Up and Out

Delays

Last Time:

"Dig the prick out." The cloaked leader snapped and the four other ninjas sifted through the sand until they came upon the barely breathing form of a masked blonde ninja. "Found you."

XXXXXXXXXX

Both tan and blood soaked sand grains were pushed away, but no matter how much they dug there was no sign of a body ...

"We can't find him, boss." One of the underlings snapped.

"Keep looking. He has to be in there, otherwise where is this blood coming from ... he's most likely in pieces so he might have sunk lower." The leader sneered as he watched his men continue digging. A sick grin spread across his lips as he saw the glint of a white object. When the sand was moved aside a mask was revealed ... it was the very mask the anbu was seen wearing! Their hands dove into the sand under the mask and felt something solid. The object, which was most likely the dismembered corpse of the anbu they were chasing, was dragged out ...

It was only a vest ...

"What the fuck? Where is the rest of him?" Another ninja asked. As they looked at the vest the sand on the hill slid down taking the mask with it. The shifting sands hid the motion of something under the ninjas' feet. The motion was that of a hand rising up to toss a ball at their feet before diving back under the sand.

The leader noticed the plopping sound of something supposedly falling out of vest and hitting the sand and looked down. The four other ninjas did as well, but a split second ;later it was too late for them. It never even crossed their minds that they should run. If they did instead of looking down they may have lived for you see the ball exploded sending acidic liquid everywhere. Each ninja fell down either dead or screaming in agony.

As if out of a horror movie the two ninjas who were clinging to life saw the body of their leader rise up. However, when the corpse quickly flopped over after that it became clear that the body wasn't what was moving at all. In reality the motion was the anbu who was coming out from his hiding spot that actually was under their feet the entire time. Half of the young anbu's face was covered by his shirt, which was used to protect his airways from being filled with sand, but it was clear the anbu was just a kid.

"B-bl-blood." One ninja choked out as the kid took his mask and put it back on.

"Red paint balls and the vest was a spare." Naruto remarked as he tapped the vest he was wearing indicating that it was definitely not the same one that is now a dissolved mess. The ROOT agent took out kunai and slashed the throats of the only living members. It would've been nice to question them and find out who hired them, but they wouldn't last long enough to reveal anything anyway so best to just finish it.With a quick wind jutsu all the bodies were buried under the sand and Naruto was free to finish his mission. Two days with the only delay being a nasty sand storm the trained ROOT agent came up to the gates of the village hidden in the Sand.

"What's your business here?" The guard at the gate asked.

"Mission." Naruto answered while rolling his eyes behind his mask. It's not like he can just slip in because if one thing went wrong and he was spotted then he will be suspected of espionage, which is punishable by death. Dying is something he'd like to avoid for a while yet, but that doesn't make these questions any less stupid. If he wanted to get information or plan an attack could've just changed out his clothes and posed as an injured civilian to get a free pass to the hospital where he could plant a bomb. It's stupid to look suspiciously at someone who openly admits to being a ninja and not look closer at the people claiming to be weak or non threatening even if you rely on merchants and tourism as much as the ninja activities to keep a village afloat.