A/N Just a musing of an idea of what Ninja horror stories must be like.

There are no named characters in this fanfic, but it is very much set in the Naruto universe.

The squad sat around the campfire, masks removed and at ease. They were relaxing, one mission complete and only four more hours of daylight between them and home. But, in their leisure, they didn't feel like running during the night. Instead, sleeping bags were pulled out and the group had circled, ready for a nice sleep. (with alternating lookouts, of course.)
Some snacked on real food that had picked up at the village they had passed through. Some (as shinobi always had to travel at least in pairs) drifted off to relieve themselves before returning to the group.

The talk over the fire was light. About things back home and How The Family and/or Kids Are Doing.

It was then, before anyone really had the chance to settle in between two padded slips of polyster that someone brought up the inevitable.
"Anyone know any scary stories?"
The question was replied with a chorus of required snickers. Asking for scary stories was the cliched question new members of a squad asked to break the ice. It was usually answer with jeers or insults to the newbie's mother.
But the member of the squad was well known, and seemed serious enough.
"I'm serious."

Some guy coming in from the woods (his zipper still in the midst of being raised) jeered, "Do you know any?"

"Actually, I do so happen to." The rebuff was quick, and only playfully defensive. But it caught everyone's attention.

"Oh?" A female ANBU lifted her head from the shoulder of her current love interest. "Which one?"

"You guys ever hear of the Hunter nin that were found dead in a woods near here?"
At first a wave of alertness came through the squad, before any of them could tell themselves that they weren't in immediate danger. It was a noticeable change, shoulders tensing, some looked around them.

"No. I hadn't heard of that one." The girl answered, settling back onto her squeeze's support.

"It wasn't too long ago, and they had been chasing a missing nin of particular viciousness..."

Trees quavered as the group gathered in one clearing, they all landed in a tight nit. Their leader, a broad shouldered man who carried himself well despite his average height stood before them.
"He could be anywhere. Fan out in pairs. If you find him, immediately release a flare, and we will all converge on the spot. We return here in an hour otherwise. Go!"
Before the stirred leaves had a chance to reach the ground, they were joined by more of their brothers. Branches shook once more, and two by two, Hunter nin darted through the forest.

...An hour passed of relentless searching with no results. Dejected, yet moderately glad to be alive, the masked shinobi all gathered back at the clearing that had been marked out as a meeting spot. All, except their leader and the one who had traveled with him.

They allowed the two five minutes of grace before they began to get worried.
It was then that a bright white flare rose up above the treetops, and burst.
The speed could not easily be matched as they all rushed in a group towards the area of a flare.

In a tangle of branches, they found both their captain and his attendant, the lesser ANBU helping his captain up from an apparent fall. Above them swung a broken, rotted branch.

"Flare misfire. False alarm." The captain attempted to remain dignified, despite the fact he was covered in leaves and twigs.

Two kunais struck the trunk of the tree several of the nin perched on. They scattered like startled birds before the explosive tags tied to the projectiles ignited and exploded.

They saw him then. He must have been drawn to the flare and had arrived to investigate. But whatever the reason, their target was there, and there were ten in the squad.
And, this being a Hunter nin group 'Capture alive' was nowhere on their list of priorities.

The nuke-nin deflected five senbon aimed at his vitals, before three others struck his left thigh, shoulder and waist.
Crippled in midleap, he landed horribly on a branch below, lost balance, and fell further down.

At least three dozen more needles had hit him in his back before he hit the ground.

The target didn't move.
Cautiously, one of the shinobi tossed five more needles, striking lethal blows, to make sure the other had died.
And even still they waited until it had lost a sufficient amount of blood before approaching.
A brief medical checkup confirmed the obvious; their target was dead.

The body was hoisted on a shoulder, and the impassive group returned to their designated camp.

The corpse was then processed with equal indifference.
Needles were drawn from the body. The face was mutilated. The organs were burned. Blood and semen samples were retrieved. All that was left was to summon animals to dispose of the remaining remains.

The captain volunteered to do so. He procured his scroll from the satchel he wore, and began to make hand seals.

The body was unidentifiable at the point, they way it was required. A mission complete. Finally, they could move on to better assignments. All that stood between them was one last technique and the walk home.

Stopping in the middle of his work, the captain looked around at the group, "I bet no one ever told you this, but our target was actually skilled in genjutsu."
Then he lifted his arm, and removed his mask.

"Guess whose body you just destroyed."

But this point in time, the ANBU squad had changed from absolute stillness to nervous shuffling about.
The girl had her arms wrapped rather tightly around her boyfriend's chest.
"That's... that's really freaky. I mean..."

The storyteller continued. "They found the entire squad dead three days later. They could only identify the captain by blood sampling." At this the serious tone in his voice faded, "True story! I swear."

The girl seemed to clasp her lover tighter. "Really?"

At that, another squad member laughed, "Yeah right! If they all died, who could tell the tale?"

The storyteller only smiled.

THE END