My opinion: it looks unhealthy, might not survive when digged out.

Yes it looked quite brown, it is near a road so I am worried it has been sprayed. This species is only near the road though...

More dead than alive I would say.

What do you mean by root prune? As in leaving it in the ground? And let fine roots grow back?

Often, evergreens have 1 major root, from which 90% of secondary, tertiary, ...... roots grow from. Close to the trunk, the root serves primarily as an anchor and pluming (conducts water, nutrients in xylem tissues and food in phloem tissues). If you sever that root too close to the trunk, you can easily eliminate almost all of the important roots - the fine ones that do the lion's share of the work. Digging an exploratory trench around the root mass will give you a better idea of the condition of the roots. Severing the main root(s) close enough to the trunk that the root mass is able to be handled while the tree isn't drought-stressed will force new roots to grow off of the severed roots attached to the tree and making success in lifting more likely.

While this young tree might not be something that will rock the bonsai world to a degree that lifting it successfully is almost mandatory, when you DO come across a tree that is very desirable as yamadori, you'll need an idea of how best to approach collection. Many of us have used innovative ways to collect trees from the wild, trees we've worked on in the field for 2 or more years to assure success; this, out of respect for the trees that in a high % of instances have already endured much.

Al