~ Capture ~
"When a small pebble drops into a serene pool of water, it causes a ripple in the water in every direction, even disturbing distant still waters."

'Tsunade once said that one day my compassion would be my death. I never thought she would literally mean that! '

Sakura Haruno's fate took its course when she was sent to a village in Tierra del Fuego to investigate a threatening measles epidemic. The disease did not pose a threat to healthy adults, but it did pose a threat to weaker children, whose immune systems were too weak to survive the attack on their bodies. For most of them, this particularly hideous type of measles resulted in death. It had taken a few days to isolate the sick and threatened children, but in the end it was done. Sakura had cured the younger children - the most at risk - with a healing jutsu.

Unfortunately, this complete healing cost a lot of strength, so the girl was forced to make her way home with little chakra - mistake number one.

Then, when she heard the sound of a fight and shouts for help on the street in front of her, she hurried to the source to help - second mistake.

In a nutshell, some mistakes that led to getting caught in an attempt to free a group of travelers who were about to be knocked over by a handful of Oto-Ninjs.

A fight that she should lose quickly. Her chakra level was low. She was exhausted and most importantly, she had run into a fight with about twenty enemy ninja without even thinking about the consequences.
Suddenly it was no longer a question of saving people from being tipped, but of not being kidnapped. It was clear that the goal of the ninjas was to incapacitate the group rather than kill. What was not clear, however, why?
Maybe Kabuto needed people for his experiments or something ...

Sakura jumped backwards, dodging some files that were clearly poisonous ... and discovered that she hadn't considered the position of the river behind her.

'Another sign that you really didn't think about the consequences! ', she accused herself as she went limp and plunged her body into the cold water. The strong suction whirled her body around, but Sakura still had too much presence of mind to fight her way back to the surface on her own before she ran out of air.

When she finally pulled herself back onto firm ground on a thin branch, Sakura allowed herself to rest on her back for a moment and hope that she had escaped them.
Until screams fell on them from the forest. Sakura had two options - either she would get out of here as soon as possible, doubting she would get very far, or else face the fight and die in glory.To be honest, the young woman preferred the second option, but ...

Naruto would never forgive her. More importantly, Sakura would not be able to forgive herself. She had seen the despair on Naruto's face when Sasuke had left them, he would lose another important person in his life ... Sakura wanted- couldn't- imagine what would become of him.
No matter what it would cost her. She had to let herself be captured, at least for a while. She was just too exhausted at that moment. There will be another chance to escape, even if it means playing prisoner for a day or two. She knew it was risky, but it was the only solution that made sense to her at the moment. So she scraped her last chakra together to use a jutsu on her. She did not intend to be captured as Haruno Sakura. It would just give her too many problems. Yes, she wasn't even planning to be captured as a woman. Something told the girl that it was better not to be kidnapped to Oto as a woman. So she changed her gender with her identity.

Now her chakra was at the lowest level. Exhausted, she fell on her hands and leaned over the water to check her work. A youth with a slightly darker complexion than Sakuras and brown hair, which hung over green eyes, looked at her. For some reason, it was hard to change the color of her eyes. Eyes that radiated so much emotion that it could be dangerous for a ninja. But her emerald green eyes belonged to the girl.

Then she stretched and fell back on the grass. Tried to look like a careless boy lolling in the sun and not having the slightest idea of ​​the approaching Oto-Nins. The next time she looked up, she saw a ninja leaping from one of the trees and landing on the ground in front of her. Played surprised, Sakura opened her eyes and got up to escape him. She was so exhausted by now that she had to hide her ninja skills. Her body moved so slowly that even a snail could have overtaken her. So she wasn't surprised when she soon grabbed her arms, turned her around angrily and forced her to her knees.

"Boy!", One of her kidnappers hissed, his fingers reaching into her hair and yanking her head back, "Did you see a pink-haired woman passing by here?"
Sakura shook her head wildly, trying to look like she was speechless with fear.
"Who cares?", Another raised the voice, "We can reach our quota with him here - take him with you!"

Soon after, Sakura found herself brutally dragged back onto the street on which she had tried to escape earlier.She saw the travelers whom she tried to help, lined up in a line. Tied to each other by arms and legs. In fact, it looked like a ...

Sakura froze when she realized it. It was a slave line.

Of course she shouldn't be surprised. Oto was so corrupt that they were either enslaved or used as profit for their sale.

Sakura ventured to hope that she would be sold to one of the less hospitable villages. It would be easier to escape that way.

And not to mention she would meet him there in Oto.

As quickly as the thought came, she pushed it aside. She had to focus on survival first.

In time, the prisoners who stayed behind reached Otogakure no Sato. Sakura was really mad at the world. She was furious with herself for being so stupid as to throw herself into an expected hopeless fight without thinking about the consequences. She was angry at the fact that she and the other prisoners were being taken to Oto and not to some slave market as hoped. And she was mad at the shinobi who 'escorted' her.

Of course, they were sure to be mad at her too. In the three days she was trapped, she had gained a reputation for being a constant troublemaker. She had tried to escape four times in the meantime and each time she was arrested and dragged back. Her back burned from the blows with a stick she was punished with.

She gave the prisoners in front of her pitying looks. After three days of imprisonment, with constant threats and their own public punishments for their failed attempts to escape, the prisoners seemed genuinely intimidated.

It was almost ironic. Her lashes had more impact on her than on Sakura. Sure it hadn't been pleasant after all, but it was something she could take.

The slave line stopped at what at first glance seemed to be a solid rock wall ... until a shinobi started knocking on it - Sakura imprinted the pattern: two times soft, three times loud - and a hidden door in the rock opened yourself.
Sakura straightened her shoulders, preparing to face whatever was waiting in there ...

What she found was a thin, huge man wearing the headband from Oto. Sakura could think she could identify other people behind this man. Someone grabbed her hair greedily. Sakura resisted the urge to knock that one down. The giant in front of her raised an eyebrow then frowned.
"I can make out a strong chakra from him here!" He muttered, making a vague movement that Sakura couldn't see clearly in this weak light.
Then he pulled out a black leather collar. And this very collar managed to stop the blood in Sakura's veins.It was leather, yes. But she could still see a metal strip on the collar with long pins attached to it. And it wasn't a simple strip that secured it. It looked like some kind of lock.
And Sakura knew immediately that she didn't want this collar near her. So she did what her instinct immediately advised her to do. She tried to defend herself against the iron grip of her opponent. Kicked, punched, turned away from that leather collar. But all pointless. She felt someone kick her in the knee from behind. Made her drop to her knees. Hands clasped her shoulders. Her hair was torn forward. So that the back of her neck was exposed. They are still fighting. But there wasn't much she could do. She couldn't suppress the cry of pain as needles slid into her throat.
But the pain of the needles couldn't be compared to the feeling that went through her whole body when the collar was closed. It felt like a powerful electric shock. She couldn't tell what exactly these needles were for, but they somehow disrupted her chakra.
Sakura struggled to keep the change going around her as it slowly blurred. She used every bit of strength to create the illusion of a black-haired man ...

And it seemed to work. As she was pulled back to her feet, Sakura realized that the collar must have really done something to her chakra. She didn't know what. But it felt like ... restricted. As if the change was all it could sustain.

[...]

"It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped."

-Anthony Robbins

to be continued ...