Her question seemed to have imposed a certain self-doubt in the boy as he questioned his own experience. A moment later, he stated it was his second mission. Mizuki nodded. Much like she had once been, he must have been fresh out of the Academy. Being mostly on her own or with high ranked shinobi like her father or Lin, she had no real means to measure herself with the level of abilities she used to had, and thus wondered if there would be a huge difference between the young genin and herself. Perhaps they could spar some time later, if Kiriya was interested in such, but for now they had a mission to do.
As the red-crowned cranes came in sight, it seemed Kiriya was eager to prove himself. Even before things were settled, he already ran up to them to grab one. Oddly, despite being in their natural habitat, the animals didn't bother to run off. They didn't move at all, causing Mizuki to rise an eyebrow questioningly at the state of the animals. Had they been sedated perhaps? While Kiriya was measuring the unfazed cranes as the mission had stated, Mizuki approached to see if there was any sign that could explain why they had remained so calm.
First, she checked the cranes themselves, running her hand through their plumage to see if she couldn't find any hidden senbon that would possibly hold traces of whatever products or chakra that had been used. As Kiriya measured them, Mizuki checked them, but it was only on the third crane that she found a senbon. She assumed the first two cranes had already removed their senbon or had lost them somewhere in the area. In any case, Mizuki frowned in worry. Lacking the medical jutsu to properly identify what had been used on the senbon, she decided to tuck away the needle for a later investigation. Considering the birds seemed to show no sign of struggle or wounds, it was possible the previous visitors had no harmful intentions but until investigations would prove this, she could take no risk. These animals were on Kumogakure grounds and as they were of rare breed, required proper monitoring.
Next, if the birds had been assaulted for whatever reason, she might be able to find some clues in the nearby area. She couldn't say if Kiriya had considered the docility of the animals to be normal, but as she didn't want to be too hard on her partner, she left him with taking the proper notes on their sizes as she dashed to check upon the nearby area. Brushes, trees, tracks... anything that could reveal the presence of visitors would suffice, and since they birds had been extremely calm, she assumed they couldn't have moved too far. Indeed, after searching for a while, she found another lost senbon near a brush, but not the slightest of tracks. Had they been shinobi...? Returning to Kiriya, she tucked away the second needle.
"Well done measuring them.", she said with a smile. "You may have noticed how docile they were, which for wild animals shouldn't be the case. I found two senbon, one in the crane and one near a bush and though I can't say what it was used for, spotting things like that can help the higher ranks with their investigations."
Allowing the lesson to sink in, Mizuki hoped it would help him grow stronger for the benefit of Kumogakure. Things as these, after all, were never truly stated during a mission as the higher ranked often tended to forget genin weren't aware of subtle tasks as these, but having picked up a thing or two from her own missions and the lessons Lin had given her, she now hoped she had been able to provide some insight in return.
The second part consisted in finding a rare tree of sorts, which really was nothing else than walking around until they actually found one. To search for a single tree in an entire forest... at least Administration could have given a better location than this. A few hours passed as the two walked in silence until, finally, they stumbled upon the rare tree in question - a cyad. Their leaves were known to be used in medicine, but that was about all Mizuki remembered. She hadn't really had much time to pour herself over medicinal knowledge even though her sensei was a medical shinobi.
Kiriya proved rather eager to help out, disappearing into the tree in a matter of moments and returning triumphantly with the leaves they were requested to procure. Once more, Mizuki smiled at him, and checked the second task of their list. One more task to go - measuring a wild boar.
Kiriya had remembered the task well as he stated it to be the hardest of them all, and Mizuki nodded in agreement. That was to say, it would be a hard task for unprepared shinobi, but since Mizuki had quite a bit of experience under her belt by now, she also had quite a few jutsu available that could make the task considerably easier.
"Alright, for this task I'd like you to let me deal with the hardest part as boars can be dangerous if you aren't careful. I have a few jutsu that should make the task considerably safer for the both of us, namely 'Starch Syrup Capturing Field' that should be able to slow it down and even immobilise it, and 'Arc Restraint' which will allow me to leash him."
It was important to share information as this. Tactics, and how they'd approach something. She couldn't tell if Kiriya knew or even had these techniques as he had sounded inexperienced despite his eagerness, and as such she felt it was her duty to keep him safe - something the Raiu were historically known for both in and outside the Village.
996
Total: 1839