Darui's Cherry Blossom

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Sakura sighed in disappointment. Her sensei, Kakashi Hatake, asked her to stay back in the village after he received a B-Rank mission from the Third Hokage assigned her team a mission to the Land of Gemstones and to the villages, Hidden of the Crystal Valley's and the Hidden of the Diamond Lake because they needed protection from bandits and missing Ninjas. Kakashi had told them to go pack for the 10 month mission and meet at the gate in one hour. Sasuke and Naruto took off from the bridge where they normally meet Kakashi for their missions. But before Sakura could leave to go pack, Kakashi had stopped her

XXFlashbackXX

"Sakura, I would like to talk to you for a moment." Kakashi said.

"Ok, what is it Kakashi-Sensei?" Sakura asked.

"I'm proud that you decided to improve your Ninja skills but it is still not enough for this mission. Where the boys and I will be going is not safe for a girl to be going there. So therefor I would like for you not go on this mission. It's safer for you to be in the village." Kakashi said. Boy was he going to eat those words in a few hours.

Sakura stood there stunned and heartbroken. She thought that she had improved on her skills since their mission to the Land of Waves. She never responded to Kakashi, not that he noticed. He was to busy eating reading his Icha-Icha book.

"I will see you later Sakura-chan." Kakashi said as he left to go do his own packing.

After he left, Sakura left for her own apartment. She had received the apartment from the Hokage after her parents died on of their selling trips to Spring and Grass. Of course, Sakura was devastated and the Third Hokage gave her the apartment. Yes she was still underage but she was about to become a Genin in a year.

Sakura finally reached her apartment, unlocked it, and went inside. She had an hour until her team left. She sat on her couch and thought about what she would ask the Hokage on what she could do while her team went on their mission.

50 minutes later

Sakura looked at her clock and saw that she had 10 minutes left and yes she spent the entire time thinking. She got up off of her couch, grabbed her apartment keys, locked the door, and left to go see Naruto and Sasuke off. She made her way to the gates where Naruto, Sasuke, and four gate guards were at and made her way over to them.

"Hey Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun." Sakura said. Both boys turned towards her after they had a discussion about the mission and they noticed that she didn't have her pack.

"Where's your pack Sakura-chan? We leave in 5 minutes." Naruto asked. Sakura sighed. Both boys looked concerned and so did the 4 gate guards. Sasuke and Naruto knew how hard Sakura started to take her training more seriously now because of their mission to the Land of Waves.

"It's no big deal Naruto-kun but Kakashi-Sensei asked me to stay behind and let you guys do the mission." Sakura said.

"But why? I know you started to tale your training up a notch." Naruto said.

"I know Naruto but I am going to have to respect Kakashi-Sensei's decision to not include me on this mission. I would only bring the team down and you both know it." Sakura said. Sasuke grunted and Naruto looked down sad.

"Stop pouting Naruto. I will be fine. I want you two to watch each others backs and try to have fun on the mission." Sakura said. Naruto nodded his head and Sasuke grunted.

10 minutes later

Kakashi showed up at the gates with his pack on his back and reading his signature book.