hmm yes, there is hunting happening in this seasonal

Jiro was a prudent tracker, didn't rush ahead nor did he make blind assumptions as he followed the trail, his silver gaze flitting as he took in his scenery. But this task by its very nature wasn't an easy one, not when the foliage was so dense, in places acted like a wall and stopped all but the most bracing of winds from pushing scents through. In this instance, Hattori had ordered his hound to be intelligent in how he traversed, doubling back in places, taking what seemed like nonsensical routes, but not to cover his tracks too well. The boy was not being set up to fail, but to learn.

And thus when he turned to Hattori for guidance, he indulged him. It was true tracks were obscured by the leaf litter and the dog had walked with light steps, but there were always signs, no one could truly vanish without leaving some sort of trace behind.

"See here." Hattori stepped forward, veering to the side of the left path to the edge of that corridor. He sniffed at the bamboo stalks, just very slightly bent out of shape as though someone had squeezed through then done their best to straighten them before pressing on. "Some wolves tie dangling leaves to their tails to sweep away their tracks.." Something the wolves of Iga did during infiltration missions.  "But in this case, the hound took a less obvious path then tried to conceal it as best he could."

With a flick of his snout he gestured for Jiro to press on, to see where the trail would lead. In all likelihood the hound had found somewhere quiet and was waiting out the task, he might have even fallen asleep since he didn't really need to be alert for this.