fingers, she traced a bloody line across her forearm. She'd poured a sizeable chunk of chakra into the seal, wanting to make a good first impression on whatever creature showed up -and she didn't have to wait long for that.
In an explosion of smoke, she was lifted off the ground as something took its place below her. When the smoke cleared, Furījia straddled a large bird, it's feathers -luxurious ones at that- a deep blue, the edges of each feather tinged with a thundercloud grey. Elongated plumage feathers stretched from its crown, appearing to wrap around its long neck like a scarf. Similar feathers created a fan of tail feathers and tipped wings, which the creature proudly displayed. Below its body was a strong set of avian legs, ending in hook-like claws.
If the expression on her face didn't express enough of her excitement, then the squealing most certainly would've. Noticeable, the newly summoned Filolial was also quite excited, which it promptly displayed by ruffling its feathers and releasing a sharp caw. The birds feathers gleamed, lightning natured chakra crackling off its body. As it shook its feathers they seemed to form sparks between themselves, and as the feathers clashed arcs of lightning jumped between them with subdued crackles, raining a showing of electrical sparks down around it. It's feet kicked at the ground, and then it was gone, racing across the land, it's summoner clinging dearly to its neck, her girlish squeals replaced by panicked screams. A dark blue bolt of thunder shooting off into the horizon.
"Oh Dear..?" Brows furrowing as she watched, the instigator of this whole incident, Hinagiku, commented with a tinge of concern. New summons did sometimes behave rather...excitably...but the Filolial didn't seem to mean any harm to her daughter. However, just to be safe she followed, kickstarting into a sprint as she pursued the offending bird. She accelerated to her max speed, unaugmented, her dress fluttering behind her. Filolials were creatures that loved to run, and they naturally excelled at it. This particular one seemed to be on steroids, charging forward like a warhorse, as if Furījia's weight didn't even register.
Sagisō
Wide-eyed, the Nadeshiko kunoichi stared blankly as the newly summoned Filolial kidnapped her little sister. Her shock stalled her reaction, and only when the bird had begun to disappear over the horizon, her mother hot in pursuit, had she finally reacted. Much less composed that Hinagiku had been, Sagisō shrieked, startlement and frustration apparent in her voice, "Furījia!!!"
Joining the chase, she took off, kicking up the wind as she vanished from her position. Her body seemed to move...oddly. At first, it would appear as if she was blinking in and out of existence, multiple meters placed between herself and her previous position. In truth, this was one the jutsu she'd been practicing over the short break. It was a toned-down, more sustainable version of her Flickering wind shadow. While it didn't have the same instantaneous acceleration -and harmful drawbacks-, it allowed for a more sustainable speed-boost. She'd received some pointers from her mother and had thus created this jutsu -though she'd only partially mastered it- and it provided her the speed she needed to match the pace of her mother and the surprisingly speedy bird.
